2012–2014 Master's Programme
![]() David DisiRead Dave's blog about the Master's. Dave currently works for J.P. Morgan in New York on the Emerging Markets Credit Desk where he focuses on corporations in emerging and frontier markets. Prior to that, he was a Ranger qualified infantry officer in the United States Army, where he served most recently in Riyadh as an advisor to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior. Dave also completed a combat tour in Afghanistan where he advised the Afghan National Police and in one in Iraq where he advised the Iraqi Army. Dave holds an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MPhil in International Finance from The University of Glasgow, and a BA in Economics and Political Science from Hofstra University. Why did you choose to study for a Master's in Sustainability Leadership? Sustainability is a topic that will continue to increase in importance across all industries and sectors. I felt that this program offers some of the most current and comprehensive instruction on the subject. What role have you been undertaking in your company recently? How does this connect to the sustainability agenda? My major role is a finance function but I have volunteered for numerous side initiatives and corporate programs that are attempting to advance sustainability agendas. I am also active in my free time mentoring entrepreneurs interested in sustainable development ventures. This degree has provided me with many skills that I can use to assist these ecopreneurs. How do you think the MSt assists your work? The MSt offers strong training in sustainability and is also an academically rigorous program that made me a better researcher and exposed me to numerous diverse individuals at the forefront of sustainability theory and practice. I will be able to use this knowledge both directly and indirectly in my career. What have you found to be the most valuable aspect of the MSt? The sheer breadth and depth of the workshop experiences at Cambridge have exposed me to some of the thought leaders in sustainably and also to my group of fellow students whom, in addition to being invaluable resources in the fields of sustainability, have become close friends over the past two years. What impressed you about the Cambridge MSt as opposed to other courses on offer elsewhere? Academically, Cambridge has been a leader in the sustainability field for decades. In addition to academics though, the actual Cambridge experience is second to none. I have taken full advantage of membership in my college and have returned between scheduled workshops to enjoy much of what being a Cantabrian has to offer.
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2011–2013 Master's Programme
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2010–2012 Master's Programme
![]() Emily DaviesEmily Davies is Senior Environment & Sustainability Advisor, Group HSEA, Amey plc. Having completed a Gap Year Commission with 42 Geographic Engineer Regiment in 2003–4, Emily went on to study physical geography at Durham University, with an interest in natural hazards. She then joined the Amey Leadership Graduate programme which involved a number of placements throughout the public services company. Project involvement included managing Amey’s input to the UK’s first Climate Change Festival, organising company involvement at the political party conferences, operational environmental management, creating carbon procedures and writing business cases for environmental campaigns. She began her current role at Amey within the Consultancy (Environment & Sustainability) branch of the company and am currently pulling together the Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning Application for Allerton Waste Recovery Park – North Yorkshire and the City of York’s waste PFI. Why did you choose to study for a Master's in Sustainability Leadership? I began working at my company 4.5 years ago, straight out of university with a degree in geography. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but thought I should give the corporate sector a whirl. I was keen to join a graduate programme titled the ‘Leadership Scheme’ having learnt about leadership during my gap year in the army – also promising 6-monthly rotations, which might help me focus my career. Two years went by and I found myself drawn to wanting to work in the CR team and trying to better understand corporate impacts on community, predominantly from an environmental view. Having finished the graduate programme and with no one leading on CR and sustainability I joined the Environment and Sustainability team in our Consulting division. In reality this was more of the former and I found myself working on a project delivering a waste solution for a local authority. With the sustainability buzz still in my head and a want to learn more (both what we could be doing better in my company, and what was going on out there in the wider world) I went searching for a sustainability Master's programme. What role have you been undertaking in your company recently? How does this connect to the sustainability agenda? I’ve recently moved jobs and now find myself working in our HQ reviewing and coordinating the company's approach to sustainability. This is a position I’ve been waiting for, so was extremely glad when it came about. We’ve taken a back to basics review – right back to looking at definitions and what sustainability means to us, our clients, our competitors etc. which is something which the company had never done before. It’s exciting because I can put my learning into practice – however it’s much more practical than academic/theoretical at the moment – and in some cases still about convincing/influencing people for change. How do you think the MSt assists your work? The Mst has been great for embedding that systemic thinking into my head – everything is people/planet/profit, people/plant/profit, and I really try hard to take as broad an approach as possible. The Mst has given me examples to drawn on and fellow students to learn from. What have you found to be the most valuable aspect of the MSt? I find the people I’m taking the course with to be one of the most valuable aspects – theories and literature I can find, but talking them through with like-minded people and people that will challenge comments or opinions which others wouldn’t is great. With the vast amount of information available, the course has given me focus to concentrate on core elements – some I find more exciting than others, but I suppose this was the point of me doing the course – to work out what it is I want to do! For me, I suppose the course is about finding the questions that I want to ask, not necessarily about those that I want to answer. Conversations with many of my course mates have concluded that this MSt isn’t about another notch on the belt, but about putting it into practice and ultimately aspiring to be a leader in sustainability (or an aspect of it). What impressed you about the Cambridge MSt as opposed to other courses on offer elsewhere? This was the only course that I found that had a flexible structure that allowed me to continue working, the part-time element was real pull for me. The clear benefits of the Cambridge Mst are the international intake, the Cambridge University resources and the vast Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership network of information and people to draw knowledge from. I also think I was particularly fortunate with my tutor in the first year – he was a great support to both my individual and group assignments.
