Sustainable Projects Fund

• AU Reusable Water Bottles (Funds awarded: £2200)

Applicant: Jorge Stevenson

Project description:  Supplying reusable water bottles to opt-in LSESU athletics clubs to reduce use of single use plastic water bottles by members at events.

• Careers in Sustainability: creating new digital resources to inform and inspire students (Funds awarded: £1000)

Applicants: Lewis Humphreys, Kathryn Goodfellow

Project description: To increase awareness and educate students about Careers in Sustainability through the student-led creation of two videos and two podcasts on this topic.

• Global Circular Challenge (Funds awarded: £5000)

Applicants: Dr Jason Wong, Dr Thomas Smith

Project description: To support the running of the Global Circular Challenge, the Department of Geography and Environment's eight-week international competition focused on sustainable packaging.

• Cambridge Eco-Mosque Project Trip (Funds awarded: £2000)

Applicants: Hashim Chowdhary, Taibah Al-Fagih

Project description: The LSESU Islamic Society will run a trip to the Cambridge Central Mosque, Europe’s first eco-mosque, to educate the LSE Muslim and non-Muslim community about religious responsibilities towards the environment as stewards of the Earth.

• LSE Fashion Show (Funds awarded: £1000)

Applicants: Victoria Tay, Thea Burguin, Angelina Juventia, Faline Wu

Project description: The LSESU Fashion Society's Fashion Show will promote sustainable methods of creating fashion pieces and reach out to individuals in LSE to showcase their work. In addition it will highlight the importance of collaboration in the LSE community, not only to stand together against environmental concerns, but also towards persistent societal changes.

• Sustainable Periods Project (Funds awarded: £1600)

Applicant: Anushka Srivstava

Project description: To facilitate education and awareness among female students on campus about the use of menstrual cups instead of single use menstrual products like tampons and sanitary pads. This will also reduce the amount of waste on campus and LSE student halls.

• Student Halls Recycling Bins (Funds awarded: £500)

Applicants: Sehar Vedi, Hui Chun Hei

Project description: This project is for the purchase of recycling bins to be added to every student room, to encourage recycling and make it easier.

• Passfield Hall Garden Redevelopment (Funds awarded: £2000)

Applicants: Imogen White, Tahrima Akthar, Ibolya Trebert

Project description: To renovate the garden at Passfield Hall to make it a more appealing environmental space, benefitting student residents and local wildlife.

• The Phelan US Centre Syllabus Hub on Sustainability and Climate Change (Funds awarded: £3000)

Applicants: Vivekah Deerpaul, Joss Harrison

Project description: To support an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the creation of an international hub and convening space for climate change and sustainability syllabuses, especially as they relate to the United States, to provide a critical resource for students and academics both at LSE and around the world.

• Building a Sustainability Culture: Using behavioural science to enhance and test LSE’s Sustainability e-module (Funds awarded: £1700)

Applicant: Anandita Sabherwal

Departments: Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment; Psychological and Behavioural Sciences                                               

Project Description: Modify the contents of the LSE sustainability e-module so that it not only educates, but also motivates students and staff to take sustainable action. Increase the reach of the module to the wider LSE community; and Quantitatively test the effects of the module on LSE’s sustainability culture and action, using 300 paid research participants.

• Earthrise Journal (Funds awarded: £357)

Applicants: Saskia Straub, Emily Douglas, Yasmina O’Sullivan

Departments: Department of Government, Department of Geography

Project Description: Earthrise Journal is a student-led environmental community and platform, founded at LSE. The journal is published four times a year, made up of contributions from students at LSE and other universities. These contributions can be poems, articles, photography, art, music playlists, and more. Their uniting feature is their expression of thoughts and feelings around the environment and environmental issues. The journal is included on school reading lists and active on social media.

