Science education for humanity: Pathways to sustainable impact
The Festival of Learning and Teaching (FOLAT) is Imperial’s annual collaborative and celebratory forum of educational innovation and achievement across the university. This year the event took place in March 2025 on the South Kensington campus.
Our focus for the event was on sustainability in higher education. Over the three days we considered this from several angles: how we develop our students’ and graduates’ understanding and commitment to sustainability through our STEMMB curricula; how we develop, share and motivate sustainable learning and teaching practices in the pursuit of our strong and varying educational goals; how we collaborate and support each other as a university community to foster and reward contributions towards developing a more sustainability-oriented culture.
We addressed tensions between sustaining excellence in terms of institutional goals and educational experiences and outcomes and building and maintaining strong and supportive relationships and sense of wellbeing. We considered some of the current opportunities and challenges faced by our education communities, exploring over three days what sustainability in STEMM higher education means and how we can better embed sustainability informed approaches through our community’s approaches.
Post-event resources
Keynote session: Educating for the future we want: sustainability and transformation in critical times
Presentation
By Onesmus Mwabonje and Polina Levontin, Centre for Environmental Policy
Student and tutor perspectives of a clinical placement focusing on Sustainable Primary Care
By Dr Roshni Bhudia, Leila Grocott, Dr James Jensen-Martin, Faculty of Medicine
Equipping future public health leaders with the skills to tackle global health challenges
By Dr Stuart Hofer and Dr Charlotte Vrinten, Faculty of Medicine
Embedding sustainability development goals in teaching
By Esther Canonico Martin, Management & Entrepreneurship, Business School
Sustainability and Immunology: did you know?
By Dr Sophie Rutschmann, Department of Immunology and Inflammation and Dr Bronwen Burton, University of Bristol
The Global Fellows Programme: an immersive international experience for doctoral students
By Laura Bulmer, International Relations Office; Dr Magdalena Jara; Dr Helal Ahmed; Dr Elena Forasacco; Dr Paul Seldon, Early Career Researcher Institute (ECRI)
“Introduction to Climate Change”: designing a sustainability module for all
By Dr Maria Vinograd, Centre for Environmental Policy; Mark Eggins, Learning Designer, Interdisciplinary EdTech Lab
Authentic Assessment for Sustainability
By Dr Alexandra Collins, Centre for Environmental Policy
Teaching Sustainability in STEMM through real-world industry examples
By Chetna Vaghela, Centre for Environmental Policy
Bridging the gap - now and next for sustainability teaching in IC Chemistry
By Dr Laura Patel, Dalia Taleb, Department of Chemistry
Mapping the curriculum: are we developing students’ sustainability competencies?
By Dr Nigel Forrest, Centre for Environmental Policy
Beyond the Classroom The Role of Field Visits in Teaching Sustainability
By Dr Ahmadreza Faghih Imani, Centre for Environmental Policy
In Case of Emergency - adopting the case method for teaching sustainability
By Jay DesLauriers, ECRI and Imperial College Business School
Undergraduate Medical Students’ Views on Sustainable Healthcare
By Dr Amir Fathi, Dr Anna Ogier, Faculty of Medicine
Integrating Sustainability into Your Curriculum: Lessons Learned from 50 Years of Teaching Sustainability
By Dr Tilly Collins, Centre for Environmental Policy
Working with community groups to embed sustainability into medical education curricula
By Dr Stephanie Bull, Dr Roshni Bhudia and Dr Ravi Parekh, School of Public Health
Sustainability: the golden thread through Bioscience Futures MSc.
By Dr. Anne Burke-Gaffney, NHLI; Blerina Ahmetaj-Shala, NHLI; Dr Michael Weatherburn and Dr Mark Pope from the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication; Dr Nigel Forrest, Centre for Environmental Policy; Dr Roshni Bhudia, School of Public Health
How can we embed sustainability education across all of our programmes?
Dr Mike Tennant (chair, FoNS); Jason Riley, FoE; Eirini Sampson (PDRA, CEP); Julia Mitra (UG, Chem. Eng.); Maurizio Zollo (ICBS); Stephanie Yeung (ICU); Viral Thakerar (FoM).
