Throughout the year, the Environmental Sustainability Team offers a diverse range of engagement opportunities designed to educate, inspire and promote action among staff and students on all aspects of sustainability.
So, whether you want to improve the sustainability of your college, department or lab, or simply receive our monthly sustainability newsletters, you can be a part of the positive change. Whether you are an expert in the field, an enthusiastic environmentalist who is keen to do more, or a complete beginner to sustainability, there’s something for everyone.
Stay in the know
1. Sign up to our monthly staff or student newsletter. Keep up to date with everything from the Sustainability Team and find out about events and opportunities.
2. Sign up to the Sustainable Labs newsletter to receive tailored information.
3. Join our Teams Channels for Green Impact and Sustainable Labs. They are good places to receive information from the University community and ask questions.
4. Follow us on social media: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter) @OxfordEnvEust
Take action
1. Join an existing Green Impact team in your department or college or start a new one. Green Impact provides a toolkit of effective actions staff and student teams can take to improve sustainability across the collegiate University and within our day-to-day lives.
2. Take part in The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), an innovative scheme to drive improvements in laboratory efficiency and sustainability. Join your lab’s existing team or start a new one.
3. Be Energy Friendly. This year-round campaign focuses on encouraging staff and students to reduce energy consumption in five practical ways.
4. Sign up for six hours of free cycle training to help you commute to work safely and sustainably. See the travel website for helpful information and support for travelling sustainably.
Join our sustainable professional communities
Being an environmentalist and making sustainable choices in one’s professional capacity is not always as straightforward as one might think. We realise that and have established sustainable professional communities to share knowledge, understand and address barriers, and support each other.
To date we have a professional community for event managers and for people whose job description includes environmental sustainability in their college or department. We intend to address other typical University professionals in the future.
If you wish to join these groups, or to establish a new one, please email vered.balan@admin.ox.ac.uk.
Upcoming annual events
The Good Gardener
The Good Gardener campaign welcomes staff and students to plant native wildflowers across the collegiate University that support Oxford’s pollinators and raise awareness for the importance of biodiversity. Participating gardeners have the chance to see the full process from seed to flower in full bloom and capture the impact with some citizen science surveys of bee populations.
Planning for 2024 is now underway, more information will be released soon on our newsletters, website and social media.
Sustainability Photographer of the Year competition
This annual competition takes place in Trinity term and invites students and staff members from across the University to show us what moves you to take environmental action, through the lens of your camera, capturing visuals from across Oxfordshire that feature wildlife, people and place.
Planning for 2024 is now underway, more information will be released soon on our newsletters, website and social media.
Other ways to get involved
1. Engage with the Oxford Student Union Sustainability Hub. Discover a range of useful resources and find out what the SU is doing on sustainability, and how you can be more sustainable during your time at Oxford.
2. Attend seminar series, lectures and webinars from academic departments with Oxford Talks.
3. Join one of the many environmental or sustainability societies.
4. Visit one of Oxford’s online comprehensive resource hubs fostering knowledge exchange, education, and inspiration such as the Climate Library, curated by students for students, and ORA Climate Research portal.
