PALS sustainability objectives for 2023-24

• PALS No-Fly Zone
• PALS Green Awareness Programme
• PALS Powered by Plants
• Green Brain
• Environmental Morality – paper published from undergraduate laboratory class
• Reducing Waste in Animal House
• Psychology of Climate Change module
• STOP PRESS: Pull the Plug on PALS Printing
• PALS Green Day
• Greening-up PALS offices
• PALS to be a pilot department for the UCL Carbon Accountability Project
• Behavioural Innovations Society Creating a Sustainable Marketplace on Campus
• Chandler House Garden
• Setting up a sustainability network of UK Psychology departments
• UCL's Plastic Waste Innovation Hub
• Centre for Behaviour Change Environment Hub
• Energy and Climate Change Behavioural Science Framework
• Sustainability PhD Demonstratorship
• PALS lifestyle changes to change the planet

• Premiere of Andes documentary filmed by BSc Psychology student
• PALS Sustainability Poster Competition
• Make Some Noise for Nature: A Multisensory Public Display Game Experience
• Leading roles in the Faculty Sustainability Committee
• Diversity and inclusion in climate activism in the UK
• Reducing energy usage in PALS and FBS
• Recommendations on reducing dark data
• JogOn reusing old trainers
• Establishment of HEAR records in sustainability for undergraduate students
• Embedding sustainability into all our education programmes
• Project linked to sustainable design and wellbeing
• Research collaboration with Marshall Islanders
• PALS recommended green spaces
• PALS Social Media Campaign #GreenUCLPALS

These 33 excellence projects meeting UCL’s six headline commitments for 2024 as follows:

Many of these excellence projects (PALS Green Awareness Programme, PALS Green Day, Green Team Ideas Catalogue, JogOn, PALS Social Media Campaign) have also contributed to UCL’s three signature campaigns of Positive Climate, The Loop, and Wild Bloomsbury.

Excellence Projects 2023-24 

Premiere of Denizen documentary by BSc Psychology student #denizendocumentary

PALS student Toby Nash filmed his first feature-length documentary, Denizen, about how we can eliminate waste and build a circular economy using behavioural psychology. We meet the indigenous people of the Andes Mountain Range, learning from their circular lifestyles how to live more in harmony with our environment. We hear about the challenges they are facing on the fault line between our current linear economy and nature's circular economy.  We learn from UCL behavioural economists and neuroscientists why we still have a linear economy despite it not making environmental or economic sense, and how we can make our economy circular again.  Finally we see what the pioneers are already doing to make our economy circular and how we can join them. The film premieres on 31 May 2022

You can watch the trailer here.

JogOn

PALS have partnered with JogOn to help get trainers to those who need them and keep them out of landfill. Donated running shoes will be either distributed to hubs around the world or shredded and recycled. There are c.18bn pairs of running shoes sold in the world each year (equivalent to 2 pairs of trainers per person) yet there are millions who have no shoes or suffer terribly from sole diseases. JogOn believe that +30m pairs of shoes end up in landfill every year, many of which have a lot of life left in them. PALS have to date donated two boxes of trainers and hope UCL will follow our green feet and adopt it widely.

Undergraduate Poster competition

The BSc Psychology 1st Year poster conference session is run annually with a sustainability theme.  It is a valuable opportunity for the students to practise their academic communication skills, meet other members of the department, and is an integral part of the degree.  Students presented their research on the question: "What makes people donate to charity?" to encourage the UCL PALS student community to think about environmental charities.  At the end of the online experiment, participants were directed to the “PALS Green Team Fundraiser” JustGiving page where they donated £178. This sum will be matched by PALS to make a total of £356. The funds raised will be donated to a sustainability-themed charity.

Reducing energy usage

Reducing energy usage is key goal for PALS, FBS and UCL which would reduce both our carbon output but also reduce our financial burden particularly in the current climate.  Jeremy Skipper is leading a project to analyse energy usage data across the Faculty of Brain Sciences which aims to identify patters of energy usage and where we can reduce our energy output.  This will hopefully serve as a pilot which can be adopted across UCL and significantly reduce our carbon footprint and energy bill.  To this end, the group will also work closely with the UCL Energy Management Working Group.

Dark Data

There is significant body of research which suggests that the energy impact of storing and using data was similar to that of the carbon produced by the airline industry: http://bit.ly/3mSuDLW.  UCLIC, one of PALS’ research departments, is a world-leading centre for human-computer interaction teaching and research, investigating interactions between people and technology.  It will lead on a project to advise PALS and FBS on how to minimise its data usage.

Other notable projects & events

On Tuesday 8th November 2022, the PALS Green Impact Team met at the London Wetland Centre with an aim to explore wildlife and nature in the heart of their home town.

The centre is a wetland reserve and an oasis for wildlife and visitors in the heart of London. Located in Barnes, in the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. The 100 acres of wetland used to be formed of 4 disused Victorian reservoirs, which were converted to a place of tranquillity for wetland creatures, and opened in 2000.

The team enjoyed seeing wildlife including otters, heron, swans and winter ducks. There are many more birds and wildlife to spot including the short-eared owl or the water rail. 

PALS has also gone to great lengths to incorporate sustainability in its curriculum and research.  This includes establishing a HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Record) category for PALS students who have played an active role and made a significant contribution to PALS sustainability activities.  These include being a member of the PALS Green Impact Team; leading on certain activities; and acting as a student advocate for sustainability in PALS. We are also planning to work with the Faculty of Brain Sciences to embed sustainability into all of our education programmes, specifically as per the following:

• Programme leads/academics to sign up to UCL’s ESD Network
• To consider how each module/programme could address Sustainable Development/SDGs
• Brain Sciences to form a faculty ESD forum to share good practice

As part of the Green Day activities, we also set up a PALS Green Library in the Luigi Farnesi Common Room in Bedford Way.  Members of PALS can donate and take books as they wish.