• The Great Food Fight (Funds awarded: £2800)

Applicants: Kitty Thompson, Will Power, Ili Rahan, Johannes Rosebusch, Lucrezia Portigliatti

Departments: Geography & Environment, Economics & Government

Project Description: To focuses on cutting LSE’s food waste. By collaborating with key stakeholders at LSE and analysing current initiatives, this report suggests the following steps be taken: Engage in establishing external partnerships with sustainable, local organisations such as Too Good to Go and food waste conscious brands such as Square Root Soda. Strengthen existing protocol by formalising operations of LSE FoodCycle’s partnership with LSE Catering and LSE Volunteering.

•  LSE Cycling Initiative (Funds awarded: £645)

Applicants: Jamie Riddick, Julia Schoenfeld, Jessica Smith, Jan Mlynarczyk

Departments: Geography, Economics, Law, History and Politics

Project Description: To increase sustainability and cut Scope 3 emissions by encouraging LSE students to cycle to campus. As well as significantly reducing carbon footprint, another key aim is to improve student mental health. Free cycling lessons to be offered to LSE students who lack the confidence to cycle around the busy streets of London. Free branded merchandise and a social event would also be offered alongside these lessons. The team would like to create route maps to help students travel safely to campus. Branded merchandise would be provided at lessons, at events and in the LSESU Shop, some given free.

• Freshers Fair Project (Funds awarded up to £5000)

Applicants: Michelle Soh, Nicole Jin, Fiona Tan

Departments: Geography, International Relations, Economics

Project Description: to increase sustainability at the LSE through the freshers’ fair initiative by reducing waste by going plastic- and paper-free by: Eliminating sales gimmicks and promotional flyers, recycling previous fairs’ materials, cancelling the contract with dig-in boxes for LSE halls, introducing guidelines for societies and external organisations to follow (to have a booth at the fair)...

• Fashion with a conscience: A Sustainable Fashion Show and documentary (Funds awarded: £550)

Applicants: Alice Rigo Saitta, Farzeen Shafe, Natalie Yum, Inay Inham, Thea Burguin

Departments: Sociology and Management

Project Description: Produce a Sustainable fashion show & documentary ‘Fashion with a Conscience’ to raise awareness of the fashion industry is a key source of greenhouse gas emissions.

• The Great Plastic Divestment (Funds awarded: £1100)

Applicants: Thaïs Nuvoli, Carmen Lau, Jorge Stevenson, Martina Beleva

Departments: Geography & Environment, Government, Economics, Statistics

Project Description: To reduce single-use plastics purchased at LSE, eliminate plastic litter on campus and improve waste data collection. The project consists of three components:

1.         Create a Zero Waste Shop section in the LSESU Store to provide zero waste alternatives of conventional products.

2.         Purchase two ‘Ballot Bins’ to encourage disposing of cigarette butts properly instead of throwing them on the floor.

3.         Provide a detailed waste audit on the contents of Mixed Recycling and General Waste bins across campus to enable a targeted waste reduction approach in the future.

• Welcome Week Halls Auctions 

Applicant: Amir Mirzaei
Department: Economics (Funds awarded: £600)

Project Description: Holding auctions at the start of every academic year at multiple undergraduate halls of residence to reuse and recycle second-hand items instead of throwing them away – has been running at Bankside for past two years.  

• LSESU Marine Society Expedition: exploring environmental policies for The Blue New Deal

Applicants: Grace Chapman, Alice Bessonnet, Julius Koschnick
Departments: Economic & International History, 
Geography & Environment (Funds awarded: £2514)

Project Description: During a sustainable sailing expedition of one week in Scotland, in collaboration with Sail Britain, an interdisciplinary arts/science project working towards positive change for the oceans, we want to understand the local implications of climate change for the ocean in order to inform policy proposals. A ‘think tank’ for the ocean made on the ocean, titled “The Blue New Deal”.  

• LSE Enactus Vita Nova Tote Bags 

Applicant: Saachin Sivakumar
Department: Accounting (Funds awarded: £530)

Project Description: To tackle the issue of waste reduction and fast fashion by collecting unwanted/wasted t-shirts and starting an upcycling project in which, these clothes are turned into tote bags. We then aim to sell the bags to students, local communities, retailers to reduce plastic consumption.

