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Contents
Research focused on sustainability is carried out across a wide range of expertise areas within the University, often involving partners from different sectors as co-researchers who can help to implement solutions and drive change. This section shares a selection of the projects and publications that completed in 2022-23.
A study on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), explored the potential of introducing long-term agreements of at least 30 years with land managers, to give soils and habitats time to regenerate, to achieve landscape recovery in lowland productive areas.
The agreements would pay farmers to deliver environmental benefits, including restoring rivers and supporting land use change to create a greater level of habitat diversity but the study found long term agreements would have limited uptake.
Researchers helped to devise a new app to enable the public to record sightings of plastic in soils and support scientists to gain better understanding of the impact of plastic residues on soil health. The app was part of the EU-funded MINAGRIS project and will enable farmers to make informed decisions around their use of plastic.
Evidence from national and international research projects including PEGASUS and LANDWISE undertaken by CCRI a House of Lords report on the pressures and challenges of land use in England. The report supported a joined up approach at a time with increasing pressure for land use to tackle climate change, reverse loss of biodiversity and improve the health and wellbeing of the population.
A study commissioned by Natural England, the Government’s advisor for the natural environment, provided recommendations about how environmental practitioners can better involve stakeholders, in decisions that affect them. Recommendations include:
Research led by Damian Maye and assisted by Abigail Gardner, Julie Ingram, Pippa Simmonds, and Sofia Raseta developed a participatory methodology, Climathons. The project brought farmers, rural land use stakeholders, NGOs and citizens together to debate and develop local net zero solutions to promote sustainable agrifood futures.
Rural Climathon Playbook: Lessons from adapting the climathon method to vision food and farming net zero futures in rural communities.
Phase 1: Warm up
Contains:
Consortium-building
Dedicate time and energy to working with local partners early on. Local knowledge and understanding are essential to moderate organisers’ expectations, co-design the event structure, and ensure events are well-attended and adapted for the local context. Consider using a blend of online meetings and in-person recces to locations.
Alignment with local initiatives
Work with your local collaborators to plan how the event will add value to existing programmes, and avoid duplicating their previous work. Identify planned funding bids or existing projects that might provide a route to take solutions forward.
Creative approaches
Plan to incorporate these in the event to enhance the experience for participants. For example, creative methods can foster empathy as part of design thinking, or be used to record key messages from the event
Phase 2: Ideation
Contains:
Streamlined structure
Optimise the schedule to make it more accessible for the farming community and people with children. Consider utilising a hybrid structure with an online component for scene-setting and initial activities. Condense in-person event to one working day, or split across two half-days, informed by local collaborator advice.
Local food
Provide appetising meals to attract participants and highlight local food. Work with local caterers to make meals a highlight of the event.
Outdoor activities
Build outdoor and experiential components into the programme. Purposes include demonstrating existing net zero solutions, providing time for participants to exchange ideas and ask questions of local experts, energising participants after a long period of sitting indoors, and facilitating informal discussion among the group. This may also increase the appeal to farmers, given the popularity of farm walks for social and educational purposes.
Phase 3: Awards
Contains:
Collaborative culture
Create space for respectful dialogue, particularly when discussing contentious topics. Consider co-creating ground rules with participants at the beginning of the event, and consider prioritising inter-team dialogue over a competition with “winners”.
Phase 4: Follow-up
Contains:
Alignment with local initiatives
Work with your local collaborators to plan how the event will add value to existing programmes, and avoid duplicating their previous work. Identify planned funding bids or existing projects that might provide a route to take solutions forward.
The UE4SD project which was led by the University from 2013-2016 featured as a case study by the European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE) published in April 2023.
‘Learning from thirty years of experience: case studies in teacher education for sustainability’; features the best practice in Education for Sustainability (EfS) with a focus on how this can be applied by policy makers and educators at a primary and secondary school level.
By probing the latest conservation science, Adam’s new book explores how we might both conserve the world’s predators and live safely alongside them.
Academics in the University’s School of Creative Arts established Ecopoetikon, a new project to research and showcase ecopoetry from both the Global South and the Global North. Ecopoetry raises awareness about ecological issues, highlights the beauty of the natural world, and changes people’s perceptions in a human-centric world.
Philippa Ward led a project supported by the ERASMUS+ Programme to help consumers be more ethically responsible. The RESPECT Project was a multi-country initiative that developed an online game for 12-14 year olds to help them make more sustainable consumption choices through engaging education.
Dr Paul Vare in our School of Education co-authored a report as part of the National ‘Teach the Future’ campaign, led by the charity ‘SOS-UK’.
The report titled ‘Curriculum for a changing climate: track changes review of the national curriculum for England, reviews the curriculum for key stages 3 and 4 and suggests where and how it can be amended to include sustainability and respond to the climate and ecological crisis.
This report meets our annual reporting commitments on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an institutional signatory to the tertiary sector SDG Accord.
Throughout this annual report, we record how the actions and results shown in this report contribute to the delivery of the UN SDGs. The actions on this page contribute to the specific goals marked below.
For more information view the global goals page.
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