The first ever summer event of the Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation was hosted by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP at the Speaker’s House in the Palace of Westminster.
The event, held on 12 June, celebrated the Foundation’s fourth anniversary and its diversity work supporting young people through scholarships to achieve their ambition. Lambeth council is a partner of the Foundation and its founder Miranda Brawn is a Lambeth Equality Commissioner.
The Foundation is a non-profit charity which supports young people through education and diversity empowerment. Applications for scholarship are open until 1 August. You can find out more here.
The summer event, the theme of which was social mobility, education and diversity, was attended by more than 100 guests many of whom travelled specially to show their support of the foundation. The guests included the leader of Lambeth council, business leaders, TV personalities, academics, MPs, charity leaders, diversity activists and donors. Young people included those who had won diversity leadership scholarships and are now active ambassadors of the Charity.
The Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Annual Lecture takes place on 26 October 2019 at the University of Law.
This year’s annual scholarships will be awarded at this event and scholarship applications are still being considered via their website.
Founder and CEO Dr Miranda Brawn welcomed guests: “I am delighted that the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon John Bercow MP, has been kind enough to permit us to host our first summer event especially following his amazing keynote talk at our annual lecture event in October 2018.
“The venue is perfect to celebrate the success of our four years since our launch in 2016, supporting diversity and education. This is a great way to thank everyone who has played their part in our success and also to see how we can continue to join forces and make a great positive impact on the lives of our next generation.”
Delivering the keynote address, Nicholas Cheffings, former Chair of the global law firm Hogan Lovells, which has supported the Foundation since its inception, said:
“Whilst welcoming the call for fundamental reforms to bring about social justice, I challenge the notion that social mobility initiatives have been a failed experiment. They are not a substitute for reform of the education system. However they have helped huge numbers of young people who were socio-economically disadvantaged by the lottery of to whom or where they happen to have been born – over which none of us have any control.”
Professor Debra Humphris FRCP, Vice Chancellor, University of Brighton said: “The recent celebration of the Miranda Brawn Foundation captured the extraordinary work of the founder to harness the energy and power a network of people committed to enabling diversity and change in society. In 2017 I’m proud that the University of Brighton recognised early the impact of Miranda to open up opportunity, to celebrate diversity in all its forms, with the award of an Honorary Doctorate.
“The students in my university, and all across the globe, are our future. For those who can I believe it important that we give back, this can be in many different ways, mentoring, encouragement, placements, scholarships. For example we have a small, but growing scheme of Breakthrough Scholarships (£500), donated by our alumni and supporters. These awards make a huge difference to individual students. I’m proud to be able to support Miranda in her work, her relentless energy and belief in the power of diversity is an example to us all.”
Music was by Vox VanGuard with the violin played by Matthew Tosca and piano by Lysianne Chen. The evening programme included It Ain’t Necessarily So (Gershwin, George), Adoration (Price, Florence) and Sonatensatz (Brahms, Johannes).
To support the Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation, to apply for this year’s scholarships and/or for more information visit the website.
Email info@mirandabrawn.com.
@Brawnm and @MBDiversitylead
The event was sponsored by Hogan Lovells, the Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation Trustees and the Brawn Family.
