Sustainability initiative wins top honours for Environmental Sciences Masters student

Notes for editors

 

Dean of Engineering and the Environment, Professor William Powrie, introduced the ceremony which is held each year to celebrate the work of students and staff on campus, in the local community and further afield.

Sarah, who is studying for an MEnvSci Environmental Sciences degree, undertook the community engagement task as part of her degree. “Many church buildings are old and inefficient, even those dating from the 1970s were often not built to modern standards. I hoped that church leaders would value an audit to help them make best use of their facilities and were delighted when they accepted my offer,” she explains.

She worked closely with ministers, church wardens and members of the congregation of seven churches to examine issues such as heating and transport as well as how they are gaining revenue through renting out their rooms to organisations such as parent and toddler groups. The summer project ended with a two hour interactive workshop for people from all 22 churches in the circuit to spread the sustainability message more widely.

Sarah is a committed campaigner for sustainability, having joined an environment group at her sixth form college and had the role of Blackout Officer on SUSU’s Environment and Ethics committee; she would like to continue in community involvement after graduation.

Simon Kemp, Chair of Sustainability Action commented: “Sarah has been a consistently outstanding advocate for sustainability throughout her time here at the University. Not only has she produced valuable work for regional churches out in the community, she also provided student leadership for Blackout. She is a very worthy winner of a Sustainability Action award amongst an exceptionally strong field of entrants”.

Find out more about the University's Sustainability Action awards