We are absolutely thrilled to be joined by Corey Peterson, one of the true global leaders in sustainability in higher education!

Corey is the Chief Sustainability Officer at the University of Tasmania where he has transformed their sustainability work in the over 16 years he has worked there.  A consistently high performing institution in the THE Impact Ratings, Corey has again led UoT to Number 1 in the world in SDG 13 Climate Action in the 2026 ratings - just one of many indicators to demonstrate his positive contributions to sustainability.

We chat about Corey's career, how not only inspires but also learns from others, and why his type of job matters so much.  

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it!

Episode Guest: Corey Peterson, University of Tasmania

Episode Host: Prof Simon Kemp, University of Southampton

Episode Editor: Mya Harvey, University of Southampton 

Stefania-Myrto Staiculescu (BSc Geography) joins us to discuss her independent research project "Sustainability Across Borders: Comparing Student Attitudes and Behaviours at Southampton (UK) and Can Tho (Viet Nam) which is part of the Sustainability & Resilience Institute (University of Southampton) and Mekong Institute (Can Tho University) research collaboration.

In recent years, sustainability has become increasingly relevant, and universities are recognised as key to promoting and shaping students' environmental attitudes and behaviours. Students across all disciplines and international contexts should develop environmental awareness because they are future decision-makers who will determine the success of sustainable development. The aim of this study is to assess how sustainability attitudes and behaviours among students differ at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom and Can Tho University in Viet Nam. A qualitative research study using NVivo was conducted, with 24 semi-structured interviews. The results revealed overall high levels of sustainability awareness at both universities, but a gap between the awareness and pro-environmental behaviours. Students at Can Tho University reveal that their sustainable behaviour is strongly linked to university-led and collective initiatives that encourage student engagement. However, at Southampton, students showed less enthusiasm for university initiatives and described more individual daily changes, such as transport choices and waste management. Although these findings are useful, further research could expand participant selection and look at multiple participant groups, such as the public, to help develop sustainable behaviours for the whole community.

Contact Stefania on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefania-staiculescu-0744812a9/

Guest: Stefania-Myrto Staiculescu, BSc Geography

Host: Prof Simon Kemp

Producer & Editor: Jack Dinham

The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2026 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.

Massimo Risoli (BA Geography) joins us to discuss the research project "The Left Behind in Can Tho, Viet Nam : Smart Cities, Climate Change and Everyday Inequality" which is part of the Sustainability & Resilience Institute (University of Southampton) and Mekong Institute (Can Tho University) research collaboration.

In this episode Massimo discusses his dissertation, based on qualitative fieldwork in Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam. Drawing on thirteen semi-structured interviews, a focus group, and an interview with a local NGO conducted in June 2025, the research explores how smart city development shapes everyday experiences of flooding, digital inclusion, and urban inequality.  

Building on Ayona Datta’s (2018) concept of digital visibility, the research argues that digital legibility increasingly determines which places, people and problems receive political attention and investment. While every participant identified flooding as a defining part of daily life and almost all had experienced climate-related displacement, none associated smart city development with climate adaptation. Rather than reflecting a lack of awareness, this reveals a deeper governance logic in which digitally visible forms of development are prioritised over long-term climate resilience.  

The episode highlights why placing local voices at the centre of sustainability and smart city policies is essential if urban development is to be genuinely inclusive.

Key readings

• Datta, A. (2018). The digital turn in postcolonial urbanism: Smart citizenship in the making of India’s 100 smart cities.
• Hollands, R.G. (2008). Will the real smart city please stand up?
• Heeks, R. (2022). Digital inequality beyond the digital divide.
• Tran, T.A. (2020). From free to forced adaptation: A political ecology of the ‘state–society–flood’ nexus in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta.   

Guest: Massimo Risoli, BA Geography

Host: Prof Simon Kemp

Producer & Editor: Jack Dinham

The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2026 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.

