Global Sustainable Development (GSD) is essentially making sure that we live in the present without depleting the resources of future generations, and within the course, we look at the three core pillars of sustainability which are the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainability. Within this, we look at the big questions of today such as climate change, inequality, poverty, and depletion of natural resources.

My favourite aspect of the GSD course at Warwick is the final-year dissertation. This is an opportunity for students to intervene in a genuine real-life issue, and the best thing about this is that you can do so in a creative way.

I decided to research student mental health within my dissertation, due to the widespread media attention garnered over the last few years. Specifically, I decided to advocate for art therapy on university campuses, and to do this I curated art from both prospective and current students, and I also facilitated a panel discussion which I organised.

Within the research I found that there was, in fact, a huge amount of support for the idea of art therapy being available to UK students and on top of this, the research went well and I’m actually presenting my research at a conference in London on the theme of student mental health at universities.

Because I enjoyed the dissertation so much, I decided to apply for a research Master’s. I’ll be starting an MPhil in educational research at the University of Cambridge where I will research student mental health in the context of neoliberalism.

I’m Rhys, I’m a GSD student.