The University has always considered sustainability to be at the heart of its activities, and has a deeply held institutional commitment to sustainability. The University's ambitions centre on: improving the University's carbon performance; embedding education for sustainability in the curriculum; improving the student learning experience through sustainability volunteering and professional development opportunities; extending its government, business and community partnerships; and, developing cross-faculty research expertise in sustainability. The department was founded in 2008, with the aim of addressing these ambitions, and supporting the University’s aim to be recognised as being at the forefront of the sustainability agenda in the UK and globally.
Professor Daniella Tilbury
Director of Sustainability
dtilbury@glos.ac.uk 01242 714690
Daniella Tilbury joined the University of Gloucestershire in October 2007 as Professor of Sustainability and shortly afterwards became the University's Director of Sustainability. She is a senior manager responsible the University's sustainability performance as well as for leadership and learning for sustainability across the institution. During her time as Director, the University has celebrated various institutional awards for its sustainability achievements (Green Gown Awards 2008, 2010) and has been consistently ranked as 'First Class' by the Green League which assesses the performance of Universities in the UK. She led the HEFCE funded Leadership, Governance and Management project 'Leading Curriculum Change for Sustainability' and various higher education consultancy projects on behalf of the University over recent years. Daniella oversees the University's International Research Institute in Sustainability (IRIS) and its United Nations University accredited, Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) in Education for Sustainability.
At the international level, Daniella is known for providing strategic responses to sustainable development, assisting business and industry, higher education and government to make a greater contribution to sustainable development. She has also an extensive portfolio of consultancy work in sustainability having attracted over 5 million pounds from funding sources such as European Union, United Nations, World Conservation Union (IUCN), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), British Council, and several government agencies. Daniella was celebrated as a Marie Curie Fellow by the European Commission in 2009.
Daniella commenced her doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge at the age of 21 and completed within 3 years. Her PhD research was the first to look at institutional and educational development for sustainability within higher education. Since then she has been the recipient of several research awards including the Macquarie Innovation Award for Research (Macquarie University 2007) . Daniella was the Founding Director (2003-07) of the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) which was established with funding from the Australian Government. Independent evaluations have confirmed that ARIES projects have assisted with reframing policy and practice across various sectors in Australia. In particular, ARIES research and publication on business executive training and sustainable development has changed the way in which business students undertaking MBA's are taught in Australia. This work has attracted significant media as well as academic attention.
Daniella is the Chair of the UN's Global Monitoring and Evaluation Expert's Group which advises on the assessment of global progress during the UN Decade in ESD. In this capacity she has informed the development of UNESCO's first and second global report in ESD. She led the UNESCO-IUCN Asia Pacific Indicators Project in ESD (2004-07) and was the IUCN Global Chair in Education for Sustainability (2000-2005). She is currently the UK government nominated member on the UNECE Expert Group on ESD competencies. She has also recently served as a member of the board of WWF Australia and as advisor to the Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) based in Japan. Daniella co-leads the Sustainable Futures Leadership Academy for HE and is a Fellow of the Leadership Trust, UK. She sits in the Unbuntu Committee of Peers.
Daniella has over 100 books and refereed articles and has given keynote addresses in conferences across the globe. Most significantly, she was a keynote speaker at the UN's World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg 2002) and UN World Conference in ESD (Bonn 2009) and UN World Summit Rio+20 (2012). Her early work focused on monitoring and evaluation of ESD frameworks. She has assessed strategic initiatives for government agencies; conducted participatory evaluations for EU programmes and evaluated field projects in Tanzania, Madagascar, South Africa, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, China, Hungary, Vietnam, Australia, Spain, Tunisia, and Italy.
Kierson Wise
Associate Director of Sustainability (Carbon)
kwise@glos.ac.uk 01242 714107
Kierson works closely with the Director of Sustainability to provide advice especially in the area of carbon planning, management and measurement. His role also involves supporting Estates, ICT, Student Experience, HR, Finance and Planning as well as Registry in implementing changes to improve the sustainability performance of the University. Recent activities include the development of the University's Carbon Strategy - Carbon Matters 2010-20, the implementation of the University's Sustainable Travel Action Plan and development of data collection systems for monitoring and reporting institutional performance.
Kierson has over 10 years experience working in the sustainable energy and carbon reduction sector with specialisms including renewable energy generation projects, carbon reduction action planning with local authorities and the management of international co-operation projects. He graduated with an MSc distinction in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from DeMontfort University in 2002 with a dissertation on the application of ground source heat pumps.
Kierson went on to secure a position at the Severn Wye Energy Agency, a leading UK independent energy agency, working on a series of initiatives supporting community led sustainable energy projects. Kierson progressed onto the senior management team at the agency in 2007, overseeing a team of 7 staff and leading on a number of high profile projects working for clients such as Welsh Government, Gloucestershire County Council, the Energy Saving Trust and the European Commission Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation (EACI). Kierson devised and implemented a framework for the development of Sustainable Energy Action Plans under the Covenant of Mayors initiative and has worked for several local authorities including Bath and North East Somerset, Borough of Poole and Cardiff City Council. He has played a key role in the development of the Gloucestershire Environment Partnership and the subsequent Gloucestershire Climate Change Panel as well as leading on the community strand of the Stroud District Council Target 2050; Countdown to a low carbon future project. Kierson works part time (2.5 days a week).
