Get involved
Creating a greener, more sustainable Hope can only be achieved with the help of our staff and students. We need your support and input to meet our targets, achieve our goals and to ensure that our projects are successful.
All staff and students have the opportunity to live, study and work in a sustainable environment as well as develop and use their skills and understanding required to contribute to global sustainability throughout their careers.
Sustainability is included at all staff and student inductions (both in the essential information and notebook and accommodation's Moving In Guide).
There are many opportunities to get involved; including a number of sustainability groups available to join to help us shape our sustainability and future ready University:
- Project 28
- Project 28 curriculum sub-working group
- Creative Arts Sustainability and Environmentally aware Learning and Teaching Community of Practice
- Catering sustainability group
What can I do?
Give it a go… there’s something for everyone, no matter what your background, skills, experience or ability.
Check out our top tips throughout this site to see how small changes to your office practices and procurements can have significant benefits, both environmentally, and financially. Adopting these practices can also help you save money and energy at home.
Project 28
The Project 28 sustainability group was set up in November 2023 has members of both academic and professional services (including representatives of both Unison and UCU). The group meets to progress against the Strategic Plan's three environmental sustainability objectives.
2023: 4th and 5th December
2024: 5th and 6th February; 18th March
Project 28 - curriculum sub-group
A sub-group was established in February 2024 to focus on the 'address sustainability in the curriculum' objective. Chaired by the Director of Estates with representatives from each of the four faculties and the Sustainability Manager. This group aims to look at how sustainability is currently addressed in the curriculum and look at ways to further this across all elements of the curriculum.
2024: 1st February; 4th March
Creative Arts Learning and Teaching Community of Practice
This community of practice was launched in 2023 and aims to foreground emerging concepts and practices connected to the environment and sustainability and how these may be retooled for creative arts education. We will reexamine existing learning and teaching approaches with a view to integrating more environmentally-conscious practices into our work, and to facilitate further awareness of how we as a school may adapt our practice to reflect the concerns of the climate crisis.
2023: 30th November
2024: 31st January, March, May, 21st November
2025: 27th March
Catering Sustainability Group
The dedicated catering sustainability group is chaired by the Catering Operations Manager and is attended by staff and student representatives from the chefs; front of house staff; office and hospitality activities; conference team and sustainability manager.
The Group was launched in November 2023 and regularly meet to discuss and progress sustainability initiatives.
The Group regularly invites suppliers to their meeting to discuss their sustainability goals and initiatives and how they can work together to reduce the environmental impact of catering and conference provision. Recent attendees have included Sea Change, Britvic and Starbucks.
2023: 12th December
2024: 9th February; 21st March; 29th April (Sea Change Knowledge Exchange); 30th April (with presentation from Starbucks); 25th March (Ocean Generation workshop); 6th June (with presentation from Britvic); 10th September; 5th December
2025: 4th February, 12th March, 27th May
LHU Environmental Society
The LHU Environment Society is a very new society wanting to tackle very current issues, we want to explore all possible green avenues within the university, the local community and also the wider world.
See the Green Gazette for the latest information:
Got an idea for a campaign or of ways Hope SU can improve on sustainability? See @lhu_environmental_society on Instagram.
Knowledge Quarter
We are part of the Liverpool Knowledge Quarter Sustainability Network.
Exciting community engagement opportunity: Flow.Walk.Drag
Hope is proud to support Flow.Walk.Drag, an innovative art-science-activism project exploring our city's water histories through performance. We're seeking participants for a series of community co-production workshops, with a special focus on engaging residents from the Toxteth area.
This project brings together local artists, historians, scientists, and performers to create a unique walking tour that connects water histories with contemporary environmental and social justice issues.
Workshop details:
- Who can join: Open to all community members, especially welcoming Toxteth residents
- Dates: Three Saturday sessions - February 8th, February 22nd, and March 8th (2-4pm)
- Location: Winter Garden in Granby Toxteth
- Cost: Completely free (funded by Ecological Citizens project and Liverpool Hope University)
- Limited capacity: 10 spots available
- Support provided: Travel and childcare assistance available
Take-away benefits:
- Shape the future of Liverpool's water narratives through creative collaboration
- Creative wellbeing, connecting with community, and local knowledge
Register online, or via this form.
Symposium: H2O: How 2 open-water-ways – Fluid Transmissions and Ecological Citizenship
Where Art Meets Activism: Hope’s Creative Campus Hosts Water Symposium. Free admission - all welcome!
Mark your calendars for an extraordinary afternoon of creative exploration, public engagement and environmental dialogue. On Thursday February 13, 12-5pm, the Creative Campus will host the interdisciplinary gathering “H2O: How 2 Open-Water-Ways”, a symposium that bridges art, science and community action.
