Careers and Sustainability Working Group

About us

The Careers and Sustainability Working Group was set up in 2023 to aid collaboration between the many Chapter members interested in the intersection of work on sustainability, careers, employability and the rapidly evolving green jobs sector. The working group is equally interested in teaching and learning, research and employer engagement. There are currently some 100 academics and careers professionals on the group's mailing list.

Questions we are interested in:

1. What are the business sectors and thus employment markets likely to face growth, decline or transformation in coming decades as a result of sustainability imperatives, and what implications does this have for university teaching ?

2. What are the technologies in which our students need to become proficient in order to be fit for the sustainability-oriented jobs of the future ?

3. What are the implications of the SDGs for the interdisciplinary nature of the graduate jobs of the future, and thus for the student learning of the present?

4. Where and how do the enterprise education and ESD agendas intersect, and what are the implications for our educational offerings?

5. How do universities best engage with business sectors and industries to understand the impact of sustainability imperatives on their jobs of the future?

6. How do developments such as these challenge traditional models of graduate employability?

7. How do we as educators maximise the opportunities for sustainability-related placements and internships?

8. In what time spans do we need to be acting to address the questions above?

Projects and Activities

Working Group activities - webinars, conference sessions and projects

The Group offers some 4 webinars per year advertised via the Chapter newsletter and the Working Group mailing list.

Past webinar topics include The Windo Platform for corporate Diversity and Sustainability reporting (with Oli Coles of Windo), The International Green Skills and Green Jobs Youth Consultation Report (with Quinn Runkle and Tori Morris of SOS-UK), AI Apps in Action: Enhancing Sustainability and Employability Skills (with Mohamed Saeudy of the University of Bedfordshire) and Career Story Telling for the Sustainable Development Goals (with Dr Karen Cripps and Cathy d'Abreu of Oxford Brookes University and Dr Milena Bobeva of The University of Bournemouth).

Upcoming webinars can be found on the Chapter Events Calendar.

The Working Group also hosts a report back and new project ideation session at the Chapter's annual conference each year.

Project One: A nationwide study into the supply of and demand for placement, internship, and graduate roles that involve “sustainability"

This research project is led by Oxford Brookes University in partnership with Windō (a platform that connects Gen Z with purpose-driven employers).

It is supported by the United Nations Global Compact Network UK, and university partners that to date include The University of Exeter, Nottingham Trent University, The University of Surrey, Richmond American University London, The University of Westminster, The University of Bristol and The University of Stirling.

The methodology includes a survey and case study interviews.

The data collection period has been May 2024 to February 2025 and a report from the study is planned for the summer of 2025.

Project Two: Subject Benchmark Statements (SBS), Sustainability and Employability

This project is considering how to further influence the way the SBS related to business disciplines reflect sustainability knowledge, ‘green skills’, graduate competency and the likely nature of future jobs.

The current team (Dr Richard Howarth from Nottingham Trent University and Dr Mohamed Saeudy from the University of Bedfordshire) are particularly interested in:

assessing the current role of the SBS in supporting and guiding current and future student employability within and through their related programmes of study
the model of employability expressed and/ or facilitated by the SBS (see for example, Holmes, 2013 - attached) and the likely influence and impact of this
the recognition of future job needs within the SBS, their attention to a range of outcomes, and likely challenges and/ or opportunities, such as the role and use of AI), and
the relationship of the SBS to other guidance, including the guidance related to education for sustainable development (e.g. within Advance HE and QAA, 2021 - attached), and that available from organisations such as PRME.

The team will seek to identify areas of strength and/or gaps and the opportunity for providing recommendations and enhancements in the context of the current SBS and PRME requirements, frameworks and guidance. Examples of good practice will be sought and shared to support the work of the project and what next.

The project group started work in early 2025 . The expectation is that the project will conclude by the end July 2025.

Expressions of interest in joining this project are welcome from both academic and professional services (e.g. careers) staff.

Contact: Richard Howarth richard.howarth@ntu.ac.uk and/ or Mohamed Saeudy mohamed.saeudy@beds.ac.uk

How to make contact with the Careers and Sustainability Working Group

The Working Group is convened by Dr Jonathan Louw (jlouw@brookes.ac.uk) and Dr Karen Cripps (kcripps@brookes.ac.uk) at Oxford Brookes Business School.

Contact the convenors or other named contact people above if you would like to propose a new project, join a current project or join the group mailing list.

The Group also has a Linkedin site.