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Karen Goldberg
Karen has 12 years of experience working in sustainability in a range of fields, including environmental consulting, community liaison, wilderness guiding, facilitation, counselling and coaching. This is built on a foundation of a BSc Honours focusing on terrestrial and freshwater ecology. She is currently employed as a Sustainability Consultant. Previously she spent 5 years working for the Environmental Monitoring Group, a not-for-profit environmental justice organisation based in Cape Town South Africa, where her work focused on water and sanitation, sustainable land management, climate change adaptation and environmental education and training. Why did you choose to study for a Master's in Sustainability Leadership? I had been intending to further my studies in 2010 and had already applied and been accepted into a PhD. I had been searching of ways of linking my interest and skills in personal development and psychotherapy within the sustainability context. As I was writing an abstract for a conference, based on my PhD proposal, it suddenly struck me that what connects all the different strands is leadership development within the context of sustainability. As soon as I realised this, I did an online search of Master's courses in Sustainability Leadership can came across the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership course, which was still under development. What I loved about the programme outline was that it covered all the gaps in my knowledge (e.g. economics and politics as it related to sustainability), and also very specifically brings together the subject of leadership within the sustainability context. My particular interest is in creating processes and programmes for developing leadership at all levels that is socially and environmentally aware and motivated to make a positive impact in the world. What role have you been undertaking in your company recently? How does this connect to the sustainability agenda? I am working freelance, broadly as a sustainability consultant. All my work connects with the sustainability agenda in one way or another. For example, I am currently involved in a project with the eThekwini Municipality that is undertaking a cost-benefit analysis of climate change adaptation options for the city of Durban. I am helping develop and facilitate a sustainability leadership youth programme with the organisation Project 90x2030. How do you think the MSt assists your work? In general, the Master's course is equipping me with the information and networks that I need for my future work. My dissertation in particular, is proving to be pivotal in this regard. As part of the thesis, I am developing a model for enhancing personal agency and sustaining momentum in the face of climate change, that will provide the central backbone for both my personal and professional practice (i.e. enhancing my own agency and facilitating the same for others). On completion of my Master's, I plan to use my thesis as the basis for a book that I intend to write on the importance of developing emotional intelligence and inter-relational tools and skills as central to achieving a sustainable world. What have you found to be the most valuable aspect of the MSt? Connecting with people and networks that I would never otherwise have had access to (this includes both my classmates and many of the presenters) has been invaluable. I have really appreciated the flexibility and open-mindedness of the staff of the programme, especially the course director, to allow us all to explore the aspects of sustainability leadership that most interest us. I also deeply value the systemic approach that the MSt takes, in particular the dual awareness of the complexity of the issues, and the need to move beyond incremental change to much bolder approaches and action. What impressed you about the Cambridge MSt as opposed to other courses on offer elsewhere? The Cambridge Master's combined all the elements that I was looking for in a highly interdisciplinary way (the fact that the course is held within 6 different faculties speaks for itself!) – a focus on sustainability leadership in particular, as opposed to a focus on either sustainability or leadership, and also addressing the spectrum of issues and topics.
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![]() Shayne VervoortShayne is a Marketing Manager for McKinsey based in South Africa. He holds a Honours in BComm Actuarial Science (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) and a Master of Science in General Management (Nyenrode Business University). Why did you choose to study for a Master's in Sustainability Leadership? I have an undergraduate degree in Actuarial Science. This rigorously tests one's ability to get to the 'right' answer – normally correct to the fifth decimal point. Real business problems however are more complex. The polarised world of Actuarial Science didn't seem to give all the answers in a world of grey tones. The Master's in Sustainability Leadership was a step towards trying to understand what different solutions could look like, but more importantly it was a step towards understanding the problem. How do you think the MSt assists your work? The course has improved my ability to identify interdependencies in problem solving and projects. This is crucial. The MSt gave me insight into interdependencies that I could apply to daily problems and projects. What have you found to be the most valuable aspect of the MSt? I have really gained from the thought leadership. In a daily job you miss being pushed on a thought leadership front. I'm not an academic but being pushed into that thought leadership has given me an edge in the business world. What impressed you about the Cambridge MSt as opposed to other courses on offer elsewhere? The ability to do it while working – the part-time aspect. It's been difficult to balance but if it hadn't been offered part-time I wouldn't have done it. Classmates have been another huge bonus – the quality of people doing the course is amazing. I think one of the big points of differentiation are that this Master's is born from 20 years of experimenting in the academic field of sustainability. The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership has years of experience in facilitating sustainability leadership programmes and that experience filters through to an A-grade course. Normal programmes would still be finding their feet after a few years but the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership has taken its learning from the last 20 years and effortlessly put it into a Master's programme that one would think has been going on for years. |