Organisational Structure | The Green Officers

THE GREEN STUDENT OFFICERS

All our Student Green Officer positions have been filled and we are therefore no longer accepting applications. However, if you submit a letter of interest we will keep it on record for our next recruitment cycle. We will announce any new openings here; watch this space!

About the Green Hub Team

The Green Hub consists of the Green Hub Coordinator and a team of Student Green Officers. All employees, including the Green Hub Coordinator and the Student Green Officers, work closely together, share knowledge and report on progress to build a team spirit and momentum for UT’s organisational transformation to sustainability. There will always be 2-3 employees present at the physical office during office hours. Office hours are 10.00 - 16.00 Monday to Friday.

At this early stage in the Green Hub start-up process, we are continuously learning, remaining adaptive, open, creative, yet also disciplined. In the first months, therefore, Green Officer’s tasks evolve in line with expanding stakeholder engagement and services, based on rigorous experimentation and development of each portfolio’s activities. Taking inspiration from the Lean Start-up approach, we need to experiment, learn, pivot or implement.

Tasks and roles

Student Officers of the Green Hub have 7 main tasks in their remit, mandating us to fulfil our mission to become the heart of sustainability and systemic change at UT:

Initiate & facilitate collaboration between UT sustainability initiatives for +ve impact,
Establish a platform and network for sustainability-oriented systems entrepreneurs,
Act as the central access point for sustainability information at UT,
Inform and advise the UT community on sustainability to ensure greater success,
Organise activities, raise awareness, and offer networking opportunities,
Encourage and support integration of sustainability in educational programmes,
Relfect and provide input on operational sustainability planning and implementation.

You may take up other tasks outside your specific portfolio. This depends on the priorities at that time.

Click on each portfolio for more information.

Research and education

Tasks 1, 3, 4, 6

The Research and Education Green Officers are responsible for contributing to the integration of sustainability into education and research, and designing, collating and managing a university-wide sustainability intelligence system of centrally accessible information on sustainability research and education at UT. This Green Officer takes an active role in tapping into the wealth of knowledge related to sustainability and circularity at UT, and therefore also builds a network of researchers connected to the Green Hub to facilitate cross-pollination. Needless to say, this requires a passion for science, its role in society, the ethics and philsophy of science and technology, and the equalising effect education can have, including its central position in achieving the SDGs. In this role, you therefore also work closely together with key educational stakeholders to complement and weave sustainability into the teaching and learning experience at UT. You also promote ‘action research’ and challenge-based, collective inquiry challenges with a societal impact that further embed the campus community in its social environment.

Operational sustainability

Tasks: 1, 3, 7

The Operational Sustainability Green Officers will be the contact persons for sustainability in the operational management of the university. The student officer will collaborate in working groups with, for example, the procurement and catering officer, to ensure the sustainability of their purchases and offers or connect with student or study associations that would like to improve the sustainability of their operations. This portfolio will also actively work together with Campus Facility Management on relevant matters, as well as the Environment and Sustainability Policy Officer with respect to implementing the new UT Sustainability Policy in the areas of Built Environment, Waste Management and Real Estate, for example. Your focus is primarily on the material and environmental aspects of the Green Hub's work with respective parts of UT campus sustainability management. You also actively investigate and work with the UT community in matters that help take UT’s sustainability performance to the next level, such as the path to net-zero emissions, carbon positivity, circularity etc.

Projects and community

Tasks: 1, 3, 4

The Projects and Community Green Officers are responsible for internal communications with the volunteer network and managing close relationships with UT stakeholders, such as student associations, research institutes and other established sustainability interest groups. This Green Officer represents the independent student voice via working with our partners at SUSTAIN, whose role it is amplify the bottom-up component of sustainability transformation at UT. Besides this collaboration, you take the lead in organising and facilitating engaging activities such as symposia, webinars, consultations and the like. You intelligently raise awareness, creatively crafting and channelling transformative actions to bring people into contact with sustainability in an entertaining way. Such tasks include contributing to the Campus Challenges mentioned in Shaping2030. You also advocate for physical and psychosocial well-being and co-organise related activities with respective UT parties, such as the HealthyCampus Initiative. Lastly, you are keenly aware of the balancing act, self-awareness, emotional intelligence and systems thinking that building a fruitful culture for sustainability in universities necessarily entails.

