Get involved with sustainability

Sustainability governance and student involvement

Governance for Environmental Sustainability is via our Executive lead for Sustainability – our Chief Operating Officer (COO), Joanna Hynes, who sits on the University Executive Group and reports to the Board of Governors. Sustainability is the responsibility of our Director of Sustainability, Katie Clegg, reporting to the COO and part of the University Leadership Group.

Meet the Sustainability team

Students are represented as members in University decision-making committees, groups and boards associated with strategic planning, finance and estates, where sustainability aspects are considered. Our Student Union President and Vice President are full committee members and representatives of the following groups (not exhaustive): 

  • Capital Projects Programme Board
  • Estates projects and delivery groups
  • City Centre Mobilisation Programme Board
  • Academic Board

The Sustainability Champions Network

The Sustainability Champions Network is a cross-sectional working group set up to support initiatives such as increasing net biodiversity, waste reduction initiatives, and supporting behavioural campaigns to support wider-scale projects.

The Sustainability Champions group meets every two months to share ideas and track progress on initiatives. Anyone is welcome and should contact the Sustainability Manager, Bill Townend, if they wish to join.

 

Meetings in 2025
  • 12/02/2025
  • 04/06/2025
  • 07/08/2025
  • 09/10/2025
  • 10/12/2025
Meetings in 2024
  • 23/01/2024
  • 25/04/2024
  • 27/06/2024
  • 29/08/2024
  • 29/10/2024
  • 18/12/2024

Our engagement plans for sustainability

Whilst we are already doing lots of great things to progress social and environmental sustainability through our Strategic Plan commitments, there’s more we can do collectively. We therefore need a new, detailed and holistic plan to help us collaborate to achieve these commitments, where everyone has a part to play. Sustainability is a long-term journey, but by working together, we can make a difference quickly.    

Over the course of 2024 and 2025, we have embarked on an exciting engagement plan to engage with our staff and students to start to build a collective understanding of sustainability, what it means for us, what we are already doing and what we want to do about it. Through this, we are developing our new long-term Sustainability Value Creation Framework and action plan to create the change we want to see and the positive value we want to create. We have been running a series of workshops, events and activities throughout 2024 and 2025 to help bring staff, students and local communities together to engage on sustainability. 

The implementation of this engagement plan is led and budgeted through the Sustainability Directorate, working collaboratively across the whole University, in addition to external experts, who have been recruited to support the development and delivery of this engagement campaign. We are also working with local community groups to promote and collaborate on their activities.

We are measuring the effectiveness of our engagement plan through feedback, attendance and engagement analytics and tracking progress against our project plan. We are reporting progress with our engagement plan through our Sustainability team planning and reporting cycle.

We initially set a baseline of reaching over 400 staff and students directly through our workshops and events across 2024 and 2025. Since the summer of 2024, we have spoken with over 550 staff and students and reached many more indirectly through our campaigns.

Our events

Upcoming events
  • Monthly Horsforth Climate Action events - join our local community climate group for inspiring and interactive events throughout Spring and Summer – see Horsforth Climate Action for their latest events 
  • Monthly Interdisciplinary Environmental Sustainability Research Group meetings – for academic research colleagues to collaborate on sustainability research – contact Laura De Pretto for meeting dates.
  • 10th July 7-9pm - Climate Conversations: Nature Recovery Plan - Horsforth Climate Action and LTU &ndash Come along and get involved with developing our Nature Recovery Action Plan for Horsforth – Book here Climate Conversation: Launch of a Nature Recovery Plan for Horsforth
2024 events

We ran the following activities focused around our staff community during the Summer 2024: 

