Target III: Sustainability research

fish in a research tank

DOUBLE SUSTAINABILITY ORIENTED RESEARCH PROJECTS BY 2025

Sustainability evolves at the intersection between society and the environment. Much of scientific research is aligned along this same interface, so a more refined attention to sustainability illuminates our thinking about how we engage in research. We start toward this Target simply by understanding these parallels through a comprehensive sustainability research inventory. We will also vigorously expand our work beyond the walls of academia, making our campuses and surrounding communities living laboratories that provide rich collaborations and shared positive outcomes.

Status updates

Quarterly status reports

FY2021 1st Quarter (Summer 2020)

Target actions for FY2021

Action: Develop Sustainability Research Catalog

Responsible party: UW Sustainability, Population Health, EarthLab, Faculty
FY 2021 steps:

Highlight existing platforms, tools, and funding resources that support interdisciplinary research projects across UW.
Coordinate faculty focus groups to identify opportunities and barriers for increasing sustainability-related research.
Using the shared sustainability framework as a reference, build on existing UW systems and processes to coordinate centralized reporting that collects information across campuses and assess the degree to which sustainability (following a holistic and shared definition) is incorporated in existing research projects and funding initiatives.

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Action: Expand Campus as a Living Laboratory

Responsible party: UW Sustainability, Population Health, EarthLab, Faculty
FY 2021 steps:

Identify and promote opportunities in which UW researchers and students can create and participate in projects that engage UW Facilities and central administration units to transform the campuses and reduce the operations environmental footprint.
Promote existing tools, trainings, and internal funding to promote culturally responsible forms of research and engagement and appropriate interactions with non-UW members.
Seek opportunities for meaningful forms of engagement and research with local, regional, and global communities to address environmental challenges.

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Target metrics

One of the fiscal year 2021 actions is to build a centralized reporting platform to collect information across campuses and assess the degree to which sustainability (following a holistic and shared definition) is incorporated in existing research projects and funding initiatives. Information will be shared here when available.