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Sustainability in Practice Certificate (SiP)

Explore the SDGs and sustainability issues from a personal, disciplinary and supradisciplinary perspective.

    The Sustainability in Practice Certificate (SiP)

    The Sustainability in Practice Certificate (SiP) was launched in 2013 with Food as the lens through which participants could study sustainability to enhance their sustainability literacy and employability. Over time the themes of Energy and Clothing were added and participants can choose one of these themes as a pathway to undertake the course. Shortlisted for the 2014 and 2017 Green Gown Awards, SiP is automatically available to all students and staff and appears on undergraduates’ HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report). Upon successful completion, participants are also given an official certificate of achievement, highlighting sustainability knowledge to potential employers and there is the opportunity to win one of several prizes for best project.

    SiP continues to grow and to be embedded into courses and modules across NTU as well as offered as a stand-alone self-study module. In 2020-21 SiP was offered within a Sustainable Tourism module (Nottingham Business School), the Nottingham Law School Employer Challenge, as a covid-safe ‘living lab’ workplace simulation for our Brackenhurst campus (School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences) as part of a 36-hour Sustainability Game Jam (Confetti and various other academic schools) and as a bridging module for students at our partner institution ISU in Taiwan.

    The ISU adaptation of SiP was created as a collaboration between NTU Green Academy, NTUGlobal and the PEAP (Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes) team based both at NTU and ISU. It combined an introduction to sustainability with an introduction to studying in the UK using the theme of clothing sustainability.

    Here is some feedback from students and alumni who completed SiP:

    • “I think it’s really important for students to understand these issues because we are the ones who are going to be going into jobs and making changes, making waves, using our creativity to do new things”.
    • "It was amazing to see how a simple food menu was used to illustrate sustainability and broaden my knowledge in a variety of subject areas. This assisted me to think outside the box".
    • "The certificate is unique as it systematically created an idea of how my course links to my environment. I encourage all students to partake in it".
    • “What I learnt doing the SiP certificate I have been able to apply in my everyday job; I work as a journalist now”.

    You can find a couple of videos on the NTU Green Academy YouTube channel of ISU students talking about their experiences of undertaking the ISU SiP module:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuWedTUwoWA

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFZbtoZVP9A

    You can undertake SiP 2023-24 by logging in to NOW, your online workspace.

    More information about the SiP can be found here

    This paper gives an overview of the Sustainability in Practice (SiP) Certificate, an online module designed to develop students' sustainability literacy. The certificate focuses on finding multi-disciplinary, collaborative solutions to current and future sustainability issues and encourage participants to reflect on systems-thinking, global citizenship and peer-to-peer learning.

    This chapter describes the starting point for NTU's ESD work and the initial development of the Sustainability in Practice certificate. The challenges of embedding sustainability across all courses at the university is described as well as the opportunities to create change.

    This chapter describes how NTU has addressed sustainability in the formal and informal curriculum by focussing on the topic of food in student and staff engagement. The chapter focuses on the development of the Sustainability in Practice certificate, as well as the general work to create sustainability literate graduates.