It’s the end of July which means goodbye 2021/22, and hello 2022/23. Below is a taste of what we’ve been up to this month as we wrap up the academic year. Including an update on our two exciting summer projects.
Sustainability Work with the Open University in Wales
At the start of this month Sustainability Programme Manager, Jay Chard, launched our bespoke Engage for Change delivery with the Open University (OU) in Wales. At the launch, Briony Latter, a PhD candidate at the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation (CAST) at Cardiff University, spoke about her research on climate and environmental change in the university setting.
14 students from across the OU joined the launch sharing their ideas on projects which would support the University to meet their climate goals. Ideas on the day included running bilingual events to create inclusive spaces to learn about the damage to local green spaces, transitioning to a plant based food system at events, and creating pop up recycling stations which can be used to donate items for reuse, or upcycling.
10 students are now taking part in the programme, making some of these projects come to life. We can’t wait to hear more about what they’ve been up to at their August showcase.
One Community Forum at Leeds Conservatoire
On 21 July Graduate Intern, Iona Gillies, facilitated a One Community Forum at Leeds Conservatoire. The theme – artistic citizenship and knowledge exchange. Attendees enjoyed a morning of reflection, connection and idea generation.
Iona will now reflect on the learnings and needs that arose from the forum to create a series of recommendations for the Conservatoire about how they can take artistic citizenship forward, hosting meaningful knowledge exchange activities for their students to engage with the local community.
Reflections on What We’re Proud Of
July is a month for reflection and wrap up for us as we approach the end of the academic year, ready to think about 2022/23 from August onwards. As part of this, our staff team shared some things they were proud of in the last year – thinking about their personal and professional lives.
Lots of members of the team shared accomplishments around their hobbies. For Bristol Hub Manager Sorcha, this was “climbing a mountain and going above 4000 feet”, reflecting on her recent hiking holiday in Morocco. For both of our Hampshire Hub Managers, Catherine and Liz, their proud moment was reading more regularly, having read a whopping 20 and 7 books respectively this year.
There were some academic highlights from Programme Managers Jay and Lydia, both of whom completed a Masters and a Dissertation. Finally, Bristol Project Officer Will shared that he’s proud of getting his first full time job after graduating in 2021 and Southampton Hub Project Officer Sapthi shared that she’s built confidence over the last year!
In the Spotlight
This month we want to put our Southampton Hub intern, Michael, in the spotlight. Michael is going into his second year studying Engineering at the University of Southampton and this summer he joined the team as our Invent Plus intern. Michael spent his time creating a new workshop for the outreach programme, focused on introducing sustainability and engineering diversity to young people through the creation of a wind turbine.
Thank you to Michael, and our Kingston Hub interns Mahalia and Jenifer, for everything they’ve achieved this summer.
What to Look Out For
- We are hiring! Our Kingston Team is on the look out for two new members of staff, a Project Officer to deliver Schools Plus and Empower in the area and a Programme Manager to support Service Learning, our in-curricular social action opportunity. Find out more and apply before end of day 7 August
- After 9 wonderful years our Winchester Hub is closing down. Read more about the closure and keep your eyes peeled for more information on our exciting celebration plans before we wrap up at the end of September
- To give our team a break before the next academic year we will be out of the office from 1-5 August, we’ll then be returning for Hub Holiday from 8-10 August. If you need us expect slow responses throughout the first half of August