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2018 Finalist BrochureAwarding sustainability excellence since 2010

Green Gown Awards

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3 Foreword

6 BenefittingSociety

As anchors in their communities and cities, tertiary education institutions benefit society in many ways.

8 Campus Health, Food & Drink

This category includes all food, drink and hospitality aspects of healthy, sustainable institutions.

10 Continuous Improvement

This category recognises sustained and successful activities to improve the sustainability performance of tertiary education institutions, faculties and buildings, via a whole of institution approach, over a number of years.

12 Creating Impact

This category recognises institutions that have achieved significant sustainability-related outcomes, on campus or within their community, using minimal and/or limited resources.

14 Learning,Teaching&Skills

This category recognises achievement in the development of academic courses, skills and capabilities relevant to sustainability.

Find the finalist’s top Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) next to their “Top 3 Learnings”.

16 Outstanding Leadership Team

As sustainability mainstreams across an institution, leadership for sustainability is often distributed widely – embracing both staff and students.

18 StudentEngagement

This category recognises initiatives which have been developed and/or substantially influenced by students. Activities aimed at raising awareness and changing the behaviour of student groups, staff or communities are favoured.

22 SustainableCampus

Building on the previous Carbon Reduction category, this category recognises pathfinding campus and learning innovation.

24 ACTSAwardOfExcellence–Staff

Recognises the sustainability achievements of an individual ACTS staff member who has been working hard to achieve change towards sustainability at any level.

26 ACTSAwardOfExcellence–Student

Recognises any student from an ACTS member institution who deserves recognition for sustainability related activities undertaken.

Contents International Green Gown Award category

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It seems that so much of significance has transpired around the world in 2018 that we could become overwhelmed by the challenges constantly put in our pathway. And yet, even in the face of continuing adversities such as the powerful effects of climate change, the diminishing of rights in some countries, and the political backflips on important commitments and legislations, we see so many beacons of hope – across the world and across the tertiary sector in Australia and New Zealand.

And so, here we are celebrating some of those beacons of hope with yet another year of amazing achievements throughout the sector. As always, we wholeheartedly congratulate this year’s Green Gown Award Australasia finalists, and celebrate all institutions innovating and educating towards a sustainable future. Each and every institution deserves to be recognised for the commitments they have made and continue to make towards a more sustainable society. And of course, institutions working towards a sustainable future are nothing without the teams behind them leading the charge, and to these teams we send an enormous thank you.

Leanne Denby President, Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS)

International Awards

The Green Gown Awards underline the value and recognition that winning offers, and highlights the continued importance of sustainability within the international tertiary educational sector. The winners from the regional Awards compete for the international title in three categories – Benefitting Society, Continuous Improvement: Institutional Change, and Student Engagement.

Foreword

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Benefitting Society

Communityconnectionsimpactchange–whytheVictoriaPlusProgrammedrivesthedifference

Making the most of the university experience often requires students to step outside their comfort zone, affect change and connect to their community. Since 2008 hundreds of students have opted in to Victoria University’s extra-curricular Victoria Plus Programme to do just that. We designed a flexible, inclusive and wide ranging extra-curricular service and leadership programme to encourage students to get involved, help others and hone their skills. Achieving an award in recognition of volunteering and civic engagement is valuable but even more is the students’ sense of purpose and willingness to continue their involvement well into future life and career.

Top 3 learnings

1 Demonstrate the value for students and make it fun – this ensures that students want to get involved and trust that their efforts will be recognised by the University, community and future employers.

2 Build quality connections on Campus and in the community – this ensures partners want to get involved, can trust the calibre of the students participating, and ensures the programme’s sustainability.

3 Give it profile. Bring employers and community organisations into the programme. Have the VC participate in the awards ceremony and secure a champion on the Senior Leadership Team to ensure adequate resourcing for the programme.

Worldleadershipinsolar–UNSWSydneypavingthewaytothefuturewith100%PVagreement

In 2018, UNSW signed a 15-year Solar Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) with Maoneng Australia and Origin Energy which will enable us to offset all our electricity and natural gas related emissions with solar energy. All our campus’ energy needs will be supplied from a new solar PV farm we have commissioned in regional NSW, bringing jobs and investment to the area.

Our solar PPA has broken new ground in Australia and provides a model that can transform renewable energy procurement across the nation. PPA commercial ‘package solutions’ drawing on the hard work of our consortium are already in the pipeline.

