Engaging with staff and students

As Citizens of Change, we all have a responsibility to ensure we reduce our negative environmental impact and maximise our positive social impact. To support our staff and students, we have multiple ways to get involved and learn more about social and environmental sustainability. 

Get involved

• Volunteering opportunities - we offer a range of one-off volunteering opportunities for staff and students from biodiversity conservation, completing audits, supporting events and more. For students, these are advertised through the Students’ Union Volunteering Hub.
• Social Impact Ambassadors – an opportunity for students to make an impact by transforming business practices by providing a sustainability audit to local businesses and help them address ethical issues such as living wage, energy saving, reducing waste and fair consumption.
• Go Green Week - an annual campaign every February to raise awareness of the importance of sustainability and encourage positive change among students and staff at the University of Leicester. Students can get involved and even organise your own events, such as clothes swaps, debates and more.

Expand your knowledge

• Online Courses – Over 14,000 people have signed up for our Concepts in Sustainable Development MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) which hosted through Future Learn and is open to the public. This 6 week online course explores some of the key issues in sustainability, tackling the big questions with examples from around the world.
• Carbon Literacy – this training is for our staff and students and provides participants with the motivation and knowledge to enable meaningful action on the climate crisis in their personal lives, at work and in the community. This course, certified through the Carbon Literacy Project, covers the basics of climate change science, how we know it’s happening now, how climate change will affect us in the future, what is already being done and what we can each do to take action in your personal life and at the University.
• Education for Sustainable Development - we also support academics to ensure there are opportunities to learn about sustainability in the curriculum.

Make an impact

• SEED Fund – The Sustainable Enterprise and Environmental Development (SEED) fund is a joint initiative between the University and Students' Union to support student project ideas. Students can apply for up to £500 to fund their own sustainability or community project, putting their ideas into reality and make an impact.
• Research in Action – this initiative uses the Living Labs approach that provides an opportunity for students, academic staff, professional service/operational staff and external stakeholders to work together on collaborative research projects tackling real-world sustainability problems, based around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Students gain real life research and work-related skills, knowledge and experience that will benefit their employability prospects.

Have your voice heard

• Student Sustainability Project Group (SSPG) – This group allows student to share their ideas on how the University can improve on their sustainability practices. This is run through the Students' Union and the Social Impact Team, to allow students' voices to be heard and discussed. Dare to be the change makers that you would like to see!
  • Students can also get involved in other sustainability groups as part of the Leicester Students’ Union.
• Environmental Action Coordinators - Staff can volunteer to become an Environmental Action Coordinator to support the delivery of Environmental Sustainability as a University Strategy Guiding Principle by promoting awareness of environmental sustainability and to coordinating efforts to embed environmental sustainability within their department.