Sustainability Engagement Intern, Directorate of Technology, Estates and Facilities (DTEF), University of York (Hybrid)

This is a 10 week full-time (37 hours per week) internship on a hybrid working basis.

A key part of the university Estates’ objectives is to improve the sustainability of our operations and we want to continue to effectively engage and collaborate with staff and students to achieve this. You would be a valuable addition to the department in assisting the Sustainability Manager and Sustainability Project Officer with both on-going initiatives and development of new opportunities.

The university continues to successfully run two programmes in support of these aims:

Green Impact raises staff awareness of sustainability and encourages them to take actions at work to green their environment. Interested staff members volunteer to participate in the scheme via an online toolkit, outlining achievable environmental changes. The criteria in the toolkit relate to practical, knowledge building actions across a range of activities. All of these are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and integrate fully into the aims and ambitions of the University’s Sustainability Plan.  

The College Sustainability Challenge targets students living on campus to engage in an inter-college energy competition, themed weeks, quizzes and other activities to help their college be more sustainable. Students are encouraged to further their knowledge through free training and online resources.

We have also recently initiated the implementation of our Sustainability Engagement Plan, which aims to create mechanisms to enable all staff and students to be involved in sustainability through fostering awareness raising, enabling action and creating feedback channels.  

We fully expect you to go about your duties in a resource efficient way and minimise your impacts to the environment wherever possible. We encourage team members to make every effort to conduct duties in line with the university's Sustainability Plan.

Project details: 

We are looking for a student intern to help us further develop the programmes for Green Impact and College Sustainability Challenge (CSC) and help implement the Sustainability Engagement Plan to empower staff and students. The role will be varied and primarily involve:

• Assisting in a full review of the 2024/2025 Green Impact Toolkit and all related actions and outputs from the participating teams
• Designing, issuing and analysing feedback requests for all participating teams, with the aim of using the information received to feed into an evaluation of the success of this year’s programme
• Working collaboratively with us and SOS-UK (the programme provider) to create an improved experience for the coming year
• Working with members of the communications team to assist in creating an effective and deliverable communications plan for the new year, for both programmes 
• Exploring opportunities to get other (new) teams involved and how we can engage with them to help them complete their toolkit or project
• Reviewing the online documents and resources available to GI teams to use 
• Supporting the Energy Savings Project Officer to develop specific actions targeting the university’s Energy Savings Campaign
• Working with the Sustainability Officer and ESAY Project Manager to support the teams undertaking Green Impact Lab Accreditation (GILA)
• Assisting in a full review of the 24/25 College Sustainability Challenge programme
• Designing and issuing feedback requests for all participating teams, with the aim of using the information received to feed into an evaluation of the success of this year’s programme and improve for next year
• Working with SOS-UK and the university communications colleagues to assist in creating an effective and deliverable communications plan for the new year.  
• Collaborating with university colleges to create an engaging timetable of college SSO intro events at the start of semester one and related to the themed weeks throughout the year
• Assisting with developing mechanisms associated with the Sustainability Engagement Plan
• Involvement in the efforts to manage waste for the postgraduate accommodations at the start of September. This is led by the Sustainability Project Officer and you may be asked to supervise a small team of student volunteers.
• Taking the lead on creating a fun interactive Welcome (Freshers) Fair event and collaborate on other events such as ‘Find Your Feet’

We are looking for someone with: 
 

Essential:

• An interest in, and enthusiasm for, environmental and sustainability issues
• Excellent personal skills which should include a willingness to interact with different people, to reason and persuade
• A confident but approachable manner and the ability to engage with tact, diplomacy and encouragement
• Strong organisational skills to manage a varied workload over a relatively short timescale
• Excellent presentation and communication skills; able to put over ideas clearly, using a range of different media
• Strong IT skills, particularly an ability to use Google suite 

Desirable:

• Experience of using creative tools such as Canva for communications 
• Confidence with using spreadsheets for data analysis

What the intern can gain from this internship:

