One of the key people helping to drive meaningful change at Queen's is Naomi Martin, Engagement Officer on the Sustainability Team, who focuses on supporting staff and students to make small but impactful changes in their everyday activities. With a special focus on labs, which often fly under the radar as major energy and resource users, this role is all about embedding sustainable habits that make research more efficient and environmentally friendly. Through programmes, funding support, and community connections, Naomi is working to make sustainability feel easy, natural, and part of the routine for everyone at Queen’s.

Hi Naomi, can you describe your role within the sustainability team and how it contributes to Queen’s overall sustainability goals?

I am an Engagement officer on the Sustainability Team at Queen's, I focus on behaviour change and helping staff and students to make small changes in their daily activities. This is completed through programmes, training courses, campaigns and events.

The area where my role focuses on is the laboratories and helping embed sustainable behaviour change within lab activities, like experiments. You might not realise it but labs are hotspots for carbon emissions and use immense amounts of resources and energy.

What projects or initiatives are you currently working on, and what impact do you hope they will have on the campus community and beyond?

I lead the LEAF (wet labs) and Green DiSC (computer labs) programmes, which promote sustainable behaviour and support labs in making more environmentally friendly choices through criteria that encourage small but impactful changes.

I also assist labs in accessing various funding streams from the Sustainability Team, including support for energy-efficient equipment and repairs that prevent unnecessary new purchases. Additionally, I contribute to the university’s efforts to meet the Concordat for Environmental Sustainability in Research and Innovation Practice, a commitment made in February 2025 to ensure sustainable research practices.

My goal is to help labs conduct research efficiently, as well-managed and safe labs tend to be more sustainable, and to integrate sustainability seamlessly into everyday lab operations so it feels like a natural part of their work rather than an added burden.

What does sustainability mean to you personally, and how do you integrate it into your daily work or lifestyle?

I studied Geography as my degree as it is a subject I have enjoyed since I was a child. I remember having conversations with my dad about the weather, rivers, coastal features and volcanoes, so I have always had an appreciation for the natural world and the conversations we had meant I was regularly learning something new.

I try my best to make conscious decisions to things I do daily to incorporate sustainability. For example, as part of my Carbon Literacy Training, I had pledged to reduce my use of single-use plastics by avoiding purchasing them and aiming to use more reusable items. Similarly, I try to influence my close circle to make better decisions that incorporate sustainability and try to help my friends and family to understand their impact.

What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? 

I love working with the labs. As someone who doesn’t come from a lab background, every time I speak to a lab user or step foot in a lab, I learn something new. It’s fascinating and has helped me feel a real appreciation for the hard work that goes into conducting research. It’s a new area that I get to learn about every day!

I also love working with community groups and connecting with people like Jonny Baxter from SU Volunteer. Through Jonny and his Handy Helpers Project, we are introduced to community groups we wouldn’t necessarily come across and it gives us an opportunity to support local residents in their sustainability journey as well as learning more about what we can do in the university’s journey and our personal sustainability journeys.

What is one thing you find that people often misunderstand about sustainability?

Sometime people think that sustainability only applies to the environment and means you should be recycling as much as you can, it's a popular answer when we ask students 'what does sustainability mean to you?'.

Our team tries to help people understand that sustainability applies to all aspects of humanity. We teach this through the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability applies to finance and the economy, society and how people treat each other, and the environment and how we treat it. It's all encompassing!

What small changes can staff, students, and the public make to support sustainability?

I don't usually talk about politics but when it comes to sustainability, we need our councillors and MLAs to be onboard and make decisions that incorporate sustainability so that future generations are not left with a mess. I would encourage people to campaign where possible and make noise.

If possible, set yourself a goal to make a sustainable decision every day, small changes have a big impact when we all make them together. 

Tell us something interesting about you!

I am a dog lover through and through and enjoy cooking and baking, it's my form of therapy! I feel my best when I'm outside exercising, especially at the beach or in the mountains. I also LOVE Vinted and can't stop buying clothes from the app!

Media

Media enquiries to Lia McKenzie on email: lia.mckenzie@qub.ac.uk