Funding for Environmental Measures
Funding from the Environment Commission for Environmental Measures
TU Dresden members are expressly encouraged to actively participate in shaping our university into an environmentally friendly and sustainable place of work and study. Requests can be made for funding to adopt your own environmental and sustainability measures. Applicants will receive funding from the Environment Commission (EC) if the submitted proposal can be included in the Commission’s annual catalog of measures. A jury of EC representatives evaluates the submitted proposals.
- Funding of measures and projects in 2025
- Measures and projects funded in 2024
- Measures and projects funded in 2023
- Measures and projects funded in 2022
- Final report
Funding of measures and projects in 2025
Information on the 2025 funding programme will be published here in the 2nd quarter of 2024.
Measures funded in 2024
The measures and projects that the Environment Commission is funding through its initiative budget independently of the sustainability strategy action plan are presented below:
The funding of the student-organized SustainAbility - Basic Lecture on Ecological Sustainability of the Green Office will continue in 2024 . It is the first event at the TUD to provide a regular, low-threshold and low-barrier introduction to the topic of sustainability and the resulting challenges, solutions and opportunities for action. It increases the accessibility of topics such as climate change and biodiversity loss and thus creates a basis for further engagement with the topic. The digital recording and publication of the events also creates open educational resources on this topic.
Green spaces on campus are more than just green passageways! The reintroduced Plants and Care working group works with students to professionally maintain selected campus areas and enhance their ecological value. Participants learn about climate resilience and material cycles on site, and a pool of tools is also being set up. Better-maintained areas are also a showcase and demonstration area for sustainable ecological action to the outside world (TU public and local residents).
The KU is funding the purchase of an electric cargo bike for the sustainable transportation of samples, teaching materials and other technology for the Department of Hydro Sciences. The Department of Hydro Sciences conducts research on ecological issues at different locations that are far away from each other. The Department's employees are committed to the responsible use of increasingly scarce resources. They want to carry out transportation and sampling between the Department's locations (Dresden, Pirna, Tharandt) as well as experimental permanent observation sites around Dresden in an environmentally friendly manner.
A demonstrator for oil-free heat pumps is being set up at the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering. This demonstrator will be used to show that heat pumps can be built and operated oil-free and thus conserve resources. Only environmentally friendly ("natural") refrigerants are used. The demonstrator is available for teaching purposes in order to show future engineers, e.g. in energy technology, mechanical engineering, etc., more environmentally friendly and sustainable technology options. The public will also be able to visit it, e.g. during the Dresden Science Night.
Measures funded in 2023
The Environment Commission is funding the following projects and measures in 2023:
At the Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (ZLSB), an institutional sustainability process is being developed to put the education for sustainable development (ESD) it teaches into practice. By actually implementing this process, challenges will become apparent and those involved will gain a greater understanding of sustainability.
The Future Workshop for Sustainable Education “Looking to the Future – Shaping the Present” provides a space for students, teaching staff, researchers and experts from various areas who advocate for ESD. This teaching and research workshop exceeds the disciplinary boundaries of institutes and departments by developing future-oriented topics in ESD to suit the needs of TUD and beyond.
The TUD campus allotment in the Botanical Garden is being expanded as a location for research and education at TU Dresden and will be made available for experimenting with new teaching and learning methods. Students are made aware of their future role in ESD, while teaching staff have the opportunity to try out innovative and interdisciplinary approaches. As a publicly accessible location, the campus allotment acts as an intersection between research and (urban) society.
The funding provided by the Green Office for the student-organized Foundation Lecture on Ecological Sustainability will be continued, enabling more people who have not previously come into contact with the topic to familiarize themselves with the basics and enter into discussions with those involved in the field. The foundation lecture will be supplemented with a practical semester in the summer semester.
The student-led initiative Sustainable Construction and Design of Outdoor Spaces at TUD seeks to raise awareness of sustainable construction in general and on TUD’s campus in particular. It aims to spur discussion, the development of project ideas and the formulation of concerns and requests. Some of their activities include temporarily transforming parking lots into green spaces with bike racks and a calendar of events that brings together different stakeholders and anyone who is interested in the topic.
Through the Sustainability Initiative with Schools – in particular the Expedition Campus on sustainability – pupils get to know TUD’s degree programs, for instance through project days that offer opportunities to help shape ecologically sustainable societal transformation. They are given ideas for how to form their career path and the space in which they can effect change.
The Recycling Culture Vessels project for the reuse of cultivation containers has once again received funding. Its goal is to reduce waste in the long term.
The Digitalization Group is developing a Modular Online Course for Sustainable IT Use. Staff and students can take a self-study course to learn about digitalization in IT as well as facts and recommendations for handling digital processes in daily work.
The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services group designs projects and campaigns to raise TUD members’ awareness of ecological sustainability – in particular biodiversity – on campus and in the surrounding areas. It strives to include members from all university groups.In developing a Dynamic Teaching Tool for Promoting Sustainable Progressive Thinking, the Institute of English and American Studies aims to enable students and teaching staff from all departments and areas to reflect and test out strategies for sustainable progressive thinking and develop their visions for the future.
Measures funded in 2022
The Environment Commission funded the following projects in 2022:
- Mobility survey of all staff and students at TU Dresden, with the goal of making the university’s carbon footprint visible by updating and supplementing the surveys from 2008 and 2018
- Setup of a bike pump station at the University Hospital
- Concept art installation of work by Asad Raza in the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections to underscore the soil-tree-climate continuum.
- Foundation Lecture on Ecological Sustainability
- Procurement of multiple electric cargo bikes for transporting things on campus in an eco-friendly manner.
- Establishment of a living and learning space as a place of communication and study on campus.
- The “Recycling Culture Vessels” project for the reuse of cultivation containers
- New planting of a school garden in the Botanical Garden, in particular for ESD courses and programs
Final report
Those heading measures funded by the Environment Commission must submit a final report by January 31 of the following year. Please use this template.
Please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Janne Stolte at the Head Office of the Environmental Commission with any questions you may have.
© TUD/Nils Eisfeld
Head Office of the Environment Commission
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Postal address:
TUD Dresden University of Technology
Directorate University Culture
Unit 9.1 Campus Life
Janne Stolte
01062 Dresden