Campaigns

Want to make a real-world impact? If there's an issue you feel strongly about, whether that's about your university experience or the wider world, we're here to help you make it happen.
Two students in the library, seated and chatting

How to start or join a campaign

The ICU Representation team provides advice, support and funding of up to £200 to help turn your idea into action.

Campaigns should create impactful, lasting change for people or a cause locally, nationally, or globally.

Here's how to start.

  • Share your idea with us by completing this form.
  • We'll review your idea and arrange a time to meet with you.
  • You'll find 2-5 current students to organise your campaign with you.
  • Then you can plan your campaign with the support of our Representation team.
  • Get 25 supporters for your campaign idea.
  • You'll receive training, support, and resources.

Want to join an existing campaign group?

Register your interest here.

Got a question? Get in touch at icu.representation@imperial.ac.uk

Check out the current student-led campaigns happening at Imperial below.

ICUsToo

gradient pink to purple text reads Us Too Imperial College
ICUsToo is a student-led campaign group tackling sexual harassment, sexual violence, and domestic abuse within Imperial and the wider higher education community. We aim to raise awareness of these issues across campus and support survivors.

We hope to engage people from various backgrounds, regardless of their familiarity with campaigning, both with and without direct experience of these matters, as we strive to start and progress the conversation on campus harassment and abuse. 

Through our work, we wish to bring to light the flaws in the current system, provide insight into the underlying biases that prevent the progress of justice and equality in our society, and promote the student voice within higher education institutions.

Our end goal is to help ensure a safer space for everyone.

Our work

We use the acronym L.A.S.E.R to describe the different ways we get involved with this conversation and tackle these issues on campus. Each letter stands for a different area of our work, headed up by one of our leadership committee:

L = legislature (Advocacy Officer)

A = awareness (Publicity Officer)

S = support (Wellbeing Officer)

E = education (Communications Officer)

R = research (Research Officer)

The chair and any vice-chair oversees, coordinates, and supports each of these branches.

Sexual Misconduct Survey Report

This report was commissioned by previous Deputy President (Welfare) Nathalie Podder, to investigate the prevalence of sexual misconduct at Imperial, the spaces where it is most likely to happen, the efficacy of support and types of responses that are given to survivors of sexual misconduct.

This is an incredibly sensitive topic that has a profound impact on the lives of those who have been personally affected by it. It is important to keep this in mind when reading this report; every figure has a group of individuals behind it, and every individual has their own experience.
Read the report here.

Support ICUsToo

If you would like to keep up to date with our progress and events, then follow us on our social media platforms:

Join us

If you are passionate about these issues and want to make a difference, then we would love for you to join our committee. Sign up to our mailing list and we will send you invite links to our meetings so you can learn more.

Imperial Climate Action

A group of students in lab coats are standing outside and holding up a big sign that says Cut ties with Fossil Fuels
We are students, staff and alumni who are passionate about tackling the dire climate and ecological crisis that the world is facing.

You might think that Imperial has world-leading climate pledges because we are a world-leading institution with departments dedicated to studying every aspect of climate change. The sad truth is, we are ranked 104th by People and Planet out of all the UK universities. We need to change that!

We aim to work with Imperial to encourage sustainable policies that are environmentally and socially responsible. These policies should reflect the urgency required in our response.

If you feel anxious about the climate crisis and want to hear updates about our current activities and plans:

“This is the race of our lives, and we are running out of time” - Jeremy Grantham, founder of Imperial College Grantham Institute for climate and the environment.

Sign up

Fill out the form to be alerted to upcoming events and actions.

Top 5 achievements:

  1. We worked with Harriet Wallace, the Director of Imperial’s Sustainability Strategy, on Imperial’s new Travel Policy.
  2. We had our action feature in the National Geographic.
  3. We researched Imperial society’s ties with fossil fuel companies and had our findings featured in Felix.
  4. Our education campaign leaders were offered full time roles at Imperial College.
  5. We collected over 500 signatures for our divestment petition.

Vision:

To study and work at an institution committed to sustainability in both their words and actions.

Mission:

To work with Imperial College London to encourage sustainable policies that are both environmentally and socially responsible.

