Sustainable and inclusive student awards and projects

ENLIGHT Sustainability and Inclusion Awards

The Sustainability and Inclusion Awards have been announced in ENLIGHT since 2024. A committee selects the winners from 20 nominated outstanding student-led projects and initiatives on sustainability and inclusion across ENLIGHT universities.

ENLIGHT Sustainability Awards 2025

Here are the first three places for the Sustainability Award 2025:

🥇 1. Adam Mullins and the project SPÉIR SU Pantry Students’ Union at the University of Galway
From the jury comments: The project demonstrates measurable impact and prompts reflection on how much food is actually wasted. It links sustainability with broader societal issues, shows clear results, and has the potential to be replicated in other cities or universities – truly inspiring!

🥈 2. Merel Janquart and the project Future Proef at Ghent University
From the jury comments: Easily applicable across ENLIGHT universities, this project focuses on on-the-spot problem-solving and holds strong potential for long-term impact. By highlighting engaging thesis projects the initiative aligns well with ENLIGHT’s goals and is already demonstrating efficiency.

🥉 3. Yannick Käser and Elmo Francis and the project Boat2Bag at the University of Bern
From the jury comments: This local initiative may not be transferable to all universities, but it serves as a strong example of upcycling. Its current visibility has the potential to inspire similar projects that generate tangible results.

ENLIGHT Inclusion Awards 2025

Here are the first three places for the Inclusion Award 2025:

🥇 1. Active* Champions project at the University of Galway
From the jury comments: The peer-education aspect and impact of this initiative are impressive, with the target group well engaged. We can never have enough initiatives that highlight this problem!

🥈 2. Lívia Orlovská and the project WheelShare at the Comenius University Bratislava
From the jury comments: Physical accessibility is a crucial topic that universities need to prioritise. This project reached a wide audience, and also engaging people without disabilities is important for educating broader communities.

🥉 3. Johannah Rybrant and the project “Equal opportunities - but with what resources?” at Uppsala University
From the jury comments: Aiming for long-term impact, the project is extensively documented and researched, benefiting from mentors’ support. A crucial cry for help, and it is extremely important to raise this voice.

 ENLIGHT Global Citizenship Award 2023

The Global Citizenship Award is a recognition of engagement of student led projects on sustainability projects on university campuses. The winners were selected after their engagement in the Global Dialogues in 2023 in which students presented their projects and discussed opportunities to manage sustainability projects.

Here the winners of the Global Citizenship Award 2023:

The Glassary Initiative by students from the University of Galway, Ireland

The Concordia Precious Plastic Project (CP3) by students from Concordia University, Canada

All presentations can be viewed on the ENLIGHT Youtube playlist on the Global Dialogue.

 Running student driven projects

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