PRIORITY AREA
3. Community of sustainability learners and practitioners
Aspiration to 2030
The University is a thriving community that shares, co-creates and practices sustainability knowledge and action.
Progress against targets
The University’s faculties and portfolios support and learn from each other to embed sustainability in practice and in learning – formal, nonformal and informal
Increase in number of sustainability- focused staff appointed in 2022, including Associate Deans, Sustainability in Faculty of Science and Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
The University community shows increased uptake of positive sustainability skills, knowledge and behaviours through non-formal and informal learning
Members of our community participated extensively in sustainability activities and volunteered in campus operations, faculties and University-managed student accommodation
The University offers a suite of student-centered, formal and non- formal applied sustainability learning opportunities, informed by inter and trans-disciplinary approaches
We launched the Melbourne Plus program, with 29 students earning Sustainability Advocacy credentials
The Wattle Fellowship continued for a successful second year, welcoming a new cohort of student sustainability leaders
Academic and professional staff have increased their participation in and contribution to formal and non-formal learning to develop their general and role-specific sustainability skills
Staff across our nine faculties and Chancellery organised a range of sustainability-focused events, training and collaborative activities, including 112 on-campus sustainability events and presentations
The University has increased its engagement with alumni regarding sustainability
We held 27 climate, energy and sustainability-focused events, attended by 2,064 alumni, donors and friends, and made graduation ceremonies more sustainable
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Across our faculties, academic and professional staff are working together to understand how faculties and individuals can contribute to the University’s sustainability initiatives. In 2022, for example:
The first in a series of interprofessional education workshops, presented by the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, explored past, present and future approaches to sustainability and planetary health education
A sustainability roundtable event, presented by the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, explored the faculty’s response to SP2030 and was attended by over 100 staff and students
An Action on Environment and Sustainability Science Conference for graduate students was held by the Faculty of Science.
Melbourne Law School provided non-formal learning to professional staff on equipment reuse and ethical purchasing decisions.
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As we work towards advancing sustainability globally, its specific role and function in every discipline must be explored. In 2022, faculties collaborated to explore innovative approaches to sustainability in research and professional practice.
The Melbourne School of Population and Global Health and the Department of Critical Care, Melbourne Medical School, sponsored the Doctors for the Environment Annual Conference at Parkville campus. Over 100 doctors and medical students from across Australia attended the event to discuss the convergence of climate action and health.
Climate, Art, and Digital Activisms Festival of Ideas, hosted of by academic staff from Melbourne Graduate School of Education, brought together community members, interdisciplinary artists, scientists, activists and educators to explore their role in creating a just and sustainable future.
Within the Melbourne Law School, sustainability-focused staff across several research hubs actively contributed to the faculty’s research impact, including environmental law scholars and teachers in the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law.
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Alumni, donors and friends engaged in 27 climate, energy and sustainability-focused events in 2022, with 2064 attendees recorded. These events explored a broad range of topics, including climate change impacts in the Pacific, environmental politics on the global stage, energy futures, bushfire resilience, and better global health outcomes.
To mark International Women’s Day 2022, the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology held a Women in Engineering event focused on engineering transitions towards sustainability, with an expert panel exploring how engineers from various disciplines and industries are designing, building, and maintaining a sustainable future.
The 2022 Business Leaders’ Breakfast, held by the Faculty of Business and Economics, supported the next generation of business leaders in creating a more sustainable future, with nine generous alumni sharing their knowledge and experience in sustainable business.
Graduates can now mark the end of their time at the University sustainably, with 17 graduation ceremonies for 8000 graduates run according to sustainable event principles in 2022.
Image: The team behind the podcast accepted the Climate Award (L-R - Jordyn Beazley, Angus Thomson, Louisa Lim and Thomas Phillips)
Student climate podcast wins national award
The Yarn is a student podcast which won the Climate Award at the Australian Podcast Awards for environment coverage, which the judges described as bringing “the freshest voices and brightest ideas to the climate conversation, using clever journalism and heart to convey powerful ideas.” It drew on events the Centre for Advancing Journalism organized for the Being Human festival, including a climate panel with Guardian journalists and Stella prize winner poet Evelyn Araluen, and interviews with people taking action on the climate from ten-year old Spencer who is campaigning to save the glossy black cockatoo to a 67-year old Extinction Rebellion activist.
Proactive learning outside the classroom
The new Melbourne Plus program, launched in September 2022, offered students opportunities for co-curricular learning in Sustainability Advocacy, Community Engagement, People Leadership and Innovation. In 2022, 29 students earned Melbourne Plus credentials across six activities under the Sustainability Advocacy stream , including the Wattle Fellowship and Green Impact programs. Sustainability was also embedded in activities under the People Leadership and Community Engagement streams, giving students opportunities to develop skills in leadership and collaboration while working directly on environmental and social issues.
“I didn’t even realise there were so many different ways of contributing to sustainability. It really inspired me to reflect on my sustainability practices.” – Melbourne Plus student participant
Sustainability engagement on campus
We hosted 112 on-campus sustainability events and presentations for students and staff with 3,648 attendees. This included the first ‘Ride2Uni’ event in three years – a zero-waste breakfast to encourage more students and staff to commute by bike, attended by 139 people.
Now in its sixth year, our Green Impact program saw 350 registered teams and individuals across five campuses complete 1,241 sustainability actions. Forty-two student auditors reviewed and collated the achievements of each team, developing their leadership skills and helping to keep Green Impact participants honest. We celebrated the achievements of Green Impact participants at the 2022 Sustainability Awards, an event attended by over 60 staff and students.
Throughout the year, 205 staff and student volunteers contributed 1,062 hours of their time to on-campus sustainability projects, planting almost 2000 trees, shrubs and grasses across three campuses, providing waste education at events, and helping to facilitate the Green Impact program.
Students living in University-managed accommodation participated in several sustainability events, including planting days and beach cleanups. Several residences also provided recycling bins for household items that are difficult to recycle, such as blankets, pillows, and toothbrushes.
The Sustainability Team continued to share engaging content across social and digital platforms, with page views on the Sustainable Campus website increasing by 60 per cent since 2021 to over 330,000, and Instagram followers increasing by 23 per cent.
