Huddersfield Business School’s Sustainability Initiatives

Sustainability Champions 

As part of the initiative, Sustainability Champions, inclusive of staff members and students were introduced. The Champion's role is to create and implement Huddersfield Business School’s sustainability initiatives amongst staff, students and the local community with the aim of engendering behavioral changes towards sustainability. 

 

Sustainability Challenge Week

The latest event the Sustainability Champions ran this academic year was the Sustainability Challenge Week. Under Dr Mi Tran’s guidance the Champions organised the initiative which included different challenges that promoted behavioral changes towards a more sustainable lifestyle. The five challenges were; Take a well-being walk, donate to charity shops, cook a healthy meat free meal, shop eco-friendly and reuse glass jars.  

The initiative generated great interest from both staff and students within Huddersfield Business School. Those who participated in the challenges submitted photos and reflections of their experiences to the team, who were glad to see people finding the initiative meaningful. Two students, Cameron Stock and Sana Naz, won prizes for their outstanding reflections and participation.    

Emily Moffat, a Sustainability Champion commented, “Having the opportunity to collaborate on the project with likeminded people and create initiatives to help promote sustainability across the Business School was really exciting...I look forward to seeing how Huddersfield Business School continues in its steps to becoming more sustainable and I hope more students will be encouraged to do the same”.  

The team are looking forward to implementing similar events in the future and hope to relaunch the initiative in the next academic year. Their aim is to bring even more exciting and meaningful challenges to our students and staff.  

Tinu Varkey, a Sustainability Champion commented, "I believe there will be more engagement from more people in Huddersfield Business School in various sustainable acts, thereby building a vibrant greener environment in and around our campus”.  

 

Well-being Walks 

Another initiative introduced by the Sustainability Champions is Well-being Walks. Although Well-being Walks were part of the Sustainability Challenge Week, it was also introduced as a stand-alone initiative to support both physical and mental well-being for all staff and students. The initiative aims to be simple yet interesting and can involve a range of activities such as a 5-minute walk to clear your head or a full day’s hike! 

By joining the Well-being Walk initiative, staff and students have explored the surrounding community and enjoyed the local nature. This initiative has been regularly promoted during the academic year and received increasing engagement. The team are thrilled to see an increasing participation in the Well-being Walks on various social media channels such as Twitter and LinkedIn.   

“We are very thankful for the staff and students who have promoted this Well-being Walk initiative by sharing their walk routes/maps and wonderful pictures of the beautiful nature. We are inspired by their participation and hope to carry on this Well-being Walk initiative in the next academic year”.  - Dr Kiet Duong 

 

Sustainable Development Goals Forums 

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Forums are another sustainability initiative organised by the Sustainability Champions. This was led by Dr. Jialin (Snow) Wu, and Sreelakshmi Sajeev (Student Sustainability Champion).   

One SDG Forum was held on the 15th of April 2021 for staff as one of the parallel sessions on sustainability during School Research Day. The purpose of this forum was to discuss how SDGs can be linked to Huddersfield Business School’s existing research and inspire more SDG-related research among the School’s academics and researcher. The second SDG Forum occurred on the 28th of April 2021 for the Postgraduate Taught (PGT) students, with the purpose of increasing knowledge of the SDGs and to discuss how SDGs can be connected to their subjects and inform future industry practice.   

This initiative has been receiving great feedback from both staff and students and it is expected that the audience will expand in the near future.  

Sree Sajeev, a Sustainability Champion commented on the initiative, “We often met and discussed our future initiatives and marked our presence in SDG Forums and Huddersfield Business School’s Research Conference, which boosted our confidence and urged us to introduce and engage in more sustainability ventures. I firmly believe our SDG team has the potential to implement all 17 of the United Nations SDGs in a productive way that will not be restricted to the campus alone, but also to the immediate community”.  

 

Alumni Sustainability Survey

The Sustainability Champions (led by Dr Jialin Snow Wu and PGR Sreelakshmi Sajeev) and Harriet Lockwood are preparing to launch the Alumni Sustainability Survey this Autumn. This is a two-step survey, which aims to; 

1) Enhance Alumni engagement via the School's LinkedIn page 

2) Collect sustainability stories from external Alumni communities 

3) Keep in touch with Alumni with continued support regarding sustainability strategy information  

With the success of this initiative, the team will be able to further increase the impact of Huddersfield Business School as an educational institution with strong sustainability strategies. 

 

Plans for the future 

The team plans to continue the four Huddersfield Business School Sustainability Initiatives below for 2021-22, with the possibility of introducing a potential fifth called ‘Towards a ‘Zero’ Printing Initiative’ in the future.  

• SDG Forum   
• Sustainability Challenge Week   
• Alumni Sustainability Survey  
• Well-being Walks