A bold new partnership between Saïd Business School and one of the Middle East’s leading private healthcare service providers, Burjeel Holdings, will help tackle the climate crisis, it has been announced today.

The new collaboration will deliver a competition, known as the ‘Burjeel Holdings Oxford Said climate change challenge’, focused on raising awareness amongst high school students across the world of the risks of climate change, in the run up to COP28 later this year in the UAE. The winners of the challenge will be invited to Oxford Saïd to participate in a climate change programme in the spring of 2024.

The challenge will also extend to high school educators, who will be invited to submit lesson plans related to climate change. The winning submission will be recognised in the UAE and the educator will also be invited to Oxford Saïd.

A delegation from Burjeel Holdings visited the School on Monday to launch the partnership and work on details of the challenge, which will be announced in due course.

Soumitra Dutta, Peter Moores Dean at Oxford Saïd, said: ‘Climate change is the greatest and most complex threat to humanity, and today’s young students will be living with its impacts in ways we do not yet understand. That is why this partnership with Burjeel Holdings is both exciting and important. We look forward to working with them and are extremely grateful for their valuable support.’

The climate change challenge is supported by the world renowned Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford Saïd, which equips entrepreneurial leaders at the University of Oxford, and worldwide, to tackle the climate crisis and other systemic challenges.

Commenting on the collaboration, Burjeel Holdings founder and chairperson Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, said: ‘We are pleased to collaborate with Oxford Saïd for the climate change initiative, a landmark project in the year of the COP28 climate summit in the UAE. As healthcare providers, we recognize the well-being of our communities is deeply intertwined with the health of our environment and that a collective global effort is crucial to confront the climate crisis. The challenge aims to nurture a generation of students and high school educators, so they can foster innovative solutions to ensure an equitable and sustainable future.

For anyone interested in more detail about the competition, ahead of an announcement later in the summer, please contact climatechallenge@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Journalists seeking further information should contact Burjeel Holdings Communications Officer M Unnikrishnan at krish@burjeelholdings.com

High school students at heart of unique climate change initiative launched by Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and Burjeel Holdings