The Earth Fellows Edit for 2024 is live! This annual publication showcases the work of Edinburgh Earth Initiative’s Earth Fellows programme, which gives current students the unique opportunity to work on paid climate and environment projects, engage with professional development events and build a network for collective action on climate change.
View the Earth Fellows Edit 2024
Edinburgh Earth Initiative Earth Fellows are a vital part of a diverse, fun and dynamic team of researchers, students and staff all working together towards solutions for climate change on a global scale.
Our annual Earth Fellows Edit showcases the wonderful work of the Earth Fellows, and acts as a record of their contributions to our collective climate knowledge, featuring quotes from project partners across the University and beyond.
Our 2023/2024 cohort included 19 Earth Fellows representing eight Schools, across all three colleges at the University of Edinburgh.
The Fellows worked on eight separate research projects, resulting in 10 reports, three literature reviews, two showcase events, two panel discussions and a new microsite and video. Plus, the Earth Comms Unit alone produced 28 communications pieces, bringing focus to climate related research and knowledge within the University.
Project partners included the Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes, Energy@Ed, the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability, the School of GeoSciences, the Curriculum Transformation Project, the SUS+ network, the School of Social and Political Science, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the UK’s Energy Demand Research Centre.
“We’re so proud of the work the Earth Fellows have done this academic year. From increasing the reach of climate-related research news, to strengthening partnerships and providing evidence-bases for decision making, their work has added immense value across the University. We’re very grateful to the Fellows and their project partners for their dedication and collaboration this year.” – Chloe Francis, Earth Fellows Programme Manager
Climate communications and research engagement
Racheal Akello, Rania Djojosugito, Joanna Keel, Maria Marabito, Elliot Fisher, Charlotte Haley and Immi Saleem worked under the climate communications and research engagement theme.
The team published stories that bring to life researchers’ impacts in combating climate change, focusing on the themes of health, energy, and sustainable land and seas.
Partners included the Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes and Energy@Ed – an initiative to bring energy researchers within the University together for collaboration, innovation, and impact within their field.
“Through organising and facilitating climate enterprise events, I developed skills in fostering dialogue for climate action. This experience has strengthened my passion for public engagement in sustainability and will be invaluable for my future career in environmental communication and advocacy.” – Racheal Akello, Earth Fellow: Communications & Events and Mastercard Foundation Scholar
“Working with Rania and Joanna has been an absolute pleasure. They supported Energy@Ed with writing news items, project case studies, and interviews with energy experts, all of which have been used on the Edinburgh Earth Initiative and the Energy@Ed website. Throughout the project they have also provided focus enabling Energy@Ed to provide a more informative website.” – Prof Markus Mueller, Energy@Edinburgh
Climate and sustainability in the curriculum
Erin Flattley, Iris Cheng, Jamie Larson, Rebecca Foody, Georgia Dillon, Sonakshi Pandit and Sophie Zych-Watson worked on the climate and sustainability in the curriculum theme.
The team worked with schools across the University to highlight where the UN’s sustainable development goals are already being taught in undergraduate programmes – mapping 17 sustainable development goals to 644 undergraduate courses. Sophie Zych-Watson developed guidance and resources to support nature-based and outdoor learning, resulting in a microsite and information videos, partnering with the University’s Outdoor and Environmental Education Unit.
Fellows worked with the School of Geosciences, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, School of Medicine, School of Social and Political science and Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture as part of the University’s Curriculum Transformation Project.
“I learnt the importance of research into practice within the university. There were so many courses offered that aligned with international best practice institutions. There are so many great curricular and extracurricular initiatives at the university, so it was great to be able to surface these and showcase their value.” – Georgia Dillon, Postgraduate Earth Fellow
“Sonakshi’s fluency for her subject area of architecture, combined with passion for sustainability, generated insights into the curriculum’s effectiveness for supporting sustainability that my team will use to ensure all students can find opportunities to embed sustainability in their studies.” – Lucy Patterson, Climate and Sustainability in the Curriculum Coordinator, Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Research partnerships and policy
Ian Watt, Cormac Cleary and Alys Daniels-Creasey worked on a wide variety of projects spanning policy, outdoor learning, and establishing networks for improved collaboration across the University.
Partners included the SUS+ network – an academic network for environmental social science scholars from across the University, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the UK’s Energy Demand Research Centre.
“Coming from a background in academic-focused research, it’s been insightful to conduct research from an advocacy perspective to understand how evidence gathering is so important to policy and decision-making spheres. I can already see the significance of this for my future career, which I hope will straddle the line between research and policy/applied contexts.” – Alys Daniels-Creasey, Advanced Earth Fellow: Natural Capital
“Ian has been fantastic to work with as an Earth Fellow. Beyond completing a piece of work according to the brief, Ian has expanded and developed the project in ways that we had not anticipated. This has made for a really strong working partnership and high impact outputs.” – Faye Wade, Chancellor’s Fellow, School of Social and Political Science
Find out more about their work and hear from all the Fellows and partners: Earth Fellows Edit 2024
Earth Fellows opportunities
We’re currently hiring for a number of Earth Fellow roles for University of Edinburgh students! Opportunities range from contributing to the University of Edinburgh’s engagement with COP29 Azerbaijan, to joining a team of interdisciplinary researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Sciences and School of GeoSciences to improve understanding of urban agriculture and green gentrification.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh can host Earth Fellows to support their areas of research and contribute to the wider strategic aims at the University of Edinburgh. Length of projects and Earth Fellows contributions are flexible based on your project’s needs.
Get in touch with Earth Fellows Programme Manager, Chloe Francis.
