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Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

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Applications for the 2021 part-time Master’s and Postgraduate Certificate are now open. 


Leaders today are making decisions in a world which is more volatile, complex and uncertain than ever before. Many organisations are recognising the need to better understand this changing context and equip themselves to lead positive change.

At the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, we focus on building the capacity to effectively tackle the world’s most critical social and environmental challenges. Our part-time graduate programmes are based on a blended approach of short residential workshops and virtual learning. 


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Part-time Postgraduate and Master’s courses in sustainable business


Mst in Sustainability Leadership

Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership

Location

Develop leadership capacity to tackle critical sustainability challenges, with practical assignments and a research dissertation


Date

Full Master’s degree, part time over 2 years

Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business

Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business

LocationExplore emerging and cutting-edge responses to topical sustainability challenges and opportunities, with practical assignments.


Date

Equivalent to 2/3 of a Master’s, part time over 1.5 to 3 years

Postgraduate Certificates in Sustainable Business

Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business – organisational/value chains  

LocationExplore embedding sustainability within organisations, or across value chains, with practical assignments and a group project.


DateEquivalent to 1/3 of a Master’s degree, part time over 9 months

 

Find out more

 

Unrivalled credibility


The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) is a globally influential institute based at the University of Cambridge, with HRH The Prince of Wales as Royal Founding Patron. With more than 30 years’ experience of developing interdisciplinary leadership for a sustainable economy across multinationals, governments and individuals around the world, CISL’s delivery of these part-time courses provides unrivalled sustainability credibility.

 

Learn to lead transformational change


Study a part-time Master’s-level course to strengthen your leadership skills and embed sustainability in your organisation. These are some of our graduate students leading transformational change:

"I highly recommend the Master’s to any sustainability practitioners looking to be inspired, learn at the heart of where the action is and benefit personally as well as professionally from the experience - at a time when the sector is gaining increasing momentum."

Katerina Fragos, Manager of Sustainability and Climate Change at Procter & Gamble, Canada

 

"Within my cohort, we had participants from a range of sectors and countries. Having mainly worked in retail and fast-moving consumer companies, I relished sharing professional war stories with peers from automotives, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and finance, and from both in-house practitioner, consultancy, and civil service roles."

Helen McTaggart, Senior Sustainability Manager, Amazon

 

"Professionally, the courses definitely gave me the credibility and skills to communicate and be a leader on sustainability issues within my working environment. I also felt I had earned the right to talk about them. On a personal level, I became more reflective and considered in the way I approached issues."

Andrew Phillips MA FCA, Rural Director of Finance for the Duchy of Cornwall

 

"The course equipped me with the knowledge to move to the next level of my career. I had developed the expertise and confidence to use sustainability frameworks and models so fund managers could use that knowledge to ‘do well by doing good."

Elena Vydrine, Head of Portfolio Management and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Integration at Ryedale

 

"The individual assignments set throughout the course gave me the opportunity to reflect on the topics that we had learnt and how these could be applied to real world examples. They answered questions that I had asked throughout my career."

Galina Parmenter, PG Diploma student, Project Manager, Global Sustainability, C&A

 

Read about our graduate students leading transformational change


A day in the life of a Master of Studies in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment student

22 January 2024

22 February 2024 – Terry Heath is a Consultant and Non-Executive Director, and a Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment (IDBE) student. Terry shares his experience of the programme and details what an average day looks like during one of his residential workshops in Cambridge, UK.

A day in the life of a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment student

22 January 2024

22 February 2024 - Lydia Randall is D irector at BDG architecture + design , and a student on the Master of Studies in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE). Lydia shares her experience of the programme and details what an average day looks like during one of her residential workshops in Cambridge, UK.

A day in the life of a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business (PCSB) student

18 January 2024

18 January 2024 - Kripa Balachandran is Head of Product with Mission Zero Technologies, and a student on the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business (PCSB). Kripa shares her experience of the programme and details what an average day looks like during one of her residential workshops in Cambridge, UK.

A day in the life of a Master’s in Sustainability Leadership student

16 January 2024

18 January 2024 – Shaoqian Zhang is Global Head of Safety & Health with Vitesco Technologies Group AG , and a student on the Master of Studies (MSt) in Sustainability Leadership. Shaoqian shares his experience of the programme and details what an average day looks like during one of his residential workshops in Cambridge, UK.

A day in the life of a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business (PCSB) student

16 January 2024

18 January 2024 – Henry Kong is CEO of Techup Limited, and a student on the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business (PCSB). Henry shares his experience of the programme and details what an average day looks like during one of his residential workshops in Cambridge, UK

A day in the life of a Master’s in Sustainability Leadership student

16 January 2024

18 January 2024 – Christa Avampato is Founder of Double or Nothing Media and a student on the Master of Studies (MSt) in Sustainability Leadership. Christa shares her experience of the programme and details what an average day looks like during one of her residential workshops in Cambridge, UK.

A day in the life of an IDBE student

14 August 2023

16 August 2023 - Emi Sugiyama is a Sustainability Consultant with PwC Japan and a student on the Master of Studies in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE). Emi shared her experience of the programme and has detailed what an average day looked like for her during her final residential workshop in Cambridge, UK.

A day in the life of an IDBE student

25 April 2023

25 April 2023 - Neiad Adams-Austin is a Traffic Engineer with the London Borough of Waltham Forest and a student on the Master of Studies in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE). Neiad has shared his experience of the programme and has detailed what an average day looks like for him during one of the residential workshops in Cambridge, UK.

A day in the life of an IDBE student

5 April 2023

5 April 2023 - Sonia Green-Browne is a Principal Engineer with Graphite Engineering Ltd and a student on the Master of Studies in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE). Sonia has shared her experience of the programme and has detailed what an average day looks like for her during one of the residential workshops in Cambridge, UK.

Supervisor Q&A: The value of a sustainability education

20 January 2021

CISL supervisors and contributors have extensive experience working to implement sustainability responses and are drawn from leading practices in industry, academia and civil society. We asked our sustainable business supervisors about the importance and impact of sustainability education for...

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Strengthen your leadership skills, further your career and learn how to implement change and embed sustainability in your organisation.
Study a part-time Postgraduate or Master’s course through online learning and residential workshops.

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CISL is monitoring the Covid-19 situation and responding accordingly to UK Government and WHO advice. At present, we expect to deliver our Graduate programmes in 2021 as advertised. We are well equipped to deliver workshops remotely should the situation demand.


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Minette Belingham

“CISL helped me recognise that within the sustainability space I can have an impact within my sphere of influence.”

Minette Bellingan, Director of Global Sourcing, Amazon

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