Top 3 learnings

1 Achieving ‘buy in’ from senior leadership and taking the time to explain the intricacies of the complex procurement process is vital for success.

2 A solar PPA that can pass the ‘additionally test’ while creating an electricity supply that is the same, if not cheaper than, traditional coal-fired power.

3 Deals like this tripartite PPA will be critical in driving real change in the way universities and other large energy users procure energy.

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ConnectingCommunity: UQSustainabilityWeek

UQ Sustainability Week is an annual five-day festival that aims to engage, educate and entertain the UQ community and beyond on all aspects of sustainability. With its diverse line-up of events and activities, Sustainability Week is a community-focused way of embedding sustainability in the university’s culture. It’s also the largest event of its kind in the Australian tertiary sector, and rivals the size of equivalent international events.

Top 3 learnings

1 Encouraging UQ areas to propose and host their own events has given the University community a strong sense of ownership and investment in Sustainability Week, and embedded the event in university culture.

2 Reaching beyond the UQ community and making events accessible to the general public has helped spread awareness of Sustainability Week and reinforce its key aims on a much wider scale.

3 Engaging audiences through multiple channels, from hosting in-person events on campus to live-streaming talks from prominent guests, has helped raise the profile of Sustainability Week and extend its reach.

Abouttheawards

The Green Gown Awards Australasia is the only Award scheme dedicated to recognising excellence in sustainability within the tertiary education sector in Australia and New Zealand. Their aim is to recognise and reward institutions taking a positive step towards sustainability, whether large or small, and provide a real and positive platform for others to aspire to and learn from.

The Green Gown Awards Australasia is continually developing, with 9 categories open to Australasian institutions in 2017, including two individual categories to recognise and reward our students and peers.

The Awards are administered by ACTS, and is governed by a cross sector agency steering group made up of:

• Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET)

• Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS)

• Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM)

• Federal Government

• Office for Learning & Teaching (OLT)

• TAFE Directors Australia (TDA)

• Tertiary Access Group (TAG)

• Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association (TEFMA)

• Universities Australia (UA)

SharingbestpracticeThe Awards were created to recognise and reward sustainability excellence, but also to ensure the lessons and examples of good practice are shared within the tertiary education sector as far and wide as possible. Please be sure to view the invaluable and inspiring videos from this year’s and previous years’ finalists on the ACTS YouTube channel. There is a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips.

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Campus Health, Food & Drink

SettingtheBar

After a ‘bin trim’ audit identified that 55% of the waste generated from UniBar was going to landfill, UOW Pulse knew drastic improvements were needed. An overhaul of the bar’s operations and food and beverage offering was undertaken to reduce the environmental impact of the business resulting in an 84% reduction in waste sent to landfill.

Key components of the project included investing in waste separation stations, a Pulpmaster machine to process organic packaging and food waste; the removal of non-recyclable packaging from operations and replacing with recyclable and compostable alternatives; and introducing an extensive vegan food offering to reduce carbon footprint.

Top 3 learnings

1 CutOutUnnecessaryPackaging. Work with supplier to identify packaging solutions to reduce the size and amount of single use packaging.

2 Reduce Waste = Reduce Costs. Looking at waste as a material commodity, makes it easier to identify areas for improvement.

3 It’s not hard! With the right processes in place, significantly reducing the amount of waste going to landfill was easier than expected.

#CSUWarOnWaste

Off the back of the ABC’s hugely popular WarOnWaste TV series, the CSUWarOnWaste campaign started through a partnership between CSU Green and CHEERS [CSU Healthy Eating Entertainment & Retail Services] to reduce packaging waste from food and beverage services.

With annual sales of approximately 160,000 hot beverages, the initiative diverted 38,816 disposable cups from landfill in the period from August to December 2017, and serving more than 50% of coffees sold in a reusable cup by December 2017. As of June 2018, a total of 46% of hot beverages were sold in BYO cups embedding a shift in sustainable behaviour and diverting a total of 80,761 cups from landfill at the 10 month point of this ongoing CSUWarOnWaste campaign. The campaign was rolled-out across nine CHEERS cafés at five campuses (Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga consisting of targeted marketing and a financial incentive driving behaviour change in customers. Additionally, an achievement of the campaign resulted in plastic bag use at CSU reduced by 100 percent by June 2018.

Top 3 learnings

1 Incentivising good behaviour works.

2 The importance of CHEERS staff at point of sale – Cash register staff are the critical faces of the campaign dealing with customers. If staff are not well informed or are complacent the campaign lags.

