University Breakfast Meeting – Tomorrow’s Leaders in London
There was an aura of positivity at CIOB’s London office a few weeks back where we (Tomorrow’s Leaders in London) hosted a breakfast meeting with faculty members who represent CIOB affiliated universities in London. Due to the pandemic, it was the first in over 2 years and allowed us to finally meet in person. There were some old faces, as well as new people who attended, including those unable to attend in person where we facilitated this via Teams.
The aim of the meeting was simple – educate and listen to develop better collaboration and integration at university level.
We started with a refreshing presentation on the support and assistance that CIOB provides, including the benefits of students becoming members at an early stage in their careers. As there have been many positive changes at CIOB, we took this opportunity to reintroduce ourselves, and hear from a few Tomorrow’s Leaders representatives who were on hand to share their experiences of being a part of the community, as well as gain feedback from faculty members with tips on student integration.
University students are a part of the upcoming voice forming the next generation of constructors and our future leaders within the built environment. As those of us in the Tomorrow’s Leaders community, having been students ourselves and many fresh out of education, acknowledge and understand how important it is for industry bodies to engage with educational enterprises early. In London, we are passionate about giving back to the community and hosting this breakfast meeting allowed us to do just that on a larger scale by working even more closely with universities to gain an understanding on things such as:
- How the pandemic has shaped academia
- CDP topics that would assist student learning
- Networking opportunities
- Presentations to students about careers in construction
- Curriculum-based support via guest lectures
- Student representatives’ engagement
Tomorrow’s Leaders in London have been passionate about championing the next generation, providing support and assistance as well as opportunities for them to learn via CPDs. A key idea we have generated, which we will now work closely with the universities on, is the CIOB Research Series. This research series is one that we, as young members of the sector, are passionate about because no matter how big or small the audience, our presenting researcher gets a platform to showcase their recent work or a case study on which they have sometimes spent hundreds of hours to help transform our sector for the better. Researchers present and we follow this with a live Q&A. We will now look for the support of the universities to put forward researchers to share their work and we take pride in giving them a platform to showcase this to the sector.
We look forward to working with universities on our mission to add value to students’ academia, fit in CDPs and presentations within the curriculum and provide platforms for them to excel in their careers and meet likeminded individuals as well as diversify our sector.
If you would like to join our Tomorrows Leaders community, then get in touch with the CIOB Membership team or find out more by visiting the CIOB website: