CSU Sustainability Grant

The CSU Sustainability Grant program is open for 2013. 

After a review of the program from previous years, the program has been expanded for 2013. There are now three funding options for projects from a total funding pool of $150,000. There are two funding streams:

  • Stream One (small projects) - Funding pool of $60,000 with a maximum of $15,000 per project;
  • Stream One (large project) - A one-off  grant of $50,000;
  • Stream Two (research support) - Funding pool of $40,000 with a maximum of $10,000 per project. 

Please consult the Application Information carefully.

Grant applications will be due on Friday 28 June 2013 at 5 pm.

Previous Years Successful Applications:

2011 Final Report Template [.doc]

2012 Final Report Template [.doc]

 

Successful Applications for 2013

In 2013 eight stream one applications were selected out of 12 received and three stream two applications were successful of the seven received. Details of these projects are provided below.

Project Title Team
Bee Keeping

Student CSU club (Wagga)
Transforming Sustainability Practice

School of Education (Ontario)
Eco-Living at CSU

Residence Life (All Campuses)
Developing a Learning Resource School of Environmental Sciences (Albury-Wodonga)
Recyclery Student EcoActive Club (Wagga)
Deployment of BDMS

Division of Student Administration (Wagga)
Capturing Change

School of Education (Albury-Wodonga)

Paths, Walks & Tracks

Campus Environmental Committee (Wagga)
Identifying, Communicating & Improving Sustainability Literacy  Faculty of Science (Wagga)

Improving Soil Biological Health

 School of Agriculture & Wine Sciences (Orange)

Impact of CSU Curricula on Undergraduate Knowledge, understanding & Skills of Environmental Sustainability

 School of Environmental Sciences (Albury-Wodonga)

 

Project Descriptions

Beekeeping Facility for Learning, Research & Public Education

Team:

  • Malcolm Bauer (CSU Student & Club President, Wagga)
  • Cate Hardy (School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, Wagga)
  • Jacquie Tinkler (School of Education, Wagga)
  • Jerome Prax (CSU Wagga)
  • Morgan Luck (School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Wagga)
  • Tara Needham (CSU Wagga)

Amount awarded: $3,696.60

Project summary: This project aims to create a functioning apiary for staff, students and the wider community to learn about and participate in beekeeping.

A functioning set up at the Univerisity will provide the education for those interested in beekeeping to set their own hive systems up at home to produce honey and bee-associated products.

The bees also provide a pollination service in a very agricultural area such as Wagga. The CSU registered student club will establish three hives initially on campus as an information and skill sharing resource, which has the potential to act as a research resource.

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Transforming Sustainability Practice Ontario

Team:

  • Randa Khattar (School of Education, Ontario)
  • Cam Fraser (School of Education, Ontario)
  • Paige Bennett (School of Education, Ontario)
  • Umar Umangay (School of Education, Ontario)
  • Linda Charko (School of Education, Ontario)
  • karyn Callaghan (School of Education, Ontario)

Amount awarded: $1,000

Project summary: The purpose of this project is to consider innovative ways of engaging Ontario staff and student in cultivating sustainable personal and workplace practices through initiatives across campus.

This will be achieved through environmental and personal audits, the results of which will be used to develop tangible short-term and long-term action items for Ontario students and staff to reduce their eco-footprint and develop a culture of sustainability on campus.

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Eco-Living at CSU (Large Grant)

Team:

  • Joanne McRae (Residence Life, Bathurst)
  • James Kelly (Residence Life, Northern Zone)
  • Peter Bell (Residence Life, Southern Zone)

Amount awarded: $48,000

Project summary: Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga campuses will each establish a residence as an 'Eco-Living Residence' as part of Residence Life accommodation a the commencement of 2014. This will provide the first example of theme living at CSU. 'Eco-Living' will gather like-minded students together to promote sustainable living within the CSU Halls of Residence. The project will increase awareness of sustainability principles and practices across all campuses, with the ability for growth and expansion in future years.

Students will self-select to reside in the 'Eco-Living' themed housing. Each session has a focus; Focus area 1 to coincide with Session one on Energy usage: and Focus area 2 to coincide with Session two on waste. Seminars linked to sustainable living will be held in all Residential Precincts, allowing Eco-Living Residents to share the knowledge and experience to promote sustainable living across the student resident community, in line with Residential Support Scheme principles and with the support of Residence Life staff.

