Thursday 09-07-2020 - 11:58

The Students' Union Environmental Sustainability team have won a fantastic award from the University in recognition of their outstanding work this year.

The Student Employee Of The Year Awards, presented by the university's Employment and Recruitment Service, celebrate the hard work of student staff across campus. The awards are presented to those who have made an 'exceptional contribution to their employing organisation' in one of five categories; Entrepreneurship Award, Commercial Impact Award, Step Up To Leadership Award, Above and Beyond Award and the Best Team Award. 

We are over the moon to announce that our Environmental Sustainability Team, made up of Laurie Butler, Rachael Davies, Kirsty Fitzpatrik, Eleanor Lampard, Anna Strzalkowska and Victoria Hatch, have been awarded the Best Team Award, following their nomination by Development Manager Darren Axe and Environmental Sustainability intern Naomi Young. 

In their nomination, Darren Axe & Naomi Young said: "the team have displayed excellent teamwork and interpersonal skills to deliver a wide range of projects, events and campaigns that have had an outstanding impact on moving the sustainability agenda forward at Lancaster University. The team operates with a positive, welcoming and inclusive work culture that has paid dividends in terms of the level of student and staff engagement in the ‘Green Lancaster’ programme that they have delivered for the Lancaster University community throughout the academic year."

Working to deliver large projects and events such as the Sustainability Ideas Conference, the Repair Café and the Food Sustainability Campaign, the team has had an enormous impact on both the student community and the students' union itself.

Naomi Young said: "A unique but direct outcome of the passionate work of the sustainability team has been the impact of inspiring action on environmental sustainability across other departments within the Students’ Union. It is evident that within the academic year 2019-20, there have been developments across multiple teams which are leading towards sustainability being embedded as a core operational principle across the wider organisation. Some examples of this impact include the development of a Zero Waste section at the Students’ Union Central Stores, planning for the Students’ Union’s Christmas Market taking environmental impact considerations in the procurement of decorations and allocation of stalls and the Union securing a significant funding allocation from Lancaster University for the ‘Roses are Green’ campaign, embedding more sustainable practices into the annual Sports Varsity competition that was scheduled to be hosted at Lancaster in May 2020. The sustainability team has been directly involved in steering the direction of many of these organisation-wide initiatives.

The emergence of the climate and ecological emergency agenda has placed great pressure on the younger generation to inspire and envision a more sustainable future. The environmental and ecological issues can lead to an overwhelming sense of Eco-Anxiety and it is vitally important that young people are supported in combatting this with positive action for the health and wellbeing of people and the environment. Lancaster University Students’ Union’s Environmental Sustainability team is an outstanding example of a group of passionate individuals who have come together to engage and support the wider student and staff community at Lancaster with positive, systems-change initiatives that will have a lasting impact on people’s lives."

 

We'd like to extend a massive congratulations to all involved in this fantastic achievement and thank the team for all of their incredible work this year. 

You can keep up to date with our Environmental Sustainability team @LancasterSU and @GreenLancaster on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter. 

#GreenLancaster #SUstainability #LancasterSU