The winning projects of the University’s Green Fund have been announced for the 2022-23 academic year. The Fund was established by University’s Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation (CETI) and Sustainability Team in 2021, and provides students of all courses with the opportunity to carry out sustainability related projects.
The Green Fund provides grants of up to £5000 for short-term projects that are co-created, designed and implemented by staff and students working in partnership. Students who contribute to project teams also receive a bursary of £100 as a recognition of their efforts.
The Fund supports Westminster’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by promoting understanding, awareness and change in environmental leadership, and by empowering students and staff to design and create sustainable local projects.
The seven successful project teams for the 2022-23 academic year are exploring the following topics:
- Planet-friendly denim – Experimentation with the use of bacteria to manufacture environmentally sustainable indigo dyes for blue jeans.
- Sustainable fashion hub – The creation of a dynamic focal point at Harrow Campus with the theme ‘Fashion as Change’. The project will be exploring sustainability, collaboration, community, entrepreneurship, education, and inspiration in fashion.
- Smart and sustainable weather station – The design and development of a low-power, minimal-maintenance weather station with a multitude of sensors to measure temperature, humidity, pressure, rainwater gauging, air quality, and so on. The station will incorporate computing facilities to collect, visualise and interpret quality data.
- Furniture design in collaboration with Pedra Furada Transformation Workshop – The student designs will be shared with the Pedra Furada workshop, a Brazilian social enterprise that makes furniture from recycled plastic; they will realise the designs to sell at Global North price points.
- Green approach to microbial identification – The implementation of a new technology and technique in Westminster Labs that will reduce the need for single-use plastic during the microbial identification process.
- Rainwater harvesting – Exploration of issues around rainwater harvesting in design and in practice by trialling a rainwater collection point at Marylebone Campus.
- Robotic recycler – A robust, remote-controlled arm to sort waste which will eliminate the need for direct contact with waste processing for recycling.
All projects will be completed in June 2023 with a final presentation and poster display, with the posters being shared among students and colleagues. The purpose of the Fund is to promote understanding, awareness and behavioural change in the field of environmental leadership, and to empower students and colleagues by supporting local sustainable projects.
Talking about the winning projects, Morgan Lirette, Sustainable Development Advisor at University of Westminster, said: “It is such a joy to organise this initiative where students and colleagues come together to flex their innovative muscles and learn from each other through all stages of project management. The Fund proves that sustainable solutions are everywhere as long as you are thinking of sustainability from the get-go.”
Learn more about the Westminster Green Fund.
