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Interdisciplinary Research Hub on Sustainability & Conservation

The Wolfson College Interdisciplinary Research Hub on Sustainability & Conservation is experimenting with convening interested individuals and organisations to inform, educate, and explore disruptive solutions to the destruction of the natural world.

                                                                                  Page contents

Theory of Change  |  Events  |  Living Lab  |  S&C Stories  |  Mentoring  |  S&C Library Collection  |  People & Getting Involved  |  News  |  Donations  |  Resources  |  Themes discussed  |  Cambridge Resilience Webs

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

With strengths of diversity and subject inclusion, we connect returning professionals, new students from 85+ nations, world-leading researchers and engaged external individuals and organisations. In doing so, we convene a wide variety of disciplines, generations and networks through events, projects, mentoring and more.

We seek to nurture a community of ambition, leadership and action. Utilising our maturity of experience and global reach, we hope to train the future decision makers and thought leaders across disciplines and industries to feel appropriately equipped to speak up for the betterment of the natural world and global society.

Page updated: Fri 16 July 2021

     Facebook   |   Instagram   |   sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk   |   Ms. Golnar Malek (alumnus) testimonial

 

 

Theory of Change (what we do and how)

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, and by growing each branch we nurture the whole community (the trunk). Our ToC is therefore ever-developing and under constant revision. And so it grows. The graphics below are accompanied by a textual strategy document (updated April 2021), describing each branch in greater detail. An interactive ToC graphic is currently in development.

Theory of Change and timeline for 2021
Updated July 2021 - you can also access the timeline image here.

 

Theory of Change version history:

Version 1.3 - Lee Hall session - 8 Oct 2020 

Version 2.1 - Proactive Members and Convenors - 11 Nov 2020

Version 2.2 - Kickstarting a Green 2021 @ Wolfson - 26 Feb 2021

Version 3.1 - Feb-June 2021

Version 3.2 - (current)

 

 

Activities

Want further information on anything on this page, email: sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk

 

Events Programme 

Keep your eyes peeled for any exciting new events with us. Join our mailing list here to keep up to date with us.

Events Programme 2022
Event Date (Time)

Legal Sustainability: The need to rethink Law Holistically with Markus P. Beham

Tues 5 April 

16:30-17:30

Lee Hall

AGM (annual general meeting)

Thur 5 May

17:00-18:00

Online

Cambridge Green Week 2022

Find out more here

Mon 2 -Fri 8 May

Cambridge
Wolfson End-of-Year Sustainability Drinks + Nibbles

Fri 17 June

18:15- 19:30

Fuchs House

Representing Climate: The Role of Art in the Anthropocene

Mon 20 June

15:00-16:00

Lee Hall
End of Year S&C Hub Formal Dinner

Fri 15 Jul

19:15 onwards

Dining Hall
What are the issues you care about

Thurs 8 Sept

13:00-14:00

Club Room
Sustainability 101: All course welcome

Wed 5 Oct

16:00-17:00

Lee Room
 S&C Hub Theory of Change workshop

Thurs 6 Oct

12:30-13:30

Lee Hall

Is the Climate Emergency a Failure of Inclusion

Fri 14 oct

16:00-18:30

Lee Hall

Sustainability Mentors: meet and greet

Mon 14 Nov

Tba

Tba

Michaelmas term S&C hub green dinner

Wed 30 Nov 

19:00

Dining Hall

 

 

 

 

Events Programme 2021

Event

Date (Time)

Kickstarting a Green 2021 @ Wolfson

> find the live minutes document here.

Fri 26 Feb 2021 (16:00-17:00)

Green Society + S&C Hub collab; Green talk - Climate Fail: How the green movement made climate change worse... And how we can fix it

> watch the recording here.

Wed 7 April (18:00-19:00)

Milestone: Wolfson Research Event (WRE)

28 - 30 April

WRE: Wolfson S&C Stories (posters)

> see poster here

Wed 28 - Fri 30 April

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)

> see poster: Resource Efficiency through Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity

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: Pathway to a sustainable future: Wolfson Who's who (Fellows-only)

Mon 5 July

S&C AW: Wolfson S&C Stories webpages launch

Tues 6 July

S&C AW: Wants + Offers list: Year Past Year Ahead

Thur 8 July

S&C AW: Beyond Net-Zero: what does a regenerative College look like? (Lee Hall)

