At the end of June 2024 I went to the wonderful EAUC conference in Winchester.

The conference started well with an ‘SDG summit game’ run by the inspirational Simon Kemp. The purpose of the game was to get participants to take the part of different countries representing their relevant SDG interests. As a happy side effect, there was also a lot of effective networking between participants – from my side, this was just the start of conversations with many others doing excellent work embedding sustainability and climate into university education.

The conference proper started with a whistle stop tour by Charlotte Bonner round the new EAUC strategy: “A post 16 education system that creates a world with sustainability at its heart”. A whole series of fantastic workshops followed – what follows is just a small selection of insights that particularly struck me.

• In a discussion on green skills, Lou Mycroft brought in the idea of Spinoza’s potentia, a type of power that arises from ‘joyful connection’ and is a survival energy that characterises green changemakers.  Also a mantra that has stayed with me :  ‘embody, not just embed’.
• After a thought provoking roundtable discussion on AI, I caught up with Helen Nicholson from JISC, and chatted about the potential of AI for embedding sustainability in courses. I am going to explore whether it might be a useful tool for those that struggle to see the link between sustainability and their topic, or want some simple ways to get started.
• Incidentally, on this topic, there are some fantastic resources available from various institutions including the Sustainability Hub, an open resource toolkit from the OU.
• Catherine Heinemeyer from York St John’s described a ‘people’s assembly’ approach to defining a new food policy, with evidence heard from students, the head chef, those with dietary needs, climate activists and other key stakeholders.  
• Simon Kemp, Jamie Agombar (SOS-UK), Victoria Hands (Open University), Jo Chamberlain (Exeter) and Danielle Arbeiter (City University) described working with the PSRBs to build sustainability into Subject Benchmark Statements. They had done a great job to bring key actors (including CEOs of the PSRBs) together in Windsor Castle to work out a way forward. When thinking about a complex system, it’s important to identify points of leverage and this is one such point. As Simon points out the PSRBs can actually mandate what is taught.
• Finally, 2 inspirational keynotes bookending the conference. Judy Ling Wong talked about the ‘head, heart, hands’ model (familiar to me through Climate Fresk) and the importance of relevance (and hence representation) in bringing about engagement. Climate Reframe looks a particularly good resource for increasing representation (ie answering the question: how do I find an under represented voice?).  Meanwhile Todd Smith (co founder of Safe Landing) gave some familiar facts about the impact of air travel; but through a different lens. Firstly, air travel globally is still a minority sport (80% globally have never flown). Secondly, ‘flying less’ can be focussed not on the occasional holiday maker but instead on frequent flying, first class and corporate jets – together with a tax on aviation fuel, the revenues can be used to subsidize greener travel, especially trains. Most crucially, being an ex airline pilot, Todd is well aware of the benefits of the air travel, and the excitement and pride of those who work in the industry. Therefore the message of Safe Landing is not to destroy the airline industry, but rather to save it – securing a truly sustainable future for air travel. I interpret Todd as saying: We don’t want to stop flying, but we want to find a way to do so fairly and within environmental limits. Which means ‘flying less’ now so that we can continue to fly in the future.

All in all, the conference was a great opportunity to connect, share, and recharge, including a couple of early morning runs.

I have left with a whole bunch of new ideas and resources, an expanded network of colleagues and peers, and a list of actions and next steps. Now the challenge is to turn all this into impact – perhaps something to bring to EAUC 2025.