3 Promote achievements along the journey.

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Food@UTAS?GetitfromtheSource!

Source is a not-for-profit sustainability cooperative. Established in 2005 by a group of students in the Sandy Bay campus of the University of Tasmania, Source is a community-driven organic wholefoods cooperative, permaculture design garden, bustling café, catering provider and community meeting space.

Source has succeeded in providing staff and students with access to food that is ethical, local, organic, wholesome, vegetarian, good for the body and affordable. Source is a real place for students (and staff) to explore what sustainability means, get a taste of what a sustainable food system is, as well as building strong community networks.

Top 3 learnings

1 There is much value in providing students with a physical and social space to think and act creatively around food, particularly ethical and healthy food.

2 The social and educational value of having students cook for each other and teach each other about food is amazing.

3 Food is a fantastic tool for bringing people together around big and complex issues.

UniversityofTasmania

UniversityofWollongong

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Continuous Improvement

SkinnySustainability–Implementingenduringsustainabilitygainsonabargainbasementbudget

Auckland University of Technology (AUT) has been on its sustainability journey for a number of years and is progressively making gains in a broad range of key areas namely; strategy, energy efficiency, low carbon initiatives, sustainable travel, waste minimisation, biodiversity and integrating sustainability and the SDGs into research and teaching. This journey has been strengthened by the support and collaboration of many people both within the university and external to it and has been undertaken with little dedicated financial resource. This application outlines our journey.

Top 3 learnings

1 Making sustainability gains doesn’t have to be expensive. Partnerships, particularly with external organizations, can provide opportunities that could not have been realised by the University on its own.

2 A pan-University body, like the VC’s Sustainability Taskforce, is key to breaking down ‘siloes’ and providing valuable opportunities for student engagement and the exchange of ideas and information.

3 Demonstrable and visible projects, such as the electric bus, are invaluable in demonstrating the University’s commitment to sustainability.

Sustainability@Melbourne

The University of Melbourne, already a global leader in research and teaching excellence, is committed to embedding sustainability into everything we do. From 2015 the University community has built upon the existing foundations for further significant institutional change in the form of a strategic Framework comprising a Sustainability Charter, Plan and Report. This is world-leading for a tertiary education institution because it has made commitments, set targets and is delivering results across all UoM activities - Research, Teaching & Learning, Engagement and Operations and Governance. UoM has demonstrated itself to be a premier example of whole of institutional change towards a more resilient and sustainable future.

Top 3 learnings

1 Get buy in from the top to show leadership and galvanize the University community.

2 Make it everyone’s business!

3 Be open to new ideas and challenges along the way.

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MonashNetZeroInitiative

Monash University aspires to lead the Australian tertiary sector and broader community towards a low carbon economy. We have developed a roadmap to a long term net zero emissions target informed by initial analysis from ClimateWorks’ deep decarbonisation pathways. In October 2017, Monash University made a commitment to achieving Net Zero emissions for all of our Australian built environment by 2030. The delivery of projects to meet this goal is now underway and covers significant energy efficiency projects, electrification of buildings, installation of on-site renewable generation, procurement of off-site renewable electricity, and the deployment of a sustainable Microgrid.

Top 3 learnings

1 Executive buy-in was essential to drive initiatives at all levels of the organisation.

2 Net Zero announcement strategy helped consolidate internal and external engagement, strengthening existing partnerships and creating new opportunities.

3 Beyond the reputational benefits, grounding the initiative in its financial implications, aligning finance to sustainability outcomes, constituted a key program enabler.

ReadyforLifeandWork–anevolutionofsustainabilityatRMIT

2017 marked the 130-year anniversary of the founding of RMIT University, this provided a great opportunity to reflect on the transformational impact we have had on our students, staff and community both then and now. RMIT understands that sustainability is key to ensuring this legacy not only survives but thrives into the future. With this in mind it is important to recognise that the University has not only worked for the past ten years to embed sustainability throughout its operations, but has revelled in creating impact through practical and meaningful change.

The past three years detailed in this submission, guided by the latest Strategic Plan ‘Ready for Life and Work’, outlines how RMIT has delivered on its sustainable infrastructure commitment, developed more meaningful sustainability activities to engage its community and provided genuine support to embrace its diverse and dynamic population of staff and students.

Top 3 learnings

1 Each new strategic plan presents an opportunity to reshape and strengthen the sustainability agenda at an institution.

2 Regardless of the maturity of an institution in sustainability, there is always work to be done to ensure frameworks are in place to reduce risk and exposure to sustainability issues.

