I’m Ammaria Saadat, an MSc Digital Marketing student at the University of Salford and an international student from Pakistan. And I still can’t fully believe this happened.
In April 2026, I stood in front of academics, researchers and sustainability professionals from universities across the UK as a student and presented at the ESD Exchange conference at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester.
It is one of those experiences that genuinely shifts something in you.
What is the ESD Exchange?
The ESD Exchange is a national conference organised by SOS UK in collaboration with DMU, University of Leicester and Loughborough University. It brings together people working on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education, sharing research, practice and ideas on how universities can better embed sustainability into student learning and university life.
This year’s event took place on 16th and 17th April at DMU in Leicester, and it had a strong and unique focus on student experiences and perspectives.
Being in that room, I understood why that focus matters so much.
How I Got There
My journey to the conference started with the Responsible Futures audit at the University of Salford, where I was part of the student auditor team in November 2025. That audit contributed to Salford gaining Responsible Futures accreditation and because of my involvement in that process, I was invited to co-present about the student experience at the ESD Exchange alongside Neva Mowl from the University of Salford’s Sustainability Team.
What I Presented
Our session focused on how student-led audits can be an effective tool to drive real progress in Education for Sustainable Development. But more than the technicalities of the audit, I was there to speak about what it actually felt like to be a student going through that process.
I talked about how this was my first experience with sustainability work, and how much it opened my eyes. How sustainability isn’t just theory, it connects to real student life challenges, to careers, to the world we are all graduating into. How being part of a small team of student auditors showed me that students can create real impact, right now, not just in the future. And as an international student from Pakistan, I also brought a global perspective to the conversation, thinking about how these ideas and frameworks can travel beyond the UK and inspire change in other parts of the world too.
The key messages I wanted to leave the audience with were simple: students belong in these conversations. Collaboration between students and institutions is essential. And small actions really do lead to meaningful change.
What It Felt Like to Be in That Room
I won’t pretend it wasn’t nerve-wracking. Standing at that podium, looking out at a room full of people who have spent years, sometimes entire careers, working in this space, while I was still a student, felt like a lot. There were moments before going up where I had to take a breath and remind myself that I had something real to say.
But the moment I started speaking, something settled. And what struck me most was how genuinely the room engaged with the student perspective. People weren’t just being polite, they were curious, they were asking questions, they wanted to hear it. That told me something important: student voices aren’t just welcome in these spaces. They are needed.
Beyond our own session, the conference itself was inspiring in ways I didn’t fully expect. Sitting in on other sessions, hearing about the work happening across different universities, the challenges people are navigating, the passion in that room for making higher education more sustainable, it gave me so much to think about and carry forward. It made me feel part of something much bigger than just one university or one audit.
What I Took Away
I came into the ESD Exchange as a student. I left as someone who knows, without a doubt, that student voices belong in national conversations about the future of education.
This experience gave me more confidence, more clarity about the kind of work I want to be part of, and a genuine sense of what is possible when students are trusted to show up and contribute meaningfully.
A huge thank you to Neva Mowl and the Sustainability Team at the University of Salford for trusting me with this opportunity and bringing me into that space. It meant more than I can put into words.
And to any student reading this, if an opportunity like this ever comes your way, say yes.
You are more ready than you think. These spaces are for you too.