Sustainability Research Pod

This special podcast captures a conversation that details the history and success of the MSc in Education for Sustainability delivered at London South Bank University since 1994. This is an episode with Professor Ros Wade and Angela Grunsell who were at the forefront of designing and delivering this exceptional degree in the 90s and continued teaching on the degree until 2020.  

This episode is funded by The British Academy as part of the Shared  Understanding of Sustainability Research (2022). This is part 3 of 3  episodes.

The research bought together 9 network members from different  sectors in London to discuss sustainability and policy paying attention  the inclusion of racialised communities

For information on the funded research please visit   www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/programmes/shared-understandings-of-a-sustainable-future/shared-understandings-of-sustainable-future-research-awards/

This episode is funded by The British Academy as part of the Shared Understanding of Sustainability Research (2022). This is part 2 of 3 episodes.

The research bought together 9 network members from different  sectors in London to discuss sustainability and policy paying attention the inclusion of racialised communities

For information on the funded research please visit  www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/programmes/shared-understandings-of-a-sustainable-future/shared-understandings-of-sustainable-future-research-awards/

This episode is funded by The British Academy as part of the Shared Understanding of Sustainability Research (2022). This is part 1 of 3 episodes.

The research bought together 9 network members from different  sectors in London to discuss sustainability and policy paying attention the inclusion of racialised communities

For information on the funded research please visit  www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/programmes/shared-understandings-of-a-sustainable-future/shared-understandings-of-sustainable-future-research-awards/

In this episode, Rebecca Taylor, a graduate of the Education for Sustainability MSc, an English language teacher, sustainability coordinator and literacy specialist discusses some of the challenges and opportunities around sustainability being embedded in the English as a second language classroom.

A panel discussion celebrating inclusion, diversity and fair representation within pioneering organisations. This session will cover topics such as closing the gender and ethnicity pay gaps, diversity throughout the organisational structure, innovative and inclusive initiative and policies and valuing all protected characteristics as a culture, not a checklist.

Session leads: Sanchia Alasia, Head of EDI, and Sebastian Bromelow, Project Manager (OD/EDI), LSBU

Joined by:

• Cllr Marianna Masters, Lambeth Council

• Marc McKenna Coles, Global Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Lloyd’s Bank

• Joseph Galliano, CEO, Queer Britain

• Marisha Drayton, Recruitment Partner, LSBU

Biographies: Marianna Masters has held several senior positions within global financial and corporate companies over 25+ years. A long-standing advocate of Black rights she was Co-Chair of the Black Employees Network whilst at Thomson Reuters. Her passion for grassroots politics allowed her to be successfully elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth in 2018.

She was Chair of the Lambeth Labour Group of 57 Councillors from 2018-2020 and is currently the Vice- Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. She additionally is Vice-Chair on Our Healthier Overview and Scrutiny Committee covering 6 boroughs in South London. She also sits on the Partnership Board of Black Thrive, a mental health partnership between communities, statutory organisations, voluntary and the private sector.

Visit: www.lambeth.gov.uk

Queer Britain is working towards opening the first national museum focussed on LGBTQ+ people, gathering, exploring and celebrating their stories, histories and artefacts. It will have a strong educational agenda. It will be an innovative, immersive bricks and mortar museum which will preserve and present stories and artefacts. It will celebrate, explore and explain LGBTQ+ lives, and place them in a national and international context for everyone, regardless of sexual identity or gender identity. Joseph Galliano is CEO and Co-Founder of Queer Britain. He is a fundraiser, journalist, former editor of Gay Times magazine and third sector ambassador manager who is now throwing all his energy into building an organisation capable of launching a national LGBTQ+ museum, Queer Britain.

Visit: https://queerbritain.org.uk

Marc McKenna-Coles currently works as the Global Diversity and Inclusion Manager for Lloyd’s. He supports and oversees Diversity, Inclusion, Wellbeing and Culture objectives for the corporation as well as supporting the Insurance market. His role over the last 2 ½ years has been to lead the Global Diversity and Inclusion festival for Insurance, Dive In (https://diveinfestival.com/), which in 2020 had a global attendance of over 30,000 people across 35 countries and 144 events. Marc has also co-authored various guides and reports for the insurance market (https://inclusionatlloyds.com/resources/toolkit/). He supported and drove the Insurance Market Gender plan and target as well as developing the same for Ethnicity.

He previously was a global Diversity and Inclusion Manager for RBS (NatWest Group). Marc’s D&I work at RBS, included improving LGBT+ inclusion for both customer and colleague, including, a policy and guidance to support Trans and Non-binary colleagues and improving how customers can update their gender marker on their banking profile. Prior to working in Diversity and Inclusion, Marc spent a number of years in customer facing roles within the bank and before this, spent approximately 10 years with Disney, both in UK Disney Stores and Disney Cruise line in the USA

Visit: www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/diversity-and-inclusion-at-lloyds.

