The Darwin College Strategic Plan 2022-2032

Distinctive characteristics of the College:

Our community:

We are international, interdisciplinary and diverse, and are home to the largest number of PhD students of any Cambridge College. The Fellowship has up to 70 Official Fellows from all disciplines; around 50 post-doctoral research associates; over 40 staff; around 800 students and 9000+ alumni living in 127 countries.

Our scholarship:

Darwin College is intellectually rigorous and vigorous. We are research-intensive; we pride ourselves on running the acclaimed annual Darwin College Lecture Series; our Fellowship includes academic scholars across many disciplines and leaders from globally renowned research institutes based in Cambridge, including the British Antarctic Survey, Microsoft Research and the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

Our culture:

We are egalitarian, inclusive, informal and welcoming - a multigenerational extended family. There is no ‘high table’ segregating Fellows from students. We welcome families, and value the ongoing involvement of our alumni and Emeritus Fellows.

Our Darwin College Student Association (DCSA):

The vibrant DCSA organises a diverse range of social and welfare events, represents the student voice in college decision making, runs over 30 clubs and societies, and provides excellent peer support to fellow students including various underrepresented groups.

Our governance:

Our Fellows, students and Officers all play a role in College Governance and decision making. The College has a Governing Body (the ultimate authority in the College) comprising Official and Research Fellows, and a Board of Trustees (College Council). Council is formed of Senior College Officers, elected Fellows and Student Representatives. Various committees, on which there is normally student representation, report to Council.

Our home and gardens:

The College is based in a cluster of former family houses with beautiful informal gardens, alongside the river Cam at the heart of the University and adjacent to the City Centre. We provide outstanding catering, a diverse range of accommodation and communal spaces for students and claim the best College Bar in Cambridge. We are open for students and Fellows all year round, and for many of them, the College is their home.

Our commitment to addressing global challenges:

The world is facing a growing number of social, economic, political and environmental challenges, which research and academic communities have a responsibility to help address. The College community addresses major challenges such as inequity, sustainability and health through College-wide activities, research, education and actions.

Our name:

The College was established in the buildings of a family home which had for decades played a significant role in the intellectual life of Cambridge. We are proud of our ongoing association with the extended Darwin family through the naming of the College.

Our aims and priorities 2022–32:

The aims and priorities are aspirational areas for growth to enhance the College for current and future generations. They are broken down into five pillars, all of which overlap and are, to some extent, interdependent. For each Pillar, we have agreed a series of actions the College community will take.

Below are outlined the five pillars and some illustrative examples of the actions to be taken.

PILLAR 1: Strengthen and champion the College’s contribution to academic excellence and research impact:

We are deeply committed to supporting research and scholarship for the benefit of wider society. To enrich our contribution, we will for example:

a. Foster interdisciplinary and novel collaboration across the College’s research community of students, postdocs, Fellows and alumni by establishing a Collaborative Research Fund.

b. Expand research funding to provide additional, rapidly awarded, PhD stipends and Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships; and partner with institutions (including companies) to establish part- and full-time sponsored postgraduate studentships and postdoctoral Fellowships.

c. Facilitate worldwide research networks around selected global challenges to facilitate interdisciplinary research using the College as a hub and partnering with like-minded institutions, especially through the Darwin alumni network.

PILLAR 2: Foster a diverse and inclusive College community that nurtures and supports our students:

Enhancing our culture by the provision of excellent pastoral care, and promoting physical and mental health and wellbeing, are essential to achieving academic success and preparing our students for life beyond their postgraduate education. To strengthen the support for our community, we are developing a sector-leading equity, diversity and inclusion plan for the College that will:

a. Ensure the size and composition of the College community is balanced to foster a strong community feel and sense of shared identity.

b. Continue to attract and support a wide range of College members from diverse backgrounds (including ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, academic), across all the various College functions and levels of responsibility, to enrich the College community.

c. Foster a healthy work/life balance for students, staff and Fellows.

PILLAR 3: Enhance our College estate, facilities and services:

Darwin prides itself on being based in a series of former family homes, allowing as much access as possible to all areas and facilities for everyone, and being centrally located alongside the river with attractive informal gardens. While the location is exceptional, it is also constraining, with few opportunities to expand within our existing footprint because several of our buildings are historic and therefore listed. Enhancing the quality of our estate and facilities is essential not only for student and staff well-being, but also to attract the best students and Fellows and to maintain a steady revenue stream from our accommodation. To improve our buildings, spaces and services, we will:

a. Develop and deliver an estate-wide Masterplan to ensure that the College estate: (i) provides the quantity and diversity of accommodation needed for students, Fellows and staff (including those with families); (ii) has adequate shared spaces for the College community; and (iii) is environmentally sustainable.

b. Implement a refurbishment and redesign of the Dining Hall and parts of the Hermitage to create appropriate social/ working spaces including a new garden room with a café to enhance the College catering, DarBar and other communal facilities.

PILLAR 4: Expand and diversify College revenue without compromising our primary purpose of supporting students and fellows:

Darwin remains self-sustaining financially. Revenue from student fees, rental and catering income, together with unrestricted income from the existing endowment, cover the operating costs of the College. We are fortunate not to rely either on additional conference or hospitality revenue, or on income from activity unrelated to education, learning or research. This is a strength, but it does mean that we need to secure additional funds to be able to advance our contribution to research, better support our students and enhance the facilities and services we provide to the whole College community.

Our aspiration is to contribute more to addressing global challenges which further increases our need for additional financial resources. To provide such additional resources we will for example:

a. Diversify our supporter base by building on the strong academic heritage and international standing of the College to include donors (beyond our alumni) who are interested in supporting the global impact the College can have through the implementation of this Strategic Plan.

b. Grow the College’s financial reserves and establish a Collaborative Research Fund and a College Sustainability Fund.

c. Continue to ensure that College funds are responsibly invested.

PILLAR 5: Act on and promote solutions to global challenges including sustainability:

Darwin College has a track record of contributing ideas, knowledge and innovation to tackle environmental and societal challenges, via its distinguished past and present Fellows, students, alumni and events.

To play a significant role in championing solutions to these challenges and act as a catalyst for change, we will:

a. Initiate an ambitious College-wide Sustainability Plan that enables the College’s estate to become at least carbon zero by 2032, and which fosters behaviours and actions that reduce individual and collective environmental impacts more widely. This will include ensuring that all energy sources used in College are supplied from renewable sources, including providing heating and hot water using new technologies such as heat pumps.

b. Establish a rolling programme of College activities (research collaborations, education and outreach initiatives, interdisciplinary seminars, practical actions within College) to contribute to selected global challenges, especially those identified by the Global South. We will focus on 3-5 ‘priority projects’ for 2-3 years at a time in collaboration with specific partner institutions.

c. Collaborate with our highly qualified and globally distributed alumni network to share knowledge and inform/engage key decision makers. d. Promote Darwin internationally as a destination of choice for students and fellows committed to addressing global challenges.

CONCLUSION:

Since its foundation, Darwin has established a unique place in the life of the collegiate University. As the College prepares to enter its seventh decade, we have a secure financial base; an engaged and active community of students, Fellows and staff; and a strong commitment to making a difference in the world. This strategic plan outlines how we aim to build confidently on these firm foundations to deliver our vision for the next ten years.

Please do not hesitate to contact Sam Venn, our Development Director, if you would like to discuss anything in the Strategic Plan further. development.director@darwin.cam.ac.uk.