3 That celebrating meaningful and tangible successes can become an addiction which captures people’s imaginations and drives passion for further action.

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Creating Impact

TropEco:CreatingaCultureofSustainabilityatJCU

JCU’s TropEco program has been embedding a culture of sustainability at JCU for the past 7 years, implementing on-going, high-profile successful initiatives and empowering staff and students for sustainable outcomes. Student and staff engagement is a key focus of the program, with two encompassing programs empowering students and staff to achieve sustainable outcomes.

The student TropEco Interns program has seen over 150 students complete internships since its inception in 2014, working on projects across broad disciplines including; biodiversity, energy, water, waste management, transport, student and staff engagement, governance, business development art, community gardens and ICT.

The Sustainable Office Accreditation Program has engaged over 500 staff since 2016 to implement sustainable activities through a structured accreditation program.

Top 3 learnings

1 Building a culture of sustainability within a large organisation takes persistence and commitment. Never give up!

2 Work on establishing both top down support for sustainability as well as enabling of grassroots initiatives from students and staff.

3 Effective communications of your sustainability programs and initiatives is essential to building a strong culture and empowering staff and students.

Children’sVoicesforGreeningMelbourne:SteppingOut,FindingOut,SpeakingOut

‘Children’s Voices for Greening Melbourne’ is an initiative designed to promote the image of the young child as active citizen who shares the responsibility of ensuring a healthy planet. Within an environmental education framework that focuses learning ‘in, about, for and from’ the environment the children are guided to explore a wide range of environmentally oriented learning content. The ultimate aim of the teaching and learning program is for each child to develop responsible and concerned attitudes towards the sustainable development of the Earth, an appreciation for its resources and beauty and importantly an environmental ethic that enables action taking and speaking out.

Top 3 learnings

1 Acknowledging children as active citizens whose voices are included in environmental matters that impact their lives now and into the future.

2 Integrating 21st Century pedagogy and environmental education into the early childhood curriculum to develop children’s creativity, communication, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

3 Awareness raising, creating connections, making impact and taking action through real-world curriculum, community engagement, environmentally focused events and family partnerships.

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UniversityofTasmaniafocusesonsustainabil-IT-y

Over the past five years, the University of Tasmania IT Services team has demonstrated its continuous commitment to sustainability. Key initiatives include video communications improvements, new procurement and contracting arrangements, policy governing computer lifecycle and disposal, implementation of online Shared Services forms and approvals solution and deployment of a new on-site Managed Print Service. These and other initiatives have not only improved student and staff experience, but have helped achieve our sustainability objectives to reduce University-related travel, energy use, paper use, waste to landfill, and carbon emissions. This is crucial for the University’s commitment to maintaining our carbon neutral certification.

Top 3 learnings

1 A focus on changing approaches to think holistically, without needing to spend huge sums of money, can deliver enormous improvements in other areas – namely sustainable outcomes.

2 Bringing team members on the journey that includes a broader focus increases ownership, job satisfaction and a sense of contribution to University success.

3 Value-adding when investing significant resources into a project brings additional allies and project justifications. JamesCookUniversity

TheUniversityofMelbourne EarlyLearningCentre

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Learning, Teaching & Skills

BeyondResponsibleStrategy–LeadingtheFutureofSustainableMBAlearningand teaching

In 2017, I was a Green Gown Finalist based on my project of turning the MBA competitive business strategy into a course centred on responsible strategy. We have embarked on significant further projects since then and this application summarises our ambitious initiatives towards a sustainable MBA program. MBA programs across the world continue to teach business subjects focusing on financial performance gains. We have made it our mission to change this with a focus on responsibility and sustainability in our MBA program. Our efforts build an innovative, responsible and sustainable business path for students that aligns with our core values.

Top 3 learnings

1 All business subjects that traditionally focus on financial performance CAN be turned into subjects that have responsibility and sustainability at their core.

2 Focusing on sustainability and responsibility in learning and teaching can give an MBA program a competitive edge both nationally and internationally.

3 Business managers and executives truly embrace an MBA that combines financial and social performance – these courses top student satisfaction scores.

CognitiveOfficeBuildings–MonashIndustryTeamInitiative(MITI)

This project was a pilot project in the development of a Cognitive Building; one that has the ability to learn and self-optimise for energy efficiency using data sets. The project was sponsored by Honeywell and paired a group of four interdisciplinary students from Monash university with the task of analysing the large data pool acquired through IoT devices in the university’s smart buildings. The successful pilot was able to drive energy efficiency and save up to 27% energy with no negative impact to occupant comfort.

