Students and staff have been recognised for their contributions to sustainability this year, across the recently held Societies, Volunteering and Education awards ceremonies. Find out more about the winners and why they were nominated.
Nomination text: Leilani is a shining light amongst Queen Mary’s student body, showing her passion for sustainability, supporting and educating others in everything she does. In particular she has been a regular attendee at canal clean-up and biodiversity volunteering events, putting more hours than anyone else towards enhancing the environment. Leilani has shown herself to be a leader amongst other students, both informally in going out of her way to welcome new volunteers and formally taking on responsibility for running canal clean-up events and in welcoming new students and volunteers. Queen Mary is lucky to have her.
Nomination text: Green Mary hosts a multitude of fun sustainable volunteering opportunities, such as biodiversity gardening, building bird houses, seed giveaways and, my particular favourite, the canal clean-up. The enjoyable events encourage lots of people to join and consequentially learn more about the environment and how to be sustainable. The group has also given other students the chance to lead events and societies to borrow equipment, increasing enthusiasm and awareness. They are always open to new ideas on events to run, welcoming towards old and new volunteers and passionate about protecting the environment.
Nomination text: Engineers Without Borders have worked to embed sustainability into their activities this year. They have run innovative projects on harnessing energy from footsteps, filtering algae from the canal as well as collaborating on a creative challenge using recycled materials with the Environmental Society.
Nomination text: This award is to celebrate a member of teaching or academic staff who has incorporated sustainability into their teaching or activities for students this year. Chris has overseen the creation of a scheme whereby student interns from the department are empowered to identify opportunities to embed sustainability and climate analysis in core modules and supported them to learn from experts in relevant fields. This approach not only shows a true championing of sustainability and co-creation with students but offers huge scope for replicability in other departments to enhance the education of all.