Sustainability Activities at the University College Dublin School of Veterinary Medicine
One Welfare and One Health are emphasised in the strategic plan of the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Veterinary Medicine. Aligned with this, students and staff have formed a Sustainability Group, with the mission of bringing a culture of sustainability to all aspects of the school. The group meets monthly during term time to discuss relevant issues and progress the group’s action plans.
University College Dublin, School of Veterinary Medicine
One Welfare and One Health are emphasised in the strategic plan of the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Veterinary Medicine. Aligned with this, students and staff have formed a Sustainability Group, with the mission of bringing a culture of sustainability to all aspects of the school. The group meets monthly during term time to discuss relevant issues and progress the group’s action plans.
One of the core features of the UCD Sustainability Working Group is the strength of its staff-student partnership, with many aspects of the action plan driven by students. One such action currently underway is the development of a student-led research project to survey members of the school on sustainability practices and behaviour. This project will run in 2024 and is eligible for clinical extra mural studies (CEMS) credits and a Summer Student Research Award (SSRA). We hope that the survey will capture and quantify how students wish to embed sustainability in their academic environment as well as how staff are considering sustainability in their teaching and research.
The Veterinary School Sustainability Group also works with other grassroots sustainability initiatives on campus, including the Sustainable Research Initiative (SRI). For example group members volunteered at a plastics recycling workshop that was held in the UCD Village on 5 March 2024, organised by the SRI and UCD Green Campus and led by the UCD Innovation Academy. They have also been involved in initiatives within the school to build awareness of sustainable practices. For example, members created a Christmas tree made from used pipette boxes (named the “Sustainabili-Tree’”) for the foyer of the Veterinary School in December 2022.
The aim of this initiative was to promote the Green Labs “take back” programme. Members also volunteered at an Earth Day workshop in the Veterinary School in collaboration with the UCD Purl Jam crafting group on 22 April 2024. The workshop was focused on One Welfare and upcycling, with attendees making plastic-free toys for dogs and cats using toilet roll tubes, paper straws, and knitting wool. They also prepared pet-friendly herb pots.
Additionally, a nitrile glove recycling pilot programme has been launched in Veterinary Microbiology practical classes for stage 3 undergraduate Veterinary Medicine students. Kimtech brand nitrile gloves were distributed to students, then collected and decontaminated for shipping back to the manufacturer (https://www.kimtech.eu/solutions/sustainability-rightcycler). The first 20,000 gloves (collected in conjunction with groups from the UCD College of Science) were shipped on 15 May 2024.
Our Veterinary Clinical Skills Centre staff are also connected to the Sustainability Group and are key contributors to sustainability measures within our school. They mostly use surplus and expired consumables and stock (sourced from the UCD Veterinary Hospital and Veterinary School laboratories) and reusable equipment as supplies. For example, they collect clean disposable drapes from the UCD Veterinary Hospital, so that students can practice draping and packaging instruments for autoclaving. When they are finished, they pass them on to other Veterinary School sections, including Anatomy. Anatomy uses the drapes to cover tables and sensitive specimens. The Veterinary Clinical Skills Centre staff also collect items from the student advisor (fabrics for example) to be upcycled into clinical skills models. Any items they receive that they cannot use are redistributed to other sections of the school. In addition, staff make careful choices about their purchases. For example, they purchase reusable drip bags (rather than single use bags) to enable students to practice drip assembly and connection, while minimising waste. These activities all save the Veterinary School time and money and help to protect the environment.
Aside from these larger initiatives, the group plans to implement small changes throughout the School to help students and staff make sustainable choices. These include installing compost bins, creating a Sustainability bulletin board and facilitating reuse of scrubs between student year groups. The Sustainability Group is currently working on finalising its terms of reference and formalising its status in the School. Watch this space for more sustainability initiatives in the 2024/25 academic year!