These are past events
They are unavailable to book
Overview
Universities play a vital role in supporting the global efforts to combat the climate crisis through developing green skills, climate literacy, and research. Alongside this, universities face many challenges in their efforts to become Net Zero organisations. Join us online on Thursday 18 January as we bring together leading experts and practical examples, delving into key steps, advice and evidence on how universities can drive urgent climate action.
You will also be able to access the recordings of all sessions after the event, including any sessions which you were unable to attend live.
Why should you attend?
This online one-day conference will provide informative, timely content from the most pertinent speakers on the topic, as well as a wide range of opportunities to network, discuss, and make connections with colleagues within the sector.
Don't just take our word for it - here are what some past attendees thought:
- "I very much appreciated that there were some students presenting at the UUK sustainability conference as the future belongs to the next generation. I also appreciated some inspiring programs that supported climate literacy and transition to green jobs within the local community."
- "This is a great conference to hear what's live and emerging on sustainability in HE, and make some useful contacts."
- "I started the day feeling a little disillusioned with the lack of interest in the climate emergency and sustainability I am experiencing. I ended the day feeling positive - there are people who genuinely care and are making a difference - we will gather momentum, I'm sure."
If you have any questions about this or any other of our events, please contact us at [email protected] or 07500 441505.
We allow delegates to cancel their bookings up to one month before the event and receive a refund. If this applies to you, please contact us at the email or phone number above.
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Agenda
Speakers
Amit Singh
Student and COP28 attendee
Amiteshwar Singh (he/him) is a 23 year old organiser and student doctor working towards a vision for climate justice that is rooted within decolonial praxis. His work is centred around and catalysed by the intersections of ecological justice, racial justice and a just economic transition. Ranging from conducting strategic lobbying and policy writing to youth mobilisation and education reform, Amit’s work engages the local, national, and international levels. Through his work, including as the Grassroots Campaign Coordinator for Mock COP, Amit finds great joy in committing himself to a community-led, joyful future where quality education is a reality for all.
Dustin Benton
Policy Director
Green Alliance
Dylan Parkes
Head of Strategic Engagement - Climate & Environmental Sustainability
University of Reading
Dylan plays a key role in driving the implementation and engagement in UoR’s Environmental Sustainability strategy, ensuring cross-institutional and external buy-in and collaboration. He develops integrated, strategic campaigns, communications and partnerships and co-chairs the Reading Climate Change Partnership, which leads Reading’s strategy towards being a net-zero, climate resilient town.
Dr Rasha Bayoumi
Head of Research Dubai, Associate Professor of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Rasha Bayoumi is a health psychologist. She has been involved in research, clinical practice and teaching for the past two decades, in Canada, the UK, US, Sudan and Oman. She has worked for the World Health Organization on mental health and reproductive health. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Her research interests include reproductive health, infertility and pregnancy loss, gender-based violence, women’s health, quality of life, diabetes and eating disorders. She has extensive experience working on multicultural and multidisciplinary projects.
Dr Susan Kenyon
Principal Lecturer in Politics, School of Law, Policing and Social Sciences
Canterbury Christ Church University
Dr Susan Kenyon is a Principal Lecturer in Politics at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Susan is passionate about creating a learning and working environment in which people feel they belong, in the classroom and the wider culture, policies and processes of the academy. Through her teaching and leadership, Susan has transformed pedagogy, policy and practice, resulting in increased fairness and equality of opportunity for staff and students in Higher Education (HE), at CCCU and across the UK.
Susan has been researching the commuter student experience for many years, from the perspective of both mobility-related education exclusion and the environmental impact of commuting to HE. This reveals that commuter students now number 40% of the student population, but they are largely invisible, across the sector. It is essential that HE Institutions re-examine their operations, moving away from the residential model and acknowledging the needs of commuters, if they are to meet their environmental and social obligations.
Dr Thomas Owen-Smith
SUMS Consulting
Tom leads SUMS Consulting’s work in sustainability, external engagement and impact. He has helped numerous institutions develop organisation-wide strategies, robust plans and approaches for transformation, integrating sustainability and societal impact goals with their strategic context.
An advocate of sector collaboration around complex challenges, in 2023 he published the sector report Integrating climate into strategy and planning in universities with the Higher Education Strategic Planning Association (HESPA), and he co-chairs HESPA’s Community of Practice on Sustainability in Strategy and Planning.
Tom joined SUMS in 2022 from King’s College London’s Strategy, Planning & Analytics Directorate. Previously, he worked in academia, and the development and media sectors in the UK, India and Nepal.
Fiona Goodwin
Deputy CEO
EAUC – The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education
Fiona is Deputy CEO at EAUC – The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education. Fiona has over 20 years’ experience of working in sustainability in the education sector. Fiona leads on many key initiatives supporting the education sector, both in the UK & Ireland and globally, including the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges, the Green Gown Awards, the SDG Accord, the Carbon Coalition and the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard. Fiona is a member of the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) and a member of the UNEP Youth Education Alliance (YEA). Fiona is a member of the UK Universities Climate Network. EAUC have Observer status with UNFCCC and Consultative status with UN ECOSOC which Fiona is the lead for both. Fiona is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Harriet Noy
CEO
Hazaar
Driven by a passion to make sustainability accessible, easy and fun for all, Hazaar was founded by former University of Birmingham student Harriet Noy.
Whilst at University Harriet founded the Plastic Free Society and having gained rapid traction through Facebook with over 20,000 student users, Hazaar was born. Hazaar has developed rapidly to what it is today - the only zero waste student marketplace, helping universities achieve their sustainability targets whilst creating a stronger sense of community and social impact.
