DMU staff are encouraged to join our team of Co-Leads for Education for Sustainable Development at DMU. Details are below, deadline is noon on Friday 11th September 2026.

Complete the MS Form here to express interest

ESD Co-Leads: Context and Purpose of roles:

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aims to transform learners and society through activities across the university curriculum, encompassing taught courses, extra-curricular activities and engagement with wider stakeholders. For all learners, ESD aims to develop the attributes, values, knowledge and skills to enable them to make a positive difference to sustainable development challenges, such as economic inequalities, environmental harms or social injustice.

For taught courses, this typically involves highlighting sustainable development challenges and opportunities, and adopting experiential, real-world-engaged pedagogic approaches.

As a minimum, we would expect Co-Leads to continue to develop and disseminate their own practice and gain further experience in supporting others with ESD adoption. There are quarterly ‘ESD Enhancement Group’ meetings for co-leads, with information then being shared with subsequent DMU University Sustainability Committee, chaired by PVC Sustainability Prof Simon Oldroyd.

A range of further specific opportunities will be made available to contribute at a whole-institution level, such as supporting review of ESD Prompts for programme validations, or delivering staff development sessions.

The role offers strong alignment with criteria for Senior or potentially Principal AdvanceHE fellowship, or DMU’s Teacher Fellowship and AdvanceHE’s National Teacher Fellowship schemes, offering opportunity for professional development, enhancing pedagogy and influencing others.

We would welcome representation across all Schools and in Directorate teams. Particular priorities for 2026/27 to ensure comprehensive coverage are:

  • Leicester De Montfort Law School
  • Leicester School of Pharmacy
  • Leicester School of Nursing and Midwifery
  • School of Computer Science and Informatics
  • School of Creative Industries and Culture
  • DMU Careers Team
  • DMU Education Academy

There are two ways to take on this role:

  • We can offer a limited number of internally-funded 20-30 hour ‘leadership’ time allocations.
  • Colleagues with existing time allocation that could be used for this purpose, such as DMU Education Academy Fellows, are also encouraged to complete the Expression of Interest form

How to Express Interest

Complete the MS Form here to express interest by noon on Friday 11th September 2026.

Shortlisting/selection will be informed by rating responses to questions 3 to 6 on the form (1=adequate for role; 2= very good; 3=excellent) and an appropriate fit with AdvanceHE Fellowship via question 7 (usually currently FHEA or SFHEA). 

Short interviews, if required, will be during the following week. There is no strict word limit to follow below. Short responses of 60-200 words for questions 3 to 6 are likely to be appropriate.

A specific funded time allocation, if required, will be subject to agreement with applicants and approval of Head of School or equivalent for staff in Directorates – we envisage a ‘Leadership’ loading allocation of c. 20-30hours. The purpose of the roles is to create extra staff capacity and engagement across DMU schools and directorates – it is very unlikely that the role can be awarded to colleagues who cannot take on the role within their approved workload. 

If you have queries on this, please contact Hazel Kerr on hazel.kerr@dmu.ac.uk

If you are not shortlisted, one of the ESD Co-lead team will still aim to meet with you to discuss opportunities and support to further your practice and influence on ESD.