University staff and students share a concern about climate change and loss of biodiversity. As a community what can we do that could have an impact? (And that does not create additional work for academics or dump responsibility on to students.)

In the UK alone, every year, approx 500k students complete an undergraduate degree. In their final year, almost all, working with an expert supervisor, do an advanced and extended piece of work (a dissertation, a show, a project, a composition, etc).

What if 1 in 5 of those pieces of work was focussed on environment change? The impact would be significant:

Students would develop knowledge and confidence, they would gain the chance to turn some of their anxiety about the environment into agency.

The influence of a large student group, equipped with skills, ideas and connections, would ripple out through thousands of interactions with friends, family and future employers, changing societal attitudes and actions.

Some of the work produced would be exceptional, and the experience of doing a 1in5 project will lead some of the students to go on after their degree and do exceptional things.

If the work generated is collated, it would form an unrivalled resource on climate change and biodiversity. It could be consulted, used, or searched for emergent patterns, by individuals (or computers) in universities and beyond.

Is this really a good idea? Who is on board? In the press release we highlight four leading schools of psychology. You can find many quotes and endorsements (plus FAQs) on the website (https://1in5project.info/). Here are half a dozen examples:

Prof Michael Banissy, the Head of School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Bristol said “The 1in5 initiative will empower staff and students to work together to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time. We’re in. We’re committed.”

Dr Marc Williams, clinical psychologist and lecturer, at Cardiff University said “The 1in5 project offers not just a platform for tackling environmental issues but also an opportunity for students to take the reins and transform their concerns into active contributions.”

Prof Chris Chambers, co-founder of the UK Reproducibility Network said “Just imagine the positive impact we can make, and the knowledge we can gain, by running tens of thousands of high-quality climate projects every year across the country. This is how you change the world.”

Prof Andrew Stewart, Head of Department of Computer Science, School of Engineering, University of Manchester, said, “I’m pleased to see my colleagues in Psychology leading the way on this and I hope that other disciplines will join them”.

Prof Jon Peirce, Founder of Open Science Tools Ltd, the makers of Psychopy said “This is a tremendously exciting project.. Hopefully staff and students alike will soon be sharing a range of behavioural #1in5 projects on Pavlovia.org to help others get started.”

After completing a 1in5 project at Manchester, Emily said, " The carbon labeling project was incredibly interesting and inspiring..I learned a lot and the project allowed me to be part of important research that can help to mitigate climate change, which was empowering.”

Prof Chris Preist, Academic Director of Sustainability, University of Bristol said “This is a really valuable initiative which I hope will flourish in many disciplines - arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences, health sciences and engineering disciplines. We will certainly be encouraging uptake throughout the University of Bristol.”