SDG Week 2025

Saturday 20 September

Run into SDG Week in conjunction with Park Run and Sanctuary Runners

Time:  9.30am

Venue: University of Galway Park & Ride carpark 

Join us for a special Sustainability-themed Parkrun during SDG Week 2025, as University of Galway teams up with Sanctuary Runners and University of Galway Parkrun. This community-spirited event combines fitness, fun and sustainability, with free T-shirts for a number of lucky participants and light refreshments afterwards. All are welcome. Come run, walk or jog with us along our beautiful biodiversity trail and celebrate local action for global change. Sign up here. 

Monday 22 September

Green Flag raising ceremony. Have your say on the next Sustainability Strategy. 

Time: 12-2pm

Venue: Áras na Mac Léinn Foyer & The View

University of Galway has proudly secured its third An Tasice Green Campus Flag for Lab Greening, a recognition of our ongoing commitment to sustainable practices on campus. We will mark this achievement with a flag-raising ceremony, followed by a Sustainability Induction in the View; an important step for students pursuing the Sustainability Champion Digital Badge. The session will also be an opportunity to share your views and help shape the University’s next Sustainability Strategy by telling us what matters most to you. Refreshments and free pizza for all participants!

Guided walk along the Biodiversity Trail

Time: 3pm

Venue: Meeting at the Quadrangle Archway

Join Dr Caitríona Carlin on a guided walk along University of Galway’s Biodiversity Trail, exploring campus habitats—from riverbanks to herb gardens. Discover wildlife, learn about conservation, and connect with nature right here on our beautiful campus.

Art Exhibition: Sara K Dunn: Portals to the Hazel Woods

Time: 6pm

Venue: Staff Club

Sara K Dunn is a Galway-based multimedia illustrator who recently completed her MFA in Art and Ecology at the Burren College of Art. Her exhibition explores the intricate worlds within the hazel woods of the Burren, a green space teeming with moss, lichen, and fungi.

Utilizing sustainable printmaking practices, her prints form portals that transport the viewer into the verdant hazel woods, capturing the essence of the complex ecosystems within. The jewel-like drawings are studies of minuscule fungi that can be found within the woodlands of the Burren, which hint at the mycelium networks that often weave through older forests, helping them thrive.

Organiser:  rod.stoneman@universityofgalway.ie 

Learn to Darn workshop

Time: 5-7pm

Venue: Meeting rooms 1&2 Áras na Mac Léinn

SDGs workshop with Concern Worldwide 

Time: 7pm

Venue: Mc Munn Theatre, Arts Science Concourse

A workshop focused on the SDGs hosted by Concern Worldwide in conjunction with the Lit &Deb Society and the Sustainability Office Student Internship Programme.  Free pizza on offer!

Tuesday 23 September

Water and Sustainability: Showcase of Sustainability Engagement fund projects 24/25

As part of SDG Week 2025, we are delighted to showcase the projects supported through the University of Galway’s inaugural Sustainability Engagement Fund, launched last November. With a focus on SDG 6 and SDG 14, all funded projects will be on display in the Library Foyer, highlighting the creativity, collaboration and action of our campus community in advancing the SDGs, as an active SDG Ambassador institution. Further information on the funded projects can be found here

Time: 9-4pm

Venue: Library Foyer

SU led Panel Discussion 'How can we make campuses more sustainable'

Time: 4pm

Venue: Meeting rooms 1&2, Áras na Mac Léinn

Wednesday 24 September

Calm Zone

Time: 10-5pm

Venue: Bank of Ireland Theatre

Roots and Shoots: Donation of Garden Seeds, Plants and Organic Vegetables to University of Galway Gardens for the Gaisce and ALIVE Project Launch

Time: 11.30am

Venue: Herb Garden outside Moffetts, Orbsen Building 

Presentation of basket and photo with students receiving a donation of seeds from Gaisce - the President's Medal with free fruit for students to come along and learn about Gaisce. Thank you to Molly Hickey, Environmental Awareness & Sustainability Officer with the SU who will receive the donation on behalf of students. Gaisce will share a few words about their new student programme for all students to join in - Roots and Shoots!

