Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 76.52
Liaison Maria Kirrane
Submission Date July 28, 2022

STARS v2.2

University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork
EN-11: Inter-Campus Collaboration

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Maria Kirrane
Sustainability Officer
Office of the Director of Buildings and Estates
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Is the institution currently a member of a national or international higher education sustainability network?:
Yes

The name of the national or international sustainability network(s):

Member of The Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (UK and Ireland).
https://www.eauc.org.uk/home

Member of the steering committee for the UI Green Metric world university rankings, and National Coordinator for Ireland.

https://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/network/steering-committee

Member of the International Sustainable Campus Network.
https://international-sustainable-campus-network.org/membership/


Does the institution actively participate in a regional, state/provincial, or local higher education sustainability network?:
Yes

The name of the regional, state/provincial or local sustainability network(s):

Member of the Green Campus Network, Green Campus Ireland.
https://www.greencampusireland.org/awardedsites/

Member of the Irish University's Association Sustainability Working Group.
https://www.iua.ie/ourwork/sustainability/


Has the institution presented at a higher education sustainability conference during the previous year?:
Yes

A list or brief description of the conference(s) and presentation(s):

Our staff and students regularly present at Higher Education Sustainability Conferences, sharing our experiences with respect to sustainability in campus operations, curriculum integration and student activism. A number of examples from 2021 are included below, please note this is not an exhaustive list.

Feb 2021: Acting Sustainability Officer, Dr Darren Reidy, presented at INSEEC University Digital Symposium on Disruptive Learning Pathways, as part of a panel on Smart & Green campuses.

https://alumni.ifgexecutive.inseec.com/event/international-digital-symposium-on-disruptive-learning-pathways/2021/02/04/14

Feb 2021: Dr John Barimo, UCC Centre for Integration of Research, Teaching & Learning presented at the European Universities Association, European Learning & Teaching Forum on Embedding & Facilitating Sustainability.

https://www.eua.eu/images/Session_abstracts.pdf

March 2021: Niamh Guiry & Mark Falvey, UCC students and member of the UCC Green Campus Committee presented student campaigns at the Green Campus Network Meeting 2021.
https://www.greencampusireland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Green-Campus-Network-Meeting-2021-Graphic-Harvest.pdf

May 2021: Acting Sustainability Officer, Dr Darren Reidy presented HE Innovate Earth Day Webinar Series, "Knowledge exchange and collaboration for sustainable development".
https://heinnovate.eu/en/events-webinars/heinnovate-earth-day-knowledge-exchange-and-collaboration-sustainable-development-0

June 2021: UCC Hosted the 10th International Conference of Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, convened by Prof. Ed Byrne, UCC School of Engineering and UCC Green Forum. The conference featured many contributions from UCC staff, including focus on sustainability in the curriculum at UCC. Please see conference proceedings for expanded details.

https://www.eesd2020.org/


Has the institution submitted a case study during the previous year to an external higher education sustainability resource center or awards program?:
Yes

A list or brief description of the sustainability resource center or awards program and submission(s):

In 2020 UCC became a case study on the INTENSIFY Programme. INTENSIFY is a EU Interreg programme supporting international collaboration across the EU. The INTENSIFY project innovatively addresses a key challenge for European cities and regions: how to energise citizens and communities to achieve more carbon reduction.

https://www.interregeurope.eu/policylearning/good-practices/item/4247/university-college-cork-green-campus/

In 2020 UCC contributed a case study to the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) 'Little Book of Green Nudges'. The Little Book of Green Nudges is a quick guide to reducing your campus' environmental impact through behavioural change in the form of a concise and user-friendly publication

https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/little-book-green-nudges?_ga=2.245811140.1308545840.1636736374-300092976.1636736374

In 2021 UCC won the Best Green Campus Category at the Irish Education Awards.
https://www.ucc.ie/en/international/studentinfohub/news/ucc-makes-it-two-in-a-row-at-the-education-awards.html


Has the institution had employees or students serving on a board or committee of a sustainability network or conference during the previous three years?:
Yes

A list or brief description of the board or committee appointment(s):

UCC is the National Coordinator in Ireland for the UI Green Metric World University Rankings and as such sits on the steering committee for the ranking. Acting Sustainability Officer Dr Darren Reidy and Energy Manager Pat Mehigan attended the steering committee meetings in Oct 2020 and Aug 2021.
https://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/network/steering-committee

In 2021 UCC Convened the 10th International Conference on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development. The Committee Chair was Prof. Ed Byrne, UCC School of Engineering & UCC Green Forum. The local organising committee was composed of a number of persons from UCC School of Engineering and UCC Sustainability Officer Dr. Maria Kirrane.
https://www.eesd2020.org/local-organizing-committee/

Prof. Ed Byrne also sits on the International Scientific Committee for the conference.
https://www.eesd2020.org/international-scientific/


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?:
Yes

A brief description of the mentoring relationship and activities:

UCC has a memorandum of understanding with the University of Bologna to share knowledge, best practise, monitoring and evaluating, support reporting and ranking submissions, student exchange, teaching exchange etc on sustainability matters. The UCC Sustainability Officer, Energy Manager, and numerous academic staff collaborate regularly with UniBo and support their sustainability activities.

UCC has a strong relationship with Cork University Hospital, regularly engaging with the sustainability team there to support them in their Green Flag programme. As the first Green Flag campus and Green Flag hospital, there is a close relationship and engagement to advance sustainability on both campuses. UCC Sustainability Officer sits on the Green Campus committee of CUH.


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?:
No

A brief description of the peer review activities:
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A brief description of other inter-campus collaborative efforts around sustainability during the previous year :
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Website URL where information about the institution’s inter-campus collaborations is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.