As a current student or staff member at the University of Birmingham there are lots of ways for you to develop your knowledge and skills around sustainability.
Develop your knowledge
All students and staff are expected to undertake the one-hour Sustainability in Action online training course. This provides foundational knowledge of the breadth of sustainability through the three pillars (environmental, social and economic) and the UN SDGs, including key topics such as climate change, the ecological crisis and carbon awareness. It covers core areas including energy and water use, consumption and recycling, travel, food choices, in combination with a practical understanding of how to be more sustainable both at home and on campus. Participant’s sustainability knowledge is assessed through a multiple-choice assessment with an 80% pass rate.
This training is being embedded into our teaching and learning, for example, through core tutorial programmes and workshops in the summer term programme. The course is also embedded into staff inductions and we can support whole team uptake through complementary workshop sessions.
For those who wish to take their learning further there is a 4-week (~15 hour) short course ‘One Planet, One Future: Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustainability’ to develop your biodiversity literacy skills. Knowledge attainment for both of these courses is assessed with a minimum pass rate of 80%.
We also have a 'Sustainability and Green Impact' resource list, which provides access to a wealth of books, papers and resources about different elements of sustainability. You can even suggest any additions you would like to see. The library regularly have displays linked to sustainability, for example, for Earth Day you could explore books linked to each of the SDGs.
Further opportunities for all to develop further skills and knowledge is also available through activities such as our Green Weeks, Sustainability Champions workshops, and events throughout the year. More information about these can be found on our 'Get involved in Sustainability’ pages.
Student Specific Opportunities
Students specifically engage with our Graduate Attributes, the qualities regarded as necessary to navigate the fourth industrial revolution and contribute to a rapidly changing society. Sustainability-focused is a key attribute under Future-Focused and is broadly defined as ‘being committed to sustainable development in every aspect of life’. As part of this wider activity students are able to identify their strengths and areas to develop in relation to this attribute, and there is the provision of resources to support this.
Undergraduate students can also apply to undertake a paid Summer Sustainability Internship with one of our global-leading research groups. Read about one student’s sustainabilty internship experience in their blog post. These internships are open to non-graduating undergraduate students during the summer (up to 6 weeks long, 25 hours per week). Priority is given to Birmingham Scholar students (am I a Birmingham Scholar?), but all are welcome to apply. In previous years, projects have ranged from lab-based research exploring the development of clean and commercially viable alternative fuels through to sustainable film and tv production and the execution of policy analysis on migration and climate change in North Macedonia.
There are also a range of institution-level, national and international competitions that we support students to take part in. For example:
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The Birmingham Project (embeds the core competencies and challenges linked to sustainability).
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UK & I PRME Responsible Business and Management Student Writing Competition.
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Reimagine our Future Competition in collaboration with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.