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Developing a Learning Resource: Sustainability in the Professions

Team:

  • Jonathon Howard (School of Environmental Sciences, Albury-Wodonga)  

Amount awarded: $21,120

Project summary: A project hub, coordinated by the Convenor of the Course Directors Forum and involving a group of key stakeholders, and key focus groups will lead the development of a learning resource; Sustainability in the Professions. Sustainability in the Professions will be a teaching resource that can be meaningfully incorporated into a broad range of degrees and curricula across the University to support the implementation of the (incoming) graduate learning outcome regarding sustainability.

The module will include generalised sustainability concepts and recognises that the concept of sustainability is contested. It will be enriched by specific case studies from a range of professions and across a range of workplaces. Stakeholders involved in the project will include Marion Tulloch, Executive Director, Division of Learning and Teaching Service and a number of businesses that typically employ our graduates.

The resource will be developed as a series of spearate modules allowing Course Directors and subject coordinators to: 1) contextualise the material in their own sustainability curricula; or 2) slot the appropriate resource/module into existing subjects; or 3) use it to develop new subjects around sustainability.

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Green Bike Farm Recyclery Wagga

Team:

  • Gemma Hawkins (EcoActive Club, Wagga)
  • Simone Trumball-Ward (EcoActive Club, Wagga)

Amount awarded: $918.50

Project summary: There are four aims to this project through the EcoActive student club at the Wagga campus and include: to allow staff and students to access tools for bicycle maintenance and repair; to help students and staff gain ownership of a bike (sourced from tip-shop); to help students and staff learn how to use the tools to repair and maintain a bike (from trained staff and student volunteers); and to encourage staff and students to use bikes on and off campus through providing information and events.

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Deployment of Banner Document Management System (BDMS)  

Team:

  • Julie Cleary (Division of Student Administration, Wagga)
  • BDMS Project Officer (To be recruited, Wagga)
  • Sandra Chapman (Division of Student Administration, Wagga)

Amount awarded: $14,805

Project summary: This project aims to improve the BDMS to meet the needs of different stakeholders to deploy University-wide. The BDMS is an electronic filling system to manage student files and support stakeholders by enabling the saving and retrieving of student information onto one University electronic centralised student file. 

The benefits of this initiative include:

  • The removal of physical handling, printing and physical storage of student files for all stakeholders;
    • Reduced paper, printer, photocopier and consumable usage (potentially at least a 45% saving)
    • Freeing up of valuable floorspace with the removal of file storage equipment
    • Freeing up of resources who previously performed physical filing functions
  • Deployment of the BDMS across CSU will enable the automatic BDMS routing of documents for viewing by decision makers through the Workflow Project by removing the need to physcially attach documents to communications. This functionality will create substantial efficiencies and become increasingly significant as the Enterprise Workflow product is deployed across CSU;
  • Mitigation of the risks associated with multiple physical student files that are located in various locations across CSU, particularly in relation to compliance with the State Records Act, and in creating a sustainable records management strategy for CSU;
  • Electronic student file enables robust and efficient access and security restrictions;
  • Ability to meet litigation and FOI requirements more easily.

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Capturing Change

Team:

  • John Rafferty (School of Education, Albury-Wodonga)
  • Cody MacDonald (Student Casual, Albury-Wodonga)
  • Amy MacDonald (School of Education, Albury-Wodonga)
  • Shelby Gull Laird (School of Environmental Sciences, Albury-Wodonga)
  • Matthew Gill (School of Environmental Sciences, Albury-Wodonga) 

Amount awarded: $13,191

Project summary: This project capitalises on previous successful CSU Sustainability grants to highlight the benefits of sustainable practice, with specific reference to improvements in the natural environment. The project seeks to enhance existing initiatives including the wetland walking trails, touch-sensitive information kiosks, educative signage and habitat enhancement on the Albury-Wodonga campus by installing unobtrusive electronic monitoring equipment to capture the changes occurring on the campus as a result of these initiatives.

By strategically placing the time-lapse and motion-sensitive cameras throughout the campus' natural environments, a greater understanding of the non-human inhabitants of the campus will be gained. Furthermore, such data provides evidence of the positive effect of a variety of sustainable initiatives that are embedded in the campus environment. Such data will provide opportunities for extensive research, enhanced teaching and student engagement with the campus, and collaboration with community groups. Moreover, this initiative allows for the full appreciation of the benefits of living sustainably.