External affairs and communication

Tasks: 3, 4, 5

The External Affairs and Communication (EAC) Green Officers will be responsible for the external representation of the Green Hub through its own website and social media, as well as the communication and public relations with external stakeholders and the cultivation of good external stakeholder relations and strategic partners e.g. regional companies, start-ups or the municipality. This student Green Officer will collaborate with the Marketing and Communications Department of the University to promote the Green Hub and effectively curate and maintain external stakeholders. You are also responsible for ensuring that the presence of The Green Hub Twente is known across the UT community and that you can easily be found. Your focus will therefore be on the visibility, demonstration and external communications strategy of the Green Hub Twente, as well as on the development of new relationships with sustainability organisations relevant to the Green Hub and UT missions.

Systems Entrepreneurship

Tasks: 1, 2, 5

The Systems Entrepreneurship Green Officers are on the frontline in developments in society and business that innovate and aim to transform the system we live in towards a fair, circular and thriveable future state. They are aware of the multifaceted role of sustainability professionals as change-agents in challenging the equilibrium of sub-optimal pre-existing models, whilst developing tangible and holistic sustainability solutions by channelling the UT-sprit of entrepreneurship. They apply systems thinking to amplify and connect existing entrepreneurial efforts concerning sustainability and circularity at UT. Our university would in turn be more resilient and better equipped to navigate wider societal transformation to sustainability. This portfolio connects the entrepreneurial site of UT with the Green Hub and the pioneers who work at the confluence of sustainability and innovation, e.g. across the road at Kennis-park, or across the country, region and globe. Due to the increasing importance of sustainability and the circular economy for entrepreneurs, this student Green Officer will collaborate with NovelT, DesignLab, UIF and others to provide guidance to academic, social, and sustainability-driven entrepreneurs, as well as to promote this topic in the Green Hub network.

Our Team profile

Our student Green Officers have a professional as well as intrinsic affinity for sustainability. They are entrepreneurial, innovative and dependable, willing to both start new projects and coordinate existing ones. They develop their network amongst the student body, and hone their professional competencies and skills together with the coordinator's guidance, whilst working to realize a transformative and sustainable University of Twente. Leading from their drive, learning paths, and work ethics, they take responsibility for their tasks in their respective portfolios. They all work closely together with and under the supervision of the Green Hub Coordinator.

Our Team Set-Up

Student Green Officers are employed via UTFlex, working up to 8 hours a week on a respective portfolio. Initial contracts are for six months, with the possibility of an extension. Green Officers will work together with a ‘portfolio twin’, a Green Officer colleague who works on the same portfolio. This ensures there is an essential sparring partner to work closely with and bounce ideas off of. It also helps to guarantee flexibility and continuity during busy study times, exams, or unplanned absence, where one can share and adapt responsibilities and time. We are currently in 'lean and green' pre-launch phase, where we co-design the Green Hub together within the first team cohort - or 'Green Hub team 1.0'. The Green Hub Coordinator facilitates this organisational development alongside the team in an effective, open and fair working conduct and culture going forward.

Information and Opportunities to work with us

For more information, you can contact Alex Baker-Friesen, coordinator of the Green Hub, by email: a.r.w.baker@utwente.nl. If you think you have what it takes to work in a dynamic team of transformative young sustainability professionals, drop us a short email with your letter of interest attached to greenhub@utwente.nl. Please bear the following points in mind:

We aim to recruit every six months as our team's situations change - we also will look for volunteers to complement our student officers come the new semester. Therefore, we would keep relevant, outstanding and interesting tenders from the student community on record.
In your letter of interest, you may express specific interest in one portfolio that you see yourself as being an asset towards, and expressly define why and how you became interested in sustainability, as well as why you would like to work for the Green Hub.
In addition, you can describe your area of focus based on your desired sustainability career development path. Then, we hold a conversation with you to see how your skills, passion, background and wishes suit the Green Hub.
After our initial team building period, we aim to start building our volunteer network. This is where you can more immediately start to get involved working with current team members and developing your sustainability service portfolio for possible future student officer position application.