The impacts of climate change are not experienced equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations.It is therefore imperative that we take action to address the climate crisis through a human rights approach.

This session will bring together powerful young activists from around the world to talk about their youth-led campaigns that seek to achieve climate justice through different approaches and priorities, all with a focus on driving progress towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Featuring:

• Jeana Malhi, Systems Change Organiser, UKYCC

• Poorvi Mehrotra, Assistant programme Coordinator, Restless Development India

• Jevanic Henry, Panelist, Youth Power Panel

• Soumita Chakraborty, Youth Advisory Board Member, Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety

• Hattie Tollerson, Student Union President, LSBU

Biographies: Jeana Malhi is a Systems Change organiser with the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC), sits on the advisory committee for Beyond Suffrage, a board member with Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and Local Councils Officer at Hope for the Future. She is motivated by climate justice and opposing the capitalistic and colonial structures responsible for climate change.

Visit: www.ukycc.com

Poorvi Mehrotra is an Assistant Programme Coordinator in Restless Development India. She is passionate about advocating for the rights of young people and supporting them to take action in their communities. Her work has focussed on different Sustainable Development Goals and has worked with refugee women from Afghanistan and others in crisis situations. In India, she is leading a programme that supports adolescent girls aged 18-24 to conduct research interviews through mobile devices and leading Climate Justice work with young people. Poovi represented Restless Development at the Women Deliver Conference in June 2019.

Visit: https://restlessdevelopment.org/country/india

Jevanic Henry is a young environmentalist, youth leader and community activist currently pursuing final year undergraduate studies in Economics and Finance at the University of the West Indies. Despite this he continues to be involved in climate change advocacy and activism nationally, regionally and on the international stage, a passion which was fuelled after representing his country at the Regional Youth Climate Change Conference in Jamaica in 2017. Jevanic, along with fellow attendees formulated the Youth Climate Change Activists (YCCA) movement which seeks to raise climate change awareness and action throughout the region.

Visit: https://restlessdevelopment.org/youth-power

Soumita Chakraborty is a Youth Advisory Board Member for the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. Engaged as a climate change professional with IORA Ecological Solutions in India, she works with subnational governments to design evidence-based policies and implementation frameworks to effectively address climate change. She is a social development professional with a diverse background on cross-cutting issues like climate change adaptation, disaster risk management, youth led development and road safety. Soumita works on strategic planning for urban resilience to traffic injuries and road accidents and is currently leading the climate action strategy within the coalition.

Visit: https://claimingourspace.org

The focus of this discussion will be on migrants and refugees at a time of COVID and climate change. We are all in a time of uncertainty, therefore, solidarity and resilience is needed for all of us. The panel will discuss this in relation to the wellbeing of displaced people. In order to fulfil the SDGs for the sake of our future and of our common humanity, we need the resources of all. The panel will explore ways in which communities can support and engage with newcomers and find mutual benefits in so doing.

Session lead: Ros Wade, Chair, London RCE and LSBU Emeritus Professor for Education for Sustainability.

Joined by:

• Jos Hermans, Founder and Chair, COMMEET

• Saima Raza, Trustee with Migrant Help UK, Founder of ‘Under One Sky’ and Chair of the Refugee Forum in the largest borough in London

• Ahmet Sayer, Founder and President , European Migrant Platform

School: Law and Social Sciences.

This session will explore holistic sustainability, and look at what accessible and inclusive ‘conscious’ living really means. We will look at what we as individuals can do, and highlight examples of sustainable living and Climate Change activism not often centred in the mainstream narrative. This will feed into discussing the imperative for Climate Change activism to be led by the pursuit of Climate Justice, and why we must decolonise the environmental movement and ensure that our activism is intersectional.

Biography: “I run a blog, Green Soul Grace, and an Environmental Education Organisation called Earth For All. Through my blog I share my journey of learning the meaning of holistic sustainability, and hopefully, in turn, create a community where we can learn from each other and advocate for the world in which we want to live. – Grace.

Visit: https://greensoulgrace.org, www.earthforall.org.uk. 

Making profit seems intrinsically linked to exploiting the planet for its finite resources, or treating members of our global society unequally. Companies getting away with exploitative practices is one of the biggest crimes of our time. But how do we tackle this? Join us as we take on some big picture questions including...

• Who has the power to drive change?

• How are businesses getting away with it?

• What laws are needed to protect the planet?

• Which companies and nations are breaking the mould?

• What can we do as individuals to support change?

