Embedding student leadership within the culture

Nottingham University Business School has a strategy of developing the next generation of responsible business leaders and changemakers. Outside of the taught curriculum, we engage qualifying students through sustainability and societal impact clubs, societies and fellowships. Two examples are the SSI Fellowship in the UK and the ESG Professional League on our China campus.

Sustainability and Societal Impact Fellowship launched in 2024/25 involving 15 students (undergraduate, MSc, MBA and PhD) - contributing to the school's sustainability and societal impact goals through 5 impactful student-led projects. Next year it will grow to 100 UK students committing a minimum of 3 hours per week with 10 impact projects.

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/who-we-are/societal-impact/sustainability-and-societal-impact-fellows-programme.aspx

On our China campus, the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Professional League (founded in 2025) is one of the SDG student clubs engaging 100 students translating ESG principles into professional practice through over 30 workshops, real-world corporate simulations, with specialized training programs, bridging the gap between ESG theory and practical application.

“What I'm taking from SSI is not just practical skills, it's a shift in how I think. This fellowship has a way of making sustainability feel less like a cause and more like a lens or something you start applying to how you consume, how you plan, how you make decisions. That's not something a taught module or a workshop tends to do. It comes from being around people who are genuinely working through these questions together and being given the space to do the same.” SSI Student Fellows 2025-26.