Summer break is not only a great time for us to relax but also opens unique opportunities to learn and develop new skills and meet new people. To make my first summer break in the UK more memorable, I applied for a 3-week virtual voluntary project with the People & Planet and participated in a meaningful project on sustainability. Follow me on this blog to find out more about this exciting experience.

Interesting approach to sustainable development

When the last exam of my first semester was over, I was so excited for the summer break to begin. I felt like I had been waiting for that moment for so long and could not wait to travel to different cities and explore new places. I spent the first two weeks travelling and took so many photos to the point my phone storage was full.

As soon as I was back in Bournemouth, I started looking for more experiences/activities to get involved in during my break. Thanks for SUBU’s e-newsletter information, I found an exciting opportunity working as a sustainable volunteer researcher at the People & Planet for an online project on education sustainable development. People & Planet are Britain’s largest and oldest student network campaigning to end world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment.

My first impression after joining the interview with Jack Ruane – People & Planet University League Manager was the mission and interesting approach of the campaign toward sustainability. The organisation created a campaign called the University League (UL), which is the only comprehensive and independent league table of all UK universities ranked by environmental and ethical performance.  Working as volunteer researchers for the People & Planet focusing on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), our group of four students studying at different UK universities had the chance to explore more about the ESD concept while contributing to a more sustainable future.

People & Planet University League is a meaningful and impactful project on sustainability

Intense project with impactful outcomes

We marked the university based on the given criteria with the information published on the university website. I also had the chance to be involved in the marking for BU. It was rewarding to see some UK universities’ effort, including BU, in embedding sustainability in the curriculum and helped shape student mindset on a more sustainable future. However, it was also eye-opening to see how many universities were underperforming.

After three weeks of working together, we were given essential skills and knowledge on ESD which can help us to further explore our future study and career path. It was an intense yet exciting experience to work with the deadline. It once again reminded me of the reason why I chose to apply for the MA Marketing Communications programme at BU, to become a more responsible and sustainable marketing communication professional in the future.

I was working with like-mind students from many UK universities

The project ended with lots of new connections and opened many doors for me to be involved and contribute to ESD in the future. That is how I spent part of my first summer break in the UK. What about you? Will you be interested in a voluntary project on sustainability this summer?