The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and there is significant potential to help wildlife flourish on campuses. Eighty-six percent of students think that universities and colleges should act to protect and support nature on their grounds. However, student voices often remain unheard when it comes to decisions about nature at their university.

SOS-UK's new Wilder Campuses Advisory Programme empowers students to shape nature conservation decisions on campus, ensuring their voices are actively heard and valued. It also gives these students the unique opportunity to explore, observe, and document what's already on your campus, turning campus grounds into living laboratories.

This programme might be right for you if you are rewriting or revising your Biodiversity Action Plan (or similar strategy) and if you are interested in seeking input and engagement from a broad range of students.

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Our exciting new programme includes a range of bespoke support.

Initial Support Call

Your journey begins with an initial support call with our Biodiversity team. This gives us a chance to understand how your grounds are currently managed, what’s on your Biodiversity Action Plan if you have one and what your nature goals are. We'll also discuss to what extent students have already been consulted. This is also a chance to discuss the next steps.

Student Nature Consultation

Next we'll conduct an in-person consultation with you and your students. The consultation will take place over a half-day workshop, creating space for you to discuss your plans with students and give students the chance to have their opinions heard. We’ll capture student opinions during the consultation for you to include in your plans. This consultation will be particularly useful if you’ve yet to write a Biodiversity Action Plan, or your current plan is due to be reviewed.  

Student habitat survey training

To enrich their experience, we visit your campus to deliver habitat survey training with your students. This will give your students the skills and knowledge to explore, observe, and document what's already on your campus, turning campus grounds into living laboratories. This is a really unique student experience, allowing students to feel a better connection with nature on their campus. This is useful for universities that need to document what’s on campus and monitor changes.  

A final report

Finally, we’ll produce your Wilder Campuses report. The report will include the results from the student consultation, helping you to plan your next steps for nature. It will also include results from the student habitat survey and advice for habitat creation as well as a recommended supplier list from our network of partners.  

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The full programme costs can be found on our 2024-2025 offer document. This is a pilot programme, so we can be flexible on the elements of the programme and cost.

There is a bolt on option to access our National Student Nature Opinion Survey which you can share with your students.  

For more information, contact jo.wilkinson@sos-uk.org.  

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