Travelling for work?
Sustainable work travel
Tips and ideas from the
Humanities Green Impact team on work travel
To travel or not to
travel that is the question?
Before organising meetings or travel think about is it necessary
at all? Could the meeting take place via video conferencing instead?
Here is what one of the HAGIS team Ian Fairweather does:
How I use Video
Conferencing – Ian Fairweather
The Humanities researcher development team offers
professional training to nearly 1000 doctoral students and 200 early career
researchers that are working or studying part-time, or are off site, including
a large cohort of distance learners on programmes like the Doctorate in
Business Administration.
In order to make training more flexible and accessible to
these researchers we are making increasing use of video conferencing through
Skype and ‘GoTo Meeting’. Using this software I was even able to deliver one of
our core workshops to a classroom of DBA students at the Shanghai Jao Tong University
without leaving my office.
The software is easy to use and once you get used to talking
to a screen rather than a room full of people you barely notice it. We also
work closely with colleagues and researchers at Lancaster, Liverpool and Keele
through our UKRI doctoral training partnerships and video conferencing makes
cross-institutional meetings and seminars cheaper, less time consuming, and
saves us from making unnecessary journeys – all good for the University and the
environment. If you’d like a brief chat on how we used it, please email me at: ian.fairweather@manchester.ac.uk
.
For more information on how to set up GoTo Meeting please
visit: GoTo
Meeting in support
Travelling around campus
Did you know you can travel sustainably around the campus
using the 147 bus? Travel between the main North and South campuses is free by
presenting your student/staff card. Please also encourage your visitors and
students to use this instead of taxis. Cumulatively, we will can reduce a lot
of carbon emission and keep our campus air cleaner!
Sustainable travel options
If you need to travel then think about how you can be
sustainable:
Cargo bike
Through the EU funded Triangulum project, electric cargo
bikes are now available to hire free of charge to staff from The University of
Manchester. The electric cargo bike loan scheme will enable staff to learn
whether a bike can be integrated into their day-to-day operations on a
permanent basis. The HAGIS team hired one to the transport of water
bottles for the lunchtime meeting walk.
To book an electric cargo bike demonstration contact Manchester Bike Hire or
call: 07523 092285.
TOP TIP - Did you
know you can claim work travel cycling miles at 20p per mile? See mileage
rates for further details.
Car travel
Simple training in efficient driving techniques can save up to
20% in fuel consumption. For more information visit Energy
saving trust
The University has an electric pool car, the 100% Nissan
Leaf pool car available for staff business journeys. To use:
- Read the FAQs and usage policy to determine eligibility,
- Complete the booking form.
- E-mail mailto:evbookings@manchester.ac.ukat least two days in advance.
TOP TIP for car
share – Did you know you can claim five pence per passenger for private car
business mileage in addition to the standard car mileage allowance. – See Car
share mileage rate
Rail and air
Information from the sustainable
business travel page
- Egencia - All advance business travel bookings should be made through this system in order to improve reporting, identify trends and reduce risk. We also receive carbon reports to support the work of the University Environmental Sustainability Team.
- Reducing air travel - Information from academics examining how to reduce academia’s carbon footprint from air travel. Includes a FAQs paper with options and considerations to minimise flying.
- Tyndall Centre travel strategy - Includes a helpful decision tree and justification matrix.