LUBS Sustainability Champions 2025/26
Each year LUBS recruits students to paid roles as Sustainability Champions, to work in partnership with an academic colleague on a number of exciting and impactful projects. This page will introduce each of the projects, and will tell you what is required by the role and how YOU can apply today!
Applications are closed - thanks everyone!
About the role
As a LUBS Student Sustainability Champion, you will be part of a wider University Student Sustainability internship community, and will support one of the core LUBS projects.
This page lists the requirements of the role, as well as detailed information about each project. You can also download a full job description via the button below:
Each project has its own requirements and aims, but certain key responsibilities are shared by all Student Sustainability Champion roles:
- Supporting the delivery of a core sustainability project (see below)
- Working with a member of staff to set objectives, plan and manage the project to success.
- Where required, promoting LUBS Sustainability activities at key events, e.g., LUBS Open Days, Careers Fairs, LUU events, and Welcome to Leeds campaigns.
- Supporting the marketing and communication of the LUBS Blueprint and the University’s Climate Plan by using social media to publicise events or contributing to the LUBS Sustainability newsletters.
- Researching, applying, and promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion initiatives and sharing best practices within the Sustainability Architect community.
- Supporting student-facing activities and assisting with other sustainability campaigns and projects when necessary.
- Producing an end-of-project summary report to summarise the achievement of key project objectives.
Be inspired: previous student project videos
What will you bring to role?
As a successful LUBS Sustainability Champion will have the following skills and experience:
- A current LUB-parented student enrolled on an undergraduate or postgraduate degree course.
- Knowledge and interest in current sustainability issues facing large organisations.
- Excellent written skills, with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail;
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to present sustainability issues to different audiences.
- Excellent organisational skills with an ability to work under pressure and to respond to changing priorities and demands.
- Excellent record-keeping skills and responsiveness to emails in a timely manner;
- Excellent IT skills, including competence with Word, Excel and Outlook - additional IT skills requirements are identified in the project descriptions below.
- Experience in developing effective working relationships, with a proactive and positive approach to working with a wide range of stakeholders.
In addition to the essential criteria above, you may also have the following desirable areas of experience:
- Experience of involvement in sustainability initiatives or projects
- Experience of working in a customer or client-focused environment
- Experience in using social media in a work or commercial capacity
How to apply
We welcome applications from all current 2025/26 students from any discipline studying on a LUBS parented undergraduate or postgraduate degree programme.
You can only apply for one of the ten available projects, You will be asked to indicate your project preference in the online application form. Read through the list of projects further down this page to decide which one is best for your skills and experience.
To ensure your application is strong, make sure you include information about your interest and suitability for your chosen project role, including how you meet the essential and desirable criteria listed above as well as the specific needs of the project.
Applications are now closed and interviews are complete.
Questions and help
General questions about the Sustainability Champion should be sent to the LUBS Sustainability Team using the button below - If you want to ask specific questions about a project, the contact details for each project lead is listed alongside the project summary further down this page.
The projects
Contact: [email protected]
Priority One: Positive Impact Rating (PIR)
The Student Sustainability Champion will engage with the Positive Impact Rating (PIR), a university ranking system that evaluates business schools based on their societal impact and commitment to continuous improvement. The PIR prioritizes purpose-driven education and aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The ranking a school receives is derived entirely from a 20-question survey completed by students, with the PIR team responsible for survey creation and the LUBS Accreditation Manager overseeing associated fees and administrative tasks.
The Student Sustainability Champion will participate in several key activities, including:
- identifying best practices aligned with the UN SDGs
- disseminating these practices to the student body
- driving student engagement with the survey, and promoting the results of the ranking
Priority Two: Exploration of Additional Ranking Opportunities
The Student Sustainability Architect will investigate further ranking opportunities that are valued by our students and peers.
This involves assessing the potential benefits of pursuing these rankings and determining the efforts required for successful participation, while continuing to implement the recommendations set out in the previous report.