We are joined by Sadie Entwistle (MSci Marine Biology) to discuss a fascinating research project "Why the UK needs to plant more seagrass and protect what we already have. Projecting carbon stocks and storage rates of a UK subtidal seagrass bed" 

In this student takeover episode of the Meliora Podcast, Sadie joins us to discuss the hidden potential of seagrass ecosystems in mitigating climate change. We address how seagrass restoration as a nature-based solution can be used to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 13 (Climate Action) and 14 (Life Below Water). The importance of the seagrass beds in storing atmospheric carbon for decades to centuries is explored, as well as why the UKs seagrass ecosystems are needing protection under a changing climate and increasing human disturbance.

Sadie’s research project titled “Projecting carbon stocks and storage rates of Zostera marina beds, Studland Bay, UK” provides novel estimates of the amount of carbon stored per year, and across the entire meadow, at Studland Bay (Dorset, UK). She takes us through the rationale for the research, how the project was born, and the methods used to obtain results using the ICUN’s Blue Carbon Manual. We discuss how these results differ from the few existing studies found elsewhere in the UK, and what this may mean for the future of seagrass restoration.

You can explore Sadie’s research further by accessing her Linkedin for a full PDF of the study. Sadie Entwistle - www.linkedin.com/in/sadie-entwistle-082673395

For more information of the methods used, please follow the link to the ICUN’s Coastal Blue Carbon Manual:

https://iucn.org/content/coastal-blue-carbon-manual

Guest: Sadie Entwistle, MSci Marine Biology

Host: Prof Simon Kemp

Producer & Editor: Jack Dinham

The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2026 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.

We are joined by Ronnie Lam to discuss a fascinating research project "Analysing the intersection between music education and young people in care" along with many wider important issues.

In this episode we address the important question "In What Ways Can Institutions Increase Access to Music for Looked After Children for Them to Have the Benefits of Music Education?"

There is little research on the intersection between music education and young people in care. The barriers are individualistic to broad, with placement, support and funding being some examples, with impact from Progress 8 and the removal of the English Baccalaureate to current ongoing reforms in the children’s care system. Even though some music hubs and institutions are providing music provisions to young people in care, there are problems in knowledge of these provisions and relationships to the local authorities. Conducting interviews, looking at policy, statistics and quotes from people who are care-experienced, I display what current issues there are and what approaches we should take to bridge the gap.

Guest: Ronnie Lam, BA Music

Host: Prof Simon Kemp

Producer & Editor: Jack Dinham

Further reading:

Biddulph, Max. ‘Failed by the System: The Views of Young Care Leavers on Their Educational Experiences, Barnardo’s Policy and Research Unit, and Supporting Children in Public Care in Schools. Pastoral Care in Education 24, no. 4 (2006): 49–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0122.2006.00390.x.

Bull, Anna. Class, Control, and Classical Music. Oxford University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190844356.001.0001.

Carrie Wilson. ‘How I Am Fighting the Stereotypes of Looked after Children’. Social Care Network. The Guardian, 18 May 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2012/may/18/looked-after-children-care-system.

Children’s Commissioner. The Big Ask - The Big Answer. September 2021, 58.

Coles, Thomas. ‘Why Are Looked After Children Fixed Term Excluded from School? Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to Understand the Process’. Ed.D., University of Exeter, 2012. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1654741660/abstract/820815F28BDE4829PQ/1.

Frogley, Catherine, Mary John, Ruth Denton, and Dawn Querstret. ‘“They Don’t Meet the Stereotypes in the Boxes…”: Foster Carers’ and Clinicians’ Views on the Utility of Psychometric Tools in the Mental Health Assessment of Looked after Children’. Adoption & Fostering 43, no. 2 (2019): 119–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308575919841752.

Gumble, Daniel. ‘Major Victory For Music Education as Government Scraps EBacc’. UK Music, 10 November 2025. https://www.ukmusic.org/news/major-victory-for-music-education-as-government-scraps-ebacc/.

Hibbard, Shannan, and Erin Price. ‘Trauma: A Compassionate Lens for Music Teaching’. In The Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education, OUP, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197611654.013.35.