Top 3 learnings

1 Utilising students allowed the Project objective to be aspirational in nature and explore a topic that elsewise might not have been possible for professional staff in their everyday jobs.

2 The project was effective in providing a focal point to build the relationships and foster the partnership between the University and Honeywell as an Industry partner.

3 The project highlighted the significant amount of data, which Monash collects, and its need to be activated and made available to students and researchers.

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Bringingaboutaculturalshiftformeaningfullyintegratingsustainabilityacross mainstream curricula in Deakin BusinessSchool

Senior executive, academic and professional staff across portfolios at Deakin Business School are collaborating to integrate scaffolded development and assessment of sustainability capability across all our programs. Sustainability has become a major consideration in our strategic plan and major curriculum enhancement initiatives to improve graduate employability. More than 150 core unit chairs have reflected upon practical strategies for enhancing sustainability integration in their units. Through innovative projects with industry engagement, our students are engaging the wider community with sustainability issues. Our innovative approaches have been recognised for excellence locally, nationally and internationally.

Top 3 learnings

1 Engage senior executive, academic staff, professional staff and students across all departments by strengthening the nexus between sustainability integration and graduate employability.

2 Listen, leverage and lead to build individual unit chairs’ capacity for nuanced and contextualised integration of sustainability in their units.

3 Design innovative projects where students collect and analyse real-life data to engage the industry and the wider community with sustainability practices.

DeakinUniversity

MonashUniversity

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Outstanding Leadership Team

Campus Engagement has worked with a number of student groups whose ambition was to make a difference on campus and create sustainable practices. Much like the seasons, these groups came and went. The Sustainability Squad appeared like a small seedling that needed nurturing. Together we have established a buzzing harvest hub on campus that has grown into more than just cheap fruits and vegetables.

The Sustainability Squad is the voice on campus for sustainable practices and has planned initiatives such as book swaps, clothing drives and co-op swaps to reduce waste on campus and support local businesses. With an understanding of the vibe on campus, Campus Engagement has worked closely with the Sustainability Squad to provide support and guidance with their events so that they could make their events stronger and far reaching.

Acting as a consultative committee, the Sustainability Squad also provides advise and recommendations to Campus Engagement.

RMIT University has a long-standing commitment to incorporating sustainability into its core activities of teaching, research and operations. The RMIT Sustainability Committee was formed in 2009 and provides the leadership, coordination and guidance to the University for integration of sustainable principles and practices. The membership is broadly based across the whole University including all three academic colleges, learning and teaching development, research, student life and students.

In 2018 the RMIT Sustainability Committee highlights have been the development and implementation of the University’s responsible investment principles and the University commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Additional to this the Sustainability Committee has funded a position to support the coordination of University research towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and a Fair Trade Coordinator to support the University’s longstanding commitment as a Fair Trade University.

The Committee also continues to drive the observance of all external sustainability commitments and reporting under the Global Reporting Initiative frameworks.

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From mid-2015 to early 2017, the University of Melbourne community built the foundations for institutional change in the form of a strategic Framework comprising a Sustainability Charter, Plan and Report. The Framework is world-leading for a tertiary institution because it makes commitments and sets targets across all University activities – Research, Teaching & Learning, Engagement, Operations and Governance.

The process to develop the framework, led by the Sustainability Executive and Chancellery team, has been powerful in fostering wide-reaching buy-in, uniting faculties and individuals across the institution. The Sustainability Executive, chaired by the CFO, was set-up to monitor the development and implementation of the Framework, with members drawn from Chancellery, University Services, academia and students.

RMITUniversity Sustainability Week seedlings

TheUniversityofMelbourne

MacquarieUniversity Engagement team

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Student Engagement

MonashBorrowCup–MonashCommunitymakingMonashSustainable

Students’ desire to be part of the solution and not part of the problem lead to the creation of a world first for a University, multi-café, Borrow Cup Scheme for take-away coffees.

Following a call out from the Sustainability Team at Monash, students took on the challenge to remove disposable cups from our campuses. Our combined desire, skills set, experience and influence led to the development and implementation of a borrow cup scheme that involved several cafés and hundreds of students and staff.

The scheme reduced disposable coffee cup use by 70% in participating cafés and there are plans to broaden the scheme with the goal of being disposable coffee cup free on all our Australian campuses by 2020.

