Last updated: August 12, 2022

RCE London

Photo Credit: RCE London
Rce details
Region:
EUROPE
Country:
United Kingdom
Overview
Date of RCE acknowledgement:
December, 2009
Description of RCE and Geographic Region:

In June 2009, London became the first capital city in Europe to become an RCE.  We are a learning community of practice and offer expertise on a range of ESD approaches developed by the LRCE partners and stakeholders for the benefit of Londoners and other places that experience the particular challenges that living in a global city brings. Particular issues include inequality of housing, air quality, employment and green space. London has the people, the ideas and the incentives to address this and the London RCE is a vehicle to help London capture and develop new and existing expertise in ESD.

The London RCE is part of the United Kingdom and Ireland RCEs which meet annually to share information and discuss ways in which we can collaborate to make sure that ESD is understood more widely and incorporated into local and national policy agendas. It is especially important currently that we participate in joint discussions prior to the United Nations' COP 26 Conference, scheduled for 1 to 12 November, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Goals and Objectives:
  • Transform education by developing the capacity of Londoners to learn together and make London a more sustainable and inclusive place to live, work and play
  • Provide a forum for dialogue and action to empower communities to live out sustainability principles
  • Build on the diversity of London to help shape global excellence in ESD through innovation in learning
  • To learn from the experience of other RCEs in the Global Learning Network so that we can work together to create a more sustainable world
  • Add value to existing RCE networks and initiatives in London by developing, sharing and applying effective expertise
  • Working with others to achieve progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The London RCE team and partners at the annual general meeting (Photo credit: RCE London)

Organisation Hosting RCE Secretariat:

London South Bank University

Key Partners:

Name of organisation: London South Bank University
Role: Co-ordinator LRCE or Prof Ros Wade (Chair)
Contact name: Lynn Vickery
Contact email: vickerl@lsbu.ac.uk

Name of organisation: University of East London
Role: Member of RCE Management Group
Contact name: Neil Herrington
Contact email: N.Herrington@uel.ac.uk

Name of organisation: London South Bank University (Sustainability Research Group)
Role: Director
Contact name: Dr Jaya Gajparia
Contact email: gajparj2@lsbu.ac.uk

Name of organisation: Greener Jobs Alliance
Role: Secretary
Contact name: Graham Petersen
Contact email: gjacoms@gmail.com

Name of organisation: LEEF (London Environmental Educators Forum)
Role: LEEF Coordinator
Contact name: Zaria Greenhill
Contact email: leef@leef.london

Name of organisation: Imperial College, London
Role: Member of RCE Management Group
Contact name: Vasiliki Kioupi
Contact email: v.kioupi17@imperial.ac.uk

Name of organisation: UKSSD (now transferred to UN Global Compact).
Role: Contact with corporates on SDGs
Contact name: Currently in transition
Contact email: chair@ukssd.co.uk, www.unglobalcompact.org.uk/

Partners:

Activities
Current Activities:
  • Theme: Migration as a sustainability issue: The development with COMMEET.org of a Toolkit for Community Groups: Promoting the well-being of Migrants and Displaced Persons. This will be launched on 1st September and will be freely available on the COMMEET website. A series of webinars are planned starting on September 24th, followed by a number of pilot programmes.
  • Theme: Climate Action: Developing the lessons from a June 2020 UKRCE online conference, entitled, ‘Taking Action on Climate after the Pandemic’ , in conjunction with the Schumacher Institute. A series of webinars and workshops followed by the planned development of a toolkit for community groups.
  • Theme: Promoting the SDGs: Participating in two online conferences hosted by London South Bank University with themes of Education, Consumption, Economics and Well-being (Nov 2020) and, Equality, Food, Water and Politics (Dec 2020)
  • Theme: ESD under COVID: A series of webinar workshops to share experience and learning with regard to ESD during COVID and implications for the future.

Hard at work planning the next project (Photo credit: RCE London)

Upcoming Activities:
  • See above also
  • Participation in the research programme of the Sustainability Research Group, London South Bank University leading to an edited book publication based on ‘learning for sustainability, learning from Covid-19’, to be published in 2021.
  • Developing a link between three LRCE member organisations on the opportunities and routes for young people to be employed in the green economy
  • A joint research programme with Schumacher Institute, Bristol, UK on COVID 19 and the need to build a new economy. To be published 2021
Achievements:
  • With 5 other European universities, developing the PROMISE Refugee youth network 2017
  • 2019 Fresh Start EU funded programme of entrepreneurial education for refugees and migrants in Belgium, UK, Netherlands
  • 2020 New COMMEET toolkit for community groups Promoting the well-being of Migrants and Displaced Persons (available September 2020 at www.commeet.org)
Communication Channels
Instagram:
Facebook page:
Twitter handle:
YouTube page:
Other(s):
Contact Details
Main RCE Contact:
Prof Ros Wade
wadetravel@hotmail.com
Secondary RCE Contact:
Lynn Vickery
vickerl@lsbu.ac.uk
RCE Youth Coordinator(s):
General RCE email:
RCE mailing address for correspondence:

No mail at the university until further notice due to CV19 restrictions