The 2026 ESD Exchange event was initiated by De Montfort University and Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK) and delivered through a ‘Universities Partnership’ collaboration with the Universities of Leicester and Loughborough. The in-person event was held from Thursday 16th – Friday 17th April 2026, at De Montfort University, with two follow-on webinars in the weeks afterwards.
We’re pleased to share the final evaluation report for the event, which can be downloaded here. Overall, we had 82 submissions for the event, featuring 71 presentations and 11 workshops.
188 people registered to attend overall, 81 as presenters, 98 as attendees-only and 9 as part of the organising team. Sign-ins numbered 128 on Thursday and 73 on the half-day Friday. This was a very positive result, achieving the event aims of attracting a national group of ESD leads and staff/students to share practice and experiences.
Many registered attendees came from the host institutions (51 from DMU, 19 from Leicester and 16 from Loughborough; 86 in all). The event therefore achieved the goal of engaging students and staff from the host institutions more deeply with the ESD Agenda by making a national conference easily accessible and free of charge.
The organising team would like to take this opportunity to thank all the presenters, attendees, organising team members and administrative staff that made the event possible. The event was extremely well-received, in particular the diverse selection of topics of presentations, the collaborative and welcoming atmosphere, and the strong student voice and participation in presentations, workshops and the event as a whole. Thanks to everyone for making this event a success, and we look forward to the next iteration of ESD Exchange in 2027!
