Dr Inmaculada Arnedillo-Sánchez has been recognised for her contributions to sustainability at this year’s Sustainability Leadership Awards ceremony, which saw a record number of over 100 staff and students across college nominated for their efforts in education, research, operations, and community engagement. The awards are in their third year running, an initiative conceived and led by Sustainability Manager Jane Hackett.
Dr Arnedillo-Sánchez, Director of Industry Engagement at SCSS, integrated a Green Computing/Sustainability requirement into all Software Engineering (SwEng) projects, encouraging students to consider the environmental impact of their work. By embedding sustainability directly into coursework, she has demonstrated that real-world application is an effective teaching tool. Her approach has empowered students to recognise the critical role software engineering plays in sustainability, encouraging them to develop, analyse, and implement greener solutions.
As a result, students have calculated the energy, cost, and carbon impact of their decisions and influenced their industry mentors to adopt more sustainable IT practices. Notably, projects like NiteOut with Amazon have even driven sustainability efforts within external businesses. This initiative has fostered collaboration between academia and industry, engaging 309 students, over 50 IT mentors, 24 companies, and 15 demonstrators.
Speaking at the ceremony, Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action Jane Stout emphasised the university’s responsibility to tackle climate and biodiversity challenges, highlighting Trinity’s recent Responsible Futures accreditation.
Provost Linda Doyle commended all nominees for their dedication to sustainability, acknowledging progress while recognising the need for continued effort.
The Software Engineering Project module is taken by undergraduate Computer Science students, and Computer Science Joint Honours students in their second and third years. Students work with companies on a real-life industry project over a 12 week period.