Who are we?

We are a transdisciplinary collective leveraging the potential of higher education for transformative change. Our goal is to transform higher education, including research, learning and community engagement, to accelerate a just transition and advance climate justice. We are a union with members representing higher education institutions and diverse communities and other organizations. The union began on the island of Ireland, and we welcome members from all parts of the world.

What do we believe?

We believe the higher education sector has a critical role to play in societal transformation toward an equitable, stable and healthy future that rebalances humanity within ecological systems of reciprocity and regeneration. We are deeply concerned about the worsening polycrisis caused by extractive systems, exploitative economics, and colonial power structures. We embrace climate justice as a transformative and holistic lens that recognizes the interconnectivity of both the challenges and the opportunities for change. We view higher education as an underleveraged resource for facilitating societal transformation toward climate justice and a just transition. We are collectively reimagining higher education structures and processes for societal transformation. We recognise that higher education institutions have unique potential to contribute to changing the economic and political structures that are currently exacerbating economic inequities, health disparities, ecological devastation, and climate injustices. We recognise the need to care for land, water, biodiversity, and human well-being as part of natural interconnected healthy ecosystems.

What do we do?

We collaborate and experiment together.  We strive to build coalitions among diverse communities within and beyond higher education institutions.  We collectively strategize toward higher education playing a larger role in imagining and co-creating transformative approaches. 

How are we structured?

We are a union of individual members, a coordinating team and working groups that focus on specific initiatives and areas. We have a non-hierarchical deliberative democracy approach. Some members can also commit to representing the climate justice universities union in their specific higher education institutions.

Members: Individual members join because they are aligned with our collective mission and goals. We welcome members from any organization or community – not just those currently affiliated with higher education institutions. 

Coordinating Team: Currently - John Barry, Ken Boyle, Clare Kelly, Mark Kelly, Calum McGeown, Sinead Sheehan, Jennie Stephens.

Working groups: Multiple different working groups are being formed to focus on specific initiatives and actions. Each working group will have two leaders to coordinate the work of the group. Any member can propose, initiate and lead a new working group. Working groups include: Policy Advocacy; Education for Sustainable Development; Curriculum Requirements, Outreach and Engagement; Campus Operations; Alternative Approaches to Research; Trade Unions; Travel; Well-being; Irish Language and Culture; Students and Student Union; Empowerment; Activism; Governance and Leadership in Higher Education.

Institutional Representatives: To coordinate communication and networking within and specific higher education institutions, two representatives from each higher education institution serve on the individual representatives group.