University of Sussex strategy
Learn about our vision, mission and values, and our focus on environmental sustainability, human flourishing, and digital and data futures.
Creating Progressive Futures - flourishing, sustainability and progress for the whole world
Sussex 2035 is our strategy for the decade leading to the 75th anniversary of the University’s founding. We are facing the deep uncertainties of climate crisis and biodiversity loss, global conflict, intensifying inequalities, and cultural polarisation. Over the next ten years, the University of Sussex will focus our energies on tackling these complex challenges, to drive progressive change for the whole world.
Sussex has an outstanding global reputation for academic leadership in equitable and sustainable development, and since the early 1960s, we have made groundbreaking, intellectually innovative, and transformative contributions to knowledge, technology, and society through our rigorous interdisciplinary research and our inspirational teaching.
We will build on this to focus on three urgent global challenges in our education, research, global and civic engagement, and campus life: environmental sustainability, human flourishing, and digital and data futures.
Sussex 2035: Creating Progressive Futures - flourishing, sustainability and progress for the whole world
- Video transcript
[Spinning globe]
Speaker 1: The world is changing fast.
[Weather system]
From climate crisis
[flying drone]
and global conflict…
[coins tumbling into a cup held in someone's hands]
to inequality
[person with a megaphone surrounded by cardboard signs at a protest]
and cultural division…
[aerial shot showing traffic interchange at night]
the challenges are huge.
[aerial shot showing a circular building on Sussex University campus]
Speaker 2: But here at Sussex, we’re not stepping back.
[circle of people hugging]
We’re stepping up.
[hands in blue medical latex gloves holding a petri dish with cells growing in agar jelly]
Speaker 1: Looking towards 2035
[aerial shot of the Meeting House]
and our 75th anniversary,
[Doughnut sculpture at Brighton beach]
we’re building something bold:
[people playing on a circular swing set]
a future where people
[aerial view of circular lake]
and the planet can flourish.
[Camera lens]
Speaker 2: Our vision is clear.
[scientific equipment]
We are Creating Progressive Futures -
[laughing faces of students]
flourishing,
[spinning wind turbine]
sustainability,
[scientist in lab showing iridescent reflective disc]
and progress
[sunset in the sky]
for the whole world.
[close-up of plastic bottle on beach]
Speaker 1: That means embracing
[bee on flower]
environmental sustainability,
[soldering a circuit board]
shaping digital and data futures,
[circle of children clapping hands]
and supporting human flourishing -
[basketball landing in hoop]
in everything we do.
[Teacher wearing sari in classroom of children]
Speaker 2: We are a diverse, global community of students,
[lecturer speaking to students in lecture theatre]
staff,
[scientists wearing white coats in lab]
and alumni,
[aerial shot of Brighton pier]
working with partners near
[busy cityscape]
and far.
[3D printer]
Speaker 1: Our mission is
[face of student concentrating]
to educate changemakers,
[hands twirling knobs on music mixing desk]
and to create
[person giving presentation]
and apply knowledge
[brain scan imaging]
that addresses the biggest issues of our time.
[researcher looking through microscope]
Our research
[lecturer writing equations on chalkboard]
and teaching are rigorous
[two people looking at plants growing in greenhouse]
and driven by curiosity,
[performer wearing sparkly top, behind microphone on stage, raises their arms]
nurturing creativity,
[group of people gathered around computer screens]
critical thinking,
[student writing on whiteboard]
and independence of mind.
[TITLE CARD: The Sussex School for Progressive Futures]
Speaker 2: At the heart of Sussex 2035 is an important new initiative: The Sussex School for Progressive Futures -
[white chalk cliffs by the sea]
a flagship hub
[close up of hands playing electric guitar]
for the interdisciplinarity
[code on screen]
and innovation for which Sussex is renowned.
[people wearing lifejackets in fast-moving boat at sea]
It will catalyse
[person lifting a test tube full of a water sample out of river flowing over boulders]
world-changing education,
[underwater shot of kelp forest]
research,
[litter picking on the beach]
and civic engagement
[dry ice pouring into container and spilling out white clouds]
focused on our transformational themes
[bees moving across honeycomb]
of environmental sustainability,
[person wearing rainbow flag as part of the Pride parade]
human flourishing
[person working behind complex structure of connected equipment]
and digital and data futures.
[aerial shot moving over Sussex campus on a sunny day]
Speaker 1: We’ll make education
[person using sign language] and student life at Sussex
[students in lecture] even more inspirational
[three students talking animatedly] and inclusive,
[scientist wearing gloves holding equipment] we’ll support research
[child in hospital bed with sensors on their head, holding hands with their parent, as doctor points at brain scan] that changes lives,
[four people looking at equipment as one points closely at part of it] and we’ll create
[hand pointing out data across two copmuter screens] equitable partnerships
[speaker wearing hijab presenting on stage] that share knowledge across the globe.
