Interdisciplinary Research Hub on Sustainability & Conservation

Destruction of the natural world is the international problem of our times and a truly interdisciplinary challenge. As the risk of environmental collapse effects us all, our work draws from Wolfson’s international and diverse network, membership and friends to trigger the deep changes needed to wider global systems. We accomplish this through an interdisciplinary focus, multi-generational collaboration and systems thinking.

Contact: sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk
Facebook here

Page updated: Wed 31 March 2021

Theory of Change (what we do and how)

Drawing on Wolfson's strengths of diversity and inclusion, the S&C Hub connects returning professionals, new students from 85+ nations, world-leading researchers and engaged external individuals and organisations. We convene a wide variety of disciplines, generations and networks through events, projects, mentoring and more.

An ever-developing approach for 2021 is set out in our Theory of Change.

Theory of Change Tree

In our Theory of Change (ToC), we use the metaphor of a tree and the language of ‘branches’ to describe sets of activities that share a characteristic. No one branch is ‘above’ the other. By nurturing each branch you feed the others and our Theory of Change, the tree, grows. An interactive ToC graphic is currently in development.

S&C Tree — Theory of Change tree, with the community as our trunk

S&C Hub timeline 2021

A graphical timeline of our ToC and events programme 2021

S&C Hub timeplan 2021 — Updated March 2021 - you can also access this image here.

Strategy 2021

The ToC and timeline are accompanied by a textual strategy document that describes each branch and its activities (Feb 2021, currently being updated).

We seek to nurture a community of ambition, leadership and action. Through our maturity of experience and global reach, we hope to appropriately equip the future 'green' decision makers and thought leaders across disciplines and industries for the betterment of the natural world and global society.

Theory of Change version history

Our legacy Theory of Change documents:

Version 1 - Lee Hall session - 8 Oct 2020

Version 2 - Proactive Members and Convenors - 11 Nov 2020

Version 2.5 - Kickstarting a Green 2021 @ Wolfson - 26 Feb 2021

Version 3 (current) - under construction

Events, Projects and Activities

Next three events

Green Society Green talk - Climate Fail: How the green movement made climate change worse... And how we can fix it	Wed 7 April (18:00-19:00)
Monthly meet up	Fri 30 April
WRE: How to be more interdisciplinary confident & friendly	Tues 4 May (14:30-16:30)

Events Programme

Events Programme 2021

Monthly Hub meet ups on the last Friday of each month (time variable)

*New events will be added as our plans grow*.
*Completed events put into "Past events (recorded)" where applicable and removed*
Event	Date (Time)
Milestone: Wolfson Research Event (WRE)	28-30 April
WRE: Wolfson S&C Stories (posters)	Wed 28 - Fri 30 April
Green Society Green talk - Climate Fail: How the green movement made climate change worse... And how we can fix it	Wed 7 April (18:00-19:00)
Monthly meet up	Fri 30 April
WRE: How to be more interdisciplinary confident & friendly	Tues 4 May (14:30-16:30)
COP26: Climate Exp0 - Green Recovery poster presentation (Wolfson S&C Stories)	Mon 17 May
Monthly meet up	Fri 28 May
Monthly meet up	Fri 25 June
Milestone: S&C Hub Anniversary Week (S&C AW)	5 - 11 July
S&C AW: Wolfson S&C Stories (posters + booklet)	Mon 5 - Sun 11 July
S&C AW: Want/Offer list	Mon 5 - Sun 11 July
S&C AW: Pathway to a sustainable future: Wolfson's Who's who - views from many disciplines	Mon 5 July
S&C AW: System's of Sustainability & Conservation	Wed 7 July
S&C AW: Beyond Net-Zero: what does a restorative College look like?	Fri 9 July
Monthly meet up	Fri 30 July
Monthly meet up	Fri 27 Aug
Monthly meet up	Fri 24 Sept
Structuring the Cambridge S&C platform	Thurs 15 Oct
Milestone: COP26 at Wolfson	18 - 31 Oct
Monthly meet up	Fri 29 Oct
Milestone: COP-26 Climate Change Conference	1 -12 Nov
COP26: Climate Anxiety	tba
Monthly meet up	Fri 26 Nov
S&C Hub 10 year timeplan	Wed 15 Dec

Past events (recorded)