Session lead: Thomas Empson, Sustainability Project Manager, LSBU

Joined by:

• Shane Holland, Executive Chaiman, Slow Food UK

More speakers to be announced

Biographies

Shane Holland is the Executive Chairman of Slow Food in the UK. He has held CEO positions within both the business and the third sectors and has chaired a number of large NFPS. Within the third sector his work has specialised in regards to our most vulnerable citizens, their issues of food poverty and food skills, education, offending, and access to service. His other current roles include Trustee of Borough Market, and sitting as a trustee of the charity United St Saviours, which gives grants to community groups and other charities of in excess of £1 million a year alongside running best in class almshouses. He is chair of Friends of Highshore School, a special school which has food education, growing, and food enterprise as an integral part of its curriculum. He frequently sits on expert panels, appear both in print and on TV and Radio; lectures at universities; has given a TED Talk as one of their “Architects of Tomorrow”; and carries out dozens of speaking engagements a year both within the UK and internationally.

Shane will be exploring we can hold businesses, and ourselves, to account, as well as discussing how to spot greenwashing, and why shopping is a little like voting - a pound coin changes nothing, but our pound coins together can change the world.

Visit: www.slowfood.org.uk.

This session aims to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities. It will explore the systems relating to structural racism and how it contributes to the excess of BAME death. The panel also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on BAME women in relation to the rise of domestic abuse.

Session lead: Dr. Jaya Gajpara, Course Director for Education for Sustainability, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Dr Calvin Moorley, Associate Professor of Nursing Research and Diversity in Care, LSBU

• Dr Rosetta West, Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing, LSBU

• Nelly Kibirige, Life Coach, former LSBU Student Union president and member of the LSBU Domestic Abuse working group on COVID-19

Schools: Health and Social Care / Law and Social Sciences.

This session celebrates Sustainability and 100 years of Women in Engineering at LSBU.

Please join an interdisciplinary panel of experts in engineering, design, computer science, social science and psychology as they consider how gender influences approaches to problem solving and the particular challenges of meeting the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals simultaneously.

Session Lead: Deborah Andrews, Associate Professor in Design and winner of ‘Sustainability in Action’ Award, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Dr Safia Barikzai Associate Professor of Informatics, an IT and Enterprise champion, Academic Lead for the Digital Grid Partnership and a STEMNET Ambassador

• Dr Clare Benson, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering and member of Explosion and Fire Research Group, LSBU

• DrJaya Gajparia, Course Director MSc Education for Sustainability and Senior Lecturer in Sociology, LSBU

• Dr Liz Newton, Associate Professor of Psychology and Academic Lead for Integrity, LSBU

School: Engineering.

Alumni of the Education for Sustainability MSc will discuss the role that education for sustainability has played in their work and careers. The alumni on the panel will be drawn from different countries including Cameroon, Kenya and Zambia and from different fields including water policy, agriculture, civic rights, anti-corruption and education. They will offer a view onfuture developments in their own contexts, particularlyin relation to climate change.

Session Lead: Dr Glen Strachan, Education for Sustainability Programme, School of Law and Social Sciences, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Stephen Asek, Founding Board Member of Solidarity 2020, Cameroon

• Euphresia Luseka, Water Governance Consultant, Kenya

• Rae Merrigan, Teacher, Indonesia

• Robson Nyirenda, Project Manager Opportunities for Youth Employment, SNV, Zambia

School: Law and Social Sciences.

This session will focus on the place that international law, and indeed law generally, plays in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. A traditional approach to global governance might suggest that improved sustainability needs more regulation, stronger institutions and more enforceable rules. However, this session will consider whether, in fact, the strength of the SDGs lies in their lack of legal authority, their weak institutional arrangements and in their delegated decision-making processes that give rise to the possibility of global justice through shared social responsibility.

Session lead: Professor Craig Barker, Dean.

School: Law and Social Sciences.

Biography: Alyssa Gilbert is the Director of Policy and Translation at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London. In preparation for the UK’s hosting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Glasgow in November 2021, Alyssa is chairing the COP26 Universities Network, a nation-wide network of academics and professionals working to deliver impact on climate change.

Prior to joining Imperial, Alyssa worked at the specialist energy and climate consultancy Ecofys providing policy design and evaluation services. Alyssa has worked on environmental and climate change issues across a range of countries including China, France, Spain Romania, Morocco, the UK and the US. Alyssa has also worked as a researcher for the Deputy Mayor of London and as a journalist on Environmental Policy in Brussels.

Visit: www.ukcop26.org.

Our special guests during this session will discuss a range of topics including behaviour change/ the benefits of a plant-based diet/ the challenges around convincing people to eat less meat/ organic food/ the potential impact on the environment and planet.

We want to take you, our audience, on a bit of a journey from developing a healthy mindset around the food you eat to planning healthy, nutritious and enjoyable meals in your day to day lives. We’ll then go that one step further as we discuss scheduling social activities with a food conscious attitude through to understanding the impact of your diet choices.

