19th Annual Conference 2015

Challenging Connections

Run by the EAUC and hosted at University of Leeds on 23 - 25 March 2015, Challenging Connections’ inspired and challenged tertiary education to look again at our connections, our partnerships and the voices we are hearing and those we are not.

Visit the Sustainability Exchange for free access all of the Conference presentations and resources. Here you'll find over 60 new resources to inspire you. You'll also find all of the presentations from the Student Sustainability Summit and Further Education Sustainability Summit.

View all of the Conference photos - did we snap you?
• View the Annual Conference photos
• View the Student Sustainability Summit photos

Over 3 days, we explored how a whole new level of creativity, innovation and leadership becomes possible when sustainability becomes the central and connected consideration for your university or college. Delivered in partnership with the National Union of Students, People & Planet, the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the Core Business Integration of Sustainability (CBIS) Executive Programme developed at Harvard University, this innovative multi-agency Conference demonstrated how to put sustainability at the core of who you are and what you do.

With contributions from University of British Columbia, Unilever, Rolls-Royce, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Universities Partnership for Environmental Sustainability (GUPES), the EAUC hosted a next generation sustainability Conference which breaks the boundaries, makes new connections, introduces new voices and unites students, academics, leaders and sustainability professionals in one powerful whole sector international event.

The programme

The EAUC Annual Conference took place from 23-25 March with engaging content based on the Conference streams plus a pre-Conference workshop. We've split the days by stream (based on Learning in Future Environments) as outlined below:

• 23 March - Afternoon workshop on Effective Facilitation Skills
• 24 March - Estates and Operations
• 25 March - Leadership and Governance, Partnership and Engagement, Learning Teaching and Research

In addition to the main EAUC Annual Conference programme, we also offered bespoke Summits in partnership with the following ground breaking organisations:

• 23 March - Student Sustainability Summit - EAUC, NUS and People & Planet in partnership
• 24 March - Further Education Sustainability Summit - EAUC and AOC in partnership
• 25 March - Transformational Leadership Summit delivering of the Core Business Integration of Sustainability (CBIS) Executive Programme.

About our host venue

The University of Leeds takes its responsibility for social, environmental, economic and cultural impacts very seriously. It does this by integrating sustainability in student education, research, innovation and operations.

They’ve recently launched a sustainability strategy in order to achieve these aims across the institution. The strategy focuses on four themes: 'Embedding sustainability through collaboration', 'Building knowledge and capacity', 'Being a positive partner in society' and 'Making the most of resources'. With the launch of the new strategy, they're looking to ensure that the University of Leeds has an overall positive impact on the local and global community.

"Our aim is to become a University with a reputation for outstanding performance on sustainability; a University that challenges the status quo and is renowned for its open, welcoming environment.” Alan Langlands, Vice-Chancellor.

The campus, located next to the city centre, is a living lab for sustainability and has features such as the Sustainable Garden where students and staff can help grow and pick produce, rainwater harvesting systems for teaching and research, wildflower meadows, beehives and more. We regularly hold monthly forums on sustainability, as well as events and lectures to engage staff and students with the agenda.

The University of Leeds is proud be hosting the 2015 EAUC Conference, and look forward to welcoming colleagues across the sector to our campus to both celebrate sustainability and to inspire collaboration.

Find out more about Leeds' new sustainability strategy and more at sustainability.leeds.ac.uk.

If you have any questions about the EAUC Annual Conference, please email [email protected].