The University is the first UK FHE institution to train its marketing and communications staff to deeply embed sustainability into their work. Sarah Ford-Hutchinson, Head of SRS Communications, and Heather MacBain, Deputy Director of Marketing, received the award in November 2025. The annual Green Gown Awards, organised by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) in association with UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), recognise the exceptional efforts and innovations of educational institutions to address environmental and sustainability challenges. The University won the “Tomorrow’s Employees” category which recognises institutions which are taking pioneering and innovative steps to embrace the green skills agenda. Making “MarComms” sustainable Sustainability is a major topic in the global marketing and communications sector as organisations strive to communicate their sustainability credentials to audiences whilst avoiding illegal practices such as greenwashing. Sustainability is a core curriculum topic in all business-related degrees taught at UK universities, but despite this, universities have been slow to educate their own "MarComms" staff. Recognising this, the University’s Social Responsibility and Sustainability (SRS) and Communications and Marketing (CAM) departments piloted a project in Summer 2024 to provide sustainability guidance to the 300+ MarComms staff across the University whilst training 18 staff champions to deeply embed sustainability into their work. All MarComms staff were encouraged to undertake Carbon Literacy and Biodiversity Literacy training and familiarise themselves with Sustainable MarComms guidance whilst the cohort of 18 champions received in-depth knowledge on key functions of their roles such as merchandising, digital advertising and telling audiences about the University’s climate and sustainability story. The judges were impressed that the project gave staff the confidence to take ownership of sustainability and drive initiatives forward. They also praised the project’s evidencing of breadth of impact which had led to colleagues changing a number of working practices. From footprint to brainprint Sustainable marketing and communications means undertaking MarComms activities – such as advertising, producing digital and physical content and event-planning - in a way that minimises the negative environmental and social impacts of this work and maximises the positives. It involves both how staff market and communicate (the “footprint”, such as a waste footprint) and also what they market and communicate (their “brainprint”, e.g. making sustainable activities seem desirable to encourage sustainable behaviours in an audience). The goal of sustainable MarComms is to orientate businesses - and society itself - towards a sustainable future by influencing economic and social systems to adopt more sustainable practices, and to also take accountability for the impacts of its own activities. This is particularly important as marketing is renowned for contributing to environmental and social crises by driving unsustainable consumerism. A lasting impact Participants in the pilot embedded sustainability in a number of ways: Promoted sustainability engagement opportunities to students and staff in their school; influenced senior management in their school to add sustainability into school governance structure; encouraged other staff to prioritise lower carbon footprints in event planning, catering, merchandise procurement, printing and targeted emails; used the events guidance to steer colleagues away from unnecessary giveaways, saving money and potential waste; Reduced the carbon intensity of their website using sustainable web design principles such as optimising text and images. Find out more Any member of staff at the University can access free professional development on sustainability, and learn how to engage audiences with their school or department’s sustainability story. Contact srs.department@ed.ac.uk to find out more. Related links Sustainable MarComms: Green Gown winner 2025 [external] Sustainable MarComms guidance Staff: take sustainability action HE Professional: Why Marketing and Communications staff hold the key to sustainability [external] Publication date 11 Nov, 2025
