February 2021 - Dr Kate Parsley
I joined the Corporate Partnership Programme just over a year ago. The past year has been unlike any other, and certainly not the start I hoped for!
For 25 years, our unique programme among the Cambridge Colleges has provided an alternative entry point for organisations to the University. We welcome partners into the College community, where our multidisciplinary fellowship, engaged students and beautiful setting provides an unparalleled experience and a truly beneficial two-way relationship. Some of our partners have been with us from the very start, others have shorter relationships, but all value their relationship with the College and individual personal relationships often endure beyond the formal partnership. The programme has also benefitted the College, the wider University and associated ecosystem, the individuals involved, and our students.
The pandemic has given many of us time to reflect and reprioritise and this has fed into our planning for the 25th anniversary of the programme. Our plans for 2021 encompass all of what has gone before and also go a step further – we have chosen to theme our activities on the climate emergency, piloting bringing our partners together around a key challenge for us all. We have chosen to use the term ‘climate rescue’ not because we see ourselves as powerful heroes with capes flying in to save the world, but because we want to reframe the question – moving on from any debate about the severity of the challenge ahead and instead focussing on what we all can do about it. All of us, as individuals and within our organisations, will need to make significant changes to mitigate our impact on the planet, and some may also be able to go further and start to heal our climate. Our first virtual round table later in the year will hopefully involve representatives from all of our partner organisations and we will facilitate discussions, identify priority areas and develop follow-up actions, either as individual companies or in areas where partners can join together.
Ongoing restrictions mean that many of our activities will be digital, at least for the first half of 2021. We saw with our successful William Pitt Seminar and BT-Pembroke Lecture last year that there are some benefits to virtual activities and we will incorporate this learning, embracing the way that technology can bring us together while recognising that there is no substitute for human contact.
The 25th anniversary is also marked by the initiation of this monthly blog series, spectacularly launched by our Master, Lord Chris Smith, last month. Here we aim to share thought-leadership on the climate emergency and the potential contribution from academia and industry working in partnership.
Throughout 2021, all of our partners are being encouraged to develop bespoke workshops, facilitated and curated by the Corporate Partnership programme, that tackle an aspect of their own organisation’s role in climate rescue. We are working on a couple of these already and I am excited to see how these progress and to help our partners extend their reach into the wider University and to work with new parts of our partner organisations.
Next month is our annual student entrepreneurship competition, the Parmee Prize – all are welcome to attend this digital event. We decided not to theme the competition in order to not restrict potential applicants, but even without our explicit guidance it is gratifying that many entries were aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The judges have short-listed the applications and four finalists will present their business plans on the 3rd March, all applicants also receive the opportunity of training and mentoring during and after the competition. The Parmee Prize is a remarkable demonstration of the power of the Corporate Partnership Programme – William Pitt Fellow Dr Richard Parmee from partner Cheyney devised the competition in 2007 and since its launch has supported numerous students with their business plans, look out for an article on its impact - coming soon!
In these difficult and uncertain times, it may feel like celebrations are not appropriate. Everyone has been affected by the pandemic and we don’t wish to forget this. What we do want to do is to recognise the people who have helped support the programme over the years, and consider how working in partnership can help avoid situations like this arising again in future. I hope that every person associated with the programme is able to engage with at least one aspect of our anniversary activities, and we hope to see you all in person later this year.