Currently powering circular economies for 7 universities, Hazaar has been recognised for its contribution to the sector by winning the Sustainability International impact award at The PIEoneer 2023 award.
Jennifer Summerton
Executive Director
HESPA
Jennifer Summerton is the Executive Director of the Higher Education Strategic Planners Association (HESPA), responsible for leading the professional body to support its members with role-specific learning and development opportunities, providing a platform for peer-to-peer support, and championing the interests of member institutions, internally and externally. Jennifer has worked across a number of international and communications roles within higher education institutions. She is passionate about building communities and mobilising the higher education sector as a force for good. She is chair of Professional HE Services’ (PHES) Sustainability and Development Group.
Julie Tam
Deputy Diretor, Policy Group
Universities UK
As Deputy Director of the Policy group, Julie helps lead the team to address the most significant issues facing the higher education sector. She also leads our work on the financial sustainability of universities and climate action.
Julie started her career as an economist and has worked as an adviser for the New Zealand and UK governments. Since 2008, she has focused on higher education issues, working as a management consultant and as a senior policy analyst before joining UUK in 2012.
Matthew Lawson
Senior Learning, Teaching and Reporting Manager, Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability
University of Edinburgh
Matthew Lawson is currently Senior SRS Learning, Teaching and Reporting Manager. His current role includes responsibility for leading the department's efforts to embed climate and sustainability into the academic curriculum and student experience. He has responsibility for the University's reporting on sustainability, social and civic responsibility issues. His role also includes oversight of department operations.
He is the Coordinator of the UNICA Green and Sustainable Development Goals Working Group and an alumni of the EAUC Leadership Academy Programme.
Matthew has worked for the University since 2011 on sustainability projects in Estates and Transition Edinburgh University.
Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez
Professor of Meteorology Head of School (Mathematical, Physical & Computational Sciences)
University of Reading
Andrew Charlton-Perez is Head of School of Mathematical, Computational and Physical Sciences and Professor of Meteorology at the University of Reading. He was the co-lead of the 2021 University of Reading climate-education summit and resulting national climate education action plan. He is the co-designer and lead of the climate ambassador programme. He continues to work closely with government as part of the strategic advisory group of the DfE Sustainability and Climate Change strategy and a member of the Green Jobs Delivery Group. He is the Chair of Governors of Radstock Primary School.
Professor Frans Berkhout
Assistant Principal (King’s Climate & Sustainability)
King's College London
Frans Berkhout is Assistant Principal (King’s Climate & Sustainability) and Professor of Environment, Society and Climate in the Department of Geography at King’s College London. Over the past 25 years, his research has been concerned with science, technology, policy and the environment, with a focus on sustainable innovation and climate change.
Professor Lisa Roberts
President and Vice-Chancellor
University of Exeter
Professor Lisa Roberts is Vice Chancellor at the University of Exeter. Prior to this, Professor Roberts was Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds where she led on the development of the University’s research and innovation strategy. Before joining Leeds, Lisa was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey, leading the Schools of Bioscience and Medicine, Psychology and Health Sciences.
Professor Roberts is a Board member of the Russell Group and of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership and Chair of the GW4 Council.
Professor Liz Price
Professor of Environmental Education and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor Sustainability
Manchester Metropolitan University
Liz Price is Professor of Environmental Education and serves as Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor Sustainability at Manchester Metropolitan University, responsible for driving sustainability in every aspect of university strategy and developing a sustainable mindset and skills for students and within communities.
She is Chair of the Community for Environmental Disciplines in Higher Education, Council Member of the Institution of Environmental Sciences, a member of the QAA and Advance HE Advisory Group that reviewed the ESD Guidance for the UK, HEI Partner in the DfE National Education Nature Park consortium and is Co-Lead of the UK Consortium on Sustainability Research.
Kerry McCarthy MP
Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Net Zero
British Labour Party
Kerry McCarthy is the Labour MP for Bristol East and has been serving as Labour's Shadow Minister for Climate Change since June 2022. She has also previously served as Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Shadow Minister for Green Transport, and was first elected in 2005.
Sarah Davies
Education Coordinator
The Carbon Literacy Project
Sarah has worked in education, for over sixteen years, in the UK and multiple international contexts including Vietnam, Myanmar, Borneo and the UAE. She has held diverse roles in teaching, teacher training and mentoring, and has worked as an academic lead and manager. After studying an MSc in Education for Sustainability, she now works as the Education Coordinator at The Carbon Literacy Project. Here she works with nearly 200 educational institutions, helping them to embed Carbon Literacy training to support a shift towards a low carbon culture whilst accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon world.
Who should attend?
This conference is essential for all staff working on sustainability and climate change within their institutions, or within student engagement roles. It will also be of interest to staff working on internationalisation and who are looking to make their processes and programmes more sustainable. However, anyone with an interest in the topic is welcome to attend. Potential relevant job titles include:
- Pro-Vice-Chancellors, International/Research
- Manager/Director/Officer for Sustainability
- Head of/Director/Officer for International
- Director/Head/Officer for Research
- Director/Head/Officer for Student Experience
- Director/Head/Officer for Estates
- Director/Head/Officer for Student Services
- Director/Head of Planning and Strategy
- Study abroad teams
Sponsorship
We have a range of sponsorship opportunities available at our events. Please contact Magda Graszka, Senior Events Manager, for more information:
