Get Involved and become a Sustainability Champion!
There are a variety of ways for students, staff and visitors to get involved with sustainability at the University. We host regular events, workshops and information sessions and also collaborate with colleagues across the University to incorporate sustainability into their teaching and research. Find out more about what we’ve been up to, and how you can get involved below.
What can you do?
There are a lot of ways to get involved with sustainability at the University, take a look here.
Sustainable Volunteering Opportunities
Find out more about volunteering opportunities with our local sustainability partners, and how to get involved.
Green Rewards - Sustainability Competition
Green Rewards is the first sustainability competition at our university! It’s a fun and engaging way for staff and students to achieve more sustainable actions.
Teaching and Learning
Find out how sustainability is embedded into teaching and learning at the Universitry of Huddersfield
There are many ways for you to get involved with sustainability at the University. Check out some of our ideas below, and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @HudSustainability:
For students
- Join the Sustainability Champions Team to be kept in the loop of the latest Sustainability Team news, events and activities.
- Join the Students Union Sustainability Society. Raise issues you care about by contacting your elected Students’ Union officers or sharing your Big Ideas
- Take part in a growing project with the Feel Good Gardening Gang.
- Become a leader of your own sustainability project or event on campus – share your ideas with us, or ask us to help you get started at sustainability@hud.ac.uk
- Live green every day – find out how you can travel, eat and dispose of waste more sustainably on campus on our web pages, or follow us on Instagram to see regular hints and tips on how to live more sustainably.
- Join the EAUC (Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges) as a student member for free to learn what universities all around the UK are doing on sustainability
For staff
- Join the Sustainability Champions Team to be kept in the loop of the latest Sustainability Team news, events and activities.
- Start your own work based project! Get in touch for help on how to get started.
- Take a look at the employee benefits section on the Intranet to find out about the travel schemes on offer to help you travel more sustainably, including the newly improved Cycle2Work scheme, and various bus and train travel discounts.
- Work green every day- evaluate the working practices of yourself and your colleagues, is there anything you can change to reduce your impact on the Environment?
- Join the EAUC (Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges) as a staff member free, to discover how UK universities are adapting to sustainability challenges
What is a Sustainability Champion?
Sustainability Champions is an initiative that has being set up by the university’s Sustainability Team. It is for people who want to play a more direct, active and consistent role in environmental and social issues on and beyond campus. It is open to students, staff, and indeed the wider public.
Sustainability Champions is an umbrella scheme that cuts across various areas, from energy saving to biodiversity programmes to community engagement. Crucially, the purpose of the Sustainability Champions initiative is not just for environmental and social stewardship, but for professional development, including skills growth and résumé building.
What does being a Sustainability Champion entail?
As a Sustainability Champion, you will make a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) commitment to sustainability activities on and off campus that is tailored to your convenience and to existing environmental and social projects/programmes being delivered by the university. For example:
- Participating in existing sustainability groups/sub-groups (such as Tree Planting and the Feel Good Gardening Gang) at least once in a calendar year.
- Engaging with friends and colleagues on and off campus to let them know about sustainability events taking place in the university.
- Working with the Energy Manager to conduct energy audits in university buildings at least once in a calendar year.
- Volunteer with the Sustainability Team on projects such as event coordination, energy shut downs, data collection and surveys, running social media campaigns and promotions, creating impactful campaigns.
- Participate in green travel initiatives such as Cycling training sessions.
- Participate in Litter picks and encourage good recycling habits both a the University and at home.
- Promote Behaviour Change (to include initiatives for campus users as well as individuals working or studying from home).
Join the team to get involved and start your sustainability journey.
Working in collaboration with Huddersfield Students' Union, our annual Green Week consists of a variety of events based around sustainability, attended and hosted by students and staff from across the University.
Have a look at this years Line up, at our previous Green Weeks or get in touch if you would like to get involved and host your own event.
Green Rewards - Sustainability Competition
The first ever University of Huddersfield sustainability competition 🌍
We're thrilled to announce the launch of Green Rewards, the first sustainability competition at our university! It’s a fun and engaging way for staff and students to track their positive environmental, social and other impacts and work in teams to achieve more.
Start earning points for taking relevant actions — like reducing waste and energy usage, sustainable shopping, or participation in GPA Global Awareness activities. There are monthly prizes to be won, plus you gain wellbeing, learning and socialising benefits as well!
How to sign up
- Go to https://onelink.to/uohgreenrewards and ensure you sign-up with your work or student email address.
- Provide a few details about yourself and select a department/team.
- You can also download the University of Huddersfield Green Rewards mobile app.
- Start completing activities, earning points and climbing the leader board!
- Every month, we have 3 x £20 vouchers (for M&S, Argos, Asda and other stores) for members who have earned the most points. Every 6 months we hold a team competition; the teams with the most points win £140 to donate to the charity Revive Reuse.
Need further details?
Contact the Sustainability Team at sustainability@hud.ac.uk or call 07903428272 if you have any questions about the Green Rewards programme and signing up.
Who will be crowned the ultimate Sustainability Champion?
The University regularly collaborates with the local community organisation Environment Projects in Kirklees (EPIKS), collaborating on E-bike events and hire shcemes, hosting litter picks along the River Colne, and working to map new Greenstreams campus walk around the University and wider River Colne basin. Walking routes have been mapped which will be installed on campus in the new academic year, these will encourage staff and students to stay healthy by taking active breaks from their work or learning.
Further collaborative projects include The Canalside Project, a practical skills programme supporting 15 students from Kirklees College who attended weekly sessions with the Grounds Maintenance Team between October 2019 and March 2020. The University also offers a Supported Internship programme for students with the grounds maintenance team; and provides short placements to students within a variety of roles in Estates and Facilities, giving individuals practical experience of the workplace environment.
The Mini-Allotment Project located on campus gained great momentum as an educational and social space for staff throughout the summer and autumn of 2019, resulting in an increased demand for similar projects. The mini-allotments were unable to be tended by the group during the Coronavirus pandemic so the University organised to have these replanted with herbs and other edibles for the enjoyment of the whole University community as they return to campus. Thias project is currently under development to allow its’ expansion to include more staff and students at locations across the University Estate. These planters are adopted by small groups or departments, get in touch to register your interest!
The University continues to develop opportunities and partnerships to embed sustainability within the student curriculum.
Events Management students engage with Fairtrade in their learning by organising the annual Fairtrade Fortnight headline event on behalf of the University and Kirklees Fairtrade Forum as part of their final year project. This has contributed to the University successfully achieving the new 1* University and Colleges Fairtrade Award, promoting and engaging with Fairtrade at the University and in the wider community as an active member of the Kirklees Fairtrade Forum.
Computing and Engineering students have frequently engaged with sustainability as part of their degree courses. In both 2019 and 2020 the Sustainability Team were invited to set a challenge as part of the Computing and Engineering undergraduate Design Week event, with the cross-disciplinary design of an innovative solution to a real-world problem.
Students are also able to engage with us through extra-curricular activities to help build their CV’s and portfolios. Students have previously attended training via SOS UK to become Fairtrade auditors, attended sustainability conferences free of charge and contributed to social media content through blog posts, videos and photographs.
Future opportunities are being explored to establish research opportunities on campus where undergraduate students are able to participate in longitudinal research projects as part of their studies.