UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources announces its Celebration of Impact awards

Every now and then it’s good to take stock of the achievements of the past year, especially when those achievements include translating excellent research into real world engagement and impacts.

On 21^st June, the Institute for Sustainable Resources held a ‘Celebration of Impact’ awards, recognising those nominated by their colleagues as having achieved impact in the past year. In the Central House common room space staff gathered for tea, cake, and a school assembly inspired certificate presentation.

The awardees included research assistant Isabella Ragazzi for two projects including the assessment of a carbon footprint of research laboratory consumables which are being used by UCL to improve the sustainability standards of labs, and Isabela Butnar for her work with Cambridgeshire County Council on developing a carbon calculator for waste, which has now been downloaded by 60 local authorities.

Also attending was Tadhg Caffrey, who spoke about his role as Faculty Impact Manager, and the work of the faculty team in supporting engagement and impact at the Bartlett.  

The event was a success with many people commenting that it was a nice opportunity to get together in person and learn more about the work of their colleagues.

Here is the full list of awardees:

• The CS-NOW overshoot pathways team, for engaging the UK government through frequent workshops and the seven final reports, engaging and building links with the UK academic community, particularly in the Tyndall Centre and the NERC research centres, and a side event at the UNFCCC Bonn conference in June 2023 sponsored by the UK Government. The UCL team includes Paul Dodds, Olivier Dessens, Isabela Butnar, Nadia Ameli, Alvaro Calzadilla Rivera, Zein Khraizat, Diana Ramirez Soto, Matthew Winning, Carole Dalin, Paolo Agnolucci, Chrysanthi Rapti, Hamid Nejadghorban, Abraham Lartey, Julia Tomei, Alison Fairbrass, Jim Watson, Jana Fakhreddine and Paul Ekins.
• The EEIST conference team, who organised a three-day event for their project, inviting international partners to Wilton Park to take part in conversations about the future of modelling efforts on the leading edge of the space. Attendees included the World Bank, Bezos earth fund, and resulted in a report which will be available online soon. The ISR team was Ben Hinder, Claudia Brown, Michael Grubb and Yaroslav Melekh.
• The Electricity Market Decarbonisation and Reform team, for their ongoing work with government on reviewing the current electricity market design. Over the past year they’ve published a series of working papers and reports and have worked closely with the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is considering the team’s ‘Green Power Pool’ concept as part of policy development. The ISR team is Michael Grubb, Serguey Maximov, Phil McNally, Paul Drummond, Paul Ekins and Paul Dodds.
• Nadia Ameli for continued engagement on her climate finance research, including writing articles for the Financial Times, relationships with important finance institutions such as the Green Climate Fund and the International Monetary Fund, and her recent Associate Fellowship with Chatham House.
• Isabela Butnar for her work with Cambridgeshire County Council on developing a carbon calculator for waste, which has now been downloaded by 60 local authorities and recognised across UCL as an excellent example of partnership with local authorities.
• Isabella Ragazzi, for the delivery of two key projects with impact. Firstly, the CO₂RE Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub data gap mapping exercise, which was run with GGR demonstrators in the UK. The results are now being used by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for the development of monitoring guidelines for GGR projects, to inform the UK government participation in Mission Innovation. Secondly, the assessment of carbon footprint research laboratory consumables. Her work is being used for updating LEAF, the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework, a standard set by UCL to improve the sustainability and efficiency of laboratories. The LEAF certification is already used by nearly 100 global institutions addressing climate and ecological emergencies.
• Lizzie Boakes and the ISR team involved in providing written and oral evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee inquiry on Environmental change and food security. A written response to the select committee inquiry was prepared and submitted, and then followed up by an invitation to give oral evidence, with colleagues from the UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research helping to input. The team who work between the ISR and CBER are Elizabeth Boakes, Carole Dalin, Abbie Chapman.
• Alison Fairbrass for her engagement work conducted in Shetland in April as part of the UKRI-funded Integrating Diverse Values in UK Marine Management. Alison worked with Shetland Youth Theatre on developing a theatre performance with ten 12-17 year olds about their experience of living in a remote, coastal community. The performance was called 'Ripple Effect', and local policy makers were invited to attend. The team also screened a Community Voice Method film that has been made through the project. The film is made up of footage of interviews with local people and edited to address themes identified in the interview transcripts. The film was shown at the Shetland Museum and the screening was attended by local government officials, whereafter a workshop was held to discuss the themes addressed in the film.

Links

• Learn more about the CS-NOW overshoot pathways team.
• Learn more about Nadia Ameli's articles for the Financial Times.
• Learn more about Nadia Ameli's work with Chatham House.
• Learn more about Isabela Butnar's work on a carbon calculator for waste.
• Learn more about Isabella Ragazzi's work on Mission Innovation.
• Learn more about LEAF, the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework
• Learn more about about Lizzie Boakes’ experience of appearing at a Select committee.

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