Sustainable People
How we engage and support our staff, students, and wider community to deliver sustainable transformation in their work and lives
Staff Training in Sustainability and Carbon Reduction
The Sustainability Team have provided UEL’s HR team with information to be presented to all new staff during the mandatory induction period. This includes information like how to recycle on campus, points of sustainability interest, energy saving tips and how to get involved with sustainability-related events and initiatives. We are currently working to update this information as the new staff induction process has evolved.
The Sustainability Team has also in the past been involved in Staff Development week, where all academic and support staff are encouraged to attend various lectures to expand their knowledge of University activities outside their own teams and departments. The Sustainability Team developed and delivered a well-received set of presentations on “What Exactly is Net Zero?” which broke down the concept of how exactly an organisation goes about achieving net zero, and what implications this could have for different teams and departments at UEL.
Student-Focused Green Events
The Sustainability Team holds events throughout the year, detailed through our social media and Sustainability Newsletter. One particularly important student-focused event each year is UEL’s Welcome Week, where new students have the opportunity to meet UEL staff and see what kind of extracurricular activities are available to them. The Sustainability Team always has a presence at this event in order to connect with our new students and let them know how they can get involved on campus. We have used this event to run sustainability quizzes, gather student signatures for petitions and ask students what they would like to see UEL doing to be more sustainable.
Student Sustainability Ambassadors
Student Sustainability Ambassadors assist the Sustainability Team during events, getting the experience of helping to run events as well as learning about sustainability in the process. Most recently, our Student Sustainability Ambassadors helped the Team run a successful Repair Cafe event in our Royal Docks Centre for Sustainability, where members of the UEL and local community could bring items in for specialty repair instead of throwing them in the skip and participate in a clothing swap.
Staff Sustainability Network
We manage internal networks of staff members who are involved with volunteering in the UEL Community Garden, as well as staff members who are committed to sustainable transport and cycle to campus. In these groups, we keep staff members informed of any changes or information they may need, as well as source ideas for improvement. We are looking to take the idea of these networks and develop a University Sustainability Steering Group to support our Sustainability Policy and Strategy, and also include student representation.
Communications & social media
The Sustainability Team keeps our UEL community informed through our Sustainability Team and UEL Community Garden Instagram accounts. We also put out a monthly Sustainability Newsletter and engage staff and students through sustainability-related surveys.
Community Engagement
The University as a whole regularly engages with our local community, and the Sustainability Team is no exception. We have enjoyed regular participation in our UEL Community Garden from community volunteers, as well as partnered with Newham Council on events like our Repair Cafe.
A highlight of community engagement for our team has been the collaboration with Newham Council to bring our UEL Rubbish Game to several of the local libraries. Our award-winning game was a huge hit with the local community, especially the children, who had great fun learning about what they can and can’t recycle at home.
UEL Living Lab
Our UEL Living Lab project is an exciting collaboration with Siemens and part of our Net Zero 2030 initiative.