From Personal to Professional: A Reflective Account of Academics Engaging with Sustainability

Higher Education plays an important role in addressing pressing sustainability challenges. Whilst research has explored those involved in the sustainability process, the focus has often been on senior managers. To address this, we reflect critically on our role as educators in the context of the increased importance of sustainability issues. To ‘frame’ this reflection, we apply and extend von Hippel’s lead user concept by analysing the accounts of lead and non-lead users in an autoethnographic study. Our findings give insights into the diversity of lead users in a rapidly changing university world, and can inform the development of policies and practices that drive sustainability in higher education.