Higher Education Authority (HEA) Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Spotlight Series 2025: Case Studies Compendium

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Creator(s) (alphabetical)

Ana Rita Rocha, Colin Lowry, Mark Kelly

Organisation(s)

Higher Education Authority, National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning

Discipline(s)

Teaching & Learning

Topic(s)

Assessment and Feedback, Curriculum Design, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), National Forum Publications, Professional Development, Student Success, Teaching and Learning Practice

License

CC BY

Media Format

Website

Date Submitted

PID https://doi.org/10.82110/ykz2-dq66

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Description

The HEA Education for Sustainable Development Spotlight Series 2025: Case Studies Compendium brings together 115 case studies from higher education institutions across Ireland. It showcases how universities and colleges are integrating sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals into teaching, research, curriculum design, assessment practices and community engagement. It offers a comprehensive picture of national ESD activity and provides an accessible resource for educators and policymakers seeking examples of practice-based innovation.

Benefit of this resource and how to make the best use of it

This compendium provides practical insights into how education for sustainability is being implemented across diverse disciplines and institutional contexts. Readers can identify approaches that relate with their own institutional needs and consider how the underlying context, challenges encountered, enabling factors and resulting outcomes might be translated or adapted to suit their own settings. Engaging with the compendium can support curriculum development, staff collaboration and institutional strategic planning by grounding discussions in concrete examples of what has already been shown to work. It is also effective used as a reflective and exploratory tool, for example, as a catalyst for conversations within programme teams, as inspiration for new sustainability initiatives, or as a reference point for aligning teaching and learning with national ESD priorities.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

This work is licensed under a CC BY license, allowing sharing and adaptation with proper attribution.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Rocha, A. R., Lowry, C., & Kelly, M. (2025). Higher education authority (hea) education for sustainable development (esd) spotlight series 2025: case studies compendium. National Resource Hub (Ireland). Retrieved from: https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/resource/higher-education-authority-hea-education-for-sustainable-development-esd-spotlight-series-2025-case-studies-compendium/ License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY).

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Related OER

What does success look like as a student?

In this short film, students in higher education across Ireland reflect on confidence, perseverance, first-time experiences, learning, and the small moments that can make a big difference.

The student voices featured here were gathered through the HEA Student Success Survey and Focus Groups in 2025 and are shared in their own words.

The animations are creative interpretations of those reflections, imagined and produced by second-year Animation students at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT).

From communicating in a second language to returning to education as a mature student, overcoming anxiety, and simply choosing not to quit, these stories explore the many ways success can be experienced.

Even small moments in college can be a success. What are yours?

Credits
Animation, Backgrounds & Compositing — Arantxa Vara
Animation & Backgrounds — Giada Randolfi
Animation — Zach Louis Ng Nocum
Animation & Backgrounds — Alex
Music composition & production — Darragh Winters

Special thanks
Karima Dillon
Eimhin Mc Namara
Rebecca Roper
The students who shared their experiences

A 1-page guide, co-created by lecturers, tutors & students on DkIT's MA in Learning and Teaching, showing where GenAI can, and can't, support particular postgraduate research/skill development (*reflecting practice 2025-26). Includes student-informed prompts on responsible, sustainable use. An editable PowerPoint supports adaptation to own context.