Get involved

Find out what you can do to get involved in environmental sustainability within SOSS. There are also a number of environmental sustainability student awards and competitions, such as:

 

Take a look at the statement of Yiyang Qiao, winner of the Environmental Sustainability UG Dissertation Award 2022/2023:

Yiyang Qiao

The implementation of the sustainable development idea is a very important and noteworthy global issue at the moment, covering a wide range of aspects such as environmental protection, inequalities reduction, balanced development of the global economy and so on. My dissertation analyses the broad concept of sustainable development and its potentially controversial contents, focusing on the role of traditional command-and-control regulations and how to use economic instruments to achieve those goals more effectively. Sustainable development idea contains environmental, economic and social as three main dimensions, which is worth considering how economic instruments such as taxation and emissions trading schemes could, to some extent, more effectively address the limitations of traditional regulations in tackling the environmental challenges. It is such a great honour to receive this award and I hope to attract more academic interest and in-depth research in this area.

Yiyang Qiao / Winner Of The Environmental Sustainability UG Dissertation Award 2022/2023

Watch Ernestina Zhu(Xinyi)'s award winning video for the Environmental Sustainability Student Video Competition 2023:

Ernestina Zhu(Xinyi)

Sustainable Development through the Eyes of Experimental Art. Sustainable development is not only a buzzword, but it also requires a clear and intense demonstration through visual and audio stimulation. In that way, I argue that art is a perfect way to express one’s being, and one’s will, especially experimental video art. This video is a vivid demonstration, using non-logical and non-linear story-telling methods to explore what can be reached by the combination of visual and audio content. I have also intentionally created the original soundtrack to accommodate the uneasy and urgent atmosphere when approaching serious topics, as the sustainable development issues.

Ernestina Zhu(Xinyi) / Winner Of The Environmental Sustainability Student Video Competition 2023

Check out the statement of Cleoniki Giasemidis, winner of the Social Inclusion Postgraduate Taught Dissertation Award 2022-2023:

Cleoniki Giasemidis

It is an honour to have been selected as the recipient of the SoSS Social Inclusion Award for my dissertation. Through a feminist lens and featuring semi-structured interviews my research observes security culture and peacebuilding to determine why women have been excluded from this sphere of public political life and how this exclusion has changed over time. Throughout my studies, my interests in gender, war and peace and my personal Cypriot background have contributed to my examination of the Cypriot case. The interdisciplinary approach through postcolonialism, feminism and security and military studies has helped me to understand that neither the global players such as the United Nations or the European Union nor the local political governments are doing enough on the island to ensure women’s progression and inclusion in the peace processes. I hope to see a greater dedication to this field of research on an often-overlooked island on the edge of Europe and Asia.

Cleoniki Giasemidis / Winner Of the Social Inclusion Postgraduate Taught Dissertation Award 2022-2023

 Take a look at the statement of Emile Petraviciute, winner of the Environmental Sustainability PGT Dissertation Award 2022:

Emile Petraviciute

I am delighted to have my dissertation recognised by the SoSS Environmental Sustainability Award. In my dissertation, I explored the correlation between climate change and within-country income inequality and found a positive correlation between the two. My interests in political economy, society, and sustainability, which had been piqued throughout my studies, aided me in carrying an interdisciplinary approach to the research. It helped me to understand that the natural environment is intertwined with the structure and well-being of the communities in many different ways, and thus its analysis should not be focused on a single factor. I hope to see more importance put on multi-disciplinarity in the future research of the climate crisis, which we will inevitably face more and more in the years to come.

Emile Petraviciute / Winner Of The Environmental Sustainability PGT Dissertation Award 2022

Take a look at the statement of Alice Tucker, winner of the Environmental Sustainability PGT Dissertation Award 2021:

Alice Tucker

It is an honour to be a recipient of the Environmental Sustainability Award for my dissertation.

My research project explores whether the climate deals currently being forged by rich nations are contributing to climate injustices being experienced by members of the Global South. I decided to research this topic after researching the European Green Deal and noticing that whilst it discusses fairness and justice for European workers and businesses who will be impacted by the deal, claiming that they will leave "no one left behind", it made no mention of the non-Europeans who would be harmed by the deal.

Whilst the idea of global climate justice has become more well-known thanks to the recent criticisms of the COP26 conference in Glasgow, I hope that this field of research continues to grow and gain the attention it merits.

Alice Tucker / Winner Of The Environmental Sustainability PGT Dissertation Award 2021

Watch Joe Hilty's award winning video for the Environmental Sustainability Student Video Competition 2022:

This short film documents the inspirational work of Manchester-based food bank Keeping it Real 24/7. Organised and run by Wendy and her team of volunteers, this group gets together every Tuesday and Wednesday to distribute food to the local community of Moss-Side. Partially enabled by the introduction of a ‘community fridge’ provided by Hubbub, the group stores and shares surplus food that would otherwise go to waste, including donations from local food businesses, producers, households, and gardens. The work being done at Keeping it Real 24/7 is a key example of how to implement sustainable food practices in communities, addressing both food poverty and food waste with a single initiative.

Want to find out more?:


In the below award-winning video for the 2020/21 SoSS Environmental Sustainability Student Competition, Pooja Kishinani talks about Climate emotions and what resources are available to students thanks to Climate Emergency Manchester.

 


Check out the statement of Charlotte Beresford-Jones, winner of the Environmental Sustainability UG Dissertation Award 2021:

Charlotte Beresford-Jones

I was really excited to win this award and it was a huge encouragement after all the hard work I put into my dissertation. I chose to do my dissertation on zero waste lifestyles after learning about them and embarking on my own while a student at The University of Manchester. I wanted to learn more about how these lifestyles were experienced and the role that community played in facilitating them. Additionally, exploring the growing phenomena of zero-waste lifestyles and their endeavour to address plastic pollution appealed to me due to its relevance to the contemporary environmental crisis and that, thus far, zero waste lifestyles have been largely under-researched.

Charlotte Beresford-Jones / Winner of the Environmental Sustainability UG Dissertation Award 2021

The University of Manchester seeks student volunteers to get involved with environmental initiatives.

Volunteer Days have included:

  • Tree planting
  • Helping create community gardens
  • Delivering cultural activities in schools.