Global Sustainability Awards for film unveiled at DMU

DMU SDGs

De Montfort University recently hosted the 11th TVE Global Sustainability Film Awards Shortlist Announcement event. This was the first time the awards were brought on to campus at DMU, initiated by Dr Hiu Man Chan, pictured, Lecturer in Creative & Cultural Industries, in an attempt to engage the topic of United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goals with more students and staffs via the medium of film.

Professor Simon Oldroyd, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability) and Dean of Health and Life Sciences delivered a welcome address to the audience, followed by TVE chair Mei Sim Lai OBE DL’s introduction to Television for the Environment (TVE), a long standing charity campaigning for the environment.

They were joined by Surina Narula MBE, philanthropist and Founder of the Global Sustainability Film Awards.

Dr Hiu Man Chan also explained how she has been forging a new research project in collaboration with tve, with an attempt to digitise its 38-year worth of moving image archive about the environment. The digitisation project will enable its materials to be more accessible to students, educators and practitioners as well as those who care about the future of our home. 

As part of the engagement, the event’s organisation also involved international students from China currently studying Global Arts & Festivals Management BA as well as local students who are studying Cultural Events Management MScs.  

The Awards ceremony will take place on 29 November at the historic Merchant Taylors Hall where DMU representatives will also be attending.

Since 2021, Dr Chan has been working with a UK registered charity Television for the Environment (tve), to identify areas of research and impact collaboration. tve was founded by the United Nations Environment Programme, WWW-UK, and Central Television (now part of ITV) in 1984. Last year, Dr Chan successfully supported the charity to connect with key stakeholders in China, including China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Fund (CBCGDF) and Handle Climate Change Film Festival (HCCFF). 

Discussions between Dr Chan and the charity’s Board of Trustees have explored how DMU students can be more involved to support the annual film awards event, a potential digitisation research project for TVE’s archive as well as how the charity’s missions could have a greater impact in China, beyond the UK. 

Dr Chan said: “ Together, we aim to explore the power of storytelling about the environment via a potential research and impact collaboration.” 

Surina Narula, President Trustee comments: “We look forward to our collaboration with DMU. Students and academics form an integral part in our archival digitisation project. We hope that the restoration of these important films which have documented the changes in our relationship to the climate for the past 40 years serves as an important resource pool.”

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