Fri 9 July

S&C AW: S&C Hub Formal Hall (Dining Hall)

Fri 9 July

S&C AW: S&C Hub Informal Social (Wolfson bar)

Sat 10 July

S&C AW: Annual Report released

Sun 11 July

Monthly meet up

Fri 30 July

Monthly meet up

Fri 27 Aug

Monthly meet up

Fri 24 Sept

S&C Hub Theory of Change 2021-2022

Thur 7 Oct 12:30-13:30

Milestone: COP26 at Wolfson - Green Week

18 - 24 Oct

Monthly meet up

Fri 29 Oct

United Nations COP26 Climate Change Conference 2021

1 - 12 Nov

S&C Hub Social (last monthly meet up of 2021)

Fri 26 Nov
All past events (recorded)

All available Wolfson event recordings can be found on Wolfsons Media Collection.
Event Date (Time)
COP26 at Wolfson Mon 18 Oct- Sun 24 Oct

Green Society + S&C Hub collab; Green talk - Climate Fail: How the green movement made climate change worse... And how we can fix it
> watch the recording here.

 Wed 7 April (18:00-19:00)

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
> minutes/version history found above.

 Thur 8 Oct 2020 (12:30-13:30)

Why do we care and the beginnings of action - S&C Hub
> watch the recording here.
> compiled minutes here.

 Fri 11 Sept 2020 (13:00-14:30)

Issues we care about - S&C Hub
> watch the recording here.
> compiled minutes here.

 Fri 10 July 2020 (13:00-14:00)
External

See this big list of Sustainability Events in Cambridge.

 

 

The Wolfson College Living Lab

The Wolfson College Living Lab platforms and supports projects that have an actionable or demonstrable ‘green’ impact to the College estate, its community or its wider network.

Visit the Wolfson College Living Lab.

Special thanks to the Hoath Family for their generous donation, and thanks to Charlie Barty-King, Darren Smith (Domestic Bursar), and the Alumni & Development Office for devising the Living Lab.

Testimonials:

 

Wolfson's Sustainability & Conservation Stories

Grown from the Curation & Librarianship branch of our Theory of Change tree, we want to capture and celebrate both the individual, and Wolfson's collective, successes in sustainability, climate action and the natural world from the past and present, and into the future 🌿📖 submit a story, anecdote, or other media:

Visit the Wolfson Sustainability & Conservation Stories

Special thanks for the S&C Stories working group:

  • Konstantinos Korakakis (student)
  • Golnar Malek (alumni)
  • Steve Evans (Fellow)
  • Matthias Wong (staff)
  • Charlie Barty-King (student)
  • Rebecca Simons (staff)

 

Mentoring

Providing avenues for Wolfson alumni, Fellows and friends to mentor the Wolfson student body and staff, creating cross-talk, training and knowledge transfer across an international community. Being a mentor is as involved or low maintenance as desired, from a casual chat, to advising on projects, to actively supervising students academically or otherwise.

Read Wolfson alumnus Alain Kilajian's experience mentoring Santiago Sottil as Santiago completed his Waste to Art project and became the first recipient of the Wolfson Living Lab Award (2021).

Interested in hearing more or becoming a mentor? Email: sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk

 

S&C Hub library collection

Grown from the Curation & Librarianship branch of our Theory of Change tree, we are developing an approach to curation and librarianship of sustainability and conservation knowledge. Therefore, as a first step and in collaboration with the Wolfson Library, we have created a Wolfson Sustainability & Conservation Library Collection. This will feature relevant books, outputs and materials on the theme of sustainability or conservation in their broadest sense. For now, we take a particular focus on published works of Wolfson alumni, Wolfson student academic reports, and outputs from the Wolfson Living Lab and S&C Stories.

A page is under construction, however, so far in the S&C Hub Library Collection are:

 If you would like works featured, please contact us directly: sc-hub@wolfson.cam.ac.uk

 

Cambridge Resilience Webs ⛳️ 

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

Visit the Cambridge Resilience Web

What are the Cambridge Resilience Webs?

Developed in collaboration by volunteers from Transition Cambridge, Cambridge Doughnut, Lena Morrill and Charlie Barty-King. All code and data is open source on github; university and city.

