Working with students towards racial and climate justice

An update on the LCC Changemakers and Climate Advocates and how they are working with staff to embed racial and climate justice into the curriculum. 

London College of Communication has a long history of working in partnership with students, as Peer Assisted Learning facilitators and Peer Mentors, and since April 2020 as Changemakers, students and graduates employed to codevelop anti-racist and decolonial curricula and teaching practices, in line with UAL’s Anti-Racism Action Plan. Since the spring of 2021, LCC have also employed students as Climate Advocates, to promote environmental awareness and sustainability in curricula and teaching practices, as part of UAL’s climate action work. 

The Changemakers and Climate Advocates are both employed for four hours per week through the academic year and there are nine of each; one Changemaker and one Climate Advocate per LCC programme. The Changemakers are led by Lucy Panesar (Progression and Attainment Project Manager) and the Climate Advocates are led by Nicky Ryan (Dean of Design) and they all work towards their missions in slightly different ways, depending on the needs of the courses in their programmes and opportunities that arise. You can get an idea of the work that Changemakers did through 2020-21 here.  

Whilst the Changemakers and Climate Advocates are employed to work towards different missions, they are acutely aware of the clear connections between racial and climate justice, and the need for us to work towards decolonisation and decarbonisation in unison. On 13 October they met to explore these connections and the opportunities they have to make change at LCC. UAL Quality Assurance processes are offering an important opportunity for both Changemakers and Climate Advocates to influence changes in curricula and teaching practices, from the moment a new course is validated, or as each course goes through the reapproval and course monitoring cycles.  

School	Programme	Changemaker	Climate Advocate
Design	Branding Design & Innovation	Veronica Amon	Agata Slomka
Design	Graphic Media Communication	Rachel Roland Martins	Deborah Deekae
Design	Illustration Design and Visual Communication	Alyasi Alyasi	Sampada Muralidhar
Media	Media and Communications	Terena Danner	Charlotte Hull
Media	Journalism and Publishing	Victoria Monari	TBC
Media	Photography	Cassia Clarke	Liv Wood
Screen	Film and TV	Ramneek Kataria	Morgan Williams
Screen	Moving Image and Digital Arts	Emilio Wolfgang Gotterbarm	Alejandro Martinez
Screen	Sound and Music	Chuky Omo	Will Crosby

If you would like to find out more or arrange a discussion with a Changemaker or Climate Advocate, please contact: 

• Lucy Panesar about Changemakers on l.panesar@lcc.arts.ac.uk   
• Nicky Ryan about Climate Advocates on n.ryan@lcc.arts.ac.uk