Our Decadal Strategy

Our Decadal Strategy, Sustainability and Resilience 2030, details the reasons why, as a leading anchor educational institution deeply embedded in Greater Western Sydney, we must envision a more resilient, sustainable and prosperous future.

Sustainability and Resilience 2030 (PDF, 8740.45 KB) (opens in a new window) is a call to come together as a community around key aspirations that frame a vision for just transitions to sustainable ways of living that leave no one behind. It asks us all to proactively recognise and reimagine the interdependence of life, starting within our region Greater Western Sydney, and also to recognise the contribution that we have in a wider global context. It asks us to reimagine the transitions that are urgently needed to tackle the challenges of the 21^st century that are so profoundly redefining human social life.

(PDF, 8740.45 KB) (opens in a new window)

Read the full Sustainability and Resilience 2030 Decadal Strategy (PDF, 575.97 KB) (opens in a new window)

Our Nine Interconnected Priority Statements have been developed to focus our actions for the decade to 2030. These statements are both a challenge and an opportunity for the University. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs 2030) blueprint has informed the development of these statements. Our priority statements are:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledges: Embrace Indigenous knowledges for pathways to sustainability and Caring for Country (planet)
Regenerative Systems: Value biodiversity linking human wellbeing to environmental health (planet)
Resilient Cities: Enable urban resilience and adaptive capacity in our region (people)
Climate Action: Step up efforts to support climate action in our region (people)
Economic Transitions: Enact new visions for economic transitions through ethical economic and ecological relationships (prosperity)
Ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI): Harness the benefits of AI and automation in planning for sustainability (prosperity)
Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture: Promote agroecological principles for just food systems (peace)
Justice: Activate environmental justice and social inclusion to tackle inequality in our region (peace)
Partnerships: Collaborate with regional, national and international organisations across all sectors to deliver impact across these priority statements (partnerships).

Engage and contribute on the new digital platform!

The Sustainability and Resilience 2030 Digital Engagement Platform (opens in a new window) forms an interactive part of our strategy and provides an opportunity for our staff and students to raise the profile of and socialise your sustainability curriculum, operations, research and engagement (C.O.R.E) initiatives under one cohesive umbrella. You can also learn more about the strategy and view other work being done across the University with the shared goal of building a sustainable and equitable world.

To engage and contribute it’s as simple as visiting our Digital Engagement Platform (opens in a new window) website and submitting your work with our webform (opens in a new window) in a few short steps. All submissions are moderated.

Download the Sustainability and Resilience 2030 Digital Engagement Platform Information sheet.

Institutional Overview

The Sustainability and Resilience Decadal Strategy (SRDS) signals the University’s commitment and response to regional and global sustainability challenges. SRDS supports our educational committment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and our institutional 'WESTERN 2030 (2025-2030)' (opens in a new window) strategy. It also leverages our other institutional strategies - our Indigenous Strategy, our Education Strategy and our Research Strategy - as well as supporting our local operational plans such as the Environmental Sustainability Action Plan. The SRDS will sit alongside our other decal strategies, the Western Health, Western Sydney Creative and Flight Path (opens in a new window).

Show your support for the strategy by using our Sustainability and Resilience 2030 Zoom Background (JPG, 865.36 KB) (opens in a new window).

Sustainability and Resilience Decadal Strategy Governance

SRDS Steering Committee

The Sustainability and Resilience Decadal Strategy Steering Committee (SRDS-SC) is underpinned by a commitment to the Sustainability and Resilience 2030 as a living initiative and strategy that is open for discussion, critique and renewal and supports a research-informed, values based ethical approach to this work.

The SRDS-SC meet bi-annually to review and provide strategic direction on priority matters pertaining to the implementation of the SRDS and broader sustainability initiatives, and to facilitate opportunity for high-level information exchange and cross-institutional collaboration.

The SRDS-SC is co-chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Vice-President Education and the Vice-President Infrastructure and Commercial. Current general SRDS-SC membership comprises:

Prof Maryanne Dever, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President Education (Co-Chair)
Bill Parasiris, Vice President Infrastructure and Commercial (Co-Chair)
Dr Roger Attwater , Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability
Prof Kevin Dunn, Provost
Jen Dollin, Director, Sustainability Education and Partnerships
Prof. Graciela Metternicht, Dean, School of Science
Assoc. Prof Freya MacMillan, Associate PVC Research
Dr Nicolene Murdoch, Pro Vice-Chancellor Global Partnerships and TNE

View the full Terms of Reference here.

SRDS Working Group

The SRDS Working Group (SRDS-WG) sits as an action orientated subgroup of the SRDS-SC, supporting knowledge sharing, collaboration and connectivity across the sustainability work of the University, and as relates to the implementation of the SRDS. The SRDS WG acts as a conduit to the SRDS-SC identifying priorities for review and implementation. Membership of the SRDS-WG is comprised of staff from relevant stakeholder areas across the University and the group meet quarterly, reporting up to the SRDC-SC via the Chair.