Support Day

1. Support Day University of Greenwich 20.05.14

2. Welcome Emily Thompson-Bell Students’ Green Fund Programme Manager, NUS Gordon Franks Higher Education Policy Adviser, HEFCE

3. Welcome 11am: Welcome 11.15am:Partnerships within the local community 11.45am: Groupings by region 12.30pm: Lunch 1.15pm: Social Enterprise 1.45pm: Energy in private-rented housing 2.15pm: Shaping Education 2.45pm: Driving student engagement 3.15pm: Examples of good practice 3.45pm: Closing Q&A session

4. Partnershipswithin the local community Greenwich, Southampton, Roehampton, Newcastle and Sheffield (Uni, Hallam and College)

5. Introduction to your project • Sheffield on a Plate - Sheffield Hallam, Sheffield College & University of Sheffield Students’ Union • city-wide partnership project • 3 institutions (2 universities, College) • 2 local “umbrella” charities • Inspiring students about food sustainability • Growing food, buying local, cooking good food, minimising waste, engaging with food poverty, embedding sustainability in campus food outlets

6. Introduction to your project • Growhampton – Roehampton University Students’ Union • The Growhampton project has a big focus on food growing. We are creating an edible campus with a main growing site, four smaller growing gardens for each college and an edible trail linking everything together. Central to our project is the café, a social space and outlet for local, organic and ethical food. • We are working with a social enterprise based in the heart of the local community. Their aim is to support unemployed youth to find jobs and have set up ‘The Feel Good’ bakery which supplies fresh, healthy sandwiches to local businesses. We are growing spinach and lettuce for their sandwiches and providing a retail outlet through the café.

7. Introduction to your project • Greenwich Sustainability Hub - University of Greenwich Students’ Union • Outreach to schools (ESD)– Hadlow College; Greenwich Winter Garden; local schools • Outreach to businesses (GI) - World Heritage Greenwich; Royal Museums Greenwich; Old Royal Naval College; Widehorizons; Baxter Storey • Colleges Network; Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance; Hadlow College; Bromley, Goldsmiths, North West Kent, Canterbury

8. Introduction to your project Business Audits Students audit Southampton organisations and implement solutions to improve ethical and environmental practices Doing: Project Manager; Project Assistant; Sabbatical Officer; University Project Support; Interns Deciding: SUSU Chief Executive; Chair of UoS Sustainability Action; NUS SGF Programme Manager; Southampton City Council Consulting: Student volunteers; organisations being audited; UoS academics; business representatives Informing: University of Southampton; SUSU; wider community; HEIs

9. Introduction to your project • Newcastle has 7 strands to its Green Fund projects, each with various partnerships – from Newcastle Beekeepers' Association to University departments, and from youth projects & schools to allotment holders and park rangers. • The Dere Street Orchard is one of these strands, led by students and with 2 main partnerships : the landowner, and the Rupert's Wood project.

10. Key project targets Our first targets were to establish the growing spaces and design, build and open our café. We aim to engage students, staff and the community through activities in the growing spaces and through providing them with an alternative sustainable café option. The partnership agreement mutually supports two social enterprises to be better and to be more financially viable. Both of the enterprises benefit the community by providing healthy, local, fresh food choices. We aim to continue to provide the Feel Good Bakery with high quality produce grown by students from Roehampton. We aim to continue to provide the Feel Good Bakery with a retail outlet to support their business model. • Sheffield on a Plate • 14,600 students engaged over 2 years • 400 student volunteers involved • 500 staff involved • 10,000 web hits • 1,500 social media followers • Growhampton

11. Key project targets Greenwich Sustainability Hub Reach 12 Students employed as Green Ambassadors 120 Volunteer hours registered 5,000 students engaged in Hub projects and events Impact SUUG achieves Green Impact Bronze by 2015 11 FE institutions engaged and 3 Hub Colleges achieving Green Impact Bronze 10 SMEs achieving Green Impact Outcomes Increase in student-led sustainability activities, opportunities & campaigns Increase in pro-environmental actions and behaviours Involved students are more employable BEES 100 students as accomplished BEES Involve 250 students in Southampton Blackout Engage 100 Union and University staff through the BEES programme Auditing of 24 local organisations 240 employees engaged with the BEES programme

12. Key project targets • Newcastle Green Guerrilla Gardeners • Reach Targets include : 1000 new students engaged in volunteering, 680 into training & learning opportunities, 220 university staff engaged and 750 children & adults from wider community supported to adopt sustainable behaviours • Outcome Targets include : 20% increase in student participation in pro-environmental actions, 680 • Impact Targets include : 240 CO2 saved through direct impact of the project, an increase in Newcastle University's ranking in the Green League, and sustainability integrated into curriculum. • The Dere Street Orchard element of the project aimed to create a ¾ acre orchard, created by student volunteers, at the edge of Rupert's Wood (a woodland in Redesdale used by SCAN for summer camps and environmental experiences).

