University of Birmingham Celebrates Colleagues' Achievements with 40 Green Impact Awards

On Tuesday 2 July 2024, the University of Birmingham celebrated all who took part in this year’s Green Impact Challenge. 40 Green Impact Awards were won by teams and individual colleagues: 30 Platinum, 2 Gold, 5 Silver, and 3 Bronze.

The Sustainability Open Forum was hosted alongside the ceremony with attendees receiving an overview of the University’s latest sustainability activities and initiatives. These included talks from Professor David Hannah (Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor, Sustainability), Professor Julia Myatt (Director of Sustainability Education), Monica Guise (Director of Facilities Services), Dr Laura Graham (Lecturer in Ecological Modelling) and Professor Hisham Farag (Business School Director of Research).

By taking part in the Green Impact Challenge, colleagues have demonstrated their commitment to sustainability through activities, including adopting more sustainable travel to work habits, increasing water efficiency in laboratories, promoting energy awareness, tackling food waste, and creating five new bee hotels on campus. 

Professor David Hannah, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor of Sustainability says: "Congratulations to everyone who has taken part in the Green Impact scheme this year. It has been wonderful to see so many colleagues from across the University working together to achieve their sustainability goals and celebrate their successes. The Green Impact Awards are a great initiative which not only supports the University’s sustainability ambitions but showcases how collaboration and knowledge exchange is essential to making tangible progress on our sustainability journey. We look forward to continuing to work with our staff and student community, and hope even more colleagues are inspired to take part in the Green Impact Awards next year".

The Winterbourne House and Gardens team was identified as demonstrating exceptionally innovative and engaging work this year, with the creation of a professionally designed family trail. This garden trail, which opened in spring earlier this year, will introduce children to the natural world and encourage them to engage with Winterbourne’s biodiverse garden.

Special awards were given to those who had stood out with their enthusiasm for sustainability and each winner will be entered into the national Green Impact Awards. The Sustainability Hero Award was won by Julie Gilson, who created the UoB Eco Café, a forum for students to discuss eco-anxiety and move from inaction to action. Rebecca Slater won the Innovation for Engagement Award for establishing strong partnerships with local schools to provide work experience and champion small businesses, as well as organising regular donations to local food banks and delivering children’s artwork to local care homes to brighten residents’ days.

The Student Living: Villages team won the Environmental Improvement Award for their commitment to repairing items rather than replacing them and collaborating with other teams to increase the reach of this initiative. Finally, the Community Action award was won by Team Transport for setting up the Green Heart Riders. This group endeavours to create a pathway for people to try staff-loan bikes, student-hire bikes, or to participate in cycling classes and develop their confidence when cycling.

Lauren Walia, Project Manager at SOS-UK, says: "It has been wonderful to see the incredible jump in engagement with Green Impact in what is already a very successful University! Each team has made meaningful changes through their specific knowledge and experience, and it has been great to talk to your auditors and read about all the fantastic things that have been achieved so far. Team members have reported that their colleagues are getting more involved, and it’s all down to the hard work of every single person leading on sustainability. You are what makes the programme such a success!"

Green Impact is a United-Nations-recognised programme that promotes sustainable practices in organisations across the world. More than 1600 organisations take part in the awards, and the University of Birmingham is one of 21 Universities to take on the challenge in 2024.

To find out how to get involved with Green Impact and other sustainability activities at the University, please visit our Get Involved page.