We teach Green Chemistry in our degree courses & have implemented measures to make our practical coursework more sustainable. Practical Chemistry TeachingOur 4P Teaching Labs hold a Gold Sustainable Lab Award and the School of Chemistry as a whole has a Silver Award. Experiments use air condensors and recirculating chillers for rotary evaporators to avoid the unnecessary waste of water.The current Curriculum Transformation Programme within the School is also looking at how practical experiments can be modified to reduce waste; for example using the end product of experiments as the starting material for others, introducing new experiments based on the core principles of Green Chemistry and replacing experiments with those that consume less resources.Details of the degrees offered by the School of Chemistry can be found here. Two of our course modules that address sustainability are outlined below. Environmental Chemistry This is a second year level 8 course for science students who wish to expand their knowledge into the applied field of environmental chemistry. The course is designed to broaden students' awareness of the new emphasis chemistry must place on matters of environment: the formation of the Earth's elements and Earth's chemical composition; how our physical environment reacts to anthropogenic chemicals and consequences of industrial processes; how chemical toxicity is affecting the biosphere; what treatment and remediation processes are currently used to reverse anthropogenic changes to our environment. Sustainable Chemistry A lecture course covering an introduction to the principles of Green or Sustainable Chemistry, including the impact that the chemical industry has on human health and the environment, sustainable approaches to resource extraction and utilisation, and the role that catalysts can play in pollution control and increasing feedstock and energy efficiency. Chemistry and Sustainability Teaching Learn more about how our chemistry teaching relates to the UN Sustainable Development Goals here. This article was published on 2025-06-10