Top 3 learnings

1 Student led involvement in the development of the Scheme allowed the Sustainability team to implement the scheme in a much faster timeframe than initially thought possible.

2 Trial and test on small scale first. Find your early adopters and start with them. Use the results of the trial to encourage wider adoption of the Scheme.

3 The student voice is powerful. Cafés were more likely to support the Scheme when students, as their main customers, told them that they wanted the Scheme.

VUWSustainabilityWeek:Learn toLiveSustainably

In May, students at Victoria University of Wellington hosted the university’s first ever ‘Sustainability Week’ of environmental action and events. Campus was abuzz with thirteen events, daily action station activities, eco-giveaways, an art competition, a dedicated ‘Sustainability Special’ of our student magazine and opportunities galore to learn about today’s most pressing environmental issues and take action. The result was incredible student engagement, with over 1,000 people attending events and more than 30,000 reached via Facebook. The organising committee, comprised of six student clubs, has since established a formal Sustainability Committee within our Student Association to work on long-term sustainability initiatives.

Top 3 learnings

1 Inspiring young people to lead and engage their peers provides an effective means of raising awareness of environmental issues.

2 Collaboration is key to successful action for the environment; building a network of sustainability-orientated student clubs and individuals enabled us to achieve large-scale impact.

3 Deeper engagement between staff and students, or institutions and their members, can help to develop a space for democratic and collaborative – and therefore sustainable – action.

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CampusCo-Lab:Creatingopportunitiesforstudentstodrivechangeoncampus

Campus Co-Lab has changed the way Massey University engages with students. It allows them to co-create with other students and staff using human centred design and enables students to lead projects to make change to their student experience. Out of the number of projects that went through the process, about half was sustainability focused. The Wā Collective has decreased waste by selling affordable menstrual cups, ‘No Throw’ has reduced waste by selling keep cups and the Massey Fruit and Veg Co-op encourages eating fresh local produce by selling $12 bags of produce packed weekly on campus.

Top 3 learnings

1 Have your own principles and adhere by them. Use the principles to develop who you are, in this case, work iteratively and collaboratively.

2 Always develop a minimal viable product to create small change sooner while determining the shape of a larger change.

3 Co-creation produces better solutions that suit all parties. In particular, the partnership between Student Services and Student Association ensures holistic solutions that work for all.

VictoriaUniversityofWellington Salient cover

MasseyUniversity

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Student Engagement cont.

TropEcoInterns:Empoweringstudentsthroughexperience

James Cook University’s TropEco Interns program provides opportunities for JCU students to gain hands-on, practical workplace based experience, while advancing sustainability at JCU.

The Interns program has been running since 2014 and has hosted over 150 student intern placements with over 5000 hours volunteered on sustainability projects across a broad range of disciplines. TropEco Interns complete a structured program and can gain four levels of certification, with ongoing mentoring, support and professional development provided by experienced TropEco staff. The extra-curricular program prides itself on creating workforce ready students and provides the flexibility and support for students to achieve their sustainability goals.

Top 3 learnings

1 Through effective mentoring and support you can empower students to achieve their sustainability goals.

2 A well-structured, flexible and clearly communicated program will attract students and encourage participation.

3 Recognition of student achievements is critical to the success of any volunteer program.

Fair Food Challenge

Fair Food Challenge is a student run initiative at the University of Melbourne with an aim to transform the campus food environment to a more healthy, fair, equitable and sustainable system. The Challenge runs a series of projects such as community kitchens, a serving ware re-use service, a portable bike kitchen, community lunches, food waste workshops and free fruit boxes in the library. As well the team conducts research, facilitates community feedback and empowers students to participate in university policy decisions that shape the future of the institution.

Top 3 learnings

1 Small actions can have immense impact within institutions, once an idea takes hold it can scale across a university community.

2 Sustainable change is hard work, all the projects we’ve completed required more labour than expected and relied on the excellent work on enthusiastic volunteers.

3 Don’t have expectations about who will be your biggest supporter or detractor. Help (and hindrances) often come from surprising places in complex institutions like universities.

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2018 Judging OrganisationsACTS would like to extend a huge thank you to our panel of judges who provide their time,

commitment and expertise to decide the winners.

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Sustainable Campus

LaTrobeRegionalCampusSolar

La Trobe has recently installed solar PV systems on all appropriate roofs at its regional campuses (including Shepparton, Mildura, Albury-Wodonga and Bendigo) to generate renewable electricity onsite.

