Author Archive

2024 – Updated details for Alumni Meetup Melbourne 25 Sept

Tuesday, July 30th, 2024

Melbourne Event Special Guest  Paul Fox

Paul Fox was appointed by Cranfield in May this year to develop a plan for the university to establish an Asia Pacific headquarters for its ‘Safety and Accident Investigation Centre’ in Australia.  

This is an enormously exciting development, as it will make several of the University’s highly respected programs more accessible in the Asia Pacific region.  

While the initial focus of the activities here is on delivering programs in transport safety and accident investigation, additional opportunities have already been identified in the broader Transport Systems theme, as well as in areas such as hydrogen aviation fuel and the defence and security domain (potentially including in support of the AUKUS partnership). 

Paul is a former Senior Industry Fellow (Aerospace and Aviation) with RMIT University, the former Deputy Chairman and a founding Director of Aviation/Aerospace Australia Ltd (the national industry association for the sectors), the former Regional Director Asia Pacific with the Flight Safety Foundation, and the former General Manager of the Australian Davos Connection (Australia’s pre-eminent think-tank and leadership forum).

Paul will provide the alumni group with an update on this exciting initiative. 

 

Could you please assist by replying “Yes/No/Maybe” so we can plan numbers?

Regards,

Alexandra Chapman and Alex White


MELBOURNE MEETUP Details

Price: Pay for your own drinks by CC, and there will be a $15 contribution to the kitty to cover snacks
Date: Wednesday 25th September
Time: 6 pm to 8-ish pm.
Where: RACV City Club,
501 Bourke St, Melbourne.
Map details: https://bit.ly/2muRqOM   

Additional info: Mention that you are attending the Alumni function, and the front door staff will direct you. 

Contact: Alexandra Chapman +61 411 519 445
[email protected]


 

 

 
 

2023 – Alumni Meetup Sydney & Melbourne July 12th & 18th

Tuesday, June 27th, 2023

Dear Cranfield Alumnus,

Details of our first events for 2023 (post the Covid hiatus) are below. We hope you can make one event or the other.

Regards,

Alexandra Chapman and Alex White



MELBOURNE MEETUP
Date: Wednesday 12th July
from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm-ish.
Where: Carbine Bar, RACV City Club, 501 Bourke St, Melbourne.
Map details: https://bit.ly/2muRqOM  

Contact: Alexandra Chapman +61 411 519 445 [email protected]

Additional info: Mention that you are attending the Alumni function, and the front door staff will direct you. I need to sign in all guests, so please RSVP (or text if you are late starter)

SYDNEY MEETUP
Date: Tuesday 18th July 2023

from 6 pm to 8 pm-ish. 
Where: The Establishment, 252 George St, Sydney.

Map details: https://bit.ly/2muQNoo

Contact: Alex White ‭+61 478 013 325‬
[email protected].

Additional info: Meet at the very back section of the ground floor bar. 

 


2019 Cranfield Australian Alumni Update

Tuesday, June 27th, 2023
Mahesh Roy Twelve Scholar 2019

Dear All,

This is the first time that we have done an Alumni update since 2016…

There are reasons for that – which I will mention later. Ever since we started our Australian Alumni Scholarship in 2005, our desired outcomes have been simple: to find outstanding and talented Australians for our Scholarship and to create an Alumni community which is lively and meaningful.

Last year, 2017, we got the Eleventh Scholarship “landed” against all the odds. But on our second outcome, to grow a “vibrant” alumni community, there is still work to be done.   Behind the scenes, there is much solid progress and I feel optimistic that the next twelve months will see this payoff.

The Twelth Scholarship 2019

We were delighted to award the Twelfth Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship to Mahesh Roy, an outstanding mechanical engineer whose day-to-day responsibilities included working in remote mining sites maintaining large-scale mining gear. Every year, we are always thrilled to find a great winner and 2017 was no exception. You can read more about Susan and the other two finalists Vedran Azman and Ganesh Mane here

2017 was the first time ever that our patron John McFarlane (MBA 1975) was not able to travel from the UK to attend the Award. John has been at every Award presentation for ten years and he was greatly missed.  So, we did something different and fitting, by calling on past Scholars to play a key part in the evening. Damini Arora, 2009 Scholar, presented the award to Susan.  Lily Rattray, 2015 Scholar was Master of Ceremonies for the evening. The dinner was held at the Park Hyatt, Melbourne and the last few alumni were still there around 2am-ish. It was a great evening!

