This event is only open internally to King's staff and students

Who is this course for?

This course is aimed at anyone who thinks they may want to work in the sciences, and is interested in the environmental impacts of science, and what can be done to mitigate them. The course is more focused on resource intensive sciences, like biology, chemistry, medicine, etc.

Course outline

Laboratories contribute to 2% of the world’s plastic waste. They also use 3-10 times more energy than typical academic spaces, and utilise about half the energy at Kings. This presents a huge opportunity to improve our working practices to make the research environment more sustainable.

There is a growing field in ‘laboratory sustainability’ or ‘green labs’, which aims to improve research outcomes, reduce the cost of research and minimize the environmental impact of laboratories.

This workshop introduces laboratory sustainability and provides context for its growing importance. King's sustainability team has also contributed to the course to make its content more relevant to King's researchers. Benefits of this course extend beyond resource/energy saving outcomes. You will also learn:

• How to reduce research costs, and reduce negative environmental impacts
• Efficient procurement of scientific equipment and consumables (plastics)
• How to manage your lab for the best research outputs
• Why Sustainable Laboratories will differentiate your CV
• How funding and policy drive research practices

The workshop will conclude with a discussion of the future trends in science, and how you can get further involved. What will be the focus of tomorrow's laboratories, and how can we ensure that we continue researching consciously? Make sure you’re part of the conversation!