600 ANNIVERSARY FUNDRAISING PROJECT APPLICATION Title: Total cost:

600TH ANNIVERSARY FUNDRAISING PROJECT APPLICATION
PROJECT
Title: St Andrews Sustainability Institute (this is a continuation project from an existing
Institute within the University)
Total cost: One off cost of approx. £2-4 million and then recurrent costs totally £4 million
(over a 3-5 year period). Recurrent costs have some element of scalability to them. Total
investment proposed £6-8 million.
Fundraising sought: 100% (there are bound to be opportunities beyond the 600th
fundraising activities but at this stage of development these have not been fully
investigated).
DESCRIPTION
Concern about the state of the natural environment and the extent to which all of the
human population enjoy the fruits of development has intensified in recent years.
These concerns focus around the threat to human wellbeing presented by climate
change and the loss of integrity within ecosystems. Concerns focus on threats to
future human wellbeing, but there are also a number of present challenges in this area
(especially in the area of human wellbeing/poverty). The way in which various
social/cultural/economic arrangements interact with these environmental problems is
a key focus in these debates. These are academic and policy concerns.
The scale and urgency of these issues and the potential implications for human
wellbeing are highly significant. Likewise, social, ecological and economic issues are
interlocking, complex and subject to discontinuities or tipping points. The concept of
Sustainable Development (hereafter SD) has evolved as a way in which these multiple
issues can be understood and addressed (under the guise of ‘sustainability science’).
Given the interlocking nature of the issues to be addressed, focusing solely on
conventional, discipline specific research is unlikely to be effective (albeit that
excellent within discipline knowledge is required). SD requires us to build on past
modes of intellectual investigation to bring together knowledge from many disciplines
to engage with the complex, interlocking and ethically imbued problem set, that we
are facing. It is within this context that this proposal has been developed.
This proposal seeks support for building intellectual and practical capacities for
encouraging SD. This builds on existing excellence that St Andrews has in the area of
SD education (with highly innovative and award winning programmes); SD
performance (of our estate and institution as a whole); and research (where many ‘hot
spots’ of research excellence exist that are currently facilitated by the St Andrews
Sustainability Institute). The Strategic plan of the University emphasises being
sustainable and an enhanced SD policy and strategy are currently under development
within the Principal’s Office.
Activities for which funding is sought include:
1. Creation of an ecological build on campus that exemplifies the practices of
sustainable design and construction (or the redevelopment of an existing part of
University to excellent eco-efficiencies standards). The Bute building would be
one such option but others exist. In addition, a retrofit would allow knowledge
and expertise in this area to be developed. This facility would provide a central
home for the activities of this Centre, create a bespoke teaching resource and
provide a focus and profile for activities. Approx cost: £2-4 million.
2. The Centre will facilitate an array of research development activities focused
around key conceptual themes where we have existing research excellence
(outlined below).
Activities include:
a. Increase in core staff in the SD area to support the range of activities that
are being developed. An additional four staff in SD are sought for three
years (beyond the currently unfilled staff posts in the area). Approx cost
£500,000 (these posts would move to being self-funded beyond year
three).
b. A rolling set of four fellowships each year to bring four outstanding
scholars to work on one of the theme areas together (from an array of
locations and disciplines) to work with two existing St Andrews scholars
on developing in depth research. There will be four years of fellow lead
activities which will include not just the costs of visiting staff but colloquia
in each area after the fellowship. The rationale of including St Andrews
staff scholarships is to ensure that there is the capacity in St Andrews to
have a prolong engagement in this process and build academic excellence
here. Approx. costs for four years £800,000 (fellowships, staff buy outs,
subsistence, colloquia costs)
c. A series of shorter term academic exchanges to enhance the SD network
being developed. This would include study tour funds, enhanced
conference allowances, seminar speaker invites and a visiting scholars
programme. Approx cost (for three years) = £150,000.
These activities will be played in around key SD issues and focusing on particular
world regions. Issues and regions have been selected based on areas of existing
academic strengths as well as areas that offer novel insights to the SD topics being
discussed.