The Twelfth Scholarship 2018

We have two (possibly three) excellent candidates for the Scholarship – more details will come about those shortly.

This year we are breaking with past traditions to hold the award event as a Cocktail Reception at Pier One on Sydney Harbour. This year, our Scholarship Award coincides with Sydney’s VIVID – a festival of light and music – so we will have this as the spectacular backdrop to our Alumni Scholarship celebrations.

It will be a fantastic night and you can see the programme and book by clicking the link here.

A separate email with booking details has been sent out. Please share this with all Cranfield and Shrivenham alumni you are in contact with, to make sure we don’t miss anyone.

The 2018 Scholarship Award will be held on Monday 4th June 2018 in Sydney at Pier One, Sydney Harbour.

Other news

Thus far, our tally of talented beneficiaries stands at twenty. You can see all of our beneficiaries on the Honour Roll here. We also have a huge announcement to make:

Through the efforts of Prof. David Corkindale, and with the support of Cranfield University, we have established a new Scholarship to be offered jointly with The Sir John Monash Foundation.

This scholarship will allow talented Australians access to all the other Schools and courses at Cranfield University and will support our MBA Scholarship activities to create even greater opportunities for talented Australians to benefit from the Cranfield Experience.

Finally, in the background, we are working with Cranfield University and the Alumni Office on ways to reduce the administrative workload for the Scholarship so that we can focus our time and efforts on building a lively the Alumni community here.

Alexandra Chapman  (MBA 1988) | Vice President
on behalf of the Board of the Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship Foundation.

Alex Headshot

PS. Some of you may be aware that a few days after the Award Dinner in May 2016,  Jed Simms my husband was diagnosed with lymphoma and that he died after a very short illness. I mention this simply by way of explanation for why not much has happened with Alumni events recently. But I keep reminding myself of that Buddhist saying, “If you are facing the right way – all you have to do is keep walking”.


You are receiving this because you have your details as a Cranfield Alumnus on our Scholarship database. To unsubscribe, please contact us here.

2019 Alumni Xmas Drinks | Monday 2nd December | Sydney and Melbourne

Thursday, November 28th, 2019

Dear Cranfield Alumnus,

A reminder about the pre-Xmas get-togethers for all Cranfield and Shrivenham Alumni to be held in Melbourne and Sydney on Monday evening.

Details of the events are below. We hope that you can join us to meet old friends and make some new ones amongst the alumni community. 

Note: If you did not receive the email from the Cranfield Alumni Office earlier this month regarding this event, you might wish to make contact via [email protected] to get your details updated. 

SYDNEY EVENT details

Date: Monday 2nd December
Time: from 5 pm to 7 pm-ish.  (Happy Hour is on until 7pm.)
Where: The Establishment, 252 George St, Sydney. Map details: https://bit.ly/2muQNoo
Contact: David Scollon ([email protected]).
Additional info: Meet at the very back section of the ground floor bar. Handy to trains, buses and ferries.

MELBOURNE EVENT details

Date: Monday 2nd December
Time: from 5 pm to 7 pm-ish.  (Happy Hour is on until 7 pm.)
Where: Carbine Bar, RACV City Club, 501 Bourke St, Melbourne. Map details: https://bit.ly/2muRqOM
Contact: Alexandra Chapman +61 411 519 445 ([email protected]).
Additional info: The Carbine Bar is downstairs from the Bourke St Club main entrance (the large revolving door). Mention that you are attending the Alumni function and the front door staff will direct you. I will sign-in all guests so text me if you are coming, last-minute late starters are fine.

We hope you can make one event or the other!

Regards,

David Scollon and Alexandra Chapman

2018 Cranfield Australian Alumni Update | Alex Chapman Vice-President

Sunday, May 6th, 2018

cranfield alumni
Dear All,

This is the first time that we have done an Alumni update since 2016…

There are reasons for that – which I will mention later. Ever since we started our Australian Alumni Scholarship in 2005, our desired outcomes have been simple: to find outstanding and talented Australians for our Scholarship and to create an Alumni community which is lively and meaningful.

