We are the Sailing For Impact team

Our initiative aims to open up possibilities for change through innovative higher education. The SFI team is a highly interdisciplinary, motivated group consisting of 16 students who will actively engage with their environment during a transformative journey on European waters. It is an endeavour that aims to alter the perspective of it's crew, but most of all to create a positive impact on it's environment through concrete research projects. Each crewmember has their own research project, aligned with the overall goals of the SFI initiative. Outcomes can typically be put into practice directly because, amongst other things, they inspire new collaborations or initiatives to maximise scientific impact. We define impact as the implementation of sustainable change: change that sets in motion more change, and is therefore lasting and adaptive.

Creating Impact

Impact will be created in a multitude of ways, be it social, economic, environmental or in terms of policy. It can be measured by setting up targets for change and consequently actively promoting change, or by inspiring people by using the ship and the various activities onboard as example for sustainability. The SFI team is suited to actively create impact, since the members form a multidisciplinary foundation that can tackle complex problems at all their facets. We envision ways to create impact on many different levels. For example by experimenting with different activities that aim to reduce the waste streams during our expedition and work towards circularity onboard, thereby contributing to a new perspective on sustainable living and transport.. Additionally, the ship acts as a moving scientific platform that informs and displays a new approach to environmental impact. We will advocate sustainable policy based on international interviews conducted with fishing communities in the current food system. This is only a hint of the initiatives that will occur simultaneously on the ship, that will demand from the students that they interact to learn from each other and find possibilities to collaborate.