Meliora: a podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute
Welcome to the Green Gown Award winning Meliora Podcast from the Sustainability and Resilience Institute at the University of Southampton!
This podcast explores the greatest and most wicked problem that is sustainability, whilst looking at how we are collectively addressing this critical global challenge.
Sustainability needs to be addressed by understanding how the economy, society, culture, politics and environment intersect, and this is the focus that informs each episode of the Meliora podcast.
In each episode, host Professor Simon Kemp and guest hosts are joined by a variety of guests, including academics, students, staff, researchers, alumni, community groups and business leaders.
The aim of the podcast is to shine a light on the vast range of topics surrounding sustainability and to allow listeners to learn about the critical challenges we face, as well as how they can be part of the solution. We also ensure our fantastic students have the opportunity to share their brilliant work with the world.
Podcast host: Professor Simon Kemp, Deputy Director of the Sustainability & Resilience Institute, University of Southampton
Podcast editors: Jack Dinham, Ellie Howell, Mya Harvey, Lily Killner, Sophie Green, Libby Kale, School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton
Podcast communications: Tyler Domone-Hollands, Hannah Parish, Alexander Ayerst, Maya Stevens, University of Southampton
Please do get in touch to discuss this podcast and any of the issues we raise by emailing sri@soton.ac.uk
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Meliora: a podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute
Luke Farhall: What constitutes effective SDG integration in Higher Education? A comparative analysis of SDG integration methodologies in core curricula across UK universities
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Luke Farhall (BSc Environmental Science) joins us to discuss his research project "What constitutes effective SDG integration in Higher Education? A comparative analysis of SDG integration methodologies in core curricula across UK universities".
One way a shared blueprint of peace and prosperity provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be achieved is by recognising HEIs as change agents, as they have a unique ability to foster sustainability mindsets via curriculum design and teaching. Despite a growing policy emphasis on sustainability, previous studies suggest that UK universities exhibit wide variation in how, and how deeply, SDGs are embedded within core curricula along with wider sustainability embedding practices. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with curriculum and sustainability leads then thematically coded in NVivo to reveal trends in frequency of methodology type, key barriers and enablers to implementation and finally connectivity between methods such as whole-institution and mixed-method approaches. These both demonstrated greater curricular coherence, particularly when supported by cross-institutional communities of practice. In contrast, reliance on extracurricular or symbolic approaches presented weaker student reach. However, few institutions exhibit systematic, long-term impact monitoring. Amid escalating resource and staff capacity constraints in higher education, ensuring the value and strategic focus of sustainability integration has become an institutional imperative. By identifying key barriers and enablers, and drawing on insights from curriculum professionals, this study aims to inform strategically coherent and evidence-based approaches to SDG integration.
Interesting further reading:
Leal, S. (2016). Conceptualizations of sustainability in Portuguese higher education:roles, barriers and challenges toward sustainability. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/82963733/Conceptualizations_of_sustainability_in_Portuguese_higher_education_roles_barriers_and_challenges_toward_sustainability [Accessed 5 Feb. 2026].
Price, E., Dawn Theresa Nicholson, Dunk, R., Lawler, C., Carney, M., Valeria Ruiz Vargas, Veitch, S., Leigh, S., Singleton, M. and Mottram, S. (2024). Enabling change agents for sustainable development: a whole-institution approach to embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 25(7). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe-02-2024-0112.
Weiss, M., Barth, M., Wiek, A. and von Wehrden, H. (2021). Drivers and Barriers of Implementing Sustainability Curricula in Higher Education - Assumptions and Evidence. Higher Education Studies, 11(2), p.42. Doi:https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v11n2p42.
If you are interested further about my work or want to see parts of my dissertation: please contact me at luke.farhall@gmail.com or message me on LinkedIn here: www.linkedin.com/in/luke-farhall
Episode guest: Luke Farhall, BSc Environmental Science
Episode host: Prof Simon Kemp
Episode producer and editor: Mya Harvey
The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2026 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.
