Pembroke students win recognition at Vice-Chancellor's Social Impact Awards
Two Pembroke PhD students have received recognition from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Toope, for their exceptional achievement and commitment to positive social change.
Matthew Mahmoudi (2016) and has been named as one of four winners of this year's Vice-Chancellor's Social Impact Awards, while Verner Viisainen (2017) was Highly Commended.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Awards recognise the achievement of outstanding students of the University of Cambridge, who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to improving society and the wider world. They reflect the commitment of the University of Cambridge to student civic action, and the importance of acknowledging the work of outstanding individuals.
Matt was recognised for his work concerning human rights through four initiatives:
- Founding Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast to help bridge the divide between academics, activists and the general public in the conversation on human rights;
- Developing and launching The State of Things an online platform for citizenship education to be used in schools;
- Spearheading an important work in documenting human rights violations, firstly as an intern, then as a Program Lead with The Whistle Project;
- Setting up the Amnesty International Digital Verification Corps in Cambridge, training a team to use digital tools and media to verify human rights violations. Their project of migrant labour abuse in Qatar has been used by Amnesty's Migration team to directly support their advocacy work.
Verner was HIghly Commended for his environmental work:
- Establishing Meat Free Mondays at Pembroke during his time as the MCR’s Environmental Officer;
- Founding the Pembroke College Gardening Society, recruiting 40 students to grow food in a college allotment, and holding talks on gardening and permaculture approaches to help students learn how to grow their own food;
- Setting up CamBridge2 Environment with two others, following his participation in Cambridge Hub's Engage for Change programme. This was a 7 week project to connect students with local environmental groups through different hands-on volunteering sessions and discussion groups and involved collaboration with Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Transition Cambridge, FoodCycle, CamCycle and the University’s Environment & Energy Section.
The awards are run in collaboration with Cambridge Hub, which is a student-led group that offers practical volunteering, skilled placements, project incubation and events. We support you to learn about issues, connect with each other and tackle social problems.
Image: Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Toope, with winners of the 2019 Vice-Chancellor's Social Impact Award, including Matt Mahmoudi (right) and Verner Viisainen (second from right). Copyright: Cambridge Hub