Commercial and Professional Skills module

Leeds Living Lab case study: Leeds University Business School Commercial and Professional Skills module.

Each year MSc Organizational Psychology students taking the Commercial and Professional Skills module at Leeds University Business School work with Sustainability Services to analyse complex organizational problems and develop viable solutions.

Posing as consultants, student groups were tasked to review student and staff awareness of sustainability initiatives across the University and to develop recommendations that could increase awareness of both the #2023PlasticFree campaign and the Blueprint programme.
After initial meetings with members of the Sustainability team, the students collected data using questionnaires, interviews, observation and secondary research techniques to gain a better understanding of people’s sustainability knowledge and activities that are already taking place. They also reviewed specific areas of engagement by the University, using their results to highlight gaps for improvement and make recommendations.

Student recommendations for improvement ranged from engaging with students through face-to-face activities and events to posting more diverse and regular content.
This example demonstrates just one of the ways that we are collaborating across the University to embed sustainability into student learning as part of the Leeds Sustainable Curriculum programme.

The module is also an excellent example of a Living Lab project. It brings together students, academic and operational staff to research and test sustainable solutions, enhance our curriculum and tackle global challenges at a local scale, using the University as a test bed.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to guide our activity. Our Leeds Living Lab work is linked to all of the SDGs.
Find out more about our impact on the SDGs.