Two students on Keele’s Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology MSc have worked closely with a local professional football club to help improve their energy consumption performance and enhance biodiversity around their stadium. 

Over the past year, postgraduate students Kamron Singh and Charlotte Becker have worked alongside Port Vale FC on projects designed to help the club become more environmentally friendly and sustainable moving forward.  

Working with sustainability expert Dr Sharon George, and a team of Keele technicians led by Richard Burgess, the students created a strategic energy and sustainability improvement plan, as well as carrying out a biodiversity audit on the club’s premises. 

They presented their findings at Keele Hall recently to the club’s Chief Strategy Officer, Patrick Shanahan, and Community and CSR Director, Matt Hancock. 

The guests also toured some of Keele’s key sustainability projects such as the Low Carbon Energy Generation Park, and the Smart Energy Network Demonstrator, to learn more about the university’s pioneering smart energy activities and sustainability research. 

Kamron Singh said: “As a passionate football fan myself, working closely with PVFC to help reduce their energy consumption and improve stadium sustainability has been an incredible experience and one which I thoroughly enjoyed throughout. I am extremely grateful for being given the opportunity by Keele to apply all the transferable skills and sustainability knowledge I had learned on my MSc course into real-world practice with such a prestigious football club.” 

Charlotte Becker said: “Football, like every other industry is under increasing amounts of pressure to improve sustainability and consider its impact on the environment. This amazing opportunity to partner with PVFC and research ways that the club can maximise biodiversity on their site has enabled me to apply what I have learned on my MSc course to a real-world scenario where my ideas can hopefully make a real difference in the urban setting of Vale Park.” 

Port Vale FC's Chief Strategy Officer, Patrick Shanahan, added: “Port Vale FC is delighted to be working alongside Keele University on such an exciting project, it really allows us to assess where we currently are from an environmental perspective and build the roadmap to becoming an environmentally sustainable football club.  

“The hard work that has been put in by Kamron and Charlotte has educated us and delivered the first steps on our journey, they have been a joy to work with and been a credit to both themselves and the University. We are very excited to work with the next group of students from Keele who will keep driving us forward.”