Festival of Debate 2022

Festival of Debate 2022: Grantham Centre climate events

We were delighted to be part of Festival of Debate 2022! Our Grantham Scholars led events on water, rewilding, invertebrates and corrosion. Some are now on our YouTube channel.

Festival of Debate is the largest annual politics festival in the UK, taking place every spring across South Yorkshire. The University of Sheffield is one the event supporters.

With the support of Deborah Beck, Jana Green and Claire Moran, Grantham Scholars organised a series of events on sustainability for FOD 2022. Public engagement like FOD showcases the passion and expertise of the Grantham Scholars. And it builds on the work of the Scholar Training Programme.

Water For Everyone: Sustainability & Importance

3 May 2022

When the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals were established in 2015, SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation was a base goal.

In order to explain why, our expert panel share knowledge from different fields to do with water. They discuss the challenges and opportunities of SDG 6 and take questions from the audience.

Watch Water for Everyone now on YouTube.

Event organisers

Grantham Scholars Jiangtian Tan, Amal Sarfraz, Tete’ Mausse, Veysel Yildiz and Zongting Cai.

Rewilding: Plant it and They Will Come

11 May 2022

Rewilding is a key tool against biodiversity loss, but what is the best way to restore natural habitats? What effect does reintroducing animals have? How do we combat invasive species? Importantly, what policy and economic tools can incentivise rewilding?

This debate brings together an expert panel to both introduce and argue points around rewilding, supplemented by questions from the audience.

You can now watch this on our YouTube channel.

Event organisers

Grantham Scholars Ella Ruth Challen Hubbard, Simone Farris, Benedict Smith, Hannah Ronan-Brown and Jenny Hughes.

Growing for Invertebrates

12 May 2022

Growing your own food is a lot of fun whether it’s in a window box, garden or allotment.

In this event, we will discuss how home grown food can create havens of diversity for invertebrates, and how our food-growing practices can be optimised without compromising crop success. We will be joined by a panel of academics and local growers.

Event organisers

Grantham Scholars Hannah Ronan-Brown, Upuli Wickramaarachchi and Abigail Barton.

Corrosion: The 2.5 Trillion Dollar Problem

24 May 2022

Corrosion of materials used in buildings, engineering projects and machinery can be dangerous.

Environmental disasters caused by corrosion include the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Corrosion also causes a huge consumption of natural resources. However, by understanding the causes of corrosion, steps can be taken to combat it.

Watch our expert panel talk about this fascinating topic.

Grantham Scholars Derick Liew, Bettina Zenz and Francis Gurman.

The Reusable Revolution: The shift away from disposable plastics

Sarah Greenwood - Britain under-reports plastic use
Sarah Greenwood

Tue, 17 May 2022

Sarah Greenwood from our Many Happy Returns team was also at the Festival of Debate. Sarah spoke about how reuse systems could reduce the environmental impact of plastic.

Festival of Debate and Grantham Centre: previous years

Our Scholars take part in the Festival of Debate almost every year. Last year due to the pandemic we did things a little differently. Scholars organised their own series of events, all online.

You can find all of those here: Free sustainability webinars. Topics include soil health, sustainable water and housing.

And if that gets you excited for more free online videos about sustainability, then we have more. Watch: Clean power and climate activism talks available online.

Grantham Centre on YouTube

Our YouTube channel includes all the videos mentioned above, plus more. Included are videos from our plastics projects, Grantham Scholar interviews and videos made by Scholars on their research.