Discover how drag performance meets microbiology in the groundbreaking Flow.Walk.Drag project. Explore connections between Turner's historical water sketches and creative responses to contemporary environmental challenges. Led by Dr Niamh Malone, Dr Annalaura Alifuoco and an inspiring team of collaborators, this free event promises to reshape how we think about and interact with our local sites and waterways.
Join us in reimagining our relationship with aquatic ecosystems through innovative artistic projects and meaningful activation. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a transformative conversation about ecological citizenship and creative environmental action.
Symposium H20: How 2 Open Waterways - Who are the Water Turners? - Book here
April 7 2025 - 2pm - Room: CAP100
‘H2O’ is an arts-led, community facilitation project designed to help provide access to the UK’s more than 2000 miles of waterways available for public use.
The H2O project was conceived to share and inspire people who do not currently have access to the waterways. We want to build imaginative bridges that will lead them to the water’s edge to the point where they feel able and entitled to dip their toes in the waterways.
Hosted by: Dr Niamh Malone, Associate Professor in Drama and Theatre Studies And Course Leader for BA Drama and Theatre and Dr Gary Anderson, Associate Professor and Head of School of Creative and Performing Arts
Previous events:
Festival of Futures was a weeklong project (2nd to 6th December 2024) in which students and staff will work together to find solutions to real-world challenges linked to one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This University-wide initiative which aims to provide students with the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and skills by immersing themselves in a topic outside of their degree studies.
'Nature, Thinking' Ecological philosophy conference - The Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion's online conference, 'Nature, Thinking: from romanticism and idealism to ecological philosophy' will take place 9-11 July and is free to Hope staff and students.
Childwall in Bloom will be holding its annual Open Garden event at Liverpool Hope University, Saturday 15th June 2024 from 1pm - 4pm at Hope Park.
Designing with Plants the Great Dixter Way – Honorary Fellow, Richard Scott, will host this event at the Capstone Theatre on Saturday 22 June. It includes a presentation from one of the most influential living garden designers and horticultural educators in Britain today, Fergus Garrett. Hope staff and students can attend this event for a discounted price of £10. Find out more and book your place, here.
Beguiling bats – Rev. Paul Rooney from the Department of Geography and Environmental Science lead an event at Calderstones Park which illuminated the fascinating world of bats, dispelling the myths and highlighted the important contributions they bring to our environment.
Climate Justice: Artistic and Educational Responses - Thursday 25th April 2024
Towards socially inclusive environmental policy: concepts, insights and challenges - Wednesday 24th April 2024
The fundamentals of financial wellbeing - Wednesday 24th April 2024
Rethinking Sustainable Development and Peace: Adapting to a Changing World in Crisis - an online international Conference organised by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies and SEARCH Centre of Liverpool Hope Business School, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park Campus, 26th June 2023
Cost of Living crisis conference - Politicians, social campaigners, third sector representatives, academics and people living in Liverpool City Region came together to find solutions to the cost of living crisis at a conference hosted at Hope Park on Wednesday 28 June 2023.
Cost of Living study - Researchers in the School of Social Sciences are therefore trying to capture the impact this crisis is having on students’ experiences.
Rev, Paul Rooney was invited as keynote speaker to launch a major EU LIFE funded project 'Life for Dunes' to conserve threatened coastal dunes in Poland and Germany.
Research by Professor Bryce Evans informs upcoming radio show - BBC Radio 4’s multi-award winning The Food Programme has recorded a special episode on commensality (social eating) based on the research of Professor Bryce Evans. In the episode presenter Sheila Dillon travels to Denmark to report on the ‘faellesspisning’ (communal dining) trend in Copenhagen before an extended interview with Bryce, who has written about the history of commensality in South America and Europe. The episode also features a live piece from the recent ‘Manc Kitchen’ - a social dining experiment in Manchester co-hosted by Hope’s Poverty Research & Advocacy Network (PRAN) run by Dr Natalija Atas and Vicki Dabrowski of the School of Social Sciences. It will be broadcast in the Spring.
Our Pro Vice-Chancellor for Marketing, Recruitment & Admissions joined an expert panel in Belfast to discuss the sustainability of the international student journey and emphasised the importance of empowering educational leaders to champion sustainability. The event, 'decarbonizing the international student journey' saw Duolingo English Test partner with Queen's University and the International Education Sustainability Group (IESG). It included discussions around implementing sustainability within HE settings, with a panel that combined leaders in education with digital innovators.
Hope students complete climate negotiation simulation
New three-day festival to tackle Liverpool's 'greatest challenges'
We have achieved a two (out of three) star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association's Food Made Good Standard.
School of Humanities launches new magazine exploring literature and ecology.
Sustainability and ocean conservation workshops
Ecological Citizen[s] successful project funding
Catering Operations Manager attends Colombian coffee tour
Liverpool Hope joins Fossil Free Campaign
The Transition Academy launches
Thermal Comfort and Ventilation
Lending a hand in Childwall Woods
Food sustainability discussed at new event
Teacher swaps the classroom for UK's wild spaces