Abstract

The increasingly acute consequences of climate change pose pressing ethical and practical questions for researchers and for academic institutions. Lancaster University is undertaking a Wellcome Trust funded project to inform our approach to this global challenge.

We focus on three overarching but interlinking pillars: P1) the sustainability of our evolving research practices, P2) the mitigations for ethical risks arising from reshaping research approaches, and P3) the enhancement of inclusion in our research community and practices. Under these pillars we are:

investigating internal and external current practices and innovative ideas
developing support mechanisms, new resources, strategies and policies for researchers to adapt to recent changes and ready them for future developments
evaluating and communicating our activities, identifying best practice for sharing across the sector and optimising further development opportunities.

Sustainable research seeks to ensure our interactions with the environment avoid depletion or degradation of natural resources, reduce, or eradicate our greenhouse gas emissions and allow for long term environmental quality. Sustainable research practices can be achieved in various ways, such as reducing energy consumption by using energy-efficient equipment in labs, using carpooling, electric vehicles and public transportation during fieldwork, utilising online meetings, webinars instead of travelling for in-person meetings, using digital materials instead of printed ones.

We are also interested in the intersection of sustainability with the demands of research careers – for example, concerns around the varying requirements of different career stages and fields of research.

The project's deliverables (which will be available beyond Lancaster) include:

Training tools for researchers on sustainability
An international network and symposium of climate activist academics
New mobile sensing (“Micro:bit”) devices and training resources on their usage for citizen science research projects
A detailed analysis of existing policy documents addressing sustainability in Universities across the UK
Recommendations for policy and practice changes

We will present an overview of the project and its findings and deliverables to date. We hope that through the presentation conference delegates will take away useful information about each pillar, the intersectionality of all three and activities that they can undertake in their HEI to start to address concerns/problems.

We hope to gather information that can be used as part of the project by asking questions of the audience about their concerns and solutions to the issues. We will also provide a way for delegates to keep in touch with the project, inform our research and benefit from our final deliverables.