Broadcast: News items

Edwin Gilson, Communications and Engagement Officer at the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) works to communicate the ground-breaking research underway at the Centre of Excellence. Edwin also organises engaging research events that are open to staff and students, including the annual SSRP Symposium, which is taking place on Thursday 14 November and will showcase local and global sustainability research, and the upcoming ‘Wind Energy in the South Coast Landscape’, which is delivered with the Sussex Energy Group on Wednesday 9 October. We caught up with Edwin to find out a little more about him and what he loves about his role at Sussex:

My favourite part of my role is talking to SSRP academics about their vital research, on anything from river pollution on the South Coast to rights of nature in South America. It’s really rewarding to expand my knowledge about the climate and ecological crisis, and some of the potential solutions to it. Throughout the summer we’ve been running a series of blog articles spotlighting the latest SSRP research projects, which you can read online.

SSRP researchers in Ecuador have been working to protect the real Paddington bear –the Andean or Spectacled Bear. The completion of the project ties in nicely with the film Paddington in Peru, which comes out later this year. We’ll be profiling this research in much more depth in one of our upcoming spotlight blogs.

I love the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) and have been attending events there for years. The sound for gigs at the ACCA is amazing - James Holden and Gazelle Twin stand out from recent memory. I am always inspired by university campuses so it’s a real thrill to work on one.

Away from work, I realised recently that playing football and guitar are the only things I do when I am completely engaged in that activity, and not also thinking about something else. I guess 'mindful' would be the modern word for it!'

The best piece of advice I have had is the importance of ‘zooming out’ from your immediate circumstance, and retaining a sense of perspective when times get tough.