Sustainability Action Lab

Sustainability Action Lab supports TU Dublin academics, students and partners from all sectors of society to collaborate on United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) aligned themes and challenges.

It involves academics and students engaging partners from civil society (charities, not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises), industry, or government in co-learning activities in the real-world. Through Sustainability Action Lab, students, academics and Collaboration Partners can work together on knowledge exchange and co-creation and engage in critical thinking.

Each collaboration is designed to benefit all who take part. The collaboration partner becomes part of a co-learning process that examines an aspect of sustainability that is important to them; students enhance their learning through collaboration, developing and applying their specialist subject skills, and knowledge of sustainability, while receiving course credits for their work; and TU Dublin Academics create an environment for transformative learning for their students.

The aim of Sustainability Action Lab is to help develop the key competencies needed across society to successfully navigate the transition to becoming a more sustainable society, economy and environment.

Register for the 2025/2026 programme

TU Dublin staff can submit their Expressions of Interest (EOI) to take part in Sustainability Action Lab for the 2025/2026 academic year. The deadline for submissions is 12:00 noon, Monday 16 June, 2025. For more information, read this Sustainability Action Lab Guidance Document.

For more information, teaching staff can register to join an information webinar at 12:00 noon, on 05 June 2025.

Please complete this EOI form

Key dates

• EOI launches on 12 May 2025
• Online Information and Q&A session on Thursday 05 June, from 12.00-12.45, join here
• EOI closes Monday 16 June 2025 at 12:00 noon
• Successful applicants notified on 18 June 2025
• Meet successful applicants on 19 June 2025, from 12:00-12:45pm

Principles for Sustainability Action Lab collaborations 

The following principles guide Sustainability Action Lab collaborations: 

• Sustainability Action Lab collaborations are based on partnership. 
• Collaborations are designed to be reciprocal – to be equally beneficial to all involved. 
• The focus of the collaboration is identified through a process of co-creation to enable rich interaction and to create a high-quality co-learning experience for all participants.  
• The prior learning and expertise of participants is respected throughout. 
• Collaborations have a clear sustainability focus and promote the possibility of positive societal change towards achieving the SDGs. 
• Activity is designed to be completed within the allocated time. 
• Collaboration outputs are shared with the Collaboration Partner through an exchange that allows students to reflect on the collaboration activity and to share their reflections with the Collaboration Partner. 
• Collaborations have clear personal and academic learning outcomes for students as part of programmes.  
• Collaboration activity requires students to reflect regularly and critically on their learning experiences: to allow students to make sense of their experiences and to learn about themselves as learners; to ensure students link their real-world learning to their classroom knowledge; and to ensure that students reflect on, question, and challenge, the causes and effects of societal challenges.   
• Collaborations are evaluated by all partners – students, TU Dublin academics, and Collaboration Partners - so that TU Dublin’s co-learning programme continues to develop to meet the changing needs of participants and of society.