Contact: [email protected]
At LUBS we know that our teaching already contains many great examples of deep engagement with sustainability topics, but we need a clearer picture of exactly how much, and where, sustainability is embedded in the curriculum.
Different options for doing that are available, some quantitative, some qualitative, some a mix, and we want to explore how we might best approach mapping our curriculum against key external frameworks such as the UN SDGs and the UN PRME initiative. The University is considering these questions and is seeking our input. This is where you come in.
As Student Sustainability Champion on this project, you will:
- Review literature and key external frameworks to identify best practices and methodologies for mapping sustainability in the curriculum
- Help design, develop and test sustainability mapping tools via a pilot, using previously collected data
- Design and promote processes for collecting data, ready for full implementation in the 2026/7 academic year
- Consider how to best promote and publicise roll-out of the processes for mapping sustainability in the curriculum using the new methodology.
Contact: Meenakshi Sarkar [email protected] or Stefan Kesting [email protected]
This project will build on last year’s project to develop a shared understanding of decolonising the curriculum at LUBS. ‘Decolonisation’ is one of component frameworks of the University Student Education Strategy that falls within equality and climate justice arena within the UN SDGs. LUBS Student Education Strategy has set up a Task Group on ‘Decolonising the LUBS curriculum’ as part of the Curriculum Project. At LUBS, research is needed to define the parameters of and mechanisms for decolonising the curriculum.Work already completed by the Student Sustainability Champion last year (2024/25):
- Decolonising Website - benchmarking with what's out there and developing and writing a draft website.
- Decolonising Workshop/Seminars – a format for a seminar/guest speaker series was developed and a list of potential speakers collected.
- The analysis of the staff survey was completed and a student survey designed.
- Activities to continue to generate conversations have been developed and designed.
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Developing the draft into an actual internally and externally accessible webpage.
- Planning the time frame for a seminar/workshop series and practical support for workshop arrangements: sending out invitation letters to potential guest speakers; applying for funding for the events (catering etc.)
- Conducting and analysing the LUBS student survey.
- Organising a couple of events/activities to generate conversations around decolonisation.
Whilst the work completed in 2024/25 was about analysis and planning, the 2025/26 will focus on implementation and getting decolonisation out there.
Contact: Sally Chan [email protected], or Rajinder Bhandal [email protected]
Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) are an initiative of the United Nations Global Compact, academic stakeholders and co-convening organisations.
The PRME Conference in July 2025 highlighted a demand amongst its members for the establishment of an arts based Working Group. Likewise, The LUBS Sustainability Blueprint Team is keen to seek further avenues in how it may leverage its experience honed from the installation of the wall art, Lemn Sissay poetry recital to Walking to Zero art exhibitions to engage communities and share best practice more widely.
There is also a need to work more cohesively with the Sustainability Service to achieve common goals. This project aims to establish LUBS as a leading voice in fostering creativity in its engagement activities.
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Undertake background research to identify best practices in other Universities relating to engagement and partnerships with PRME
- Organise workshops to share knowledge / best practice about decolonisation and include sustainability as a core theme in department advisory boards (curriculum)
- Implement creative activities in the annual Staff Research Conference (research)
- Foster student engagement (possibly through an event) with PRME though PRME Students Ambassador and PRME Students Mentorship Programme
- Seek creative partnerships with social enterprise
- Promote LUBS involvement in regional PRME Working Group and engage PRME Secretariat
Note: as this is a new initiative, some of the priorities and tasks may evolve as the project gets started.
Contact: [email protected] or [email protected]
This project aims to develop a robust framework to measure and track the social value generated by sustainability initiatives within LUBS for a consistent way to evaluate the broader social impact of varied initiatives. This project will help quantify and communicate the benefits of LUBS’ sustainability efforts such as community engagement, student-led projects, and collaborations with external partners, to staff, students, and external stakeholders, supporting evidence-based decision-making, reporting, and strategic planning
The Student Sustainability Champion will play a key role in developing a social value measurement framework, assessing existing and past activities, and producing a visual reporting tool that captures both qualitative and quantitative outcomes.
