Update from Network Partner Emily Morrison, Head of the Institute of Community Studies
In the urgency of climate action required to reduce emissions and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-induced impacts, there is a distinct need to support places and communities to transition effectively and equitably to net zero.
More than ever, HEIs across the UK have committed to reducing their carbon footprint and making progress towards net zero. 144 F/HEIs representing 1.65 million students are signatories of the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges, a global campaign to rally net zero leadership and action in the education sector. A significant number of F/HEIs have also engaged with The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges’ Climate Commission for UK Higher and Further Education, which is developing an Action Plan in response to the UK government’s stated climate emergency and drawing together a strategic sector-wide approach to the government’s Climate Framework. These are just a couple of the many examples.
However, thinking about a civic approach by Higher Education Institutions for how we support our local neighbourhoods, areas, cities and regions towards net zero, requires us to think beyond what we can do as individual institutions to become carbon neutral, beyond what we can do as a as a sector, and beyond what we can do to mobilise as an academic or student body. It requires us to think about who else we need to work with in the local places of which we are part, and to identify what the partnerships, relationships and collaborative strategies look like that will combine the efforts of anchor institutions and communities to work together to define and transition towards a greener future.
For example, how can a place’s economy and industries adapt or transform to be carbon neutral? What is the approach to re-skilling the local workforce to participate in a green local economy? How can communities be engaged in developing the new vision for the local area and what partnership and collaboration is needed between anchor institutions to reach this vision? How can we ensure social inequalities do not rise – and poorer communities are not left behind – through lack of resources or lack of capacity to adopt housing, workforce or lifestyle transitions needed in net zero? The Network’s current program of work, developed in partnership with ICS and UPP Foundation, aims to understand how HEIs can act as changemakers for places in the climate action agenda. We have started to bring together institutions based in places which share common challenges in net zero transition, to share good and innovative practice, to identify gaps where more action is needed, and to think about how we can work collaboratively to accelerate the progress needed to meet or exceed net zero targets.
We will be holding a series of roundtables, workshops and collaborative forums throughout the course of the next six months, seeking to build a collaborative and usable framework for how HEIs can support place transition to net zero. This will involve stakeholders from inside and outside the Higher Education Sector all seeking to tackle the net zero challenge. We would welcome engagement with any civic or sustainability leads for HEIs interested to be part of the programme and from local stakeholders in city, regional and local government, health, economic, energy and social sectors in place – who would like to share in this collaborative dialogue and action.
As an immediate way of getting involved, CUN and EAUC's online joint event - 'Connecting Civic to Climate Action' is taking place tomorrow and you can still book your place below.
We hope you find this newsletter informative. Please forward it to any colleagues you think it may interest and they too can register for future editions using the subscribe button below:
Save The Date: CivicCon 2022 - A week of #TrulyCivic
We are delighted to confirm that the Civic University Network will be hosting a week of #TrulyCivic events, taking place online from 13th – 17th June 2022. Session details will be released in the coming weeks. Network newsletter subscribers will be sent a direct email invitation so look out for yours!
Webinar: Tuesday 22nd March 14:00 - 15:30 Connecting Civic to Climate Action
This practically focused event will draw on the collective expertise of the Civic University Network and the EAUC - The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education - to explore the role of universities in developing and delivering appropriate responses to climate change.
Drawing on sector examples of both best practice and lessons learnt, this session will aim to help universities to identify connections and cross-overs with climate action strategies on campus, and their civic commitment.
Speakers include: Prof. Susan Lea, Vice Chancellor, University of Hull Prof. Sir Ian Boyd, former Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, now Professor in Biology at the University of St. Andrews Nick Gant, Founder Community21 - Social and Sustainable Design Research Group, University of Brighton
Arts and Culture sector relationship building
to drive civic impact
Supported by Arts Council England, the Civic University Network team is delighted to be starting a new piece of work exploring how universities identify, build and enhance mutually beneficial relationships with cultural institutions and their communities to maximise the civic impact of universities in their place.
We are keen to develop case studies highlighting local arts and culture partnerships so if you have a project you would like to share orif you would like to be part of the ongoing conversation, please contact us at civicuniversity@shu.ac.uk
Going further and higher: deepening college and university collaborations
We have now launched the content from the 7th February report launch webinar on the Civic University Network Members’ Area. This includes the edited recording of the event, plus the slides and links shared on the day.
The event welcomed experts from across the four nations and across colleges and universities to discuss the joint report of he Independent Commission on the College of the Future and the Civic University Network.
In our December roundtable we heard about various institutions' approach to funding civic activities and discussed the overall funding landscape. We drew on this discussion to inform a second roundtable which we ran earlier this month, involving funders from UKRI and the UK HE Funding Councils. We used this as an opportunity to brief them about the work of the Civic Network, and also to trigger discussion of how funding for university civic engagement might evolve in future, to maximise the contribution of the sector to our locations across the UK.
To focus this discussion, we prepared the briefing paper below which provided a very useful platform for discussion, and we will be holding a number of follow up conversations with funders over the next few months to build on this.
