Making profit seems intrinsically linked to exploiting the planet for its finite resources, or treating members of our global society unequally. Companies getting away with exploitative practices is one of the biggest crimes of our time. But how do we tackle this? Join us as we take on some big picture questions including...

• Who has the power to drive change?

• How are businesses getting away with it?

• What laws are needed to protect the planet?

• Which companies and nations are breaking the mould?

• What can we do as individuals to support change?

Session lead: Thomas Empson, Sustainability Project Manager, LSBU

Joined by:

• Shane Holland, Executive Chaiman, Slow Food UK

More speakers to be announced

Biographies

Shane Holland is the Executive Chairman of Slow Food in the UK. He has held CEO positions within both the business and the third sectors and has chaired a number of large NFPS. Within the third sector his work has specialised in regards to our most vulnerable citizens, their issues of food poverty and food skills, education, offending, and access to service. His other current roles include Trustee of Borough Market, and sitting as a trustee of the charity United St Saviours, which gives grants to community groups and other charities of in excess of £1 million a year alongside running best in class almshouses. He is chair of Friends of Highshore School, a special school which has food education, growing, and food enterprise as an integral part of its curriculum. He frequently sits on expert panels, appear both in print and on TV and Radio; lectures at universities; has given a TED Talk as one of their “Architects of Tomorrow”; and carries out dozens of speaking engagements a year both within the UK and internationally.

Shane will be exploring we can hold businesses, and ourselves, to account, as well as discussing how to spot greenwashing, and why shopping is a little like voting - a pound coin changes nothing, but our pound coins together can change the world.

Visit: www.slowfood.org.uk.

This session aims to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities. It will explore the systems relating to structural racism and how it contributes to the excess of BAME death. The panel also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on BAME women in relation to the rise of domestic abuse.

Session lead: Dr. Jaya Gajpara, Course Director for Education for Sustainability, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Dr Calvin Moorley, Associate Professor of Nursing Research and Diversity in Care, LSBU

• Dr Rosetta West, Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing, LSBU

• Nelly Kibirige, Life Coach, former LSBU Student Union president and member of the LSBU Domestic Abuse working group on COVID-19

Schools: Health and Social Care / Law and Social Sciences.

This session celebrates Sustainability and 100 years of Women in Engineering at LSBU.

Please join an interdisciplinary panel of experts in engineering, design, computer science, social science and psychology as they consider how gender influences approaches to problem solving and the particular challenges of meeting the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals simultaneously.

Session Lead: Deborah Andrews, Associate Professor in Design and winner of ‘Sustainability in Action’ Award, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Dr Safia Barikzai Associate Professor of Informatics, an IT and Enterprise champion, Academic Lead for the Digital Grid Partnership and a STEMNET Ambassador

• Dr Clare Benson, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering and member of Explosion and Fire Research Group, LSBU

• DrJaya Gajparia, Course Director MSc Education for Sustainability and Senior Lecturer in Sociology, LSBU

• Dr Liz Newton, Associate Professor of Psychology and Academic Lead for Integrity, LSBU

School: Engineering.

Alumni of the Education for Sustainability MSc will discuss the role that education for sustainability has played in their work and careers. The alumni on the panel will be drawn from different countries including Cameroon, Kenya and Zambia and from different fields including water policy, agriculture, civic rights, anti-corruption and education. They will offer a view onfuture developments in their own contexts, particularlyin relation to climate change.

Session Lead: Dr Glen Strachan, Education for Sustainability Programme, School of Law and Social Sciences, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Stephen Asek, Founding Board Member of Solidarity 2020, Cameroon

• Euphresia Luseka, Water Governance Consultant, Kenya

• Rae Merrigan, Teacher, Indonesia

• Robson Nyirenda, Project Manager Opportunities for Youth Employment, SNV, Zambia

School: Law and Social Sciences.

This session will focus on the place that international law, and indeed law generally, plays in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. A traditional approach to global governance might suggest that improved sustainability needs more regulation, stronger institutions and more enforceable rules. However, this session will consider whether, in fact, the strength of the SDGs lies in their lack of legal authority, their weak institutional arrangements and in their delegated decision-making processes that give rise to the possibility of global justice through shared social responsibility.

Session lead: Professor Craig Barker, Dean.

School: Law and Social Sciences.

Biography: Alyssa Gilbert is the Director of Policy and Translation at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London. In preparation for the UK’s hosting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Glasgow in November 2021, Alyssa is chairing the COP26 Universities Network, a nation-wide network of academics and professionals working to deliver impact on climate change.

Prior to joining Imperial, Alyssa worked at the specialist energy and climate consultancy Ecofys providing policy design and evaluation services. Alyssa has worked on environmental and climate change issues across a range of countries including China, France, Spain Romania, Morocco, the UK and the US. Alyssa has also worked as a researcher for the Deputy Mayor of London and as a journalist on Environmental Policy in Brussels.

Visit: www.ukcop26.org.