13. Greatest achievements and impacts Newcastle: Gained permission from landowner to develop a student led orchard. Southampton: Currently building relationships with partners - levels of engagement and excitement are indicating that the project will be successful in the long term. Roehampton: Found a growing site after successfully negotiating with the University. Produced first harvest of spinach for Good Bakery. Constructing café from 2 shipping containers – opening on 12th May with Partners. Sheffield: Student Masterchef competition across the 3 institutions. 12 students took part. 5 week catering course plus academic/student mentoring. Local, sustainable ingredients and Professional standard for 50 people. Greenwich: Winter GardenProject – University of Greenwich development project & Heritage Lottery Fund - workshops delivered to 100 primary school students on food growing and sustainability pre industrialisation to now (16th May). Other local schools and academics - potential for partnerships.

14. Challenges Developing strong partnerships takes time –something we have been short of. Clearly defining the roles in the partnership is essential for them to work effectively. Students may need encouragement and/or support to take the lead on projects and partnerships. Students can find it difficult to commit to a long term project. Practical issues e.g. transportcan be an issue. Miscommunication of each partners objectives can happen. The academic calendar can be challenging as most projects are starting just as students leave. Not tailoring communication to the audience or institution can cause issues - what works in one institution doesn’t always work everywhere. Most challenges have been of a practical nature : a learning curve for the students How to fit a long-term project into the timescale of student volunteers' courses

15. What would we do differently? Getting involved earlier. Understanding peoples visions earlier. Make project a bit simpler and avoid over-complications. Improve existing projects and scale up: Video the Masterchef course & promote online- not just 12, audience of 100s Train the trainer - students on the course will teach local youth club in deprived area GSH to train trainee teachers on ESD and they deliver workshops • No negative lessons from this strand : • Partnership with landowner benefited from pre-existing relationship Natural linkages to other projects were all positive but could not all be reproduced at another site • Much more work on finding a suitable site/permissions would be needed if we sought to replicate the project • in a new location

16. Final reflections Closer working with University – projects give a reason to talk to one another. Able to reach out into community better through more established partners e.g. a deprived estate responded better to existing partner charity. Benefits for the partners e.g. Sandwich business would find it hard to connect to students without the on campus retail outlet and Greenwich Winter Garden needs more visitors to the site. Need to appreciate there are different levels of engagement, from giving information to decision making to direct involvement - we need to give partners what they needs Engaging volunteers in projects can lead to them getting involved in other projects in the local community. Project events have helped us reach out to new partners- including the local Council Scale of this strand allowed it to progress at a satisfying pace for students. Other strands will take longer and face more complex challenges. The leading students on this strand mostly disperse this summer, while the other strands retain their momentum.

17. Contact details Newcastle - scanproject@ncl.ac.ukhttp://www.nusu.co.uk/scan/ And for informal updates on Facebook, search for Student Community Action Newcastle and Rupert's Wood Sheffield – sheffieldonaplate@sheffield.ac.uk Roehampton – Growhampton@roehampton.ac.uk Greenwich – a.lopez@greenwich.ac.uk BEES – bees@susu.org

18. Regional Groups In a moment we will group you according to rough geographical region. Give a 5 minute overview of your project: • Highlights so far • Challenges • Media engagement to date Aim to find activity on which you can collaborate regionally.

19. Grouping by Region Group 1 Liverpool Guild, Wigan & Leigh College SU, Cumbria SU, UCLan SU, Lancaster SU

20. Grouping by Region Group 2 Leeds SU, Sheffield (Uni, Hallam and College SUs), Bradford SU, Newcastle SU

21. Grouping by Region Group 3 Birmingham City SU, Northampton SU, Worcester SU, Staffordshire SU, Leicester SU

22. Grouping by Region Group 4 City University London SU, Roehampton SU, Greenwich SU, Bedfordshire SU, Brighton SU

23. Grouping by Region Group 5 Exeter Guild, FXU SU, Bristol SU, Gloucestershire SU, Southampton SU

24. Lunch

25. Social enterprise and student-led projects Lancaster, Leicester, Bedfordshire, Leeds, City and Gloucestershire

26. Introduction to your project Edible Campus – Lancaster University Students’ Union Project Overview: Scale up participation in food growing projects. Grow food in new and exciting locations. Inspire students with a passion for sustainable food through seasonal cooking demonstrations. Encourage & support sustainable enterprise. Student Led Projects/ Social Enterprise: ‘Broadbean’ Food Cooperative Pedal a Smoothie Eco Café Approach: Facilitation of student ideas Support from idea to project delivery Give it a go approach Business support advisor

