IGDC Research Away-day: Making development research more sustainable

Event details

COP26 has placed sustainability high on everyone’s agenda. The University is committed to sustainability and has made strong commitments to reducing emissions across all its activities. As a leader in research on sustainability, and an advocate of the social, economic and environmental benefits of sustainability, it is vital that the University also undertakes its research in a sustainable manner. 

To this end, the University’s Sustainability Strategy group has been developing a Code of Practice for sustainable research. The aim is to promote research conducted in the most environmentally-positive way possible and provide guidance for helping staff (including researchers, professional support staff and technicians) individually, within research groups and at the Departmental level to make the transition to more sustainable research practices. 

In this event, Chris West (SEI-Y) will introduce work on the Code of Practice to date, and we will reflect on the implications of adopting more sustainable research practices for the IGDC community. 

Some of the topics we will consider include:

• What are the implications of more sustainable research practice for how we conduct development research?
• Does it change how we should conduct research in the Global South?
• How does it change how we should work with in-country partners?
• Should we set limits on the environmental impacts of research activity, and should this be done at the level of individual projects, departments, or Faculties?
• How do we balance environmentally damaging impacts of the research process with potential socially-positive outcomes from the research?  
• Should the Code of Practice focus on environmental sustainability alone?

Image: Fieldwork by Piran White, used with permission.