King's Spotlight on Sustainability

Have you ever thought about working in a charity that strives to use the power of an industry to address climate change? In this episode, Daniel and Emily are excited to be joined by Sarah Ditty, Director of Programs at EarthPercent – a brand new climate change charity whose mission is to harness the power of music in service of the planet. Sarah walks us through the ways in which the organisation is working to build a sense of community and courage around climate action in the creative industries, highlighting that the crisis is equal parts cultural, social and scientific, which means our solutions must be too! We discuss Sarah’s diverse and unusual career path to working in the environmental nonprofit sector, and explore her take on the skills, experiences and attitudes that she believes are crucial for pursuing a career focused on sustainability.

Have you ever thought about a career in corporate sustainability? Or how the publishing industry can be more sustainable?

In this episode, Kate and Emily are lucky to be joined by Zoe Cokeliss Barsley, Director of Sustainability at Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world, publishing a wide range of research, education, and English language teaching material. Zoe talks about her role setting out and implementing the sustainability agenda for Oxford University Press, including sourcing all paper from sustainable sources by 2025. Zoe then discusses her journey from a Masters in Conservation to a sustainability communications consultancy role and then working in corporate sustainability. We finish by hearing key pieces of advice from Zoe about working in corporate sustainability.

How can you become a global leader in sustainable and equitable healthcare?

In this episode, Kate and Emily are excited to be joined by Dr Cyan Brown, a Senior Atlantic fellow at Tekano health equity, a non-profit leadership development programme that focuses on creating a more equitable society, and founder of Women Leaders For Planetary Health South Africa, which links health to the rising impacts of human activity on the environment. We discover what moments in Cyan’s life inspired her to go down this less traditional healthcare path and discuss her advice for students about to enter the job market on sustainable health routes and also working sustainably.

📚Are you interested in how to make further and higher education more sustainable? 📚

Or how you can use education to create a world with sustainability at its heart? 🌎💚

In this episode, Kate and Emily are lucky to be joined by Matthew Woodthorpe, Scotland Programme Manager at The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC). EAUC is a member-based charity consisting of over 200 colleges, universities, funding councils, and companies, which aims to make sustainability in further and higher education “just good business”.

Matthew talks about his role providing impactful support to embed sustainability across Scotland’s colleges and universities. Matthew talks then discusses his “traditional” route into a sustainability career after completing a degree in Geography, but how this is not a necessity for the sector. He finishes up by highlighting the emerging opportunities in sustainable education and some “dos” to help you find your way!

What is a climate related career in the civil service like?

In this Episode, Elsa and Emily are lucky to be joined by Megan Lawler, who works in the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as Head of International Climate Commitments. Megan talks about her day to day as a policy advisor on international climate policy, which includes the UK obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We discuss Megan’s career journey from her undergraduate degree in History, through the civil service via multiple international placements. Finally, Megan highlights the key experiences and skills that have helped in her career progression.

Ever wondered what the film and television industry are doing to tackle the climate crisis? 🍿🎬

In this episode, Daniel and Emily are lucky to be joined by Charlotte Westlake, Sustainable Productions Officer at BAFTA Albert. Albert’s mission is twofold: to provide support for companies in the screen industry to decrease the carbon footprint of their production process, and to encourage production companies to integrate climate change themes into their creative content. 👣👩🏼‍🎨 

We explore Charlotte’s undergraduate background in art, as well as her upcoming transition into sustainable fashion, before finally discussing her key advice for students keen to work sustainability into their creative career aspirations. 

Are you interested in getting experience in environmental education or a teacher looking to bring sustainability into your role?

In this episode, Kate and Emily are excited to be joined by Carlos Izsak, who works as an education officer at Urban Wise, a charity that seeks to engage people in their local environment and develop their skills to tackle climate change. Carlos discusses Urban Wises’ approach to sustainable education and provides insights to some of the great projects they are currently working on in schools. We then discover how Carlos, after his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and postgraduate degree in Ecosystems Analysis and Governance, used his experience as a tutor and time as a volunteer to transition into environmental education. Finally, Carlos discusses the skills and experience that would benefit you in the environmental education field.

How can you embed sustainability into any healthcare profession?

Are you interested in how to educate people in the workforce about sustainability?

