Sustainable Behaviour Assistants

Background:

Background To find out more about Sustainable Behavour Assistants please go to http://changeagents.org.uk/SBAs. The Green Impact Programme (http://www.green-impact.org.uk/) is a national behaviour change initiative headed by the National Union of Students (NUS) to promote and coordinate positive environmental behaviour change in university and college staff departments throughout the UK. Previously called ‘Green Impact Assistants’, Sustainable Behaviour Assistants will work with an institution’s Sustainability/ Environment Team to drive forward the Green Impact programme with the support of the NUS and Change Agents UK. The positions we place are supported, and have been a platform for careers in sustainability as well as playing a crucial role in the delivery of the Green Impact programme. Previous positions have been placed at: Jewel & Esk College, London School of Economics, Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield University, University of Birmingham, Queen Mary University, Canterbury Christchurch University, Loughborough University, De Montfort University, University of the West of Scotland, Westminster University and University of Kent. By applying/registering your interest for this position, you will have submitted your initial application for the role of Sustainable Behaviour Assistant at any educational institution across the country.

About Green Impact Green impact is an environmental accreditation scheme that encourages pro-environmental behaviours by staff. It empowers sustainability champions within their workplace, helping them gain recognition for their environmental efforts, whilst playing on the competitive spirit of staff working in teams. It provides people and their departments with a tangible framework for improving their environmental performance, breaking down complex environmental issues into more manageable bite-sized chunks. Green Impact forms part of the NUS’s wider strategy to support students’ unions by supporting them to green their own operations, their institutions and the wider community. All NUS environmental programmes seek to generate sustainable income for students’ unions by paying them to get involved in local delivery of our central projects.

The environmental programmes are also committed to providing volunteering opportunities for students that will help with their employability, especially through skills that support the transition to a low carbon economy. The scheme is all about practical actions that tackle common bad practice. A number of departments are audited to determine what common bad practices exist across an institution, and then a list of practical actions is developed to address them. These actions are carefully chosen so that any member of staff can do them on behalf of their team or department. From recycling, to investing in more efficient equipment, to encouraging biodiversity, or Fairtrade, the scheme covers a broad range of issues under the sustainability umbrella, all tailored to an individual institution to cover local policy and process. For more information on Green Impact please go to: http://www.eauc.org.uk/green_impact http://www.nus.org.uk/greenimpactpledge http://www.changeagents.org.uk/green-impact

Objective:

Objective This post will achieve an increase in the pro-environmental behaviours of students and staff within the university through a coordinating and supportive role to ensure the effective implementation and impact of the Green Impact project. The Sustainable Behaviour Assistant will provide additional capacity to enable successful delivery of the university’s Green Impact project by the specified completion dates. This is a project post that will last between 6 –12 months depending on the institution that will deliver the Green Impact objectives. There may be additional objectives such as enhancing the capacity and impact of the sustainability team and its work across the institution as a whole.