The first of ESD Exchange’s two webinar sessions takes place on Monday 20th April 2026 from 1pm to 2pm using Microsoft Teams. Session details, sign-up information and the link to join are all below:
Engaging and supporting staff with teaching for sustainability and social impact
For universities to make education for sustainable development addressed across all of their taught courses and wider activities, this requires active engagement and motivation for staff involved in teaching, student engagement and a wide range of departments and teams. How can this be achieved?
This webinar, part of the ESD Exchange 2026 Conference explores the theme of supporting staff learning and development towards delivery of education for sustainable development. Two contributions shed light on key challenges and issues, followed by time for Q&A and discussion on the themes raised.
The session will be of particular interest to academic development teams, education leads within schools/faculties/departments and anyone interested in increasing institution-level engagement with sustainability across universities. The session is chaired by Dr Victoria Wright from Loughborough University.
Sign-up here: https://forms.office.com/e/V0dkeVhc1X
Join here on Monday 20th April at 1pm: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/39399726236162?p=SyAX6Yt9ZpZYOLdtAA
Details on the two contributions:
Talk #1: Practising what we teach: using ESD to design effective CPD.
Kieran Higgins, Ulster University; Dr Alison Calvert, Queen’s University Belfast, Senior Lecturer (Education); Dr Mira Vogel, King’s College London, Senior Lecturer in Education; Dr Louise Logan, King’s College London, Project Manager (Education)
The successful embedding of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within higher education curricula depends not only on institutional strategy but on the availability of effective, credible, and meaningful continuing professional development (CPD) for teaching staff. Despite growing expectations that all graduates develop sustainability-related knowledge, skills, and values, many educators report limited confidence to integrate ESD within their teaching. This presentation builds on prior work that addressed this challenge through the design, delivery, and evaluation of an accredited academic development programme to support the embedding of ESD across the curriculum. Grounded in the CRAFTS methodology (Higgins & Calvert, 2024), a co-design framework integrating sustainability content, ESD competencies and high-impact pedagogical practice, the programme demonstrated statistically significant improvements in academic staff confidence and Professional Action Competence for ESD across diverse disciplines. The presentation reports on the next phase of this work, namely the design of a comparable CPD programme at King’s College London (KCL). While retaining the same theoretical and pedagogical foundations, the KCL context introduces distinct drivers and cultures. The presentation explores what elements of ESD-focused CPD travel well across institutions and where divergence becomes necessary, with implications for designing CPD that supports sustained, institution-wide change in ESD practice.
Talk #2: Collaborative Academic Engagement for Green Development and Inclusive Learning at DMU London Campus
Tracey Celestin-Radix, De Montfort University (London)
This talk reflects upon the collaborative processes undertaken with programme and module leaders at DMU London Campus. It aims to support and engage students through the framework of Education for Green Development. At DMU London, staff, including myself, are 100% Carbon Literate. Since the campus opened in September 2025, 71% of students have also achieved this status. The programmes delivered are central to the ethos of the campus. These include the Global MBA with Responsible Leadership, MSc International Business and Sustainability Management, and MSc Responsible Data Analytics. A key initiative is DMU Edge, a unique developmental skills programme focusing on digital technology. Through collaborative engagement with the careers team, programme, and module leaders, it embeds ESG principles and offers opportunities to connect with industry. This helps learners build responsible employment. My role also involves helping to facilitate Carbon Literacy Training with the Carbon Literacy Project Team. I support students in applying the fundamentals of carbon literacy and understanding how ethical decision-making shapes responsible living, careers, and businesses. The research examines the strategies employed to foster inclusive learning environments. These environments are responsive to the diverse cultural, linguistic, and academic needs of students in an international context. Drawing upon reflective practice, it considers how effective collaboration between academic staff and institutional leaders can address challenges. This approach embeds sustainability at the heart of the student experience. Recommendations are offered for DMU London Campus seeking to strengthen its approach to internationalisation and green development. This is achieved through sustained, meaningful engagement across programmes and modules.
