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Graduate School of Environment and Sustainability

Nature Positive Futures

A masterclass for business leaders

Join us in Falmouth, Cornwall, on 12-14 May 2025, and change the way your business works with nature and biodiversity.

Over three days, this executive education course will focus on how people, businesses, and nature can prosper together. Business depends upon nature, and nature needs business. Join us to find out how you, your team, and your organisation can help nature recover, and how incorporating nature into your strategy can improve your bottom line.

Activities and discussions will centre around key concepts and themes that can benefit your business. These include:

Postgraduate students sitting outside the ESI on Penryn Campus

  • Nature’s contributions to people (ecosystem services)
  • Innovation in biodiversity sensors and biomimicry
  • Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Biodiversity Net Gain
  • Measuring how business both depends and impacts upon nature
  • Communicating nature positivity and working with stakeholders
  • Developing Nature Positive business practice while navigating the regulatory landscape.

 

The aim of Nature Positive Futures is to share the latest research and concepts in biodiversity, and the relationship between nature and business. You will learn how your business can benefit from incorporating nature-based solutions into its strategy.

The course comprises interactive masterclasses, networking sessions, and field trips in the unique and outstanding natural beauty of Cornwall, all hosted by our world-leading academic experts in biodiversity and nature recovery.

Accommodation, evening meals with guest speakers, and workshops will feature Falmouth’s best hotels and restaurants, close to outstanding natural landscapes, the Southwest Coast Path, and historic sites of Cornwall.

To register your interest and for further information, please email the course team by clicking the link below or email ESE-CEC-FacOps@exeter.ac.uk

Register your interest

Course Content

What benefits does nature bring to people, business, industry, and society? We will underline how nature underpins our health, wealth and wellbeing, and how our future, including the role of businesses, depends on nature-based solutions. We will cover how nature can inspire innovation, such as through biomimicry, and demonstrate how engaging, observing, and connecting with nature can bring benefits to business, staff, and customers.

Illustrated with Cornish locations and inspiring initiatives, we will outline the threats to biodiversity and how it can be monitored. We will focus on topics such as carbon and biodiversity footprinting, key performance indicators for businesses, how to report and and verify impacts on nature, and how to effectively communicate nature-positivity including for enhanced reputation and investment, while avoiding risks of greenwashing and other pitfalls.

We will cover how businesses can engage with key stakeholders, incorporate workplace best practices, and understand a changing regulatory landscape. We will discuss the role of businesses and institutions in restoring and renewing nature, and the benefits that flow from such actions.

Learn From Leading Ecological Scientists

The University of Exeter is a world-leading centre for research and education, ranked in the Top 10 globally for its progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Times HE Impact Rankings 2024).

This masterclass is a collaboration between experts from the University’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation (ranked top 5 in the world and 1st in the UK for research quality) and members of the University’s Triple-Accredited Business School.

Ecologist monitoring biodiversity in a meadow

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Triple Accredited Business School

AMBA, AACSB, EQUIS

4th in the world for Ecology

Shanghai Rankings Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2024

90% of our Biological Sciences research is internationally excellent

Based on research rated 4* and 3* in the Research Excellence Framework 2021

 

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Top 10 for Business and Management

7th in The Complete University Guide 2024

Cost

£4,800 including lunches, evening meals and all activities, excluding accommodation. We are pleased to offer a 20% discount for University of Exeter alumni or partners. Cost: £3,840 (excluding accommodation). We can offer accommodation at the St Michael’s Resort for £170 / £190 per night, bed and breakfast.

To register your interest and for further information, please email the course team by clicking the link below or email ESE-CEC-FacOps@exeter.ac.uk
 
To find out more or pay us a visit, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. 
Enquire online 
Give us a call: +44 (0)1392 72 72 72