Dr Laurence Wainwright comments on the appointment of Steve Barclay MP to the role of environment secretary in a letter to the Times' editor. "With a background of the City, Sandhurst, health, and EU negotiations, he is an eclectic and somewhat odd choice for the role, perhaps illustrating the lack of priority the government gives to the portfolio. Countries leading the charge on sustainability are increasingly giving environmental ministerial roles to those who have qualifications and experience in the field, rather than simply handing it out as a second-class role for someone who has been demoted."

Coverage of Kestrix, a startup co-founded by Oxford Smith School MSc graduate Lucy Lyons. Kestrix uses thermal drones and AI to map how heat leaks from buildings to enable better and faster retrofitting of building insulation, and recently received investment from venture builder Carbon13.

Charlotte Wargniez has always worked fast. A downhill skier from the age of 10, she finished her Baccalauréat général Scientifique (the equivalent of A-levels in the UK) at the age of 13 and enrolled at the University of Toronto the same year. In September, she embarks on the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment’s MSc in Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment, one of the university’s most applied to graduate programs. At just 17 years old, she is the youngest MSc candidate at the University of Oxford since the 1990s.

Dr Laurence Wainwright spoke to the Guardian about the mental health impact of Britain’s record-breaking 2022 heatwave, including “increasing overall rates of mortality in mental health conditions, or worsening of symptoms, triggering a relapse into a certain phase of a condition, like in bipolar switching into mania, which is a dangerous phase.”

Billions of people across the world will be exposed to dangerously hot temperatures and extreme weather if the planet heats by 2.7C, a new study has found. Dr Laurence Wainwright commented: "Humans have got used to living in particular areas at certain temperatures. When things change, serious problems arise, whether in terms of physical health, mental health, crime and social unrest." 

Poets & Quants reports on the expansion of the Smith School's flagship MSc programme. "MSc SEE has come along way from its origins as an idea on a poster at a team away day in 2018," said Dr Laurence Wainwright.