Issues are:
1) Mineral and natural resource issues;
2) Biodiversity, conservation & eco-systems service issues;
3) Governance concerns (at all scales);
4) Cultures, values, equity and public engagement.
Inherent within all these issues are the drivers created by the physical impacts of
climate change and the pressures generated from governance regimes designed to deal
with these pressures.
Key regions of focus are: Melanesia; Africa; South America; New Zealand and
Scotland. These are all sites where we have significant research engagement and
which (in various ways) provide novel insights into the issues of concern. In addition,
cross pollination of ideas between regions will be facilitated as a core part of the
Institute. It is also worth noting that Scotland provides a ‘natural laboratory’ within
which to explore transitions to a low carbon economy and hence a focus on local
contexts as well as international ones is essential. Moreover, we have significant
links within Fife and Scotland more broadly and this proposal would cement the
University of St Andrews as a key contributor to Scottish life. Going forward,
capacity to develop expertise in Central Asia and China will also be developed (as
these are regions with significant SD problems where experience in existing regions
will be invaluable).
3. Achieving SD is not something that can be created within a University. Rather, it
requires knowledge mobilization and engagement with all of society. Moreover,
it will require significant increases in the capacity of institutions and individuals.
This set of activities, therefore, focuses on providing a conduit between the
University and those who will ‘do’ sustainable development on the ground in the
various locations focused upon as well as in the contexts that have been identified
as building on academic strengths. Activities here include:
a. MSc in SD studentships drawing from the regions identified above (10 p.a
for 3 years at £30,000 pa = £900,000). These are not required to boost the
viability of the MSc in SD degree, rather they will ensure that each year
has a strong base of students from locations/connected with research
partners to allow SD capacity to be built in various locations. As our
contacts in these locations develop, we anticipate that the funding of these
posts should be shared with practice/research partners.
b. PhD studentships focusing on inter-disciplinary topics within areas of
academic strength. This approach has proven highly successful at the
University of Dundee (where such studentships are in their second year)
both in terms of providing capacity for research and for engaging
colleagues in inter-disciplinary conversation (which itself expands the
ability to gain grants from existing sources). We would be seeking five
(1+3) studentships each year for two years. Approx cost £750,000.
c. A set of knowledge exchange activities that will allow thinking emerging
from academia to be effectively utilized by practitioners. This will involve
employing knowledge brokers who can respond to practical needs with
summaries of the knowledge in each area (drawing from scholarly
research). In addition, these brokers would develop workshops and
briefing sessions on topics of relevance to SD. Three knowledge brokers
for 3 years in total would be sought. It is anticipated that this is an activity
that could become self-financing as our expertise and reputation grows in
this area. Approx cost = £450,000.
4. Involvement in this Centre would come from all relevant academic Schools.
Moreover, the integral role of Estates (and the management of the University
more broadly) will mean that their input to the Centre is necessary. Given that,
extra resource to allow Estates to rapidly facilitate the transformation of the
University so that it operates within ecological bounds and fully leverages its
positive social/economic impacts. Researching how we do this and engaging in
knowledge transfer within our sector and more broadly within the public sector in
the UK (and beyond) is an integral part of this proposal. Approx cost: £150,000
p.a. for three years = £450,000. These costs do not include any capital costs of the
transition that the University is attempting to make.
In summary, this proposal builds on an existing novel and effective mechanism (the St
Andrews Sustainability Institute) within the University to further develop our
collective expertise in SD. If funded, the project would put the University of St
Andrews at the centre of a small but emerging network of universities that are taking
the issues of SD seriously and who are engaging over the full array of their activities
(research, teaching and operations) to build a low carbon, resilient and socially just
world.
Possible funders for this work include local and global and include the likes of:
Governments (Scottish, UK as well as from around the globe); regional governance
agencies (such as the Asia Development Bank); United Nations bodies (such as the
World Bank and other UN bodies); major philanthropists (such as Bill and Melinda
Gates, the Soros Foundation, the Bute family – if retrofit of the Bute were part of the
equation); charitable foundations in the UK (such as Leverhulme, Carnegie and such
like); corporate bodies (and their trade associations); and the more traditional research
funding bodies in the UK.