07 Impact and Engagement

The role of universities, including that of EUR, has evolved over time. These days, academics are expected to help find solutions to emerging societal challenges. Operational activities are no longer just about ensuring a university’s continued functioning, but must now help improve the quality of life of its community while protecting the environment. Education, research and operations have therefore become complementary, connected by the shared goal of sustainability for the benefit of society.

In this chapter, we present the actors involved in sustainability efforts at EUR, and the initiatives promoted on its behalf in 2021.

EUR’s sustainable community is firmly embedded in the university’s operations and continues to grow, under the leadership of Executive Board member Ellen van Schoten. The community has charged itself with the task of embedding sustainability in everything that goes on at the university, providing the necessary support to faculties and departments in implementing the sustainability goals laid out in Strategy 2024, and connecting people to relevant associated initiatives. Student associations play a significant role in the community’s efforts. Among these are the Erasmus Sustainability Hub (ESH) and the LDE Centre for Sustainability Students, which organize and promote student-led events and initiatives such as Erasmus Sustainability Days, in which everyone at EUR, staff included, is invited to take part in talks and workshops on sustainability with representatives from commercial and non-profit organisations.

July 2021 saw EUR establish the Sustainability Liaison Network (SLN). The Network aims to be a platform for knowledge exchange and learning, and for connecting complementary initiatives. With representatives from every faculty and service department, the SLN constitutes an important addition to the EUR sustainability community, and its members are the go-to people for anyone with sustainability-related ideas, initiative results they wish to present, or questions about sustainability at EUR. Don’t hesitate to give them a shout if you’d like to contribute to the community’s efforts or share your thoughts!

The opening ceremony of the 2021-2022 academic year was one of the most sustainable events ever held at EUR. Pandemic restrictions meant streaming the event online, with only a select few invited to attend in person. Much to our delight, more than 3,000 guests tuned in to the stream, which means each guest was responsible for no more than 0.6 kg of CO2 emissions! In short, our digital ceremony added next to nothing to our carbon footprint.

In September 2021 the first Sustainability Award was launched, to celebrate initiatives that make a significant contribution to the university’s achievement of its sustainability goals. The main award went to Erasmus MC IC pharmacist Nicole Hunfeld, who set up a project called "The Green Intensive Care" to make Intensive Care Units as sustainable and circular as possible.
Students Max Wagenaar and Emma Peters won the Student Societal Impact Award with the project Erasmus Verbindt, whose goal is to provide a link between the university and the city of Rotterdam for the purpose of addressing issues of poverty, the climate crisis and youth crime, among other things.

The opening ceremony of the new academic year was far from the only sustainable event hosted by the university. For instance, throughout the year, the Events & Experience department took every opportunity to make events on campus more sustainable, implementing practices such as prioritizing local and vegan food for catering orders and linking activities to CO₂ emissions as a guide to decision-making.

November 2021 ushered in a milestone with the launch of the Design Impact Transition (DIT) platform, whose mission is to facilitate radically new methods for pursuing research, providing education and stimulating engagement in efforts to bring about a just and sustainable future. How? By bringing together academics, students, non-academic staff and external stakeholders around complex and persistent societal challenges.

Our Marketing and Communications department and others colleagues have stepped up their efforts to tell us more about the impact we make at EUR. More articles, blogs and social media postings about sustainability have been published and attracted much attention within and outside the EUR.

In 2022, EUR will once again participate in the SustainaBul ranking; as the name suggests, this is a ranking of higher education institutions in the Netherlands on the basis of their integration of sustainability in education, research and operational management. EUR ranked 8th in 2021, so we’re of course aiming higher this year! Interested in helping collate or document our best sustainable practices for future entries? Then contact EUR's program manager sustainability Mariecke van der Glas.

In February 2022, the EUR Sustainability Program and the DIT platform launched a brand-new series of events: Let’s Talk Sustainability. The goal is to discuss sustainability topics around the university, to make the expertise of EUR academics available to the university community, but also invite students and external guests as speakers to share their perspectives on the subject at hand. The first three events covered critical issues – a vegan campus, sustainable travel and commuting, and buying green. Participants actively participated to the discussion, proposing interesting solutions and innovative perspectives to deal with the sustainability challenges EUR face.

For up-to-date sustainability-related news and events at EUR, subscribe to the newly launched Sustainability Today newsletter! Staff subscribe here, while students can sign up via this page. And if you have any other questions about related initiatives at the university, contact sustainable@eur.nl