Meet our inspiring student and alumni speakers, discover their City St George's journeys and how they became passionate about Sustainability.
The sixth London Student Sustainability Conference (LSSC24), held 21 February at Imperial College London was a collaboration between ten London-based Universities and saw close to 200 attendees.
Students gave presentations and workshops, took part in a poster exhibition, and attended a networking evening.
City St George's selected four student and alumni speakers to take part, discover their inspiring stories:
PhD candidate Kim Smith highlights the importance of food education
Kim Smith (Primary School Food Education Policy, 2029)
Kim's presentation: "No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing," explores her PhD literature review which looks at different approaches to food education in primary schools.
Kim was encouraged by her supervisors at City St George's to apply for LSSC24 to get food education on the sustainability agenda. She says,
"We need to harness the power of schools and education through policy.
"Current education policy in England lacks a connection between food and climate change, which is odd given that the food system is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, biodiversity loss and water use.
"We are not leveraging the potential of schools to equip children with the skills and knowledge they need to live a sustainable lifestyle, today and in the future."
Kim is hugely grateful for the support she's received at City St George's.
"The Centre for Food Policy team has been instrumental in getting me to where I am today through cutting-edge, interdisciplinary teaching on the master’s, supporting the publication of my master's thesis and helping me secure a PhD studentship. Their generosity is incredible. Colleagues and my fellow PhD cohort have championed me, my topic and progress the whole way."
Kim's dream is to raise the profile of food education in primary schools and build a community of like-minded people to ensure all children are equipped with the skills and knowledge to live sustainably.
Natalie Jakiemiec wants us to rethink how we redistribute food surplus
Natalie, Jakiemiec (MSc Food Policy, 2024)
Alumna Natalie, presented her research on San Francisco. The findings of her study offers strategies for cities to address food waste and hunger in the long term.
"I grew up in the Bay Area, which has a lot of different sustainability initiatives and groups, but it wasn't until I got to undergrad and took a Food History course that really got me interested in food policy and sustainability."
Natalie highlights a key area that needs to be further explored to create a more sustainable world.
"Farmers need better support in transitioning to sustainable agriculture practices. There's so much potential there but we can't expect farmers, especially those who run smaller farms to do all the work without some backing."
Natalie's degree from City St George's University opened doors to new possibilities.
"The master's Food Policy programme has helped me understand my passion for Sustainability. I would like to highlight my professors who have shown me the different career choices I could take and connected me to job opportunities I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
"In the future, I really want to focus on helping create food policy that helps both people and the planet, without leaving one in the dust, specifically when it comes to access to healthy and sustainable food."
Niso Khamraeva discusses the link between climate change and gender inequality
Niso Khamraeva (MA International Communications and Development, 2023)
Recent alumna Niso has worked for the United Nations, contributed to NGO's and given inspiring speeches on platforms including TED Talk and the United Nations General Assembly.
At the LSSC24, her presentation “Save Aral Sea” highlighted how climate change impacts women's health, safety and security in the Aral Sea region of Karakalpakstan.
Niso's findings are a call to action for policymakers to explore new data and create gender-responsive programmes.
"I would encourage women to be brave enough to bring issues to the table because we need more female representatives as they may experience climate change differently than men." she says. "Be brave enough, don't be afraid and inspire others."
"Climate change is a very big topic, and it impacts every region differently. I believe that by tackling climate change in each region individually, we can tackle it altogether. If you are really interested in sustainability, I'd suggest reading up on case studies about best practices and then adapting those practices for your area."
"My goal is to continue to advocate for women and girls, further raise awareness for the most vulnerable communities in the world, including in my own country, Uzbekistan, and advocate for the best climate solutions."
Murad Noor wants data analytics to be incorporated into renewable energy research
Murad Noor (MSc Data Science, 2025)
Murad presented a poster on how he used data analytics to model the use of renewable energy in Finland. He first became interested in sustainability by following current affairs and reading about environmental problems and climate change.
“In my work, I explore how different computing techniques can be used to improve the study of the environment. My knowledge of Data Science and Artificial intelligence (AI) has really helped here. There is a lot of potential for incorporating technology in environmental studies.”
Murad is grateful for the support from City St George's:
“City St George's has helped me a lot in the formation of my ideas by discussing possible areas of focus and assisting me in finding relevant data. I am thankful to my academic teaching and support staff for this.”
Murad looks to the future: “I would like to use the knowledge and skills that I have obtained from enriching experiences to build solutions to world problems. I want to do this through a career in IT, where I work in applied disciplines.”