Join the Green Office team!
Want to become a coordinator?
The Green Office team consists of one general manager, five student coordinators, and an enthusiastic group of volunteers. Each coordinator is responsible for all the projects within a specific theme. Some of the projects are ongoing, but you also have a lot of freedom to come up with your own projects for making Wageningen University & Research more sustainable! As a coordinator, you will get a lot of responsibility for your own projects and you will spend about 8 hours per week in the Green Office.
These are the coordinator positions within the Green Office team:
- Communication & Outreach Coordinator [currently filled]
- Community & Network Coordinator [currently filled]
- Food & Health Coordinator [currently filled]
- Campus & Operations Coordinator [currently filled]
- Education & Research Coordinator [currently filled]
Want to become a volunteer?
We would not be able to achieve many of the things that we do without the help of our great volunteers! There are many ways to join the Green Office as a volunteer. We are always looking for like-minded people, who are eager to work on sustainable projects in their free time. The number of hours that you work per week depends on the position you apply for, and on how actively you would like to be involved. Since we have worked with students for a long time- and we are students ourselves- we know that your study sometimes requires full focus and a lot of energy. Therefore, we understand if there are times when you will be less active or miss out on meetings for a while. Depending on your preference and availability, you can choose to take up one or more roles within the team. If you like multiple positions, you can always ask us which roles are possible to combine.
Our current volunteer positions:
- Student Cooking Corner Project Leader [volunteers wanted]
- ECOSIA on Campus project leader [volunteers wanted]
- Sustainability Blog Editor [volunteers wanted]
- Sustainability Blog Writer [volunteers wanted]
- Communication Assistant [volunteers wanted]
- Green Office Event Organizer [volunteers wanted]
- Green Impact Project Assistants (GIPA) [volunteers wanted]
- Seriously Sustainable Week – Support Team [volunteers wanted]
You can find a detailed description of the positions below!
Student Cooking Corner Project Leader
The Student Cooking Corner (SCC) is a weekly activity established by the Green Office. It brings together the student community at WUR by giving students the chance to sell a plant-based homecooked meal of their choice. The aim of the SCC is to give students a platform to showcase their cooking and to give others the opportunity to taste unique meals from around the world.
What will be your responsibilities?
- You will be in charge of managing the reservation requests of the SCC
- Contact the forum catering to set up the SCC and
- Brainstorm ideas to promote the SCC among the student community in Wageningen.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for someone with a love for food, who can work and communicate well with others. Someone who can work independently and be proactive when needed.
Volunteer period: 4 months (September – December)
Time investment: 1-2 hours per week
What will you learn?
- Develop communication and organization skills
- Get an insight of the catering services on campus.
- Outreach to people (e.g., to the cooks and to students)
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.
ECOSIA on Campus project leader
It is a campaign to help students switch to more sustainable search engines on their laptops. Unlike Google, Ecosia uses the money they generate from clicks on the advertisement (around 0.5 cents per search) to plant trees. As of February 2022, the campaign was mostly online and focused more on tracking how many people have Ecosia in WUR through our link: https://ecosia.co/greenofficewageningen. Further, if enough users sign up, Ecosia may do a small promotional project for biodiversity on campus.
What will be your responsibilities?
- Promote the switch to Ecosia among students/staff on campus
- Conduct tabling events – talks in Forum with students about the benefits of switching.
- Keep a monthly track of how many users are using Ecosia on campus (through our link)
Who are we looking for?
Currently, this project is mostly limited to online promotion (through social media posts). We are looking for a student that is enthusiastic about talking and promoting this initiative to a broader audience. You are free to be creative and bring your ideas and inspiration for promoting this initiative.
Volunteer period: 2-3 months (can be longer)
Time investment: 1-2 hours a week
What will you learn?
- Develop communication, leadership, and professional skills.
- Learn how to be effective in motivating people towards more sustainable choices
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.
Sustainability Blog Editor
The Green Office Sustainability blog is a great platform to talk about sustainability at WUR, where we share ideas with students and staff members. Some topics that we explore are related to recycling on campus, sustainable education, energy consumption, and the amount of food waste in the canteens. But we are always open to new ideas if our volunteers have any cool projects in mind!
What will be your responsibilities?
As a blog editor, you are free to investigate, interview and share your opinion in your own blog posts. Alternatively, you can also choose to just collect and edit the articles written by others. You will work closely together with the Communication & Outreach Coordinator and a small group of writers to manage the sustainability blog.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for a passionate student who wants to help us run the blog and make it a success. You should be curious to learn more about sustainability at WUR, and eager to get involved in the Green Office’s projects. Being a critical and attentive writer is a plus!
Time investment: 2-3 hours a week
What will you learn?
- Sustainability at WUR and beyond.
- Communication skills, both verbal and written.
- Running a blog with multiple people.
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.
