News / 31 Mar 2026
Students present at Student Sustainability Research Conference 2026
Sustainability
Students from across the University’s undergraduate courses presented work at the Student Sustainability Research Conference 2026.
The Student Sustainability Research Conference is an annual event where impactful student research is shared from across a diverse range of disciplines and perspectives. This year's conference was hosted at the University of Leeds.
Students from our BA (Hons) Fashion Design, BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing, BA (Hons) Photography, and BA (Hons) Textile Design degree courses showcased their work through poster submissions, exhibitions, and presentations.
Joe Gurr, a final-year BA (Hons) Textile Design student, exhibited a poster of his project exploring Malai, a bio-based material developed from coconut water waste, as a sustainable alternative to traditional leather. Through a series of material-led experiments, including laser etching, weaving, and structural construction, Joe’s work investigates how natural textures can inform both surface and form, while also exploring the value of waste materials within the design process.
“Taking part in the SSRC allowed me to share my work and consider how it contributes to wider discussions around material innovation and sustainability.”
Joe Gurr, BA (Hons) Textile Design student
Faith Perkins, second year BA (Hons) Fashion Design student, gave a five-minute snap presentation on their project exploring the use of pineapple leather as a material to create zero-waste leather handbags.
“It was a great opportunity to take part and share with others how passionate I am about sustainability and to be able to showcase this through my designs!”
Faith Perkins, BA (Hons) Fashion Design student
Jenny Ling, also in the second year of a BA (Hons) in Fashion Design, gave a 15 minute presentation entitled ‘The Future of Circular Fashion’. The work focuses on becoming more sustainable through adapting circular fashion thinking into the process of making and designing a fashionable bag product. The concept revolves around upcycling, using unwearable or old Chinese dresses/qipao to create a vintage-style Chinese bag design.
“It was an honour to be able to speak at the SSRC and share my idea with others. Being able to take part of this conference talk helped me to gain more confidence and motivation to share more future works and ideas with others to help contribute more positive impacts in the fashion industry/ community.”
Jenny Ling, BA (Hons) Fashion Design student
Holly Calvert, BA (Hons) Photography, and Megan Lewis, BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing, also participated in the conferences, exhibiting and giving presentations on their projects.
Claire Booth, Sustainability Manager, was also an active participant in this year’s conference, facilitating a session on Sustainable Consumption, which included presentations by students from the University of Bradford, Sheffield Hallam University, and the University of Leeds on the topics of e-waste in Ghana, Gen Z ethical consumption behaviours and Circular economy (in)equality.
“The Student Sustainability Research Conference (SSRC) is an established annual opportunity for Leeds Arts University students to showcase their work exploring sustainability in the context of their creative specialism amongst other Yorkshire Universities peers. This year it was great to see our students presenting and exhibiting their work focused on topics including zero waste and circular principles in fashion, natural resources & conservation and biophilia. As a Steering group member of the conference and session facilitator on the day, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing first-hand the connections made between students across Institutions and course areas, enabling scope for future collaboration to tackle sustainability challenges."
Claire Booth, Sustainability Manager