2023 Roadshow

Sustainability Programmes @ UMSDC

An urban campus is a microcosm of the city where it is located...

Universiti Malaya (UM), the oldest university in the country is also an urban campus at the heart of Klang Valley - located at the bustling metropolitan area of Kuala Lumpur and near Petaling Jaya City in Selangor. Hence, to transition into a sustainable campus, UM first needs to address the sustainability of its key operations as a higher education institution within its immediate urban development context. Our vision is to "walk the talk" as much as possible and based on this authentic grounding, aspire to contribute more meaningfully to the broader sustainability agenda at the national, regional and global levels.

Based on this commitment, the UM higher management decided to mainstream UM's long standing voluntary campus sustainability movement through the establishment of the Universiti Malaya Sustainability and Development Centre (UM SDC) in November 2021, under the umbrella of the Deputy Vice-Chancellors of Research and Innovation (R&I) Office.

Guided by two policies: the UM Sustainability Policy (2021) and UM Eco-campus Blueprint (2016) - UMSDC's vision is to "transform UM into a model urban campus that advances green, carbon-neutral and sustainable lifestyle and innovation". Our core mission is to synergise UM's campus sustainability research and innovation activities with the enculturation of sustainable lifestyle and the inculcation of sustainability stewardship. The UM Sustainability Festival 2023 is one of our initiative to support this mission.

UMSDC's living Motto is "Inspire, Be Inspired". The motto is an important reminder that UM's momentum in campus sustainability has always been about seeding 'inspiring action' by individuals (students, staff and alumni) in addressing certain areas of sustainability initiative that they are passionate about, which can then 'inspire' other individuals in the community to take action in their own areas of passion and in turn, to inspire others as well. It is this cycle of inspired action that we want to continue promoting and nurturing as a long term cultural process.

Indeed, such momentum is only made possible through close collaboration with our inspiring stakeholders - be it from among government agencies, the private sector, NGOs, local communities, other academic institutions etc. Realizing the importance of meaningful multi-stakeholder collaboration to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, UMSDC has put in place several programmes to promote and enhance such collaborations further: Details below.

JOIN US!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Final Year Projects (FYP) on "Urban Campus Sustainability" for the 2023/2023 Academic Year

October 2023 - July 2024

OBJECTIVE

To support Final Year Undergraduate projects that can address sustainability issues in Universiti Malaya as an urban campus, in line with the UM's Sustainability Policy, UM Eco campus Blueprint and the university's Carbon Neutral Vision.
To train students in conducting action-oriented research and to be proactively involved in solving real world sustainability issues.

MECHANISM

Students will be chosen among those undertaking their FYPs in Semester 1, Academic Year 2023/2024, opened to students from all faculties in UM. FYPs that are included under this programme will receive some support and incentives as listed below. UMSDC will work closely with the UM Department of Development & Estate Maintenance (JPPHB), UM Corporate Data Centre (CDC), UM Open Science (UMOS) and stakeholder partners to coordinate data collection and make use of the FYP findings to help address sustainability issues in UM and its broader urban context.

INCENTIVES FOR STUDENTS, SUPERVISORS & FACULTIES

Obtain advise and mentoring from UMSDC to refine their proposal. A special workshop will be organised to assist them.
Obtain 'support letter' from UMSDC to enhance credibility when collecting data required for their project.
Opportunity to join any training programmes organised by UMSDC and its sustainability partners.
Opportunity to interact and work with students from other faculties and researchers under UMSDC's Campus Sustainability Living Lab programme for a more interdisciplinary, holistic and impactful research experience.
Opportunity to share their findings during the UM Sustainability Research Colloquium 2024, with the attendance of relevant members of the campus community, stakeholders and the public.
Opportunity to be selected for the Top 5 Best Sustainability FYP and to present a Flash Talk on their research.
Obtain a special certificate for their participation in the programme to boost their CV for sustainability-related employment.
A small campus sustainability grant will be made available under UMSDC for the 50 best and most relevant FYP proposals.

Note: If interested, stakeholder partners can also provide special support for broader urban sustainability topics that are of interest.

