Climate action student and staff representation

Leadership roles

Polly Mackenzie is our Chief Social Purpose Officer, leading our response to the climate emergency.

Professor Roni Brown, our Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), is the Executive Board member with accountability for embedding climate, racial and social justice in the curriculum.

Professor Dilys Williams (Professor of Fashion Design for Sustainability and Director at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion) chairs the Social Purpose Advisory Group which advises on the University’s social purpose ambitions, including climate action.

Staff and student representation

Our staff development related to climate action and sustainability, including our Carbon Literacy Training is delivered by a team of staff, recent graduates and current students. Teams and departments also have climate action and sustainability champions, such as our Library Services.

Read our list of names, roles and responsibilities of staff and students who contribute to climate justice (PDF 233KB). Find out how we're engaging staff and students through our Engagement Strategy (PDF 1.66MB).

Climate Advocates

Climate Advocates are students led by climate advocate leads in each College. They promote environmental awareness and sustainability in teaching. All Climate Advocates are paid through Arts Temps, our social enterprise recruitment agency.

Governance and reporting on climate action

Our Executive Board receive annual reports on our Climate Action Plan progress and impact. We report our institutional KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to the Court of Governors, our governing body, annually. In 2023, we reported on our Scope 1 and 2 emissions in March (PDF 104KB). A Student Governor sits on our Court of Governors, a number of committees report to the Court of Governors including Estates, Finance and Audit committees as well as Academic Board. This means there is student representation in key decision-making on climate and environmental action at UAL.

ArtSU, our student union, are members of committees and working groups across many aspects of the University. We work with them on climate and environmental action through the Climate Emergency Network and by inviting a representative to become a member of the Social Purpose Advisory Group as well as through individual projects and campaigns, such as Green Roof Society.