Submitted by Grainne Kennedy on Wed, 2018-08-29 09:12
The Living Laboratory for Sustainability provides opportunities for students to develop their skills and tackle environmental sustainability issues on the University’s operational estate. Internships is one of the ways we do this. This year a committed and hardworking trio have joined our team to work on projects which will help the Environment and Energy (E&E) section to extend the work we do.
Each of the interns give a description of their work below:
Matthew Ewen
Air Travel Intern, Natural Sciences graduate (pictured right)
The University’s Carbon Reduction Strategy mandates a 25% reduction in per capita carbon reductions from flying by 2024/25, benchmarked against 2014/15. My air travel internship focusses on improving our reporting of these emissions, and potentially developing policies to help achieve this target.
I aim to implement changes to our reporting methodology and record-keeping to ensure greater accuracy and transparency in the future. I am hopeful that staff and students across the University of Cambridge can help develop a greater consciousness of the damage air travel does to the planet, and the University will be able to act as a leader in reducing our own emissions.
Heather Rigby
Communications intern, Geography graduate (pictured centre)
My internship is focusing on sustainability engagement and communications within the University. I am working with the E&E section to improve communications and engagement techniques by developing a revised communications strategy and resources for the coming year to encourage engagement on environmental matters across the University.
The involvement of staff and students is at the core of achieving the University’s sustainability mission. I therefore see this project as a crucial part of the work that E&E does and I hope that my work will encourage more staff and students to act sustainably and get involved with these efforts.
Sam Buckton
Biodiversity intern, Natural Sciences graduate (pictured left)
I graduated from the University of Cambridge this year with a BA in Natural Sciences (Biological). I am looking forward to giving something back to the University by working on the University's Biodiversity Action Plan and meeting other people similarly interested in conservation and sustainability issues. I will work on ecological surveys, quantifying biodiversity and communicating results in useful ways. Biodiversity is important for many reasons both intrinsic and instrumental, and it's exciting to be part of a university that takes biodiversity conservation so seriously.
Internships are advertised in early spring through the student edition of Greenlines and our Twitter and Facebook accounts.