50 Strategic Overview: Queen’s University Belfast

Natalie Le Seelleur outlined Queen’s University Belfast’s evolving institutional approach to embedding ESD. With 23,000 students and nearly 3,000 modules across 15 schools, the challenge for Queen’s has been ensuring sustainability is consistently visible, measurable, and meaningful across such a broad curriculum.

To address this, Queen’s has developed a new ESD Framework grounded in four strands: (1) curriculum and systems integration, (2) student experiential learning through the Roots framework, (3) campus and community engagement via Living Labs, and (4) staff development.

In 2024, Queen’s conducted its first university-wide curriculum mapping, reviewing 2,600 modules using a framework adapted from UCC’s SDG Toolkit. Results showed that 43% of modules were sustainability-focused or inclusive, with over 700 explicitly referencing sustainability in learning outcomes. However, inconsistencies, lack of common language, and limited visibility highlighted the need for structural reform.

Practical measures now include embedding ESD prompts into new module proposals, review processes, and assessment systems, with full digital integration of sustainability data into Queen’s student information system by 2025. The Roots experiential learning pathway, aligned with the EU GreenComp framework, provides tiered opportunities for students to build sustainability competencies through projects, reflection, and leadership. Living Labs connect teaching and research with the campus and local communities, while new mandatory staff training ensures all staff engage with sustainability basics, supported by tiered CPD opportunities.

Ms Le Seelleur emphasised that Queen’s is approaching ESD as a whole-institution change process, designed to move sustainability from siloed initiatives to a visible, embedded, and scalable part of the student experience.