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Conduct a literature review (academic and grey literature) on social value measurement frameworks, including social return on investment (SROI), impact evaluation, and other methodologies.
- Map existing activities within LUBS (events, student initiatives, outreach, workshops, partnerships) and identify potential activities leading to social value creation.
- Develop measurable KPIs and metrics for social impact that reflect outcomes for staff, students, the local community, and other stakeholders.
- Liaise with LUBS staff, departments, central Sustainability team, and external partners to identify variables/data used to measure social value.
- Produce a report summarising findings, including recommendations for enhancing social impact, improving measurement, and communicating outcomes internally and externally.
Required and desirable skills
- Data Analysis and Research: Ability to analyse both qualitative and quantitative data and derive meaningful metrics.
- Project Management: Skills to coordinate stakeholders, track activities, and implement measurement processes effectively.
- Understanding of Social Impact and Sustainability: Familiarity with social value principles, and sustainability initiatives frameworks.
- Communication and Collaboration: Ability to work with a range of internal and external stakeholders and translate complex data into clear, actionable insights.
- Reporting and Visualization: Experience in creating dashboards, infographics, or reports to communicate impact. Knowledge of Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or similar tools (desirable).
Contact: [email protected] or [email protected]
The University promotes sustainable behaviours such as low-carbon travel, energy-efficient working, and conscious resource use. The Student Sustainability Champion will work on the design and development of an environmental carbon calculator and dashboard to help LUBS measure and monitor carbon emissions and energy usage across a wide range of School activities.
The main aim is to find a mechanism to quantify the environmental impact associated with staff travel, teaching spaces, office and shared environments, or major School events.
The tool will:
- track staff business travel emissions, energy usage in teaching rooms, labs, seminar and meeting spaces, common areas, and high-energy activities such as Open Days, Offer Holder Days, alumni events, graduation ceremonies, and physical activity spaces like The Edge.
- provide an evidence base for decision-making, benchmarking, and future improvements in LUBS’ environmental performance.
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Conduct a review of existing carbon calculators and environmental impact tools (academic and grey literature) to identify best practice.
- Liaise with LUBS Admin, Facilities, Sustainability Service, and relevant University data-holding units to gather travel, energy, and event-related data for activity mapping.
- Develop carbon calculation methodologies for different activity types (e.g., business travel, energy use per room type, event consumption).
- Build an integrated carbon calculator framework tailored to LUBS activities and spaces.
- Create a user-friendly dashboard (online or software-based) to visualise emissions and energy usage across categories and over time.
- Test the calculator with real data and refine calculation methods to improve accuracy.
- Provide recommendations for how departments can reduce emissions based on calculator outputs.
Required and desirable skills
- Data Analysis: Ability to work with quantitative datasets to calculate emissions and analyse energy usage. Experience with R or Python is desirable.
- Dashboard / Tool Development: Skills in developing digital tools such as dashboards or calculators. Knowledge of Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or coding-based tools (R Shiny, Python Dash, ASP.net) is highly valued.
- Project Management: Ability to coordinate with multiple stakeholders, manage timelines, and deliver iterative versions of the calculator.
- Understanding of Sustainability Metrics: Familiarity with carbon accounting principles, emissions factors, and environmental performance indicators.
- Technical Curiosity and Problem-Solving: Willingness to work with imperfect data sources and design practical, reliable solutions.
Academic conferences are where new ideas are shared, connections are made, and the future of our disciplines are shaped. As universities work to reduce travel and improve inclusivity, hybrid conferencing is becoming increasingly important - but we still know little about what really works.
In this project, you will help us explore how hybrid conferences are organised and experienced, and what this means for how academics communicate today.
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Audit major conferences and analyse which ones offer hybrid options.
