For the second year in a row, we have held our annual CRES Residential online. This year we consulted with our students and tutors and an overwhelming majority preferred this mode because of the ongoing pandemic. CRES administrator, Lynda McKeown, handled all of the bookings, and in the end about 40 people came. We decided to scale back the meeting to the essential things to keep the course running. In this case, it was allowing our five completing students to present their dissertations and to hold our meeting with the external examiner, Prof. Celia Deane-Drummond.
We had five excellent student presentations, on very varied topics: urbanisation and human flourishing; use of church land; children, the church, God, and nature; creation care as part of the whole gospel; and extending the right to roam. This was followed by the examiners’ meeting. As a result, all five students graduated with a certificate (three with distinction- above 70% overall). Many congratulations to all five. Our running total is now 44 Certificates (16 with Distinction) and 5 Diplomas (one distinction). The first CRES graduates were in 2005, and we have had 17 cohorts so far. So we are averaging 2.9 graduates a year! CRES is happy to have helped 49 people along the way to helping us make a more sustainable world.
In the early afternoon, Prof. Celia Deane-Drummond gave some positive general comments about the CRES course. We are very grateful for her hard work on our behalf this year, and look forward to continuing the relationship in the coming years!
Many thanks to the students, their tutors, our steering group, and all at JRI, A Rocha UK, and Ripon College Cuddesdon that make this all happen. On to the next year!
Image: Alexandra Koch on Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/video-conference-online-home-office-5167472/