School teams up with Virgin for positive change

31 March 2011

In mid-April, the Oxford Martin School will join forces with Sir Richard Branson to bring together global entrepreneurs and philanthropists with leading academics to discuss the biggest challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century.

Throughout a week of discussions and meetings on Sir Richard’s private Caribbean island, participants will share perspectives on the big issues which will influence the future of business and society. Through stimulating and informed discussions, the Oxford meets Necker meeting aims to develop new ideas to solve some of the greatest challenges of our time and to establish partnership between academics, business and philanthropists to develop new approaches to vexing problems. The objective will be to define challenges, brainstorm innovative solutions, and forge lasting collaborations.

The School’s Director, Dr Ian Goldin, will lead a team of Directors of five of the School’s cutting-edge research Institutes to stimulate discussion across a range of global issues:

“It is very exciting for the Oxford Martin School to be working with Richard Branson and Virgin Unite on this special event. It gives us the opportunity to engage in a unique setting with leaders of business and philanthropy and share ideas regarding our frontiers of research. The work we do aims to contribute to addressing the world’s biggest challenges and harvesting the extraordinary opportunities of the coming decades. The time we spend with Richard’s Branson’s guests on Necker will help us to get our knowledge out of the lab and academia and into the places where it can make a difference.”

Those academics taking part are:

  • Professor Pedro Ferreira, Co-Director of the Programme on Computational Cosmology on complex systems and cosmology.
  • Professor Gideon Henderson, Co-Director of the Oxford Geoengineering Programme on oceans, geoengineering and mitigating climate change.
  • Professor Stephen MacMahon, Co-Director of the George Centre for Healthcare Innovation on healthcare innovation and global health politics.
  • Professor Yadvinder Malhi, Director of the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests on the future of tropical forests and our biosphere.
  • Professor Julian Savulescu, Director of the Institute for Science and Ethics on the ethics of new biosciences.