Session lead: Dr. Jaya Gajpara, Course Director for Education for Sustainability, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Toni Vernelli, International Head of Communications and Marketing, Veganuary

• Alexis Gauthier, Head Chef, Gauthier Soho

Veganuary is a non-profit organisation that encourages people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond. During the 2020 campaign, more than 400,000 people took our pledge to try a vegan diet, while more than 600 brands, restaurants, and supermarkets promoted the campaign, and launched more than 1200 new vegan products and menus in the UK market alone. Throughout the year, Veganuary encourages and supports people and businesses alike to move to a plant-based diet as a way of protecting the environment, preventing animal suffering, and improving the health of millions of people.

The daughter of a butcher from a small town in Northern Canada, Toni gave up meat in her teens when she learned that we can live and be healthy without it. Now vegan for more than 30 years, she believes passionately that we need a mass shift towards plant-based eating and is proud to be part of an organisation fuelling this change. She also holds a PhD in Animal Behaviour.

Visit: https://veganuary.com.

Based in the heart of Soho and opened in 2010, Gauthier Soho boasts an extensive vegetable menu that stands shoulder to shoulder with its meat options. He knew from the beginning that he wanted vegetables to become a main focus of his work. During lockdown, Gauthier launched its vegan boxes which have been a huge success.

“As a Michelin Starred French Chef, I am the last person you would associate with veganism. But I have seen the light. As a planet we have to make steps and lifestyle sacrifices to move in a sustainable direction. Food is crucial part of this. I am staring at a vision of the future where we enter an animal-free, compassionate future with regards to what we eat. My job is to help enable it.” - Alexis Gauthier.

Visit: www.gauthiersoho.co.uk.

Our opening keynote address will introduce the format of Mercato Metropolitano, its origins and evolution, then focus on the importance of fostering artisanship in the F&B and hospitality sectors. Various aspects of the model will be discussed, including its social impact activities in the community, the alignment of interest throughout the value chain and the creation of important transferable skills among the workforce and trading partners.

Biography: Amedeo Claris, Marketing Director for Mercato Metropolitano, will discuss how London’s first sustainable and inclusive food market is creating a movement to re-balance the relationship between artisan producers of natural, nutritious and unadulterated food, and consumers. A functioning, sustainable and inclusive food value chain requires balanced investments and, perhaps more importantly, the fostering of important skills and trades such as traditional agriculture, baking, butchery, fishmongery, etc. that have been vanishing among younger generations. Mercato Metropolitano focuses on the revival of those skills and trades with a modern approach, where vocational training of its staff and traders goes hand in hand with academic education which focuses on 360-degree sustainability and the triple bottom line notion of profit, people and the planet.

Visit: www.mercatometropolitano.com.

Zoe will be discussing how access to daylight can affect your well-being. Too much and discomfort glare can be caused and too little can negatively affect people’s mood and how productive they are in a day. She will be elaborating on her PhD research which was carried out at LSBU in collaboration with the British Blind and Shutter Association where she analysed the effects of a window blind’s performance on people’s health, well-being, and productivity. Lastly, she will be explaining how improvements to occupants’ interactions with shading may not only provide social benefits but also environmental benefits through saving energy.

Session lead: Zoe De Grussa, Sustainability Engineer and Communications Designer, British Blinds & Shutters Association

School: Engineering. 

As part of our global People and Planet Positive ambition to inspire and enable 1 billion people to make a step to behave more sustainably by 2030 in the UK&IE we launched The Live LAGOM Programme 6 years ago which was designed to support our customers and co-workers to see that sustainability is easy, affordable and desirable. Reducing energy, waste and water and being kind to the planet and their pockets. Over 3 years of research, we found living sustainably and wellbeing are very much connected.

Biographies: “I have worked for IKEA for over 19 years in several roles from IKEA Food, HR Manager, Payroll Specialist and Marketing Manager. I became Live LAGOM Programme manager 5 years ago where I work with all the units across the UK&IE.

Previous to IKEA, I had my own business, where we owned 3 Public houses and managed 30 others within our holding company. From 33 pubs to 22 units of IKEA I have loved every step of my journey. Inspiring and being around people is where I thrive most”- AileenVisit: www.ikea.com/gb/en/this-is-ikea/sustainable-everyday

Aileen will also be joined by LSBU Alumni Nureen Glaves. Nureen works with IKEA on the #LIVELAGOM initiative. Her company, FeedMeGood provides health and wellbeing services to housing associations, youth services, homeless schemes, the education sector and local councils. Visit: www.feedmegood.co.uk. 

Speakers: – Mary O’Connell, Head of Parks & Community, Bankside Open Spaces Trust

– Molly Gadenz, Green Hub Coordinator, Bankside Open Spaces Trust

– Laura MacMahon, Community Learning Officer, Royal Parks

– Iain Boutlon, Chair of Trustees, LEEF (London Environmental Educators Forum)

Gardening is not only good for the environment but evidence shows it can make a massive difference to your stress levels and improve well-being. In fact, doctors are even starting to prescribe gardening for mental health!

