A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY
Equipped with a place and a 75 % bursary , Oscar seized the chances to satisfy his inquiring and enterprising mind . He found Winchester ’ s approach an engine of opportunity .
This was Oscar ’ s description of his EPQ project on ‘ emergence ’: ‘ To begin to understand these emergent behaviours , I built computer models of their behaviour : I modelled birds flocking and reaction diffusion and an ant colony , and then applied that system as an heuristic for the “ travelling salesman problem ”.’ He is now studying Computing at Imperial College in London .
The ancient board game of Go illustrates emergence : the rules are simple but its strategy and tactics gradually emerge as highly complex . Oscar became a passionate player . ‘ Go has taught me to choose my battles , to concentrate play to the right effect .’ All this activity has a purpose : to be a change-maker , and in particular on the climate crisis . Winchester ’ s then Head of Geography , Dr Alex Clayton , told the Sustainability Society that advisers to the Warden and Fellows were starting a study on the school diet and its environmental impact . Various scientific bodies had issued recommendations on changing school diets which , at scale , will have a significant potential impact on the consumption of energy and resources across Britain . Winchester did not score highly against those benchmarks . Dr Clayton invited members of the society to help with the study . Oscar wrote three sections ; he and two fellow students eventually made presentations to the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Group ( ESAG ) of experts which helps the Governing Body .
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