Hugman, Catriona. ‘Misrecognition or Recognition? A Critical Discussion of Care Experience as a Protected Characteristic’. Critical and Radical Social Work 13, no. 2 (2025): 214–30. https://doi.org/10.1332/20498608Y2024D000000067.

Humphrey, Ryan David. ‘Music Making and the Potential Impact for Looked after Children’. MA, York St John University, 2018. https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/3539/1/Humphrey%20Ryan%20David%20Final%20Thesis.pdf.

Murris, Karin. ‘The Epistemic Challenge of Hearing Child’s Voice’. Studies in Philosophy and Education 32, no. 3 (2013): 245–59. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-012-9349-9.

O’Donnell, Chloé, Rachel Sandford, and Andrew Parker. ‘Physical Education, School Sport and Looked-after-Children: Health, Wellbeing and Educational Engagement’. Sport, Education and Society 25, no. 6 (2020): 605–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2019.1628731.

‘Rethinking “Bad Behavior” : A Compassionate Response to “Acting Out” in Music Education’. In Trauma and Resilience in Music Education. Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003124207-1.

‘Should Care Experience Be a Protected Characteristic?’ Children’s Commissioner for England, 26 October 2023. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/blog/should-care-experience-be-a-protected-characteristic/.

Terry Galloway. ‘Latest List of Councils to Have Passed the Protected Characteristics Motion for Care Experienced People’. 17 September 2025. https://www.careleaveroffer.co.uk/blog_articles/5277-latest-list-of-councils-to-have-passed-the-protected-characteristics-motion-for-care-experienced-people.

Terry Galloway. Letter to Housing Minister Regarding Discrimination in the Planning System. n.d. Accessed 30 April 2026. https://www.careleaveroffer.co.uk/blog_articles/4125-letter-to-housing-minister-regarding-discrimination-in-the-planning-system.

The Centre of Social Justice. Survival of the Fittest? Improving Life Chances for Care Leavers. The Centre of Social Justice, 2014. https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CSJ_Care_Report_28.01.14_web.pdf.

Adchaya Apputhurai (BSc Environmental Science) joins us to discuss her dissertation "A sparkling problem in our aquatic environments: A study on glitter pollution".

Despite being a prevalent microplastic of a highly complex structure, glitter is overlooked as a pollutant. This study links particle size, short-term biological impact, and sediment transport for red PET glitter. The commercially available glitter was split into three size fractions, then Artemia sp. were exposed to these for 72 hours and mobility was quantified in a sediment column experiment that simulated episodic rainfall. The results show that fine particle glitters are persistent, mobile, and carry potential for physical harm to organisms, making their exposure risk greater. It is argued that glitter should be explicitly considered in microplastic regulation and monitoring frameworks, whilst also bringing more awareness to the public about its harm. Consumers are encouraged to make active choices when buying items including glitter to prevent pollution of sensitive aquatic environments. 

Episode guest: Adchaya Apputhurai, BSc Environmental Science

Episode host: Prof Simon Kemp 

Episode producer and editor: Jack Dinham

Jamie Robinson (BSc Environmental Science) joins us to discuss his research project 'Salinity rising: the hidden crisis threatening the Mekong delta' which is part of the Sustainability & Resilience Institute (University of Southampton) and Mekong Institute (Can Tho University) research collaboration.

Salinity intrusion is increasingly threatening the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, a region vital for global rice production. In this episode, Jamie Robinson explores how rising salinity, driven by climate change, sea level rise and human activity, is impacting both the environment and local communities.

Using fieldwork and long-term data, the research shows clear increases in salinity levels, especially during dry seasons, placing pressure on crop yields, water security and livelihoods. The episode highlights that this is not just an environmental issue, but a complex challenge requiring coordinated, sustainable solutions to protect the delta’s future.

The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2026 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.

Episode guest: Jamie Robinson, BSc Environmental Science

Episode host: Prof Simon Kemp

Episode producer & editor: Jack Dinham

Gabriel Westcott (BA Philosophy) joins us to discuss his research project "Harm, moral status and the use of animals in biomedical research".

