Q&A with Commonland: What makes PRINS so valuable for your organisation?
Annelies Sewell, from the Science and Education department at Commonland, was on hand 17 May 2018 to help jury the pitches of student teams. Commonland is a foundation putting soil remediation science into practical action. Its mission is to create an investable large-scale landscape restoration industry – aligned with international guidelines and policies – in close cooperation with experts and existing initiatives, with an approach based on a sustainable business model: 4 returns, 3 zones, 20 years.
Q: Annelies, what attracted Commonland to working with Leiden University BA students to solve your case?
We often get used to our organisational way of thinking. University students still have young, fresh, open minds that can think out of the box and beyond rules and regulations. And education of the next generation of professionals who can be involved in developing a restoration economy is a key priority for Commonland. We are investing in mainstreaming the 4 returns into university curriculums by setting up an Academy for Business & Landscapes that will bring together academia, business, governments and on-the-ground landscape restoration practitioners. We are currently involved in teaching courses and presenting challenges at several universities to interest students in becoming involved in, and equipped with the knowledge and skills to work in landscape restoration partnerships. Commonland also develops online offerings like the first MOOC on business driven landscape restoration. And we offer experiential learning in Spain: places are still available to join in October this year!
Q: What added value do International Studies and Humanities students bring to your case?
At Commonland, we work in an international environment with many stakeholders, where the local context defines the success of a project. We predominantly work with business studies students or those in the environmental sciences. International Studies and Humanities students look at things from a different perspective, a more holistic perspective. Given that at Commonland we look beyond just financial returns from landscape restoration, to include return of natural capital, social capital and return of inspiration, this is a unique and important view to take into account.
Q: Why not go to a business school or management programme to find student consultants?
We are particularly interested in the cultural aspects of our case and exploring that further. These International Studies students are really encouraged to think about cultural empathy and understanding dialogue from the other side, and they know the history of specific regions. Looking at the cases from a different and broader perspective allows us to step out of our internal ‘group think’ bubble and test the robustness of the approach.
Q: How were you inspired by these teams during the pitch?
They really understood the urgency of the issue. As stated earlier, we often work in our own ‘bubble’; it was great to step outside of that and realise that these students got the urgency, and understand the components of the issue within just 14 weeks. This confirms that Commonland’s approach is one that everyone can join in with. In terms of the pitches, it really seemed like the student teams put their heart and soul into the case. They really thought about it. I was also really impressed in general by how the students interacted with each other and bounced off of each other and supported each other during the pitch, and the fact that their reports were really a consolidation of everyone in the teams working together.
Q: What will your organisation do with the ideas/solutions that were presented?
We are working on many things at Commonland at the moment including a Community of Practice, and building a practical toolbox to aid movement towards a restoration economy. The principles that we work by are that all stakeholders can be involved in this process, and that it is co-creative. All the ideas and solutions suggested by the PRINS teams are food for thought and input for ongoing discussions, best practices, and learnings that we hope to share with our Community of Practice and through our toolbox. In fact, we would like to discuss the possibility of a presentation at Commonland or in the Community of Practice, where students can meet practitioners in the landscape, and practitioners can ask questions.
Q: Based on what you saw during the pitching, do you have any career advice to help and inspire our students?
- Fail forward, try something out, test and prototype to see if it works (or not). This can be a research project, a job etc. Get out of your comfort zone;
- Ask questions, be inquisitive, be critical;
- Learn to tell engaging stories, weave your information and data into a strong narrative;
- Be authentic.
Q: How would you summarise your PRINS experience?
First of all, everyone at Leiden University was lovely and welcoming. It was a great opportunity for us as Commonland to let people know what we are doing, and great to see that our case was taken on board so well and people really ran with it. The final pitches really do feel like a culmination of the work of the last months, and PRINS has a sense of prestige that helps the students know they are really working towards something. If you put some kind of application to knowledge it’s good for the students, to see how you can put the things you learn in university into practice.