Sustainability Staff and Student Engagement

Last updated 5 July 2024

Overview

Our Environmental Sustainability Staff & Student Engagement Strategy (PDF)sets the College’s approach to increasing engagement with and awareness of environmental sustainability in the RCA community. It seeks to bring together existing activities into one holistic strategy covering internal communications, community engagement and partnerships, academic engagement and staff development.

The Environmental Sustainability Staff & Student Engagement Strategy was approved by the Environmental Sustainability Committee in May 2024 and will be reviewed every 12 months. The Environmental Sustainability Manager and the Senior Communications Manager are responsible for the Strategy. Read the highlights of the Strategy below.

The Royal College of Art uses a range of different metrics to measure progress in relation to staff and student engagement. These metrics vary between activities, and include: attendees to events, survey response, newsletter open rates and intranet clicks.

SustainLab

Multiple works of art hanging in the RCA's Gulbenkian gallery space.

SustainLab exhibition in May 2024, featuring works by Camila Barvo, Medina Duchini Zullo, Elina Yumasheva, Shruti Gaonkar, and Yuening Jian.

SustainLab is a society of the Royal College of Art Students’ Union.

SustainLab is a collaborative and cross-disciplinary platform for all RCA students to engage with, in exploring what sustainability is and how it can be embedded as part of their creative practice. It is a forum for ideas to be investigated, challenged, and shared with the intention of facilitating experimentation and knowledge-building with our creative practices.

SustainLab organises talks, open-crits, workshops and conversations for students to develop their knowledge of sustainability and how to incorporate it into their creative processes. Some of these events are also open to the public.

SustainLab was founded in September 2017 by RCA students, with the intention of supporting and inspiring the work of fellow students who have an interest in sustainability.

SustainLab hosts regular exhibitions, showcasing the work of its members. The 2024 exhibition, 'Co-creating With Nature', explores environmentally conscious works of artists and designers who commit to sustainability through thinking about alternative systems and processes in their practice. Read more about the 'Co-creating With Nature' exhibition.

Green Futures Group

The Green Futures Group is an informal cross-union collective, established in 2022 by RCA academic staff to gather information and swap ideas on environmental sustainability throughout the RCA community. In the face of the climate crisis, it has become imperative to make profound changes to how we conduct our working practices, and so the group welcomes input from everyone: students, academic staff, union representatives, facilities and administration staff, estates and campus operations managers, external contractors, technicians, members of the RCA Senior Management Team, and local organisations.

The group meets several times a term and is constantly collecting and passing on information, identifying problems, canvassing for solutions and connecting people working towards the same goal across the RCA community. Green Futures Group members are also part of the RCA’s Environmental Sustainability Steering Group, working with the operations and communications teams on a coherent strategy that is inclusive and positively productive within the community.

There is also a rolling programme of Green Futures events and projects which promote awareness and good practice among students and staff: a termly repair café run by student and staff volunteers; regular clothes swaps, facilitated with the Students’ Union, and a welcome week Green Futures Symposium, introducing new students to the theories and praxis necessary for an equitable transition to a decarbonised and sustainable society.

Funding for student-led projects

The College provides funding for staff and student engagement activity. Students are invited to contact Environmental Sustainability Manager Megan Jones for information regarding funding for student-led projects.

Recent projects include a project to develop an app to reduce waste and encourage greener working practices among students, and developing a small dye garden.

Activities in 2023/24

An annual communications plan accompanies the engagement strategy, which is a live working document overseen by a communications working group that meets every two weeks. Read the full list of activities which have taken place in 23/24 in this document (PDF) and see the highlights below.

Ecollegey! Festival
SU Green Week
SustainLab Exhibition
Repair Cafe
Materials Exchanges
Clothes Swaps
Focus groups and consultations
Staff carbon literacy workshops
Anxiety to Agency workshop for students
CLIMAVORE x Jameel at the RCA Lunch and Recipe Competition
Dr Bike pop-up workshop

Environmental Sustainability Staff & Student Engagement Strategy Summary

Governance

The Environmental Sustainability Committee meets quarterly and oversees the environmental performance of the College. It oversees the development and implementation of the Environmental Sustainability Strategy. Membership includes broad staff, trade union (two UCU representatives and one Unite representative) and student representation.

For 2023/24, student representation is provided on the following committees: Environmental Sustainability Committee, EDI Committee, Learning Teaching and Student Experience Committee, Academic Standards Committee, Senate, and Council. Each committee is responsible for planning and strategic decision-making in its respective areas.

Communication

Communication aimed at engaging staff and students with environmental sustainability at the College is delivered in a variety of ways. The methods of engagement have been prioritised based on the Annual Staff and Student Sustainability Survey and include:

Community Engagement projects and visits

The Royal College of Art’s Community Engagement strategy acknowledges how, as a research-led university, engagement is at the heart of all the College's academic activities.

The RCA believes in the value of creativity and innovation by, with and for everyone. Through its Community Engagement work, the RCA offers events and exhibitions, outreach with schools and young people, business partnerships and knowledge exchange.

We are members of a number of external networks and groups including:

South Ken ZEN+
EAUC
London Higher Sustainability Network
Wandsworth Sustainability Partnership

Student Engagement

Environmental Sustainability Student Committee: launched by the Students’ Union in partnership with the Environmental Sustainability team, the Environmental Sustainability Student Committee aims to empower the student body to champion environmental sustainability on campus and beyond.

SU Green Week: The RCA Students’ Union organises an annual Green Week, celebrating the role art and design universities like the RCA can play in addressing the climate emergency.

Student Induction: sustainability is crucial to students’ induction into life at the RCA. Students are invited to learn more about sustainability at the College, including the Environmental Policy, before arriving at the FAQ page. A more detailed induction takes place during Welcome Week, which is publicised to incoming students over the summer.

Staff Engagement

Staff Awards: the RCA Staff Awards run annually. The Environmental Sustainability Champion award is given to someone who embodies environmental sustainability within their work and/or has led an initiative to improve environmental sustainability in the College.

Staff induction: Staff are informed about the College’s Environmental Policy via the induction materials on the intranet. New staff are invited to a Staff Induction Day in their first six months, which covers the College’s Environmental Policy and strategy and highlights ways for staff to engage in this important workstream from their induction onwards.

Staff development: Dialogue is a series of events designed to share excellent practices related to learning and teaching, student experience, research, knowledge exchange, or working within and beyond the RCA community. The January 2024 event included a session on Sustainability at the RCA.