A Call to Action for Sustainability at Middlesex University on World Environment Day
- Friday, 31 May 2024
At Middlesex University (MDX) Dubai, we recognise our responsibility within the education sector to spread knowledge about these critical issues. We are committed to educating future generations on the importance of environmental protection, and our dedication to sustainability is reflected in our continuous efforts to integrate sustainable practices at all levels of university life.
MDX Dubai’s dedicated Institute of Sustainable Development (ISD) is an initiative that continuously promotes the advancement of sustainability in the university and wider community. Through outreach, research and training, ISD serves as a thought leader in sustainability advocating the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The objectives of the ISD are to strengthen stakeholder collaboration by aligning academic knowledge and professional practice and by promoting partnerships with businesses, civil society and government to reach a sustainable future. Some of the activities of ISD include collaborating with businesses, government and UN agencies, providing best practice consulting and corporate training workshops and Sustainability Mindset Training and Community Outreach Programmes to name a few.
Andrew Mackenzie, Head of Institute of Sustainable Development shared his thoughts; “On World Environment Day, Middlesex University would like to celebrate the power of individual actions and their ability to make a global impact. Our students can inspire others by adopting sustainable habits like recycling, using refillable bottles, opting for reusable bags instead of plastic, and reusing or repairing products, moving away from a ‘throw away culture’. These small changes contribute to a larger sustainable economy, nurturing a healthier planet for future generations.”
Highlighted below are some of the sustainability events and initiatives that have been undertaken at Middlesex University Dubai over the past year.
For the Love of the Planet
In 2023, the ISD launched ‘For the Love of The Planet’, a sustainability festival putting the UAE’s future leaders at the heart of student-driven solutions to the issues of sustainable fashion, food sustainability and developing a circular economy. The second edition, held in March 2024 and aligning with the objectives set out during COP28 in December 2023, showcased sustainability solutions and featured a lineup of activities and exhibits presented by distinguished guest speakers, students, and businesses advocating for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
During this initiative, a fashion styling workshop allowed students to creatively style a mannequin with repurposed clothing. Other engaging activities included denim patch workshops and mannequin styling, encouraging students’ creativity and demonstrating the potential of repurposing and upcycling clothes. This activity ran alongside clothes drive that collected pre-loved items to be gifted to Thrift for Good, promoting a more sustainable lifecycle of clothing and materials. It also highlighted MDX’s sustainability goals while reiterating the strength of our Recycle, Reuse, Reduce programme.
For the Love of the Planet also featured video presentations by Digital Media and Fashion students, including a Food Waste Solution Display and performances by the MDX Fearless and Poetry Club. In collaboration with Enviroserve, ISD also organised an e-waste and recycling initiative to encourage students and staff to contribute to electronic device recycling efforts.
Climate Law and Governance Day in Alignment with COP28
In December 2023, Middlesex University Dubai was proud to host the 2023 Climate Law and Governance Day (CLGD 2023) event in conjunction with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP28). Organised in collaboration with the Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI), the University of Cambridge, and the University of Dubai, CLGD 2023 was virtually broadcast worldwide. Building upon the legacy of CLGI events co-hosted during each COP since COP11 in Montreal (2005), CLGD 2023 provided a platform for engagement, discussion, debate, and decision-making on climate law and governance. Themed 'Engaging in Global Stocktake through Legal Lenses,' the symposium connected students, attendees, and partners with COP28 delegates and leading climate law and governance experts to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement and contribute to building a sustainable society.
UNCTAD 2024
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Forum 2023, one of most prestigious UN events, took place in Abu Dhabi, UAE from 16 to 20 October 2023, and MDX Dubai was honoured to be part of the occasion as an official Local Academic Partner.
The UNCTAD World Investment Forum is a high-level forum focusing on the theme of “Investing in Sustainable Development,” and addressed key investment challenges caused by today’s multiple global crises. Since the first WIF in 2008, the forum has become the largest global platform for high-level dialogue and action on investment for development. This year the event consisted of insightful events focusing on innovative solutions to global investment-for-development challenges. Over 130 student volunteers across different programmes became the University's ambassadors, embodying its commitment to experiential learning and community engagement.
Sustainability and Waste Recycling Symposium
The Sustainability and Waste Recycling Symposium hosted by Middlesex University Dubai’s Business School and ISD in partnership with Enviroserve UAE and DGRADE, was held on 8 November 2023 at the University’s Dubai Knowledge Park campus. The event was designed to play a key role in advancing youth engagement in sustainable practices and empowering good decisions when it comes to reusing and recycling.
The event featured an enlightening keynote from Stuart Fleming, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Enviroserve – the only R2 compliant e-waste processing facility in the UAE and Africa, before moving into a series of impactful presentations, including a significant exploration into consumer perspectives on e-waste by Dr Sreejith Balasubramanian, Head of the Centre for Supply Chain Excellence at MDX Dubai.
RoboTechX Lab at Emirates Robotics Competition
Four teams of students from the MDX RoboTechX Lab participated in the second edition of Emirates Robotics Competition organised by Khalifa University, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and Dubai Future Labs. The event ran from December 2023 to February 2024 and brought together talented teams from across the region, united by a common goal: harnessing the power of robotics to address the pressing issue of environmental cleaning.
MDX won the first prize in the ‘Manipulation’ category, where the robot must pick up trash, classify the item as metal, plastic, paper, or glass, and place the trash in the related bin.
Simply Bottles
MDX Dubai is also the first university in the UAE to implement a recycling programme and eliminate all non-PET plastic on campus in partnership with Simply Bottles (a DGrade initiative). This initiative was launched to encourage the staff and students to increase the recycling of plastic water bottles in the UAE, increase environmental sustainability practices through behavioural change and eliminate the use of Single Use Plastic (SUP) on campus.
Conservation-Focused Field Trips
The Student Activities department ensures that conservation and sustainability are at the forefront of our students’ regional trips, with hikes organised in the winter months to mountainous areas in the north of the region. Students are encouraged to create a zero-waste impact during their excursions, ensuring their own waste and any they come across on their walks are disposed of responsibly.
Club Impact is a student-led social club that focuses on raising awareness and assisting in creating a better environment in the community. As part of their initiatives, they often undertake beach cleanups at regular tourist spots on the Dubai coastline, to pick up rubbish and dispose of it in a responsible manner. They also frequently visit initiatives such as the Turtle Rehabilitation Programme in Jumeirah Al Naseem, where they learn about the importance of sea conservation and animal protection.
Campus Consumption
Across the campus, state-of-the-art energy saving LED lightbulbs ensure that electricity output is minimised. Automatic motion sensors in all high-traffic public spaces reduce the likelihood of wasted energy. All staff computer devices go into sleep mode after one hour of inactivity, and other devices such as projectors and printers will sleep while idle, saving electricity. Printing is also limited to a certain number of pages per student, to reduce unnecessary paper consumption.
MDX is a responsible entity that continuously works towards sustainability and the protection of the environment. Our initiatives and partnerships demonstrate our commitment to creating a sustainable future. Future generations deserve a home to live in, and our planet is the only home we know. We hope that this World Environment Day, and those to come, will encourage sustainable practices in university life and at home.
For more information about the ISD, click here: https://mdx.ac.ae/isd