Biographies: Bankside Open Spaces Trust (BOST)is an environmental and volunteering charity withover 20 years of protecting, preserving and enhancing parks, gardens and other amenities in London’s SE1 and surrounding areas. The charity aims to improve people’s health and wellbeing by making where they live and work greener and more beautiful. Collaborating closely with local residents and businesses to champion green spaces. The award-winning open spaces each are unique, with their own atmosphere, identity and senseof place.

Mary O’Connell, Head of Parks and Community at BOST, is a trained Horticulturist with extensive experience in open space management. Mary will discuss the importance of open spaces for health and well-being and give advice on how you can get involved in gardening or green up your local area.

Molly Gadenz coordinates the Green Hub Programme at BOST, with wide-ranging skills in community engagement and supporting residents in setting up community gardens. The Green Hub programme supports residents, forming a network of gardeners, providing them with resources, connecting them with each other and teaching new skills, so that they can engage in gardening and growing activities in their local green spaces. Molly will give tips on how to engage your local community in a project and how to get your community gardening project off the ground. Visit: www.bost.org.uk

The Royal Parks is a charity managing London’s eight historic Royal Parks across 5,000 acres with 77 million visits every year. Laura McMahon is the Community Learning Officer for The Royal Parks and coordinates a long-running programme of activities designed to enable visitors to see the parks in new ways. This includes walking tours and workshops open to all; and in-depth work with London’s underserved community groups who face challenges in accessing the parks. Laura is trained in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture and Organic Horticulture and has almost a decade of experience setting up community gardens and teaching people how to grow their own food.

Laura will present the community programme she delivers in the central Royal Parks and highlight specific projects she delivers that engage local underserved communities with nature to improve their wellbeing.Visit: www.royalparks.org.uk

We’ll also be joined by Iain Boulton, Chair of Trustees for LEEF. Iain is a long-term LEEF member, and parks office for Lambeth council, and will provide a contrasting view of green space from a public and local authority perspective. Iain is also known as the Bat Man as he often runs highly engaging bat walks in various green spaces in London. Visit: www.leef.org.uk

Session lead: Jaya Gajpara, Course Director, Education for Sustainability, LSBU.

“The word learning undoubtedly denotes change of some kind.” (Bateson, 1972, Steps to an Ecology of Mind.) What personal learning experience would change your consumer behaviour and improve your well-being? Join this wide-ranging discussion to explore the impact of education for sustainability in relation to consumption and well-being.

Speakers: – Jaya Gajpara, Course Director for Education for Sustainability, LSBU

– Rolf Jucker, author of blog ‘Sustainability Writings’ and the book ‘Can We Cope with the Complexity of Reality?

– Paul Maiteny, Ecologist & Psychotherapist plus Lecturer in Education for Sustainability, LSBU

Session lead: Dr Glen Strachan, Education for Sustainability Programme, School of Law & Social Sciences, LSBU

School: Law and Social Sciences.

This session will focus on how embedding sustainability across LSBU has the potential to bring about wellbeing for the communities on and around campus. The session will include Research, Enterprise & Innovation (REI) at LSBU together with some REI student ambassadors in order to highlight the importance of equipping LSBU students with sustainability competencies that would increase their employability and wellbeing.

Session Lead: Alex Misfud, Responsible Futures Project Manager, LSBU.

Richard Duke, Director of Strategy and Planning, LSBU, and Duncan Ross, Chief Data Officer, Times Higher Education Supplement.

The session will focus on what the UN Sustainable Development Goals are, and how the LSBU Group has integrated them in its 2025 Group Strategy

Biographies: Richard is an experienced HE leader, holding strategy, planning and finance roles in UK and Australian Universities for over 10 years. As Director of Strategy & Planning at LSBU, he has led on strategy development, the use of insight to inform decision making and performance measurement.

Duncan Ross has been a data miner since themid-1990s. As director of data and analytics at THE,he oversees a team that generates university rankings and related data products. Prior to this, he led Teradata’s data science team in Europe and Asia, where he was responsible for developing analytical solutions across a number of industries, including warranty and root-cause analysis in manufacturing and social network analysis in telecommunications.Visit: www.timeshighereducation.com.

The session will cover the latest research by the speaker and her colleagues on exploring a framework for Extinction Governance. This framework seeks to integrate species extinction prevention and biodiversity protection into the heart of governance and accountability. The discussion will also cover engagement by institutional investors on extinction prevention and biodiversity protection.

Biography: Jill is an academic currently holding a Chair in Financial Management at Sheffield University Management School and a Visiting Professorship at Wits University in South Africa. Her research covers corporate governance, extinction accounting, extinction governance and responsible investment. Jill is also an author and illustrates her books too!