Sustainability Blog Writer
The Green Office Sustainability blog is a great platform to talk about sustainability at WUR, where we share ideas with students and staff members. Some topics that we explore are related to recycling on campus, sustainable education, energy consumption, and the amount of food waste in the canteens. But we are always open to new ideas if our volunteers have any cool projects in mind!
What will be your responsibilities?
As a writer, your task is to write quality blog articles about a variety of topics related to sustainability. Sometimes you will be assigned to write about a specific event or project, but you are also free to share your own ideas! As a writer, you are not responsible for running or promoting the blog, so you can also join us if you have a limited amount of time
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for someone who is enthusiastic about sharing and researching new ideas. Advanced written English skills and great attention to detail are necessary, in order to create high-quality posts. There is no minimum volunteer period, so you can work on as many articles as you’d like!
Time investment: 1-2 hours a week
What will you learn?
- Sustainability at WUR and beyond.
- Communication skills, both verbal and written.
- Running a blog with multiple people.
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.
Communication Assistant
The Green Office has countless ongoing projects and events that promote sustainability. However, to make sure students are informed about these, we have to reach students in an organized yet creative way. Instagram, posters, and narrowcasting all play an important role in our promotion strategy.
What will be your responsibilities?
As a communication assistant, you will take a major role in designing our social media posts, printed posters, and Instagram stories. You will be in touch with the Communication & Outreach coordinator to make sure that all projects and events are promoted on time. Therefore, you will be involved in everything that is happening around the Green Office!
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for someone who enjoys communicating and sharing ideas with others. Having experience with graphic design is an advantage, but not a must. However, you should be eager to get to know our projects and create high-quality promotion material.
Time investment: ~2 hours a week
Minimum volunteer period: 3 months
What will you learn?
- Effective communication skills
- The ins and outs of Canva and Instagram
- Different promotion strategies
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.
Green Office Event Organizer
What will be your responsibilities?
Students in Wageningen are often interested in sustainable activities and are a valuable source of input for the Green Office. To raise environmental awareness and channel a more sustainable student community, we organize educative and fun activities around different sustainability topics. You will be in charge of the organization and will be in contact with communication on how to promote the event.
Your task will include:
- Organizing events related to all kinds of sustainable topics
- Collaborating with multiple sustainability organizations in Wageningen
- Promoting activities among students
- Applying your sustainability ideas and knowledge in real life
Who are we looking for?
A person that is interested in a wide variety of topics related to sustainability. Someone who knows/wants to learn how to organize events
Time investment: 1-4 hours a week
What will you learn?
- Get experience in an organization that works on sustainability.
- Possibility to build a network of Green-minded people.
- Becoming part of a fun team full of ambitious students
- Project Management, Organizing sustainable events
- Communication and networking skills
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.
Green Impact Project Assistants (GIPA)
The Green impact project assistant (GIPA) joins a team within WUR participating in the Green Impact Programme. Green Impact is a United Nations award-winning program designed to support environmentally and socially sustainable practices in your organization.
[https://greenimpact.nus.org.uk/]
After joining the team, you will help them plan and perform sustainable initiatives! This can be anything from improving waste flows in an office to hosting a vegan cake sale to promoting the use of reusable coffee cups rather than single-use cups. Performing initiatives scores points in a ‘game’ and at the end of the edition, there is an awards ceremony to reveal the best teams!
What will be your responsibilities?
- Support teams of WUR staff members in performing sustainability actions
- Create workshops on sustainability to stimulate behavioral change in employees
- Help in the promotion of Green Impact
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for multiple students that are enthusiastic about sustainability and good at motivating others. To make this project a success, we all have to be convinced that many small actions can sum up to a bigger impact and get excited about running a new and innovative project.
Volunteer period: Minimum 6 months (starting date is variable)
Time investment: 1-2 hours a week
What will you learn?
- Develop communication, leadership, and professional skills
- Improve your understanding of sustainability and behavioral change
- Increase your network among students and staff
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.
Seriously Sustainable Week – Support Team
Each year, together with other green organizations in Wageningen, we organize a sustainability week full of activities such as workshops, talks, discussions and many more. It is one of the most exciting events every academic year offering students many opportunities to get engaged and learn about different sustainability topics. This year SeSu will take place 13.11. to 19.11. In order to prepare and run the week smoothly to make it the best SeSu, we need lots of helping hands! What will be your responsibilities?
- Help with all sorts of preparations.
- Be present during the week on some of the activities and help out with what is needed.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for multiple students that are enthusiastic about sustainability and good at motivating themselves and others. This week is always lots of fun to be involved with!
Volunteer period: 1-2 months (between Half September – half November)
Time investment: 1-2 hours per week preparation + some shifts during the SeSu week
What will you learn?
- Develop organisational skills and Event Management Skills
- Increase your network among students and staff
- Teamwork and Networking skills
- Work in a fun team of ambitious students
- Learn to apply sustainability ideas in practice
How to apply?
Are you interested in this position? Send an email with a short motivation to greenoffice@wur.nl.