The Green Impact network consists of a wide breadth of organisations, teams and individuals. This month showcases the project at the University of Sheffield.
The University of Sheffield have been Green Impact participants for nine years, and have a committed base of staff teams from across the organisation who are well-versed in the annual cycle and requirements of the programme. In order to maintain interest, strong project management, and continual progress, ongoing development of the initiative at Sheffield is crucial.
The toolkit: projects
The biggest development this Green Impact cycle has been the introduction of 'projects', enabling teams to take a well-earned break from the toolkit if they've been doing it for a number of years but not quite at excellence level. The projects tab of the toolkit allows teams to complete a number of bespoke projects around several different aspects of sustainability - from food to community projects. Teams then have to achieve a certain number of points to achieve bronze, silver and gold projects, just like the normal award.
The launch: holding an event
Even though many staff know the cycle, having a physical event helps to generate enthusiasm to the start of the year and facilitate newer staff members' learning from more experienced people, and is an efficient way of communicating key changes to the programme. Always running an early autumn launch provides this Green Impact project with greatest visibility amongst staf,f before students arrive later on. This year, an anonymous Q&A was used to encourage participants new and old to ask those 'silly questions' which sometimes staff are afraid to ask.
The students
Green Impact project assistants (GIPA) at the University of Sheffield are encouraged to all attend one main training session; this year over 50 students were trained.
To introduce students to staff, a 'meet and greet' was held for all teams who require a GIPA, one week after the initial training to keep students engaged and interested. This also helped to minimise the time needed to make specific introductions.
Further GIPA training sessions have been run by Jo Wilkinson, one around time management and one all about team building. These extra sessions provides a great networking opportunity for students, and also build additional skills to help them deliver their Green Impact work (and beyond!).
The progress
Since September, over 600 actions have already been implemented, and they are aiming to get 45 teams accredited in April. Well done, Sheffield!
For more information about the University of Sheffield's Green Impact project, please contact Jo Wilkinson, sustainability projects assistant: jwilkinson3@sheffield.ac.uk