As an environmental scientist, I value biodiversity and working with the sail training charity Seas Your Future* I found myself in an organisation with innate knowledge that diversity in people and their talents is as important for society as biodiversity is in ecosystems.
It’s simply nature’s way.
Today I am attending The Maritime Industries UK Awards ceremony at Titanic Belfast with Seas Your Future CEO Adrian Ragbourne, chair of the board of trustees John Dover and SYF Ambassador for the Isle of Man, Lee Clarke-Vorster.
It is truly an honour for SYF having been shortlisted alongside Thames Skills Academy and Women in Boatbuilding and today winning the Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award!!!!
Left to right: CEO Adrian Ragbourne, Head of Science Charly Braungardt and Chair of Board of Trustees John Dover at the Maritime UK Awards ceremony at Titanic Belfast in June 2024. Special thanks to Stena Line, the sponsor of this award, and the private donor who made it possible for us to attend the ceremony in person.
So on behalf of all of our young trainees, professional and volunteer crew on board of our tall ship Pelican of London, our ambassadors, trustees and shore-side colleagues I say a heartfelt thank you for recognising the inclusive ethos of our charity, our embracing of diversity and our aspirations for involving a true cross section of society in experiencing the ocean.
The award is a renewed motivation to encourage leadership for following nature’s laws of diversity!
The joyful moment receiving the award, captured here with the Chief People and Communications Officer, Margareta Jensen Dickson and the evening’s compère.
*Since writing this post, Seas Your Future has ceased to exist as a sail training charity. We, professional crew, volunteers and shore team carry on our vital youth development work on T/S Pelican of London with (not-for-profit) Pelican of London Ltd. Some weblinks in this post have been disconnected or changed in March 2025 to www.pelicanoflondon.org to reflect this change.
Challenging Habitat 