By Trine Saaby, Administration & Planning, Campus Service.
Photo: International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN)
Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs

Aalborg University's participation in a network conference for members of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) provided new inspiration to strengthen governance integration, AI-driven data approach to calculating the climate footprint and developing AAU's living lab profile.

The conference, held in Cape Town in April, brought together the world's leading universities in promoting sustainable campus operations and research. In addition to frontrunners such as Harvard University, ETH Zurich, the National University of Singapore and the University of Toronto, a large number of European and international universities took part. A field where Aalborg University is at the international top in terms of sustainability, and just below the leading universities in biodiversity, living lab programmes and visible international profiling.

Inspiration from international frontrunners

According to Søren Lind Christiansen, University Director, the network conference showed that many of the international frontrunners worked systematically on:

• Strong integration between operations, research and teaching
• using their own data and facilities as a starting point for innovation 
•  campus as a "Living Lab"

"Even though we are well on board, there is potential to further strengthen the work by bringing more existing collaborations to light and creating new ones," he says. 

Strengthened focus on living labs

At the conference, Aalborg University presented the living lab collaboration between Campus Service and BUILD. A collaboration that shows how the university's own buildings and operational data can be actively used in research and teaching. Experience shows that the partnership creates value on several levels: 

• Students work on real-life issues and with data
• Research is more application-oriented
• Operations gain new knowledge and concrete energy efficiency improvements

In particular, the link between operational knowledge and research competencies is highlighted as central,

where shared purpose, close dialogue and long-term relationships are also crucial to success. There is thus potential in identifying more existing living lab collaborations across the university, supporting new collaborations between Shared Services and research, and highlighting AAU's strength in the area. 

Use the university as a laboratory

For Søren Lind Christiansen, this link is central to AAU's further work:

"We need to use data from our own buildings and operations to a greater extent for research and development, but also focus on research fields such as user behaviour in relation to travel, catering and waste management. This is where we can create solutions that both strengthen our own organization and contribute to the green transition, beyond the university," he says.