How has the fashion world changed in 2020 and what are the next steps for the each one of us to take? Join us in conversation with some of the leading fashion sustainability experts. We will be diving deep into a number of subjects & understanding how brands can authentically sustain an authentic commitment to sustainability.

Speakers: – Aja Barber– Paola Masperi, Mayamiko– Amanda Johnston, The Sustainable Angle

Biographies: Aja Barber is a writer, personal stylist and style consultant living in South East London. Her work focuses on sustainability, ethics, intersectional feminism, racism and all the ways systems of power effectour buying habits. She can be found over at her Instagram @ajabarber, microblogging daily.Visit: www.patreon.com/AjaBarber

Paola Masperi. Founder of award winning fashion brand Mayamiko. Mayamiko is a responsible womenswear and lifestyle brand, created by women who are at the heart of social enterprise, with ethics and sustainability at its core. Visit: www.mayamiko.com

Amanda Johnston is curator and consultant atThe Sustainable Angle, having curated the sustainable textiles collection and Future Fabrics Expo since its inception. She has a background in design consultancy and education, and has co-authored two books:Fabric For Fashion, and Fabric.Visit: thesustainableangle.org

For Fashion The Swatch Book (both published 2010; 2nd edition 2014). Amanda teaches at the London College of Fashion, and regularly runs sustainable materials workshops, delivering presentations and seminars internationally, both at industry events and in educational forums. Amanda has a degree in Fashion Design from Kingston University.

Session lead: Ronke Fashola, Course Director, Fashion Promotion and Marketing, and Fashion Buying and Merchandising, LSBU.

School: Arts and Creative Industries.

Initial findings from a UK wide study (specifically a content analysis) of module descriptors from all universities in the UK with business and management undergrad programs, identifying how/if sustainability is embedded to descriptors.

Session leads: Grace O’Rourke, Lecturer in Marketing, LSBU and Barbara Czarnecka, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, LSBU.

School: Business.

As a sector known for its constantly changing trends, high turnover of goods and large impact on the environment, it’s clear that retail needsa drastic reboot. In response, StudioXAG have launched an initiative designed to realign their operations and begin to rethink the traditional retail display model.

Biography: StudioXAG are an London andAmsterdam based creative agency which specialisein show-stopping, temporary retail installations for brands including adidas, Christian Louboutin andLiberty. Join Gemma as she introduces a numberof creative approaches that the studio are usingto make incremental, but impactful changes tohow they work and the projects they deliver.Visit: https://studioxag.com. 

Socrates said a life unexamined is not worth living. I say an action unexamined is not worth taking. I aim to persuade people to a radical rethink of small, everyday actions that unwittingly cause harm to the planet - possibly themselves too. I hope to make them aware of habits and practices they cling to, and encourage them to understand they can change their ways with little inconvenience. I want to alert people to the role that marketing and advertising has in ‘helping’ us make those choices, and to examine the reality behind the hokum dreamt up in advertising agencies.

Biography: Dillie Keane is a performer and songwriter best known as one third of the satirical trio, Fascinating Aïda. Of late, she has taken to blogging about ecological issues having been a doom-mongering greenie for many decades. Her ecoblog, shityoudontneed.blog, aims to persuade people to change their planet-damaging habits in an entertaining way. Dillie has been awarded two doctorates for her contribution to the gaiety of nations. Well, the citations didn’t exactly say that, but she can’t think why else she might have got them.Visit: shityoudontneed.blog.

This session will examine our hands-on Bamboo Tensegrity Pavilion experience that we’ve carried out in partnership with Dr Andry Widyowijatnoko and colleagues from Institute Technology of Bandung in Indonesia as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering funded project.

Students from architecture, engineering and construction courses at LSBU joined forces to give a helping hand to build this pavilion in three days. This session will also discuss the opportunity and challenges in using bamboo within UK’s climate.

Session lead: Jennifer Hardi, Course Director, BSc Architectural Engineering and BSc Architectural Technology, School of Built Environment & Architecture, LSBU.

Resource use and impact is inseparable from that from energy, carbon and climate. The panel discussion / workshop will consider this is light of the shift from physical objects and services to digital technology using the data centre industry as a case study. I propose an interactive Q&A quiz as an introduction, a brief overview of the challenges and panel discussion to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities for business and end users (including the general public) while simultaneously showcasing the CEDaCI project. The panel will be comprised of project partners from across the data centre sector which will also promote women in tech and STEM.

Panellists:

• Julie Chenadec, Project Manager, Green IT Amsterdam

• Carolina Szablewski, Project Manager, WeLOOP Sustainability Consultants

• Emma Fryer, Associate Director, Data Centres, TechUK

• Astrid Wynne Rogers, Sustainability Manager, Techbuyer

Session lead: Deborah Andrews, Associate Professor in Design, School of Engineering, LSBU and CEDaCI project lead.