Helping to reduce the University’s consumption of electricity generated by the burning of fossil fuels, the program of works has helped with energy security and avoided related greenhouse gas emissions and supply costs.

Top 3 learnings

1 Roof work such as attaching frames and panels can create significant noise and disrupt nearby building users. To avoid delays due to noise complaints its worth considering scheduling these tasks to be completed outside of normal building operating hours.

2 Integrate monitoring of the solar PV system performance into your organisations existing monitoring/metering system. Ideally the existing monitoring system will have the functionally to raise alerts when performance does not meet programmed parameters etc.

3 Engage an experienced and skilled specialist to assist with design, tendering and installation management including identification of defects.

SustainabilitySquad–Sustaining aCommunity

Campus Engagement has worked with a number of student groups whose ambition was to make a difference on campus and create sustainable practices. Much like the seasons, these groups came and went. The Sustainability Squad appeared like a small seedling that needed nurturing. Together we have established a buzzing harvest hub on campus that has grown into more than just cheap fruits and vegetables.

The Sustainability Squad is the voice on campus for sustainable practices and has planned initiatives such as book swaps, clothing drives and co-op swaps to reduce waste on campus and support local businesses. With an understanding of the vibe on campus, Campus Engagement has worked closely with the Sustainability Squad to provide support and guidance with their events so that they could make their events stronger and far reaching.

Acting as a consultative committee, the Sustainability Squad also provides advise and recommendations to Campus Engagement.

Top 3 learnings

1 Seek collaboration and input from student groups with a passion for sustainability.

2 Provide the group with the empowerment to work through their problems.

3 Celebrate wins, no matter how small!

Proudly sponsored by

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Zeroinginonzerocarbon

We are living our goal of being a good global citizen by sparking a change that will cut our total carbon footprint by a third by 2020 and propel our main Dunedin campus more than halfway towards being zero carbon. We saw a 20% drop in tCO2-e from our single largest source of emissions in five months, by initiating the transition from wood to coal at the district scheme that supplies steam and heat to our Dunedin campus.

Top 3 learnings

1 Be brave – showing strong leadership can spark wider change in your communities.

2 Taking real, practical action is crucial – and so is communicating that progress towards sustainability.

3 Building costs into budgets makes strategic cases easier to argue when asking leaders to drive real change.

MacquarieUniversity

LaTrobeUniversity Bendigo campus

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ACTS Award Of Excellence – Staff

AliceMcAuliffe

Indigenous plant garden Waraburra Nura is a roof top sanctuary in the heart of Sydney that showcases medicinal plants from the Sydney area. Developed with the input of Indigenous students, academics and local elders it is designed to help transfer living and practiced Indigenous knowledge to both Indigenous and non-indigenous people. Along with an associated website, tours and workshops the garden puts indigenous knowledge in the heart of the UTS campus, helping ensure that ‘aboriginal education’ is a two way journey. Nonindigenous Australians have much to learn from Australia’s first people.

HarshSuri

Facilitating a cultural shift at Deakin Business School for meaningful integration of sustainability across all our programs: I have been harnessing synergies between sustainability capability and employability skills to engage senior executive, academic staff, professional staff and students with a multi-pronged approach to scaffold development and assessment of sustainability capability across all our programs. Sustainability has become an integral aspect of our strategic plan and major curriculum enhancement initiatives. Through workshops, individual conversations and a web-based survey, I have engaged unit chairs of more than 150 core units to reflect upon practical strategies for enhancing sustainability integration in their units. By working on projects with industry engagement, our students are engaging the wider community with sustainability issues. Our innovative, nuanced and contextualised approaches to sustainability integration in curricula have been recognised for excellence locally, nationally and internationally.

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JohnPederick

John is currently the Facilities and Operations Manager, Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne (UoM). John has been a sustainability champion and driver for change across the university for many years.

He has strived to reduce waste and be sustainable in all aspects of his day to day activities, primarily by re-using recycled furniture and products, by reusing as much of the existing infrastructure on campus or ensuring it is available for recycling. He also tries to take a more inclusive approach and considers the broader sustainability activities, including water use and energy efficiency, by thinking about the consequences and impacts of projects and renovations on the environment, on people and our community. John strives to get involvement and buy-in from all the ‘clients’ – academics, professional staff and students. He is particularly motivated to enable student ideas and student involvement in sustainable improvements – as they are the leaders of the future.

