Post by Ainhoa Mielgo

🌍How do we embed sustainability into research-intensive organisations? 🔬👩🏽‍🔬 I am excited to share our new preprint, which reflects on five years of embedding sustainability across the Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology (ISMIB) at the University of Liverpool. Rather than focusing on individual sustainability initiatives, we explore how governance, leadership, operational integration, and community engagement can drive lasting institutional change. Reflecting on this experience, we propose a transferable governance framework and identify seven principles that we hope will help other research-intensive organisations embed sustainability into their own practices. You can read the preprint at Research Square: https://lnkd.in/eUFzKJPZ A big THANK YOU to my colleague and co-lead of the ISMIB Sustainability Committee Sandra Cachinho as well as to all members of the committee: Joanne Parker, Kevin Cham, Gregor Govan, Paul Browning, Bhavana Jagota, Carol Jolly, Thomas Wilm, Anne Clancy, Valentina Iorio, John Farrell, Stephen Bainbridge, Andrew Bazley, Rebecca Rodick, Melanie Oates, Katie Bullock, Dan Rigden, Nordine Helassa, Amy Chadwick, Dan Carr, Joscelyn Harris, Lucy Oldfield, and Mark Glenn, for their enthusiasm, commitment, and support over the past five years. A special thank you as well to all the postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students at ISMIB who have supported this initiative through their participation, ideas, and willingness to embrace more sustainable research practices. Your engagement has been fundamental to making this a genuine institute-wide effort. I'm also very grateful to colleagues across the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool: Chris French, Jan Brett, Jenna Lowe, Michael Schmid, Sónia Rocha and Tony Marson, for their encouragement and support throughout this journey. Special thanks to Martin Farley for his guidance during the early implementation of the LEAF framework within our Institute. I hope our experience encourages discussion and supports other research-intensive organisations looking to embed sustainability more effectively. I would also love to hear how others are approaching sustainable research in their own organisations and what lessons you've learned along the way. #SustainableResearch #ResearchCulture #GreenLabs #LEAF #HigherEducation #InstitutionalChange UoL Sustainability