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Bioengineering has received two LEAF Gold awards, recognising efforts to improve sustainable practice in its Biosciences Core Facilities and Synthetic Biology lab spaces.

LEAF, the , helps laboratories reduce their environmental impact through practical changes to energy use, waste, equipment and day-to-day activity. In Bioengineering, all wet lab Core Facilities and 19 research labs are now engaged with the framework, with templates and direct guidance available to help principal investigators take part.

Gold recognition for shared facilities and research labs

The Biosciences Core Facilities award is a notable one for the department, given the scale of the facilities involved. They support researchers and ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ on multiple campuses and in several buildings, with around 800 research users and more than 100 ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ using them each year.

The award was coordinated by Miguel Hermida Ayala, Deputy Technical Operations Manager, with help from the wider Core Facilities team. Morgan Edmonds, Bioengineering Technician (Teaching), also made a significant contribution by creating stickers and signage to provide clearer guidance for lab users.

"It is important that we minimise our impact as much as possible, so achieving LEAF Gold is a great achievement." Ellie Wareham Bioengineering Research Support Technician

A separate LEAF Gold award recognises activity in the Synthetic Biology lab space in B601-610. The space includes the , led by Dr Claire Stanley; the Principles of Biomolecular Systems Lab, led by Dr Tom Ouldridge; and the , led by Professor Tom Ellis.

Research Support Technician Ellie Wareham led the activity to secure the Synthetic Biology award, implementing changes over two years to improve waste management, lab organisation and everyday sustainable practice.

“Sustainability is important to me because, as a microbiology lab working with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), we produce a lot of single-use plastic waste. It is important that we minimise our impact as much as possible, so achieving LEAF Gold is a great achievement. It is really nice to have that work recognised,” said Ellie.

Practical changes and estimated impact

The changes behind the two Gold awards included improving the control and organisation of lab waste, creating clearer signage, sending regular reminders to lab users, labelling electrical items so people could see what could be switched off when not in use, and introducing colour-coded systems to make daily routines more consistent.

"Our LEAF Gold awards reflect the collective effort being made across Bioengineering to build a culture of sustainability in both our research environments and our teaching." Dr Claire Stanley Chair of the Department of Bioengineering's Sustainability Committee

For Ellie, one of the most important parts of the project was raising awareness among lab users, so the changes could be maintained as part of everyday lab routines.

While exact departmental savings have not been calculated, LEAF estimates offer a useful indication of the potential impact. Based on LEAF’s own estimates, each lab following the framework’s guidance saves £3,700 and 2.9 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. Applied to the Biosciences Core Facilities, which combine around 18 labs, that would suggest savings of roughly £66,000 and 52 tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year. For all currently enrolled Bioengineering labs, the potential figure could be closer to £120,000 and 100 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

“Our LEAF Gold awards reflect the collective effort being made across Bioengineering to build a culture of sustainability in both our research environments and our teaching. It is encouraging to see the practical changes taking place in our labs being recognised, alongside wider work to help ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ understand how sustainability is taught and assessed across their programme,” said Dr Claire Stanley, Associate Professor and Chair of the department’s Sustainability Committee.

Sustainability in teaching

The department’s Sustainability Committee helps guide this activity through quarterly meetings with representatives from teaching, operations, departmental management and the student community. The committee also feeds into Faculty of Engineering sustainability discussions, helping Bioengineering share progress and learn from similar initiatives in other parts of engineering.

The department is also working to make sustainability more visible in teaching. A recent StudentShapers project, led by Dr Maria Parkes, Principal Teaching Fellow, developed a bespoke student-facing mapping tool to help ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ understand how sustainability is taught and assessed in their programme.

The tool will be trialled this year as part of the module selection process, with the aim of becoming a longer-term resource for ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and potentially supporting future accreditation evidence.

Recent support from the Faculty of Engineering and the department will also help tackle local sustainability challenges, building on the progress already made in Bioengineering’s lab spaces and teaching activity.