 

 

News

 

People, Connections, and Getting Involved

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

Join as a:

  • Member
  • Proactive Member
  • Convenor
  • Wolfson Fellow
Members 🍀


Members 🍀

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  🌿

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

Santiago Sottil
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
Rebecca Simons (Administrator)

Previous Convenors

Guillaume Nataf
Richard Manlove
Matthias Wong

Wolfson Fellows 🐺💚


Wolfson Fellows 🐺💚

A growing list of the Wolfson's fellowship (in order of addition) working within the broad themes of sustainability or conservation.

Professor Steve Evans
Professor John French
Dr Anna Dempster
Professor Alexei Lapkin
Professor Dick Fenner
Dr Steve Hoath
Dr Thomas McCoy
Professor Christi Deaton
Dr Sue Swaffield
Dr Florence Nabwire
Dr George Kakavelakis
Professor Ann Copestake
Professor Jane Clarke

Past Wolfson S&C Hub Fellows

Dr George Kakavelakis

 

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

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

A testimonial from Wolfson alumnus Golnar Malek on 'An amazing journey together', reflections as a member of the S&C Hub.

A testimonial from Wolfson alumnus Reinhard Nyandire on 'most notable achievements during the covid-19 pandemic', reflections as a founding member of the S&C Hub.

A testimonial from Wolfson PhD George Carew-Jones on 'why did I chose Wolfson'.

Email: 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 - choose "Other" in Designation and type "S&C Hub Fund".

Alternatively, you can discuss your gift with Sian, our Development Director: development-director@wolfson.cam.ac.uk.

Donations of every size, together, make a huge difference. All S&C Hub activities, costs and awards are funded through generous philanthropy.

 

 

Resources

Many Other Resources:

Key Reading

 

Education, Engagement & Visualisations

 

  • Primary School Energy Mapping educational resource. Free full project resource to teach budding young scientists at Primary Schools the benefits of renewable energy and its potential to permanently replace fossil fuels.
  • Faculty for a Future. "Helps academics who feel a duty of care over Earth’s colliding crises to transform research, teaching, and public engagement towards the pursuit of a better future."
  • Gapminder. "An independent educational non-profit fighting global misconceptions".
  • TalkingClimate handbook, a great free resource from Climate Outreach designed to support constructive conversations about climate change.
  • En-ROADS. See what the effect of various climate policies would be if put into effect, thanks to researchers at MIT.
  • Earth. "A visualization of global weather conditions, forecast by supercomputers, updated every three hours".
  • National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement - "inspiring and supporting universities to engage with the public, ...seeking to support a culture change in the UK higher education sector through our vision, mission and aims".
  • OpenGuitar. A project delivering STEM education to children and teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds through building their own experimental guitars, run by Wolfson CRA (College Research Associate) Dr Fernando Bravo.
Business & Financial

 

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.
  • Food Systems Handbook. 400+ resources on the current global food crisis.
Conservation & Biodiversity

 

  • Conservation Evidence - a free, accessible and authoritative information resource for anyone making decisions about how to maintain and restore biodiversity, Conservation Evidence documents the evidence on the effectiveness of conservation actions to support decisions on how to best maintain and restore global biodiversity.
  • Conservation Strategy Fund - "uses economics to benefit people and nature" to facilitate "a world where policy and human behaviour incorporate the understanding that economic development and the conservation of our limited natural resources are possible together".
  • International Union for the Conservation of Nature - "a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations" that "harnesses the experience, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations, and the input of some 15,000 experts, to be the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it".
  • Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) - the conservation scientists' equivalent of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) group of climate scientists, the IPBES is "an independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development".
Energy, Emissions & Sea Level

 

Recycling, Re-use & Donating

 

  • Warpit - Helps gets the best value out of surplus resources from the University by finding owners for usable items that would otherwise have to be disposed of, cutting both procurement and waste disposal costs.
  • Life is a Gift - "an open group where people living in the Greater Cambridge area (the city and first ring of villages) can come together without the use of money and offer skills, request services or just find free stuff. A parallel gift economy."
  • Freecycle - "a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Membership is free, and everything posted must be free, legal and appropriate for all ages."
  • Where to Donate in Cambridge to support our vulnerable and homeless community - " a list of all the various places to make donations across the city, including organisations which are looking for volunteers and money donations."
Well-being

 

  • Well-being Economy Alliance - "a collaboration of organisations, alliances, movements and individuals working towards a wellbeing economy, delivering human and ecological wellbeing."
General

 

