Get involved

Climate change is widely recognised as one of the greatest, and most urgent, challenges facing humankind. This challenge has been recognised internationally, within the UK, and within Bournemouth. Our free Carbon Literacy course will give you an overview of the basic science of climate change as well as an understanding of the actions required by governments, businesses, universities and individuals in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and set us on a path towards a more sustainable future.

The course consists of two three-hour webinars and self-study before you become certified Carbon Literate. We run the trainings termly, so if you are interested, you can sign up here or email the Sustainability Team.

Do you have a fantastic sustainable idea that could be incorporated into everyday life on campus? Then the Sustainability Challenge is for you!

During the Sustainability Challenge, hosted by BU, SUBU and ResLife, you will:

• Inspire and help Bournemouth University become more sustainable
• Work across disciplines with students from other faculties or departments, and create an interdisciplinary and innovative idea
• Gain experience that will give you new skills, new contacts and impress future employers
• Have an opportunity to win £100 to make your idea a reality!

Applications are now closed for the 2021 Sustainability Challenge.​ Find out more ahead of next years Challenge on the SUBU website.

Our last years winners created the Sustainable Student Starter Pack which you can find here.

Achieving a net zero emissions future is only achievable through a multi-layered approach of innovation, education and communication. To drive innovation, BU have partnered with Santander to support the next generation of eco-entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to reality or grow their businesses.

• Do you have a business or an idea with an environmental benefit? This could be anything from a product that can help reduce emissions or a business that helps people connect to nature.
• Are you passionate enough to make it a reality or grow it to the next level?
• Are you a BU current student or within 3 years of your graduation from BU?
• Is your idea well thought through, viable and have the potential to make a difference to an environment or climate problem?

If so, you are invited to apply for the Eco Entrepreneur Fund and win up to £5000 towards your business or idea.

Read about our 2022 winners here.

In the Climate Justice Challenge, students work:

• learn about climate justice and ethical trade, 
• gain confidence and hone their presentation, communication and teambuilding skills,
• get the opportunity to raise their voices during the international climate conference, COP26?

This collaborative, interactive programme led by experts is open to all students from Bournemouth University and Middlesex University London. Over the Challenge, students work in teams with the support of experts to explore the current state of the climate crisis, Fairtrade, and climate justice. Using the knowledge and skills BU students develop, they will then compete head-to-head with Middlesex University London in our Climate Justice Debate, during COP26, to debate a suitable motion. 

Students are directly supported by the BU Sustainability Team and sessions will be led by climate and injustice communication experts. Sessions will involve a mix of presentations, discussions and working time for your team.

Applications for the 2021 programme have closed and are yet to open for 2022.

Community action is one of the five themes of our Climate & Ecological Crisis Action Plan so we have developed the Climate Action Student Team to help lead that action!

BU Sustainability Team and SUBU Student Opportunities offered six volunteer roles in 2021/22 for students to contribute to and lead climate action at BU. Our roles are diverse and include:

• Events Organisers
• Marketing Champions
• Food Champion
• Resources & Waste Champion
• Travel & Transport Champion

Our 2021 team were recruited but we may expand this team throughout the academic year. All current opportunities can be found on SUBU's Volunteering Hub.

If you want to meet like-minded people and get involved in sustainability at BU, email our Team to find out more.

We are currently planning our volunteering opportunities for 2022-23 so keep your eyes out!

We really encourage student participation on our Steering Groups. Currently, we have spots for student representatives on the following:

• Fairtrade Steering Group
• Hedgehog Action Group

If you want to share the student voice, develop your skills and networks and influence decisions of the university, contact us to apply. 

Do you have a great idea for how you can improve BU through your assignment? Do you want to use the university as a test-bed for research? Whether you want to design a piece of equipment, analyse our data to test a new idea, support the management of an event or even create a new catering menu, Living Labs is an opportunity for you to apply your assignment to improving our university.

Previous Living Labs projects have included a Masters assignment assessing the feasibility of us adopting an electric bus fleet, which was used by the BCP Council. Another student-designed and delivered a vegan range of products for our caterers which has been rolled out across the country. What is your idea? 

Take a look at the project options on our Academic Opportunities page to get started.

Student-led societies are a great way to explore your interests, develop your skills and find a fantastic new community to become part of. There are many sustainability-focused societies within SUBU, addressing all areas of the UN Global Goals.

Are you feeling green-fingered? Consider Campus Collective - the society has its own allotment to grow, which it meets to tend to each week. Are you wanting some tasty recipes? The Reducetarian Society always has some on hand! Every club and society plays its part in being sustainable. If you feel yours isn't doing enough, start the action!

