The University is committed to putting sustainability at the top of its agenda and the School is echoing that commitment with a series of exciting summer projects available to help us take great leaps into making healthcare more sustainable.
Student doctors are invited to apply to be a part of a series of sustainability projects, with a summer bursary of £1500 or £250 per week for up to six weeks to support these. Project outcomes will be reported to the University’s Sustainability Group and may be eligible for further dissemination and publication.
Projects are available in five key areas and will be completed between 1st July and 31st August 2022. Students are invited to apply online (JISC) indicating the project(s) of interest and sharing a 300-word personal statement covering why you are applying, what you hope to gain from the project, and the knowledge and skills you would bring to the project.
Project catalogue
Curriculum mapping for UN Sustainability Goals
Help us determine if the MBChB curriculum addresses the impacts of climate change, air pollution and environmental degradation on individual health, healthcare systems, on safe and healthy food and water availability and where there are opportunities for developing the curriculum further around these topics. Two or more projects available.
Sustainability in action at the School and in Hospitals
Help us to determine where there are opportunities to improve the sustainability of processes in our approaches to medical education, to the management of our buildings and our use of resources. How can we improve staff and student behaviours in relation to these? One to two projects available.
Catering for health and sustainability
What is a ‘Healthy Diet’? What is the evidence that eating healthily promotes good health and wellbeing? Can a healthy diet also be sustainable? How sustainable are the food choices available around our campus and the local community? What can be done to improve these choices and to encourage healthy, sustainable consumption. One to two projects available.
Access to Greenspace
According to Public Health England, ‘living in a greener environment can promote and protect good health, and aid in recovery from illness and help with managing poor health’. ‘Greener environments are also associated with better mental health and wellbeing outcomes including reduced levels of depression, anxiety, and fatigue, and enhanced quality of life for both children and adults’. Rapid development of the area around the University has reduced the amount of greenspace available to our community. Help us collect evidence on the benefits of a greener environment, map the existing green spaces on and around campus and suggest new areas to win back our lost green capital. One to two projects available.
The environmental cost of commuting to placement
Student Doctors, and other clinical students, are required to attend placements as part of their programmes. Around 1200 School of Medicine students travel to placements across the Northwest each day for ~30 weeks a year. More than half of these placements are >10 miles from student housing areas. Many of these students travel alone by car. This represents a significant addition to the University’s carbon footprint. Help us to determine what drives student travel behaviours and choices and what the barriers to change are. Join a project team to develop interventions and set up an information and awareness raising campaign to affect a change towards more sustainable travel choices and reduce the School and University’s carbon footprint. Two projects available.
Discover more
- Interested in taking part? Apply online (JISC) by Sunday 3rd July indicating the project(s) of interest and sharing a 300-word personal statement.
- Read more about sustainability efforts already underway at the School, including a Sustainability student-staff work group, in this School news story (link).
- Visit the University’s Sustainability web area (link) to learn how the University is striving to be a leader in sustainability and its ambitious goals to achieving this.