The topic will cover various generation of energy networks for buildings and outline the concept of Scandinavian ambient loop network, utilising waste heat as a resource for providing its energy need. The concept has a deep connection with wellbeing as it mitigates the need of burning fossil fuel and also absorbs low streams of heat which otherwise would be lost into the atmosphere creating urban height island effect. I will conclude the presentation with a short case study.

Under Kartik’s leadership, the Sweco building sustainability team has have delivered some of the most significant sustainable buildings in the UK and hence allocated three times BREEAM Company of the year (2014/2016/2017). Specialising in the sustainable design of the built environment, Kartik has over 16 years of experience in commercial, retail, industrial, military, educational and residential developments for new and refurbishment works.

Kartik plays key roles in prestigious projects, developing energy strategies that evaluate solutions relative to cost, logistics, energy and carbon reductions, green rating certifications, savings and payback time for new and existing master plans and buildings. He actively pursues innovative thinking in projects to achieve the highest sustainable performance: some of this thinking results in early design guides for architects as well as research and testing in practice. His involvement in academia through lecturing at the University of Bath (UK) provides another platform for him to develop new ideas and obtain insights to define practical, sustainable solutions for buildings further.

The GreenSCIES project aims to deliver low carbon, affordable energy to the local community in the London borough of Islington. The novel integrated heat, power and transport network is a smart system that connects flexible electricity demands (heat pumps and electric vehicles) to intermittent renewable energy (solar power).

The smart network facilitates the transition to electric vehicles and vehicle to grid supply to make the most of intermittent renewable energy and ensure end-users always get the best tariff. Heating and cooling are provided by heat pumps in buildings connected to a local network, which integrates thermal energy storage and waste heat recovered from local datacentres and the London Underground. Artificial intelligence underpins the system optimisation and demand side response.

The scheme will result in an 80% reduction in carbon emissions compared to today’s baseline (with gas boilers, chillers and grid electricity), addressing fuel poverty by reducing energy bills by up to 25%. GreenSCIES is in the detail design stage, once constructed the low carbon integrated whole energy system will serve 33,000 urban residents and 70 local businesses. The GreenSCIES concept is suitable to be replicated throughout the country and has the potential to become a world-leading example.

Session leads: Cat De Almeida Marques, Research Fellow, School of Engineering, LSBU and Graeme Maidment, Professor of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, School of Engineering, LSBU.

How can we learn from past energy generation and infrastructure design and move to a decarbonised and decentralised energy network? What are the current challenges and key energy technologies for deployment?

Lee is an Associate Director at Buro Happold. Currently, he is the Global Lead of Knowledge and Operations for the Building Environments group, which supports the advancement of the disciplines six strategic focus groups on: health, wellbeing and productivity, building performance, smart buildings, digital design, design for manufacture, and BIM for efficient production.

His specialisms include designing beyond standard environmental assessment, optimisation of heating, ventilation and comfort cooling strategies, building physics, and low energy design with zero carbon technology. He is an advocate of new technologies ahead of mainstream application, including: integrated structural ventilation, ground and water source heat pumps, community and district heating networks using alternative technologies. 

• Nureen Glaves - CEO of FeedMeGood Creator of How to be a Smart Food Shopper. Chef, Food Waste Guru, IKEA Live LAGOM Influencer

• Zoe de Grussa, Energy Saving Design Engineer, British Blind and Shutters Association

• Karl de Leeuw, Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Founder of Let’s Live Longer Now! and Author -The Health Spring Code

Hosted by IB Para-Mallam, Alumni Relationship Manager (Volunteering & Individual Giving, LSBU).

Nureen’s company, FeedMeGood, provides health and wellbeing services to housing associations, youth services, homeless schemes, the education sector and local councils. She also works with IKEA on the #LIVELAGOM initiative which focuses on sustainable living at home. Nureen will be discussing a number of her projects & initiatives as well as the carbon footprint of food shipping.

Zoe will be discussing how she became aware of ‘Sustainability’ through her BSc Engineering Product Design Course at LSBU and how this inspired her to continue her work in academia. Zoe passed her PhD Viva earlier this year which was a sponsored research programme in collaboration with the British Blind and Shutter Association. Zoe will explain how these simple products – blinds and shutters – can be considered sustainable as they can offer environmental, health, well-being, and comfort benefits to the people that live and work in buildings.

Did you know that atmospheric methane is 80 times more damaging than CO2 during the first 20 years it hangs around in the atmosphere? To unlock this Karl de Leeuw will discuss how cutting atmospheric methane is now the most important item not yet on the climate change agenda and how to resolve it!

In this session, LSBU’s Estates team will examine LSBU’s carbon reduction journey relatingto scope 1 & 2 emissions since 2010. In 2010, in consultation with HEFCE, universities were asked to agreereductions in Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions. LSBU pledged to reduce our emissions by 34% by 2020 basedupon a 2010 baseline of 11,694 tCO2.