View the full list of clubs and societies.

Students at BU have on numerous occasions raised issues to the University and created change. 

One particularly great success story is the student campaigning that led to BU divesting entirely from fossil fuels. Action by a group of BU students as part of a national People & Planet campaign resulted in the University reviewing our Ethical Investment Policy and choosing to fully divest from all fossil fuels.

During another national campaign, students shared and supported a national petition against Barclays support of the fracking company Third Energy. The campaign gathered wide support within BU and nationwide and led to Barclays withdrawing their financing of the fracking company.

​If you're wanting to campaign, follow these tips:

• Do your research first: don't spend your time campaigning for something we already do! Find out exactly what the current situation is before you look to change it. If you have any questions, the Sustainability Team, SUBU and all other staff members will be happy to help you find out. 
• Join the national movement: People & Planet and NUS are two examples of the organisations that exist to create campaigns for you to join in on, and that provide the resources for you to improve your skills and contacts within and beyond BU.
• Be represented at SUBU: if you're looking at a campaign, see if SUBU know of other students interested, and collaborate with them to make your action more fun and more impactful! 
• Look after your wellbeing: campaigning for change requires a lot of passion and energy. You may face setbacks so make sure to prioritise your wellbeing, celebrate the small wins and remember you're not alone!

The Spot the Drop campaign aims to minimise our water wastage by spotting and stopping leaking toilets, urinals and taps across our two campuses. If you find a leak around our sites, email us about what is leaking and where it is in as much detail as possible and the Sustainability Team will arrange for it to be fixed. You may even win a stainless steel water bottle in return!

Any new students living in halls can also get involved with the wide range of sustainable events and activities delivered by ResLife, including halls-led community gardens, bike rides to local nature reserves and eco-crafting. Check out the ResLifeBU page to find out more. 

All new students at BU complete an online induction workbook which includes a section on sustainability and policies at BU and are given a Little Green Guide. Our Sustainability Team and societies also attend Freshers Fair and love to hear from new students on their sustainability ideas. 

Since last year, we've taken Green Week to a new level with the entirery of March being Climate Action Month. We ran over 10 events and engaged with more than 350 staff, students and community members. It was fantastic!

Topics ranged from conservation to the Feminist Green New Deal and events we hosted included a panel event, climate cafe, eco-anxiety workshop and our first Climate Assembly. We also hosted our bi-annual Climate Assembly's to ensure that staff and student involvement is at the heart of our sustainability and CECAP action.

We're busy preparing our climate calendar for 2022-23 so keep your eyes out for more exciting campaigns.

This year we launched our first 'Inspired by Nature' art competition. Open to students, staff and their families, we received fantastic entries that showed and encouraged a connection to nature. Our winner, Natalie Dear, took inspiration from a safari trip and her feelings around poaching.

You can see all the amazing entries in this virtual gallery.

BU are striving to become a Hedgehog Friendly Campus.

Throughout the year, we run campaigns and surveys to identify and protect hedgehogs on campus. If you're keen to get involved or find out more, email BU Sustainability Team at [email protected] 

Green Rewards is the best way to get involved at BU. With over half of our staff signed up, Green Rewards is a platform to support and reward your physical health, mental wellbeing and environmental behaviours as part of the BU community.

Last year, the positive actions of our staff members through Green Rewards collectively saved 400 tonnes of CO2 emissions as they completed 10,000 hours of exercise, avoided 515kg of disposable coffee cups and even travelled 130,000 sustainably miles – wow! In addition to this amazing impact, by joining in, our staff can win monthly prizes from Fairtrade hampers to book vouchers, and take part in team activities to top our department leaderboard and win £1,000 to donate to a charity of their choice at our annual celebration event. This year, staff have completed over 41,000 positive actions. 

In 2020/21, Team Finance won and chose to donate thei £250 prize to Street Support Bournemouth. £150 went to ADRC on behalf of Team Research Development & Support with IT Services using their third place prize to support Dorset Wildlife Trust.

It’s no surprise that Green Rewards was shortlisted for an Edie Sustainability Leaders Award. Join Green Rewards here or contact the Sustainability Team for more information.

The Community of Practice is a network of over 60 staff from across the four Faculties and is welcome to all. It is a space for academics to share best practice on introducing and embedding ESD into their teaching. Our fifth Annual Excellence in Education for Sustainable Development Award recognised and rewarded academic colleagues for this best practice and in 2022 we expanded this to include an Excellence in Education for Climate and Ecological Action Award. 

