Community

• To enhance the level of engagement and participation in sustainability related initiatives.
• To encourage the development of student initiated and led sustainability related activity.
• To foster connections between individuals, communities, and their environment.
• To create spaces to support health and wellbeing, staff and student experience, and retention.
• To support the development of transferable skills that contribute to student employability.

The university has had a hop garden since 2014, and has been working in collaboration with Canterbury Brewers and Distillers to produce a Kentish Green Hop Ale each year.

The collaboration was further extended in 2016 with a student project to isolate new yeast strains from the Canterbury Campus grounds, which are part of the Outer Precincts of St Augustine's Abbey, and part of the Canterbury World Heritage Site (WHS). Ultimately the yeast strains were not suitable for ale, but one of them was suitable for the distillation of the first (and award winning) Foundry Whiskey.

The Canterbury Climate Action Partnership (CCAP), an independent, not-for-profit Community Interest Company. CCAP is working closely with the city and county councils and cross-party local councillors to mobilise action towards a more sustainable future and achieve a zero-carbon district by 2030.

In October 2021, we hosted a Climate Action Day mini-conference as part of the CCAP Climate Week events preceding COP26, and in September 2022 hosted the annual Canterbury Climate Action Partnership Festival. We also hosted a series of events for COP28 and the Canterbury Climate Action Festival and Awards 2023 and 2024.

Canterbury Creatives is a group for students and staff of the University which brings people together to craft and make art for enjoyment and wellbeing. We're delighted to collaborate with them regularly on sustainability initiatives; recent collaborations have included a pilot year of Craftivism workshops combining hands-on creative skills with activism, and a bee-bombing event in the spring of 2021 to celebrate the launch of Hive, a novel by CCCU’s own April Doyle, and raise awareness of pollinator decline. Handcrafted bees were placed across campus by the Student Green Office and Canterbury Creatives over the course of three weeks for staff, students and visitors to discover, with information to learn more about ways to help pollinators and and wildflower seed paper to plant.

2024 saw the launch of Acorns to Oaks, which uses creativity to inspire sustainable lifestyles.

CCCU is part of the Canterbury in Bloom team who work to keep Canterbury’s gardens, parks, and streets flourishing throughout the year. In 2024, the university won Gold in the South & South East in Bloom Business Landscape of the Year Award.

The university's green spaces and the species that live there are nurtured for their own sake, but also provide resources for learning, for community engagement, and for health and wellbeing. The growing of traditional hops from the Kent region takes place on the Canterbury campus and brewing has long been associated with the St Augustine's Abbey site. One of the few elements of remaining medieval architecture on the campus is the end wall of the monastic brew and bakehouse.

CCCU are long-standing members of the EAUC Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education. Any staff or student within our organisation can sign up for access to the EAUC's membership resources, which includes a regular e-newsletter with information and updates in the wider sustainability sector, networks, and communities of practice, a programme of webinars, events and conferences, and more.

In order to sign up, you just need to go to the Choose A Subscription page, select our institution from the list and use your University email address to apply. Once your membership is authorised, you can sign in and visit the Member Zone where you'll find dedicated sections of resources for university staff and for students.

In 2023 the Academy was approached by a group of enthusiastic students who wanted access to space to grow their own fruit and vegetables.  The Academy responded by providing a new greenhouse and space in the Johnson Wellbeing Garden for them to use. 

A student society was subsequently formed, and members now grow a range of produce, including strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, onions, green beans and garlic.

Adriana Consorte-McCrea and the research team have worked with the Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust to study the attitudes of different local groups towards the successful reintroduction of the red chough, identifying key areas in human-wildlife interactions that would affect the success of the ‘Wilder Kent’ project.

We also host meetings of the Blean Advisory Steering Group.

Since 2012, we’ve been participating in the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Pack for Good’ initiative, which diverts waste by providing accessible donation points for unwanted goods at our Canterbury Campus.

The Refillable Van visits our Canterbury Campus once a month.

Want to stock up on plastic-free cupboard staples to supplement your veg box? No problem! The Refillable Van is on the Canterbury Campus on the last Thursday of every month at the following times and locations:

• Augustine House, 11.30 to 12.30;
• Verena Holmes, 1pm to 3.30.

This local business operates a mobile zero-waste pop-up shop, offering a wide range of refills including:

• dry foods such as rice, pulses, grains, and nuts
• dried fruit, vegan pick and mix and other sweet treats
• herbs and spices
• washing up liquid, laundry liquid, and fabric softener
• hand soap, shampoo/conditioner, and body wash
• homewares, seasonal gifts and more...

Simply bring your empty bottles and containers and they will refill them with as much or little as you need. You can always check when the Refillable Van will next be on campus, and find out about other sustainability initiatives, events, and activities at CCCU by keeping an eye on our Sustainability Events programme or following us on social media.

The Student Green Office is made up of a group of paid, part-time roles, where students can lead on and create environmental and social sustainability engagement opportunities for other students through education, activities, blogs and events.

Humble beginnings

First piloted in 2013 as a series of three month projects initiated by students and funded by the sustainability team, the Student Green Office (SGO) swiftly developed into a permanent installation within the Academy for Sustainable Futures and 2025 marked our 13 year anniversary of peer to peer engagement at CCCU.

Students are employed year-round in paid, part-time roles designing and running their own events and engagement initiatives, and communicating regularly through a dedicated online blog.

Passion projects

The Student Green Office acts as an umbrella for our various student engagement projects, providing physical space and resources for project work and engagement, and peer-to-peer support for one another and the students they engage with on their sustainability journeys.

Each student employed in the SGO is encouraged to pursue a passion project in their role. Their work is steered and supported with the lightest of touches by members of the Academy to allow them to work with a great degree of self-direction and independence.

Get involved

If you'd like to work with our Student Green Office, there are a number of opportunities available. New SGO staff roles are advertised over the summer before the start of each academic year. We always have voluntary openings for students to write blog pieces and articles about aspects of sustainability that interest them for our blog and socials.

The SGO can also support students in running projects, campaigns, and one-off events on a topic they’re passionate about with a sustainability focus. You can email Bethany to get involved, or be notified when the roles open for application, or pop us a message on Facebook, Instagram or Bluesky.

What's in it for you?

“[My] year at the SGO has empowered me to recognise that even the smallest of steps can change your portion of the world while giving the opportunity to holistically grow… I can whole-heartedly say that having the opportunity to be in SGO has given me so much more confidence, provided me with the chance to organise events and provided me with a forward-thinking outlook. It transformed my third-year experience and I am so grateful that I had this opportunity, because not only am I leaving with a multitude of new skills, I am leaving having made great new friends and planning exciting summer adventures.”

• Amber, SGO Projects Officer, 2022-23

Want to know more about what you can get out of joining the SGO? Read about Holly, Jack and Harry’s experiences.

The university was awarded Silver in the Kent Wildlife Trust's 2024 Wilder Kent Awards.

Encouraged by this excellent result, the Academy has now established a Wilder Kent Committee which explores some aspects of this award in greater depth, improving our campus further and expanding our positive impact on the environment.