Overall Rating Platinum
Overall Score 88.80
Liaison Richard Demerjian
Submission Date Aug. 11, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of California, Irvine
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 12.00 / 12.00 Brenna Biggs
Sustainability Analyst
UCI Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees that conduct research:
1,482

Number of employees engaged in sustainability research:
475

Percentage of employees that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
32.05

Total number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts research:
60

Number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts sustainability research:
58

Percentage of departments that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
96.67

A copy of the inventory of the institution’s sustainability research (upload):
Inventory of the institution’s sustainability research:

Please see attached file - UCI Sustainability Research Inventory 2021.


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

The 2021 Sustainability Research Inventory presented in this section is a compilation of all sustainability research performed during the 2020-2021 academic year.

The methodology for identifying the total number of faculty members engaged in sustainability research was updated from previous inventories and involved a campus-wide faculty survey, a review of previous inventories, and a rigorous comparison between recommended sustainability keywords and faculty websites.

First, UCI faculty were surveyed via an online form. The link to this form was emailed to all campus faculty via a mailing list maintained by ZotMail, UCI's primary electronic communication system. ZotMail enables authorized senders in the offices of the Chancellor, Provost, Vice Chancellors, and Deans to send official UCI messages using a password-protected interface.

Survey respondents were asked to self-identify sustainability research that they participated in during the 2020-2021 academic year given a list of 519 sustainability keywords adapted from the Earth Charter and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Respondents were asked to include a brief description of their research. 147 individuals responded to the survey, identifying a total of nearly 80 faculty members that conduct sustainability research.

Because this number does not capture the full range of sustainability research at UCI, the survey was then supplemented by a review of the previous 2018 course inventory to identify additional faculty who continue to conduct sustainability research. Finally, faculty websites and news releases associated with various on-campus organizations and departments (i.e., AirUCI, the Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources, the Earth System Science Department, and many more) were examined to identify even more additional faculty. The 519 sustainability keywords were used to identify how the research addresses sustainability. Additionally, each faculty's research was evaluated to determine to what degree it incorporated the ecological, social, and economic components of sustainability, and/or whether it addressed a sustainability challenge. Each research description was then annotated to include relevant sustainability keywords.

Once a draft of the AC-9 inventory was completed, it was sent to various faculty representatives from several Schools and Departments for their approval and any additions. Eight different faculty members representing the Schools of Engineering, Physical Sciences, Social Ecology, Biological Sciences, Law, Arts, Physical Sciences, Information and Computer Sciences, the Program in Public Health, and the Department of Earth System Science reviewed the course inventory and to confirm what research is sustainability-focused.


Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability research is available:
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.