Lauren Stephenson tells how the scholarship helped her get on the right career path and why any support you can show is a worthwhile cause.
My name is Lauren Stephenson and I joined Lucy Cavendish College (LCC) when I started my Masters in Sustainability Leadership with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) in 2022. I grew up not too far from Cambridge in a village near Newmarket and I studied BSc (Hons) International Business Finance and Economics at the University of Manchester for my undergraduate degree. I began my career in the insurance industry and managed to switch to my dream career of working in sustainability last year.
It’s been a goal of mine to do this Masters ever since I graduated from my undergraduate degree 6 years ago. The Masters in Sustainability Leadership is unique because it allows you to work full-time whilst studying. It’s been running for decades so the course lecturers and administrators are very experienced (it’s run very well) and you get to learn at one of the top universities in the world.
Another key reason for wanting to do this course is because the content is so varied. You learn about everything from economic development to the circular economy and communication. But then you also get to focus your dissertation on any sustainability-related topic that is of interest to you. I wouldn’t have been able to do this Masters without the generous scholarship from LCC. The course is quite expensive and I received no help from my employer to fund it, plus I did not have the personal funds to put towards it.
Due to the scholarship, I’ve been able to enhance my knowledge of sustainability in multiple ways, whether that be from listening to leading experts or talking with course mates to learn about their industries.
When I complete this Masters next year, I will have learned so much about sustainability that I would never have had the opportunity to learn otherwise. The team at Lucy Cavendish College has been incredibly supportive throughout my time on the Masters thus far. For example, they helped me to try and secure accommodation for the in-person workshop and some of the team took me and another course mate out for dinner after our matriculation. This support has helped to ease the process of going through a Masters whilst working full-time. In addition to that, in the Lucy community there are a lot of intelligent and talented individuals in a variety of industries, whom you can go to for help or guidance. And there are always events going on in Cambridge where you can meet people too. Plus, the college grounds are lovely, and Cambridge is a great city.
In the future, I hope to become a leader in the sustainability sphere by working with a company on their climate transition plan and ensuring that sustainability change is embedded into the company and that significant change is made. I also believe the social-related impacts of the climate transition are incredibly important, and that we need to ensure this is a just transition, so I plan to try and help those in developing countries specifically.
Cambridge is one of the best universities in the world and I’m a strong believer that everyone should be given the opportunity to receive a high-class education irrelevant of their background or financial status. Supporting students with scholarships and bursaries makes this happen and it increases the chance of social mobility, where those less fortunate can use their education to get better jobs and move themselves and their families into a better position. Furthermore, giving those from different backgrounds the chance to study at Cambridge helps to increase the diversity of the university, which allows different ideas to flourish.
Education enables people to achieve their dreams and any support with that is a worthwhile cause.
What is Lucy's Festival of Giving?
Lucy’s Festival of Giving (12 October – 15 October 2023) is a campaign for a better, fairer future.