OurSustainabilityethos

The ACTS Conference and Green Gown Awards Australasia Gala Dinner are events proudly delivered with sustainability at their heart. Throughout all stages of planning and implementation our team has taken the utmost care to ensure sustainable practices are upheld and responsible materials are used.

To highlight our ethos, the Green Gown Awards Australasia trophies have again been made completely from recycled glass by Victorian artist Kirsten Laken. Each beautiful trophy is truly one of a kind. Our highly commended institutions will take home certificates in frames handmade by the Melbournian creators at Custom Industrial from upcycled materials.

2018GreenGownAwards Australasia stats

2 in 5Are taking action

tocombat Climate change

(SDG 13)

71%Offinalistsdeliver

towards Sustainable cities and communities

(SDG 11)

71%Are delivering

against Good health and wellbeing

(SDG 3)

JustunderhalfAre working towards

Responsible consumption and production

(SDG 12)

51%Putforwardprojects

that improved Quality Education

(SDG 4)

1 in 4Are delivering Partnerships for the goals

(SDG 17)

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ACTS Award Of Excellence – Student

RachelHay

My main goal is to facilitate communication of the collective student voice on sustainability to multiple levels of the University. To deliver this outcome, I organised a series of engagement events to connect students passionate about sustainability, and understand and communicate students’ views on how their university could be more sustainable, with carbon neutrality being a major point. To communicate this vision (through speeches, statements, petitions and discussion), I organised the ‘Student Perspectives: A Carbon Neutral UTAS’ forum in 2017 and invited the Vice-Chancellor (VC), who listened to the student voice and announced at the event that UTAS would become certified carbon neutral that year. I have also represented the student voice as the Fossil Free UTAS observer on the Sustainability Committee, supported the Sustainability Team to draft the new Strategic Framework for Sustainability and as a SIPS Fellow have investigated the feasibility of a UTAS bike share program.

EleanorPercival

Eleanor is (over) involved in a smorgasbord of activities and groups on campus that promote sustainable production, education, reducing waste and supporting the individuals who get food from farm to fork. From delivering free fruit to students and running policy creation lunches with Fair Food Challenge, to hosting working bees and garden workshops for beginners at the Melbourne University Community Garden, and organising camps and a Climate Hack with the Postgraduate Environment Network, Eleanor has an insatiable appetite for all things food and sustainability! She is a highly enthusiastic and friendly leader and active participant across multiple sustainability initiatives. To be able to work with so many other inspiring individuals is the icing on the cake and keeps her motivated.

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ShrutiVerma

The empowerment of young people to be confident contributors to their future is what I aspire to achieve during my time here in Australia, notably at Deakin University. As an international student from India, I was initially ignorant of the sustainability challenges around me until the opportunity for me to assess the current state of Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability (ERS) activities with Deakin Business School. I did not only generate a report that assisted my School to better integrate ERS values into its daily operation, but also had the opportunity to implement new initiatives to empower my peers to be more engaged with sustainability activities. Inspired by my school experience, I become a Volunteer Student Director at Bendigo Bank’s community bank and utilise my role to better engage with youth on sustainability challenges. I intend to use my knowledge and experiences to promote greater awareness about sustainability in India.

Membershipmatters

ACTS is a non-profit member based organisation representing higher and further education institutions within Australia and New Zealand. Our aim is to inspire, promote and support change towards best practice sustainability within the operations, curriculum and research of the tertiary education sector.

We have been supporting institutions for over 10 years and currently represent almost 90% of universities in Australia and New Zealand, as well as TAFE, RTO’s and polytechnics.

There are many benefits to ACTS membership:

• Latest sector news, developments, online learning and access to webinars

• A support network of like-minded colleagues and sector development tools and practices

• Events and training at discounted rates

• Access to unrivalled, comprehensive sustainability resources – case studies, policies, guides, tools, legislation and more from Australasia, UK and USA

• Professional development and experience

• ACTS Annual Conference attendance at discounted rates

• Eligibility to the Green Gown Awards Australasia and the ACTS Awards of Excellence.

ACTS offers institutional, affiliate and corporate membership. One registration covers every member of your institution that’s certainly value for money!

Jointheteamtodaywww.acts.asn.au

2018finalistsarerepresenting

19 Institutions

88,000+ Staff

750,000+ Students

2828

ACTS administers the Green Gown Awards Australasia for the sector, as well as leading, inspiring and equipping our members and stakeholders

with a shared vision, knowledge and the tools needed to embed sustainability within operations, curriculum and research

of the tertiary education sector.

www.acts.asn.au