  • 10 new insights in Climate Science. #COP26. A video from the United Nations.
  • A Just Transition  An illuminating report that explains the likely impacts of a transition to low and no-carbon energy sources on human rights, highlighting the need for a Just Transition. Credit: IHRB
  • The Great Simplification - An animated podcast by Nate Hagens that explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament. Conversation topics span human behaviour, monetary/economic systems, energy, ecology, geopolitics and the environment. 
  • Cambridge Zero. Cambridge University initiative to combat climate change. Lots of useful resources, information and potential ideas for collaboration.
  • Annual reports. All the annual sustainability report from the University of Cambridge
  • 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.
Film/TV, Podcasts, Content Creation & Advertisement

 

  • We Are Albert - Environmental Sustainability in Film & TV. An emerging broadcast authority funded by the industry to regulate environmental sustainability in film and TV, providing FREE resources and training for industry execs and budding film makers alike.
  • The Do One Better Podcast in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Founded in 2019 by Alberto Lidji, Wolfson alumnus and former CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation, with more than 100 episodes featuring Paul Polman, Sir David King, Julia Gillard, David Miliband, David Lynch and many others.
  • Green Claims Code - the UK government's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has developed the Green Claims Code, setting out 6 key points to check environmental claims from businesses are genuinely green.
Built Environment

 

Wolfson Specific

Green Talks - a Wolfson termly lecture series by the Wolfson Green Society, all recordings here

  • Book  - Sustainable Masonry in Construction by Mark Key (Wolfson alumnus, used Wolfson site for his book).  Borrow a copy from the Wolfson Library anytime!
  • Video - An introduction to the Wolfson gardens (Phil Stigwood, 2015)
  • Video - A tour of the Wolfson's secret gardens (Oscar Holgate, 2020)
Cambridgeshire Specific

 

  • Greenbridge - a student-led facebook group for all Cambridgeshire based environment, climate and sustainability related publicity, recruitment and discussion to be shared.
  • Cambridgeshire Climate Emergency and Map - "a coordinated network of community groups across Cambridgeshire driving rapid transformation to achieve zero carbon".
  • A good list of Sustainability Events in Cambridge
  • Repository of all Annual Environmental and Sustainability Reports from the University of Cambridge.
  • Online training course pinboard - compiled by Cambridge Researcher Development (CRD) team: all researcher development opportunities available to postgraduate research students across the University, including courses designed and delivered by the CRD team, Public Engagement, the Office of Scholarly Communications, LinkedIn and more.
  • Cambridge Colleges Biodiversity Report 2020-2021 - a biodiversity report of the Cambridge Colleges, authored by non-Wolfson student Kirsty Mackinlay for her Engage for Change Project 2021. The report contains fantastic overview and advice garnered from extensive interviews and research, done in collaboration with a majority of the Cambridge College’s Head Gardeners.

University articles for further reading:

Relevant Art for inspiration

 

 

Climate Risk

 

  • September 2021 Climate Risk Summit session recordings, blogs and summary for policy makers are now available to all, from Cambridge Zero and COP26.
Free Data

 

  • WorldPop - Open Spatial Demographic Data and Research
News & Positive Coverage

 

  • Carbon Brief - A "UK-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy" using "clear, data-driven articles and graphics to help improve the understanding of climate change, both in terms of the science and the policy response".
  • Positive News - "Positive News is the magazine for good journalism about good things. When much of the media is full of doom and gloom, instead Positive News is the first media organisation in the world that is dedicated to quality, independent reporting about what’s going right."

 

 

What we have discussed so far

Key questions posed in devising our Theory of Change:

  • What makes you most angry?
  • What makes you most happy?
  • Why are you here and where can we can act as a Hub?
  • What do you think the problem actually is?
  • What can we do about it?
  • What should we do next?

Themes discussed:

  • Personal vs Corporate vs Government Responsibility
  • Climate Change
  • Biodiversity
  • Humanity and Nature
  • How to properly integrate the Arts & Creative industries with S&C?
  • Why isn't all S&C knowledge open source?
  • Sustainable Food Systems
  • Achieving an equitable and just transition for all human beings regardless of circumstance

What words we associated with "sustainability" or "conservation":

S&C Hub keywords association
Keywords asked of attendees while waiting for "Kickstarting a Green 2021 @ Wolfson" to begin (26 Feb 2021)

 

Quick links

Donate here
Facebook @sc.hub.wolfson
Instagram @sc.hub.wolfson

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