Green Gown 2018 Winners Announced

Last week, Salix was proud to support the Green Gown awards 2018 hosted by the EAUC at the York Railway Museum. The event celebrated the incredible sustainability initiatives of 87 finalist institutions in 12 different categories, representing over 1 million students and 172,000 staff. Iain Patton, CEO of the EAUC, co-presented the ceremony alongside Helen Browning OBE, CEO of the Soil Association.

The Awards saw guests from institutions, companies and organisations across the UK and Ireland come to celebrate the educational initiatives, staff, and students helping address some of the most pressing global challenges. For the second year running, finalists mapped their entry against the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Salix sponsored the Research and Impact- both institution and student engagement and would like to congratulate the winners;

• Research with Impact – Institution; Aston University

Aston University’s research looked at seawater greenhouses to enable food to be grown sustainably in arid world regions. They use seawater for both cooling and irrigation - making them immune to drought and water shortages. Research at the University has led to the development of the cooling and desalination technologies that make seawater greenhouses work. The research has made use of computer models, data collected from laboratory experiments, and from real greenhouses – to understand and improve the technologies.

• Research with Impact – Student; (Small Institution) Alex Dixon from Exeter College Technology Centre

Alex re-invented the way his workplace builds its bestselling product through simply re-designing the way a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is manufactured. This not only made the process efficiency rise dramatically but in the year 2018, Alex estimates that the change will save the company in the region of £20,000. Through the re-invention of this PCB, Alex has enabled himself to directly lessen several environmentally detrimental processes.

• Research with Impact – Student; (Large Institution) Hannah Sellers from the University of Leicester

As a passionate Biological Science undergraduate, Hannah found out that the University considered maintenance and aesthetic when choosing tree species to plant on campus, but not insects or biodiversity, so designed her research project to identify whether native or introduced tree species was best for insect diversity. She found that native trees on campus had higher insect diversity than introduced species as well as identifying certain tree species that insects thrive on across campus. Hannah was awarded a first and presented her findings to the Biodiversity Working Group, which went on to be included in the University’s Biodiversity Action Plan and has influenced Gardens policies and practice.

A full set of winners can be found here.

For more information about how Salix can fund your university or college’s energy efficiency project please visit our College or Universities loan pages.

Follow us on Twitter @SalixFinance and LinkedIn