- Carry out interviews with organisers and participants of hybrid conferences to understand their experiences first-hand.
- Gather additional insights from colleagues across LUBS.
- Draft practical guidance for improving hybrid academic events.
Your work will contribute directly to a faculty guidance document, a research publication, and preparations for a symposium on the future of sustainable academic communication.
Contact: [email protected]
Background
Leeds University Business School’s alumni team works to build an engaged and supportive global alumni community. We have over 50,000 graduates in more than 145 countries around the world, with significant numbers of alumni in the UK, China, Greece and India. It’s a free network that starts as soon as students begin their studies with us.
Our aim is to help alumni feel valued and part of our global community by providing support and resources to them. This includes things like professional development, webinars, events and international networking opportunities as well as access to research and discounts on further study.
We have many volunteering opportunities where alumni can, in turn, support the School. Opportunities include mentoring, guest speaking, helping with recruitment, offering internships or projects, sitting on advisory boards or collaborating with research.
The project
Join us in delivering exciting new initiatives that connect alumni worldwide through sustainability-focused activities, raise awareness of sustainability issues and highlight the positive impact of our alumni community. You’ll have the chance to contribute ideas for events and activities including:
- An Alumni Week of Action to engage alumni (either independently or as part of one of our international alumni groups) to take part in activities which contribute to UN SDGs,
- A Thank You event to celebrate our alumni volunteers
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Take an active role in planning and delivering sustainability-focused alumni engagement initiatives
- Liaise with LUBS staff and alumni groups to encourage engagement across our global alumni community
- Create engaging content and support promotion of events and activities through multiple communication channels
- Help to organise Leeds-based event (on or offline) to thank alumni volunteers and showcase their impact
Contact: [email protected]
As part of Sustainability Day at LUBS, a fashion show is planned for May. The event is designed to increase awareness of staff, students and visitors of LUBS Sustainability Blueprint Team and the University of Leeds Sustainability Service’s collective efforts to educate others of the environmental footprint of garments, promote eco-friendly practices in fashion, showcase innovative designs and raise awareness about sustainability.
Our vision is to have LUBS’ first ever runway on campus featuring local designers, as well as activities, including workshops, talks, and clothing swaps to promote all aspects of sustainable fashion.
This project builds on the success of previous creative projects at LUBS.
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Help devise a theme(s) for the fashion show and identify sources of support for the event
- Generate ideas and identify organisations, faculties / departments for collaboration
- Promote the fashion show through staff and student comms, including creating flyers and generating content through social media
- Help set up the fashion show including sourcing models, garments
- Manage FROW and guest speakers
- Assist with generating media interest in the project
- Devise a post event evaluation survey
Previous event organisation or fashion show experience would be desirable for this role.
Contact: [email protected]
This project will provide wide-ranging support to the launch, delivery and evaluation of a LUBS student sustainability team competition, which is run annually in collaboration with an external partner. The competition themes change annually depending on business priorities of the partner organisation. In previous years the competition has focused on the introduction of e-bike charging stations at Coop stores (2022); the treatment of sustainability performance in franchise operations to provide recommendations for the Coop (2023).
In 2024 and 2025 we partnered with Oxfam who set business issues focused on diversification of its stock sourcing strategy (2024) and solutions to keep non-wearable donated footwear out of landfill and upcycling of non-wearable textiles. See LUBS Sustainability Challenge 2024 - the winners! | LUBS Student Guide
The partner and theme for the 2026 business competition is to be confirmed.
Student Sustainability Champion activities
- Support the project planning, monitoring and delivery activities
- Engage with external partner and internal stakeholders, to generate participation in the competition
- Collaborate with other sustainability champions to identify effective ways to engage students across LUBS
- Generate student interest and engagement through a variety of promotion activities, including promotion materials as required
- Assist with post-competition project evaluation
We’re about sustainability because it is the smartest, most effective, most profitable business strategy.