Date: Tuesday 17th June 2025

Time: 08:30-17:00

Where: ARU Cambridge, Lab003

Anglia Ruskin University’s Sustainable Futures theme presents ‘Delivering a Regional Sustainability Vision’

Join us for a day of networking and regional discussion from key figures in the governance of the Oxford-Cambridge Region, including senior academics, business leaders, local and national public sector representatives, and the community and volunteer sectors.

Cambridge as a region features prominently in newly unveiled government strategy with the city’s knowledge intensive clusters highlighted in the Autumn Budget, Devolution White Paper, and Invest 2035 Green Paper. Cambridge also plays a key role in this national growth strategy, with the city connecting Essex and East Anglia to the East with the developing Oxford-Cambridge region to the West – the latter competing with international clusters like Boston and San Francisco for investment. However, alongside these opportunities for growth, Cambridge aims to be carbon neutral by 2030 amid increasing urgency to address climate change.

As a result, careful balancing of strategic goals for growth and sustainability are needed across the diverse places that make up Cambridge and wider regions. The conference will look to address these potentially conflicting goals and the need for cross-sectoral collaboration for the region to compete internationally and negotiate changing governance structures.

To address these challenges, we will highlight three key elements in delivering a regional sustainability vision:

Conference Keynote speaker: Jason Longhurst (UK Head of Sustainable Investment & Partnerships at Prologis UK)

1) Participation and Civic Engagement

Keynote: Yvonne Barnett (ARU)

Panellists:

Heather Thomas (Together Culture)
Flora Samuel (University of Cambridge)
Siobahn Mellon (Cambridge Carbon Footprint)
Marie-Pierre Moreau (ARU)
Jemma Little (Cambridge City Council)

2) Skills, Green skills and the Future of work

Keynote: Claire Pike (ARU)

Panellists:

Gareth John (Cambridge Ahead)
Michael Cross (The Green Edge)
Melanie Collins (Skills England)
Anne Bailey (Form the Future)
Sarah Strachan (ARU)

3) Infrastructure

Keynote: Aled Jones (ARU)

Panellists:

Yonghong Peng (ARU)
Tom Palmer (Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust)
Zoe Metcalfe (Atkins Realis)
Bridget Smith (South Cambridgeshire District Council)

Sustainable Futures: Delivering a Regional Sustainability Vision