• LSE Sustainability Research Podcasts

Applicant: Felix Koninx
Department: Geography (Funds awarded: £385)

Project Description: To produce and release LSE Sustainability Research Podcasts that showcase the cutting-edge sustainability research undertaken by LSE departments and its affiliate organisations (consisting 20-30 min interviews with Dept/Inst researchers).  

• Sustainability for Everyone

Applicant: Rhys Clarke (PSS Staff)
Department: LSE Human Resources/Finance Divisions (Funds awarded: £1000)

Project Description: HR/Finance Green Impact Team are looking to encompass the ‘LSE for Everyone’ theme from 2030 Strategy into their NUS Green Impact project. They plan to arrange a charity day of planting trees and bushes in a local public space (Stave Hill, Rotherhithe). Working with LSE Student Volunteering Service, 10 students and 10 members of HR/Finance staff will come together for this sustainable cause.  The staff working in these divisions would not normally have any student interaction, so this is also an added benefit to engage with other members of the School community.  

• Green Impact Projects​ (Funds awarded: £3000)

Applicant: Katie Rees
Department: LSE Sustainability Team

Project Description: The project aims to enable the creation of staff initiatives within LSE departments to improve the sustainability of their operations. The projects are to go through an evaluation process similar to the Sustainable Futures Fund - overseen by the qualified sustainability team - and be allocated the funds earmarked for such projects by the fund. 

• Keep Cups (Funds awarded: £5000)

Applicant: Karen Agathe-Hilton 
Department: LSE Catering

Project Description: Continuing the existing Keep cup initiative of the catering department that has already yielded important reductions in disposable cup usage. The funding would help sustain the scheme during the 2019-2020 academic year and likely enable the expansion of reusable cups at the LSE. The scheme would build on an existing initiative that has a proven track-record. 

• LSE Reuse Kits (Funds awarded: £500)

Applicants: Alex Davis, Ahsan Syed
Department: MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation                          

​Project Description: Including re-usable items in the introductory bags that incoming undergraduates receive. This project aims to expose students early to more sustainable behaviour, hoping that this will increase the likelihood of them sustaining such behaviour throughout their time at LSE.

• LSSea/Bog Standard (Funds awarded £3000)

Applicant: Harriet Freeman 
Department: MSc International Political Economy

​Project Description: Organising a campaign at LSE and its Halls of Residence to raise awareness around the implications of having plastic debris in our oceans. The campaign would focus on consequences of 'toilet disposal of the Unflushables' and would give a concert advice to students on how to avoid this harmful behaviour. The campaign would consist of research, workshops and screenings.

• Sailing Expedition: Social Sciences meets sailing – An investigation into plastic pollution (Funds awarded: £1500)

Applicant: LSESU Marine Society 
Department: LSESU Marine Society

​Project Description: Organising a zero-carbon expedition format in collaboration with Sail Britain to conduct an investigation on Plastic Pollution along the British Coastlines. Aim is to provide students with a first-hand understanding of the impact of climate change and plastic pollution on the local environment.

• Water Taps – Passfield Hall

Applicants: Ser Jin Tan, Yi Wei Cheong and Dene Donkin
Department: SFS Students Working with Estates Division 
Funds awarded: Estates Financed

Project Description: Replacing the compression taps with sensor taps in order to reduce water waste. Although the large scale objective would be to implement this in all halls, the project proposed a pilot to start at Bankside House in shared rooms (limiting to 50 taps as a starting point). Estates maintenance had informed that taps need to comply with WRAS standards and a pilot at Passfield House could be used to assess the benefits noted after 3 months and costings and water savings reported and utility bill comparisons.

