A University of Worcester postgraduate is turning campus sustainability on its head with a new app designed to reveal how well students really understand the climate challenges ahead.
Carolina Furtado – currently completing a Master’s in Computer Sciences after graduating in Business and Finance – has launched GreenUp, a sleek, data-driven sustainability app built to help universities take the pulse of student awareness. Backed by £2000 of university funding, the app is already drawing interest from colleges and business leaders eager to benchmark their teams’ sustainability know-how.
“Students download the app and complete a series of quizzes,” Carolina explained.
“They receive a score, and their institution gets anonymised data showing where students’ sustainability knowledge is strong – and where it needs boosting.”
The goal? Smarter, more informed decision-making from university leaders trying to future-proof their campuses.
Every quiz is rooted in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, covering everything from zero hunger to sustainable cities. By framing global challenges through interactive gamification, the app turns learning into something sharp, engaging, and measurable.
Dr Helen Watts, Deputy Head of Worcester Business School, said Carolina’s pitch stood out immediately.
“Carolina’s app shows an innovative approach to promoting sustainability through gamification and a sophisticated app design that required funding to develop.”
Dr Watts added:
“The University is committed to delivering opportunities for students to engage with sustainability and enterprise, so the suggestion that we should fund the development of GreenUp came very easily.”
Buoyed by early interest, Carolina is already thinking bigger:
“I’d like to see this rolled out to other universities. I’ve already had interest from a college in the region, and I’ve spoken to business leaders who are interested in using it to gauge their teams’ understanding of sustainability as well.”
A lifelong advocate for sustainable living, Carolina says the ambition is simple: make sustainability education smarter, immersive, and impossible to ignore.