For students, supervisors and any partners who are interested to be involved in this FYP programme, you are encouraged to attend the SPARK! Sustainability Ideation Event ( (morning, 2.30 - 5pm) on 8th June at the KPPI Auditorium to gain early exposure to the programme, and to be involved in the co-creation of possible FYP topics with key stakeholders. You can also join the UM Living Lab ideation session in the afternoon to gain more ideas from UMSDC's Living Lab researchers.

Click HERE for the preliminary list of FYP topics derived from the ideation session and the SDG indicators (derived from THE Impact Ranking)

UM Sustainability Competency and Volunteer Programme

All year long

This is a new programme also to be launched starting from the 2023/2024 Academic Year to prepare UM students as change agents for a more sustainable future, in whichever field they are in. This programme will provide an opportunity for UM students (both undergraduate and postgraduates) to obtain a sustainability competency certificate based on their training on sustainability related activities and specified volunteer hours under UMSDC. The programme will also take advantage of existing in-house training materials in UM such as the biodiversity and greening programme at Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden and the RImba Project Living Lab, watershed conservation and citizen science programmes by UM Water Warriors, waste management and circular economy programmes by UM Zero Waste Campaign Living Lab, Maker Culture by UM Makerspace and the UM-Nottingham Bite Size Climate Action MOOC etc

UMSDC look forward to work with our internal and external partners to develop a strong holistic programme before the launching of the programme in October 2023

Click HERE for the volunteer form

UM Living Lab (UMLL) Programme

Call for grants once every year

The concept of ‘Living Lab’ in the context of campus sustainability is basically to use the university campuses into a living laboratory and test bed to solve campus sustainability issues and improve the sustainability of campus operations. Through this focused, systematic, collaborative, and transdisciplinary approach, UM researchers can “walk the talk” by joining hands with relevant stakeholders on campus to systematically improve UM’s performance, according to specific campus sustainability targets.

The Living Lab programme has a long history within the UM campus sustainability journey. Through strategic partnership between the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), the programme was introduced back in 2015 – under the initial coordination by the Sustainability Science Research Cluster (SuSci RC) followed by the UM Sustainability and Living Labs Secretariat (UMSLLS), and then later by UM EcoCampus Secretariat. The current programme under UMSDC is a continuation and enhancement of what has been implemented before. Kindly visit this link on the listing of our past UMLL projects: https://sustainability.um.edu.my/um-living-labs-umll

Under UMSDC, the programme has been restructured into three sub-programmes based on on-going priorities:

UM Eco-Campus Living Labs details
UM Circular Economy Living Labs details
UM Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Living Lab details

We look forward to expand the collaboration this year with more faculties (especially through the latest mandate given to UMSDC to promote urban campus sustainability as a topic for the upcoming 2023/2024 student FYP projects), the research community (for future living lab ideas) and also with other internal and external stakeholders (to enhance and upscale living lab activities and impact in the real world).

For researchers or partners who are interested to know more about the UM Living Labs, you are encouraged to attend the SPARK! Sustainability Ideation Event (afternoon session, 2.30 - 5pm) on 8th June at the KPPI Auditorium to gain more exposure on what Living Lab research is all about and to explore possible opportunities to be involved in its activities.

Customised Sustainability-oriented Collaborative Programme

All year long

In the collective effort to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there has been active interest by various parties to collaborate with University Malaya in various sustainability-related initiatives. For instance our collaboration that was highlighted during the Opening of the UM Sustainability Festival 2023 with Habitat Foundation, InvestKL and Global Tunikara was based on our shared vision in the areas of green space & biodiversity conservation, ESG and circular economy respectively. At present, UM has already established relationship with of a number of organizations in sustainability related initiatives, be it from the government, private sector, NGOs, civil society and local communities.

UMSDC can help to explore future collaboration for those who are interested. Please e-mail us at umsdc@um.edu.my.

Gain more information about how partners like Habitat Foundation, InvestKL and Global Tunikara are envisioning their collaboration by witnessing their agreement signing ceremony during the Opening Day of the UM Sustainability Festival 2023 on the 7th of June, 9am - 12pm.

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