Impact Education: Sustainability Challenge
Team members from Azul Impact present their update. (Image: Tilly Graovac)
Summer Sustainability Challenge
Six teams from the University of Amsterdam’s Roeterseiland campus have passed the midway point of a three-week summer sustainability challenge, and are preparing to present their deliverables to companies on July 22.
Working with diverse organisations like Lely, Mediq and Buybay, teams made up of students from various disciplines are given a challenge designed to make the company more sustainable.
The Summer Sustainability Challenge (a joint initiative between REC-Impact and Master Challenge) is a voluntary commitment designed to help students network, gain relevant skills, apply their knowledge to real scenarios and boost their consultancy skills.
An update from teams
Team members from Azul Impact have been paired with Signify to look upcoming legislation in and outside Europe that could affect circularity practices, such as the EU Green Deal 2050.
Azul Impact has also been asked to look at competitors’ circularity practices - specifically, how they recycle, reuse and upgrade their products when they are at the end of life.
The group’s current plan is examine the ‘right to repair’ clause under EU Green Deal legislation - which aims to make the European economy circular by 2050. They will also look at what competitors like Apple and Samsung are doing, and offer tailored advice to Signify based on their findings.
Bachelor of law student Duco De Vries said it was difficult at first to narrow down the proposal, but eventually the group were able to come up with a more defined scope to complete within the three weeks.
“It’s interesting working with a company like this. I like the legislative side of things - doing a deep dive and giving clarifications on upcoming legislations,” he said.
Teammate Oscar Carreon, who is studying a master of entrepreneurship, similarly enjoyed the challenges.
“For me this project makes an impact. The goal is to make a company’s practices more sustainable which is something I’m interested in so being given the chance to do that is quite cool,” he said.
Members from Avatar have been tasked with helping agricultural manufacturer Lely find projects they can invest in to reduce the organisation’s carbon emissions.
The Dutch company intends to reduce their carbon emissions through sourcing and funding global projects.
“It’s a lot of work and in the beginning, it was a bit vague what they actually wanted,” bachelor of business administration student Marco Caminada said.
Team Avatar present their progress on a challenge set by Lely. (Image: Tilly Graovac)
“When we started we thought there’s so many different ways to lower c02 - like internal processes, through their sustainability campus… but it’s nice that we’re having weekly meetings to ask them these questions.”
Coach and Master Challenge founder Bram Kuijken suggested the team categorise the types of projects Lely could invest in, as well as come up with an implementation plan with a suggested timeframe.
Avatar group members say their challenges have been in trying to find costs of investing in projects without budget guidelines.
The Sustainability Warriors group is working alongside Dutch health care company Mediq, who serve healthcare professionals and patients with medical devices, healthcare products and innovative solutions.
The students have been asked to examine the company’s existing product line to determine if they’re stocking the most sustainable supplies, and see if there are more sustainable alternatives on the market that Mediq could add to their supply range.
“I’m really enjoying the task,” master of sustainable development student Lilly Gintowt said.
“The people we’ve been in contact with have been helpful and great to work with, and they’re very understanding.
Coach and Master Challenge founder Bram Kuijken (R) with students taking part in the Summer Sustainability Challenge. (Image: Tilly Graovac)
“Alongside the company we narrowed down the focus a bit by starting with eight product groups like PPE and wound care, and then reducing it down to four,” she said.
The group will come up with a product development cycle to pinpoint where they can suggest changes to make products more sustainable.
Their deliverable will be an excel spreadsheet of their findings and a presentation to Mediq’s corporate social responsibility coordinator.
The main challenges have been coordinating availability of group members and distributing the workload.
Bram suggested coming up with a roadmap of deliverables that the company could take on board, including a plan for when they could address their other product lines.
Master of International Law students Maria Pia Pezone and Adelina Dobrila are attempting to quantify the environmental impact of BuyBay’s business model.
BuyBay resells returns and overstock for retailers, brands and manufacturers.
“We didn’t know much about the market before we started, but it’s amazing to work for such a great company,” Adelina said.
“I have a real passion for sustainability and protecting the environment so this challenge is great to be a part of.”
Their group - Sustainable Advocate - is using data provided by the company, as well as their own research on electronic waste to deliver a presentation back to the company.
“We decided to focus on electronics specifically because electronic waste is such a big issue,” Adelina added.
Bachelor of communication science student Eli Dao (R) with his team. (Image: Tilly Graovac)
Eli Dao, who is studying a bachelor of communication science, is part of a group of students working on a challenge with Dutch pension investment company, APG.
The company wants the students to define and measure their current direction to see if its helping them achieve their goal of helping one million people be more financially fit.
The students are defining what it means to be ‘financially fit’ and giving APG a framework to help them measure the direction they’re currently taking.
“Given the timeframe we have, it’s been tricky as it’s a huge challenge with a lot expected of us,” he said.
“While the task isn’t directly related to my field, it has given me a chance to practice research skills and see how they apply to the real world. I’m also getting connections and in a practical sense, it’s good for problem-solving, teamwork and for our CV.”
Representatives from the companies have been invited to attend presentations on July 22.
Want to learn more about Master Challenge? Interested to see how your company or organisation could collaborate with students from the Roeterseiland campus?