Dr Kim Polgreen
I am sustainability educator, working with local schools, and with several different departments within Oxford University.
I run the Youth Summer School at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, and am the Community Engagement Officer for the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery at the University of Oxford. I am the Youth Educator at Wytham Woods, the University’s research woodlands; and an Honorary Norham Fellow at the Oxford University Department of Education.
A mix of experience in science, sustainability, business and education has brought me to this current enterprise: I have a first degree in Biology and Biochemistry from Keele University, and a DPhil from Oxford in Biochemistry. I subsequently did an MSc at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) in Oxford, and worked in business on sustainability issues for 10 years.
I left “big” business when I became a parent, and in 2005, I joined an education company focussed on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, running it as a profit-making social enterprise for a philanthropic shareholder who gave all the profits to educational and climate linked projects. In 2015, I started a sustainability summer school for teenagers at the ECI, showing teenagers that there are wonderful opportunities for them to get involved with climate and sustainability solutions in their future careers. This has continued annually, moving to Wytham Woods post pandemic.
In 2018 and 2019 I spent a brief time at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales (Trustee and Interim CEO) and learned a lot about running a bricks and mortar education centre.
With the lovely team at CAT in 2019
Since 2020 I’ve been working with Wytham Woods, the University’s research woodlands on youth education projects, as their Youth Educator in Residence. I’m also involved with the UK Schools Sustainability Network and support the Oxford branch.
I’m really proud that the work at Wytham came runner up in the Oxford University Vice Chancellor’s Award for Environmental Sustainability in July 2022. And in 2023 I received a High Sheriff’s award due to a very generous nomination from a teacher I’ve done a lot of work with at Cherwell School. This is what she said, which is embarrassingly nice:
Getting a High Sheriff’s Award in 2023! Thanks to one of the lovely teachers I work with who nominated me.
Kim works with unfailing energy to share her expertise and enthusiasm about sustainability and the environment with young people. She volunteers her time to facilitate opportunities for young people across Oxfordshire, welcoming groups to Wytham Woods in her role as Youth Educator in Residence, fostering links between researchers and the community and bringing outdoor education into schools. Her purposeful drive and determination inspire others, with projects such as her school tree-planting making a tangible impact not just on the young people directly involved but the wider community too.
What makes Kim’s contribution so unique is the warmth, generosity of spirit and care she brings to every interaction: she inspires those around her to feel empowered to take the lead on issues that matter most to them by taking them seriously, listening thoughtfully and valuing every contribution. From her pastoral wellbeing trips for vulnerable young people to her Green Futures event to inspire students to consider sustainable careers, Kim’s vision and determination to bring community action from concept to realisation is second to none.
Kim inspires others to be their best, promoting new and innovative collaborations between schools and networks, such as her creation of a sustainable fashion project for North Oxford schools with Low Carbon Oxford. That she also finds time to volunteer her expertise to school leadership through a governor role in Oxfordshire state schools, as an advisor to the University and a volunteer with the UK Schools Sustainability Network is further testament to her indefatigable energy and drive.