2017 winners

Summer 2017 joint winners: Hannah Parker, BSc Biology (School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences) and Elliot Batty, MEng Civil with Environmental Engineering  (School of Environment and Technology). 

Hannah and Elliot were joint winners for the 2017 Summer Award and both students received a £200 cash prize, as well as their certificates at their graduation ceremonies on 25 and 26 July 2017.

Hannah’s final year project addressed microplastic pollution in the ocean, by studying two marine organisms, the blue mussel and velvet swimming crab, to observe was microplastics are passed on in the food chain.

Hannah said ‘I am so thrilled to be chosen for the environmental award for my dissertation, which addresses microplastic pollution in the ocean; an area of increasing environmental concern.

Research is so important for advancing our understanding of the effects of anthropogenic pollution and development of countermeasures that could potentially hinder environmental degradation. I want to be involved in environmental biology research and this award has encouraged me to continue working hard to be a part of it.”

Elliot’s final year project, ’an investigation into the design of large woody debris dams and their effect on channel flow’, focussed on how, with increasing in global temperatures and unpredictable weather, implementing different large woody debris dams could reduce flooding.

Elliot said “I chose to study at Brighton as it offered a combination of civil with environmental engineering, so my focus at university has always had this emphasis. This award therefore has a particularly special meaning as I have poured 4 years of my life into creating a career in sustainable engineering.

I have always had particular interests in climate change which drove my final year project on large woody debris dams. The laboratory experiments took 1 month of constant making and testing of the dams, so to be recognised for this hard work is a great honour!”

Winter 2017 Winner: Ruth Buckley-Salmon, MSc Social Marketing (Brighton Business School) and Silvana Juri, MA Sustainable Design (School of Architecture and Design)

Ruth and Silvana were joint winners for the 2017 Winter Award.  The students both received a £200 cash prize, as well as their certificate at the Graduation Ceremony on Thursday 09 February 2017.

Ruth’s dissertation focussed on how a social marketing approach to behaviour change could help reduce meat consumption and its associated contributions to climate change.

Ruth said, “I’m over the moon to win this award as sustainability is so important to me. I became interested in anthropogenic climate change a few years ago, especially in how meat consumption reduction, not cessation, could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions – especially in light of the impending climate targets.

Several studies have shown that meaningful global reductions in meat consumption could reduce emissions from agriculture 55-72%. My  research looked to move away from negative messaging and instead market the idea based on people’s motivations and needs, who conveys the message and what the barriers to change are, using social marketing and values to ‘sell’ the change”.

Silvana’s major project focussed on the contribution of food production to climate change. By focussing on the adoption of sustainable food habits through behaviour change, Silvana used a pudding recipe to foster discussions and facilitate healthier, more sustainable food habits.

Silvana said, “I am delighted for this recognition which motivates me even further to continue helping people connect with our current challenges at a personal level. By starting conversations and changing our food habits, we could tackle a wide array of environmental and social problems like malnutrition, food security and climate change.

Design offers a lot of potential by offering innovative and enjoyable ways of reconfiguring our food cultures by touching emotional, cultural and sensorial aspects in flexible, creative and socioculturally-appropriate ways.”

James Dunn, MSc User Experience Design (School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics), also received a Highly Commended award for his project, developing a prototype smartphone app to provide motorists with real-time vehicle data to encourage economical and sustainable driving behaviour.