Partners

accelar is a consultancy company specialising in sustainability strategy. accelar helps clients with their green transition, be it Net Zero, green finance, or circular economy.

Commissioned by accelar, the Institute delivered a one-day 'Green is Good' Sustainability Masterclass for corporate delegates. The participants explored the topic of sustainable business practice through seminars and sessions with local experts across a range of fields such as circular economy and regenerative business practices.

Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals Trust is the largest healthcare provider in Surrey. The Trust provides a wide range of services from planned day-case surgery and rehabilitation services to more complex medical and surgical care and emergency services.

The Institute is working to develop a bespoke decarbonisation plan for the Trust. Through energy auditing, optimisation model development, and financial assessment, the Institute will be addressing the hospitals’ challenges around their energy use.

B Local Surrey is a network of local B Corporations (B Corps), established with the purpose of creating a community of purpose-driven organisations and individuals and working towards more sustainable future. Certified B Corps are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

Together with B Corp Surrey, the Institute delivered 'The Journey to Better Business' event at the University of Surrey Stag Hill campus. The event fostered discussions on various frameworks and support available to help businesses on their journey towards sustainability.

Network Rail manages the infrastructure of most of the railway networks in the UK. The role of Network Rail is to run safe, reliable, and efficient railway services to customers and communities, building on the organisational purpose to get people and goods where they need to be, and to support the UK economy.

In collaboration with Network Rail, the Institute worked to include user input in developing a bespoke Strategic Station Plan (SSP). The findings revealed meaningful information on the passengers’ use patterns of train services and their demand in terms of facilities and services. The outcome would support Network Rail to develop the SSP in a holistic sense.

Learn more about the project.

Pulpex is a packaging technology company with a sole mission to promote sustainability through better packaging. The company develops ecofriendly packaging technology made from sustainably sourced wood pulp without any plastic.

The Institute has been working with Pulpex to create a fast and simple method to identify defects in bottles during the manufacturing process. The new method employing thermal imaging and a self-learning AI model will improve efficiency and enable significant cost reduction.

The Institute worked together with the University’s Music and Media Discipline to bring a brand new Sustain Film Festival to Guildford, following the success of Remember the Future, a multi-award winner short film.

Sustain is an annual film, animation, performing arts, and interactive media festival with the aim of promoting the future wellbeing of the planet as well as the current cultural wellbeing of its inhabitants.

As an independent body formed by a collaboration of various organisations including the University of Surrey, Surrey Climate Commission plays a key role in supporting the country’s transition towards a carbon-neutral future. Surrey Climate Commission works toward making Surrey a climate leader and generating local benefit whilst contributing to climate change mitigation.

Together with Surrey Climate Commission, the Institute hosted “What’s Stopping Us Stopping Climate Change?”, a democratic public forum series on the topic of stopping climate change. These forums were run to engage the public in producing guidance for the local authority on what the residents and businesses in Surrey County want to see changed.

Learn more about the What’s Stopping Us Stopping Climate Change 2.0 project.

Surrey County Council is the council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The Council provides county-level services, overseeing education, transport, public health, social care, planning, and business support.

The Institute has been working with Surrey County Council on a variety of projects including:

• Together for Surrey: Developing a web-based platform that drives behavior change towards sustainability, provides relevant information as a one-stop shop, and signposts local organisations for further guidance and support.
• School Active Travel Plan: Promoting parents and students to travel to school in more active and sustainable ways. 

Learn more about the Together for Surrey and promoting active school travel projects.

Surrey Wildlife Trust manages a widespread area of land across Surrey County, including top nature reserves and land belonging to other individuals and organisations. The Trust works hard to prevent the decline of wildlife by running education and conservation projects and creating networks of nature and people.

In collaboration with Surrey Wildlife Trust, the Institute developed a guide that supports people to reconnect with nature. It can be used by anyone – parents, teachers, nature leaders, or simply an individual who wants to grow a sustainable relationship with nature. 

Learn more about the BeNature! A guide to growing relationships with nature project.

The UKHSA is responsible for community protection from the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents, and other health threats such as weather-related ones. By providing leadership at intellectual, scientific, and operational levels across a local, national, and global scale, the UKHSA works to ensure the UK remains health secure.

On behalf of the UKHSA, the Institute investigated the effectiveness of the new impact-based Weather-Health Alert system. It was confirmed that the new system meets the needs of its key stakeholders and that it is an improvement from the previous system.

Learn more about the raising the alarm project.

The vHive Incubator is a strategic alliance between Zoetis and the University of Surrey, partnered with SETsquared Surrey. The vHive Incubator provides a range of support for startup companies to foster the development and commercialisation of innovative animal health products and technologies.

The Institute contributed to a bespoke learning session delivered by vHive Incubator for companies in the animal health sector. The session covered a whole range of topics regarding sustainability in the animal health sector, especially in terms of regulations and business strategies.

Learn more about the vHive incubator business community session.

West Horsley Place is an estate of 380 acres with a Grade I listed medieval manor house dating from 1425. At the moment, the house is on Historic England's Heritage At Risk Register, so major work needs to be done to make it structurally sound and safe to continually host visitors. The Trust aims to improve the site to be able to serve as a community space and promote people’s wellbeing through art, culture, heritage, and nature.

The Institute is working on three different projects with West Horsley Place:

1. Producing a digital twin of the manor house to understand necessary structural work that needs to be undertaken
2. Supporting sustainable water management across the estate: specifically, nature recovery/biodiversity support and carbon sequestration
3. Improving visitor experience across the estate through user analysis and future proofing the sustainability of the estate.

Wonderseekers is an educational charity with a mission to create a fairer world where all children can learn from science and contribute to healthier and sustainable lives. Since 2002, Wonderseekers have been running Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium to promote hands-on science and nature experiences for the children and their families.

The Institute is working with Wonderseekers to encourage children’s connection with nature by promoting engagement with biodiversity and soil health through a series of assessment activities. The Innovation Hub supported these activities by commissioning NatureMetrics, a world-leading company in delivering nature data and intelligence and generating insights on biodiversity. The children were able to test the health and biodiversity of the soil using the eDNA (environmental DNA) soil sampling method.

In addition, Institute Fellow Dr Matteo Giusti collaborated with Wonderseekers to co-design both on-site and off-site activities, drawing on his BeNature Guide and Evaluation framework to deliver a rich and holistic nature education experience for children.

The result of these activities will be utilised in preparation for the exhibition “Our Place on Earth,” which will be held from September 2025 at Winchester Science Centre.

Learn how the children unexpectedly discovered more than 300 species of fungi via NatureMetrics’ eDNA sampling process:

• Young Design Panel uncover fabulous fungi at Winchester Science Centre
• Winchester Science Centre: Kids discover 'unexpected' fungi
• Rich fungi biodiversity unearthed by Hampshire children.

Learn more about the Wonderseekers project.