• EMSOL (Emissions Solutions Limited)

Applicants: Yann Schremmer, Ethan Stratford and Freddie Talberg
Department: SFS Students Working with Estates Division, EMSOL and MACE 
Funds awarded: Estates and MACE Financed 

Project Description: Setting up a single air quality sensor, noise sensor and two location antenna with 40 BLE tags for tagging vehicles of any site machinery.  The monitoring scheme would be targeting the Marshall construction site. The company proposes to study whether the traffic at the site is leading to a breach of emission targets that the LSE has set and identifying which vehicles are doing so. Thus, it builds upon ongoing efforts by the Estates Division to monitor pollution and enhances these efforts by enabling remediate action to change harmful transport behaviour.

• Green Impact

Applicant: Katie Rees 
Department: Estates Sustainability (Funds awarded: £3000)

Project description: Support the Green impact sustainability engagement programme by setting up a competition between teams of LSE staff to collect points by creating and implementing sustainability focused projects. The requested money to be distributed to the various Green Impact teams.

• Greenomics

Applicants: Akshita Singla and Sukti Ghosh
Department: International Employment Relations (Funds awarded: £2000)

Project Description: Component one is a communication and education campaign to educate students about how their everyday actions are contributing to their carbon footprints and making small, quantifiable changes to improve it.  Component two is setting up a Greenomics upcycle bartering store enabling students to exchange their used unwanted clothes and portable items, thus reducing waste.  Students would be encouraged to volunteer at the store.

• We Say No to Single Use

Applicant: Patricia Yague Garcia
Department: Geography and Environment (Funds awarded: £2000)

Project Description: Part one to raise awareness by designing and framing two permanent posters in all cafeterias explaining the threat of single-use plastics and offering tips on avoiding it.  Part two Waste reduction all LSE cafeterias to sell reusable cups, cutlery, bags and provide students with the means to avoid single –use plastics.  Also extending the 10p plastic bottle tax to plastic bags and cutlery. 

• Plastic is Caustic

Applicant: Priyanka Roychoudhury
Department: Economics (Funds awarded: £2000)

Project Description: Long term project aiming to make LSE a ‘no single-use plastic zone’ Phase one: researching and understanding current usage of single-use plastics on campus/in halls.  Phase two: using Phase One findings to create communication strategy to inform people of the harms of single–use plastics. Phase Three using targeted methods to hep student reduce the use of single – plastics, i.e. reusable straws, filtered water taps, encourage use of reusable items, the Hare Krishna stall etc.

• Second Life Festival

Applicants: Eleonora Moro, Kruti Munot, Oceane Balbinot-Vial
Department: Geography and Environment (Funds awarded £1500)

Project Description: Establishing a bi-termly event called ‘Second Life Festival’ to create a circular economy-based, reuse-focused student community on campus, creating a space where students can sell unwanted items, buy things on a student budget, and learn more about the environmental and social cost of fast fashion and disposable item culture.

• Shaw Shoots

Applicants: Sue Parsons and Dan Reeves (PSS Staff)
Department: Estates Sustainability (Funds awarded £2015)

Project Description: To enhance the provision of facilities for rooftop planting on the terraces outside the Shaw Library, allowing staff and students to plant vegetables, herbs and pollinating plants. Involves replacing existing wood planters with recycled plastic ones.

• Public Interest Environmental Law (PIEL) Conference 2017 (Funds awarded £500)

Applicants: Friedericke Doebbe
Department: Geography and Environment

Project Description: Organising the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference 2017.  This one-day cross-university conference for London students would focus on the topic of the ‘Green Economy’ and discuss the challenges arising due to Brexit. The conference is to be held at the Cass Business School 7th April.

• Tackling Food waste at source: wonky fruit and veg into LSE catering                                                                                              (Funds awarded £250)

Applicants: Helena O’Rourke-Potocki
Department: Geography and Environment

Project Description: Creating partnerships between fruit and veg suppliers in the UK and LSE catering to buy wonky fruit and vegetables at a reduced price, in order to decrease the costs for LSE catering and reduce food waste of misshaped produce being disregarded for aesthetic reasons.

