| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.04 |
| Liaison | Thomas Adams |
| Submission Date | July 30, 2021 |
Ollscoil na Gaillimhe - University of Galway
EN-11: Inter-Campus Collaboration
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
Is the institution currently a member of a national or international higher education sustainability network?:
The name of the national or international sustainability network(s):
NUIG is a member of a number of networks and these include:
1) Irish Universities Association Sustainability Working Group.
The role of the UASWG is to work collaboratively with universities to support and enable a holistic approach to achieving economic and environmental sustainability. Sustainability is the existential challenge of our age and major and rapid changes to current policies and practices are necessary for universities as with many other organisations. More information is here: https://www.iua.ie/ourwork/sustainability/#
2) The Green Campus Programme has 38 Campuses formally registered on the Programme, with fifteen awarded the Green Flag and NUIG receiving this in 2019
The Green-Campus Programme encourages a partnership approach to environmental education, management and action in third level institutions. The Programme primarily aims to ensure that members of a campus community can engage in a meaningful way to enhance sustainability on campus. It must be noted that the Green-Campus Programme does not reward specific environmental projects or implementation of a new technology. Rather it rewards long term commitment to continuous improvement from the campus community. More information here: https://www.greencampusireland.org/about/ and here https://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2019/april/nui-galway-awarded-green-flag-campus-award.html
3) NUIG is part of the ENLIGHT network. This stands for European university Network to promote equitable quality of Life, sustaInability and Global engagement through Higher education Transformation. The ENLIGHT network brings together nine comprehensive, research-intensive universities from nine European countries (Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden), training over 300,000 learners per year and sharing a deep commitment to their social responsibility. More information on this here: https://enlight-eu.org/index.php/university-about-us/about-enlight
4) My Green Lab is a network that fundamentally and permanently improves the sustainability of scientific research and laboratory spaces. More information is here: https://www.mygreenlab.org/about.html
5) The SDG Accord is a commitment NUIG have made to other learning institutions to do more to deliver the SDGs, to annually report on each signatory's progress, and to do so in ways which share the learning with each other both nationally and internationally. An objective is that sector SDG reporting metrics will be presented at the annual UN High Level Political Forum. moe information at this link: https://www.sdgaccord.org
6) The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is a collaboration among CGIAR Centers and Research Programs, led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) who is now part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The University is a ‘strategic partner’ in CCAFS along with Oxford, Leeds, Vermont, Utrecht
times higher education submission - under SDG 17.
CCAFS brings together the world’s best researchers in agricultural science, development research, climate science and earth system science, to identify and address the most important interactions, synergies and tradeoffs between climate change, agriculture and food security. More information at this link: https://ccafs.cgiar.org/partners
Now seeking membership of AASHE alongside this STARS application.
Does the institution actively participate in a regional, state/provincial, or local higher education sustainability network?:
The name of the regional, state/provincial or local sustainability network(s):
1) As explained above NUIG is a member of the Irish Universities Association Sustainability working group. This has a national and regional role as well as the international role honoured in the previous question.
2) The Green Campus Programme has 38 Campuses formally registered on the Programme, with fifteen awarded the Green Flag and NUIG receiving this in 2019. As for the previous network it has both national and international roles.
3) NUIG is the first university in Ireland to join the SEAI Sustainable Energy Communities Network. A SEC embraces an inclusive and community approach, across all sectors, to develop a sustainable energy system. To do so, SECs aim to be energy efficient, to use renewable energy where feasible and to develop decentralised energy supplies. By joining the SEC Network, NUI Galway commits to knowledge sharing with SEC members and to developing and implementing energy-saving initiatives. Joining the SEC network offers many benefits to NUI Galway (and community partners), including: the potential for energy and financial savings by implementing energy efficiency initiatives; an opportunity to promote community building through a partnership approach, where resources and expertise are shared across the network; an opportunity to contribute to national energy reduction targets; to assist in the development of sustainable energy supplies through investment and installation of renewable energy technology. More information can be found here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/sustainability/projectsresources/sustainableenergycommunitiessec/
4) NUIG is a member of the Galway National Park City. This network has aims to connect all of Galway’s residents to the rest of Nature, to make the Outdoor Classroom part of school life, to endeavour to have free and easy access to high quality green and blue space for the residents of Galway., to endeavour to have the majority of Galway physically green and blue (made up of home gardens, rooftop gardens, parks, woods, farmland, waterways etc), to improve the richness, connectivity and biodiversity of Galway’s habitats and to endeavour to improve Galway’s air and water quality year on year. More information here: https://galwaynationalparkcity.com
5) NUIG is a partner of the All Ireland Pollinator Plan which is about all of society, from farmers to local authorities, to schools, gardeners and businesses, coming together to try to create an Ireland where pollinators can survive and thrive. More information is here: https://pollinators.ie/partners/
6) Galway City Council & Galway County Council, in partnership with the National Transport Authority, have worked with NUIG and others and developed the Galway Transport Strategy, an Integrated Transport Strategy for Galway City & Environs. More information here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/sustainability/learn-live-lead-model/live/transport/
7) NUIG have worked with IBEC and other partners to adopt the Keep well Mark. One of the Strategic Goals of the NUIG, as set out in our Strategy 2020 to 2025, is that “We will develop and implement a holistic strategy for staff health and wellbeing, building on the WorkPositive Initiative and achieve accreditation through the KeepWell Mark”.