All available event recordings can be found on Wolfsons Media Collection.
Event	Date (Time)
Kickstarting a Green 2021 @ Wolfson > find the live minutes document here.	Fri 26 Feb 2021 (16:00-17:00)
Hub Progress + Looking Forward - S&C Hub Open meeting > watch the recording here.	Mon 14 Dec 2020 (13:00-14:00)
ASEAN Emerging Researchers Hub - Challenges in Global Development: Sustainability and Conservation > watch the recording here.	Mon 30 Nov 2020 (09:30-11:30)
Devising our Theory of Change	Thur 8 Oct 2020 (12:30-13:30)
Why do we care and the beginnings of action - S&C Hub > watch the recording here.	Fri 11 Sept 2020 (13:00-14:30)
Issues we care about - S&C Hub > watch the recording here.	Fri 10 July 2020 (13:00-14:00)

The Wolfson Living Lab (projects)

The Wolfson Living Lab is for interest or academic projects that have an actionable or demonstratable ‘green’ impact to the Wolfson community, site or wider network. Some suggested areas of interest for Wolfson Living Lab projects:

Humanities through a ‘green’ lens
Art eco-projects e.g. Waste to Art
Content Creation
Sustainable Living
Policy
Wolfson Utilities Research (heating, lighting, electricity)
Recycling and Food
Mental health and sustainability
Biodiversity and wilding the Wolfson site
Technological Solutions
Economics and Entrepreneurialism

These are as a guide only, if you have a compelling idea, please still get in touch!

There are multiple funds up to £500 available for Living Lab projects. Either for equipment, resources or remuneration for your time. All applications will be considered on their own merit. To apply, download our form here and once complete send to sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk to arrange a meeting.

Here is a list of our current Living Lab projects:

Wolfson's Sustainability & Conservation Stories

A project to compile and recognise Wolfson's past and current efforts in the area of S&C. We want to comprehend, acknowledge and celebrate our strengths, weaknesses, network and past successes to be most as productive yet ambition as we can be. Therefore, we seek your Wolfson sustainability and conservation story...

...see some examples and tell us your story here.

Contribute...

Information: We are looking for news, anecdotes, media, projects or any information at all on your past and current sustainability and conservation efforts.

Stories working group...

Konstantinos Korakakis
Golnar Malek
Steve Evans
Matthias Wong
Charlie Barty-King

We are keen to welcome many others on to this project. If you would like to join our working group, please get in contact 🐺 sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk

Waste to Art (multiple projects)

Waste to Art projects consist, well, of getting creative with waste to produce art.

Food Waste to Art (Santiago Sottil)

A series of three still lifes, in the style of the 'old masters', created with leftover food collected from the plates of Wolfson’s cafeteria customers. The goal is to raise awareness of food waste by starting with our own plates. The still lifes will be displayed in Lent term in the Gallery, next to the Cafeteria. Santiago setting up

To highlight the environmental impact of the food, each work will include a short description with an estimation of the value lost, carbon emissions, and water requirements. A list of practical tips to reduce household food waste will also be displayed at the end of the exhibition.

Recycled Waste to Art (Anne Waburi)

Information incoming.

LED outdoor light fitting @ Wolfson

A project to aid Wolfson College in converting all its outdoor CFL light fittings to more sustainable LED fixtures.

Contribute...

Information: We're looking for information or experiences of suitable outdoor LED fixtures.

People

Caleb Deck
Neil Newham (Wolfson's Clerk of the Works)

Cambridge Resilience Webs ⛳️

Interactive webs of environmental (and some social justice) related organisations in Cambridge ⛳️ covering both the City and the University:

Cambridge Resilience Webs

All code and data is open source on github; university and city.

There is little cross-talk between the multitude of Cambridge-based groups working towards the same common good. This project is an effort to combat this is and curate a helpful map of all 'green'-related institutes, centres, departments, societies and organisations in the Cambridge area. On each map, click on a node to be taken to the organisations website. If your organisation isn't yet included but you would like to be, get in contact: sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk

The time to act is diminishing, the need for a concerted and international Sustainability and Conservation Hub is growing.

Contribute...

Information: please tell us of any organisations we have missed.
Resources: we would like to rework the code and organisational connections made.

People

Lena Morrill (University web)
Charlie Barty-King (University web)
Volunteers from Transition Cambridge (Cambridge-town web)
Volunteers from Cambridge Doughnut (Cambridge-town web)

Other Activities

Sustainability takes centre stage at Wolfson College - article

Green Society of Wolfson College - article and Society webpage

Green Talks - termly lecture series, all recordings here

Green Impact Gold Award 2019-2020 and Student Leadership Award (Charlie Barty-King) - article

Green Impact Gold Award 2017-2018

Green Impact Gold Award 2016-2017 and Environmental Improvement Award (Alain Kilajian) - article

People, Connections and how to get involved

We are open to all people: public, professional and academic 🌿

Members 🍀

Members 🍀 (click for list)

The growing list of S&C Hub members.

