National Recognition

The university was Highly Commended in the Times Higher Education 2015 awards in the ‘International Collaboration of the Year’ category.

The university also was highly commended in three categories from the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges’ (EAUC) Green Gown Awards.

The THE recognition relates to the university’s work in Malawi where 1,000 children under five die from water-related illnesses every month. By improving drinking water and sanitation, these diseases can be reduced by nearly 90 per cent.

Scientists led by Professor Huw Taylor and Dr James Ebdon, from the university’s College of Life, Health and Physical Sciences, working in collaboration with the University of Malawi, were commissioned by UNICEF to investigate options for the provision of safe water in rural Malawi.

They went from village to village, assessing the influence of water-point design, proximity to sanitary sources, and rainfall on the provision of safe water and identified the conditions that could achieve this.

Left to right: Viki Faulkner, Head of Training and Development Unit, Economic & Social Engagement; Professor Andrew Cundy, Interim Head of the School of Environment and Technology; Dr James Ebdon, Reader in Environmental Microbiology; Professor Chris Pole; Carol Burns, university Registrar and Secretary, and Professor Andrew Lloyd, Dean of the College of Life, Health and Physical Sciences.

The project combined Malawian geotechnical expertise and local knowledge with UK water quality expertise to train Malawian team members and embed technical knowledge locally. The project offers a valuable blueprint for new ways to reduce excreta-related disease associated with water supply and sanitation.

The project, considered one of the most ambitious of its kind, remains the most comprehensive water quality investigation ever to have been conducted in Malawi. More than 880 samples from water sources (serving 150,000 people) were studied for the presence of microbiological contamination.

Sanitary surveys were also conducted at each location, using interpreters and district health officers to ensure effective communication between parties. The onset of the rainy season made travel to remote communities very difficult and severe fuel shortages provided challenges. However, excellent working relationships between partners and local NGOs allowed teams to overcome these barriers and successfully complete the project.

The project led to the submission of an EU Horizon 2020 project ‘African H₂Orizons’ (combining local knowledge and global science to integrate water and sanitation safety planning empowering African communities), which seeks to build on this collaboration’s success by bringing together additional partner institutions in Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Germany (WHO Centre), Austria, Ireland, and the Netherlands (UNESCO-IHE) to establish regional knowledge hubs at strategic locations across Africa.

On the same night as the THE awards, the University of Brighton collected three EAUC Green Gown awards.

It was Highly Commended for its Waste House, the first house in Europe built almost entirely from thrown away material, in the Built Environment category.

The project, led by architect and lecturer Duncan Baker-Brown, was described as “promoting the strategy of ‘rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle’. The Waste House takes this one step further by stating ‘There’s no such thing as waste, just stuff in the wrong place’.” The Waste House was also a finalist in the THE awards’ Excellence and Innovation in the Arts category.

The university was also Highly Commended for its ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ project in the Food & Drink category.

Led by Julie Barker, the university’s Director of Accommodation and Hospitality Services, the university over the past year has focused its efforts on tackling food waste in campus restaurants.

The university’s Hospitality Services and Environment Team united under the banner of the c-change campaign (the university’s award-winning environmental engagement campaign) to reduce food waste and ensure all food waste produced in university restaurants is processed by anaerobic digestion; Defra’s preferred treatment option.

Through this project, the university’s recycling levels increased dramatically, from 34 per cent in Jan-May 2014, to 48 per cent over the same period in 2015 - diverting an additional 16 tonnes of food waste from the waste stream. 

A food waste awareness campaign engaged 313 staff and students during Green Week, and a ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ cookery workshop was run in halls. To inform the food waste reduction elements of the project, the university worked with an MA student to understand the causes of food waste in University restaurants.

Highly Commended in the Enterprise & Employability category was the university’s Green Grown Platform, led by Zoe Osmond.

The platform supports a thriving green sector in Sussex through a menu of 1-2-1 business support, innovation and R&D support, events and opportunities and skills development, delivered by a team of industry experts, business advisors and university academics.

The project supports the growth of environmental sector businesses and the drive to a low carbon and low impact economy. Through its works it enhances student employability through its internships and placements with green businesses and helps embed university research into the local economy.

Within a year of its launch, over 500 environmental businesses have taken advantage of the project’s services, including product development support, business coaching and networking opportunities. Over £565,000 of grant funding has been secured by green businesses with the project’s support, enabling new product development, collaboration with the university on research and development projects, staff recruitment, business expansion and more.

It is the Platform’s second success in as many weeks, following their Green Apple Gold Award for Education and Training from the Green Organisation.

Professor Chris Pole, the university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, said: “These are all extremely worthwhile projects which demonstrate the university’s commitment to helping tackle climate change and to reaching out to communities by sharing our expertise and research where it can help the most.

“These are thoroughly well-deserved national recognitions and on behalf of the university I’d like to thank and congratulate all those involved with the projects.”