University of Winchester
From Plastic to Promise: A Transformative Staff-Student Partnership for Sustainable Change
Finalist, Student engagement
Finalist, Student Engagement
About
Working with Trashy Bags Africa, School in a Bag UK and the University of Winneba, staff and students co-created and delivered initiatives that addressed plastic pollution, widened educational opportunity and strengthened sustainability engagement in Ghana. Key achievements included delivering 50 school bags to a school in Accra and co-leading an interactive plastic pollution workshop at a school in Winneba. Students provided visible leadership in facilitation, outreach, advocacy and engagement, whilst staff ensured strategic coordination, academic depth and long-term partnership development. The project has generated clear benefits for partner communities and enabled students to gain transferable skills in communication, teamwork, intercultural collaboration and sustainability leadership. With strong potential for further workshops, educational resources and wider outreach, the initiative demonstrates measurable impact, legacy, scalability and the power of partnership-led change.
Top 3 learnings
- We learned that student-staff partnership creates stronger, more sustainable impact than working alone.
- We found that local partnerships make sustainability education more relevant, trusted and effective
- We learned that small projects can spark lasting change when designed for legacy
What would it mean to win?
Winning the UKRI Green award would not only cement the university of Winchester reputation as a leader in sustainability but it would also encourage more people to join into the project. It would also validate our civic and educational mission and attract students with green minded views as well as provide a recognition of the work internationally so more schools in Ghana for example would join the scheme.
Sustaianble Development Goal (SDG)
| 2026 | |
| Student engagement | |
| Finalist, UK and Ireland |
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