Gear Up for Bike Week 2023! Bike Week is returning on Monday 5 June with a range of on-campus and online events aimed at encouraging you to get on your bike: Cycle Clinics, Information Talks, Staff Social Cycles and a Bike Week Breakfast.

View the full 2023 Bike Week programme here. Queen's is committed to supporting active travel.

Find out about Cycle+, the University cycle to work scheme, here.

RSPB wildlife presentation, birdwatching tour, birdfeeder-making and gardening... what's not to love! Join SU Volunteer and friends in unwinding with nature this Earth Day Weekend! In today's eco-conscious world, it is more important than ever to remind ourselves of the earth around us, and to appreciate the wonders of wildlife.

As part of EWWR, the Sustainability Team and Belfast City Council hosted a panel discussion that allowed staff, students and our community to join key leaders in our fashion and sustainable textiles industry to discuss the topic: 'Does Fashion have to Cost the Earth?'.

Panelists included Dr. Laura Steele from Queen's University School of Management, Kathryn Tims from Wrap, Alison Gault from Ulster University and Becky and Connor from Another World Belfast.

Another World Belfast offered a pop-up shop during EWWR, where they priced clothing at either £10 for one item of clothing or £5 per item if you bring an item of clothing to swap. They had a very busy day at the stall with lots of people interested and purchasing items. They have even had some students visiting their Swap Shop on Winetavern Street in Belfast since the event to swap clothes!

Rags Vintage Clothing also offered a pop-up shop during EWWR, with set price rails of £5, £7 and £10. They also offered 20% for the week, which was brilliant for helping people in the run up to Christmas! The day was very successful, with lots of happy students purchasing vintage clothing at massively reduced prices!

In association with SU Volunteer and Community Engagement, the Sustainability Team hosted a community litter pick as part of EWWR. Our Autumn Community Clean-up, which took place in the Holylands and Stranmillis, went incredibly well and all our hard-working volunteers collected 13 bags of waste! We were lucky to have some local residents join in the litter pick, and even had some pizza in the SU afterwards as a reward.

Hear how important events such as our Autumn Clean-ups are from Rachel Vaughan, Project Support Officer on the Sustainability Team, in a new video created by Queen's Staff.

In partnership with Belfast City Council, the Sustainability Team hosted a screening of the movie ‘The True Cost’ which delves into the world of fast fashion.

This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a ground-breaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?

If you missed the showing, The True Cost documentary is available online via YouTube: https://youtu.be/NHp1ucQvQ9I.

The Sustainability Team are encouraging you to do what you can to make a difference by switching off before you leave for the holidays. The impact of small changes and actions by a large number of us working together as a staff community can make a big difference.

This year, Fairtrade Fortnight is focusing on how choosing Fairtrade helps protect our most-loved foods, and our planet.

You can get involved in Fairtrade Fortnight via a range of events, and activities:

Queen's Management School hosted a Fairtrade Coffee Morning on 15 February 2023 as the start of the Fairtrade Fortnight campaign.

Sean and Breige from the Management School prepared some lovely Fairtrade treats, including Dark Chocolate Fridge Cake and Banana Breakfast Muffins. The photos don't do the treats justice, look how delicious they look!

And, importantly, the ingredients used had the Fairtrade seal of approval.

The School of Dentistry hosted a Fairtrade Coffee Morning on 1 March 2023, and encourage dentistry staff and students to try some Fairtrade products, as well as bringing their own reusable cups to enjoy Fairtrade tea and coffee.

Faculty Office (Medicine, Health & Life Sciences) hosted a Fairtrade Coffee Morning to coincide with their Team Brief on 1 March 2023. As you can see from the picture, all treats were Fairtrade, staff were encouraged to bring their own mugs and reusable cups and some even sampled the new Cadburys Plant Based Chocolate, which was created in partnership with Fairtrade.

The Graduate School hosted a Fairtrade Coffee Morning on 3 March 2023 in the Graduate School Social Space. Staff and students gathered together to enjoy some Fairtrade tea, coffee and snacks, and to discuss and learn a bit about Fairtrade practices along the way.

As part of Green Week, QUBeWell Week and Fairtrade Fortnight, SU Volunteer hosted a Community Gardening Event for staff, students and local residents. The twist was drawing a community map on recycled paper, which then was used to create plant pots. Also, staff and students were tasked to create some bird feeders out of pipe cleaners and cheerio's! All snacks provided were Fairtrade, as you can see from the lovely snack table pictured. Well done to everyone involved, and thanks to the team at SU Volunteer for organising such a fun event!

Green Week is taking place from 6 to 10 March 2023. This year, Green Week is focusing on education and learning that tackles climate change and protects nature. During Green Week, make sure to get out in nature and do your bit to help the planet!

Click here to view the timetable of events for Green Week, including a Geopolitics talk from the School of Natural and Built Environment's very own Tristan Sturm.

To start off Green Week, the Institute of Electronics, Communications & Information Technology (ECIT) hosted a coffee morning and E-Bike trial in the Titanic Quarter for staff and students. It was great to see so many people interested in sustainable travel, and even giving the E-bike a go!

If you are interested in trialing an E-Bike, you can contact sustainability@qub.ac.uk for more information.

As part of Green Week, QUBeWell Week and Fairtrade Fortnight, SU Volunteer hosted a Community Gardening Event for staff, students and local residents. The twist was drawing a community map on recycled paper, which then was used to create plant pots. Also, staff and students were tasked to create some bird feeders out of pipe cleaners and cheerio's! All snacks provided were Fairtrade, which volunteers enjoyed very much. Well done to everyone involved, and thanks to the team at SU Volunteer for organising such a fun event!

On Wednesday afternoon, we hosted Belfast City Council in the Elm's BT9 sharing kitchens to run some sustainable cookery classes. The idea for the cookery classes came from a student called Fionán McBride, who sent in an application for the Queen's Green Fund and successfully received £300 to pay for ingredients for the classes. Some of the ingredients were purchased from the Refill Quarter on the Lisburn Road, including flour, sugar and baking powder.

Some of the food that has been made so far are tortilla pizzas, minestrone soup and banana pancakes (made with Fairtrade bananas!).

The science is unequivocal: climate change is real, and it is driven by human activities. But how will it influence our everyday life, our communities, our nation-states, and geopolitics?

Is catastrophic climate change an inevitability and what can we do—as individuals, societies, and as a university—to mitigate and adapt to these changes?

Thank you to Tristan Sturm from the School of Natural and Built Environment for hosting this stimulating geopolitics talk, we thoroughly enjoyed it!