27. Introduction to your project Hungry for Change – Leicester Students’ Union Food project aiming to get students thinking about the implications of the food they eat and why they have chosen to eat it Using food as a tool to open conversation and create dialogue on sustainability Practical approach from production, consumption and waste Facilitate innovation, knowledge sharing and diversityin approach and opinion Foster student leadership skills through development of mini-projects

28. Introduction to your project Bedfordshire Green Hub – Bedfordshire Students’ Union The Bedfordshire Green Hub aims to empower students to lead sustainability action within the University of Bedfordshire and beyond. Ambitious project has many initiatives from Student Eats Garden to Greening the Curriculum One initiative is the Student Led Green Project Fund – Originally starting life as Dragons ‘eco’ Den – learned from this process which was intense and too formal Now SLGPF is much more informal – students send in applications that are reviewed. Project Planning Workshops have been run with interested students

29. Introduction to your project Leeds Green Exchange – Leeds University Union The Student Fund £60,000 available over two years Average suggested amount from to £200 to £1000. Judged by a partnership panel of UoL, LUU staff and students. Available to any student in Leeds. - Leeds Met, Leeds College of Art, Leeds College of Music, City College, Leeds Trinity

30. Introduction to your project Greener Gloucestershire Strand in Greener Gloucestershire Purpose built/Student ideas – All Student Led Intern Nucleus Web Presence

31. Introduction to your project Green Dragons, City University London Students’ Union

32. Key project targets Edible Campus Reach & Outcomes: 3000 students engaging with practical volunteering opportunities & mass-participation events. Social media and web hits. Engaging staff – target of 500 staff engaging with practical sessions and events. Building a community around sustainable food projects on campus. Planting, nursing and maintaining installations of Edible Plants across campus. Providing a space for student enterprise to trial food production & self-sufficiency. Involvement of academic departments in practical work and research & evaluation. Impacts: Changing student perceptions of food and sustainability. Empowering students to champion food sustainability beyond their time at University. Transform areas of public space on campus to valuable resources for food production and education.

33. Key project targets • Hungry for Change - Leicester Students’ Union • Empowerment 300 portaplots for home growing • Branding Opportunity Use of herbs throughout SU Restaurant • Changing behaviours through issues of access & availability • Spice packs & fruit teas to be available in SU Shop • Farmers Market 3 times/year – Producers Market • Recipes for Change Social Enterprise • Access to affordable, fresh and sustainable food; teach students how to cook; recipe card collection • 40 meals/day of vegetarian cuisine with seasonal ingredients • Profits to be donated to A Place to Grow Community Garden • To source seasonal ingredients from AP2G

34. Key project targets • Bedfordshire Green Hub • Targets for Bedfordshire Green Hub extensive and wide reaching (taking into account different initiatives) • Specific targets for Student Led Green Project Fund include (Numbers to be decided at end of first year): • Number of applications • Number of students involved • Number of projects ongoing • Amount of money allocated • Skills acquired by taking part

35. Key project targets Leeds Green Exchange 60 student led projects across the two years Mass engagement with students and community members in Leeds. 150 tonnes of carbon saved through student funding initiatives. To enhance employability and provide volunteering opportunities. To facilitate a network of sustainability across the city. To create projects with a legacy of sustainability.

36. Key project targets Greener Gloucestershire New Student Led Social Enterprises Student Involvement/Engagement Business Plan Funding

37. Key project targets Green Dragons, City University London Students’ Union

38. Greatest achievements and impacts • Lancaster: The student-led food cooperative maintains a weekly stand at the ‘farmers market’ on a Thursday. This uses local suppliers including ‘Single Step’ wholefoods & ‘Growing with Grace’ introducing students to products and suppliers that would be otherwise inaccessible. • Leicester: Has already engaged and brought together a diverse range of students in project planning; from community volunteers to student entrepreneurs, those interested in cooking to fitness fanatics, those wanting project and marketing experience, and of course plenty of environmentalists • Bedfordshire: Student Led ‘Urban Gardening’ project has gone really well with potential to scale up across the whole University. We now have 6 new mini projects being completed before the end of term. • Leeds: Our student lead Real Junk Food Project has already diverted 4 tonnes of food from landfill (the weight of a blue whale calf) and last week along fed 196 people over 300 meals. They’ve also been featured in local, national and international press.

39. Greatest achievements and impacts Gloucestershire: Had an incredible interest from students starting up their own businesses. The way of portraying sustainability in a social enterprise format has worked with increasing student knowledge and sympathy towards sustainability. Overwhelming amount of students getting involved in projects with growth, development and new enterprises on the horizons. Products are getting wider acclaim as they are going to retail on a large scale. City: Nine student-led projects are in their delivery phase currently launching and/or designing their activities for September. Three leaders have been working with Cass Mentoring Programme to turn their projects into social enterprises. More than 3.000 City students have been directly/indirectly engaged to Green Dragons activities. The qualitative and quantitative data collected in March show that students feel more empowered and confident, while they have developed more sustainable attitudes. Green Dragons have been featured in national and international conferences.

