Last year Vice-Chancellor Professor Sasha Roseneil recommended to the University’s Council (the governing body of the University) that a group be established, including student and staff representatives, to review and update, if necessary and appropriate, the University’s Socially Responsible Investment Policy. 

The policy, which outlines and informs how the University invests its funds, was originally approved in 2016-17. Given changing global contexts and investment opportunities, it was agreed that a review would be carried out to ensure that the policy aligns with our institutional values and remains sector-leading.

Principles 

This review has now led to the development of 10 guiding principles that it is proposed will underpin a new updated policy. These include supporting the delivery of the Sussex 2035 strategy, how investment decisions are made and a commitment to report and update on investment activity.

Community engagement

The plan is for the final policy to go to the University's Council for approval in July 2025. However, there are various steps and actions we need to take before then. 

In particular, we want to take the opportunity to engage with the Sussex community. We recognise the interest in this policy and it is important that the review is open and transparent. Therefore, we will be holding engagement and briefing sessions between now and early March.

The first of these will be held by the end of February and will be an opportunity to hear about the process and decision making behind the policy and its principles, next steps and further details of how you can feed into the review process.  

If you would like to attend 

Dates of the briefing sessions are still to be finalised, but if you would like to attend, please register your interest by emailing us at internalcomms@sussex.ac.uk by Wednesday 19 February and we will provide confirmed details directly to you shortly.