The practice of animal experimentation has been the topic of much discourse in the topic of Animal Ethics, in part because it poses a dilemma for those who oppose it and those who advocate for it alike. Whether we deem the practice of animal experimentation permissible or not, we perpetrate a great deal of harm. Part of task of discerning whether animal experimentation is permissible, resides in establishing whether it is the case that animals have moral standing, that is, whether animals matter in their own right. As, despite the great benefits that animal research yields, if we afford animals moral standing there will be some cases where morality mandates that we favour animal interests over human interests. 

Episode guest: Gabriel Westcott, BA Philosophy

Episode host: Prof Simon Kemp

Episode producer & editor: Jack Dinham

Jess Cook (BSc Environmental Science) joins us to discuss her independent research project "Power to the People: exploring the potential of community energy".

In this Student Symposium episode, we explore renewable community energy projects from the people's perspective and how they shape up as a feasible decarbonisation solution. We explore whether the challenges that communities face from policy and funding limitations outweigh the benefits successful projects find. we look at the people and places that get involved with projects like these and what makes a project more likely to succeed than others.

The synergistic benefits these projects offer within sustainability are examined and the glimmer of hope they provide in these ever more extreme times is discussed. Sit down as we look at the future of community energy with the Government's release of the Local Power Plan and ask, is this a realistic solution to decarbonise our grid and reduce the cost of energy?

Guest: Jess Cook, BSc Environmental Science

Host: Prof Simon Kemp

Editor: Jack Dinham

The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2026 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.

Aksel Conway-Forecast (BSc Environmental Science) joins us to discuss his research project "Assessing in-person monitoring techniques for sustainable greenspace management".

In this student takeover episode of the Meliora Podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute (SRI) at the University of Southampton, we discuss the means by in-person surveying to improve the efficiency of greenspace management for maintaining the natural sustainability of living systems and similar, whilst in financially and/or resource constrained scenarios.

Public or private greenspace management is reliant on tip-offs and visual surveys on negative environmental factors, such as littering, risking inaccurate quantification and ineffectiveness within strategy measures. More effective monitoring can resolve uncertainty and keep management plans well-informed. Yet with the current crisis around funding cuts and other changes to our country’s environmental regulation and management, many greenspace managing bodies are affected by financial difficulties and staff shortages with limit their ability to utilise the best available technologies and techniques.

In this episode, we address how to go about creating a reliable but inexpensive monitoring strategy by assessing several surveying techniques in a protected greenspace setting, focusing upon anthropogenic litter for this case study.

To learn about the UK’s littering problem, we recommend visiting:

(DEFRA, 2026) Statutory Guidance: Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-litter-and-refuse/code-of-practice-on-litter-and-refuse

To read more about the nature of this work and its implications, we recommend reading the following articles:

·      Barton, J. and Rogerson, M. (2017) ‘The Importance of Greenspace for Mental Health’, BJPsych International, 14(4), pp. 79-81. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1192/s2056474000002051

·      Browne, M.A., Underwood, A.J., Chapman, M.G. et al. (2015) ‘Linking Effects of Anthropogenic Debris to Ecological Impacts’, Proceedings: Biological Sciences, 282, pp. 1-10. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43602065

·      Gyraite, G., Haseler, M., Balčiūnas, A. et al. (2022) ‘A New Monitoring Strategy of Large Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Litter: A Case Study on Sandy Beaches of Baltic Lagoons and Estuaries’, Environmental Management, 72, pp. 410-423. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-022-01755-z

·      Heravi, M.D., Haddadi, M., Nejad, F.K. et al. (2024) ‘A Comparative Study of Indexes used for Litter Pollution Assessment in Urban and Public Environments’, Heliyon, 10(3), article e24954. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24954

·      Yao, X., Lin, T., Sun, S. et al. (2022) ‘Greenspace’s Value Orientations of Ecosystem Service and Socioeconomic Service in China’, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 8(1), article 2078225. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2022.2078225

Episode guest: Aksel Conway-Forecast, BSc Environmental Science

Episode host: Prof Simon Kemp

Episode producer and editor: Ellie Howell

The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2026 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.