Education for Sustainable Development

University of Salford staff are invited to join the ESD Community of Practice. A range of useful resources are available including documents and links to recordings, and regular updates about ESD news and events are shared. It is a great place to learn more about ESD, ask for advice, share best practice and collaborate with colleagues from across the University.

The ESD Officer is available to provide bespoke support to colleagues to help them raise awareness of ESD and embed ESD into their programmes. This includes:

• ‘Introduction to ESD’ presentations.
• More in-depth workshops to explore how disciplines align to sustainability.
• 121 advice and support sessions.
• Supporting development of new sustainability related course content or assessments.
• ESD resources and guidance.

The wider Sustainability Team are also able to support academic colleagues to introduce sustainability into their programmes through:

• Guest lectures.
• Provision of live briefs.
• Supporting student projects.

Contact sustainability@salford.ac.uk to discuss your requirements.

Our annual staff sustainability survey helps us to monitor the impacts of these initiatives and identify and prioritise other useful support.

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Centre (LTEC) work with colleagues across the University, striving for inspiring and exceptional learning experiences for all Salford students. They facilitate formal and informal continuing academic professional development opportunities, support and training for educational technologies, and support and guidance for pedagogic enquiry. Their mission is to lead the University community in innovative, digitally enabled and societally focused pedagogic practice and scholarship of education.

ESD is incorporated into the University’s Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, including via a workshop delivered by the ESD Officer. Sustainability is also a regular topic at the annual Festival of Learning & Teaching and within the LTEC monthly Spotlights.

The wider LTEC resources and support are also useful for ESD practice, particularly in terms of transforming pedagogy.

Students, colleagues and the wider community are encouraged to get inspiration from the brilliant research that is going on at University of Salford in sustainability. Some examples are available on the Research page, and you can see it in action on our campus in our Living Lab, part of the Ignition Project.

See the links below for some external guidance and resources on ESD:

• 2021 Advance HE QAA Education for sustainable development: Guidance for UK higher education providers.
• Advance HE Framework for Education for Sustainable Development.
• The University of Salford has full membership of the EAUC, The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education. They offer a range of useful resources and networks and all staff and students can join for free: Join EAUC.
• Realigning Curricula for the Future: Links to previous sessions relating a wide range of subject areas and opportunities to embed ESD.
• ESD Topic Support Network: includes information on how to join the network as well as links to materials, presentations and recordings from previous meetings and webinars about a wide range of topics.
• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs/Global Goals).
• UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development website.
• Future Fit Framework

More useful guidance can be found in the ESD Community of Practice.

Each year, SOS-UK run the SDG Teach In campaign through March, which aims to put the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and therefore sustainability, at the heart of all stages of education, and across all disciplines.

We encourage colleagues to get involved each year and pledge to embed the SDGs into their teaching.

Staff within the School of Science, Engineering and Environment have developed collaborative learning projects involving MSc students from the environment, health, safety and wildlife disciplines working on real world sustainability projects with private, public and third sector organisations. Students either work in teams on professional practice projects or as individuals on practice-based dissertations.

They develop a range of real-world skills that are essential for the sustainability professional including negotiating terms of reference with clients, project planning, collecting and analysing data relevant to the project aims, reflecting on performance and writing reports. Throughout the project students keep a ‘reflective learning journal’ to provide insight into the learning process and to inform action planning for future learning and partnership working.

Since 2009 this programme of work-based learning has resulted in over 100 team and individual projects involving around 60 different organisations and over 100 individual contacts. Projects range from assessing the feasibility of implementing sustainable technologies and management measures in business through evaluating health programmes delivered by partner organisations to assessing baseline ecological conditions at key sites. 

 Some examples of projects are: 

• Students worked with a local authority to examine local issues of sustainable food production and consumption. The project assessed the value of ‘food miles’ as an indicator of sustainability and undertook community engagement on the awareness of food sustainability issues to inform the local authority strategic framework.
• Students worked with a multinational manufacturing company examining sustainable technologies. The project assessed the feasibility of applying rainwater harvesting technology within a carpet tile manufacturing company by determining the economic and environmental benefits. A proposed rainwater harvesting system was developed informing company policy on water management on site.
• Students worked with a large bulk chemicals manufacturing company to develop competency management systems for workers in high hazard industries. This work provided the basis for a system that the company later implemented at their plant in the North West of England.

