Climate Change and Sustainability Workshop at the Medical School

In higher education there is a growing trend in to incorporate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) into undergraduate education. The University of Exeter (UoE) has declared a climate emergency and recognises its role in educating students about major global challenges like climate change. For example, it encourages academics to embed the SDGs into education and provides students with a range of opportunities to get involved, such as Grand Challenges and Green Consultants.

The department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences (CBS) has over 1000 undergraduate students studying Medicine, Medical Sciences, Neurosciences, and Sports and Exercise Medical Sciences (SEMS), mostly based at St Lukes Campus. However, I had never come across student-organised climate change/sustainability events on this campus, unlike those I had heard about at the University’s Penryn and Streatham campuses. Furthermore, despite an effort to include SDGs in undergraduate teaching, we knew little of how students experience “sustainability” while at university.

To understand this better, Amanda Santiago a final year Neuroscience undergraduate, and Dr Shelly Dogra organised a workshop which aimed to (1) provide an opportunity for interested students to network with like-minded students; (2) help us understand how CBS students see their exposure to sustainability while at university, e.g. are they aware of the SDGs in their modules? Are they active in groups in Streatham or outside the university?; and (3) empower students with knowledge of existing opportunities available at university and how to set up student societies.

Overall, eight students first year CBS students participated, and two students from outside the department. In the workshop, students participated in interactive activities developed to help us understand the ‘system’. These resulted in engaged conversations between students; it was clear that there was a need for students to meet like-minded students.

During one of these activities, students worked to collate their experiences of sustainability in a customised ‘systems map’. This revealed that all students had developed their interests in sustainability before they came to university, influenced through family, teachers and the media. The large amounts of disposable plastic use in laboratory practicals had generated conversations among students. They didn’t know what SDGs were, through when explained they saw that their exposure to SDGs in their courses was limited. Nevertheless, one student had chosen an essay on a related topic, and a another mentioned a discussion of the environmental impact of inhalers.

Then students worked together on a customised ‘empathy map’ to collate how they thought other student’s, on their courses, attitudes to sustainability. Overall, CBS students didn’t see many other students sharing their concerns. A few that that had expressed concern were not involved in action:

“Some people believe that it is not in their control, so feel as if their contributions are worth nothing to the overall problem.”

Finally, Amanda presented her experiences as an undergraduate intern working on the SDG curriculum mapping project and shared information how to get involved in sustainability at university. She also let them know how to set up a student society – if they wanted to. Jayden Cox, a maths undergraduate and president of ‘Be the Change’ society also joined us to talk about this society and how to get involved.

Reflections and next steps:

The workshop highlighted a real need for concerned students in CBS to come together and talk about sustainability. Students stayed and chatted after the workshop finished, mainly about mobile apps that inform of when shops selling cheap food – so helping to reduce food waste and saving money. Perhaps food may well be a key motivator for climate engaging students in the topic.

The workshop highlighted the need for greater student leadership. To spark engagement and interest they needed Climate Change and Sustainability Workshop at the Medical School

“Someone relatable to promote sustainability.”

We hope the networking and knowledge gained from the workshop will be catalyst for more student-led projects at St. Lukes. However, there is perhaps a need for an official student representative in this area.

The perceived lack of concern for sustainability and climate change among many CBS students was surprising, as it contrasts with the current focus in higher literature on understanding and addressing ecoanxiety. We feel it is important to better understand this – for example, does this lack of concern result from insufficient knowledge on the science? One of our future aims is to survey the attitudes and knowledge of the fundamental science, including those of unengaged students.

The workshop highlighted a need for educators to be more upfront about what SDGs are and when they have been included in education. Students were often unaware when SDGs already included in their modules and the opportunities had been presented to them.

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