III. Double sustainability-oriented research projects by 2025

This may include connecting with academic departments to build a contact list of faculty and courses that align with sustainability related living lab projects. Identifying other ways that student research projects are created in different departments, such as Capstone project lists, will also help determine best steps to support Living Lab projects.

As mentioned in Target I, UW Sustainability will be filling a vacant position this Fall with a revised job description. This role is expected to be hired in Fall 2024, and the duties will include enhancing engagement with students and faculty, including identifying and promoting Living Lab opportunities and overseeing engagement programs.

Steps we will take in FY 2023

1. Host a Living Lab connection event for faculty to connect with staff on research projects

2. Discuss and identify next steps to support and implement Living Lab projects

Host a Living Lab connection event for faculty to connect with staff on research projects

UW Sustainability is planning an event for Spring 2023 to help foster new connections and develop possible Living Lab projects on our campus. This can provide an opportunity to increase student experiential learning on campus projects, a way to learn about others’ efforts, and spark more cross-collaboration for future projects.

Discuss and identify next steps to support and implement Living Lab projects

This may include connecting with academic departments to build a contact list of faculty and courses that align with sustainability related living lab projects. Identifying other ways that student research projects are created in different departments, such as Capstone project lists, will also help determine best steps to support Living Lab projects.

In conjunction with the working sustainability definition developed in FY21, we will dedicate efforts to identifying the impact of academic research to our communities, faculty and our campuses. It will begin with development of a catalog to identify living lab sustainability-oriented research projects and opportunities across the UW. We will focus resourcing, funding and attention to nurture some of these seminal projects, with lessons learned and outcomes then broadly disseminated to support others down that path. Besides increasing transparency, inclusion and coordination among UW researchers, this will serve a second purpose as the baseline count of sustainability-oriented research projects; this is the count that will be doubled by 2025 according to the target. The catalogue will help to understand the University’s research activities and help develop faculty incentives that would align with this target. As a R1 public institution, we will also work on engagement with the academy to ensure there is broad support to engage our research faculty.

Steps we will take in FY 2022

1. Continue to highlight existing platforms, tools, and funding resources that support interdisciplinary research projects across UW drawing upon prior work from the UW Sustainability research portal.
2. Support Target II action to hire a .50 Academic Coordinator through benchmarking what this position description should include, writing the job description and providing a recommendation to the Provost office.
3. Using the shared sustainability framework as a reference, build on existing UW systems and processes to coordinate centralized reporting that collects information across campuses and assess the degree to which sustainability (following a holistic and shared definition) is incorporated in existing research projects and funding initiatives. 4. Establish a baseline procedure to collect and share information about UW research impact in our communities.

Responsible party

UW Sustainability, Population Health Initiative, EarthLab, Urban@UW

Statuses and linkages

Work with Campus Sustainability Fund, Population Health Initiative, EarthLab, Urban@UW, UW Tacoma, UW Bothell and UW Sustainability using STARS reporting data on sustainability-focused research to identify themes.

Financing

• Funding for a .50 Academic Coordinator from an existing position or a new hire. This could be the position described in Target II.

Metrics

To establish a baseline metric the second year, we will develop a process for gathering input and assess how we are engaging across our campuses. Quantitative and qualitative data will assess the following measures:

• Representation of diversity, co-curricular groups and RSOs.
• Assessments of the outputs and progress the diverse groups were able to realize.
• Community-based research projects will be identified this year to establish a baseline number beginning with an assessment with Population Health, EarthLab and Urban@ UW.

Through the formal adoption of the UW-wide sustainability definition, develop a program to transform UW’s campuses into living laboratories for sustainability research. Integrating academic and research areas of interest with operational targets and sustainability actions will provide opportunities for all UW members to collaborate on innovative strategies to address some of the most urgent challenges at different scales. This action also entails expanding our work beyond the walls of higher education, across local, regional and global scales; viewing our campuses and the surrounding communities as living laboratories that provide rich opportunities for action oriented, community based participatory research and service learning to address the complexities of sustainability challenges in a responsive and equitable way. Through this action, UW will support more sustainable communities and students fluent in climate justice, sustainability, and resiliency.

Steps we will take in FY 2022

1. Identify and promote opportunities in which UW researchers and students can create and participate in projects that engage UW Facilities and central administration units to transform the campuses, reduce the operations environmental footprint while alleviating burdens of our existing policies and procedures that negatively impact underrepresented groups on campus.
2. Develop and promote existing tools, training, and internal funding for culturally responsible forms of research and engagement and appropriate interactions with non-UW members.
3. Identify funding mechanisms to coordinate faculty focus groups that will provide incentives. This will serve to identify opportunities and barriers for increasing sustainability-related research.
4. Seek opportunities for meaningful forms of engagement and research through equity and inclusion with local, regional, and global communities to address environmental challenges and causes.

Responsible party

UW Sustainability, Population Health Initiative, Campus Sustainability Fund, EarthLab, Urban@UW

Statuses and linkages

These could be overseen by the suggested Academic Coordinator position.

Financing

• Additional financing needed in FY 2022.

