Incoming postgraduate students to Queen’s Business School in 2024 will work together on a transformative social impact project, giving back to local community whilst building a sense of connection and developing skills.

Master’s and MBA students from Queen’s Business School will take part in a project with local NI charity, Compass Advocacy Network, over a two-week period in October 2024, helping to build and improve facilities for the charity.

Compass Advocacy Network (CAN) is a small, bold and creative charity based on the North Coast; dedicated to supporting over 450 children and adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health issues. They offer a range of services: from day opportunities, pre-employment training, to social and leisure activities and short breaks and holidays.

The Lislagan Farm project will see CAN develop respite accommodation on site, which will soon be expanded to benefit families across Northern Ireland and beyond. Students from Queen’s Business School will take part in hands-on building work, transforming a vacant area of land into a site – consisting of a building to house social enterprise activities, and a community garden area for safe and imaginative play, learning, and relaxation.

Alongside this well-deserving charity reaping the benefits of extra pairs of hands to develop their site; students will benefit from developing relationships with one another, building confidence in a new country, and developing skills in team-building, innovative thinking, and project delivery.    

To deliver this transformative experience for students and Compass Advocacy Network beneficiaries, Queen’s Business School is working in partnership with Splash Projects, who deliver team development opportunities through purposeful social impact projects worldwide.

Professor M.N. Ravishankar, Dean and Head of Queen’s Business School, says:

‘We have over 400 postgraduate students joining us this year, from Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and all over the world. Belfast is an inclusive, welcoming place to undertake a postgraduate year, and we want to help facilitate a sense of community and foster friendships for students from all backgrounds.

Getting our students involved with a social impact project enables us to give back to our local society. As a leading business school, we have a duty to inject societal impact into the curriculum, and partnering with Splash projects has given us access to this opportunity to support services for families of those with learning disabilities across Northern Ireland.’

Janet Schofield, CEO of Compass Advocacy Network says:

‘The impact of this project will be transformative, and we’re delighted that Queen’s Business School has chosen to work with CAN.  The new facilities will be used by children and adults with learning disabilities, autism and other neurodiversities, aged 8 – 80 plus, and their families and carers for years to come.  We are so excited to welcome the postgraduate students on site and for them to experience the magic of Lislagan Farm.’ 

The project will take place in October 2024, follow along our social media channels to keep up-to-date with progress.