36 Enacting Education for Sustainable Development in Trinity Business School

Dr Cicely Roche presented the rollout of a mandatory first-year ESD module in Trinity Business School, developed collaboratively by the ESD Fellows team and led in practice by Dr Norah Campbell. The module, Enacting Sustainable Development, is now taken by all incoming business students across five programmes—over 500 learners in 2024.

The module was co-designed through a partnership model involving academics, librarians, professional staff, and student interns. Piloted with staff in 2023, it blends lectures with small-group workshops facilitated by trained leaders, enabling students to explore sustainability themes through debates, case studies, and systems mapping.

Central to the design are UNESCO sustainability competencies and Trinity’s graduate attributes, with teaching framed around the planetary boundaries “wedding cake” model. Content is discipline-specific: Dr Campbell, for example, contextualised the nitrogen cycle through everyday examples like packaged salad bags, crisps, and shamrocks—linking environmental science to culture and business.

Assessment balances knowledge and engagement: multiple-choice tests sit alongside workshop participation and reflective writing. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with students reporting greater awareness of system interconnections and appreciation of workshop debates on real-world issues such as mining, immigration, and misinformation.

Dr Roche emphasised that success depended on both top-down strategic commitment and bottom-up collaboration. The module demonstrates that large-scale, interdisciplinary ESD teaching is possible when supported by leadership, professional development, and courageous disciplinary champions. It now serves as a blueprint for expanding ESD across Trinity curricula.

About the authors

name: Dr Cicely Roche

institution: Trinity College Dublin

Dr Cicely Roche is an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and a Fellow in Education for Sustainable Development at Trinity College Dublin.

name: Dr Norah Campbell

institution: Trinity College Dublin

Dr Norah Campbell is an Associate Professor in Trinity Business School at Trinity College Dublin.