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News and events

Latest news

Interested in joining ACT?

We are seeking expressions of interest by 14 May 2025 to join the Advocate Climate Taskforce (ACT). Sustainability Advocates on ACT work with the Provost, Registrar and Director of Sustainability to support the delivery of the University’s sustainability commitments, including its net zero target and nature positive goals.

Applicants are welcomed from any faculty. We would particularly welcome expressions of interest from colleagues with expertise to support work relating to internal carbon pricing and nature positive approaches.

Expressions of interest should be limited to 500 words and give a summary of your experience, your reasons for applying and what you would bring to the role. We suggest you discuss the workload expectation with your line manager and inform them of your plan to apply. Please submit your expression of interest to sustainability@exeter.ac.uk by 14 May 2025.

If you would like to discuss the role, please contact Peter Cox (Co-Chair of ACT), Justin Hinshelwood (Co-Chair of ACT) or Jo Chamberlain (Director of Sustainability).

How Do You Use Campus Green Spaces? 

As part of its Nature Positive Strategy, the University wants to understand your engagement with natural spaces. Please fill in our questionnaire and let us know how you use University green spaces, whether its woodlands, flowerbeds or grassy areas. You might use them for exercise, socialising, or getting to a lecture, or perhaps as a way of destressing.  Or maybe you just enjoy their beauty from your window. By filling out this survey you are helping us understand green space engagement and how to improve peoples’ connections to nature around campus, enhancing habitats for humans and nature alike! This survey is open to everyone -staff, students and the local community.

We want your views on the University's new Draft Climate Strategy

Join us online for one of two panel discussions on Friday May 2nd or Thursday 8th May.  Hear from the University's senior leadership team and reps from the Guild and SU.  More details about the strategy can be found here. 

University success at the Exeter Sustainability Awards

The University of Exeter has won recognition at the Exeter Sustainability Awards.  Please read more here.

Sustainability Report 2023/24 published

The University has published its annual Sustainability Report, revealing progress towards its ambitious goals. 

Student Recycling Initiative Raises over £70,000 for the British Heart Foundation 

• Moving On, which is open to all students as they leave their accommodation in Exeter and Cornwall, saw a record 4,675 bags of items amassed, raising over £70,000 for the British Heart Foundation. More info can be found here.

Exeter secures global top 10 position in THE Impact Rankings

• Exeter has been ranked first in the world for the second year running in the Clean Water and Sanitation category of The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024, released June 12th 2024. The University also ranked 10th overall, and 2nd in the UK, in the influential rankings, in recognition of its steadfast commitment to sustainability, improving health and tackling inequality. 

More info can be found here (https://news.exeter.ac.uk/top-stories/exeter-secures-global-top-10-position-in-the-impact-rankings/)

People & Planet University League 2024/25

• Exeter rose 12 places to ninth in the 2024/25 People & Planet University League, retaining its status as one of 25 ‘first-class universities’. It was also the highest ranked university in the Russell Group, and one of just four from the mission group to attain first-class status. More info here. 

QS Sustainability Ranking 2025

• The University of Exeter has been placed 32nd globally in the QS Sustainability Ranking 2025. More info can be found here.  

Create, Make & Mend Success!

• Students and staff learn to mend clothes at Repair Café event - News

UG Haiku Competition Winners Announced

• Huge congrats to Joseph Bacon who has won first place in the Sustainability Team’s UG haiku competition.   Joseph is studying for a MSci Natural Sciences degree with International Study and is currently on his placement in Japan.

Exeter Environment

Gulls cry by the quay, 

Sea mist drifts from distant shores, 

Brambles line the path 

Second place goes to Amy Major, who is a first year undergraduate studying Environmental Humanities. 

Fox upon moorland  

Trickster, orange-on-orange  

Wind carries metal 

Lois Brunnock was highly commended. 

Kim Moore, Winner of the 2022 Forward Prize for Best Collection and judge said it is ‘an evocative and sensuous portrayal of a particular moment in time.  The first two lines contain images with movement at their heart – the cries of the gulls and the drift of the sea mist, which is then balanced by the static brambles.  There is the hint of a journey, or perhaps a parting that hovers at the edge of this haiku. 

In second place, the haiku seems to contain all of autumn in its three lines, through the use of that repeated orange-on-orange which brings to mind the colours of the moor. There is a hint of violence at play as well in the scent of metal (blood?) on the wind.'

Supported by Arts and Culture.

Nature Positive Strategy 

• We have just published our Nature Positive Strategy 2024-30.   

• We at the University have pledged to become more nature positive – that means halting and reversing biodiversity loss, through gains in the health, abundance and resilience of species, ecosystems and processes. 
• We will support and renew biodiversity on campus. 
• We will increase the natural capital value – our stock of natural resources that provide us with benefits – of our campus and areas we can influence. 
• We will engage and connect people with nature, through teaching, volunteering and research. 
• Provide positive benefits to people from nature such as cleaner water, reduced flooding, cooler homes, and cultural and amenity value. 
• We will understand the impact of all our activities on biodiversity and the environment including our supply chain and look to reduce any negative impacts and restore nature where we can.

University, guild and union awarded Responsible Futures accreditation

• The University of Exeter, Exeter Students’ Guild, and Falmouth & Exeter Students’ Union have been awarded joint Responsible Futures accreditation.

Improvements in the Lower Hoopern Valley

• As part of our plans to increase community access to the Lower Hoopern Valley, we are planning to carry out some infrastructure works in the Lower Hoopern Valley. This involves improving the muddy areas of path and creating a fully accessible area of path off Prince of Wales Road. For more information please refer to this page.

SDG Teach In Results 2024

• Exeter is the top university in terms of number of students reached in this year’s SDG Teach In

Circular Economy Strategy

• The University is  developing a Circular Economy & Sustainable Resource Management Strategy and Action Plan and we would like your views on our initial draft. Please complete our survey - a link to the Draft can be found within the survey link. We will also be offering workshops to anyone interested in strengthening their understanding of the circular economy principles and wishing to identify opportunities and actions going forward.  The expression of interest form can also be found within the survey link above.  

Exeter secures global top 30 place in Sustainability Rankings 

• The University of Exeter has risen into the global top 30 in an influential environmental and social impact ranking.

Look How Far We’ve Come!

• Since implementing Warp It, the resource reuse management system in 2018, we’ve hit a huge milestone by saving over £250,000!