The Sustainability Skills & Education (SusSEd) series is a collection of engaging and interactive lunchtime talks, designed to give you the knowledge and skills needed to bring about a more sustainable world. Delivered by academics and PhD scholars from the University of Sheffield, these sessions will cover different aspects of sustainability, and will be held between February 4th and March 5th, 12:10-1pm. This year the talks will focus on The Whole Story of Consumption. Whether you’re pushing to develop the skills needed to make a real difference or just want to hear more about what sustainability entails, everyone is welcome at our free sessions!
These sessions are a great opportunity for students to enhance their CV as HEAR recognition is given for attending at least 5 sessions.
Schedule
All talks from 12:10 -13:00
Vibhuti Patel and Kristin Bash – Why does meat matter and what can we do about it?
What’s the beef with meat? The current rate of meat consumption is harming both human and planetary health. There needs to be an urgent and widespread shift towards more healthy and sustainable diets that include less meat, but how can we achieve this? Join Kristin Bash (SCHARR) and Vibhuti Patel (Dept. of Psychology) for a discussion on why we eat what we eat and strategies for behavioural change.
Tuesday 4th February – 12:10-1pm – Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 9
To avoid disappointment, book your place by clicking the leaf: 
Christian Reynolds – Healthy Sustainable Diets – the long view
The food system contributes over 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The dietary choices each of us make everyday, have direct environmental consequences. In this talk Dr Christian Reynolds will take a long view of diet change, discussing how food production, consumption, shopping, cooking and eating have changed over the last 200 years in the UK, and what these changes mean for the sustainability of our diets.
Thursday 6th February – 12:10-1pm – Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 9
To avoid disappointment, book your place by clicking the leaf:
Jacob Nickles – Sustainable Agriculture
In this talk, N8 Agrifood Fellow Jacob Nickles, will briefly cover research The University of Sheffield have been doing around agricultural technologies. Particularly looking at the development of technology driven greenhouses, substrates and their deployment in hydroponic systems. Jacob will discuss the connection between the Sheffield area of Tinsley and the Jordanian refugee camp Zaatari, and how we are going about reducing water use and soil degradation by deploying novel hydroponic media.
Tuesday 11th February – 12:10-1pm – Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 9
To avoid disappointment, book your place by clicking the leaf:
Matt Watson – Tackling consumption – the trouble with travel
Humans consume more each year than the earth can replace and the world’s relatively wealthy are disproportionately responsible. What makes us consume as we do and how can we change it? In this session we’ll focus in on how we travel, and particularly on flight. Consumption happens in work as well as home and leisure, so we’ll aim to get on to talking about flight and the University to get your input to effecting change there. The session will be a mix of talk, group discussions and feedback.
Tuesday 18th February – 12:10-1pm – Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 9
To avoid disappointment, book your place by clicking the leaf:
Rukayya Ibrahim Muazu Environmental Impact Assessments – Reality vs Perspective!
The need for environmental impact assessment (EIA) arises when a certain product or service and the materials or activities related to it, are considered to have potential effects on the environment. The proper assessment and management of potential impacts on human health and the ecosystem is essential in the formulation of effective environmental policy related to the product or service. The question: Are we genuinely addressing environmental impact or are we solving one problem and creating or overlooking another? Dr Rukayya Ibrahim Muazu will talk about Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) as the two analytical tools that dominate environmental policy and decision-making, and provide insight into the importance of integrating these tools for a more holistic EIA. I will also discuss our work on “Redefining single use plastics”, and how we are employing a more realistic and holistic approach to guide our options and choices in implementing the circular economy for plastics.
Tuesday 25th February – 12:10-1pm – Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 9
To avoid disappointment, book your place by clicking the leaf:
Professor Lenny Koh – Reengineering future supply chains by integrating supply chain resource efficiency and sustainability into strategic decision making in government, industry and education for improved competitiveness internationally.
The declaration of climate emergency and the rising scarcity of resources have prompted significant global actions to urgently improve our resource efficiency and sustainability in everything we do. This can be achieved by embedding resource efficiency and sustainability in our vision, by managing resources we produce and consume efficiently and sustainably, and by integrating efficiency and sustainability in strategic decision making. To deliver this goal, this talk will focus on the role of supply chain efficiency and sustainability, and life cycle assessment using SCEnAT suites (including SCEnAT 4.0), showcasing how these have led to major efficiency and sustainability improvement in industry and government, and our future plan in education.
Thursday 27th February – 12:10-1pm – The Diamond Lecture Theatre 5
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Jonas Cromwell – Food Waste and Recovery in Avocado Supply Chains in East Africa: A case study from Tanzania
Food waste has received much attention in recent decades because of its environmental, social and economic impact. However, current research tends to focus on quantification. In the global South, food waste is viewed as a result of the inefficiencies of the agri-food system, with little or no attention to the role of institutions and practices (Gille, 2013). Drawing on recent ethnographic fieldwork in Tanzania, the talk will compare the export and domestic avocado supply chains to understand specific structural and institutional drivers for loss/waste production and examines the strategies used by actors to recover or recycle food waste.
Tuesday 3rd March – 12:10-1pm – Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 9
To avoid disappointment, book your place by clicking the leaf: