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Embedding Education for Sustainable Development in Trinity curricula

Trinity’s strategic objective for education, as articulated in the College Sustainability Strategy, is to empower

"all Trinity staff and students... to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to act as agents of change, individually and collectively, in working towards sustainable development within planetary boundaries."

Furthermore Trinity’s Sustainability Strategy states that:

"Using both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary approaches, Trinity’s curriculum will be oriented towards ensuring the development of key competencies for sustainability, as identified by UNESCO3 and the European Commission"

"To enable this transition, all Trinity teaching staff will gain time and access to collaborative, cross-disciplinary support networks, resources and developmental programmes to support their module or programme design and use of relevant pedagogical approaches, with a particular emphasis on transformative learning.
"

To support the implementation of this strategy, Trinity Teaching & Learning, in collaboration with Trinity Sustainability, have appointed an ESD Team comprising four Fellows in ESD, two Academic Developers and a Project Manager.

For further information, click on the links below.

Project team

Former ESD Fellows


Project governance

Please see our ESD Project Governance diagram for details of the governance structure.

Project objectives 2025

  1. Capture current ESD practice across College curricula, mapping existing ESD-focused modules and/or modules which already address ESD themes and develop ESD competencies via learning outcomes and pedagogical approaches.
  2. Support staff to develop knowledge of ESD competencies and pedagogical approaches and to consider how they might support the embedding of both into their own curricula. 
  3. Support staff to embed ESD into existing modules (i.e. modules either in degree programmes or being offered via TEP/Open Modules) via articulation of learning outcomes and curriculum design, including embedding of ESD-related content,  resources and pedagogical approaches. 
  4. Support the development of ESD-focused module(s) in the curricula of existing School/Discipline  
  5. Support customisation & rollout of new ESD-focused modules within the framework of TEP.
  6. Seed and nurture an ESD community  of practice at College. This aims support collective knowledge-building regarding effective ESD approaches and innovations, share experiences and inspire academics to embrace ESD within their own curricula.