The Adam Smith Business School held the second Sustainability Challenge, open to all undergraduate students from all disciplines across the university. The finals took place in the Hot House at the new Adam Smith Business School on Wednesday 14th February.

Seven student teams were asked to help Glasgow City Council meet two rigorous challenges set by the case setters, Alan Hendry and Caron Dunlop from Mott MacDonald and Gavin Slater from Glasgow City Council. The challenges were:

  1. Address the Scope 3 emissions challenge for Glasgow City Council, or

  2. Examine how the concept of time and Whole Life Value applies to carbon reporting in cities.

The very worthy winners of the Challenge were Kira Buchanan, Owen Craig, and Mathias Malmberg! Kira and Mathias are Business School students, while Owen is currently studying Psychology. They pitched to the judging panel on addressing Scope 3, exploring solutions on data collection and reliability and successful examples from other cities.

The panel of esteemed judges was comprised of Alan Hendry, Caron Dunlop, Gavin Slater, and Dr Arjunan Subramanian from the Adam Smith Business School. They faced the challenging task of evaluating the projects and performances. It was a close contest, but the winning team impressed the judges with the insightful content of their pitch and their highly polished presentation skills.

Kira, Owen and Mathias won £300 in vouchers and the chance to bring their proposal to life with the assistance of Glasgow City Council and Mott MacDonald! In second place, Abigal Close, Lara Manning and Isla Martin and in third place Cecilia Corey, Gabriel Galbraith Alessandro Peacock and Laavanya Varadarajan Shanmugapriya also received recognition for their outstanding performances and contributions to the competition, winninga total of £300 in vouchers.

Other competitors this year included Muiz Rusli, Miza Nasuha Mohamed Tamizi, Frances Banks, Rhiannon Farquhar, Prem Chhatbar, Isabella Laing, Adit Shrestha, Yasmin Burrows, Zi Xuan Koh, Ashley Chai, Xiang Yi Sia and Wenhui Qi.

This year’s Sustainability Challenge was the biggest yet, bringing 22 students together from the following schools: Adam Smith Business School, James Watt School of Engineering, School of Computing Science, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, School of Humanities, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, and the School of Social and Political Sciences.

Dr Paulina Navrouzoglou, the academic leader of the competition, comments:

"After weeks of intense preparation, the finalists demonstrated exceptional creativity, critical thinking, presentation, problem-solving and teamwork skills throughout the event. The finals were a testament to their hard work, talent, passion, and commitment to excellence. We areimmensely proud of all the participants and their remarkable achievements, and we look forward to witnessing their continued growth and impact on a more sustainable society.

The successful collaboration with Mott MacDonald and Glasgow City Council for a second year highlights the unwavering spirit of innovation and collaboration that defines our university community and its commitment to sustainability.

Thank you to the panel of judges -Alan Hendry, Caron Dunlop, Gavin Slater and Arjunan Subramanian- and Allan Johnstone, Karen Clancey, Carol Andrews, Caity Lynch, Jon McCue, Edward Green, Gail Angus, Nick Quinn, Yingru Li, Geethanjali Selvaretnam and Lovleen Kushwah for their support to make the Sustainability Challenge a resounding success!”

First published: 8 March 2024

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