Communication Science (Radboud University) and Cognitive Neuroscience (Radboudumc) have the best developed plans to reduce the environmental impact of international travel. This is the outcome of the Radboud International Travel Challenge, a competition between departments of Radboud University and Radboudumc to develop sustainable policies for international business travel.
Professionals in academia and medicine regularly make international trips for their work, for example to visit conferences or participate in international projects. This can be useful or even necessary for maintaining professional knowledge, building an international network or securing grants. But the environmental impact of air travel and the rise of digital collaboration technology means that flying is anything but a given these days. Read more about the cooperation on sustainable travel between Radboud University and Radboudumc on the website.
The Radboud International Travel Challenge challenged departments to draft new policies with this knowledge in mind, balancing the interests of both young and experienced scientists on the one hand and environmental impact on the other. A nice prize was available for the winning departments: a bronze statue of a kiwi (a famous, non-flying bird).
Communication Science
Within Radboud University, Communication Science was the winner. They expressed the concrete ambition to emit less and less CO2 in the coming years and to travel climate-neutral in 2025. The jury said, "This is another plan that consists of a diversity of well-developed measures, such as an ambitious target and quota, as well as budget for organizing hybrid conferences and their own Radboud forest to compensate."
The award was received during a staff meeting by associate professor Anita Eerland. After the presentation, the ambitious team immediately asked about the sustainability goals in the field of ICT and email traffic. Jury member Marije Klomp was then able to tell that a new campaign will soon start at the university to reduce the environmental impact of this as well - an initiative that already started at the Radboudumc in March.