• Reusable Coffee Cup-Share Programme/Keep Cup Subsidy (Funds awarded £2000)

Applicants: Leonie Meier
Department: Geography and Environment

Project Description: The initial proposal was to establish a reusable cup sharing programme in all catering outlets. Staff and students would pay a deposit on the cup which would be returned when the cup is returned. The SPF Committee felt that, due to logistics, supporting the existing Keep Cup scheme with a £2000 subsidy reducing each Keep Cup cost to £5 would be a more effective approach and this was passed.

• Sustainability for Dummies (Funds awarded £1,471.79)

Applicants: Julienne Lam and Sallyann Tingle
Department: Social Psychology

Project Description: Multi-media campaign (narrative video and pdf) targeted at students teaching how to live sustainably at LSE. Themes focus on eating, recycling, energy and shopping. Funds requested for filming equipment, software and editing tools.

• The Great Outdoors with London Wildlife Trust (Funds awarded £450

Applicants: Ash Butt, Anthony King, Maria Schlegel (PSS Staff)
Department: Social Policy NUS Green Impact Team

Project Description: Green Impact team project to take 15 staff volunteers for a half day of conservation work with London Wildlife Trust. Funds requested to pay for London Wildlife Trust costs per person.

• Carbon budgets for LSE staff travel (Funds awarded up to £1,000)

Applicants: Dr Erica L Thompson (Faculty Staff)
Department: Statistics (CATS)

Project Description: Implementing a carbon budget for all staff travel on LSE business. Funds requested to pay for student helpers to set up scheme, venue hire and catering for a launch, and other admin costs.

• Observation Beehive and Pollinator Garden (Funds awarded £875)

Applicants: Sroyon Mukherjee
Department: Law

Project Description: Acquire a new beehive with observation windows to house a small colony of bees who are now ready to move. Funds also requested to develop the roof gardens to provide additional sources of pollen and replace shrubs which died off over winter. New planting would support the bee colony and other pollinators in an urban environment where sources of pollen are scarce.

• Sustainable Crafts Workshop: £103.80

The LSESU Crafts Society hosted a workshop for students to create their own herb gardens out of small reused pots and jars.

• Tackling Meat Consumption Research: £250

Korinna Jorling used the Garrick canteen as a 'living lab' for her MSc dissertation, which investigated the effect on meat consumption of varying the position of vegetarian dishes.

• 'Climate Change and Energy: A Sustainable Future' Conference: £1,120

The LSESU China Society hosted a conference which was attended by over 200 participants, discussing the sustainability issues facing China as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and debating China’s ability to reconcile economic growth with environmental objectives.

• LSE Bike User Group: £1000

This project is the first stage of setting up an LSE Bike User Group (BUG) which aims to create a LSE cycling community and improve campus facilities. The funding supported a survey to gauge what BUG should prioritise. 

• Nectar Rich Flower Boxes: £734

Plant nectar-rich shrubs were planted on the roof of St Clements including Jasmine, Lavender and Potentilla. These plants provide forage for the bees to feed on and increase the visibility of the existing green roof.

• Visual Energy Reporting: £4941.31

This project is a school-wide energy consumption reporting system. It will display the most up to date energy consumption data that the school holds for each building on the pre-existing plasma info screens around campus.

• 'Sustainability and Finance' Oikos Conference: £1001

The Oikos Student Society organised a conference discussing ‘How the structure of financial system is detrimental to its own sustainability and environmental sustainability’.

• LSE Biochar: £350

This project was awarded funding to start using biochar, which is a charcoal soil amendment. It will be used to boost soil fertility in LSE roof gardens.

• LSEats: £700

A group of students won funding to create a cookbook that focuses on local and seasonal food. The publication can be viewed online here, and was distributed free of charge at the LSE and at LSE Halls of Residence.

• Sidney Webb Biodiversity Projects: £3000 - 6000 (dependent on match funding) 

Students won money to improve the biodiversity in the garden of Sidney Webb Halls. The designs include beach trees and flower beds.