Our special guests during this session will discuss a range of topics including behaviour change/ the benefits of a plant-based diet/ the challenges around convincing people to eat less meat/ organic food/ the potential impact on the environment and planet.

We want to take you, our audience, on a bit of a journey from developing a healthy mindset around the food you eat to planning healthy, nutritious and enjoyable meals in your day to day lives. We’ll then go that one step further as we discuss scheduling social activities with a food conscious attitude through to understanding the impact of your diet choices.

Session lead: Dr. Jaya Gajpara, Course Director for Education for Sustainability, LSBU.

Joined by:

• Toni Vernelli, International Head of Communications and Marketing, Veganuary

• Alexis Gauthier, Head Chef, Gauthier Soho

Veganuary is a non-profit organisation that encourages people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond. During the 2020 campaign, more than 400,000 people took our pledge to try a vegan diet, while more than 600 brands, restaurants, and supermarkets promoted the campaign, and launched more than 1200 new vegan products and menus in the UK market alone. Throughout the year, Veganuary encourages and supports people and businesses alike to move to a plant-based diet as a way of protecting the environment, preventing animal suffering, and improving the health of millions of people.

The daughter of a butcher from a small town in Northern Canada, Toni gave up meat in her teens when she learned that we can live and be healthy without it. Now vegan for more than 30 years, she believes passionately that we need a mass shift towards plant-based eating and is proud to be part of an organisation fuelling this change. She also holds a PhD in Animal Behaviour.

Visit: https://veganuary.com.

Based in the heart of Soho and opened in 2010, Gauthier Soho boasts an extensive vegetable menu that stands shoulder to shoulder with its meat options. He knew from the beginning that he wanted vegetables to become a main focus of his work. During lockdown, Gauthier launched its vegan boxes which have been a huge success.

“As a Michelin Starred French Chef, I am the last person you would associate with veganism. But I have seen the light. As a planet we have to make steps and lifestyle sacrifices to move in a sustainable direction. Food is crucial part of this. I am staring at a vision of the future where we enter an animal-free, compassionate future with regards to what we eat. My job is to help enable it.” - Alexis Gauthier.

Visit: www.gauthiersoho.co.uk.

Our opening keynote address will introduce the format of Mercato Metropolitano, its origins and evolution, then focus on the importance of fostering artisanship in the F&B and hospitality sectors. Various aspects of the model will be discussed, including its social impact activities in the community, the alignment of interest throughout the value chain and the creation of important transferable skills among the workforce and trading partners.

Biography: Amedeo Claris, Marketing Director for Mercato Metropolitano, will discuss how London’s first sustainable and inclusive food market is creating a movement to re-balance the relationship between artisan producers of natural, nutritious and unadulterated food, and consumers. A functioning, sustainable and inclusive food value chain requires balanced investments and, perhaps more importantly, the fostering of important skills and trades such as traditional agriculture, baking, butchery, fishmongery, etc. that have been vanishing among younger generations. Mercato Metropolitano focuses on the revival of those skills and trades with a modern approach, where vocational training of its staff and traders goes hand in hand with academic education which focuses on 360-degree sustainability and the triple bottom line notion of profit, people and the planet.

Visit: www.mercatometropolitano.com.

Zoe will be discussing how access to daylight can affect your well-being. Too much and discomfort glare can be caused and too little can negatively affect people’s mood and how productive they are in a day. She will be elaborating on her PhD research which was carried out at LSBU in collaboration with the British Blind and Shutter Association where she analysed the effects of a window blind’s performance on people’s health, well-being, and productivity. Lastly, she will be explaining how improvements to occupants’ interactions with shading may not only provide social benefits but also environmental benefits through saving energy.

Session lead: Zoe De Grussa, Sustainability Engineer and Communications Designer, British Blinds & Shutters Association

School: Engineering. 

As part of our global People and Planet Positive ambition to inspire and enable 1 billion people to make a step to behave more sustainably by 2030 in the UK&IE we launched The Live LAGOM Programme 6 years ago which was designed to support our customers and co-workers to see that sustainability is easy, affordable and desirable. Reducing energy, waste and water and being kind to the planet and their pockets. Over 3 years of research, we found living sustainably and wellbeing are very much connected.

Biographies: “I have worked for IKEA for over 19 years in several roles from IKEA Food, HR Manager, Payroll Specialist and Marketing Manager. I became Live LAGOM Programme manager 5 years ago where I work with all the units across the UK&IE.

Previous to IKEA, I had my own business, where we owned 3 Public houses and managed 30 others within our holding company. From 33 pubs to 22 units of IKEA I have loved every step of my journey. Inspiring and being around people is where I thrive most”- AileenVisit: www.ikea.com/gb/en/this-is-ikea/sustainable-everyday

Aileen will also be joined by LSBU Alumni Nureen Glaves. Nureen works with IKEA on the #LIVELAGOM initiative. Her company, FeedMeGood provides health and wellbeing services to housing associations, youth services, homeless schemes, the education sector and local councils. Visit: www.feedmegood.co.uk.