On 22nd July we were pleased to witness our 2024 GSD final year students graduate. Celebrations included a graduation ceremony at Butterworth Hall

(Warwick Arts Centre) followed by a celebratory lunch where student awards were also presented.

The School for Cross-faculty Studies is delighted to announce that it has been successful in its application for the Athena SWAN Bronze Award. We are now engaged in implementing our five-year Athena SWAN Action Plan.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate, published its latest report on Monday 9 August 2021.

The IPCC report represents a red alert and an immediate call to action. Among the key points to be drawn out of the report are the concerns that extreme weather events are on the rise; carbon dioxide levels are at their highest in 2 million years; and changes to ice, ocean and sea levels could be ‘irreversible for centuries’.

• Hear from Professor João Porto de Albuquerque, Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development, on the "two crucial and immediate take home messages from the report"
• Hear from Dr Marta Guerriero, Deputy Head of the School for Cross-faculty Studies (GSD), on the “unequivocal” evidence presented by the report and the "urgent" need for collective action

We are delighted to have welcomed several new members of staff to the School for Cross-faculty Studies this month. We look forward to seeing the impact that Dr Xiaodong Lin, Dr Nikoleta Jones, Sam Gane, Sheree Thompson, Shehzadi Azis, and Ella Jones have in their new roles.

^{Image credit: Dr Marco J Haenssgen}

At the end of last year, Universitas Indonesia (UI) released the result of UI GreenMetric World University Rankings 2020. The University of Warwick was awarded 4th in the UK, ranking 29th of the 912 participating universities across 84 countries.

• New PhD scholarships in Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick available to UK and EU students, thanks to £1,350,000 from Leverhulme Trust
• Scholars will receive transdisciplinary training: expertise from different academic faculties, as well as mentorship from front line organisations, such as UN Habitat
• Researchers will be trained to be "as comfortable analysing data on human-environment interactions as liaising with governments and empowering communities" -- Professor João Porto de Albuquerque

We are excited to be opening our doors for the first time to postgraduate students as we launch our new MASc in Global Sustainable Development and MPhil/PhD in Global Sustainable Development.

Last month saw the publication of a new paper in the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals about 'Tourist Traps: Assessing the Role of Tourism in Sustaining Life Below Water', authored by Dr Jess Savage, Senior Teaching Fellow (GSD); Dr Godwin Yeboah, Senior Research Fellow (IGSD); and Dr Sarah Cook, Research Fellow (Warwick Water Group.

Registration for the World Innovation Challenge is currently open until Monday 5 October 2020.

This is a great opportunity for Warwick students to work in international teams with Monash University students. The aim is to create a business idea that tackles a key sustainability challenge. The Challenge starts on Friday 9 October 2020 at 9:30 am (BST). Participants will work online for 48 hours (including sleep/resting and other work) to make a business plan.