National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

HEA Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Spotlight Series – University of Limerick
2025-11-07 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/Dublin)
About This Event
As part of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Spotlight Series, this session will showcase how University of Limerick is embedding ESD across teaching, research, programme design, and institutional practice. The session will highlight the impact of projects and innovative initiatives that are shaping sustainability education at UL.

Speakers

ESD in University of Limerick strategies and frameworks
Dr Íde O’Sullivan, Senior Educational Developer, Centre for Transformative Learning.

Blurring boundaries to shape change: The role of Stakeholder Engagement in ESD at Kemmy Business School.
Dr Annmarie Ryan, Associate Professor, Department of Management & Marketing, Kemmy Business School.

An evidence informed teaching approach of social justice pedagogies: Co-creating toolkits for teacher educators and preservice teachers.
Dr Antonio Calderón, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences.

Integrating Social Entrepreneurship into Language Learning: Preparing Business Students for Real-World Challenges.
Marta Fortes Saez, Spanish Teacher & PhD researcher, School of Modern Languages & Applied Linguistics.

Transforming the Learning Environment through the My Green Labs initiative.
Gordon Armstrong, Chief Technical Officer, Bernal Institute.

Who Should Attend?
This session is open to everyone with an interest in ESD in higher education, including educators, researchers, institutional leaders, students, and all those who support teaching and learning
Registration
Registration is open at https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/esd-spotlight-series/

For enquiries, email mkelly@hea.ie.
About the ESD Spotlight Series
This event is part of the HEA Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Spotlight Series, featuring contributions from 20 higher education institutions across the Island of Ireland. The series highlights innovative approaches to embedding ESD in teaching, research, and campus practices. Aligned with the Second National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development – ESD to 2030 (DFHERIS/DoE/DCEDIY) and the UNESCO ESD Framework to 2030, it supports collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the integration of Education for Sustainable Development across the higher education sector.

HEA Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Spotlight Series – Dundalk Institute of Technology
2025-11-14 13:00 - 14:00
About This Event
As part of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Spotlight Series, this session will showcase how the Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) is embedding ESD across teaching, research, programme design, and institutional practice. The session will highlight the impact of projects and innovative initiatives that are shaping sustainability education at DkIT.

Speakers
Eamonn Mullen – How the SDGs shaped our Rural Development module Dr Teresa O’Rourke – ReSPoNSE partnership and the MBS In Responsible Entrepreneurship Dr Ray Byrne – The 20-year story of the campus wind turbine at DkIT

Who Should Attend?
This session is open to everyone with an interest in ESD in higher education, including educators, researchers, institutional leaders, students, and all those who support teaching and learning
Registration
Registration is open at https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/esd-spotlight-series/

For enquiries, email mkelly@hea.ie.
About the ESD Spotlight Series
This event is part of the HEA Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Spotlight Series, featuring contributions from 20 higher education institutions across the Island of Ireland. The series highlights innovative approaches to embedding ESD in teaching, research, and campus practices. Aligned with the Second National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development – ESD to 2030 (DFHERIS/DoE/DCEDIY) and the UNESCO ESD Framework to 2030, it supports collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the integration of Education for Sustainable Development across the higher education sector.

HEA Teaching and Learning Conference 2025
2025-12-11
On 11 December 2025, the Higher Education Authority will host a full-day event to bring together leaders, educators, researchers, policymakers, and others supporting teaching and learning. You can register your interest in the conference by completing the form:
https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/conference/
We will contact you when registration opens. Further details to follow.

EUA 2026 European Learning & Teaching Forum
2026-02-12 - 2026-02-13
Ongoing developments such as the rise of artificial intelligence, changing demographics, labour market demands and learning needs, as well as larger-scale societal shifts towards a knowledge economy have spurred reflections on how higher education can safeguard its fitness-for-purpose and relevance in the future. These reflections, in turn, have repeatedly pointed to a need for more innovative approaches to learning and teaching. This need concerns all aspects of how higher education is delivered, but the focus of this Forum will be on how staff development can be (re- )designed to facilitate innovation in learning and teaching, with systemic impact on student learning.
How can institutions develop their staff’s capacity to adequately use – and perhaps even themselves develop – innovative pedagogical methods, resources and tools? Which approaches work to give due support and recognition to early adopters, and how can their impact be evaluated? Finally, how can staff be equipped with the agility to adapt to and tackle future educational challenges, and be encouraged to become innovators themselves? These and other questions will be the focus of the 2026 edition of the European Learning & Teaching Forum.
Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the Forum provides a platform for discussion and exchange of practice on how universities enhance, innovate and transform learning and teaching. The Forum also presents the work of the 2025 Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Groups. It aims to gather higher education professionals working at different levels on matters of learning and teaching to exchange and discuss institutional practice and policy developments. The Forum is an ideal event for vice-rectors for academic affairs, deans, heads of learning and teaching centres, and management involved in learning and teaching. It also welcomes students, policy makers and other stakeholders in higher education.
Visit https://eua.eu/events/eua-events/2026-european-learning-teaching-forum.html

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Maturity Framework for Higher Education
2026-02-13
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) is engaging with stakeholders across the higher education sector to inform the development of a new Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Maturity Framework for Higher Education in Ireland.
The Framework is intended as a developmental resource to support institutions in reflecting on their progress and identifying opportunities to enhance ESD in alignment with the national ESD to 2030 Strategy. It will provide a structured way to consider how ESD principles are integrated across teaching and learning, and wider institutional practice, while recognising the diversity of contexts, missions and levels of development across the sector. Feedback is welcome using the feedback form provided.
The closing date for submissions is 13 February 2026 at 5.00pm.

All-Ireland Student Sustainability Research Conference 2026
2026-03-31
TU Dublin is hosting the inaugural Student Sustainability Research Conference on 31 March 2026 at the East Quad, Grangegorman.
This conference is an opportunity for students of all disciplines and levels of study from across Ireland to share ideas and best practice for sustainability-related projects with each other and to take part in student led sustainability activities.
If you have completed work or are working on research projects, this is a chance to present your findings and ideas to fellow students.
Key details:

Presentation will be short (approx 7 minutes) and in a format you think suitable.
The Irish Journal of Social Economic and Environmental Sustainability will publish a set of abstracts and summaries of the work presented at the conference.
The morning is dedicated to presentations while in the afternoon the focus will be on activities.
The Career Development Centre of TU Dublin will be providing information on careers opportunities in sustainability.

Find our more at https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/sustainability/about/news-and-events/register-now-all-ireland-student-sustainability-research-conference-2026.php

Open Education: Supporting Policy and Practice
2026-05-20
A national event informing the strategic development of open education in teaching and learning across Ireland’s higher education sector
Munster Technological University, Bishopstown Campus
Wednesday, 20 May 2026, 10.00AM – 4.30PM
About the Event
This national event brings together colleagues from across Ireland’s higher education sector to explore current priorities and emerging practices in open education . It is framed in response to the HEA Strategy for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, which identifies open education as a strategic enabler of collaboration, innovation, and inclusive access across the sector.
The Strategy places particular emphasis on strengthening collaboration, sustaining and expanding the National Resource Hub, and supporting the development of institutional open education policies and practices. This event offers a structured opportunity for institutions to engage directly with those priorities, to reflect on progress to date, share practice, and contribute to the coordinated development of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP) in line with the Strategy.
The programme will include a keynote address, sectoral case studies, and interactive workshops. These sessions will examine practical implementation challenges, explore sustainable models for embedding openness within institutional policy and practice, and inform ongoing national development under the HEA Strategy.
Find our more: https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/hea-open-education-supporting-policy-and-practice/