The MSc programme has also worked with the Environmental Sustainability Team to support the development and maintenance of the Environment and Energy Management System through students supporting internal audits and specific projects such as energy conservation, pollution prevention and waste reduction.

We recognise that the environmental impact of the fashion industry is enormous. Level 4 students in Fashion Image Making and Styling (FIMS) worked on a 6-week environmental brief CARING SHARING, set in tandem with the University of Salford’s Environmental Sustainability Team and linking with an Extinction Rebellion take over day. The work was then exhibited as part of Go Green Salford.

The 60 students collaborated together in small groups of 8-10 and were challenged with ethical environmental consciousness at the core and progressing sustainable solutions to fashion industry waste creating responses with a zero-waste anchor.

The Environmental Sustainability Team underpinned the brief with facts and statistics and FIMS were inspired by major influencers from Greta Thunberg, Collina Strada, More or Less magazine amongst others. Working with major industry game changers Matty Bovan and Cecily Ophelia, the students mobilized and acted sustainably to create a showcase in the atrium of the New Adelphi building of collaborative responses drawing upon the urgent need to address the ongoing climate crisis. They created new discourses and rhetoric around the ecological disaster asking others to act now before its too late.

The exhibition ran for a month and showcased everything from trainers with the soles carved into patterns to spread the message, to patchwork blankets made from boiler suits from oil rigs, to engaging with local green Politicians to write speeches on youth voices, to soundtracks, to hand dyeing all our wardrobe, to making luxury sculptural dresses out of plastic waste, to re-creating the iconic LV Louis Vuitton logo as a green party collaboration. One group took it to the next level, contacting a local school made mini magazines and taught schoolchildren how to reconnect to core skills, such as sewing, dying, spreading the environmental message beyond our wildest realms – this group has been asked back to do more with the children. The group said it was the best day of their lives-young people helping young people is super empowering and inspiring -these will be the future industry game changers. 

FIMS also participated in a XR takeover day with the students helping run a non profit clothing swap shop offering styling advise, restyling and face painting sessions and running a mini photo studio to record new looks as they happened – this was a truly exciting day resulting in widening participation with FIMS now being given the chance to run more swap shops on a regular basis for the University.

A number of level 4 and level 6 FIMS students were also actively involved in Go Green Salford 2021 by creating content and leading events on topics such as slow fashion, upcycling, second hand clothes and digital fashion. Materials from these were later used in coursework projects by some of them. In April 2021, the Environmental Sustainability Team were also invited by FIMS to take part in a discussion panel during their sustainable fashion digital symposium, "Skywoman Falling".

FIMS staff take their responsibility so seriously as a staff team embedding and encouraging students to have good ethics. At the heart of the curriculum this module proves what young people can do if given the support. 'We would not be doing our jobs if we let them continue blindly on ignoring all the evidence when the fashion industry is desperate for next level thinkers and solutions that are creative and original. We are equipping each and every one with the tools they need to help make the changes needed in the industry and beyond with facts and solutions. Sustainability is a journey not a destination and we are fully committed to this path we are on as a staff team with our amazing student cohort -as one ethical caring family. Tomorrows employees and game changers not afraid to stand up for issues believed in passionately helping others understand the situation we are faced with but in positive and dynamic ways – joining forces for change having the confidence to speak up and care, because we care.'

Recognising that sustainability is just good business the Salford Business School has supported the Business Ethics and Sustainability (BE&S) module team to empower and inspire our next generation business leaders to make lasting environmental, social and economic benefit.

The BE&S module within the Salford Business School (SBS) is a super module for level 6, and reaches around 350 students every academic year, our future business leaders. The module has been delivered in SBS in various appearances for a number of years and it has been recently redesigned to be a real-world student learning experience by partnering with the Social Enterprise Visits Initiative (SEVI) and the UoS Sustainability team. The delivery of teaching has a combination of pedagogical approaches including workshops, guest talks and field trips to social enterprises with a keen focus on skills and knowledge that is vital for professional practice and employability.

The key partnership is with the UoS Sustainability Team, not only delivering lectures that provided the foundation on how UoS is trying to be more sustainable and what the main challenges are, but also meaningfully engaging with the students to help develop the University Sustainability Strategy. Taking the principle of students as partners wider than just teaching and learning but in development of a University wide strategy and tackling some of the sustainability issues on campus. Through a group assessment students have to critically assess how the UoS is addressing one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and identify the main strengths and weaknesses of how the UoS is tackling the SDG. Based on their analysis they present recommendations and a project plan, which would assist the UoS in tackling the selected SDG in the future. Furthermore, students have to investigate and select one charity in Manchester or Salford area that they would like to support and incorporate in their presentation. The best presentation had a chance to win a monetary price that would be donated to the selected charity. The winners of The Best Sustainability Project Idea are announced at the end of every semester where students meet with their charities and pass on their donation.

