The promise of pizza

The promise of pizza encouraged University of Brighton students to increase their recycling and to reduce waste by more than 25 percent.

Becca Melhuish, the University’s Environmental Officer (Sustainable Behaviour and Engagement), ran a recycling competition in halls of residents and scored students on how well they recycled. The best recyclers were awarded prizes, mainly pizzas.

Becca, who heads the University’s carbon reduction campaign, c-change, developed the competition as part of a work-based assignment while studying for her PG Certificate in Social Marketing at the University. She said: “Thanks to the practices learned on the course, the recycling initiative proved extremely effective.”

Becca spoke of her project at the recent UK Social Marketing Conference at Queen Mary University in London. She was one of a number of former students from the University’s Brighton Business School’s Social Marketing Unit to present at the conference which was chaired by Jeff French, a visiting professor at the University of Brighton.

Becca said: “Presenting at the conference was an excellent experience, allowing me to share the huge benefits that following a social marketing practice has brought to my work around sustainable behaviours at the University of Brighton.”

Brighton Business School’s Marketing Subject Group Leader, Dr Matt Wood, a member of the conference organising committee, delivered an extended seminar paper based on his doctoral research linking social marketing to resilience.

He said: “The research shows how good early years’ education and parenting can lead to a much more successful, healthier life.”

Matt Wood and School lecturers Sarah Cork and Tessa Allgeier opened a workshop by outlining the School’s approach to teaching and research. Recent BA(Hons) Business graduate Elle Duchossoy told how social marketing methods can be used to increase healthy eating amongst third-year self-catering students at the University.

Dr Jeremy Leach, Principal Policy Advisor at Wealden District Council and a graduate from the School’s Social Marketing PGCert programme, discussed how his research into risky driving behaviour amongst young males – undertaken as part of the course – has been implemented in the region, with a resulting drop in road casualties. His work is based around the concept: “We’re keeping an eye on you”.

Dr Wood said: “We also ran a session about social marketing education at the Business School, showcasing the work of graduates from the undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

“The audience was very impressed with the quality of the presentations and the research undertaken by all the speakers. In the days following the conference we have had enquiries from the USA, France and Belgium about our courses, which demonstrates our international appeal.”