University_

Get involved

How you can contribute to our sustainability work

By working together as a University community, we can make our campuses more sustainable. Join a program or group today and help us reach our sustainability targets.

Orange background with series of sustainability icons

Sustainability Action Student Life Grants

Student Life Grants provide funding and support for students to create innovative co-curricular projects that build a sense of community. 

We are offering up to $2,500 to fund projects that focus on enabling and embedding sustainability across campus life and within our community.

Projects can be submitted by an individual current student, a current student group or a student led staff supported group.

Projects funded need to align to our Sustainability Strategy and could be:

  • ‘Fix it’ workshops to encourage our community to reduce waste
  • Native pollinator projects such as green walls and rooftops and native bee gardens
  • Activating circular economy practices
  • Zero waste cooking classes or guides
  • Information and networking events such as career fairs or career nights
  • Renewable energy demonstrations
  • Workplace visits
  • Student-led volunteering initiatives that benefit the wider community e.g. charity drives organised by students
  • Sustainable research projects
  • Student-led public talks

Applications are open now and close on Thursday 2 November >

Hands planting a small srub

Green Impact

A University wide staff and student sustainability action program, Green Impact is a friendly competition to see which team can complete the most sustainable actions in 6 months. It's a tangible way to be a the forefront of sustainability and develop leadership skills to embed sustainable actions into every day.

Green Impact is open. The competition runs from Tuesday 28 March 2023 and runs until Monday 28 August 2023.

Staff and students can register as a team. There is no limit to the size of the team and no limit on the amount of actions needed to be completed during the program.

If you can't find people to make a team, please email university.sustainability@sydney.edu.au and tell us your name and what faculty or professional service unit you work in. We will then match you with an existing team in the area or join you to the USYD SuperTeam.

Registrations are now open and you can sign up at any time during the competition dates. 

Register here.

A spider with BioQuest logo on it.

Bioquest Photographic Exhibit

To celebrate another successful round of Bioquest in April, we have invited current staff and students to share their photographs of biodiversity on and off our campuses for display in the Library's ThinkSpace on Darlington campus.

These curated images from staff and students tell the story of interactions between humans and the natural world, celebrating the interconnectedness of plants, fungi wildlife species and people, on and off our campuses.

Two prizes will be awarded to artists in the exhibit, a Judge's Award and a People's Choice Award.

We invite you to visit the exhibition between Monday 15 and Friday 26 May and vote in the People's Choice Award.

Visit the exhibit at ThinkSpace in the Jane Foss Russell Building, view the 31 images and cast your vote for the People's Choice Award via this short anonymous form.

Bioquest is a worldwide competition among universities to discover, learn about and help map biodiversity for scientific research and conservation. BioQuest kicks off on 1 April 2023 with the game lasting for a month. This year the challenge will focus on pollinators and there will be a photographic exhibit from participants displayed in May. All staff and students are able to play.

Register to play the August round of Bioquest, which runs from 1 - 31 August by completing this form.

Green Caffeen reusable coffee cup with the University logo on it

Green Caffeen

Did you know that on average 30,000 takeaway coffee cups are used on our Camperdown/Darlington campus each week? If you're buying a coffee to go on Camperdown/Darlington, Camden or the Sydney Conservatorium of Music campuses, make sure you ask for your drink in a Green Caffeen cup.

You have 30 days to return your Green Caffeen cup to any participating café (on or off campus) and can have two cups checked out at a time. The cups are made from recycled materials and manufactured in Brisbane. The program will be expanded to more campuses later in the year. Download the Green Caffeen app on your phone and say goodbye to that ‘forgot my cup’ guilt!

University of Sydney Union logo

USU and Sustainability

The University of Sydney Union is committed to a sustainable future for our campus community. They have made commitments ensuring sustainability is embedded into all that they do – from their events and cafés to their student programs and facilities.

USU run a range of events and programs throughout the year with a sustainability focus.

If you have an idea or would like to help USU with its mission to make USYD the most sustainable campus in Australia, contact sustainability@usu.edu.au

Join a student club or society committed to the environment: