Our postgraduates choose to join Bristol for their master’s for a wide range of reasons. Increasingly, with the threat of climate change causing irreversible damage to our planet, the sustainability of our institution and city is cited as one of those reasons.
In 2019, Bristol was the first UK university to publicly declare a climate emergency. This is a statement that we are proud to be able to say, but what does it mean practically?
Well, we consider our environmental impact in everything we do: our research, our curricula, our buildings and the student experience. We’ve made a range of pledges to reduce the impact we have, including becoming a net carbon neutral campus by 2030, and we regularly make changes, big and small, to achieve this. For example, just last week, we rolled out Ecosia as our default search engine across all University-owned devices which will lead to thousands of trees being planted, with thanks to two of our students who led the initiative.
Our students are actively encouraged to help us meet our targets. A wide range of sustainably-oriented volunteering opportunities are offered through the University as well as the Students’ Union. Not only do these opportunities benefit the community and environment, but they also contribute to the student experience and provide skills that can be taken forward once students graduate.
Our increasingly biodiverse city campus is nestled in the centre of our environmentally-friendly city. Bristol was the first British city to be awarded European Green Capital in 2015 and sustainability is key to the ethos and policies of the city.
“People kept telling me it was a green city and actually living here you can tell that the people here do really care about the environment and a lot of environmental issues, so for someone on an environmental course it’s a really cool place to live.”
The sustainability of our institution stems from our like-minded and forward-thinking community of students, academics and staff. If you’d like to join our community as a postgraduate student, find out more at our postgraduate virtual events running throughout March.