Dr Alex Ryan
Associate Director of Sustainability (Academic)
aryan@glos.ac.uk 01242 715416
Alex has responsibility for curriculum development and staff development in Education for Sustainability (EfS) within and across University faculties. She works closely with the Director of Sustainability to reach the ambitious goal of embedding sustainability across the University curriculum by 2015. This includes strategic work to include sustainability within teaching and learning practices and to improve graduate employability, as well as targeted activities and guidance for specific subject areas and teaching teams. From October 2010 to October 2012, she managed the HEFCE LGM-funded project Leading Curriculum Change for Sustainability, a sector-wide initiative involving five HE institutions in action learning to explore and develop EfS through quality assurance and quality enhancement processes.
Alex also works part-time as a consultant in HE research and evaluation and has carried out freelance work with the HE Academy ESD Project since 2005, including the 2008 Review of ESD in HE in Scotland; case studies of leading institutions in ESD; a series of ‘whole institution’ strategic change events; inter-disciplinary ESD; and ESD in social and historical disciplines. Alex has an inter-disciplinary academic background with research interests in Chinese martial arts, embodiment and meditation, globalization and interpersonal conflict. She is an Associate Lecturer in Religious Studies for the Open University and Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University. Alex works part time (2.5 days a week).
Dr Ingrid Mula
Coordinator of Public Engagement and Partnerships for Sustainability (UNU Regional Centre of Expertise)
ingridmula@glos.ac.uk 01242 715394
Ingrid's role is divided between coordinating the United Nations University Regional Centre of Expertise in Sustainability Education for the Severn area (RCE Severn), and coordinating the COPERNICUS Alliance, both of which are both hosted by the University of Gloucestershire. Her RCE Severn activities include organising national and regional events to share learning and best practice, developing collaborative and externally funded projects with key partners, communicating with the RCE Severn consortium and the international RCE community. Ingrid also promotes initiatives to encourage students to engage with sustainability through the RCE and working closely with RCE partners.
Ingrid graduated with an environmental science degree at the University of Girona (Spain) and completed her PhD on social learning, sustainability and institutional change in higher education at the University of Gloucestershire (UK). Ingrid has been actively involved with the UN DESD and UNESCO work on ESD undertaking work on behalf of the German National Commission; UNESCO ESD Section and UNESCO Intercultural Unit. Ingrid is an active member of IUCN CEC's Young Professionals Leadership Group; the ENSI young researchers' network, PRISM student network, RCE Youth Network and the Catalan Network of Education for Sustainability (Xarxa Edusost) Research Committee. Ingrid works part time (2.5 days a week).
Barbara Rainbow
Sustainability Coordinator and Administrator
brainbow@glos.ac.uk 01242 715395
Barbara is responsible for office management matters relating to the Sustainability Team. This includes the coordination of activities relating to existing staff and PhD students, communication, correspondence, travel, meetings and project bids. She manages the Director's diary and support her administratively. Barbara is also responsible for the maintenance of the Sustainability Team's financial systems including: preparation/reconciliation of yearend accounts, preparation of quarterly forecast/phasing meetings, managing daily financial transactions, reconciling accounts and expenses, service/purchase and client invoices.
Barbara joined the University of Gloucestershire in 2005 as the Administrator for the University's HEFCE funded CETL - the Centre for Active Learning. Following the completion of the project Barbara moved to the University's Centre for Enterprise and Innovation as project office for the ECIF funded Graduate Challenge scheme and the Sustainability team, initially to co-ordinate activities under the HEFCE LGM project. She came to the University from a local Further Education College where she was part of the Student Finance/Student Services team. She has qualifications in IBT2, NVQ Advice and Guidance, with many years of experience in administration and customer service. Barbara supports an education charity project in Kolkata, India, and for the past 9 years has spent three weeks in the summer as a volunteer with the project.
Barbara is the main point of contact for telephone and postal enquiries to the Sustainability Team and reports to the Director of Sustainability. She works Monday to Thursday.
Paul Thomas
Sustainability Officer
pthomas@glos.ac.uk 01242 715378
Paul joined the team in January 2012 having graduated with an MSc in ‘Sustainability, Planning and Environmental Policy’ from Cardiff University in 2011. He has a passion for sustainability and the environment and has a particular interest in waste and transport matters. He previously worked in London in the finance and property industries after graduating from Exeter University in 2005 and recently undertook a feasibility study on car sharing for Cheltenham Borough Council as well as working on local recycling with the County Council. He is a keen rugby player and cyclist, having completed Land’s End – John O'Groats in the winter of 2009, and can regularly be found traversing the Cotswold highways on his bike.
As Sustainability Officer, Paul supports a number of sustainability initiatives in the area of transport, biodiversity, food, utilities, waste and procurement which encourage improve the University's sustainability performance and encourage staff and students to engage in making a difference. Paul works Monday to Thursday.
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