Circular Economy Circular Economy

Are You Interested in Redesigning the Global Economy? 2015 Wild Card Competition Now Open

An amazing opportunity for one student from any university in the world to win a place in the exclusive Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship Programme — an international postgraduate fellowship on the circular economy for design, engineering and business students (worth £10,000) — is now open for entries.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 9 years ago | About a 3 minute read

An amazing opportunity for one student from any university in the world to win a place in the exclusive Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship Programme — an international postgraduate fellowship on the circular economy for design, engineering and business students (worth £10,000) — is now open for entries.

The Fellowship programme — delivered by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation with expert input from Cranfield University, Imperial College London and London Business School — is looking for an exceptional student to join 15 other students from the world’s leading universities including MIT, Yale, Stanford and more. Specifically, the next Fellow is:

A postgraduate student studying either design, engineering or business
Interested in the circular economy as an innovation framework for positive change
Eager to be a part of the opportunities available in the transition to a circular economy

The prize?

An all-expenses-paid, week-long summer course in London.
A GB£2000 scholarship.
Access to the latest thinking, thought leaders and experts in the circular economy, including biomimicry pioneer Janine Benyus, performance economy advocate Walter Stahel and Cradle-to-Cradle founder Bill McDonough.
Networking with leading businesses and emerging innovators including Unilever, Kingfisher, Philips, The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, M&S and IKEA, who are all working to adopt the circular economy as a part of their core business.
The opportunity for your faculty mentor to take part in this exclusive program and network with top academics from leading universities around the world, as well as receive a GB£2000 ($3200) honorarium.

"The Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship launched in 2013 with a group of globally recognised Partner Universities who see the circular economy as a credible and exciting perspective for positive change,” Dame Ellen MacArthur, Founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, explained of the expansion of the competition in late 2013. “After the success of the first year, and as part of our commitment to build a truly international network of future circular economy leaders, we wanted to extend that opportunity to a student and mentor outside of our current Fellowship group."

“The Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship program is probably the most comprehensive fellowship program I’ve encountered during my academic career,” Federico Apestegui, the 2014 winner, says in a video. “By participating in it, you’ll have the opportunity to engage and learn from business leaders, and network with some of the global thought leaders in topics of sustainability. I encourage all of you to apply and take part in this unprecedented opportunity.”

Deadline for entries is February 15, 2015.

If projections released earlier this year by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum are correct, over US$1 trillion a year could be generated for the global economy by 2025 and 100,000 new jobs created within the next five years if companies focused on building circular supply chains to increase the rate of recycling, reuse and remanufacture. In August, the UK Environmental Audit Committee took steps to enable this transition with the release of a report calling for lower taxes for businesses that repair or reuse goods; mandatory municipal waste separation systems; longer warranty periods for consumer goods; banning food waste from landfills; and increased funding for agencies that promote transitioning to a circular economy.