[students wearing gardening gloves smiling as they work in allotment]
Speaker 2: We’ll stay rooted in our community - embedding public service,
[people with clipboards carrying out survey] the common good,
[people smiling and agreeing as they look at computer screens] and collaboration in all we do.
[Lecturer gesturing at engine]
Speaker 1: We will keep investing
[group of students walking along chatting, one wearing University of Sussex hoodie]
in people,
[interior shot of students working around table]
spaces,
[person wearing VR headset and robotics glove, clenching their fingers as the fingers simultaneously curl on large robotic hand on desk]
and technology
[robing steward helping graduand wearing robe to put on mortarboard hat] to make Sussex strong, sustainable,
[beekeeper in full protective clothing tending to beehives] and future-ready.
[Student wearing University of Sussex hoodie and lanyard with the words "Ask me" guiding young people around campus]
Speaker 2: And we will live our values -
[people looking at waveforms on monitor]
collaboration,
[smiling dancer performing]
courage,
[group of students laughing]
inclusion,
[closeup of person wearing protective goggles, hairnet and facemask]
integrity,
[person in hospital bed smiling as nurse covers them with blanket]
kindness,
[Student wearing University of Sussex hoodie and lanyard with the words "Ask me", holding tablet, makes welcoming gesture in front of display of multicoloured balloons]
and openness.
[Aerial shot across Sussex campus highlighting bright green foliage of trees]
These aren’t just words. They’re who we are.
[Aerial shot of teams playing football on sports pitch]
Speaker 1: This is Sussex 2035:
[person being moved into MRI scanner]
our strategy
[closeup of purple flower]
for transformation
[feet pedalling a bicycle]
and resilience.
[A sports team wearing maroon t-shirts hug]
Speaker 2: Together, we’re creating progressive futures -
[students sitting around a table with A4 notepads comparing their notes]
for our university,
[people sitting on blankets in a circle on a sandy beach]
our communities,
[spinning globe]
and the whole world.
[END CARD. University of Sussex logo]
Our vision, mission and values
Our vision, mission and values will guide the direction of the University over the coming decade.
Vision
Our vision is to harness our collective effort to create progressive futures for the whole world and for our own University. We want to make distinctive, inventive, and positive contributions to environmental sustainability, human flourishing, and digital and data futures, ensuring that Sussex thrives as a research-intensive, educationally excellent and student-centred institution that champions diversity, creativity, and excellence.
Mission
We are a diverse, globally minded community dedicated to making the world a progressively better place. We do this by educating generations of change-makers, and by creating, disseminating and applying ground-breaking knowledge and understanding. Our distinctive commitment to interdisciplinarity continues to open up new ways of thinking and solutions to environmental, scientific, social, and technological challenges. Our research and teaching are curiosity-driven and rigorous, addressing the most important issues of our time, and exercising stewardship over, and questioning, existing knowledge. We nurture academic excellence, professional leadership, and global citizenship amongst our students and staff, through the development of creativity, critical thinking, and independence of mind.
Values
Our six core values - collaboration, courage, inclusion, integrity, kindness, and openness - guide how we work together and engage with others. These interconnected values form a shared vision for our culture, shaping our daily interactions and the way we operate as an organisation. They provide a framework of collective aspiration for Sussex’s culture – the type of community and learning and working environment we want to be.
Foundational principles
Sussex 2035 is built on bold, forward-thinking principles that shape everything we do. We are committed to improvement and excellence, tackling unevenness of performance across the University, and ensuring that by 2035 Sussex is in a significantly stronger position in all areas of work. Our distinctive heritage and spirit drive us to tackle global challenges in uniquely Sussex ways. We foster ethical relations within our diverse community and with the world around us, recognising that we are interdependently entangled with wider local and global communities, and with the natural environment. Through accountability, adaptability, and resilience, we stay responsible and dynamic in a changing world. And with a focus on financial sustainability, we are creating a university for the future that has excellent working and learning conditions, and that is innovative, inclusive, and environmentally responsible.
Transformational themes
Over the next decade, Sussex will contribute to the creation of progressive futures for the University and the whole world through three transformational themes. These themes will shape our research and innovation, our educational and student-life provision, our global and civic engagement, and our institutional life and actions:
Environmental sustainability
We will conduct world-leading research and innovation and engage students to meet the challenges of environmental sustainability, creating new knowledge, understanding and solutions. We will develop our campus to meet the challenges of environmental sustainability, minimising our carbon footprint, and achieving net zero for scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035, or as soon as possible thereafter.
