In 2021, the University formalised its long-standing partnership with the City of Melbourne to deliver impactful sustainability outcomes into the future. The partnership has already made considerable progress in a range of areas, including climate, renewable energy security, the Indigenisation of Melbourne, and urban recovery and resilience.

The Power Melbourne project is a partnership with the City of Melbourne and RMIT, coordinated by City of Melbourne. Our collective vision is to create innovative commercial models for batteries as shared energy storage, and drive greater uptake of renewable energy by residents and small and medium businesses. The partnership also supports urban innovation and job creation, and is accelerating transformation of the energy system to 100 per cent renewable sources. As a significant land and asset holder in the city, the University

is exploring energy storage options and opportunities to integrate more renewable energy into the grid, including potential battery sites, in collaboration with the City of Melbourne. The University brought extensive expertise as a research partner to the first phase of the project, with

Professor Pierluigi Mancarella and his team in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology conducting extensive techno-economic and commercial feasibility modelling.

Planning for the new campus at Fishermans Bend continued throughout 2022, as did the University’s collaboration with Development Victoria, who are developing the former Holden car manufacturing site in the wider precinct. We provided input into studies by Development Victoria on energy, water sensitive urban design, and open space network planning.

Through the precinct planning process, the University advocated for integration of parking and waste management between the Fishermans Bend campus and the Development Victoria site.

In 2022, Melbourne Graduate School of Education’s Master of Teaching placement program returned to Arnhem Land with eight final year students working across five remote schools. Several mid-year graduates returned to teach at Laynaphuy Homelands School and Ngukurr School after their placements had ended.

The placement program is a genuine collaboration with schools and the community, and is built on longstanding relationships and expertise. Student teachers have the opportunity to teach and learn alongside the Indigenous community, and gain an understanding of what living and working in a remote community is like. (SDGs 4 & 10)

In 2022, the University became a partner in the Reach Alliance global initiative. Founded by the University of Toronto, the Alliance brings together researchers and practitioners from across disciplines and around the world to accelerate achievement of the United Nations SDGs. The program engages student leaders to explore inventive, local solutions to pressing global challenges. Its focus is on how critical interventions and innovations reach those who are the ‘hardest to reach’, and partners with cross-sectoral organisations to translate research into impact.