Take your first step towards sustainable change. Applications close at 12 noon on 25th November 2024 for the Fellowships, and 9th December 2024 for the Oxford Laidlaw Scholars Programme. Join us on Discovery Day, 24th October, 2-5 pm at Cohen Quad, Exeter College, to meet Fellows, explore projects, and discover how the Lab drives impactful solutions to global challenges.
The Oxford SDG Impact Lab Fellowships offer graduate students the chance to tackle real-world challenges through interdisciplinary projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Fellows work alongside leading businesses, community partners, and academic experts, gaining hands-on experience and valuable skills to drive sustainable change. For more information, visit our FAQs.
Please make sure you have read the Programme Information fully before applying.
The Oxford Laidlaw Scholars Programme is open to first-year undergraduate students passionate about sustainable development and leadership. This 18-month programme offers hands-on project experience, leadership workshops, and the opportunity to collaborate on impactful local and global initiatives, empowering scholars to become future leaders in sustainability.
The SDG Impact Lab Masterclass Series in an eight-week course focused on how to make progress towards the SDGs. It is underpinned by three core curriculum areas:
Ethics- How do we know what is right?
We offer training in responsible leadership, underpinned by values, purpose and character.
Evidence- How do we know what works?
We provide students with applied research skills relevant to business, policy, and community engagement.
Engagement- How do we deliver impactful change?
We deliver training in project management, organisational change, and effective communication and presentation skills.
Each session will focus on one or more of the SDGs with expert input from Oxford faculty, business, and community leaders. There will be a group and peer learning component as well as case studies of projects delivered by previous Lab Fellows.
For further information about the sessions take a look at the full programme and read student testimonials.
Our unique and interactive programmes aim to provide students with the transferrable skills needed to work with business and non-academic partners to deliver real-world change.
This includes a research project at a partner-specific Field Lab at the start of the Summer vacation. Students work in teams, engaging with stakeholders and applying research methods to develop project proposals.
The result of the Field Lab is an implementable and evidence-based proposal relating to one or more of the SDGs.
Our student Fellows are drawn from across the University reflecting our commitment to interdisciplinary learning.
Lab Fellows
Our network comprises 135 postgraduate fellows from over 45 countries, each bringing a wealth of valuable experience. Their backgrounds span founding social enterprises, policy development within governments and NGOs, and hands-on business experience—from launching start-ups to working in the oil and gas industry. Among them, we even have a part-time professional opera singer!
The skillsets of our Lab Fellows are further enriched by the breadth of their studies. They are pursuing advanced degrees across a wide range of fields, from doctorates in Engineering, Politics, Biology, Experimental Psychology, and Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, to MBAs and Master’s degrees in Public Policy, Social Data Science, Environmental Change and Management, Economics, and Energy Systems, among others.
United by a shared commitment, our Fellows are dedicated to taking action that advances the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and makes a positive impact globally.
“The chance to present our team's energy efficiency initiative to the senior leadership team at BMW's MINI Plant was an unparalleled experience. In that boardroom, I felt the weight and significance of our achievements. I realized that the project we had nurtured was no longer an academic exercise confined to research papers and simulation models; it was a viable, impactful solution deserving boardroom-level attention.“