Last year, 2017, we got the Eleventh Scholarship “landed” against all the odds. But on our second outcome, to grow a “vibrant” alumni community, there is still work to be done.   Behind the scenes, there is much solid progress and I feel optimistic that the next twelve months will see this payoff.

The Eleventh Scholarship 2017

We were delighted to award the Eleventh Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship to Susan Kennedy, an outstanding mechanical engineer whose day-to-day responsibilities included working in remote mining sites maintaining large-scale mining gear. Every year, we are always thrilled to find a great winner and 2017 was no exception. You can read more about Susan and the other two finalists Vedran Azman and Ganesh Mane here

2017 was the first time ever that our patron John McFarlane (MBA 1975) was not able to travel from the UK to attend the Award. John has been at every Award presentation for ten years and he was greatly missed.  So, we did something different and fitting, by calling on past Scholars to play a key part in the evening. Damini Arora, 2009 Scholar, presented the award to Susan.  Lily Rattray, 2015 Scholar was Master of Ceremonies for the evening. The dinner was held at the Park Hyatt, Melbourne and the last few alumni were still there around 2am-ish. It was a great evening!

The Twelfth Scholarship 2018

We have two (possibly three) excellent candidates for the Scholarship – more details will come about those shortly.

This year we are breaking with past traditions to hold the award event as a Cocktail Reception at Pier One on Sydney Harbour. This year, our Scholarship Award coincides with Sydney’s VIVID – a festival of light and music – so we will have this as the spectacular backdrop to our Alumni Scholarship celebrations.

It will be a fantastic night and you can see the programme and book by clicking the link here.

A separate email with booking details has been sent out. Please share this with all Cranfield and Shrivenham alumni you are in contact with, to make sure we don’t miss anyone.

The 2018 Scholarship Award will be held on Monday 4th June 2018 in Sydney at Pier One, Sydney Harbour.

Other news

Thus far, our tally of talented beneficiaries stands at twenty. You can see all of our beneficiaries on the Honour Roll here. We also have a huge announcement to make:

Through the efforts of Prof. David Corkindale, and with the support of Cranfield University, we have established a new Scholarship to be offered jointly with The Sir John Monash Foundation.

This scholarship will allow talented Australians access to all the other Schools and courses at Cranfield University and will support our MBA Scholarship activities to create even greater opportunities for talented Australians to benefit from the Cranfield Experience.

Finally, in the background, we are working with Cranfield University and the Alumni Office on ways to reduce the administrative workload for the Scholarship so that we can focus our time and efforts on building a lively the Alumni community here.

Alexandra Chapman  (MBA 1988) | Vice President
on behalf of the Board of the Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship Foundation.

Alex Headshot


PS. Some of you may be aware that a few days after the Award Dinner in May 2016,  Jed Simms my husband was diagnosed with lymphoma and that he died after a very short illness. I mention this simply by way of explanation for why not much has happened with Alumni events recently. But I keep reminding myself of that Buddhist saying, “If you are facing the right way – all you have to do is keep walking”.


You are receiving this because you have your details as a Cranfield Alumnus on our Scholarship database. To unsubscribe, please contact us here.

Monday, June 19 2017, Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship dinner, Melbourne

Monday, May 8th, 2017

banner-photo

Please save the date – Monday 19 June 2017

to celebrate Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship Foundation’s eleventh annual award please join us at:

Park Hyatt, 1 Parliament Square, Melbourne on Monday 19 June 2017.

This year, it is Melbourne’s turn to host the annual scholarship dinner. We will share details of the AGM, speaker and programme of events in the next few days.

This year in order to reduce the ticket price (after feedback from alumni attending in prior years) we have altered the dinner arrangements to include a welcoming glass of bubbles, canapés and two course dinner. You may choose and pay for your own wine over dinner. This significantly reduces the cost of the evening for everyone and allows those who wish to choose the wine they prefer.

The award dinner will be a great event and we look forward to seeing you there.

