The University of Westminster has launched a new exhibition at its ARTiSIP Gallery on Regent Street, showcasing creative responses to the University’s Climate Assembly. The exhibition features a range of student work exploring what it means to be a citizen living on a planet with limited resources.
The University of Westminster Climate Assembly (UWCA) took place across six sessions between January and March 2026 and involved around 45 participants, including students, academics, professional services colleagues and contractors, all selected through democratic lottery to make sure the University’s diverse community was fully represented.
Funded by the Quintin Hogg Trust, the assembly was the UK’s first university-based citizens’ assembly focused on climate action. It brought together representatives from across the University to discuss and agree on priorities for the institution’s future climate strategy.
Students played a central role throughout the project, making up half of the assembly membership. In addition, the six assembly sessions were facilitated by students who were trained for the role. Students from the Cavendish Living Lab and Fashion courses spoke to the assembly about their work while others worked on logistics, organisation and the creative content.
While the assembly came to an end, the work and conversations have continued, with colleagues and students taking ideas behind deliberative democracy into the classroom in the form of lectures and group discussions. The University has also employed student researchers to evaluate the work being undertaken.
As part of this wider work, students came together to curate an innovative and powerful exhibition. Hosted at the ARTiSIP Gallery on the University’s Regent Street Campus between 15 May and 19 June, the exhibition includes photographs, animations, portraits and banners outlining the Climate Assembly’s recommendations and outcomes.
The pieces come from a range of disciplines. For example, students from the Interior Architecture BA Honours course have displayed the work they created in collaboration with art collective D-Fuse. For this project each student created a 3-D plywood citizen self-portrait, reflecting the complex and interconnected realities of living sustainably within the planet’s limits.
Dr Ro Spankie, Principal Lecturer in the School of Architecture + Cities, said: “The ArtiSip exhibition has been a dream to organise. It was curated by Elsa Cole from the Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture MA and photographs of the assembly including the striking portraits of assembly members are by Barr Kroter from Photography BA Honours. Drawings of the six meetings are by Hy Le from Interior Architecture BA Honours, and the short film explaining how the assembly worked is by Ava Tai and Paula Gonsalez from Animation BA Honours. So much energy and talent!
Westminster adopted the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2019, using the Goals to frame the University’s strategic decisions to support its commitment to being progressive, compassionate and responsible. Building on this work, the Climate Assembly opens a new phase for the University of Westminster in working towards SDGs 13: Climate Action and Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
Learn more about UWCA 2026 on its dedicated Substack feed.
Read more about Sustainable Development at the University of Westminster.
