City, University of London (LEAD - 10 UNIS)

London Student Sustainability Conference 2023

The London Student Sustainability Conference is a cross-university, student-led event, with students from across London exhibiting their research and projects related to the SDGs through presentations, posters, and workshops. The Conference offers presenters and delegates the opportunity to find out more about the incredible climate and sustainability work and research being undertaken by students across the capital, and the opportunity to network and build vital relationships with like-minded students. For student presenters, it allows them to gain confidence in presenting their sustainability work.

This year’s Conference was hybrid for the first time, with the main conference taking place in-person, but all presentations being livestreamed too, to allow an even broader audience to engage. The working group involved in the planning and delivery now includes 10 London-based Higher Education Institution, who volunteer to take part. The Conference highlights the interconnected nature of the SDGs and the necessity of working in partnership across disciplines to achieve them, a principle embedded by ensuring each session was varied in regard to topics and specialisms.

The Conference saw forty-two students, representing thirteen different London Universities, given the opportunity to share how their research and extra-curricular activities helped tackle some of the world’s most critical issues. In addition to this, a total of fifty-eight posters were displayed both at the Conference in an online exhibition space. 

Top 3 Learnings

1. Collaboration across universities brings increased impact and engagement.
2. Giving students the opportunity to showcase their own work (bottom up approach) and be heard is so important, rather than being dictated to all the time.
3. Providing a platform for students to share their research and/or their extracurricular activities helps to inspire and engage a wide reaching and non-specialist audience.