Students
Aligned with other projects…
What is the 1in5 project?
In the UK alone, every year, about 500, 000 students complete an undergraduate degree. In their final year, most students, in collaboration with expert academic supervisors, do a substantial piece of advanced work: a research project, a composition, a dissertation, a show etc.
The 1 in 5 project believes that if 1 in 5 undergraduate students conducting their final year piece focused it on environmental change, there would be a significant impact.
This is where you can come in.
We know you care but might feel powerless when thinking about how you can make an impact regarding climate change and biodiversity issues. The 1 in 5 project provides you with the opportunity to use your ongoing degree to make a difference!
Who can participate?
Anyone can participate- no matter what subject you are studying.
Currently, there are only example projects from a few different subjects. However, we are confident that students from any subject background can partake. If you get to choose the topic of your project and want ideas for where to start- check out our example projects page.
If your lecturers have a role in deciding the topic then ask them about 1 in 5, and if necessary direct them to this website.
What would I be doing?
There are many ways you can contribute- be it through a written dissertation, legal work or even a piece of music.
Whatever big project you have to complete in third year, regardless of the subject- all you need to do to participate in the 1 in 5 project is to make it environment related- this can include both climate change and biodiversity related topics.
So all you’re doing is completing you degree as normal, but with an environmental twist- simple!
Why do it?
We know that 84% of young people are worried about climate change, but the majority feel powerless [1].
Becoming a part of the 1 in 5 project gives you the opportunity to be part of a growing group of young people that want to make a change by turning their concerns into active contributions.
What will the impact be?
Increased climate issue awareness, knowledge and agency
Engaging in more difficult conversations about climate change
More likely to adopt environmentally friendly behaviours
Feeling of action and contribution
The influence of a large student group, equipped with skills, ideas and connections, will ripple through thousands of interactions with friends, family and future employers, and societal change will follow [2]
Due to the law of truly large numbers, we anticipate after graduation, some will make exceptional contributions to arts, science, politics and beyond [3]
And many more…
When people collaborate (e.g. Wikipedia or Linux), the results can change the world.
Work at scale. Within universities there are existing examples of problems being solved using scale such as the ‘many labs’ in which groups of scientists coordinate to collect very large datasets. ‘Innocence projects’ that are run in some law schools are another example. After agreement on an important problem or idea, 10s or 100s of projection could be aligned in pursuit.
Multi- disciplinary projects. A critical idea for addressing environment change might be in the the head of a lecturer in Chemistry, the notepad of a PhD student in Journalism, or on a mechanic’s bench in a garage in the Outer Hebrides. Aligned projects could examine things like legal issues, or aesthetic and design factors. Or aligned projects could help a local council improve their recycling message, or a local business green its supply chain
1 in 5 is already running, but reach and impact could be magnified when some projects can be aligned.
References
[1] Climate change: Young people very worried - survey - BBC News
[2] An example of a dramatic switch in societal attitudes is gay marriage. Changes in attitudes (and changes in the law that followed) have been have been attributed to greater integration between people who identify as gay and people with a heterosexual identity. Flores, A. R. (2014). Reexamining context and same-sex marriage: The effect of demography on public support for same-sex relationship recognition. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 26(3), 283-300.
Joe Biden credited the 18-35 generation for providing the platform for the “largest environmental plan in all of history”
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_truly_large_numbers
[4] Mature tools and methodologies already exist for making use of the “grey literature”, e.g. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/child-health/about-us/support-services/library/resources-z/search-tools-grey-literature