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This paper aims to provide insights into the relation between professional development (PD) and organisational change processes towards sustainability, with a specific focus on empowerment.

The paper builds upon a constructivist approach, combining a literature review, a desk research on key publications and reports and a socio-political analysis to reveal the specific context in Flanders, Belgium. Findings are then connected to earlier insights from research on organisational change for sustainability.

The paper provides a number of PD initiatives that focus on sustainability in general and in a single higher education (HE) institution. Framing such initiatives as an organisational change process offers insights on how elements of empowerment are currently incorporated in PD initiatives and how it can strengthen them to lead to the further integration of sustainability competences in HE.

Limitations are linked with the kind of sources used in the constructivist approach. The analysis only looks at written reports on the topic, albeit it also builds upon the first-hand experiences of educators in the HE institution focused upon in the case.

There is a need to frame PD initiatives as an organisational change process towards sustainability with specific attention towards empowerment. Without this framing, PD approaches comprise the risk of being left in the margins or being understood as single initiatives without any connection to the bigger picture, i.e. the transition towards sustainability in HE.

Interlinking PD and organisational change provides opportunities to frame the sustainability transition within the university in a wider societal context.

The paper provides an original contribution to the debate on sustainability competences, as it frames the PD within an organisational context, rather than focusing on the individual role of educators.

This paper aims to apply frame analysis to explore the mental models by which building managers interpret the impact of building occupants on energy use and rationalize their approach to occupant engagement.

Findings from four energy-efficient buildings (two schools and two office buildings) in Norway are presented. The methodology includes individual semi-structured interviews with both operational and strategic facilities managers

Concepts and theoretical perspectives with the potential to shape the building managers’ perceptions include technical knowledge and expertise, management responsibilities, familiarity with occupant routines and understanding of energy-efficient technologies. No significant impact was attributed to the actions of occupants in the areas of comfort, core function and behavior. Significant impact was attributed to their movement and presence. Perceptions of impact were found to influence, yet not determine, the building managers’ choices of practice.

Factors with the potential to affect the adoption of occupant engagement initiatives were highlighted. This study pointed to the role that automation and centralization can play in influencing facilities managers to rescind from their management responsibilities.

To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to use framings in thoughts to investigate the process by which facilities managers rationalize occupant engagement, in relation to their perception of occupant impact on energy use.