The workshop series "Roots and Shoots" are focused on global citizenship skill-building. Ever curious about being an ally, why do we need the SDGs, or the root issues behind them? ALIVE is joining up with Gaisce and Student Volunteer Ireland to welcome University of Galway students to join in and explore volunteering and community action locally to make a difference with international communities. We will be holding online international symposiums with student volunteers in the global south and building our connections, skills and knowledge. Funded by Irish Aid there will also be residential conferences in Ireland to meet fellow student volunteers. To sign up for your Gaisce medal visit this link. To explore volunteering opportunities see here. 

Sustainability Strategy Roadshow

Time: 11am, 12noon, 2pm

Venue: Various venues across campus (Friars, Smokies, Moffetts)

We are currently developing the University of Galway’s next Sustainability Strategy, and we want to hear your views on what it should look like. As part of our consultation, the Sustainability Office will host drop-in tables in Friars (11am), Smokey’s (12noon) and Moffetts (2pm), giving students and staff the chance to meet the team, share ideas, and help shape the strategy. Your input is vital in deciding the priorities and actions that will guide our sustainability journey for the next five years. Join us and have your say. 

Volunteering Fair

Time: 12-4pm

Venue: Bailey Allen Hall

Community Engagement in the Engagement Office are delighted to host almost 40 charities and community partners in the Bailey Allen Hall on Wednesday 24^th September from 12pm to 4pm All welcome to attend, it is a great opportunity to find out more about the work of these groups and celebrate partnership for the goals with us.  Please contact Dr Ann O'Brien community@universityofgalway.ie for more information.

Matamaitic don Inbhuanaitheacht - an Irish-language Mathematics for Sustainability module

Time: 1pm

Venue: CELT seminar room AMB1006 

This transdisciplinary module was introduced in  AY24/25 under the University's project to promote Irish within STEM. Available to Irish, Science, Maths and Education students, it introduces  techniques for modelling and analysis, nested in a sustainability context.

This talk, organised by Fintan Hegarty,  shares an overview and some fun graphs from the module, and describes novel pedagogical approaches to catering to diverse mathematical backgrounds.

Eco-anxiety Café

Time: 1-3pm

Venue: Bridge Room

 SDGs & Tea

Time: 7-9pm

Venue: Meeting Room 1, Áras na Mac Léinn                                     

Thursday 25 September

Data Science Institute host SDG themed flash research talks

Time: 12.30-1.30pm

Venue: Data Science Institute

Seminar:  Beyond Sustainability: Education for Intergenerational Responsibility in an Era of Reckonings.  Speaker Sharon Stein, Associate Professor and Professor of Climate Complexity and Coloniality in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Time: 5pm

Venue: Online and in-person discussion in the CELT seminar room (AMB1006)

Sharon will present online and an in-person discussion with attendees will be facilitated by  Dr. Su-Ming Khoo (School of Political Science and Sociology) in the CELT seminar room (AMB1006). Talk hosted by CELT+EDI - all welcome.

Registration and further information link here:

https://forms.office.com/e/U3JSnuF3Y5

SDG Table Quiz

Time: 7pm

Venue: Corrib Room, Sult

Friday 26 September

Art Exhibition ADMIRATION HYPERBOLIQUE

Time: 11am

Venue: James Mitchell Geology Museum, Quadrangle

Come along and explore ADMIRATION HYPERBOLIQUE, an aesthetic response to a museum of scientific learning housing fossils, rocks and minerals which illustrates that nature is never, ever a miser. How does art get along beside these deep time specimens as they sit as curious from the 19th century? 

Artist Fionnuala Quinn and Dr Alessandra Costanzo will be available to offer a guided tour. 

Beach Clean

Time: 12noon

Venue: Meeting outside Áras na Mac Léinn

Saturday 27 September