Hanne-Maria Maunula and Siân Hepworth are students at the School of the Environment at the University of Brighton. Hanne-Maria is studying Environmental Sciences, and Siân is studying Environmental Hazards. Hanne-Maria is also working at the South East Office for Friends of the Earth in Brighton. Siân has been working at Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve, on the West Sussex Coastal Plain, which is an internationally important site for wildlife.

Both Hanne-Maria and Siân are studying a Community Participation and Development Module, for which they get university course credits. “We get ten credits per semester,” says Hanne-Maria. They are both able to extend it into a double module (twenty credits) if they want. Helping students to work out in the community is the responsibility of Juliet Millican, Student Development Manager at the Community University Partnership Project (CUPP).

Taking this module is an option at a range of schools at the University of Brighton. Siân found out about this placement through a course module meeting event where people in and around Brighton went in to promote their organisation and see if anyone wanted to help out with their projects. CUPP arranged for a representative of Pagham Harbour to come to talk. “It sounded like something I’d be interested in… even though Pagham is a long way away, she was full of ideas, so once we’d spoken to her, we decided to go for that one, because it was environmental.”

Hanne-Maria found out about the opportunity with the Friends of the Earth through the @ctive student database, shared with the Community University Partnership Project. Hanne-Maria has been involved with their latest project which is trying to persuade the three MPs from Brighton and Hove to vote for a stronger climate change bill. “I help the Southeast Campaign Coordinator with whatever she’s doing.” One of her tasks is to call professional people to try and get them involved with the charity and doing this in a professional way.

Siân has been doing many things on the nature reserve like pond dipping, helping with school groups that go to visit and clearing paths to make access better. Also as part of the project she has worked jointly with the reserve and the South Downs Planetarium to do a display on the moon and how it has an effect on tides.

Hanne-Maria and Siân have learnt some new skills from their experiences. Siân already had experience in manual work and knew that it was something she was capable of, and that she enjoyed. She’s gaining new skills, especially with the new moon and tide project. “You have to be more organised I think. You’ve got to have an idea of what other people would want to see.” Hanne-Maria is enjoying it so much that she wants to carry on. “I’ll probably stay and keep working there.” Siân is planning to do more environmental volunteering work too.