Good for: surveys and interviews, building performance analysis, data visualisation, behaviour change research, engineering or policy projects

ANU is transitioning its buildings away from fossil fuels by replacing gas with electric systems, improving efficiency and expanding solar. The challenge is not just technical. It involves behaviour, communication, policy and finance.

• Students and staff rarely see real-time data about the energy their building uses. Does making that information visible actually change behaviour, and if so, how?
• Pick a building on campus. What would it take to make it significantly more energy efficient, and what are the barriers to getting there?
• ANU has over 200 buildings in various states of age and condition. How should it decide which ones to electrify first and what criteria matter most?
• What do students in residential halls understand about their energy use, and what would help them use less?
• How do other universities or large organisations communicate their energy transition to staff and students and what works?

Good for: audits and field research, surveys, service or system design, policy analysis, behaviour change and communications projects

ANU generates waste across labs, offices, residences, food outlets, and construction sites. Reducing that waste and keeping materials in use for longer requires changes to systems, behaviour and procurement.

• Conduct a waste audit of a specific campus space (e.g., a lab, a residence floor, a café). What is actually being thrown away or diverted to recycling, and where could the system be improved or redesigned?
• What happens to furniture, IT equipment or lab gear when it is no longer needed? Is there a better way to redistribute it?
• What makes recycling confusing for people on campus, and what would a clearer, easier system look like?
• How do students in residential halls think about food waste and what small changes to the dining environment might reduce it?
• What sustainability requirements does ANU currently place on suppliers, and how do other universities approach this?

Good for: surveys and interviews, emissions analysis, policy comparison, communications or incentive design

Staff and researcher travel, particularly international flights, is one of our largest sources of emissions. Reducing it without cutting off important collaborations is a real tension.

• Survey a research group or department: how do academics decide when to travel versus attend virtually, and what would change that calculation?
• What travel policies do other research universities have, and which approaches seem to be working?
• Are there patterns in how ANU travel emissions are distributed, for instance, by travel type, purpose or destination? What does the data suggest about where to focus?
• What communication tools or decision-support resources help people make lower-carbon travel choices, and what's missing at ANU?
• How do early-career researchers think about the role of travel in building their careers? What are the trade-offs they are navigating?

Good for: surveys, spatial analysis, urban planning, behaviour change research, infrastructure assessment

Most ANU students and staff travel to campus by car. Shifting that pattern requires understanding what is practical and desirable, and what is getting in the way.

• Survey students in a specific cohort or residence: how do they get to campus, why, and what would make them consider alternatives?
• Map the cycling infrastructure around campus. Where are the gaps, safety concerns or missing connections that discourage bike commuting?
• How do end-of-trip facilities (showers, bike storage, lockers) affect whether staff choose to cycle, and how does ANU offering compare to peer institutions?
• What is the relationship between where students live and how they get to campus? Are there spatial patterns that suggest where ANU could intervene most effectively?
• How have other universities successfully increased public transport or active travel uptake, and what's transferable to the ANU context?

Good for: case studies, event audits, communications design, behaviour change research, policy or guideline development

Conferences, public lectures, student activities and social events all generate waste, travel and consumption. Designing them differently is both a logistical and cultural challenge.

• Attend or audit a campus event. What were its main environmental impacts, and what could realistically have been done differently?
• What sustainability expectations do event organisers at ANU currently have, and do they know where to go for guidance?
• Design a practical sustainable events guide for student clubs or societies. What does it need to include to actually be useful?
• How do catering choices at campus events affect food waste, and what options do event organisers realistically have?
• What role does event culture play in normalising single-use items, and what would shift that norm on a university campus?

Good for: data analysis, systems thinking, policy research, science communication, visualisation projects

ANU measures and reports its environmental footprint across emissions, water, waste and biodiversity. But getting that data right and communicating it usefully is harder than it looks.

• Pick one environmental metric (e.g. energy use, waste to landfill, water consumption). How is it currently measured, what are the limitations, and how could it be improved?
• How do our reported sustainability metrics compare to peer universities, and what does that comparison actually tell us?
• How effectively is the ANU annual Environmental Sustainability Report communicating to different audiences, and what novel formats or approaches could meet the same goals for transparency and accessibility?
• What are the challenges in measuring Scope 3 emissions (from supply chains, travel, waste) for a large university, and how are others approaching it?
• How could sustainability data be visualised or presented on campus to make it meaningful to everyday students and staff?

Good for: surveys, interviews, communications design, social research, program evaluation, psychology or sociology projects

Getting the community on board with sustainability is not just about information. It's about culture, identity, convenience and trust. Understanding what actually shifts behaviour is one of the harder problems in this space.

• Run a small study: what do ANU students currently know, care about and do in relation to sustainability on campus? Where are the gaps between attitude and action?
• What sustainability communication approaches are most effective with university students, and what tends to fall flat?
• How do peer influence and social norms shape sustainable behaviour in residential settings? What does the research say, and what could ANU test?
• Design and pilot a small behaviour change intervention around a specific campus sustainability issue. What works, and what would you do differently?

Good for: policy analysis, supply chain mapping, case studies, economics or business projects, ethics research

Like many large organisations, ANU relies heavily on goods and services to conduct business, including lab consumables, construction materials and catering. Embedding environmental criteria into those decisions can have impacts well beyond the campus boundary.

• Map the supply chain for a specific category of goods that ANU buys (e.g. single-use lab plastics, office supplies, food). Where are the biggest environmental impacts?
• What would make it easier for ANU staff to make sustainable purchasing decisions?
• What does the research say about the effectiveness of sustainability clauses in contracts? Do they actually change supplier behaviour?
• How are other Australian universities or government agencies approaching sustainable procurement, and what could ANU adopt?

Good for: risk assessment, spatial analysis, policy research, infrastructure planning, scenario analysis, communications projects

Climate change is already affecting how ANU operates, through heatwaves, storms, fire risk and water scarcity, and these risks will intensify. Understanding and planning for them is urgent and practical work.

• Choose a specific campus asset or service (e.g. outdoor spaces, power supply, a particular building). What are its main climate risks over the next 20 years, and how prepared is it?
• Compare how two or three universities are integrating climate risk into their planning and governance. What's working?
• What does climate adaptation mean in practice for a residential university campus, and what are the hardest trade-offs?

Good for: ecological field research, spatial mapping, communications design, restoration planning

The ANU campus supports significant biodiversity, including a remnant of the endangered Box-Gum Grassy Woodland. Managing landscapes well means integrating ecological, cultural and operational thinking.

• Survey a section of campus for plant or animal species. What did you find, and what does it suggest about the health of that ecosystem?
• How does the current management of a specific campus landscape (e.g. Sullivans Creek, the woodland remnant) compare to best-practice ecological restoration?
• How do students and staff currently experience and value the natural environment on campus? A survey or observational study could surface some interesting findings.
• Design an interpretive trail, signage system or digital resource that helps the campus community connect with the biodiversity around them.

Good for: surveys, supply chain analysis, food systems research, design projects, sociology or public health projects

Food is central to campus life through residential dining, cafés, vendors and events. It also has significant environmental and social implications that ANU is actively beginning to explore.

• Survey students in residential halls: how satisfied are they with sustainable food options, and what would they actually change?
• Map the food supply chain for the ANU residential dining program. Where are the biggest environmental impacts, and what alternatives exist?
• How much food waste is generated in a campus café or dining hall over a typical week and what happens to it?
• What do food vendors on campus understand about their environmental impacts, and what support or incentives might help them improve?
• How have other universities reduced food-related emissions or waste through residential dining programs and what is transferable to ANU?