CIVIC AND UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
We are committed to creating a University for Reading by working together with local partners to benefit the lives of our local community in Reading, Wokingham and the Thames Valley.
Community Forum
Our Community Forum provides opportunities for all members of our local community to hear about University initiatives and share their views and feedback. You can find out more about the forum here. This has included discussions this year about the University’s climate and sustainability work and how we can work more effectively with the many partner organisations, from community groups to large corporates, who share our commitment. From these discussions we are also looking at how the extensive voluntary group network across Reading can better connect with our staff and students. We ran a Community & Sustainability Fair for students during Welcome Week which enabled them to connect and engage with local organisations that have a focus on environmental sustainability.
Reading Climate Change Partnership 
The University of Reading is a key member of the Reading Climate Change Partnership which brings together Reading Borough Council, the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Thames Water, Greater Reading Environment Network and other organisations – who together oversee the Reading Climate Action Network (RCAN). A significant focus for RCAN is engaging and empowering the Reading community in the forthcoming revision of the ‘Reading Climate Emergency Strategy’, which details the actions needed across the borough to enable Reading to become a net zero, climate resilient town by 2030.
The current strategy expires in 2025 and a collaborative process to review it has now started – RCAN have declared 2025 as the ‘Year of Climate Engagement’. A range of workshops, facilitated discussions, surveys and activities with stakeholder groups across the local community are being held this year to gather their insights, opinions, hopes and suggestions that will shape the climate priorities for the new strategy.
The University also hosted and chaired a ‘Reading Leaders’ Climate Summit’ in March, which brought together over 40 organisational leaders from across the borough to engage and invite their involvement and support with the new Climate Emergency Strategy. Speakers from the University included the Vice-Chancellor and leading climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins. The revised strategy will also be informed and supported by research and expertise from the University of Reading, in areas such as shaping local energy infrastructure, Net Zero pathways, climate adaptation planning and championing behaviour change.
Reading Climate Festival
RCAN also delivers Reading Climate Festival, which reached its fifth year in June 2024 with over two weeks of events and activities to engage many thousands of local residents in the challenges of climate change and Reading’s climate strategy.
Key events from the University of Reading included:
Youth Mobilisation Day at Reading Climate Festival
UoR students curated an event during the Festival aimed at mobilising 16-25 year olds around climate action. The day long event included opportunities for attendees to input into the Reading Climate Emergency Strategy, learn new skills in campaigning, film making and politics, and learn about green careers. Organisations involved included RCAN, WWF-UK, Reading Youth Council and UK Youth for Nature.
Climate Ambassadors talk
This event showcased our free service for schools to help them develop a climate action plan to reduce carbon emissions, tackle climate risks and inspire and inform the next generation., plus how volunteers can become an ambassador themselves.
Storing Carbon Under Your Feet
Professor Martin Lukac from the University discussed strategies for carbon sequestration in urban soils.
Action for Pollinators
Led by our Institute of Education, this event dived into the fascinating world of bees, butterflies, and other tiny-winged wonders, and their pivotal role in combatting climate change. 
Clean Air Schools Workshop
In collaboration with Reading Borough Council, Design Nature and Stantec, the University of Reading hosted local schools so that students could explore, map and measure air quality, and understand how they can improve it.
Show Your Stripes Day
Closing the festival, and to mark Show Your Stripes Day, Reading Town Hall hosted an ‘in conversation’ with Professor Ed Hawkins MBE, climate scientist and creator of the warming stripes. The event was also livestreamed with hundreds of guests joining from around the world.
Show Your Stripes Day is our annual global campaign to raise awareness of the urgency for action on climate change represented by the climate warming stripes developed by Professor Ed Hawkins.
A number of iconic landmarks in the UK, US, Australia and elsewhere displayed the stripes in some form during SYS Day. Numerous broadcast meteorologists including the stripes in their weather presentations throughout the world, and over 65,000 people visited the stripes website on the day.
Wokingham Borough Council
The University also works closely with our neighbouring local authority in Wokingham, which was formalised in 2023 with the launch of a Strategic Partnership Board. The Board identified four priority themes for collaborative activity, which included addressing climate change and environmental sustainability. University experts are in discussion with Wokingham Borough Council as they shape their own Climate Emergency Strategy, seeking opportunities to support with our research and expertise, and mobilising our community in Wokingham.
Berkshire Prosperity Board
The Berkshire Prosperity Board is a new body bringing together the leaders of the six unitary authorities in Berkshire to work together to drive and deliver economic prosperity across the county. Six priorities have been identified and one of those is collaboration to achieve Net Zero. This will provide a strong context for joined up working and sharing between the relevant authorities, including how they can be supported by the University. The University held an event in December 2023 that brought together representation from all six unitary authorities to explore ‘Unlocking Local Energy Plans’. Attendees also included SSE, National Grid and other industry partners.
Royal Berkshire Hospital
Collaboration has been continuing between the School of the Built Environment and the Royal Berkshire Hospital on developing research exploring what net-zero hospitals entail and building business cases in the lead up to the construction of a new hospital for Reading, as well as investigating energy efficiency measures within the current site.
Supporting Local Schools
The University of Reading continues to play a key contributing and delivery role to the ongoing development and implementation of the DfE’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. Every school, college and university in England will have free access to expert support to become greener and more climate resilient in a national scheme now backed by £2m of Department for Education (DfE) funding. The scheme was formally announced with the DfE in May. The South East Regional Hub Manager for the climate ambassadors scheme is hosted at University of Reading. Engagement activity with schools in the boroughs close to our campuses has already seen a number of schools expressing interest in benefiting from the scheme. We are also engaging local schools to participate in improved outdoor learning opportunities on our campuses through our ‘University of Reading Nature Park’ project, aligned with the DfE’s National Education Nature Park.
Engaging our local and global community
The University is working to engage our whole community, locally and globally, to empower and inspire greater commitment and action to address climate change, working towards a more sustainable future for us all. More information on what we are doing and how to get involved can be found here.
Page last updated: June 2024