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CSU Paths, Walks and Tracks Project, Wagga

Team:

  • Stuart Woodcock (Wagga Campus Environmental Committee, Wagga)
  • Ed Maher (CSU Green, Wagga)

Amount awarded: $10,200

Project summary: This project stems from the need to connect locations of ecological, environmental, cultural, historical and geological features across the Wagga campus. These connections already informally exist via pathways and trails. The addition of future formalised trails will create and further enhance the features of the campus grounds. These connections are consistent with the vision outlined in the Wagga Campus Master Plan. When completed, formalised connections will showcase the campus to CSU staff and students, and the the wider community, in regards to the ability of the University to manage and ensure sustainability and biodiversity of the abiotic and biotic features within the landscape. 

This project with its unique ability to connect many different spaces will need explanation in a visual format. Through CSU Sustainability grant funding, interpretive signage will be installed at a possible twenty sites along the paths, walks and tracks that make up the route around the CSU Wagga campus.

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Identifying, Communicating and Improving Sustainability Literacy

Team:

  • Andrea Crampton (Sub Dean Learning & Teaching, Wagga)
  • Angela Ragusa (School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Wagga)

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project summary: This project seeks to enhance sustainability literacy amongst CSU staff and students in an engaging and informative manner. Using social science research methodology, surveys and focus groups will be conducted to identify student and staff knowledge around issues of environmental sustainability, particularly associated with water, food, energy and recycling. Applying a mixed methods approach (qualitative & quantitative), we seek to unpack how various literacies, attitudes and behaviours developed to determine if increased literacy results in modified behaviours.

Regionally relevant knowledge gaps identified through the survey and focus groups will be used to create an awareness campaign utilising a range of communication strategies, including a public lecture open to the local community. Results will be published in peer reviewed journals, provided to organisational change leaders, such as course and research directors, to help them address identified sustainability literacy gaps in curriculum, organisational behaviour and the community at large.

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Improving Soil Biological Health to Conserve Single Farm Paddock Trees, CSU Orange Campus Farm

Team:

  • Dennis Hodgkins (School of Agriculture & Wine Sciences, Orange)
  • Anantanarayanan Raman (School of Agriculture & Wine Sciences, Orange)
  • Izak Malherbe (CSU Farm, Orange) 

Amount Awarded: $2,500

Project summary: Remnant vegetation on CSU farms provides a variety of production benefits and ecosystem services, including stock shelter and biological habitat. Much of this vegetation consists of single, isolated paddock trees. The health and long-term viability of these trees is subject to a range of threatening processes in an agricultural context.

The aim of this project is to examine selected biological properties (i.e. terrestrial arthropods & soil properties) of the pasture and soil environment under randomly selected paddock trees and the surrounding pasture in order to identify any significant changes to these properties under the tree canopy, thereby identifying factors which may be affecting tree health.

This information will then be used to make recommendations on soil and pasture management strategies that could improve tree health and longevity and enhance the contribution of these trees to sustainaing farm production and the environment.

This CSU Sustainability grant funding supports the development of a published peer reviewed paper.   

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The Impact of CSU Curricula on Undergraduate Knowledge, Understanding & Skills of Environmental Sustainability

Team:

  • Rosemary Black (School of Environmental Sciences, Albury-Wodonga)
  • Shelby Gull Laird (School of Environmental Sciences, Albury-Wodonga) 

Amount Awarded: $7,761

Project summary: This project will investigate whether the CSU core generic competency of environmental sustainability that is embedded into all CSU curricula has an impact on undergraduate's understanding, knowledge and behaviour in relation to sustainability. This pilot project will survey all undergraduate students on the Albury-Wodonga campus using an online survey that has been previously used successfully by these researchers.

Pre and post surveys will be undertaken with first, second and third year students at the beginning of the academic year (February 2014) and at the end of the academic year (October 2014) to determine change over time and across all student cohorts. In addition, all relevant documents relating to CSU courses and subjects taught on the campus will be subject to content analysis to identify where and how environmental sustainability is delivered to the students.

This project will contribute to meeting the objectives in relation to providing and promoting environmental sustainability to all students in the University Strategy, CSU Environmental Sustainability Enabling Plan 2011-2015, Student Experience Plan 2011-2015 and the CSU Degree Initiative.

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