Blog by Dr Maggy Fostier, FBMH Associate Dean for Environmental Sustainability.

Welcome to the 5th edition of the FBMH Environmental Sustainability (ES) Good Newsletter. The University is progressing well with its ES agenda, and we are coordinating efforts across Faculties and the central ES team to maximise outreach and efforts to engage everyone on campus and beyond. 

At University level, we have a lot to celebrate:  

We have won the prestigious international Green Gown award for its zero-carbon master plan. This accolade further validates our strategy. Here is our recent progress: 

• Campus decarbonisation: two zero-carbon buildings have been completed and the 104,000 solar panels are now installed in our purchased solar farm.  

• The ES code of practice for professional services (PS) and guidance for sustainable events give-aways have been launched to help staff become more sustainable on campus. FBMH organised an induction workshop for PS staff to contextualise this guidance, identifying existing good practices and ways to improve or barriers. 

• Our Nature action plan is under way. 

• The remodelled ‘old quad’ offers an attractive space with a biodiversity net gain of 80%. Images are captured in this 2 min Green Campus video and this June student blog present our green campus initiatives. 

• The Manchester Museum WILD exhibition explores key questions on ways to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises.  

• UoM is partnering with the City of Trees to improve green spaces in Greater Manchester. 

• UoM central ES team has set up the Sustainability Squad to coordinate ES engagement activities and has developed a campaign calendar as a framework filled with targeted awareness raising activities, exciting events, and collaborative initiatives. 

• September and October saw the launch of initiatives to reduce food waste, and our partnership with Hazaar, a zero-waste platform for students to sell and buy preloved items locally. There was also a lecture exploring the legacy of fair trade. 

• November was about green careers; we have two SBS blogs on this topic: Milo Challiner explains how he shaped his biotechnology degree towards a career in sustainability, and Pr. Amanda Bamford reviews defining moments in her career as a plant scientist focusing on climate change in our annual Irene Manton Lecture.  

• In December, our focus will shift to sustainable gifting and mindful consumption. January will highlight positive changes we can make towards shared goals of new sustainable habits. 

At Faculty level, we keep making progress on our strategic goals 

a. Engaging all Faculty wet laboratories by July 2025 with tools focusing on reducing consumption and waste, sharing resources more effectively and developing more sustainable protocols: LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) and 6R (Review, Reduce, Reuse Refill, Replace, Recycle).  

• 75% of our PIs have a LEAF champion and 44% of PIs have a LEAF award (18% Bronze, 21% Silver, 5% Gold). I urge PIs of wet laboratories with no champion or award to take immediate action.  

• Here is the sign-up form for LEAF champions. We need one per PI, but a LEAF champion can represent several PIs sharing a space. It should take 1-2 hrs a month. 

• The LEAF002 training has resumed with 2 sessions a month. This 2.5 hr workshop covers LEAF bronze and silver levels.  

• We now have a LEAF Bronze induction for everyone in the lab 

• Following the example of CRUK, 9 research labs from the division of Molecular and Cellular Function have switched their ULTs from -80°C to -70°C. Let’s keep chilling. 

 b. Engaging staff and students with sustainable actions on campus to reach our University targets: 

Reduce energy consumption by 10% by 2025 against a 2018 baseline. 

• Laboratories with a LEAF award should already have in places practices to switch off non-essential electrical items when not in use, but this weekend, we are launching a campus wide ‘Switch-Off for the Weekend Campaign’ for office and lab spaces and will monitor the effect over several weekends. 

Limit annual air travel emissions to 50% of our 2018/19 level.  

• I am awaiting data, but I have been told that our emissions are creeping up. We have two blogs this autumn: one describing the impact of air travel and conference in research, and one from our Internationalisation team explaining how they are implementing the travel decision tree to reduce their impact. 

• Several policies are supporting this target: The travel decision tree, the top fund policy, our video conferences facilities, and two staff courses promote ways to publicise your work beyond conferences: Using Social Media for Impact workshop, and How to Communicate your Research. 

 Recycle 45% of waste produced through our operations by 2025.  

• Our food waste collection is going well. 

• The initiative from FBMH Technical Operation Managers called Lab Goods 4 Reuse is already showing great impact; it is modelled on UoM Furniture4Reuse store. It would be helpful to identify local partners to redistribute unwanted ice packs (contact Maggy). 

• Local IT and stationery amnesties are organised to clear our workspaces. Working with partners, the collected items are reused or recycled. It would be helpful to identify local partners to redistribute unwanted ring binders, lever arch files, and file boxes (contact Maggy). 

• SBS student volunteers in November promoted new initiatives to reduce food waste and Hazaar, alongside our guides: the 6R guide for home and campus [plastic focused], and the Easy Eco for all guide [all actions]. The latter is produced by Harriet Bickley from SHS and was recognised in September at the Research Staff Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Responsibility.   

 c. Disseminating UoM research on climate change, climate solution and resilience.  

• An interdisciplinary team headed by Neil Dixon in MIB secures a £2 million grant to build systems for a circular bioeconomy where the carbon components of our waste are being reused for the chemicals industry instead of fossil fuels (see blog). Neil’s team has already developed bacterial strains that can feed on waste whilst producing high value proteins. 

• Prof. Mike Shaver in the latest Talk 200 podcast for UoM Bicentenary discusses the complex nature of our material world with a focus on plastics. 

• Prof. Carly McLachlan helps Act 1.5 and the band Massive Attack to build the blueprint for truly more sustainable live music events. The story is reported in Nature (see blog). 

• Sustainable Future at UoM disseminates ES research (see past seminars and news) and promotes cross discipline thinking and collaborations to increase our opportunities and deliver solutions (training and funding opportunities). Contact them if you have ideas/queries. 

• Colleagues at the green Manchester NHS Foundation Trust across the road outline plans for a Greener NHS, news and local initiatives, including student projects, and share their resources (see blog). 

• The climate network newsletter lists all the climate action events happening at UoM and in Manchester.  

 d. Supporting green spaces on campus (e.g., Smith quad) that promote biodiversity whilst offering enjoyment and opportunities for nature-based learning or well-being activities.  

• Members of the ES team visited the Sky Gardens in Castlefield, gaining inspiration for the Stopford building quads uplift project, headed by Jenny Herbert from the Division of Medical Education (contact Jenny to know more) 

• SBS students promoted in November opportunities to volunteer to green our campus or engage with biodiversity using iNaturalist. At UoM, you could for example join the Firs for gardening, the Tree Musketeers, or become a Nature Positive ambassador (contact Maggy). 

 e. Embedding sustainability in our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. 

• QAAs and governing bodies are asking or advising to embed sustainability in the curriculum, and a small group of academics are emerging to lead the way. We shared a resource to map our current practices, guidance and plans at the FBMH symposium: The Future of Teaching and Learning – 4th September. 

• The School of Health Sciences is leading the way in the Faculty by joining the Planetary Health Alliance, a global organisation committed to address environmental changes and its health impact. 

f. Promoting sustainable actions in our wider community (schools, community, organisations, businesses – local or afar) with the help of trained students:  

• No news for this edition. Contact us if you have good news to share.  

 g. Educating and exciting those we can reach about existing and future solutions to tackle the climate crisis.   

• The FBMH ES Good Newsletter is our tool for this priority. We disseminate it externally via various social media platforms. Check out our list of future events. 

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