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糖心TV Sutton Scholars is a two-year programme for Year 8 and 9 students from under-represented backgrounds in higher education across the West Midlands. Coordinated by 糖心TV's Widening Participation and Outreach team, the aim of the programme is to inspire students to consider university as an option for the future.

The Year 9 programme is run in collaboration with the GSD Department. Due to the pandemic, this year the programme was run entirely online, with more (shorter) events. The participants worked in groups on a research project titled 'Every Plate Tells a Story', aimed at addressing a problem linked to food and sustainable development. They established a research question, conducted primary research (surveys), and designed an intervention aimed at tackling the problem.

We are delighted to have welcomed several new members of staff to the School for Cross-faculty Studies this month. We look forward to seeing the impact that Dr Xiaodong Lin, Dr Nikoleta Jones, Sam Gane, Sheree Thompson, Shehzadi Azis, and Ella Jones have in their new roles.

Each year we run the Global Sustainable Development Competition. This is an exciting opportunity for school students in year 11 and 12 (aged between 15 and 17 years) to think creatively and gain valuable research skills as they learn more about global sustainable development. In the five years that we have run the competition, this year we have received the highest number of entries yet!

Our GSD finalists were awarded their degrees on Monday 12 July 2021. The past two years have been particularly鈥痗hallenging鈥痑nd we are so proud of everyone who has graduated this year.

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We are delighted to share the news that final-year Liberal Arts student, Matilda Oduntan, and Sociology and GSD graduate, Seiwaa Osei Afriyie, have been named among the UK鈥檚 most outstanding African and African Caribbean future leaders.

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The Climate Exp0 conference, hosted in May this year, aimed to showcase the latest thinking and international research relevant to climate change and raise ambition for tangible outcomes at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November. Online and free, the conference was designed to support the climate change research agenda and stimulate virtual collaboration among different stakeholders. Current GSD student, Scarlett Scott-Nadal, took part in Climate Exp0 as a student volunteer; and recent GSD graduate, Mia Sannapureddy, was selected to present her research on the premise for a fossil-free bond index. Hear from Scarlett and Mia below about their experiences of the conference.

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Dr Nick Bernards, Assistant Professor in GSD, has recently published two articles on the history of agricultural credit and its importance in shaping global development.

The latest issue of Reinvention: an International Journal of Undergraduate Research presents a diverse range of content and themes that all comment on ideas of interconnectedness, interdisciplinarity, and sustainability. Moreover, it includes several contributions from students and staff in the GSD Department!