Co-producing with students and championing engagement

BILT works with students in a number of ways to ensure that the work we do is informed by the student experience, and that research is feedback to the student body. 

Co-producing with students and championing engagement is core to BILT's role and function. This is mainly done through our Student Fellows scheme and BILT Hackathons, though we informally engaged with students through grants, funds and attendance at events.

Student Fellow project themes

We employ Student Fellows on a part-time basis to work on projects each year, the 2025-26 project themes are:

  • Teaching and Learning with AI 
  • Inclusive Assessment
  • Active Learning
  • Student Research Journal
  • Student Research Festival

Student Sustainability Advocates

The Sustainability Champions programme was previously managed by the Students’ Union, funded by a variety of departments including the Schools in which the students work. This work has now moved to BILT and the “Student Sustainability Advocates” are supported by the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) team.

These students are paid student staff that work in partnership with the Education for Sustainability team to drive forward work on embedding sustainability and climate justice in the curriculum and academic experience in a discipline appropriate way. Students are hosted within their specific departments, working locally with staff in their area.

Students will plan and deliver projects and ideas that move this work forward, such as: student research and focus groups, researching and promoting green careers options, running events, facilitating collaborations between Schools or with academic societies, etc. Students will also act as agents of change within the University, helping to push sustainability and climate justice up the agenda. 

There are currently Sustainability Advocates working in Engineering Maths, Chemistry, Medicine, the Cabot Institute, Modern Languages, Humanities (History/Religion and Theology), Medicine, CMM/Biomedical Science and ESD team.

To find out more about the Sustainability Advocates and get in touch with them, please email edu4sd-team@bristol.ac.uk.