The Green Bubble is the University’s Student Sustainable Project Group. This group takes action on student ideas to help the University become a more sustainable place. Want to act and make a positive difference at the University? This is the group for you!
It is chaired by the Student Union and feeds into the University’s Social and Environmental Impact Steering Group and provides the University with the student voice on social and environmental sustainability at the University.
Find out more below about the student societies that are involved in the Green Bubble this year. If you are a student and would like to join the group please contact the Social Impact Team – socialimpact@le.ac.uk
CLIMATE CRISIS PROBONO SOCIETY
The Climate Crisis Project is a fundraising and advocacy group functioning to bring light to pressing environmental issues. As an extension of the Pro Bono Society in Leicester Law School, we are geared toward fundraising for urgent causes as they occur, raising awareness, organizing guest speaker lectures, fundraising events, debating competitions, peaceful protests, volunteer excursions, and are in the process of launching a legal clinic for environmental policy cases.
What do you want to achieve?
Our project hopes to shine a light on Greenwashing and ethical action at the institutional level and address cogent legal issues in Environmental law, as the number of cases continues to increase. Our central goal for 2022 is to launch a new policy clinic which we hope to expand into a fully functioning-legal clinic for environmental cases and policy reviews.
What can we see from you over the next year:
In the next year, we plan to introduce multiple new initiatives: 1) We hope to strengthen the network of sustainability-focused groups on campus to further the Green Bubble initiative; 2) launch our new policy clinic for environmentally pressing cases and policy reviews; 3) Urge top-down reform within the university’s infrastructure, to stress the importance of sustainable-practices and transparency going forward. During Go-Green week, we are hosting an online event to tackle sustainable pedagogies within the Law School. We are also planning to host a litter pick volunteering excursion in March 2022, and we encourage all students to get involved.
How can students get involved with your society?
Our project is an extension of the Pro Bono Society at Leicester Law School. The Pro Bono Society website stages two annual recruitment periods, at the start of each respective term. If you are interested in getting involved, apply to join us at the start of the academic term by visiting this webpage: https://www.uolprobono.co.uk/apply
Link to Climate Crisis Probono blog: https://www.uolprobono.co.uk/climate-crisis-blog
INNOVA SOCIETY
Innova Society is a brand-new platform for like-minded students to collaborate and work on innovative projects that have a meaningful, real impact on our community. At Innova, students have the opportunity to convert their aspiring ideas into a reality – ideas that could help reshape the world, that are innovative, creative, original, and inspirational.
What do you want to achieve?
At Innova, we all share a common belief which is the aspiration to innovate and convert challenges into game changing solutions. We would like to collaboratively work to help contribute in making the world a better place by taking part in contemporary projects aimed at solving global problems. These include themes ranging from climate change and sustainability to urban development and space exploration. We would like to be at the forefront of innovation and are optimistic in helping bring a positive transformation in our society.
What can we see from you over the next year:
Over the next 12 months, we aim to increase our participation in variety of projects targeting several sectors within the industry. We would also like to work towards expanding as a society into other universities and organizations and would also be seeking partnerships with professional bodies and businesses to help drive our passion for innovation. We hope to spread our message to invite creative individuals from across the world to our society in order to contribute to our cause in helping make our planet a better place to live and work.
Which Go Green Week event are you most excited for this year?
We believe that the Go Green Week is a fantastic opportunity to create environmental awareness and encourage students to develop interest and gain knowledge into the importance of sustainability. While all planned activities during the week are very creative and contribute to a common vision of promoting a greener world; at Innova, we are highly excited for the Packaging Workshop as it enables participants to brainstorm pioneering solutions in the world of packaging. This topic provides a large area for innovation in terms of the materials, packaging methods, production, logistics and much more. Ideas originated during this workshop can be further developed and submitted as part of future competitions including the Schneider Go Green contest.
How can students get involved with your society?
While being part of Innova, students can adopt new skills, experiences, and knowledge not directly experienced in their respective course. As students, we generally tend to acquire a lot of theoretical knowledge but often do not practically apply it to solve real world problems. We encourage creativity and thinking outside the box to freely design and create your own practical and meaningful solutions so that you can be a part of creating a world that works. Therefore, Innova would be the opportunity for you to spark your ideas and creations.
To get involved, students can join our society via the Leicester Student Union website: https://www.leicesterunion.com/opportunities/societies/findasociety/17566/ -Written by Mohammed A. Siddiqui, Co-Founder and Director of Innova Society
PLAN – IT – CHANGE SOCIETY
Plan-It Change is a society focused on improving sustainability on campus and in the local area. We are passionate about reducing our environmental impact and inspiring other students to do the same. Last year was our society’s very first year of running, and we achieved so much, specifically we spearheaded the University’s ‘Go Green Week’ in February by running a variety of events, from our topical Palm Oil Debate with University experts to our very own Zero-Waste pop-up shop ‘WasteLeics’ which was incredibly successful.
What do you want to achieve?
This semester we have launched our first campaign for the year, a caddy campaign in halls! One of our main goals is to educate on eco-friendly waste management, through creating guidelines on the correct way to recycle and how to reuse disposable materials. Food waste at the University can be used for anaerobic digestion, which is an effective way to add valuable nutrients to soil and reduce carbon emissions by using biogas. For this matter, we have proposed a caddy campaign to allow students to have access to caddies in university owned accommodation. As a society we have created clear guidelines and support on what can be put in the caddies and how small changes can have wider environmental impacts that benefit us all. The caddies should launch in firstly in John Foster halls at the start of March.
How can students get involved with your society?
To sign up with us you can go on the Leicester Student Union website. To hear about all the events we have planned and get to know us follow us on Instagram – @planitchange_uol.
For sustainable tips and for more information take a look at our blog: https://planitchange.wixsite.com/blog/blog
SUSTAINABLE MEDICINE SOCIETY
Provide summary of your society:
Sustainable Medicine is a proactive student society which involves all things climate change, particularly in the healthcare sector. Sustainable medicine is an emerging discipline that aims to promote sustainability in healthcare by ensuring that all resources (buildings, equipment, finances, staff, etc.) are used efficiently and responsibly, and promoting better prevention strategies and social responsibility to patients. I think we can all agree that the NHS can run a bit more efficiently, as current models aren’t sustainable.
What do you want to achieve?
We aim to tackle the problems healthcare causes by educating students on the impact healthcare has on global warming so when they’re working within the healthcare sector, more can be done to reduce our carbon footprint. We also want to increase awareness of the existential crisis we’re in and look for ways to minimise its impacts through, talks, interactive seminars, and projects.
Explain what we should expect to see from you over the next year:
We have some exiting events planned! This includes insightful talks by keynote speakers, passionate about minimising our carbon footprint within healthcare, as well as interactive sustainable seminars to get people talking about climate change, understanding the predicament we are in and thinking about innovative ways to make healthcare greener! We are also involved with the Planetary Health Report Card which aims to evaluate the medical school’s initiative in regards to sustainability and will be presenting at sustainable medicine conferences.
How can students get involved with your society?
It’s easy! Just sign up via the Leicester Student Union website, to hear about all the events we have planned or follow us on our social media platforms @sustainable.med on Instagram and facebook. Signing up doesn’t mean you have to be committed, come to one of our seminars and see if you’re interested! P.S you don’t have to be a medical student to join!