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The University of Southampton
Sustainability Action

Congratulations to this year’s winners of the Sustainability Action Awards

Published: 16 March 2016
Cameroon Catalyst
Student Group Winners Cameroon Catalyst

On Thursday 10 March, more than 80 staff and students came together for the third annual Sustainability Action Awards, celebrating the inspiring sustainable initiatives taking place across our University.

 

The awards recognised individuals and groups within the University community who have been changing the world for the better and demonstrating a commitment to sustainability – both within and outside of the institution.

This year also launched the first Sustainability Action Photographer of the Year Award, with the theme My Global Goals. Based on the 17 international goals for sustainability, the images articulated the photographers interpretation of sustainability and what the Global Goals meant to them.

Many thanks to all the award entrants. The judges were impressed by the quality of applications and were thrilled to see such a range of initiatives taking place across the University.

The ceremony was led by Professor William Powrie, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment and the University’s Sustainability Champion, with awards being presented by Chief Operating Officer Ian Dunn and SUSU Vice President Welfare Sam Bailey.

Our congratulations go to all the runners-up and winners. You can read a summary of the winning entries below, or see full details of all runners-up and winners here.

This project was supported by a contribution from the University’s Carbon Management Plan, a dedicated fund that supports energy efficiency and carbon reductions. The fund supports projects that actively benefit our carbon management.

Winner of the Outstanding Student Award: Jonathan Ham

Jonathan was involved in setting up 38 spaces for children in local neighbourhoods with the aim of promoting active citizenship, participation, and social inclusion in Ikorodu, Nigeria as part of undergraduate research with Voluntary Service Overseas. He was part of teams organising community action days, a children’s rights conference and an anti-drugs music festival.

Winner of the Outstanding Staff Award: Tony Curran

Dr Tony Curran developed ‘The Burger Apocalypse’, a highly participative session exploring the environmental impacts of our food and supporting behaviour change by teaching attendees about the A-B-C of low carbon eating: Avoid wasting food, Buy in-season food and Choose low carbon food more. To-date 1100 people have participated, including at Glastonbury, Bestival, Cheltenham Science Festival and university outreach events.

Winner of the Outstanding Student Team award: Cameroon Catalyst

Research by the Cameroon Catalyst team identified the most important development need of the Bambouti region in Cameroon as access to safe drinking water. The group is working to construct modern wells across the region, focused on providing safe drinking water to the most vulnerable communities. These projects utilize traditional construction techniques already familiar to the local community, empowering local people to build more protected sources themselves.

Group members: Mikey Harper, James Warbey, Richard Saunders, Rosey Burchell, Alex Howe, Jared Tiller, Ash Amiri, Megan Martin, Tom Edwards

Winner of the Outstanding Staff Team award: Farm4Life

This initiative redistributes unwanted university furniture and materials to the Farm4Life charity in Ghana. In the last year alone, the team have diverted over two tonnes of potential waste, saving approximately 14286kg of carbon. Not only does this create environmental and social improvements, it also saves the university money as the items no longer need to be placed in a skip.

Group members: Henry Laryea, Mick Grassick, Ian Russell, Hannah Clewer

Joint Winners of the Outstanding Student and Staff teams award: Biggest Tree and The Social Enterprise Challenge

Biggest Tree aims to tackle food waste by partnering with Waitrose Biggest Tree. The initiative dehydrates surplus fruit, turning it into a healthy fruit snack that can be sold. A big part of the project is to raise awareness of the problem of food waste and encourage a more conscious attitude towards food consumption.

The Social Enterprise Challenge is a social impact competition for students across the University. Hosted by the Social Impact Lab and Enactus Southampton, the challenge uses a hackathon style format to identify and support the development of new social and environmental projects in the local area.

Group members The Biggest Tree: Annie Wilkes, Zoe Goodwin, Pathik Pathak, Josie Francis

Group members The Social Enterprise Challenge: Pathik Pathak, Josie Francis, Jack Covey, Rosie Davis, Nikki Hawkes, Matthew Norman

The first Sustainability Action Photographer of Year: Lipi Begum for ‘Recipe for Change’ 

Lipi’s photograph shows a dyer in Bangladesh using a natural dye on sustainable silk fabrics. It captures a different side to Bangladesh, one which is not at the prey of global hands, but is innovating and pioneering solutions to alleviate poverty and promote responsible production and consumption.

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