Cranfield University MSc student Lijin Chin has been awarded a place on the prestigious Schmidt MacArthur Fellowship, a year-long international programme on the circular economy for postgraduates studying Design, Engineering and Business.
This year 18 students and their mentors will take part in the programme: 14 from Schmidt MacArthur Fellowship Partner Universities, two from the Pioneer University programme (University College London and Rochester Institute of Technology) and two Wildcard winners, one from Nottingham Trent University and one from Strathclyde University, UK.
Students at Schmidt MacArthur Fellowship Partner Universities apply to win a place by submitting a 90 second film. The film addresses two questions on the circular economy and is assessed on the student’s passion, creativity, inquisitiveness and understanding of the circular economy. Additionally through the Wildcard competition two students from any other university in the world are offered the opportunity to win a place on the Fellowship.
Lijin Chin, a student from the MSc Economics for Natural Resource and Environmental Management course at Cranfield commented: “It is a real privilege to be selected for this programme. The film I submitted in my application examined the link between the circular economy and resilience building, particularly in developing countries. I am interested in how this plays out between cities and their hinterland given that they make up much of the landscape we live in. I’m hoping to explore these ideas further over the year. I can’t wait to get started and work with the other Fellows.”
Now in its fourth year, the Fellowship includes a week long summer school in the UK, an online support programme and a cash bursary, as well as the opportunity to link with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's wider activities and networks. The programme will commence in April 2016.
Notes for editors
The Schmidt MacArthur Fellowship, launched in 2013, is an international programme for postgraduate students and their academic mentors from design, engineering and business on the circular economy. The Fellowship is open to postgraduate students from a global network of fourteen Partner Universities including: Imperial College London, Cranfield University, London Business School and the Royal College of Art in the UK, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Yale University, University of California Berkeley and Stanford University in the United States, Kedge Business School, Delft University of Technology and MIP Politecnico di Milano in Continental Europe, Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico, Tongji University in China and India’s National Institute of Design.
Every year we run a Wildcard competition to identify one or two exceptional students from any other university in the world to join the programme. The Fellowship is created by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) in partnership with the Schmidt Family Foundation (www.theschmidt.org).
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was created in 2010 to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. The Foundation’s work focuses on four areas: insight and analysis, business and government, education and training, and communication. With its Knowledge Partner, McKinsey & Company, the Foundation works to quantify the economic potential of the circular model and to develop approaches for capturing this value. The Foundation collaborates with its Global Partners (Cisco, Google, H&M, Intesa Sanpaolo, Kingfisher, Philips, Renault, Unilever), and its CE100 network (businesses, governments and cities), to develop circular business initiatives and build capacity. The Foundation is creating a global teaching and learning platform on the circular economy as well, encompassing work with leading universities, schools and colleges, and online events such as the Disruptive Innovation Festival. Cranfield is an exclusively postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.
About Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a specialist postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.
Cranfield Aerospace
Cranfield is the number one university in Europe for aerospace. We are the only university in Europe to own and run an airport and to have airline status. We have been at the forefront of aerospace technology for 70 years.
As the UK's most business-engaged University, we have long-term relationships and close commercial partnerships with many companies in the sector including Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing and Rolls-Royce.
Our education, research and consultancy is enhanced by our world-class facilities including the National Flying Laboratory Centre – a unique national asset which provides a hands-on, flying experience, along with flight deck simulators and industrial-scale gas turbine engine test facilities used for performance and diagnostic studies. The Aerospace Integration Research Centre, a £35 million innovative centre built in partnership with Airbus and Rolls-Royce, fosters collaboration between industry and academia. A new £65 million Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre will also be built at Cranfield to spearhead the UK’s research into digital aviation technology.
Notable Cranfield alumni include Warren East, CEO of Rolls-Royce plc and Ralph Hooper, who attended the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield in 1946 and went on to become one of the UK’s most important post-war aircraft designers, creating the Hawker Harrier jump jet.
