Third-year medical student Carys Havard’s passion for sustainability stems from her rural Welsh upbringing, yet her drive for change recently took her to Vietnam to represent the UK as Miss Earth Wales.

Growing up on a farm in a single-parent household, Carys learnt from a young age that ‘if you look after the Earth, it will look after you’. Countryside schools she attended as a child taught a curriculum with a heavy environmental focus, while a trip to Hungary aged 16 with students from five other schools across Europe taught Carys the importance of learning about sustainable practices from other countries.

She says, “I grew up so rurally that when I would visit more urban areas, it made me realise that humans and our mindset is the biggest threat to our Earth. Even though we as a country may be doing well in comparison to others, there are always things we can implement to improve and its more important to work together, not individually, when it comes to our environment.”

This focus on the importance of teamwork has spurred Carys on to achieve great things, and alongside ensuring that her own voice is heard, she knows the power of community to spread a global message. After winning the title of Miss Earth Wales in October 2023, Carys travelled to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam in December with more than 80 other women from across the world to compete in Miss Earth, an international beauty pageant with a focus on sustainability and environmental preservation.  

Admitting that pageants have a lot of misconceptions surrounding them, Carys insists that the reality differs greatly to the industry shown in movies. She says, “The Miss Earth pageant slogan is ‘Beauties for a cause’ and it really is just that. I truly think it’s the most impactful pageant out there and all the contestants have a genuine love for our Earth. I think my advocacy interlinking health and our Earth came across so well as not only can it be applied to Wales and the UK, but the rest of the world too.”  

Before coming to Keele and discovering her passion for sustainability, Carys also used to be a Welsh national competitive swimmer until she was diagnosed with rare invisible disability, Laryngomalacia. The breathing condition causes the tissues above the larynx to soften, leading to the airways collapsing when someone breathes in. It took four years for Carys to be officially diagnosed.

She says, “Laryngomalacia severely impacted my swimming, and while waiting for my diagnosis it was very dangerous for me to continue. It became a very negative environment, and I was forced to quit for a few years, so I associated swimming with a very negative part of my life.”

Temporary diagnoses, trial medications, and medical professionals and coaches thinking that Carys was faking her condition for attention had a profound effect on her mental health. However, Carys is determined to find the positives from this time in her life and believes that the struggles and frustrations she went through will ultimately make her a more empathetic and understanding doctor.

She says, “The most important thing to come out of my medical journey was that I learnt to advocate for myself, and I intend to use this skill to advocate for my patients in the future. This journey also inspired me to pursue a career in medicine as I knew I wanted to help people. I know what it’s like to be in the position patients will be in when trying to seek a diagnosis and I will be able to see it from both sides to positively impact my practice.” 

Upon coming to Keele, Carys found the courage to join the swimming society and has rediscovered her love for the sport. She says, “When I got to Keele, the swimming club here were very supportive of my condition and helped build my confidence to get back in the pool. Since my first year, I have swum for the University’s swimming club and competed at British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Nationals.”

Carys is happy that she chose to come to Keele, and picked the University based on the reputation of our medical school and our beautiful grounds. She says, “Keele stood out to me as I thought it was different to all the other universities I looked at. I loved the sense of community, and it reminded me of home with its beautiful campus.

“I also applied to Keele due to its exceptional medicine course. I like the spiral curriculum, and the contact I’ve had with patients from the start of my course has prepared me well for the clinical years of my degree. Since being at Keele and learning about the sustainability inclusion on my course, I’ve realised that I can have a big impact through combining public health and my education.”

This is something that Carys is already working on, and despite the medical industry having a reputation for producing lots of potentially avoidable plastic waste, she hopes to amalgamate her plans for a greener life with her future career. She says, “I have already started to combine the two, as there is an opportunity in the medical field to help people understand and create change. If every patient we saw changed something little about their daily routine we could not only prevent some future illnesses, but also help our Earth considerably.  

“Since Covid-19 there has been a huge increase in the usage of single plastics for the safety of the staff and patients, but I do think that some of it can be avoided. I believe we can come up with an alternative to such methods of protection that are more sustainable or even a new method of disposing of our single-use plastic.”  

Despite coming from an area where it is uncommon for children to pursue higher education, Carys is proud of her ambition, having dreamed of becoming a doctor since she was a young girl. After she graduates, she would love to pursue a surgical career, while continuing the work she does with public health and sustainability in her spare time.