40. Challenges Lancaster: Looking at creating a dedicated ‘Broad bean’ growing space. Our existing sites are a shared community resource so if produce were to be sold it would raise issues over ownership of produce/ products. Leicester: SU delegation of project responsibilities to students e.g. liabilities of H&S and insurances and barriers to easy interaction and support of small, local businesses. Bedfordshire: Getting students from the interested/ideas stage to actually starting a project and submitting application form. Leeds: Getting students to apply or larger sums of money & promoting the project more generally. Encouraging collaboration Providing the right level of support and challenge for student-led projects Gloucestershire: Specialist staff time, namely web design. Our funding aspect has taken so long to launch due to staff constraints. Planning permission for our beehives around listed buildings on campus. City: Forging strategic internal partnerships in order to provide the appropriate student support; Using the right communication channels.

41. What would we do differently? Lancaster: The project gives students the opportunity to spark an idea for a social enterprise focused the food/ sustainability agenda. Such businesses enable students to take real control of their project plan and deliverables. Leicester: Collaborate externally to enable more effective changeover of recipes/products – make use of expertise to support student activity. Bedfordshire: Change application paperwork so it is less off putting and more informal. As well as dedicating more staff time to support. Leeds: Target specific courses and societies to capitalise on interests and enhance employability. Gloucestershire: More market research into products with students to refine product ranges and make them more exclusive and therefore fresh and exciting. Collaborate more within Academic departments. City: Develop a stakeholder mapping exercise at the beginning of the project and engage the senior management of the university.

42. Final reflections Lancaster: Removing barriers and getting students going and trying things out as soon as possible. Not all projects fit the same process. Networking with other students & local experts has been the most valuable element of enterprise projects. Leicester: Importance of integration into existing structures to ensure continuity and ease of implementation; we hope this will occur without complete dilution of our aims and motives. Bedfordshire: Those students who are running a project have reported developing loads of new skills, and these will be great case studies for promotion next year. Leeds: Two of our projects have already managed to find legacy for their schemes and are continuing into the future. As a University we will now be focussing on targeting courses and collaborating with other SUs in Leeds. Gloucestershire: The speed at which interest in social enterprise has grown is astounding. If this continues we will have an incredible bunch of students whose ideas have serious longevity. City: Three of our projects have been already working with Cass Mentoring Programme. Need to encourage more joint-up thinking and integration.

43. Contact details Lancaster (Joe, Darren & Tom) – green@lancaster.ac.uk Leeds(Alexis, Anna) greenexchange@leeds.ac.uk Gloucestershire (Silas) – smiller1@glos.ac.uk City (Maria) – maria.xypaki.1@city.ac.uk Bedfordshire (Mary, Scott) - mary.jurance@beds.ac.ukscott.reid@beds.ac.uk Leicester (Charlotte) -cnb7@le.ac.uk

44. Energy in private-rented housing Staffordshire, Northampton, Falmouth & Exeter, Worcester and Sheffield

45. Introductions to your project GreenPad - Staffordshire University Students’ Union Sustainable homes lettings service - home audits of student properties led by student team, meet a specific criteria to be advertised as GreenPads, smart metering system to encourage and reward positive environmental behaviour

46. Key project targets GreenPad Hiring a student team (12 Auditors) Have 40 properties listed by March (Assessed over 140 properties) Save over 140 tC02 Achieve a 50% reduction in properties offering the “all-inclusive” system over 2 years

47. Introductions to your project Planet Too – University of Northampton Students’ Union Student Switch Off+ off campus energy saving competition Green House Kits for students - Useful tips, opportunities and info - Pedometers, lettuce seeds, eco buttons Green House Awards for landlords - Bronze, Silver and Gold level awards - Similar to Green Impact

48. Key project targets Planet Too Distribute 300 Green House Kits (Dec 13) – 300 distributed Recruit 60 student houses Student Switch Off+ 1st Year (Jan 14) – 50 recruited 90 student houses SSO+ 2nd Year (Oct 14) 30 student landlords piloting Green House Awards (Oct 14) Save 480t CO2

49. Introductions to your project • Green Living Project - Falmouth & Exeter Students’ Union • Aim: Lowering energy costs in private student accommodation through take-up of energy efficiency measures such as insulation. • Using Community Energy Plus’ established ‘Warm me up’ programme adjusted for a student audience, train up a team of Home energy assessors to visit student accommodation • Branded Team Cosy, all marketing focuses on ideas of warm and comfortable house.

50. Key project targets • Green Living Project • Visit 200 homes to deliver a HEA • 100 of these should take up energy saving measures (eg. Loft insulation) • Save 11t CO2 over 2 years • Train 6 Home Energy Assessors per year • Educate students in basic energy saving behaviour changes