65 Overview of ESD in RCSI

Catherine Sullivan provided an overview of how the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and planetary health across the institution.

She began by outlining the external drivers shaping RCSI’s sustainability approach, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the national ESD to 2030 strategy, and sustainability criteria within professional accreditation bodies. She emphasised that the climate crisis is fundamentally a health crisis, increasingly recognised by clinicians, researchers, the WHO, and most importantly by students, staff, and patients—creating a strong mandate for curricular change.

Ms Sullivan described RCSI’s institutional commitment through its 2023–2027 strategy, which foregrounds sustainability, the SDGs, and community engagement. These priorities are reinforced by the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy, where sustainability is integrated throughout.

Operationally, ESD work is advanced through the Sustainability and Climate Health Committee, supported by four working groups spanning education, research, Net Zero, and Green Campus. The education working group is currently mapping medicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and dentistry curricula to the SDGs, using UCC’s mapping model, with the aim of strengthening sustainability learning outcomes and competencies.

A major initiative highlighted was CHIME – Climate, Health and Medical Education, a collaborative effort involving RCSI, Irish Doctors for the Environment, and all medical schools on the island of Ireland. CHIME supports the integration of climate change, ecological instability, and sustainability into health professions education and has gained significant traction nationally.

Ms Sullivan noted the institution has made substantial progress through strong internal collaboration and partnerships across schools and with national networks. Their approach has combined bottom-up innovation and top-down support, enabling meaningful curricular integration across programmes.