In addition, you can contact your Sustainability Academic Network department representative, or the Sustainability Team to discuss student assignment opportunities on our campus, to find out who your representative is or to join the ESD Community of Practice. 

We can all take action for sustainability, but sometimes we need a little support. If you have knowledge, passion or just want to see more happening, become a Sustainability Champion in your team, department or Faculty. If you want some support or resources, get in touch with our team at [email protected], or join the collaborative MS Teams area with other like-minded staff.

The Spot the Drop campaign aims to minimise our water wastage by spotting and stopping leaking toilets, urinals and taps across our two campuses. If you find a leak around our sites, email the Estates Helpdesk about what is leaking and where it is in as much detail as possible so they can arrange for it to be fixed. 

All new staff at BU attend an induction event which the Sustainability Team attends to explain about the importance of sustainability both at BU and in the wider community, what we do at BU to improve our environmental performance and, most importantly, how you can get involved! More information can be found on the staff induction checklist but come say hi and share your ideas. 

This year we launched our first 'Inspired by Nature' art competition. Open to staff, students and their families, we received fantastic entries that showed and encouraged a connection to nature. Our winner, Natalie Dear, took inspiration from a safari trip and her feelings around poaching.

You can see all the amazing entries in this virtual gallery.

We encourage our community to use the circle of control model to keep track of how your actions can make a difference. Focus on what you control – such as what you buy, what you eat, how you choose to travel and local groups you can be part of. Then focus on who and what you can influence - your circle of friends, family, petitions to sign – simply by raising your voice.

With sustainability, it can be easy to fall into the trap of the circle of concern – which includes the things we worry about, such as the climate and ecological crisis, but that are too big, and often overwhelming, for us to solve single-handedly.

When you think about how to act, remember that you have two tools: your choice and your voice. It’s also important to remember that we are all in this together and you are supported: you can contact the Sustainability Team at [email protected] to talk about what we can do together, or if your concern is impacting your health and wellbeing, find information on support offered by BU. 

We seek to listen to the views of all members of the BU community to ensure that our action in this global challenge is collaborative, catering for and supporting everyone. At the same time, we will continue to collaborate with both internal and external stakeholders, in particular with BCP and Dorset Councils who have declared Climate Emergencies. We will also seek opportunities to work in partnership with other groups, such as the EAUC, AUDE, Dorset LEP, Aldersgate Group and COP26 Universities group. 

Within our Climate and Ecological Crisis Action Plan, we have the following recommendations to guide our engagement work: 

• Implement a staff and student charter 
• Implement an annual CECAP communication plan 
• Reward staff and students for taking positive action for the environment 
• Engage with suppliers on their net-zero aspirations 
• Continue to use technology to support new ways of working remotely 
• Introduce staff and student development programmes, such as carbon literacy and climate resilience 
• Continue staff and student engagement programmes 

We are currently developing  our student and staff sustainability communications strategy for the next academic year. For next year, our engagement targets will include:

• Training a proportion of the BU community to become Carbon Literate
• Hosting at least one event per month to support and empower students and staff to take climate action
• Running a student volunteer scheme to champion sustainability
• Achieving impactful action through Green Rewards and other staff schemes

The Designs For Your Future Challenge is giving secondary school students the opportunity to solve real-world problems with their ideas. Our Challenge combines sustainability with design to create a product that will have a lasting positive impact on our planet and people. The 2022 competition closed in June, and we are planning for next years Challenge soon.

In June 2021, our Sustainability Team ran a Speakers for Schools virtual Careers Insight Day for over 35 students from local schools.

During the day, students heard from and asked questions to sustainability staff from across BU and SUBU, and learnt about a range of environmental topics including energy, water, biodiversity and campaigning. They then identified their skillset for a sustainability career through a workshop delivered by the BU Careers Team.

During the afternoon, the students worked in teams to identify an opportunity for their schools to become more environmentally-sustainable. Ideas ranged from installing rainwater harvesting systems to creating a vegetable patch and were presented to BU staff who were thoroughly impressed with the students teamwork, innovation and presentation skills.

The BU Sustainability Team are working with the Schools Liaison team and academics from across the university to develop outreach opportunities for the next academic year.

As a university, we are fortunate to have a lot of resources and expertise, so we hope to support and collaborate with local organisations as much as possible to share best practice and good work.

Some of the collaborations we're currently working on include:

• Sitting on the Sustainability Committee for University Hospitals Dorset
• Meeting regularly with BCP Council
• Supporting Bournemouth & Poole College's sustainability strategy and action