Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.04
Liaison Richard Manton
Submission Date July 30, 2021

STARS v2.2

Ollscoil na Gaillimhe - University of Galway
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 4.00 Jamie Goggins
Chair of Community University Sustainability Partnership Board
School of Engineering
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Student sustainability research incentives 

Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the student sustainability research program:
Annual NUI Galway Student Sustainability Leadership Award. Take on student interns for summer research projects.

http://www.nuigalway.ie/sustainability/studentaward2019/

The Explore Programme is where NUI Galway students and staff find support for innovative ideas. Over 100 projects have been supported by EXPLORE.- https://www.nuigalway.ie/explore/

Faculty sustainability research incentives 

Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:
The Ryan Institute run competitions and provide seed funding to support sustainability research and the dissemination of this research.

Advancing sustainability and innovation is central to the research activities of the Ryan Institute's Research Centres/Clusters and Research Groups. The Ryan Institute is engaged in research and partnerships that contribute to the majority of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which need to be achieved both nationally and internationally between now and 2030.

The Ryan Institute focuses on four thematic research areas, namely (1) Marine & Coastal, (2) Energy & Climate Change, (3) Agriculture & BioEconomy, and (4) Environment & Health. The Ryan Institute is comprised of 12 Research Centres/Clusters spanning these four thematic research areas. At present, the Ryan Institute is NUI Galway's largest research institute comprised of 91 Research Groups and 12 Research Centres/Clusters that are responsible for over 500 funded research projects comprising circa. 20% of the overall research income of NUI Galway. The 91 Research Groups (each lead by a Ryan Institute Principal Investigator) within the Ryan Institute collectively consist of at least 470 full time researchers, including 90 Postdoctoral Fellows, 50 Research Assistants, and over 240 PhD students.

The MaREI centre, the SFI research centre for energy, climate and marine, provide workshops, funding and support for academic staff at NUI Galway and other Institutions that intended to increase sustainability research. For example, providing financial support for PhD fellowships through the energy resilience in the built environment center for doctoral training (ERBE cdt), where the PhD students must be co-supervised by academic staff from multiple institutions (i.e. at least one MaREI institution partner and either UCL or Loughborough University).

Recognition of interdisciplinary, transdisciplnary and multi-disciplinary research 

Has the institution published written policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
No

A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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Library support

Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:
Our library guides specialise in critical areas related to NUIG researcher's interests. A search for the word 'sustainable' across our library guides generates 9 pages of content. Our library guidance includes Statistics, WWI Global trends, Sustainable Development Indicators, Ireland Co2 Emissions and Cars, National Biodiversity Data Centre, Traffic and Transport Traffic Related Statistics from the Gardai (police force), Road Safety Authority Data, Data from National Transport Authority, Rail Statistics Ireland, Bus Statistics Ireland, Taxi Statistics, Bulletin of Vehicle Statistics, Climate and Energy, Water Quality, Air Emissions, Air Quality, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Recycling and Waste Management, 3D printing, Archaeology, Hotel Management, and Research Data Management.

https://libguides.library.nuigalway.ie

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The NUIG Grant Management system has been aligned to the SDGs and requires Budget Holders/Principal Investigators to select the SDGs that their funded projects align to.

Our Institutional Research Information System (IRIS) allows staff to maintain their CVs and profiles and is also being aligned to the SDGs such that staff will select the SDGs relevant to teaching, research, outreach etc.

https://www.nuigalway.ie/research-office/onlinesystems/iris/

The College of Science has included the requirement for SDG alignment for new programme proposals and this is expected to be rolled out across NUIG.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.