In this episode, Kate and Emily are lucky to be joined by Stefi Barna, Education Director at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare aims to root sustainable practices throughout healthcare, by engaging with professionals, patients and the wider community. Stefi talks about her current role designing and implementing curricula and education packages to promote sustainable actions for the health workforce. Stefi then discusses some of the key skills and attributes that are important in the field and the importance of being able to live your values. In the final segment of this episode, we hear from medical students Marjani, Sophie and Akua who have completed training with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. They talk about their motivation to improve the sustainability of their healthcare practices, and the positive impact the training has had.

For the final episode of this series, we are very lucky to hear more from the fantastic co-host for this series- Abigail Oyedele. Abi is a King’s Global Health and Social Medicine alumni, who co-founded the influential student community organising group King's 4 Change and was named South London Citizens Leader of the Year in 2020. Abi talks about her journey at King’s and beyond, including her current role as an Associate Organiser for Mental Health with Citizens UK. Check out the episode and get inspired to #TakeAction!

In this episode we are very lucky to be joined by Dr Ricardo Twumasi, Lecturer in Organisational Psychiatry & Psychology at King’s. Ricardo’s research has covered resilience in healthcare workers, collaborative behaviours of energy companies, and public engagement in psychology and psychiatry. He has recently established a Master’s level teaching module at King’s on decolonising assessment, which empowers students to question and disrupt power structures that reinforce inequality and racism. We’ll talk to Ricardo about what decolonisation is and discover how his module is addressing decolonisation in education and beyond. Finally, we highlight how you can become empowered to take action to support decolonisation.

In episode we will be learning about the King’s Climate Action Network (CAN), the open, interdisciplinary forum set up to support King’s commitment to be net zero carbon by 2025. We will be talking to Maria Rabanser, a Sustainability Officer and a CAN lead, about what the CAN is and what it aims to do. We then discover how staff and students have been coming up with innovative solutions and ideas to support King’s in the transition to Net Zero, and how this could provide a blueprint for other universities across the country. Finally we talk about how you can Take Action and join the Climate Action Network to shape the future of climate strategy at King’s.

In this episode, we are very excited to be joined by Sarah Guerra, Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at King’s. Sarah talks about what EDI is and why it is important. We then explore the EDI strategy at King’s, which aims to ensure that all staff and students can fully experience the university. In the final segment of the podcast, we highlight how listeners can take action to implement EDI at King’s and beyond!

In this first episode, we are incredibly lucky to feature Ria Patel, founder of the KCL Undoing Borders campaign, Co-Chair of LGBTIQA+ Greens and External Relations Officer for Greens of Colour. Ria talks to us about KCL Undoing Borders, which aims to tackle the hostile environment against migrants at universities. We learn about why there is a need for this campaign, discover how Ria began campaigning for migrant rights at universities and finally outline how you can take action to support this.

In this episode we are very lucky to be joined by Stefano and Rosa, previous members of KCL-XR (the Extinction Rebellion Society). We’ll be talking to them about divestment and the incredible work done by students and staff that lead to King’s fully divesting from fossil fuels early this year.  We learn about what fossil fuel divestment is and why it is important that universities commit to fossil fuel divestment.  We then discover about the King’s Divestment campaign, and the crucial role of student led activism in this.  Finally we talk about how you can take action to personally divest from fossil fuels and support larger divestment campaigns. In this episode, Stefano mentions that he thinks King’s socially responsible investments are currently at about 25% with the 40% by 2025 target, but exposure to funds with ‘positive purpose’ is actually 36% in 2021!

In this episode, we are joined by the wonderful Mia and Liza from the student veg box scheme FetchUrVeg. We will learn  how you can get high quality, local and ethically sourced veg and why this is important. We’ll then discover how FetchUrVeg has built a wholesome community among King’s students, describing how you can Take Action to cook a delicious veg based meal and get involved with FetchUrVeg!

In this episode, we are very excited to be joined by James Baggaly, previous Communications and External Affairs Manager within Global Affairs and presenter of the King’s WORLD: we got this podcast. We learn about what COP26 is, what it hopes to achieve and why this is important. We’ll then discover more about how King’s specifically has been engaging with COP26, through research and expertise, local community action and communicating with the public.  Finally, we discover how you can take action to learn more about and get involved with COP26.

In this first episode, we are incredibly lucky to feature Prof Frans Berkhout, former Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy and Professor of Environment, Society and Climate at King’s. Frans has worked extensively in climate change policy, having previously lead positions in the Future Earth programme and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for which he shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. We talk to Frans about Net-Zero carbon, taking the time to learn what we mean by Net-Zero, discover what King’s is doing to reach Net-Zero and outline how you can Take Action to support this.