Are you a Wolfson College member past or present? Join Wolfson Connect, the College's official Alumni portal.

Proactive Members 🌿

Proactive Members 🌿 (click for info and projects)

Members who are proactively involved in our projects and organisational meetings.

Santiago Sottil
Zach Whit
Anne Waburi
Caleb Deck
Keshav Srinivasan
Konstantinos Korakakis
Nyandire Reinhard Bonke
Rae White
Golnar Malek
Charlie Barty-King

Convenors 🍃

Convenors 🍃 (comprised of Fellows, Students, Staff and Alumni)

The organising group

Charlie Barty-King
Sian Cook
Steve Evans
John French
Rae White
Matthias Wong
Nyandire Reinhard Bonke
Konstantinos Korakakis
Caroline Elvidge

Wolfson Fellows 🐺💚

Wolfson Fellows 🐺💚

A growing (currently incomplete) list of the Wolfson's fellowship working within the themes of sustainability or conservation.

Professor Steve Evans
Professor John French
Professor Alexei Lapkin
Professor Dick Fenner

Cambridge Resilience Webs ⛳️

Interactive webs of environmental (and some social justice) related organisations in Cambridge ⛳️ covering both the City and the University:

Cambridge Resilience Webs

All code and data is open source on github; university and city.

The time to act is diminishing, the need for a concerted and international Sustainability and Conservation Hub is growing.

Maps developed by volunteers from Transition Cambridge, Cambridge Doughnut, Lena Morrill and Charlie Barty-King.

To contribute:
- Come to our events and join in the discussion
- Aid our events organisations
- Create your own project/event with our support
- Provide mentorship to Wolfson students
- Donate financial or other resources
Join as a:
- Member
- Proactive Member
- co-Convenor
- Wolfson Fellow
Reach out to us for a one-on-one meeting or to join our mailing list.

Global issues today are simultaneously individual, collective and societal; everyone should have a say in how to resolve them.

Contact: sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk

Donations

Donations in support of the Sustainability and Conservation Hub can be made through Wolfson's Annual Giving page - https://wolfson.cam.ac.uk/annualgiving

Chose "Other" in Designation and type "S&C Hub Fund".

Alternatively, discuss with the fundraising office: development-admin@wolfson.cam.ac.uk.

Other Resources

Key Reading

80,000 hours. "A guide to using your career to help solve the worlds most pressing problems".
Community Power Empowers. Report on what individuals can do collectively right now to tackle climate change in their own community.
Sustainable Energy - without the hot air - seminal book by David Mackay, released fully online for free.
Food Systems Handbook. 400+ resources on the current global food crisis.
TalkingClimate handbook, a great free resource from Climate Outreach designed to support constructive conversations about climate change.
How to get to Absolute Zero. A presentation by Professor Julian Allwood. Full report here.
Panel discussion: Why has it taken so long to take climate change seriously?

Financial

Switch It. Find out if your money is funding fossil fuels. Helps to inform you if you should switch bank or energy provider.
Make money matter. Making sure your pension is invested with intention. Easy way to make significant difference with minimal effort.
Portfolio Earth. An initiative that reports on the banking sector’s role in the global biodiversity crisis. See their report "Bankrolling Extinction".
Ethnical Banking. The Queen's College guide to Ethical Banking (part of their Easter Green Week 2021), excellent resource, with accompanying recorded event.

Food

Cambridge Co-farm. A community run and owned farm. Purchase locally grown and surplus foods to your door with their local delivery service, or see their website for volunteering opportunities and other resources.

General

Cambridge Zero. University initiative to combat climate change. Lots of useful resources, information and potential ideas for collaboration.
You Plan Your Planet "...a joint project between Google, the California Academy of Sciences and The Ellen MacArthur Foundation designed to help you find simple, everyday, and science-based ways to improve your impact on the planet.".
See the S&C Hub's own Professor Steve Evans discussing Manufacturing Sustainability. Recording here, follow up Q&A here.
Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops. Free educational video series on the feedback loops of the climate.
Christ's College Climate Seminar Series. Free lecture series co-organised with Christ's College and Cambridge's Centre for Science and Policy.

Wolfson Specific