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LUBS Sustainability Competition 2025

The LUBS-Oxfam Sustainability Competition gives you a chance to gain real-world experience working alongside a large international business. You'll develop your skills, boost your CV, and help promote sustainable business practices along the way! Read on to learn how you can create your team and get involved.

What is involved?

Our competition partner Oxfam will provide a sustainability related brief, centred around real-world issues facing their business.

You will then work in teams of between four and six people to conduct your own research and recommend innovative solutions.

Each team will present their findings to a panel of judges from Oxfam, LUBS and the Leeds University Sustainability Service.

Why you should enter

Not only will you have fun along the way, you'll be supercharging your CV with highly sought-after experience working with real challenges, and innovating in the field of sustainable business.

By entering the competition, you will:

  • Develop your knowledge of sustainability and business practices and work with a high profile international organisation
  • Build essential skills for career success: research and analysis, problem solving, teamwork, networking, communication & presenting
  • Enhance your CV and employability!

In addition, the winning team will walk away with two awesome prizes:

  • An Insight Day at Oxfam and have the chance to get "hands on" in their textiles recycling facility
  • Exclusive Oxfam gift hampers

Watch the information session!

An on-campus Information Session was held on 10 March.

Using the links below you can rewatch the recording, view the slides, and download a copy of the FAQs that other students have raised.

How to enter

All current LUBS students can enter.

The competition is a team event - you have two options to make a team:

  1. Create a team from your programme or with friends studying other LUBS programmes.
    Your team must have at least four members, but no more than six.
  2. Enter alone - we will assign you to a team with other students who have entered alone, so you can work together.

Complete the entry form

Once you have either created a team, or decided to enter alone, you need to complete the short entry form using the button below.

If you decide to enter as a team, only one person needs to submit a form for everyone.

Enter the competition!

Deadline: 11:59, Sunday, 16 March 2025

How much time should you set aside for the competition?

You'll have six weeks (including the Easter Break) to dive into your research and put together a presentation to showcase your insights and solutions.

Previous student entrants suggested 4 to 5 hours each week to stay on track and create something you're proud of.

Further questions

If you cannot see an answer to your question on this page or in the downloads linked in the "information session" box above, you can email the wonderful Student Sustainability Champion co-organising this project:

Maria Hernando, email: qzkh8499@leeds.ac.uk

I'm excited to collaborate on the LUBS & Oxfam Student Sustainability Competition because it offers a platform to inspire and engage students while building stronger connections between academia and the business world. This project aligns with my passion for environmental and social responsibility, providing an opportunity to help students apply their knowledge to create positive, real-world impacts

Maria Hernando, 2025 LUBS Sustainability Champion & Oxfam project co-organiser

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.

Milton Berle