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

[favorite_button]

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

Submitted by

Export Resource Data

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/
? This citation is automatically generated and may require adjustment. Always verify it against your style guide.
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).

Adapting this resource? Share your version!

If you have modified or adopted this resource, share your version here. Tracking adaptations helps us measure impact and connects others with useful updates.

Related OER

This study explores student perceptions and behaviours concerning academic integrity and the use of Generative AI in the context of Munster Technological University (MTU). It draws insights from a comprehensive survey of 608 students across various faculties and academic stages.

Journal Article

CC BY

Slides for a digital wellbeing workshop that enables effective navigation of the digital world by
– exploring research on problematic internet use,
– offers workshop participants an opportunity to reflect on their own technology use
– uses the science of habits and the tiny habits methodology to promote more mindful use of digital technology

This landscape report provides an overview of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) practice across the higher education sector in Ireland. It draws together publicly available institutional strategies, HEA Performance Framework Agreements 2024–2028, Climate Action Roadmaps and ESD to 2030 progress reports to outline current approaches to embedding ESD.

Structured as a series of institutional case studies, the report highlights how ESD is being addressed across teaching and learning, research, engagement and whole-institution practice, and identifies opportunities for collaboration and shared learning across the sector.