To achieve this, LSBU has reduced both its electricity and gas consumptions to levels which enabled us to achieve this target by August 2017. This success has continued, with current level of carbon reduction being 54%.

On the 27th June 2019, the UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. This will require the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Going forward this target of zero emissions will prove very challenging as this also includes scope 3 emissions.

Join us as we share our details about how we achieved our results, discuss our working partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and consider some of the challenges LSBU and other institutions facewe face as we move forward into the next phase of this ambitious but crucial target.

Session leads: Chris Barnes, Maintenance and Energy Manager, Estates & Academic Environment, LSBU.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were ratified by 193 nations in 2015. They area commitment to end poverty, deliver improved health, education and gender equality … and much more.

They are supported by 169 targets and 232 indicators. This is problematic for measuring impact below the national level. This discussion shares a new approach to measuring global goals at a local level. It has just completed a case study with the Environment Agency, who will adopt the LSBU research models from April2021, for example on their £5.2Bn flood schemes that will help reduce the negative consequences ofextreme events.

The UK Government plans to adopt the LSBU SDG measuring approach – the Cabinet Office has indicated that the new models developed by LSBU could be used to assess all infrastructure investments in future and provide a mechanism to get the greatest ‘bang for the buck’ for people, planet and profit.

Paul Mansell will chair a panel discussion and a Q&A session that explores how the Environment Agencyare measuring their Carbon impacts and how this can be linked to the LSBU research work.

Session lead: Paul Mansell, Doctoral Researcher, Nathu Puri Institute, School of Engineering, LSBU and Katherine Ibbotson, Programme Carbon and Cost Manager, the Environment Agency.

A paradigm shift describes a profound change in a fundamental model or perception of events. Can the simple act of changing your route home or wearing odd socks when your normal practise is that they should always match lead to the paradigm shift we need now on the planet as we deal with climate and environmental change? I would argue that yes it can and its why creativity, in any subject is more important now than ever. By taking you through the steps it took to create pollution absorbing sculptures in London from simple sketches and creations using everyday objects, I hope to show you the power that ‘thinking with hands’ has and how it won’t simply help the planet and Her inhabitants but also make each of us future proof in a technological Brave new World.

Session lead: Jasmine Pradissitto, Artist and Visiting Lecturer, School of Engineering, LSBU.

The presentation is about how LSBU’s School of Engineering teaches the wider contexts that engineering has an impact on. Contexts such as the environment, local and global economies, and the importance of engaging with local communities as part of the design process. One of the many ways that this is achieved is through participation in national competitions that focus on sustainable development in real-life scenarios. The presentation will give examples of LSBU engineering student successes in these competitions. The aim of these competitions is for the students to develop teamworking skills and to develop innovative and appropriate engineering solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of a real community. They provide an exciting opportunity to work for a real client; placing engineering and design theories learnt into practice.

Session lead: Alessio Corso, Head of Division, Mechanical Engineering and Design, School of Engineering.

This debate will seek to examine and gather information, views and opinions on how the current global covid 19 crisis will impact the sustainability agenda generally and specifically based on the various conference themes.

Some of the questions posed will include:

• Where does sustainability now feature as a priority

• Is covid-19 and sustainability one of the same?

• What has covid-19 revealed to us about society?

Panellists:

• Hannah Northrop, Lecturer in Planning, LSBU

• Dr Hugh Atkinson, Distinguished Research Fellow, The Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Bristol

• Mark Turner, Local Authority Development Manager in Planning

Chaired by: Jaya Gajparia, Education for Sustainability Course Director, School of Law and Social Sciences, LSBU.

Matt Toombs, Director of Partnerships and Engagement for the COP26 team in Cabinet Office, outlines the Government’s plans and priorities for the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference in Glasgow next year – the largest international summit the UK has ever hosted.

This is a special feature length episode bringing together Dr Gajparia, Dr Strachan from London South Bank University, Dr Ferguson from the University of West Indies, Jamaica and Dr Vare from the University of Gloucestershire.

This episode explores the design and development of the education for sustainable development (ESD) assessment framework which enables educators to identify assessment opportunities in keeping with an ESD approach. This partnership work allowed the team to collaborate and rethink assessment by incorporating assessment principles into learning for sustainability. This work was funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.

Music Credits

Adding the Sun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Design art work

Daniele Di Paolo and Natalia Eleanor

Music Credits

Adding the Sun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Design art work 

Daniele Di Paolo and Natalia Eleanor 

Music Credits

Adding the Sun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Design art work

Daniele Di Paolo and Natalia Eleanor

Music Credits

Adding the Sun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Design art work

Daniele Di Paolo and Natalia Eleanor

Adding the Sun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Design art work

Daniele Di Paolo and Natalia Eleanor