Higher Education Students call for climate action at national summit
Over 80 students from around Ireland gathered at the national Student Climate Summit on Thursday 31 October, 2024, at Technological University Dublin's Grangegorman campus. The day long summit heard from students on actions that Higher Education institutions in Ireland can play to tackle the impacts of climate change and climate injustice with participants from Atlantic Technological University (ATU), Dublin City University (DCU), Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT), South East Technological University (SETU), Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), TU Dublin and University of Limerick (UL).
As part of a World Café students spent the morning exploring the challenges faced by students at campuses around Ireland under the themes of Climate Activisim, Climate Anxiety, Climate Education, Consumption and Travel, Climate Justice, and Food and Climate Change. In the afternoon, students harvested their ideas under the six themes, with the support from facilitators from the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI), the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), and An Taisce and Concern. As part of the closing panel discussion students pitched a ‘call-to-action’ which was addressed to participating representatives from Higher Education institutions.
Speak of the event Head of Sustainability Education at TU Dublin, Dr Brian Gormley noted that:
A key part of Education for Sustainable Development is mobilising young people. This Student Climate Summit ensures that the voices of young people in higher education will be heard. As well as senior leaders from several Universities, there were also representatives from the Department of Further and Higher Education Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) present to hear the call to action from the students.
Led by TU Dublin’s Sustainability Education Team, the summit was supported by N-TUTORR and follows on from the Climate Action Leadership Summit hosted by TU Dublin in May 2024.