Loving Trinity, Living Sustainably:

1) To start, can you tell me what a sustainability manager is in your words?

As the Sustainability Manager my role is to work alongside our Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action, Prof. Jane Stout to embed sustainability across everything we do at the university from education to research, operations and engagement. It is also to drive the development of university policy and implementation plans and deliver key sustainability projects involving a range of different institutional stakeholders within College. In reality, this means that I need to collaborate with a wide range of people who work throughout the university as well as engaging with students and our alumni. It is a very strategic role as it encompasses the whole university alongside our external partners and stakeholders. Put simply, the role is one that brings people together to work towards a common goal – the goal of a nature positive, climate neutral and net zero university as well as a healthy place to study, work and enjoy.

2) Can you explain what your goals are as the sustainability manager?

My goal would be to reach our national targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions of 51% by 2030. It would also include reaching our aim of becoming a nature positive university, whereby we ensure that our actions do not have a negative impact upon our natural world but in fact support restoration and regeneration. This would mean that we support our students to learn about sustainability in a multitude of courses. It would mean using our research knowledge to focus on solutions to global problems. It would mean that we work with our operations team to reduce our use of resources, as well as working with our finance department to assess how best to invest our funds in the future. There is so much work already underway in Trinity that these goals are achievable if we all work together.

3) What is the most challenging aspect of the position?

Trinity functions as a small city, so the challenge comes with its size and scale. It is a complex place with a multitude of functions, as well as a hugely diverse community spread across a large geographical area. This means that it is hard to know everything that is going on in the University with respect to sustainability, however I have had the pleasure of meeting many staff and students as well as visiting the majority of sites owned or affiliated to Trinity, so I am slowly getting to grips with it after six months. We are also undertaking an extensive consultation period which will feed into the development of the

University’s Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan. This has been a great way to hear about all of the amazing work happening across the University as well as learning about what people want us to do and how they can help.

4) What is your favourite part of the position?

So far, my favourite part of the role has been meeting the inspirational students and staff that are already working hard to progress sustainability in Trinity. I feel like I have learnt so much in such a short space of time about the people who make Trinity a great place to work and study, as well as finding out about how we can overcome the key challenges we face together.