Climate Leader Scholars: bringing climate action to the Sussex community
Posted on behalf of: Student Communications
Last updated: Monday, 20 November 2023
In September 2023, the University awarded the second round of Climate Leader Scholarships to new students who have shown outstanding climate leadership in their local communities.
The scheme works with these Scholars across the academic year, supporting them to deliver student and community engagement around climate change and reaching net zero together.
Climate Leader Successes
In the first year of the scheme, our five first Climate Leaders worked on a variety of areas, from working on campaigns on the Students’ Union Sustainability Committee, to sharing expertise at the Green Futures Careers event in March 2023.
Charlie and Eleanor, two undergraduate students, worked to launch U.S.E.D (University of Sussex Earth Day), an online magazine aiming to provide Sussex students with a dedicated platform to discuss environmental ideas.
The first issue was published in April 2023 and included essays, blogs, interviews, and environmental guides to promote climate justice and sustainability at Sussex.
You can read U.S.E.D on Instagram and get involved, whether as a contributor or part of the community.
Meet our Scholars
Read on to hear from some of our current Climate Leaders about their experience and ambitions, whether they in their first or second year of the scheme:
Vicki Phillips, first-year BSc Ecology and Conservation
Vicki’s passion is sustainability and conservation especially marine conservation. She enjoys sharing her knowledge with others to inspire people to become more sustainable. She intends to engage students and the surrounding community in outdoor activities such as helping to maintain the student grounds using only manual tools.
Vicki aims to convince people that growing plants is not only easy but can have a positive impact on your mental health no matter how much space you have to work with. Growing your own food can reduce food waste and change the way people think about food.
Eleanor Radford, second-year BA Politics and International Relations & Charlie Simpson, second-year BA Music
Eleanor’s interest in environmentalism has led her towards climate activism and campaigning for Climate Justice with particular interest in waste and sustainability. As a Climate Leader at Sussex, Eleanor has co-founded the online magazine U.S.E.D with fellow Climate Leader Charlie.
Charlie’s background in environmentalism stems from her involvement in the arts, along with a personal interest in sustainability. Initially approached as a performer, Charlie became involved with a charity youth group called Climate Live, where she ran the stand outside of Billie Eilish’s concert at the O2, took part in a climate rally campaigning against Shell and volunteered at the festivals Latitude and Neck of the Woods.
Since co-founding U.S.E.D last year, they plan to use the 2023/24 year to develop the magazine, reaching out to students interested in environmentalism and collaborating with other sustainability societies to promote more climate consciousness and grow the environmental community at Sussex.
Júlia Bussab Fonseca, second-year PhD International Development Studies
Júlia is a climate change senior consultant and entrepreneur with more than 10 years of experience working on climate issues. She holds an MEng in mechanical engineering, an MBA in Socio-environmental Business Management, and an MSc degree in Environment and Development. For her PhD at Sussex, Júlia wants to deep dive into issues of climate justice and finance focused on intersectionalities with race, ethnicity, and gender studies.
Júlia has dedicated her career to entrepreneurship and impact businesses planning, co-funding Climática, a consultancy firm that structures community-based businesses and assesses programmes and projects through the lens of climate justice.
As a Climate Leader, Júlia wants to focus on climate careers among students and researchers, promoting workshops and professional training in climate issues. She sees this as one of the most promising working areas in the present and in the future.
You can read more about the sustainability work happening at Sussex on the Student Hub.