Caroline Harris

Cranfield University

I was approached by our University events team to put something forward for COP26. I knew the Exploring Sustainable Futures matched the ethos of COP26 and would be amazing for attendees to experience, although there was no explicit place for university workshop applications. I had to sell the idea firstly internally to colleagues! I then wrote the proposal with the support of my team that was later accepted into the COP26 Blue zone programme and went on to manage the team to adapt a well-established format to fit the strict and unique requirements of the conference and coordinate all the visual media assets to match this.

We attended as a team of 12, delivering the game to a room of 150 people. Many individuals were from the general public, including some children who were inspired by the experience and asked many questions after the session. The event was also open to those connecting virtually, and we received excellent feedback on both formats.

My idea felt like a risk at the beginning, but with a brilliant team around us, we managed to pull it off!

Top 3 Learnings

1. I trusted the power of the game experience to be applicable in the international conference environment at COP26.
2. I facilitated the creation of multimedia immersive elements to be more suited to a larger plenary audience.
3. I took a risk as the only university workshop at COP26, and it paid off!