Case studies
- UOW School of Nursing embedding SDGs into curriculum and general practices
- Introducing digital play to early childhood learning
- Sustainable finance
UOW nursing lecturer Dr Lorraine Fields is a strong advocate for ensuring students studying a Bachelor of Nursing understand the importance of supporting and implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the healthcare industry.
Since 2020, she has worked to embed SDGs into the nursing curriculum, ensuring the students understand each goal and complete assessments containing the relevant goals. In 2023, the School of Nursing mapped a newly accredited Bachelor of Nursing program to all 17 SDGs, with the first year of students to experience this in 2024.
Dr Fields and the School of Nursing have also introduced new sustainable initiatives across their six campuses including the reuse and recycling of nursing student uniforms, office equipment and medical equipment, and requesting staff bring reusable cups to meetings and planning days. Dr Fields created signage discouraging students from pouring drugs down the drain to prevent the negative flow on effects to marine life.
Nursing students had the chance to put the SDGs into practice by promoting blood pressure awareness and offering free blood pressure checks at events on UOW’s main Wollongong campus, inspired by nursing lecturer Catherine Stephen.
- SDG 1 - No Poverty
- SDG 3 - Good health and Wellbeing
- SDG 4 - Quality Education
- SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation
- SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
- SDG 13 - Climate Action
- SDG 14 - Life Below Water
The integration of digital technology into early learning at UOW was in the spotlight at Early Start’s Festival of Digital Play - an inaugural family-friendly day of play and research focused on the changing digital space.
The event, which offered a digital twist to the Early Start Discovery Space (ESDS) program, included multimodal story time and digital art and digital playgroup sessions in the Children’s Technology Play Space. Kids had the opportunity to experience augmented reality, digital microscopes and robot play.
Activities were co-facilitated by ESDS educators and Early Start researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, the world’s first dedicated research centre to create positive digital experiences for children from birth to the age of eight.
The Festival of Digital Play was inspired by the community’s overwhelmingly positive response to the introduction of digital playgroups in 2023. It celebrated the opportunities' technology presents for children’s play, while also casting a critical lens over how it impacts their lives.
UOW finance experts are helping students better understand the future of investment with the development of a subject on sustainable finance.
Socially Responsible Finance has become a core subject of the Master of Applied Finance program, developed and taught by Dr Searat Ali, a senior lecturer in finance at UOW. It provides crucial education to future financial leaders in Australia regarding the shift towards sustainable finance and investment. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of the latest trends in sustainable finance, including the shift to an ESG model (environmental, social and governance) and how prioritising societal welfare can also lead to profitable outcomes.
The subject was introduced to align with UOW’s strategic goals of empowering students for their future, creating knowledge for a better world, and making a difference to communities, as well as reinforcing the university's commitment to sustainability.
Students learn how ESG finance has contributed to a change from profits alone to a focus on the triple bottom line - planet (environment), people (society), and profit (economic). Aside from being beneficial for the students enrolled, the subject has the potential to create a ripple effect in the broader community by implementing change at the grassroots level over the long-term.
- SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
- SDG 4 - Quality Education
- SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