An update on the Scholarship and Alumni matters

We are delighted to have three candidates in the pipeline for our eleventh Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship, 2017. We are in the final stages of interviews to select this year’s winner.

Our Tenth Scholarship winner in 2016 – Andrew Smith – was another in the ever lengthening line of outstanding and talented Australians, bringing to nineteen our tally of winners and finalists who have studied at Cranfield through the efforts of the Australian alumni.

Every year since 2005, when we started our journey to build the Australian Cranfield alumni community through our scholarship activities, we have made steady progress. Each year, the volunteers who have given their time to the Foundation have tackled different projects: from building relationships with key C-level executives who can direct talented Australians towards our Scholarship, to finding all the Australian-based alumni from all Cranfield schools to include in our community.

2016 was very different

In any voluntary organisation, the rubber hits the road only when people put the hours and slog into getting things done. Last year, due to all manner of personal and professional stresses, our nine man Board of hard-working volunteers was effectively reduced to two and a bit – who then had to carry the load for all. Somehow though, enabled by the excellent processes we set up all those years ago, with some dogged slog from the few, and with Alumni (including our Patron John McFarlane) pitching in to help, we managed to get the year done.

Unquestionably some things we normally do went by the wayside: our usual efforts with keeping in contact with you all, organising alumni get-togethers and events and promoting the Cranfield brand, to name a few. In the background, we have continued to link to all Cranfield Alumni on LinkedIn. This means that all Australian Alumni are no further than a second connection away from each other. We have also made progress to finding the long term solution to setting our Scholarship on a sustainable basis – both for administration and fundraising.

What keeps us focused

We aim to create a vibrant Australian Alumni community and to make our Scholarship the pre-eminent one for the development of leadership and management skills for talented Australians who are passionate about this country and want to contribute to its future.

I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks at the AGM and Award dinner.

Details and booking form to be available on 20 May. 

alex short signature

Alex Headshot
Alexandra Chapman  (MBA 1988) | Vice President
on behalf of the Board of the Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship Foundation.

 


You are receiving this because you have your details as a Cranfield Alumnus on our Scholarship database. To unsubscribe, please contact us here.

2015 Reflections on a decade of effort for our Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship

Wednesday, March 16th, 2016

winners-large-1200x400-2015Dear All,

How our Cranfield Scholarship started…

Our journey started in November 2005, when we received an email from Cranfield School of Management, offering a Scholarship place for the MBA programme aimed at increasing the number of Australians on the MBA.

That email triggered a thought process – perhaps we could use such a scholarship to address issues facing our Australian Cranfield alumni, namely:

  • Diversity in age, interests and experience and limited alumni numbers spread around the continent made it challenging to create a vibrant and meaningful alumni community;
  • Almost no community activities, apart from events organised by School of Management alumni in Melbourne and the occasional drinks with visiting faculty in Sydney;
  • Non-existent recognition of Cranfield and the value and quality of its education in Australia;
  • A large body of alumni – almost 1000 in Australia as we subsequently discovered – who shared and benefited greatly from their “Cranfield experience” but who had little reason or opportunity to come together;
  • Little engagement between alumni and the University once their studies were completed and limited contact information apart from the Cranfield Management Alumni database.

When the opportunity came, it meant that:

  • A scholarship could provide a catalyst to build an Australian alumni community with a unifying purpose;
  • We could use the scholarship to attract talented Australians to Cranfield;
  • We could grow the reputation of the Australian Cranfield alumni and to mutual benefit, awareness of Cranfield University and the School of Management as well.

This would create a virtuous cycle.


“We alumni are the beginning and end of a virtuous cycle in which

excellence and diversity in the student body leads to increased richness and quality of learning;

which in turn feeds the success of the graduates and Cranfield University as an academic institution;

and then delivers a stronger and more vibrant alumni community to act as role models to attract more outstanding students.”


A piece of cake really…

Except, for a group of volunteers, the workload was (and still is) enormous. A small group of alumni came together to tackle it, just like a WAC. We went back to basics in terms of how we built the end-to-end processes to find talented candidates, select the winner and the many things required to support our endeavours.

