Gozde Taskin awarded Mentis Cleantech Futures Bursary

20 September 2017
News
We are delighted to announce that Gozde Taskin, one of 43 students joinging CISL’s Master’s in Sustainability Leadership this month, has been selected as the 2017 recipient of the Mentis Cleantech & Social Enterprise Futures Bursary.

Established in 2016 by Pravin Rodrigues, a CISL alumnus and previous Master’s student, the bursary offers additional financial support to deserving Master’s candidates.   The bursary is named after Mr Rodrigues’s company Mentis Solutions, a Canada-based management consulting firm, which supports organisations in achieving large-scale change, including change for sustainability.   The firm has a growing global practice focused on clients in the clean technology and social enterprise spaces.

Speaking about the bursary, Mr. Rodrigues explained: “Through my studies at Cambridge, my continued involvement with its network and my work with companies, I have come to recognise the significant opportunities and unique sustainability solutions that emerge at the nexus of cleantech and social enterprise.   Both sectors are instrumental in the transition to a green economy, so we’ve extended the bursary to include the social enterprise space this year”. He continued, “I want to encourage applications from and offer support to those working in these sectors, especially candidates who are self-funded or self-employed”.

This year’s bursary recipient, Gozde Taskin, is the founding director of a fashion brand. In 2106 she led a project named Rakha People which has won an award named "Refugee Challenge", developing the employability skills of refugees and other disadvantaged women in London. Her longer term aims include the creation of a circular  economy model with a strong sustainable community focus, aiming to reduce textile waste.  Speaking about her achievement said, "The bursary will help equip me with the knowledge and skills that will maximise the social, environmental and economic impacts of my business operations."

The Mentis Cleantech and Social Enterprise Futures bursary is being offered again for the 2018 intake of the Master’s in Sustainability Leadership. Applications opened on 11 September 2017 for this interdisciplinary part-time programme, designed to equip business professionals around the world to respond to sustainability challenges and opportunities.

The Master of Studies (MSt) in Sustainability Leadership is a full Master’s degree, delivered part-time for working professionals, that develops the leadership capacity to drive the business response to critical sustainability challenges and opportunities. It is fully accredited by the University of Cambridge, and is delivered by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), in association with the Departments of Architecture, Engineering, Geography, Land Economy and the Cambridge Judge Business School.