The UoS ST is a relatively small team with limited resources for engagement. The partnership through BEST enables ongoing dialogue with students that would not otherwise be possible. This also presented the opportunity to deliver information on environmental management at the University such as waste and recycling and provided a barometer of awareness to measure changes in knowledge and attitudes. 

Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME)

PRME's vision is to realise the Sustainable Development Goals through responsible management education and it’s vision is to transform business and management education and develop the responsible leaders of tomorrow. It now includes over 800 business schools worldwide

The University is proud to have adopted the PRME Principles reporting on progress since 2013. The Principles have played an important role in shaping, the Salford Business School’s strategies relating to teaching, learning, research and external engagement. The University of Salford vision is that: “by pioneering exceptional industry partnerships we will lead the way in real world experiences, preparing students for life.”

Our goal is to prepare students for the careers of tomorrow and ensure they have the knowledge, skills, attributes and confidence to succeed in the workplace. A critical element of this strategy is the need to ensure all our students have an understanding of contemporary business models. Here, Salford Business School is playing an increasing role across the University in seeking to lead the University’s and students’ understanding in this regard. Explicitly, this focuses on ensuring that students develop an understanding of what is best-practice authentic, collaborative and co-created business, management and leadership. As a result we are placing the principles of developing practice that is ethically grounded and socially responsible at our core. Our commitment to the Principles for Responsible Management Education supports this.

The connected, critical and action oriented managers and leaders we seek to develop will be at the forefront of business and society in the future, and it important - now more than ever - that these graduates are underpinned by a proper understanding of ethical, sustainable and socially responsible business practices.

The Sustainability Team encourage students across all disciplines to get involved with sustainability on campus through the generation of live briefs for projects. These have been integrated into the curriculum as dissertations or other assessments and as extra-curricular opportunities. This provides students with the opportunity to make a real difference to the University and beyond. Real life sustainability challenges are also offered by the wider community and external organisations.

Recent examples:

• As part of the Professional Practice module for master’s students within the Geography and Environmental Management Directorate, student groups partner with industry to tackle real-world sustainability challenges. One group in 2025 responded to a live brief set by the University Sustainability Team, carrying out an assessment of air quality on the University campus. Their results will support sustainable travel and green space workstreams. Another group analysed the perception of physical outdoor spaces on the University of Salford campus.
• The Sustainability Team set a live brief in 2025 for students studying MA Wildlife Documentary Production, to produce a film showcasing green spaces and wildlife on campus. The film will be used in communications to create interest and value in our green campus.
• A MA Visual Communication student responded to a live brief to support the Plastic Free University of Salford campaign by creating visual materials for the campaign around single use plastic. The students’ project visuals depicting ‘The Lonely Journey of a Plastic Bottle’ will be used for the University’s 2025 Plastic Free July campaign.
• Each year since 2023, three Interior Design students work at the Suez Renew Hub over 15 days to redesign display pods from waste materials, upholstering and upcycling material that would otherwise go to landfill.

Some other examples of previous student projects are listed below:

• Biodiversity and habitat surveys on campus
• Development of a tree trail on campus, including photographs of trees and designing maps  
• Development of a sustainable procurement guide
• Using creative tools and art to engage with sustainability
• Review of food waste management
• Anti-littering campaign materials for Salford City Council
• Energy and water, waste and environmental audits
• Exploring the value of green spaces on campus
• How to increase recycling on campus
• How to encourage behaviour change to reduce energy use in student accommodation
• Cycle parking review
• Review of green roof management and opportunities
• Development of a sustainability campus trail

The Sustainability Team have also funded and supported extra-curricular student-led projects, including the Salford Swap Shop, Salford Climate Cafe, and several wildlife and sustainable art workshops.

Student involvement with cross-institutional opportunities to address sustainability challenges has also been supported, including the Manchester Unhackathon and Green Careers Mission.

If you are a student interested in developing your own sustainability research ideas, or an academic wanting to incorporate live briefs into a module, please get in touch to explore opportunities. The Sustainability Team also encourages students to establish and lead sustainability projects outside of their studies and can often support with funding.