• Sculptural Drinking Water Fountain: £2000 

The LSE catering group were awarded funding to offer an additional drinking fountain on campus. Environmental and water use issues will be incorporated into the designs of the fountain.

• The Cycle Recycle Initiative: £2725

Oliver Norman, Alex Readford, Indo Vickerson, Alex Fyfe, Hary Doe, Adriana Melchor, Jakub Pawlowski, Ranny Wei and Alex Leung's initiative involved purchasing second-hand bikes to create a shared pool of bicycles at Rosebury Hall.

• Green Roof: £10,000

Professor Teddy Brett & Professor Cathy Boon, staff from the Department of International Development won funding for their idea of installing a green roof on the top of St Clements.

• Study of LSE Smart Mugs Use: £941.98 

Laura Ancian, a masters student, was awarded funding for her study which seeks to understand student behaviour with LSE Smart Mugs and seeks to identify ways to encourage increased use of the LSE Smart Mugs. 

• Clare Market Review Distribution Stands: £1250

Undergraduate students Edward Bayes & Annie Leonard Law were awarded funding to source sustainable distribution stands for the Clare Market Review. 

• Parasitical Energy Harvesting

Undergraduate student Oliver Lysaght's idea was to use parasitical energy tiles installed on pavements to harvest people's footsteps. Unfortunately, as the project progressed it became apparent that the produce required to harvest the energy is not currently economically viable. The project may be revised once the product has mature on the market, but for now it has been put on hold. 

• Sustainable Maths Curriculum: £3,000

Staff and students in the Department of Mathematics - David Scott, Tugkan Batu, Jackie Everid, Rebecca Lumb, Mathieu Dubois, James Ward and James Abdey - won funds to introduce sustainability into the maths curriculum.

• Bike Maintenance Project: £1,200

Undergraduate student Oliver Lysaght won funding to introduce two bicycle maintenance work stations in the NAB and Towers. The project supports cyclists with a convenient way to keep their bikes on the road.

• Passfield Hall Garden: £6,000

Passfield Hall residents Laura Ehrich, Margaux Wehr, Clementine Starling, Jodie Brown, and warden Richard Perkins received money to increase biodiveristy in the existing garden and to develop the space for the benefit of residents.

• Sustainability Communications: £500

Student team Anna-Lisa Werner, Herbert de Lima, Julia Sausen and Jane Alves, researched ways of communicating sustainabililty at LSE.

• Online Market-place: £2,000

Postgraduate students Soumo Ghosh and Alice Atunes received funding to develop a new website, 'Houghton Street Market', for staff and students at LSE to exchange items. The project aimed to reduce waste and create a culture of reuse at LSE.

• Timeless Ethical Costumes: £700

Undergraduate Hari Ramakrishnan received funding to source costumes for the next Timeless student production from an ethical and socially responsible supplier.

The first project funded by the Sustainable Projects Fund came to fruition in May 2012 with the opening of the Green Roof atop the Plaza Café. Students Olivier Scialom, Stanslav Bic and Sidharth Gopalan submitted the idea to the fund and implemented the new green roof with the support of Phil Newsham from Estates.

The 2011/12 fund was awarded to the ImpACT Award and Awareness Project submitted by Margaret-Ann Splawn, Isabella Neuweg, Judith Peterka and Andrew Sudmant.

The first year that students and staff have been invited to apply for awards of up to £10,000 to contribute to increasing the sustainability of the LSE.

Three projects were chosen to be awarded funding out of a total of nine project applications:

• Oliver Scialom, Stanislas Bic and Sidhart Gopalan were awarded £5,000 for their "Green Roof" project. This will see a roof on one of the buildings on campus covered by soil and planted with moss and wildflower species

• Elisa De Denaro Vieira and Julia Hug were awarded £2,500 to install beehives on another rooftop of the LSE, similar to those seen already at Passfield Hall.

• Lois Clifton was awarded £500 for the "Roof Garden", which was launched earlier this year, to ensure funds for the future. The roof garden will grow vegetables that will be sold in the Union.