Objectives:

  • Imperial College London to divest from fossil fuels companies;
  • all students and staff at Imperial College London to undertake generic and subject specific climate change education;
  • Working on Imperial College London’s Biodiversity Strategy.

Quick poll

The opinions of students and staff at the university are essential in shaping its future. Please take a minute to fill in our quick poll to gather your thoughts on climate change and how Imperial College London can improve its climate commitments.

Plant-Based Universities

Students standing on Queen's Lawn holding a 'plant-based university end the climate crisis' banner
The national Plant-Based Universities campaign began in late 2021, calling on universities to transition to 100% sustainable plant-based catering to tackle the climate and nature crises.

Since its inception, unions at eight UK universities including UCL and Cambridge have passed votes to shift their menus to fully plant-based – we want Imperial to be next.

Plant-based agriculture requires far less water, land and resources whilst producing far fewer carbon emissions. Research published by Harvard University in 2019 suggested that the UK could be carbon-negative if it combined the switch to plant-based production with rewilding the land freed by this change.

The Grantham Institute, Imperial’s own climate research hub, publicly endorsed the Plant-Based Universities open letter that was released in September 2023.

The open letter called for a transition to plant-based catering within university institutions and was signed by over 800 academics and notable figures at the time of release, including 42 of Imperial’s own academics. We believe the food that the university buys and sells should align with the stance of Imperial’s own climate research group.

Vision:

For every single catering outlet on Imperial campuses to be selling solely plant-based food.

Aim:

To transition menus of every catering outlet on campus to 100% plant-based in order to reduce Imperial’s impact on the climate and ecological crises, starting with shifting the menus in all student union food outlets to 100% plant-based (where possible, ie: not outsourced).

Objectives:

  1. Make the vegan option the default option in every SU food outlet
  2. Analyse groups that may object our aims - set up outreach conversations with these groups/societies and address their concerns
  3. Run a food taster session showcasing vegan food from various cultures
  4. Run fortnightly outreach and drop-in sessions on campus for students to ask questions and find out more
  5. Write a briefing document to propose our campaign to union members and catering teams

RE:GEN @ Imperial

3 students standing in a circle far away from the camera. They are under a big tree in a wide open green space.
We’re a student-led movement dedicated to protecting, restoring, and expanding green spaces on campus. We’ve already raised over £39k of funding to help build a new community garden at Imperial.

Most Imperial students know about Imperial's history as a hub for innovation, but did you know our campus was originally built on a Royal Horticultural Garden? Where cutting-edge research now happens, a vibrant garden once bloomed. Like much of London, South Kensington’s green spaces have faded over time, leaving just a few patches of biodiversity that need our help. That’s where RE:GEN @Imperial comes in.

Why?

We know first-hand that green spaces like community gardens act as grounds for growth by bringing together people from different backgrounds. These connections can then morph into research projects, start-ups and lasting collaborations while also providing a blueprint for what a sustainable future should look like.

What we want to achieve.

We want to transform the Imperial campus from an urban jungle to a garden lab - a place where nature and cutting-edge research coexists. Turning pavements into grasslands and lawns into biodiversity hubs we want to see a greener campus. We want to encourage guerrilla gardening by equipping student and staff projects with the resources, connections and space to prototype and test their ideas.

How are we planning to do that?

By recording and measuring the impact of the various gardening activities across campus and creating an annual Garden Report to justify and facilitate increasing funding for campus green spaces.

Our projects fall into two categories: Awareness and Action

Projects and Aims

Building a Community Garden in South Kensington.

- Action days: Every Wednesday and Thursday from 1-4 pm at the Chaplaincy Garden and ESOC garden

- The health of our soil: Soil testing research project

- Garden Hackathons: Bringing the lab outdoors

- Wildlife in South Kensington: Photography competition.

- Gardening Journal: Showcasing gardening activities on social media

- Imperial’s Rhythm: Short film documenting our university life and the need to slow down and smell the roses.

If you’re inspired about a potential project or would like to provide support to the RE:GEN initiative, contact us and tell us more below!

Get in touch

See you at the Garden!