1 quick action you can complete this week: Put your knowledge to the test and have a go at our new waste game!
Recycle Right Game
Do you know what you should do with an empty coffee cup? Test your recycling knowledge with our new game!
Individual actions to change the world
Everyone can help make the planet a better place by following small steps. See how you can make a difference via the links below.
Getting a great job
Sustainability skills are increasingly in demand and both increasing your knowledge and gaining experience are excellent ways of boosting your employability. Working within sustainability, or having knowledge and practicing sustainability at work are both impactful ways of making change.
Work Experience
Want a green job? Not sure where to start? Check out our Green Careers page to learn more about what jobs exist and how you can build your skills to get there.
Volunteering Experience
Volunteering is a great way to build skills, make friends and feel more connected to the environment around you. Check out our on-campus and online volunteering opportunities below.
Green AmbassadorsThe Green Ambassador Programme brings together students who are passionate in sustainability to learn and make changes through hands-on volunteering experience. The programme is organised by Sustainable Development Unit and students will work with staff in different sustainability projects. Find out more about the individual roles available here. If you're interested in being a Green Ambassador, there may still be space on some projects, contact sustainability@greenwich.ac.uk to ask. You must be a UoG student to participate. | Good GymGood Gym is a volunteering programme to run, walk, and cycle to help local community organisations and isolated older people by doing practical tasks. Think gardening, helping in a local food bank, planting trees and clearing up parks. Find out more here. | Friends of the EarthJoining a Friends of the Earth Action Group is a great way to meet like-minded people, as well as getting involved in campaigning on issues that empower local people to protect the climate and environment, challenge injustice while influencing decision-makers. Find out more here. |
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University Experience
You can integrate sustainability into your group projects or course assignments, use University data to help shape your dissertation, or flex your creative skills by starting a sustainability zine. Your time at university is the perfect place to test things out and gain transferable experience doing so! There are also lots of sustainability-specific taught modules across the University, you can take a look at those via the link below.
Get involved in University Events
Join us in Green Week
Green Week 2025 (10-14 November) is for information, celebration and inspiration.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2024
We are hosting our annual Fairtrade Fortnight from Monday 11 March to Friday 22 March. There are many ways to get involved and find out more about Fairtrade at Greenwich.
Connect
Find out what's going on in Greenwich and beyond and let us know what you're up to.
Living Labs
Living Labs are your chance to turn university projects into real-world impact. Instead of writing yet another essay, why not work on something that helps shape a more equitable and environmentally just future?
Through Living Lab projects, you’ll tackle real sustainability challenges, on campus or in the wider community, by applying what you're learning in class to something that actually needs solving. Whatever your subject, there's space for your skills, your ideas, and your voice.
Whether you're passionate about climate justice, community wellbeing, biodiversity, energy, or social equity, there's a Living Lab project waiting for you. Please contact sustainabilty@gre.ac.uk if you have any projects you’d want to explore.
There have been some great innovations by our students over recent years. Some examples of projects students have worked on are listed below. More details and videos of past projects can be found on our Living Lab Blogs page.
Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability Module
In the Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability in Marketing Module, students are given a brief by the Sustainability Team and asked to consider the audiences, marketing techniques and practical interventions to change behaviour as part of their assessed work. Starting in 2024/25, the collaboration with academics has encouraged application of theory to a real-world, live problem for the University and brought the taught concepts to life. The student presentations are judged by industry experts from across UoG.
The Biodiversity Monitoring Project
The Biodiversity Monitoring Project was started in 2024, with the collaboration of a master's student that won a bursary for the proposal, RSK and the Sustainability Team. The project collected ecological data on campus, recording the range of species found across our Avery Hill campus, which identified over 20 new species of insects, which supports our future biodiversity management plans. As a result of this one-year project, the Biodiversity Monitoring Project has become a permanent offering to the Green Ambassador volunteering scheme to further support biodiversity management plans, proving that Living Labs can lead to positive operational growth. Further information about the RSK funded Living Lab projects are available here.
Sustainable Awards for UoG Annual Staff Awards
Sustainability is a core requirement of the UoG Staff Awards and this includes the design and production of the trophies that are given to winners. This video, created by students, illustrates how the students and staff worked to create the sustainable prizes for the 2023 Staff Awards.
Student Energy and Space Utilisation Project
In April 2023, Computing student Ratan Jannu started applying his data analytical expertise to identify how to save energy and improve space utility to help reduce our energy and space needs. Ratan worked with the Building Services Manager and Sustainable Development Unit to ensure his work is applied to make savings identified.
Bee Sustainable
Students from the Enactus programme established Bee Sustainable in 2021 to support local bee and other pollinator populations in addition to the creation of primary education materials. The University provided space for the group to create bee friendly gardens and bee hotels.
Circular Textiles Greenwich
Circular Textiles Greenwich was an initiative launched by Law students in 2020 to encourage students to better understand fast fashion and its impacts on society and the planet. The Sustainability Team took on the project in 2023 and has run Clothes Swap events every semester.
The Innocence Project London
The Innocence Project London is another example of how the university where our students and staff are utilising their knowledge and experience for good. This initiative runs every year to support student practice.
Road Building Material Project
2017 Engineering Graduate, Kamal Farid, tested his carbon negative road building material at one of our campuses. Kamal was granted permission to dig up some of our tarmacked areas on campus and lay his materials according to UK regulated roadbuilding standards. In 2019 the findings were sent to the Department of Transport to get accreditation for use as a permitted road surface in the UK.
Courses for a greener future
We are committed to ensuring our students are prepared to make their impact towards a sustainable, greener future by embedding sustainability throughout our curriculum. There are more than 50 programmes to choose from already.
