Primary speaker:
Vikram Chadalawada, Director, IT Strategy, Innovations and Digital Transformation, Student Life, OVPS
Additional speakers:
Natalie Vasilivetsky, Project Manager, Sustainability Office, Facilities & Services
John Robinson, Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Professor, School of the Environment, and Senior Advisor, President’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability
Do Anh Vu, Associate Director, Student Life IT
Joined by three current U of T students and participants from Campus as a Living Lab to showcase the work they did in collaboration with Student Life IT and the Sustainability Office:
Maggie Chang
Monica Siciliano
Vanessa Virgo
Description:
In large, decentralized institutions, advancing sustainability often depends on effective collaboration across academic, administrative, and operational units. This presentation tells the story of how distinct, disparate teams at the University of Toronto leveraged its Campus as a Living Lab initiative to bring together students, Student Life IT and the Sustainability Office within Facilities & Services to tackle a real institutional challenge: making more sustainable lifecycle decisions for hundreds of IT devices supporting a large student-facing organization. For the first time at TechKnowFile, this session features students co-presenting alongside staff.
Through a partnership with Professor John Robinson's class ENV1103: Living Labs for Applied Sustainability, students worked directly with Student Life IT and campus sustainability leaders to conduct a carbon emissions audit of the department’s computing infrastructure and develop a practical decision-making framework for sustainable IT procurement and refurbishment. Student Life IT manages more than 600 workstations, making asset lifecycle decisions both operationally significant and environmentally impactful.
Using manufacturer lifecycle assessment (LCA) data and departmental procurement information, students analyzed emissions associated with refurbishment activities such as battery, SSD, and RAM replacements and compared them to the emissions from purchasing new devices. Their findings revealed that refurbishment can deliver substantial carbon savings, since manufacturing typically accounts for 60–80% of a device’s lifecycle emissions.
Beyond the analysis, the project produced a practical lifecycle decision-making framework to help IT teams evaluate sustainability trade-offs including device condition, emissions timelines, energy efficiency, staff capacity and budget considerations.
Attendees will learn:
- How cross-unit collaboration can transform campuses into living laboratories for innovation
- How student partnerships can generate actionable operational insights
- Practical strategies for integrating sustainability into IT lifecycle and procurement decisions
This presentation offers a replicable model for universities seeking to turn classrooms into catalysts for institutional change.