• Experience and knowledge in environmental engagement and behaviour change 
• Satisfaction of contributing to and improving the successfulness of major sustainability awareness campaigns 
• Measurable experience and successful use of persuasion and communication skills
• Development of time management skills and demonstrable ability to work on their own initiative with limited supervision in a professional environment.
• A good understanding of the university’s tools for communication and their day to day operation
• An understanding of the context and drivers of the university’s sustainability strategy 
• Detailed knowledge of the Green Impact and College Sustainability Challenge programmes; Green Impact operates nationally across a range of Higher Education institutes and increasingly in other sectors, such as National Health Service
• An opportunity to get training and operate as an auditor/Project Assistant/CSC Ambassador for both Green Impact and Student Switch Off programmes later in the academic year

Application details

This post is brought to you by York Internships. This post is for 10 weeks, working 37 hours per week on a hybrid working basis. Interviews are expected to take place on 28 May. Applications close at 23:55 on 15 May. 
Please note that if you are offered an internship through York Internships, it is a condition of the agreement that you participate fully in the training elements of your project, which includes maintenance of a learning journal and completion of a short project report or video about your experience. 

Employers choose to advertise their roles via York Internships, therefore we ask that you do not contact employers directly with your application. If you have any questions about your application, please email careers-placements@york.ac.uk.
 

How to apply:

To apply, please click the red ‘apply’ link.

• Please download the York Internships application form. You can find this on the York Internships company profile as an attachment. Alternatively, the application form is attached to the internship vacancy. Once you have completed this, please re-upload along with your CV.
• Please note that if you do not receive a confirmation email following your application, we have not received it. Therefore please be sure to save a copy of your application in case you need to reapply, and email careers-placements@york.ac.uk if you wish to check your application status.
• Please note that details of this project will not be accessible through Handshake following the closing date; please save a copy of this opportunity for your reference. 
• If you have not heard from York Internships within two weeks of the application deadline, please assume that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful. 
• You are encouraged to seek support when putting together your application. You can access CV and interview advice at york.ac.uk/careers/applications

INTERNSHIP ELIGIBILITY: YOU MUST READ THIS INFORMATION BEFORE APPLYING. If you have any questions at all about your eligibility, please contact careers-placements@york.ac.uk at the earliest opportunity - do not wait for the application closing date to contact the team.  

The hourly rate for this position is subject to tax, National Insurance and people’s pension. The intern will be paid monthly in line with the casual payroll process based on the submission of timesheets via Dashboard.

This internship is open to all students of the University of York who will be registered with the University, and who will be based in and have the legal right to work in the UK, for the duration of the internship. If you have any questions at all about your eligibility, please contact careers-placements@york.ac.uk at the earliest opportunity - do not wait for the application closing date to contact the team. 

As this is a full-time internship it cannot be undertaken alongside courses of study or research that are active over the summer vacation period. If you are  registered on such a course and believe that your individual circumstances enable you to complete the internship on a full-time basis you should email careers-placements@york.ac.uk with an email providing specific consent to undertake the internship on a full-time basis from your tutor/supervisor at the time of application. If no such email is received, your application will not be considered. 

Please note that students studying on a student visa may not exceed 20 hours of paid work (including voluntary work) per week during semester. For postgraduate students, we consider semesters to include the summer vacation. 

Right to work documentation: Any applicant who is offered this internship will be asked to provide evidence of their right to work in the UK before beginning the internship. This will involve providing a copy of your passport to the University’s HR Team. If you are a non-EU national your passport should contain details of your student visa confirming that you have obtained permission to work. You will be contacted with further instructions on how to complete a Right to Work check if you are offered the role.
You must be eligible to work in the UK and have a valid National Insurance (NI) number to complete this internship.  If you are in the application process for an NI number at the time your internship is due to start, you can start work, however please note the University of York Casual Worker Team will require you to provide your NI number as soon as possible. Further information on NI numbers can be found on the UK Government website.