Possible sources:

• Use revolving funds from any savings in operations linked to the decarbonization program and create task forces specifically to apply for state, regional and national grant opportunities.
• Create a special sustainability endowment or green fund coming from donations in collaboration with UW Advancement.
• Identify and strengthen existing sources of funding for research (Campus Sustainability Fund, EarthLab’s Innovation Grants, Population Health Initiative pilot research grants, Urban@UW Spark Grants).

Metrics

To establish a baseline metric the second year, we will develop a process for gathering input from across our campuses and piloting collaboration projects between academic research and campus operations. Quantitative and qualitative data will assess the following:

• Number of living lab projects from Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses.
• Representation of diverse co-curricular groups and RSOs from Seattle, Bothell, Tacoma campuses.
• Qualitative impact of pilot project(s) with campus operations for faculty.

In this first year, we will dedicate efforts to identifying the impact of academic research to our communities, faculty and our campuses. It will begin with development of a catalogue to identify living lab sustainability-oriented research projects and opportunities across the UW. Focused resourcing, funding and attention to nurture some of these seminal projects, with lessons learned and outcomes then broadly disseminated to support others down that path. Besides increasing transparency and coordination among UW researchers, this will serve a second purpose, as the baseline count of sustainability-oriented research projects; this is the count that will be doubled by 2025 according to the target. The catalogue will help to understand the University’s research activities and help develop faculty incentives that would align with this target. As an R1 public institution, we will also work on engagement with the academy to ensure there is broad level support to engage our research faculty.

Steps we will take in FY 2021

1. Highlight existing platforms, tools, and funding resources that support interdisciplinary research projects across UW.

2. Coordinate faculty focus groups to identify opportunities and barriers for increasing sustainability-related research.

3. Using the shared sustainability framework as a reference, build on existing UW systems and processes to coordinate centralized reporting that collects information across campuses and assess the degree to which sustainability (following a holistic and shared definition) is incorporated in existing research projects and funding initiatives.

Responsible party

UW Sustainability, Population Health Initiative, EarthLab, Faculty

Statuses and linkages

This is intricately tied to Target II. These could be overseen by the positions suggested for the UW-Wide Sustainability Definition Task Force and coordination with existing efforts at Population Health, EarthLab, Urban@UW, ChangE, and UW Tacoma and UW Bothell centers.

Financing

No additional financing needed in FY 2021.

Metrics

The first year will develop a process for gathering input assessment of how we are engaging across our campuses. Quantitative and qualitative data will assess the following:

• Representation of faculty from Seattle, Bothell, Tacoma campuses.

• Representation of diversity, co-curricular groups and RSOs.

• Assessments of the outputs and progress the diverse groups were able to realize.

This action enables additional actions that may affect STARS credit AC-9 Research & Scholarship where UW shows a point gap of 3.97.

Transform UW’s campuses into living laboratories for sustainability research by integrating academic, and research areas of interest with operational targets and sustainability actions thereby providing opportunities for all UW members to collaborate on innovative strategies to address some of the most urgent challenges at different scales. This action entails expanding our work beyond the walls of academia, across local, regional and global scales; viewing our campuses and the surrounding communities as living laboratories that provide rich opportunities for action-oriented research, community-engaged scholarship, service learning, and inter-community collaborations to address the complexities of sustainability challenges in a responsive and equitable way. Through this action, UW will deliver more sustainable communities, students fluent in climate justice, sustainability, and resiliency.

Steps we will take in FY 2021

1. Identify and promote opportunities in which UW researchers and students can create and participate in projects that engage UW Facilities and central administration units to transform the campuses and reduce the operations environmental footprint.

2. Promote existing tools, trainings, and internal funding to promote culturally responsible forms of research and engagement and appropriate interactions with non-UW members.

3. Seek opportunities for meaningful forms of engagement and research with local, regional, and global communities to address environmental challenges.

Responsible party

UW Sustainability, Population Health Initiative, Campus Sustainability Fund, EarthLab

Statuses and linkages

This is intricately tied to Target II. These could be overseen by the positions suggested for the UW-Wide Sustainability Definition Task Force and coordination with existing efforts at Population Health, EarthLab, Urban@UW, ChangE, and UW Tacoma and UW Bothell centers.

Financing

Additional financing needed in FY 2021.

Possible sources:

• Use revolving funds from any savings in operations linked to the decarbonization program.
• Create a special endowment or fund coming from donations.
• Identify and strengthen existing sources of funding for research (EarthLab’s Innovation Grants, Population Health Initiative pilot research grants, Campus Sustainability Fund).
• Work with UW Advancement for identifying donor funding.

Metrics

The first year will develop a process for gathering input from across our campuses and piloting collaboration projects between academic research and campus operations. Quantitative and qualitative data will assess the following:

• Representation of faculty and staff from Seattle, Bothell, Tacoma campuses.

• Representation of diverse co-curricular groups and RSOs from Seattle, Bothell, Tacoma campuses.

• Qualitative impact of pilot project(s) with campus operations for faculty research.

UW has already earned the maximum points available in the relevant STARS credits AC-8 Campus as a Living Laboratory and EN-10 Community Partnerships. This Action can gain points in STARS credits AC-9 Research & Scholarship where UW shows a point gap of 3.97 and EN-13 Community Service where UW shows a point gap of 3.77.