The University has adopted a formal sustainable travel plan with the aim of encouraging staff, students and visitors to travel to and from the University by more sustainable means.
The travel plan includes a series of initiatives to encourage the use of alternative means of travel such as car sharing, public transport, walking and cycling. Initiatives to reduce the amount of business travel being undertaken by staff will also form part of the travel plan.
There are numerous benefits for individuals as well as the University resulting from changing to more sustainable travel means, these include:
- Reduced travel costs
- Reduced environmental impact
- Regular exercise should you choose to walk, jog or cycle
- Stress free travel through the use of public transport or car sharing
- Less time travelling on business through the use of remote conferencing
Read the Ulster University Sustainable Travel Plan 2019/20 to 2023/24
Remote conferencing
When considering the need to undertake business travel, staff (including those with the responsibility for approving business travel) should therefore ask themselves if the journey is absolutely necessary.
One way in which business travel can be reduced is through the use of the remote conferencing.
The University has excellent remote (i.e. video and telephone) conferencing facilities available, the use of which should be fully considered as a viable replacement to travel.
Conferencing Types
The main types of remote conferencing facilities available within the University are tele-conferencing and video-conferencing.
Remote conferencing reduces the need for staff members to travel on business e.g. to attend meetings/ training sessions at other campuses/venues, thereby realising the following benefits:
- Reducing the associated travel costs to the University.
- Reducing the associated environmental impact from business travel.
- More efficient use of staff time at work.
- Reducing the need for out of hours business travel.