Starting in the 2022-23 academic year, Chronos Sustainability will award an undergraduate and postgraduate prize to the students whose analysis and recommendations are considered to have the greatest potential to make a positive social or environmental impact. The prizes will be judged by practitioner experts from a mix of finance, industry, NGO, public policy and regulatory backgrounds.
The Department of Geography and Environment at LSE is a centre of international academic excellence in environmental social science and climate change, and economic, urban and development geography. The department is ranked 2nd in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2022.
To qualify for the Chronos Sustainability Prize, LSE undergraduates undertaking the course GY326 (Sustainable Business and Finance) and postgraduates on the course GY420/GY465 (Environmental Regulation) will prepare a brief on a key area of sustainability significance or concern. They will highlight the relevance of a particular issue, summarise what is known about it, and offer policy recommendations to key stakeholders such as regulators, investors and companies.
Dr Rory Sullivan, CEO, Chronos Sustainability and Visiting Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE, said: “We need to ensure that our thinking about how best to respond to the challenges of climate change and sustainable development is grounded in rigorous analysis and thinking. We also need to encourage students – at all levels – to think critically and carefully about how their work can help us respond to these challenges. These prizes are designed to bring these worlds together.”
Nicky Amos, Managing Director, Chronos Sustainability, added: “We established Chronos Sustainability with the explicit objective of delivering clear, demonstrable improvements in the social and environmental performance of key industry sectors. One way we do this is through showcasing and communicating the best ideas and the best solutions to the sustainability challenges. We also hope to inspire students to focus their attention on how their research can enable us to respond effectively to the world’s sustainability challenges.”
Dr Richard Perkins, Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Environment at LSE and the manager of both courses, commented: “Providing students with the knowledge, frameworks, and critical thinking skills to dissect complex policy-related issues is a key objective of both our undergraduate and postgraduate environment courses. These prizes will help recognise the work that our students undertake and provide a platform to share their ideas with an audience of practitioners and decision-makers.”
Professor Giles Atkinson, Deputy Head of Department in Geography and Environment at LSE, concluded: “These prizes are an acknowledgement of the fantastic work of the next generation of LSE sustainability practitioners and is crucial to aligning learning outcomes for our undergraduate and postgraduate students with the global challenges that we all face. The Department of Geography and Environment truly appreciates the vision and support of Chronos Sustainability in this important initiative.”