  • Focused co-creation sessions with students and staff on the proposed engagement plan 
  • Critical Friends group (of staff and students) to help steer the engagement plan, outcomes and Sustainability Strategy 
  • Five interactive sustainability “Be part of the change” workshops for staff to learn more about sustainability, what it means for LTU and their role and explore what actions we want to take forward 
  • Sustainability knowledge share sessions with the Leadership community 
  • Informal Sustainability Walk and Talk events around campus 
  • Make it or mend it events 
  • Education for sustainable development embedding workshops – via our Curriculum for Social Justice programme. 
  • Mechanisms to collate feedback on sustainability initiatives and ideas via email and pop-up stands 
  • Pop up stalls – Wow cups giveaway to staff and Tea on the landing 
  • Communication campaign to raise awareness of sustainability at LTU
  • Curriculum for Social Justice workshops – workshops for programme leads to further support education for sustainable development embedding into our curriculum.
  • LTU Professional Challenge - Level 4 students learnt about the UN SDG’s and developed initiatives to engage our LTU community in sustainability, with a potential budget of £1000 on offer to bring the projects to life!
  • Sustainability Workshop: Catholic Education Network Event - workshop delivered by John Paul de Quay for education professionals on how education is key to sustainability.

In the Autumn term of 2024/25 we continued our sustainability engagement plan, this time with a greater focus on our student communities and bringing these together with our staff community.

  • Student Inductions – Get Going Guide - Information about sustainability at LTU is included in all student inductions through our Get Going Guide, with further information on events and activities via our MyLTU app, available to LTU students and via our social media channels.
  • Freshers Fair and PG Welcome event - Sustainability Stall – pop-up stall and giveaway for students of our new WoW reusable coffee cups.
  • Dreaming of Sustainability Creative workshop –  This event was a partnership between the SPARK Social Justice Project and Leeds Trinity University. It was a fun and interactive creative session, where students were guided to dream, draw and explore their vision of a sustainable and Net Zero Carbon future. This workshop was designed using Catholic Social Teaching around sustainability principles and is for everyone of all ages, faiths or no belief system to enjoy. For more information about this concept, see Let us dream - The Journey to 2030
  • Green Libraries week – Students came along to the ALKC during the week starting 7th October to get involved in Green Libraries activities throughout the week. There was a big book swap, a treasure hunt around the Library with prizes and a Make it or Mend it lunch. We'll also had free plants available in the 1st floor library Wellbeing space all week.
  • Wellbeing area – Throughout 2024/25, escape the rain, chill out in our AKLC wellbeing area (1st floor of the library) - A relaxing space for you to use as you wish, with mindfulness activities such as sewing, puzzles, colouring and books. Keep an eye out for pop-up plant exchanges and other activities advertised, and feel free to donate mindfulness items to the space. Hang a sustainability idea on the sustainability tree.
  • Sustainability and SDG’s – pop-up event Staff and students engaged with our Sustainability team and found out more about sustainability at LTU, what we are doing about it and how you can get involved in shaping our plans. There were some free vegan food samples to nibble on too.
  • Woodland wander and nature mapping with Friends of Hunger Hills Woods and Horsforth Climate Action – Staff and Students joined local community groups for a guided tour of the nearby Hunger Hills woods and were involved in some nature mapping as part of the Horsforth Climate Action Bioblitz project.
2025 events
  • Curriculum for Social Justice workshops – Workshops for programme leads to further support education for sustainable development embedding into our curriculum. Contact the CELT team for further information. 
  • LTU Professional Challenge – Level 4 students learnt about the UN SDGs and developed initiatives to engage our LTU community in sustainability, with a potential budget of £1000 on offer to bring the projects to life! 

Engagement activities

Student engagement activities

We engage with our students through Love MyLTU week campaigns with an environmental focus, resulting in many pledges made by students to change their habits and help support a sustainable campus. We also support our Students' Union with their Go Green week and collaborate with Leeds Trinity University Students' Union (LTSU) to promote events and activities for students via their social media platforms. 

LTSU is also part of the Green Impact accreditation scheme, achieving “Excellent” in 2020/21 and 2021/22.  Leeds Trinity University supports the Students' Union with this student-led accreditation - you can read more on the LTSU website.

Staff engagement activities

The Sustainability team are currently working with our Learning and Development partners to enhance information provided to staff as part of their induction. Currently, as part of induction, staff are directed to our sustainability webpages, our Sustainability Intranet site and the champions group. As part of a redevelopment of the Induction process in 2025, we are developing a new workshop model to provide further support to new starters on key topics, where sustainability will be represented.  

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