Human flourishing
We will focus on research and innovation that contribute to human health and wellbeing in its broadest sense, enabling access by all to the full richness of life. We will enable Sussex students to understand and engage with the challenges of human flourishing, and we will develop our university community to enable the flourishing of our students and staff, and our city, region, and the whole world.
Digital and data futures
We will conduct world-leading research and innovation in digital technologies and making rigorous and creative use of data. We will enable our students to understand and engage with the challenges of digital and data futures, and we will develop our operations to makes the best use of future digital technologies and data.
Our core activities
We will focus on three main areas in our efforts to create progressive futures for Sussex and for the whole world.
Education and student life
We support students from all backgrounds to come to Sussex and to flourish during their time with us and beyond. By embedding the three transformational themes into our curriculum, we will prepare students for global citizenship and for life and work in a rapidly changing world. In partnership with our students, we are committed to continuous improvement and excellence in every aspect of the Sussex student experience.
Research and innovation
We will create progressive futures through our research and innovation, contributing impactful knowledge for an environmentally sustainable, socially just, technologically empowered, healthy and economically vibrant world. We will develop our research partnerships to promote global knowledge equity, strengthening our research base to boost excellence across all disciplines.
Global and civic engagement
We will contribute to progressive futures for our city and region by working in partnership with local communities and businesses to address their challenges, and by integrating public service and community collaboration into our teaching and research programmes. We will strengthen our global reputation as a destination for ambitious forward-thinking international students and as a higher education partner, buildings equitable partnerships in education and research.
The Sussex School for Progressive Futures
In the spirit of Sussex’s original ground-breaking interdisciplinarity, the new Sussex School for Progressive Futures will catalyse and coordinate a distinctive, world changing programme of education, research and innovation, and global and civic engagement in relation to our three transformational themes of environmental sustainability, human flourishing, and digital and data futures.
We will bring students, researchers, educators, and professional practitioners from across the University together with collaborators from business, industry, government, the arts, and the third sector to imagine and create knowledge for a better world.
The Sussex School for Progressive Futures will be a space for cross-University cooperation, rooted in our values of collaboration, inclusion, and openness. Working within the University’s foundational commitment to academic freedom, as expressed in our Charter and Statutes, and seeking to promote and support freedom of speech, diversity of belief and method, the meaning of ‘progressive futures’ will always be subject to discussion and debate and will serve as an open concept signifying a commitment to innovation for equitable and positive environmental, social, and technological change.
Enabling Sussex to thrive
We will take strategic action to advance environmental sustainability, the wellbeing and flourishing of our students and staff, and digital innovation across our operations. Drawing on our research insights to inform, test and improve our practice, we will transform our campus, support our community, and build resilience through improved infrastructure, financial sustainability, and a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
- People and culture
We will make Sussex an employer-of-choice for ambitious, creative, and forward-thinking people, in which diversity of background, identity, belief and thought is embraced and enhanced. We will enable everyone to flourish in their working lives by providing an equitable and inclusive environment, in which everyone can be themselves, and where they are supported to develop their skills and capacities to do their best work and realise their ambitions. We will address entrenched inequalities and processes of marginalisation. We will provide excellent support to all staff and ensure that staff are well led, fairly managed, and fully engaged in shaping the development of the University. We will nurture high-performance, empowering staff to innovate and strive for improvement and excellence in their work.
- Financial sustainability
We will ensure financial sustainability and resilience by delivering a reliable operating margin for strategic investment and income growth from education, research, and innovation. We will become more efficient in our ways of working.
- Infrastructure
We will develop our physical and digital infrastructure with a focus on our transformational themes of environmental sustainability, human flourishing, and digital and data futures, seeking improvement and excellence, adaptability and resilience, efficiency, and financial sustainability. We will preserve and make the most of our beautiful historic campus and our location on the South Downs and in the Living Coast UNESCO biosphere region.
We will make Sussex an environmentally sustainable, biodiverse, net zero, transition university. We will design the transformation and maintenance of our physical and digital infrastructure and services to meet the diverse, changing, and specialist needs of our whole community, developing state-of-the-art scientific facilities, and driving inclusion and accessibility for all. We will ensure that our operations, governance, and decision-making are informed by insight based on reliable, up-to-date data. We will innovate in the creative use of indoor and outdoor space, and in employing new digital technologies and data to enable our people and work to flourish, and to produce an inspirational, fit-for-purpose, climate resilient, safe, and secure physical and digital campus.
Sussex 2035 news
Read the latest news about the progress we are making towards our strategic goals.
Contact us
For questions or comments, email sussex2035@sussex.ac.uk.