How staff and students can get involved

Do you want to make a difference at City and in the local community?

Are you looking for an opportunity to lead on projects and campaigns?

Do you want to develop employment skills that will make you stand out?

Then this opportunity is for you.

Who are Sustainability Leaders?

Sustainability Leaders are students who work together to deliver sustainability projects on campus and in the local community.

Fancy becoming a beekeeper or fighting food waste? Interested in Fairtrade, urban gardening or protecting our oceans?

Show your love and get new skills as a Sustainability Leader. Join one of our sustainability projects and work with other students to make a difference at City and in the local community.

As a group you decide what you want to do. It could be anything, such as:

• Taking part in hive visits and looking after City’s bees
• Starting an enterprise to promote and sell reusable bottles/cups
• Rescuing leftover or unwanted food and delivering it to food banks
• Working with local businesses, schools and organisations to tackle air pollution
• Creating a campaign to fight for fair trade
• Growing fruit, vegetables and herbs in the new City garden
• Organising an event to get students into cycling
• Running the City Food Co-op to provide sustainable food options for students and staff
• Campaigning for City to become single-use plastic free

What does it involve?

No prior knowledge or experience is needed, just enthusiasm and ability to meet at least 1 hour a week. Sustainability Leaders develop their own projects and, with support, training and funding from City's Sustainability team, are responsible for:

• Idea generation
• Research
• Planning
• Budgeting
• Implementation
• Review

• Develop skills in project management, budget management, leadership, communication, time management
• Gain knowledge and insight into the sustainability sector
• Enhance your employability skills and CV
• Network with like-minded individuals and make new connections within and beyond City
• Make a positive, long-lasting impact on City and the local community

All students are invited to sign up anytime from October to April.

For more information or to register your interest, please email the Sustainability Team.

The roof of University building now houses City’s beehives.

The beehives will help to raise awareness with City staff, students and the local community about the importance of protecting our biodiversity and bees in particular.

City will have its own vegetable garden soon, and already has one green roof (on top of the performance theatre in College Building) and a green wall (in the College Courtyard).

The staff and student Bee Team are responsible for looking after the hives and harvesting the honey (around 10-20 kg a year).

If you want to learn how to work with bees and are interested in joining the Bee Team, please email the Sustainability Team.

The beehives are supervised by professional beekeeper Dr Luke Dixon of Urban and Community Beekeeping, who is an expert in rooftop and urban beekeeping and a member of the British Beekeepers Association.

Dr Dixon provides training for staff and students so they can learn how to manage a hive.

The Walled Garden is City’s edible community garden for students and staff. Located between Drysdale and University buildings, it is full of fruits, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.

The garden space is looked after by our Community Gardener and student and staff volunteers. It plays a major role in supporting the University's sustainability objectives, including the Student and Staff Engagement Strategy, Sustainable Food Policy, and Biodiversity Policy.

We have fortnightly sessions throughout the year, where you can drop by to take a tour of the garden, help out with gardening tasks and taste the produce!

If you would like to join us, please email the Sustainability Team.

You can also join our staff and student volunteer gardening team, who help to look after Northampton Square, in conjunction with Islington Council and local residents' gardening groups.

If you would like to get involved, contact the Volunteering team at Ben.Robinson@city.ac.uk.

Volunteering is a great way to gain work experience and contribute to the community as a City student.

There are lots of opportunities to volunteer at City within sustainability, whether you're looking for a one-off event or a weekly role.

During the warmer weather, we have regular sessions for students to volunteer in our vegetable garden, or to help look after our beehives. We run a few sessions throughout the colder seasons too, so visit the links above to find out you can get involved.

We also have a number of one-off opportunities for our events and other projects. These are all advertised on the volunteering hub, and there is a range of roles available. The volunteering hub can help you locate the opportunities you want, connect with companies that value your skills and experience, and track the impact that you're making.

City have partnered with a number of external organisations so there are also a lot of great opportunities to volunteer within sustainability outside the university.

Alternatively if you've got your own volunteering project idea, find out how we can support you in our Sustainability Leaders programme.

Whether you're looking to broaden your experience, learn new skills or develop existing ones, make a difference in the community or simply have fun, we can find the right opportunity for you.

Email us if you have any questions about volunteering.

How does it work?

Every member of staff belongs to a team based on the School or Professional Service Department they work in.

