Turner Kirk Sprint Challenge Fund inaugural workshop

We were delighted to be joined by Dr Ewan Kirk and Dr Patricia Turner the founders and trustees of the Turner Kirk Charitable Trust, and the Trust’s Programme Coordinator Isabel Webber, to launch their Sprint Challenge Fund.

The workshop led by Profs Mark Burman and Dan Crisan took place at the Centre for Environmental Policy on Weds 17th February with at least 40 academics joining in-person and online from across Maths, Life Sciences and CEP for a lively discussion and exchange of ideas.

Ewan Kirk provided an overview of the Trust and their ambitions for the Fund. He and Patricia are particularly interested in supporting innovative high-risk activity that has the potential to address an urgent need in a quick and timely way, but with the freedom to try, and to fail with the knowledge that sometimes we learn more from failing. Their forward-thinking philanthropy is a challenge for us to be creative and think outside the box.

The workshop was huge fun – there was clear passion and excitement in the room with eight interesting initial pitches made.