Future-Shift Internships enabling Future-fit Leaders

Interns and enterprises work together on low carbon solutions
Sphere - future shift internships enabling future fit leaders
The Low Carbon Devon Future-Shift Internship Programme is providing invaluable support for enterprises to deliver low carbon projects and reduce their carbon emissions combined with practical work experience and leadership development for students and graduates.
The programme includes workshops which focus on developing systems thinking and the skills to facilitate compassionate and proactive change to tackle the climate emergency. The University of Plymouth Compass leadership tool supports students to become sustainable and global citizens through opportunities, such as Future-Shift, to contribute to a more sustainable future, both locally and globally.
What are the advantages for businesses to host interns?
“I can really see the benefit to both the interns and the local organisations, particularly enabling the enterprises to put into practice projects and ideas they wouldn’t be able to otherwise without these valuable resource and fresh perspective from the students and graduates.”
Chris Woodfield, Knowledge Exchange Officer, Low Carbon Devon
Phil, how has your business benefited from the Future Shift Internship Programme?
“Going through the B Impact Assessment process has been extremely insightful and useful for us as an organisation, highlighting what we are doing well and where we need to improve. I would definitely recommend it and the Low Carbon Devon internship programme has enabled this to happen.”
Phil Hawthorne, Head of Design at Red Paddle Co
How have the innovative change-leadership workshops impacted you?
“I liked the systemic change workshop; I really think that was key in keeping motivated and seeing the bigger picture for the potential in maintaining the aim to make change within traditional businesses.”
Madeleine Flynn, ESG and B Corp Intern at Red Paddle Co
Future-Shift Internships enabling Future-fit Leaders. RED paddle
Sphere - internship celebration. Display of work 
“The workshops were very insightful and useful as they provided new and insightful information which I was able to utilise within my internship to help me progress both professionally and personally.”
Kiara Millard, Strategic Communications and Advocacy Intern at Plymouth Energy Community
“I actively engaged with independent project development and completion and as a result, have further developed my skill set in relation to task-management, efficiency and monitoring productivity.”
Hannah Smalldon, Environmental Impacts Intern at J Wippell & Co
Chris, what have been the highlights of the programme so far?
“It has been a rewarding experience facilitating the internship programme and helping our students and graduates to become future-fit change-makers through the change-leadership workshop programme, combined with seeing them deliver meaningful and practical action within their local host organisations.”

Visualising Climate: Young People’s Responses to the Climate Emergency

A Creative Associates collaboration between Professor Alison Anderson, Scarlet Design and Fotonow has documented the views of 16–18 year olds on the climate crisis.
The project sought to empower the generation who will be most impacted by the effects of climate change, with the aim of fostering young people’s sense of empowerment in communicating the climate emergency.
Visualising Climate explores the cultural dimensions of climate change and the influence of socio-economic factors on engagement. The project involved workshops using an interactive game with illustrated icons to provide a visually exciting means to engage young people in discussing the issues, including how the media are covering them. A short film was produced capturing the voices of a selection of young people from diverse backgrounds as well as the views of journalists and editors.
The project was exhibited at COP26 in November 2021
Climate change