Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.09
Liaison Jen Crothers
Submission Date Aug. 2, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.1

University of British Columbia
ER-15: Sustainability Research Identification

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Iain Evans
Manager, Research and Partnerships Office
VP Research & International and UBC Sustainability Initiative
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution developed a definition of sustainability research?:
Yes

A copy of the institution's definition of sustainability research:

In 2009, the "Sustainability Academic Strategy" group developed a framework for indentifying UBC's sustainability research. The framework for sustainability research can be found at: http://www.sas.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/SAS-RP-Inventory-Report-260709-_2_.pdf

Sustainability research are those projects fall inside the sustainability “box”. Technology is added to the Economy pillar to explicitly acknowledge the role of technology in achieving a future that is both desirable and achievable in ecological, social and economic terms.


Has the institution identified its sustainability research activities and initiatives?:
Yes

A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the inventory:

Identifying sustainability programs demonstrates the types of interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships taking place and toward what end. Programs were identified using the materials below and were selected as they relate to the two cross-cutting themes: 1) campus as a living laboratory and 2) agent of change. The former refers to sustainability projects put into practice on campus, the latter, to using research to promote change in the broader non-academic community.

Sustainability researchers were identified using a variety of resources on campus:
• UBC External Affairs website using the keyword ‘sustainability’ in the expert search;
• Department and individual faculty websites were mined for projects relating to the cross-cutting themes and researchers with sustainability research interests
• An initial version of the UBC Researcher Information Services (RISe) system was mined for successful proposals relating to sustainability.
• The Web of Science database was mined with key search terms to identify key sustainability publications coming out of UBC (PAIR, 2009).
• Peripheral documentation such as Departmental or UBC community bulletins were used to identify projects and individuals working in the sustainability arena.

For more detail, see http://www.sas.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/SAS-RP-Inventory-Report-260709-_2_.pdf


Does the institution make its sustainability research inventory publicly available online?:
Yes

The website URL where the sustainability research inventory is posted (required if claiming Part 3 of the credit):
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.