Sustainability staff

Staff engagement

Placing sustainability at the heart of working practice and development

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Being a staff member at Manchester Met offers a wide range of opportunities for getting involved in sustainability and making a meaningful impact.

From the day you begin your career with Manchester Met, we work hard to make sustainability part of working practice and professional development.  

Your Sustainable Journey

  • New to Manchester Met

    If you are new to Manchester Met, congratulations on your new role. As part of your welcome and induction, you will be provided with a range of resources that you will need to familiarise yourself with, including information about sustainability at Manchester Met which can be accessed via the university’s intranet pages for new starters.

    At the ‘Your Manchester Met Welcome Event’ for all new starters,  look out for our sustainability stall (part of the wider Estates, Facilities and Capital Development stall). We are there to provide information about how you can help support the delivery of our sustainability strategy as relevant to your role,  and about a range of staff benefits and sustainability schemes, and about professional development opportunities for sustainability skills and knowledge which include:

    There are so many ways to engage with sustainability as part of your career at Manchester Met. Many Directorates and departments provide local induction information, such as the Estates, Facilities and Capital Development Induction Handbook. The staff intranet pages that explain more about our sustainability offering for staff.

    Alongside all the information you will receive, here are a few things we would like to highlight related to sustainability that you might like to know about:

  • Active and sustainable travel

    We offer some great schemes to help you travel to work. Our bike to work scheme enables Manchester Met employees to make saving of up to 42% on new bikes and accessories, and we offer interest free loans to purchase annual public transport passes. Find out more about your travel choices by visiting our dedicated intranet pages.

  • Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF)

    This phenomenal project has recently taken the world by storm, extending across 12 countries with over 70 institutions taking part. LEAF was developed as a green lab standard to improve the sustainability and efficiency of laboratories. The LEAF programme, short for the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework, is a self-assessment tool targeted at research, teaching and medical laboratories. Staff in Technical Services undertake training with LEAF to provide the resources for effective laboratory audits to create smart action plans.

    LEAF contains actions that lab users can take to save plastics, water, energy and other resources. By taking part in the programme, laboratories reduce their carbon emissions and create an environment that supports research quality. Find out more through our technical services.

How can I get involved?

  • Sustainability Fund

    You can now apply for funding up to £250 to undertake activities that deliver and support our joint vision to be a leading sustainable university that contributes to the world’s agenda for sustainable development.

    We can’t wait to see your ideas and if interested, please find out more information and apply for our Sustainability Fund here.

  • Climate Action Week

    Climate Action Week (formerly Go Green Fortnight / Climate and Social Action Week) is a week of action led by students and staff at Manchester Met.

    We are planning the delivery of a climate action week for the 2023/24 academic year and whilst keeping the dates flexible, we hope we can go ahead with a good mix of on-campus and virtual activities.

    Please email the Sustainability Team if you’re interested in supporting this project. Or if you’re interested in co-creating our programme or delivering your own activity, staff and students can apply for up to £250 to deliver events and workshops through our sustainability fund. Check out our mailing list to keep up to date with progress.

    This year we supported two student-oriented sustainability action weeks/festivals:

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    Gardening Workshops: Woodland and Orchard edition

    Our site features a range of biodiverse areas, including a community orchard, wetland area, wildflower area and community woodland areas rich in biodiversity.

    Working with students, staff, local community and our local partner Hulme Community Garden Centre, we deliver horticultural, fruit tree maintenance and urban foraging workshops in the orchard and woodland areas at our Birley site to help you develop skills for local food production and caring for and conserving the natural environment.

    Visit our events and workshops page to find out when the workshops are taking place.

Networks and Training

  • Sustainability Advocate Network

    For those truly passionate about sustainability, we are currently developing a staff Sustainability Advocate Network. Launching in 2023-24, the network will be a platform for raising awareness, sharing knowledge and collaborating with colleagues to progress sustainability across the University. Find out more about the initiative by visiting our intranet pages here.

  • Carbon Literacy

    Any member of staff can take part in our award-winning Carbon Literacy for Staff and Studentengagementprogramme to develop the knowledge and confidence to address the climate crisis - in your  profession and personal life.

    We offer Carbon Literacy and Carbon Literacy for Leaders which will entail the development of focussed action plans for your area of work, and Carbon Literacy train-the-trainer courses. All this, alongside support from our expert Carbon Literacy Consultant team to embed Carbon Literacy into academic courses and programmes. 

    Find out more about our Carbon Literacy offering.  

  • Responsible Futures

    This exciting initiative supports us in working in equal and active partnerships with our students’ union – The Union MMU, to embed sustainability and social responsibility (SRS) throughout the student and staff learning experience. Key areas of sustainability are audited by students who are paid as part of working groups and evidence is gathered to present sustainable development across Man Met. These audits are then used as evidence to create smart action plans that help inform our strategies, statements and policies.

    We have been an accredited Responsible Futures University since 2015 – our staff and paid student working group, led by Professor Liz Price, progresses the initiative, working in collaboration on a number of sustainability projects and ideas. Find out more on our intranet pages.