Education

Commitment to education for SDGs 

Queen Mary is committed to ‘actively embed the fundamentals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals into our teaching, research, our partnerships and all aspects of our operations.’ (Queen Mary Environmental Sustainability Policy). This commitment is visible on the staff-facing Queen Mary Academy website, where colleagues can explore resources to help them embed sustainability in the curriculum.

The Sustainability Curriculum Action Network (SCAN)

To facilitate embedding of sustainability, Queen Mary’s Sustainability in the Curriculum Action Network (SCAN) was established in 2023. It brings together over 90 colleagues from across Queen Mary who are already integrating sustainability to their practice and those interested in exploring this area. Through SCAN Queen Mary is able to identify and share good practice in embedding sustainability and promote the wider roll out of education for sustainable development across the university.  

SCAN has led work in creating a new optional sustainability training course for Queen Mary. The network successfully secured £20,000 in academic year 2024/25 to fund the development of an entirely new, co-created and interdisciplinary introduction to sustainability course. The course, Foundations in SustainAbility has been created by staff and students from across Queen Mary. It is open to all Queen Mary students, staff and local community members.

STREAM – Foundation in SustainAbility short-course 

STREAM is “Sustainability Transformation through Research, Education and Action and Queen Mary,” and is the home of our new, co-created short course, providing staff, students and the wider Tower Hamlets community with access to education on the SDGs, giving them a foundational knowledge in sustainability. This was recently awarded Queen Mary’s Education Excellence Award, celebrating the innovative, collaborative, and pioneering approaches Queen Mary staff are taking when it comes to creating and delivering education excellence across the University.

The course is self-directed and takes approximately 10 hours to complete. Learners complete four thematic unit. Each theme explores 4-5 of the SDGs, giving learners the tools and context to apply the concepts to their studies, work and day to day life.

This course was created by partnering with a brilliant team of students and academics across the university to build something truly capturing the vast scope of the SDGs.

Support for educators to integrate sustainability across curriculum

There is specific support for educators to embed sustainability and the SDGs into their curricula in a meaningful way that is relevant to their students, whatever their discipline of study. Educators have access to a Sustainability in the Curriculum Toolkit (via our internal Sharepoint Site) and the CPD workshop “Integrating Sustainability to your Education Practice.”

Case studies of good practice are published and made available publicly via the Queen Mary Academy website and include:

• Empowering students for sustainable development: embedding sustainability alongside key academic study skills in a first-year undergraduate module
• Students as Case Protagonists: Empowering Students Through Connecting Personal Experiences with Sustainability Challenges
• Working with students to embed climate change analysis in the maths curriculum

Empowering Students for Sustainable Development

This first-year undergraduate module in the School of Geography (GEG4015) embeds sustainability themes alongside key academic study skills. Students explore individual SDGs weekly while acquiring information literacy, referencing, and critical thinking. Field visits and guest panels connect the content to real-world careers in sustainability, enhancing student engagement and preparedness.

Student-Led Sustainability Marketing Cases

In the School of Business and Management’s module on Sustainability Marketing, students draw on their own experiences to develop case studies addressing sustainability challenges. They co-create narratives, present to peers, and reflect on changes in their thinking and approach to sustainable marketing. This peer-led, student-driven format fosters ownership, critical insight, and professional readiness for sustainability roles.

Student Final Year Dissertations Driving Campus Sustainability

At the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, final-year students embed sustainability into their dissertations—two example areas are urban biodiversity in Tower Hamlets and vaping waste on campus. This provides students with authentic research opportunities, links with the community and campus operations, and actionable outcomes such as a student-led biodiversity website and waste-management improvements. The initiative strengthens student research capabilities and enables tangible institutional impact.

Collaboration for Solutions to Real Business Challenges

In a first-year BSc Business & Management core module, students collaborated with a real start-up, OLIO, to propose sustainable business models that fit the app’s sustainability ethos. The assessment involved live presentations to company representatives and emphasises analytical, critical-thinking and communication skills in a sustainability context. The format improved student engagement and provided early exposure to professional practice and sustainability-driven innovation.

Integrating Climate Data into Maths Teaching

Within the School of Mathematical Sciences, modules on algebra, geometry, probability and statistics were adapted to incorporate climate-change data and modelling. Students worked with staff to devise new teaching materials and surveyed university views to generate fresh datasets for teaching. The initiative broadened mathematics education to address one of society’s biggest risks, unlocked alternative career thinking, and put student-led ideas at the heart of curricular change.

Queen Mary as an ISEP training centre

Queen Mary is an approved ISEP Training Centre and offers the Introduction to Net Zero course as a CPD opportunity for all staff. This course gives a succinct overview of what net zero means as a response to the climate crisis and how it can be delivered within organisations – it is delivered over four parts that make up this course and provides learners with a basic introduction to the concept of net zero, helping our staff embed its principles into their day-to-day working.

Education partnerships

Queen Mary has established educational collaborations with more than 250 institutions worldwide, creating over 150 distinct educational opportunities including dual-degrees, articulation pathways and transnational programmes. partnerships deliver world-class teaching in diverse global settings—from joint programmes in China with institutions like Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications to postgraduate progression in South Asia and Southeast Asia. By leveraging flexible models—such as blended learning, flying faculty and partner-based delivery—Queen Mary enables students around the world to access its UK accreditation and expertise in their home country.

Student Knowledge Exchange

Queen Mary’s Student Knowledge Exchange programme (SKETCH) is an award-winning initiative where our students work collaboratively with local business, individuals and community partners to solves real-world problems. Services delivered include workshops, training, advisory clinics and consultancy-style projects.

The programme has six pillars: qTech, qNomics, qLegal, Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre, SBM Entrepreneurship Hub and the Student Consultancy Project. In 2024 over 900 students were engaged in the programme, with over 70 activities delivered.

Undergraduate and postgraduate courses 

Dedicated courses and modules are offered across the university giving students the opportunities to explore key concepts related to the SDGs. This year Queen Mary launched a new Natural Capital and Sustainability MSc,  designed to address the urgent global need for professionals capable of implementing nature-based solutions, reaching net zero, and enhancing resilience.

We also have two courses accredited by the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals: BSc Environmental Science, and BSc Environmental Science and Business Management. Other courses we offer include:

• Sustainable Energy Systems MSc
• Global Business and Sustainability MSc
• Fashion Law LLM – addressing social justice, human rights and sustainability

British Heart Foundation Studentships

The faculty of Medicine and Dentistry partners with the British heart foundation (BHF) to offer funded 4-year MRes/PhDs to four students each year, three funded by the BHF and one by the faculty. This was funded for the 4^th intake this year.