Humber College
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Students in the Research Analyst Placement Program (RAAP) are encouraged to reach out to the Sustainability Office to conduct research projects. We work with the RAPP Program Advisor to provide support to student researchers through in-kind donations and one-on-one consultation time, as well as providing internship opportunities to Research Analyst graduates. For example, Bachelor of Community Development students partnered with the Office of Sustainability for their applied research capstone project in 2021. The research project looked at ways to engage diverse students, staff and faculty with the Office of Sustainability at Humber College. The students completed a literature review and interviews with equity groups on campus to identify gaps in engagement. Then, they presented their findings in a final research paper which was presented to the community and used their key findings to learn and improve sustainability engagement on campus.

In June 2022, the Office of Sustainability hosted a virtual Research & Sustainability workshop to learn about developing a sustainability mindset and how to incorporate a sustainability mindset into attendee’s research. Attendees also had the opportunity to bring their research ideas and/or questions and learn about the many ways to incorporate sustainability into their work.

Humber College’s Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) aims to support and mentor researchers to explore what they are passionate and curious about. This can include topics surrounding sustainability or issues related to SDGs. ORI’s goal is to engage the research community with opportunities that are multidisciplinary, collaborative and inclusive. We pursue research by building bridges that connect faculty members with students and partners to solve real-world problems and bring exciting projects to life. As such, ORI provides two Research and Innovation funding opportunities to emerging researchers: SEED and Cultivate. Both program guidelines are highlighted on page 10-11 in the ORI Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Handbook that help emerging research build a robust and impactful applied research project. When applying for the SEED or Cultivate fund, guidelines include the process of knowledge dissemination that provide the opportunity to share the findings from the research project with the community. An in-depth description of these funding opportunities can be found here: https://issuu.com/humber_research/docs/sotl-handbook

Humber Libraries has an annual collections budget to purchase print and electronic books on Sustainability. As such, the library purchases databases and electronic journals to support sustainability research and coursework. For example, the database ‘GreenFile’ contains peer-reviewed and other academic journal articles, eBooks and, magazines on climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and, more. Database can be found at Humber Libraries website but is limited to current students, faculty, staff and those licensed for academic and teaching purposes.

In collaboration with The Office of Sustainability the library has curated a Sustainability Education and Research Guide. The goal of this guide is to provide students, faculty and staff key research tools and resources on issues relating to sustainability. Each section within this guide focuses on important topics in sustainability and provides a curated list of new and featured library books, videos and web resources to support further research and learning.

Additional Library sustainability initiatives:
1. Collections Procedures and policy: Annual budget intentionally supports sustainability
2. Recycle Discards Policy: All book discards go to organizations like Better World Books and/or Textbooks for Change.
3. Community Building and Outreach Fund: Each year, the library selects a relevant or timely issue to celebrate with a special fund dedicated to the purchase of resources. In an effort to support local and independent booksellers, we select one specialty bookshop each year to purchase these resources.