Teams earn points for monthly challenges and running their own sustainability project or campaign (Extra Mile projects).

Points are fed into a leaderboard which is used to determine award levels and the annual Challenge winner.

Monthly Challenges

Each month we'll issue a challenge to all staff. This might be an activity that lasts throughout the month or a one off event that you can come along to.

Challenges will have a positive impact on City’s sustainability, including everyday actions (recycling, printing, procurement etc.) and the targets that City has set to address these.

Points will be awarded based on the department’s participation and performance Details will be provided prior to the commencement of this part of the Challenge.

The Extra Mile

You can also earn extra points for your team by completing an Extra Mile project.

Staff can choose to run their own campaign or project which has a positive impact on environmental and/or social sustainability in their teams, across the University or in the community.

Funding is available for these and projects and campaigns are showcased regularly.

Points awarded are based on achieved targets and an ideas bank will be made available to help inspire staff.

There’ll be more information in CityWire and Yammer during the year. Email us to subscribe to our newsletter.

Awards

Points for all aspects of the Challenge will also be added up and teams will be eligible to receive Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum awards.

There will be some prizes on offer for the winning team of every competition and every member of staff that participates in each competition will be entered into a prize draw.

Staff that participate in 'The Extra Mile' will also be eligible for special awards.

For more information about the Sustainable City Challenge, please email the Sustainability Team.

Current challenges and leaderboard

City staff can find out more about the current challenges and awards on the Staff Hub.

The 2020 winners were Library Services.

Sustainability Leaders are a network of staff volunteers located across the institution who are committed to making City a more sustainable place to work and study.

There are number of ways you can get involved. You decide what works best for you, based on your availability and your particular areas of interest.

Activities include:

• Acting as the ‘green champion’ for your office or department, helping to raise awareness on environmental and other sustainability issues at City, and encouraging colleagues to practice more environment-friendly behaviours (such as recycling, reducing paper usage, or switching off equipment when not in use).
• Helping to disseminate information and advice from the Sustainability Team to your colleagues and acting as the liaison between them and the Sustainability Team on matters concerning the environment.
• Encouraging colleagues to participate in the new Sustainable City Challenge activities and contests. The more staff that participate in these activities, the more chances you have of winning prizes and awards for your department.
• Volunteering to help out with Sustainable City events and campaigns.

Update meetings and social events will normally be held at least once per term in order to network, share ideas and celebrate everyone’s efforts. Occasional training workshops may also be offered, but these are optional.

An annual Sustainable City Awards celebration luncheon will take place in the summer to reward all the volunteers for their contributions and to celebrate the winners of the Sustainable City Challenge.

If you are interested in becoming a Sustainability Leader for your office or department, then please email the Sustainability Team.

We can always use your help!

The roof of University building now houses City’s beehives.

The beehives will help to raise awareness with City staff, students and the local community about the importance of protecting our biodiversity and bees in particular.

City will have its own vegetable garden soon, and already has one green roof (on top of the performance theatre in College Building) and a green wall (in the College Courtyard).

The staff and student Bee Team are responsible for looking after the hives and harvesting the honey (around 10-20 kg a year).

If you want to learn how to work with bees and are interested in joining the Bee Team, please email the Sustainability Team.

The beehives are supervised by professional beekeeper Dr Luke Dixon of Urban and Community Beekeeping, who is an expert in rooftop and urban beekeeping and a member of the British Beekeepers Association.

Dr Dixon provides training for staff and students so they can learn how to manage a hive.

Discover how City is contributing to biodiversity initiatives.

The Walled Garden is City’s edible community garden for students and staff. Located between Drysdale and University buildings, it is full of fruits, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.

The garden space is looked after by our Community Gardener and student and staff volunteers. It plays a major role in supporting the University's sustainability objectives, including the Student and Staff Engagement Strategy, Sustainable Food Policy, and Biodiversity Policy.

We have fortnightly sessions throughout the year, where you can drop by to take a tour of the garden, help out with gardening tasks and taste the produce!

If you would like to join us, please email the Sustainability Team.

You can also join our staff and student volunteer gardening team, who help to look after Northampton Square, in conjunction with Islington Council and local residents' gardening groups.

If you would like to get involved, contact the Volunteering team at Ben.Robinson@city.ac.uk.