Case Studies [Continuity]
Transition University of St Andrews
Key individuals and university staff members have been on the St Andrews steering group since the very start, providing some continuity. As a consequence of being funded, the group provides detailed reports of its projects and tries to include reflections from leaving steering group members in these. This has not been enough to provide continuity however, as many new members don’t bother to read the reports!
Instead, the group is trying to work with the rhythm of the academic year in this way:
April (mid second semester, before all the big deadlines) - AGM with reports and stories from the previous year and election of new steering group. Old and new steering group members chat and get to know each other over shared food/pub visit. AGM (end of semester) - Old and new steering group work side by side, with personal responsibilities being handed over and informal meetings encouraged.
End of semester (end of May) - Event celebrating the old members leaving. New steering group formally take over everything.
On top of this, continuity has also been maintained by having one employed Transition project manager for 4 years!
The Green and Blue Space, Stirling
Stirling also has funded staff that maintain continuity. They are getting around their continuity issues by formalising volunteer roles through having clear descriptions and expectations of what each role entails. Volunteers are given trainings to match these expectations, which provides a clear path of engagement for them and seems to encourage successors to follow. Thus, a member of the community garden can become a session leader and a session leader can become the head gardener.
They are also encouraging projects to “branch off” and become self‐run student cooperatives. This has been successful with a food cooperative, and they are in the process of doing it for a community garden too. The cooperatives are separately constituted, students, staff, and to some extent local residents become members, and form their own committee. As this is still quite a new development, funded staff from the Green and Blue space are on the committee, but are in the process of training a new treasurer to achieve continuity.
Transition Heriot Watt
Has a continuous steering group as it consists of only staff members within the university and funded employees that provide continuity. They are however experiencing continuity issues with their practical projects as they are struggling to get students engaged and taking ownership over them. They are encouraging student societies to form around the projects such as the community garden to get around this issue.
Transition Edinburgh University
During the first years, continuity was maintained by funded staff positions within the Transition group and key individuals who remained involved for a long time. Extensive reports were also written to communicate the visions and achievement of the group. When the funding ran out the Transition group was transformed into a department within the university, which has changed its nature but ensured its long-term survival.
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