Education for sustainable development
Education for sustainable development
With the publication of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Guidance by Advance HE and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) in 2021–22, Education for Sustainable Development received significant – and well-deserved – national attention.
The expert UK HE development group was co-chaired by Professor Jim Longhurst, Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Environment and Sustainability. It also included UWE ESD lead Associate Professor Georgina Gough.
As a university, we’ve supported (and continue to support) the dissemination and interpretation of this document, through internal and national presentations of UWE Bristol ESD work.
Dissemination activities
Transforming our World through Software: Mapping the Sustainability Awareness Framework to the UN Sustainable Development Goals – a presentation by Ian Brooks at the Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering conference 2022.
Development and evaluation of a successful method to embed Sustainable Development Goals in engineering curriculum – a presentation by Venkat Bakthavatchaalam, Laura Fogg Rogers and Georgina Gough at the Dresden Nexus Conference 2022.
Digital Engineering Technology and Innovation (DETI) programme Inspire initiative outreach programme of sustainability education for young people and communities, focussing on young people from primary to secondary schools – Laura Fogg-Rogers.
Organisation and hosting of a sustainability and climate change themed conference for nearly 200 educators from across the South West – Verity Jones.
Assessment of competencies for sustainable development: (How) can we? – presented by Georgina Gough at the Advance HE Sustainability in HE conference.
Setting the strategic direction for environmental sustainability in higher education – presented by Jim Longhurst at the Environmental Sustainability in the Higher Education Sector policy forum.
Exploring the New Guidance for Higher Education Providers on Education for Sustainable Development – presented by Jim Longhurst at the 6th Sino-Finnish Joint Learning Innovation Institute Annual Conference: Education and Sustainable Development Goals 2021.
Climate Literacy & Education: embedding into the curriculum – presented by Jim Longhurst at the Plenary session UUK's Universities and the Climate Emergency: Action Following COP26 Conference 2022.
The QAA – Advance HE Education for Sustainable Development Guidance. What it is, why it matters and how you can use it to enhance your teaching no matter what your discipline – Keynote Address presented by Jim Longhurst at the Festival of Learning Brunel University, London 2022.
2021–22 also saw cross-disciplinary curriculum delivery and developments across but not limited to:
- energy technology
- sustainable food systems
- resource security and sustainability
- sustainable communities
- social justice and sustainability
- green criminology
- health and social wellbeing
- ecolinguistics
- sustainable business
- marketing and engineering in society and the community.
Supporting national initiatives
We’re proud to say that UWE Bristol’s Knowledge Exchange for Sustainability Education (KESE) was one of five successful award-winning applicants for funding from the Association of National Teaching Fellows in 2021, to support dissemination of their work around sustainability in Higher Education.
Together, KESE members Georgina Gough (ESD lead), Jon Mulholland (Sociology), Jona Razzaque (Law), Ian Brooks (Computer Science), Grant Howie (Linguistics) and Venkat Bakthavatchaalam (Engineering) ran a workshop attended by academics from across the UK HE sector. They shared multidisciplinary examples and experiences of using the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in curriculum design, delivery and enhancement.
In March 2022, UWE Bristol staff also supported the Sustainable Development Goals Teach In, with academics from many disciplines pledging to include the SDGs in their teaching and learning.
Full case study on a new Health and Social Wellbeing module led by Martin Lewis (Nursing) here.
Award-winning sustainability
In November 2021, we were celebrated at the UK and Ireland Green Gown Awards, which recognise sustainability excellence in extraordinary times.
We were awarded in the Tomorrow’s Employees category for our SDG curriculum mapping project. Judges praised our work in preparing students to be responsible for a sustainable future upon graduation.
UWE Bristol was runner-up in the globally recognised 2022 Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence.
