Adele Roeder wins Student Champion at the 2025 Green Gown Awards Australasia

Adele Roeder, a recent Bachelor of Environmental Science graduate from the Faculty of Science and Wattle Fellow, was named the winner in the Student Champion category at the 2025 Green Gown Awards Australasia.

The Green Gown Awards are administered by Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS). Now in their 16th year, the awards featured 40 finalists across 11 categories, celebrating sustainability excellence and best practice in Australia and New Zealand’s tertiary education sector.

Adele’s award-winning entry highlighted the transformative potential of grassroots, community-led sustainability initiatives. Her projects have diverted 1,300kg of items from landfill through student donation drives and thrift markets. She also engaged over 350 participants in reuse and repair events, demonstrating practical, tangible impact across the University and local communities.

She also led the most successful year of engagement for Green Impact at the University, with over 2,000 sustainability actions completed by participants in 2024, and transformed the Sustainability Volunteer Program to engage more than 300 students annually.

“This recognition motivates me to keep empowering others to take local, practical action,” said Adele.

“I hope to continue building communities where sustainability is collaborative, creative, and something everyone can be part of.”

The University of Melbourne was a finalist in four additional categories, including Nature Positive for its Biodiversity Baseline Data Project and Creating Impact for its Sustainability Awards program. Dr Darryl Johnson from the Faculty of Engineering and IT was nominated for Staff Champion for his outstanding work in making research more environmentally responsible. Rachael Miller, Sustainability Coordinator, was nominated for Staff Leadership in recognition of her contributions to enhancing and expanding biodiversity across our campuses.