From our Inaugural Scholarship awarded in 2007 we have:blues_brothers

  • Created our scholarship for “leadership and management development for talented Australians who are passionate about Australia and want to contribute to its future” and awarded nine Scholarships;
  • Started to grow a purposeful and welcoming community for alumni of all Schools;
  • Built a pipeline to find talented Australians and show them how the Cranfield experience can accelerate their professional and personal development;
  • Established relationships with organisations who could spread the word about our scholarship to their talented employees;
  • Held numerous alumni events and nine gala award dinners;
  • Sent eighteen talented Aussies to Cranfield and with several more likely this year;
  • Defined our ethos as “pay it forward” to encourage beneficiaries to actively support the Foundation and ensure it will strengthen and grow into the future;
  • Influenced Cranfield University to appreciate the value of the alumni community and then supported its efforts to rebuild engagement with the international alumni community;
  • Located alumni based in Australia by referral and through LinkedIn;
  • Increased awareness of the Cranfield brand and reputation in Australia.

Where to now?

Over the past ten years, we have met many of the alumni through the events that we have held. One thing has become clear – we may be small in number, but we certainly “punch above our weight.” Indeed, Cranfield alumni in Australia hold positions of influence across a diverse range of industries and organisations.

Simply put, Cranfield alumni make a difference.

So, the next phase of our evolution will most likely centre on:

  • Supporting efforts to launch the Cranfield Trust, which can provide a vehicle for alumni to contribute their time and skills to valuable and worthwhile causes (more about this to come);
  • Expanding our scholarship activities with Cranfield’s support to other Schools & programmes of the University;
  • Increasing the number of indigenous Australians in our pipeline;
  • Continuing to strengthen our community with the support of Cranfield University;
  • Continuing to grow the reputation of Cranfield alumni in Australia.

Meanwhile Cranfield University continues on its own journey of transformation, strengthening the institution and the Schools academically, building brand reputation and engaging with the alumni community.

All of these activities will take (perhaps) another few years.

There is a Buddhist saying “When you are facing the right way, all you have to do is walk.” It’s our view that the University, the Schools and the alumni are now all facing the right way. And, all we have to do is continue on our journey.

So, the question for all of you is…

How would you like to contribute and shape the future of the Cranfield alumni in Australia?

We would greatly welcome your thoughts & feedback by return email or by posting to the LinkedIn discussion here.

Regards

alex short signature

Alexandra Chapman

Cranfield Alumni International President for Australia


PS A reminder to book for the Brisbane and Melbourne Alumni events | Tuesday 22 March & Wednesday 23 March

Click here to RSVP (there is no charge for the events)

 

2016 Alumni Update (my last as President)

Monday, February 8th, 2016

Cranfield VC, Board & 2015 Finalists

Dear All,

2015 was a year of projects and progress for the Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship Foundation (CAASF).

Scholarship and Alumni update

The Award dinner for the Ninth Scholarship was held at The Hotel Windsor in Melbourne on 11 May 2015 and was attended as always by John McFarlane our Patron. This year we also were fortunate to host Cranfield University’s Vice Chancellor, Sir Peter Gregson, and faculty members Simon Pollard, Elise Cartmell, Graham Braithwaite, and Debi Ashenden.

Organising events in Melbourne and Sydney and liaising with media to gain coverage of the faculty visit were hugely demanding undertakings as this year we were also especially busy with the scholarship selection. We upgraded our candidate interview process and had more candidates to interview than ever before at the final stages.

The President’s Lunches in February 2015 were hosted in Melbourne & Sydney and continued our process of relationship building, with a focus on CSIRO, indigenous organisations and Engineers Australia, with the aim of making sure that our pipeline of talent continues to grow.

The result was that we sent 3 students to Cranfield; a wonderful winner in Lily Rattray and finalists Claire Dyason and Paul Lamprecht who were offered part Scholarships.

Other progress

  • The visit from Sir Peter Gregson and faculty underlined the importance of the Australian alumni to Cranfield and the model that we have created here. We note that even our chosen word ‘community’ to describe ourselves has crept into the University’s lexicon;
  • Development of Cranfield’s new brand communications is almost complete – we have seen the drafts and feel that you will be very pleased with the results;
  • The School of Management’s rankings continue to improve;
  • We continue the process of connecting with Australian Alumni to include them in our community.

