Louis Wright and Amelia Iswariah: Sustainability initiatives in higher education

Charles and Will sit down for an inspiring chat with Louis Wright, head of Sustainability, and Amelia Iswariah, Sustainability and Energy Officer. They discuss the work of the sustainability team, and sustainability efforts in the HE sector more broadly; the importance of awareness-raising, communication, storytelling; and balancing these qualitative aspects of their impact with the quantitative accounting, in carbon or currency. There is, of course, a mention of the hidden – and dire – environmental impact of AI and cloud computing; also, sustainability events past and future, including the 2026 London Student Sustainability Conference, and the crucial roles of free pastries in student engagement. Feedback, ideas, suggestions for events, want to get involved? Get in touch at [email protected]. The team is keen to hear from you 🫵 Links: Sustainability events 2008-2022 Carbon Management Progress Report Chapters 00:08 Introductions 00:28 What is Roehampton’s sustainability strategy? 03:03 Decarbonisation plan and net zero target 03:24 Emission categorisation (scopes 1, 2, and 3) 04:24 Quantifying the university’s carbon footprint 05:13 Evaluating the impact of the team’s work 07:46 Attitude to sustainability in the HE sector 08:28 Roehampton’s new School of Sustainable Engineering and Technology 09:30 Student-led sustainability initiatives 10:15 Communicating and convincing across the institution 12:23 Working with students 14:28 Reconciling the university’s attitude to AI with its sustainability goals 17:51 Working with non-profits, charities and cross- sector groups 20:54 The London Student Sustainability Conference 22:12 What can grad students do for Sustainability at Roe? 24:22 Upcoming events 26:34 Wrap-up, credits (no bloopers this week) The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School. Our theme music is by DiamondTunes Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan. Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at [email protected]