Under the Same Roof – The SHED: Sustainability in Higher Education Developers Network

We are pleased to announce that the EAUC and the HE Academy ESD Project are joining forces in launching a new concept – the SHED network. As we all know, lots of good ideas are dreamt up in the haven of the garden shed. We are hoping the same is true of the expanded network that we are calling SHED, standing for 'Sustainability in Higher Education Developers'. We think 'SHED' sounds a bit more catchy than the EAUC-HEA ESD Project Sustainability in Higher Education Network!

The SHED network has two constituent parts:

1. The current EAUC ESD mailing list, which will continue as before, with Arran Stibbe as its convenor. This will be renamed the SHED Share network. The purpose of this network, as now, will be to share information, announcements, post queries and so on. Anybody can use this network, whether or not they are active in ESD. Since you are a member of the EAUC ESD group you've automatically been transferred to SHED Share.

2. A new grouping to be called the SHED Act network. 'SHED Act' is the new name of the proposal we were previously calling the 'HEI Sustainability Link Group (SLG)'. The aim of SHED Act is to allow people to develop collaborative work more easily. SHED Act has an additional function to SHED Share, and will be designed for active and key people in HE to keep in touch with each other.

Members of SHED Act can use each other, for example, as a sounding board for floating new ideas, to raise concerns, seek support for initiatives, develop responses to consultation documents, develop research proposals, or to form working groups. The EAUC and the Academy's ESD Project will also use SHED Act as a form of consultation with the sector. For example, how would SHED Act advise both the EAUC and the Academy as to how best to develop new ways of leading, training and supporting your colleagues? All activities of SHED Act will be reported on SHED Share, as well as in the Academy's bi-monthly ESD e-Newsletter.

The SHED Act network is open to academics and others working with or in HE around sustainability, and will be co-ordinated by Heather Witham of the HE Academy. To keep things simple and more dynamic, we see SHED Act as a network of active individuals in HEIs rather than of HEIs themselves. And just to be clear: if you are a member of the current EAUC ESD e-mail list (which is re-named SHED Share), you might want also to be a member of the SHED Act network, but there is no obligation. However, you do need to be a member of SHED Share, if you want to also become a member of the SHED Act network.

If you join SHED Act, you are committing yourself to putting time into working with others on the list, either by responding to or initiating actions.