Keele University welcomes representatives from over 300 universities and colleges to its campus this week to share knowledge on environmental issues and sustainability within further and higher education.

As host of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) 2018 Conference, the Keele campus will be a forum for learning and discussion across the sector, and will also showcase some of the sustainability endeavours being undertaken at the University through its Root and Branch campaign.

Launched in 1996, the EAUC is the environmental and sustainability champion within the Higher and Further Education sectors in the UK, and now has around 300 institutional members.

The EAUC aims to ensure that its members have access to important information relating to environmental legislation, technologies, best practice and research, to enable each university and college to improve its environmental performance and sustainability education.

Professor Mark Ormerod, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Keele University, said:

“By holding the event here at Keele, we’re sending a strong message that sustainability is at the heart of our mission, and spans everything from our research and teaching to our external engagement activities and our campus and operational practices, including the Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND), Europe’s largest at-scale smart energy demonstrator.

“Hosting delegates from universities and colleges across the UK at this event will allow us to demonstrate the important and sector-leading work that we do to embed sustainability in all that we do, and also showcase our education activities and how our research is tackling major issues around smart energy and climate change, as well as other sustainability initiatives and our campus.”

Iain Patton, CEO of the EAUC commented: “We are delighted to be holding this pioneering international event at Keele University. The UN Sustainable Development Goals challenge us to build innovative partnerships to solve social and environmental problems, and this ambitious conference brings academic and campus leaders together in an exciting new format. Keele have been incredibly accommodating to help us realise this. Our thanks extend to the Keele leadership and sustainability teams (we look forward to showcasing your initiatives), the chef and catering team for enabling us to create a wonderful menu in line with the Sustainable Restaurant Association, and the conference team for helping us to put the entire event on. We hope this proves to be an invaluable networking and learning opportunity for us all.”

Further information on the conference can be found on the EAUC website.