Building a resilient and relational teaching practice amid professional shame
By Dr James Huff, Associate Professor, Engineering Education Transformations Institute and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Georgia
'Conceptualising the ‘sustainable teacher': Insights from early-career, mid-career and experienced academics
By Dr Vily Papageorgiou, Lecturer in Higher Education, Surrey Institute of Education, University of Surrey
Sustainable models for academic integrity: A cross-disciplinary exploration
By Natasha Croome, School of Public Health; Anita Hall, Department of Life Sciences; Elizabeth Killeen, Library Services; Thomas Lancaster, Department of Computing; Coco Nijhoff (moderator), Library Services
Empowering Students to Develop Sustainable Study Strategies
By Dr Tiffany Chiu and Dr Sue Sing, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship
Words matter Sustaining talk in education - call for change
By Dr Giskin Day, Faculty of Medicine Centre
Seeking sustainable solutions for student success and growth through Assessment Data Analytics
By Mishaal Husain, Faculty of Natural Sciences EdTech Lab; Gabriela Izurieta, Faculty of Natural Sciences/Engineering; Kiran Gawali, Faculty of Natural Sciences EdTech Lab
Embedding EDI into GTA training to support effective teaching and learning across imperial
By Magdalena Jara, Early Career Researcher Institute (ECRI); Theo Brook, PhD student in the Department of Life Sciences and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Dr Sarah Patrick, Department of Chemistry
Exploring the emotional landscape of statistical literacy in postgraduate students and educators
By Dr Coen Wiegman, National Heart and Lung Institute
Sustainable Learning in Economics: Group Work for Engagement, Collaboration and inclusion
By Dr Maria Psyllou, Economics and Public Policy (EPP)
I May Be Smart, But Human Ingenuity Is Sustainable: Real-World Assessments
By Heather Hanna, DOID
The Sustainable Student: University Life Through the Lens of Happiness
By Dr. Margaret "Daisy" Pataki, CLCC
Untangling undergraduate immunology: making immunology more accessible through a student-led module level curriculum review
By Ana P. Costa-Pereira (DoS&C), Dr Rob White (DoID), Professor Cecilia Johanson (NHLI) and Dr Lydia Durant (FEO), Faculty of Medicine; Chae Hwang, Ariff Adha Shaiful Nadzri, Shimako Kato, Hiro Nishimura (BMB Class 2025) and Nayana Iyer (Students BMB Class 2020)
Nurturing Compassionate Teaching and Learning Ecosystems through Assessment Practices
By Dr Anna Troisi, Reader in Creative Computing and Equitable Futures at the Creative Computing Institute (CCI), University of the Arts London
Taking Imperial’s temperature: Making use of data and analytics
By Professor Camille Kandiko Howson, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship; Gao Zhuangfei, 4th year MEng student; Alex Neagu, PhD student; Peter Johnson, Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Helen Walkey, Learning Analytics Product Manager; Charlotte Whitaker, Learning Analytics Project Manager; Hector Keun, Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Surgery and Cancer
Co-creating an Education for Sustainability Special Interest Group
By Dr Nigel Forrest, Centre for Environmental Policy; Laura Skedgell, Sustainability, Energy and Social Impact, Business School Careers; Dr Mark Pope, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communications; Dr Daisy Pataki, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communications
Power, privilege and the personal: linking positionality to education practice
By Dr Mark Anderson, Centre for Higher Education and Scholarship; Michael Cole, Primary Care and Public Health; Dr Simisola Onanuga, Primary Care and Public Health; Dr Mariam Sbaiti, Primary Care and Public Health; Dr Nariell Morrison, Faculty of Medicine Centre
Successfully supporting the wellbeing of research students: the role of active listening
By Prof Jennifer Quint, Professor of Respiratory Epidemiology, School of Public Health; Dr Magdalena Jara, Principal Teaching Fellow, Early Career Researcher Institute (ECRI)
Supporting staff to embed EDI in teaching
By Sophia Quazi and Chloe Agg, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Outreach at Imperial: Working on widening participation to sustainably build a diverse community at Imperial
By Linda van Keimpema, STEM Activities Coordinator, Outreach
The hidden curriculum of online postgraduate public health education - what is it and how do students experience it?
By Dr Wendy Kwok (MRCVS), SPH
Prior university as educational destiny in postgraduate taught course admissions at Imperial: a dissection of elite reproduction and the hidden algorithms that make it happen
By Hector Keun, Faculty of Medicine
AI-Enhanced storytelling for fostering a sustainable community and culture
By Dr Tatia Codreanu, Institute of Extended Learning/ Continuing professional development
Reclaim your Brain
By Paul Chauncy and Catherine Webb Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication
Chatbots in Neurology and Neuroscience education
By Dr Stefano Sandrone, Faculty of Medicine
Exploring Ubuntu and how it could enhance the development of a sustainable community
By Dr Sungano Chigogora, School of Public Health
What does sustainable teaching, learning and assessment look like in the age of Gen AI? A panel discussion with the AI Futurists and invited guests
By Konstantinos Beis, AI Futurist, Faculty of Natural Sciences; Emma Blyth, AI Futurist, Faculty of Medicine; Caroline Clewley is I-Explore Lead and STEMM Module Stream Lead in Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication in the Central; Rhodri Nelson, AI Futurist for the Faculty of Engineering; Coco Nijhoff, Lead AI Futurist; Jay DesLauriers, AI Futurist for the Business School