More information is here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/human-resources/employee_wellbeing/
Has the institution presented at a higher education sustainability conference during the previous year?:
A list or brief description of the conference(s) and presentation(s):
There is an extensive list of presentations made and these include:
(2021) European University Association Webinar II - The environmental sustainability of learning and teaching. https://eua.eu/events/195-webinar-ii-the-environmental-sustainability-of-learning-and-teaching.html
(2021) Building Forward Better webinar series – Teaching and Learning. https://www.ria.ie/building-forward-better-webinar-series-teaching-and-learning
(2020) Bologna Process Beyond 2020 - http://bolognaprocess2019.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bologna-process-beyond-2020.pdf
(2020) Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020. Ryan, Ailbhe; Walsh, Eimear; Moran, Paul; Goggins, Jamie (2020) Temperature profiles of private rental housing occupied by third level students in Ireland Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020.
(2020) Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020. Moran, Paul; Goggins, Jamie (2020) Can DEAP help us to predict the energy demand and indoor temperature of homes before and after renovation ? A case study from Dublin Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020.
(2020) Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020. Moran, Paul; Goggins, Jamie (2020) Can DEAP help us to predict the energy demand and indoor temperature of homes before and after renovation ? A case study from Dublin Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020.
(2020) Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020. Mcginley, Orlaith; Moran, Paul; Goggins, Jamie (2020) Key considerations in the design of a One-Stop-Shop retrofit model Civil Engineering Research in Ireland (CERI) 2020.
(2020) Civil Engineering Research in Ireland Conference (CERI 2020). Goggins, J., & Hajdukiewicz, M. (2020) Community Engaged Learning: A Building Engineering Case Study Civil Engineering Research in Ireland Conference (CERI 2020) Cork, Ireland. (2020) Civil Engineering Research in Ireland Conference (CERI 2020).
Goggins, J., & Hajdukiewicz, M. (2020) Community Engaged Learning: A Building Engineering Case Study Civil Engineering Research in Ireland Conference (CERI 2020) Cork, Ireland.
(2020) Bologna Process Beyond 2020: Fundamental values of the EHEA
O'Dowd Lohan, M; Goggins, J; Fahy, F; Brown, C; O’Donovan, D; Ó Broin, G; Hynes, R; Seoige, S; Hannon, J; Keane, M; Forde, A.M; Carlin, C; Pearce, D; Curran, M; Hannon, L; Clifford, E; Duffy, C; Hallahan, B;Reilly, M; Ó Dochartaigh, P. (2020) NUI Galway sustainability strategy 2017-2020 Learn – Live – Lead . In: Sijbolt Noorda, Peter Scott and Martina Vukasovic eds. Bologna Process Beyond 2020: Fundamental values of the EHEA , pp.219-223.
Has the institution submitted a case study during the previous year to an external higher education sustainability resource center or awards program?:
A list or brief description of the sustainability resource center or awards program and submission(s):
NUIG has provided several case studies to the Irish Universities Association, Campus Engage. Based within the Irish Universities Association, Campus Engage is dedicated to supporting Irish higher education institutions to embed, scale and promote civic and community engagement across staff and student teaching, learning and research. More information can be accessed here: https://www.campusengage.ie/
One case study example is here: https://www.campusengage.ie/case-studies/creating-opportunities-for-engagement-exploring-the-relationship-between-the-burren-landscape-and-civil-society/
Has the institution had employees or students serving on a board or committee of a sustainability network or conference during the previous three years?:
A list or brief description of the board or committee appointment(s):
Many examples exist, example a Masters student Gary Brennan is a Director on the board of the Galway Energy Cooperative, here: https://www.galwayenergy.coop.
Patrick Collins is a member of the board of the Connemara Greenway Alliance, here: http://connemaragreenway.ie.
Frances Fahy is a member of the executive committee of SCORAI (Sustainable Consumption Research & Action Initiative, here:https://scorai.net.
Does the institution have an ongoing mentoring relationship with another institution through which it assists the institution with its sustainability reporting and/or the development of its sustainability program?:
A brief description of the mentoring relationship and activities:
Mentoring arrangements exist for networks mentioned above like:
1) IUA sustainability working group
2) Campus Engage
3) Sustainable Energy Communities
4) And also for the Energy Managers Group
Has the institution had employees or students serving as peer reviewers of another institution’s sustainability data and/or STARS submission during the previous three years?:
A brief description of the peer review activities:
NUIG has reviewed other Sustainable Energy Communities sustainability data. As an example they have significantly supported the Galway Energy Cooperatives data robustness.
A brief description of other inter-campus collaborative efforts around sustainability during the previous year :
NUIG has a significant outreach ethos, more here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/sustainability/learn-live-lead-model/lead/communityengagement/
The examples above indicate significant awards, networks and inter campus collaborations.
The url below shows its green campus award from An Taisce based on sustainability on campus and inter campus networking and sharing with the green campus network.
Website URL where information about the institution’s inter-campus collaborations is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.