It would be fair to say that projects consumed the bulk of the Board’s energy and attention has been somewhat less on the day-to-day tasks of alumni events and communications. This is something we intend to focus on this year.

And lastly …

We are seeking a new President for the Foundation. After many years in Australia with RBS, and more than 3 years as President of CAASF, for family reasons I have recently returned to the UK. This creates an opportunity for a Cranfield alumnus to take on the role of President and to work with the established board. We are also seeking alumni for Board member roles.

Whilst the Board presently comprises mainly School of Management alumni (who were instrumental in setting up the scholarship), the new President could be someone from any part of Cranfield. The main requirement is someone who has the time, enthusiasm and energy to devote to the role. In particular, now that we have established the pipeline of talented candidates, the Board focus will be on financial and operational sustainability.

If you wish to indicate your interest, or to suggest someone who you believe fills the bill, please make contact with us via the contact form here.

Finally, I have greatly enjoyed my time as President and am proud of what our Alumni Scholarship has achieved. We are well on the way to making ours the pre-eminent scholarship for the development of leadership and management skills for talented Australians who are passionate about Australia and want to contribute to its future.

I hope to see you all in May at the Award dinner when I handover the baton to the new President.

Stephen Williams (MBA1993)

Stephen Williams  (MBA 1993) | President
on behalf of the Board of the Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship Foundation.

 

 

 

 


You are receiving this because you have your details as a Cranfield Alumnus on our Scholarship database. To unsubscribe, please contact us here.

Victorian Cranfield & Shrivenham Alumni get-together

Saturday, September 12th, 2015

on date TBC at the Deakin UniversityL 3, 550 Bourke Street, Melbourne CBD. We look forward to seeing you there.

 

Invitation for Alumni Reception | 2015 Scholarship year

Tuesday, February 17th, 2015

winners-large-1200x400-2014-low-res

Dear All,

We have recently been passed your details from GMASS as someone who has expressed an interest in studying for an MBA.

You may therefore be interested in our Australian Alumni Scholarship – you can read about the scholarship here. The selection process for the 2015 Scholarship is about to commence.

We would like to invite you and your guest to an evening reception – details below.

These are the things you need to do by Wednesday February 18:

1. RSVP for the evening “Meet the Alumni reception”

Alumni drinks will be hosted by CAASF President Stephen Williams MBA 1994 in both Sydney and Melbourne to which you and a guest are invited. This will give you the opportunity to meet with Alumni who can tell you about the Cranfield experience and what life after Cranfield is like. Please click here to RSVP.

2. Please indicate whether you would like to be registered as interested in the scholarship

See directions in the footer of this page.

Sydney | Monday February 23 2015
The Drawing Room, The Langham Hotel,
89-113 Kent Street, Sydney

3.00 Arrival
3.15 to 4.15 CAT Administration
4.15 Coffee and light refreshments with time to ask any questions you may have
5.30 to 7.30 “Meet the Alumni” reception

Melbourne | Tuesday February 24 2015
The Winston Room, The Hotel Windsor,
111 Spring Street, Melbourne

3.00 Arrival
3.15 to 4.15 CAT Administration
4.15 Coffee and light refreshments with time to ask any questions you may have
5.30 to 7.30 “Meet the Alumni” reception

 

Any questions or issues? Please don’t hesitate to email me.

Best wishes,

alex short signature

Alex Chapman MBA 1988 | Vice-President, Cranfield Alumni Scholarship Foundation

 


Updating your information

You are receiving this email as you may be interested in our scholarship for  Scholarship Year: {!Contact.Scholarship_year__c} and Status: {!Contact.Pipeline_status__c}

Could you please indicate any changes by return email with AMEND in the subject line and in the first line indicate if:

A. You are not interested in applying for the Scholarship but are happy to become a Friend – which means you will receive the announcement email each year to forward to friends and colleagues

B. You are not interested in applying for the Scholarship and wish to be removed completely from the email list

C. Interested in applying (but maybe not sure about timing)

D. Planning to apply (please specify possible year)

If you can’t read this email, click here. To unsubscribe, please reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line