Top 10 reads of 2024

Research co-authored by Professor Lucia Reisch finds a link between digital media exposure and higher impulsivity and cognitive inflexibility scores, especially in girls. The research involved thousands of children and adolescents in 9 European countries. “Children require protection against the likely adverse impact of digital environment,” the study says. “Exposure to smartphones and media multitasking were positively associated with impulsivity and cognitive inflexibility while being inversely associated with decision-making ability.”

Read 'How digital media impacts child development'

Professor Gishan Dissanaike was announced as the new Dean of Cambridge Judge Business School, and took up his post on 1 December 2024. This is the first time in the last 30 years that the University has selected an internal candidate to be Dean of the Business School. Said Gishan: “It will be a privilege to serve as the first home-grown dean of Cambridge Judge Business School, and to serve the institution that has been such an inspiration, as well as my academic home for several decades.”

Read 'Cambridge Judge Business School appoints new Dean'

The new Global Executive MBA (Global EMBA) programme at Cambridge Judge Business School launched during the week of 8 January with a cohort of 46 students at a residential week in Cambridge. The new programme complements the long-running Cambridge Executive MBA programme at Cambridge Judge, offering a different flexibility that may suit the needs of some students. “We are delighted to kick off the new Global EMBA programme with such a diverse cohort from around the world,” said Professor Simon Taylor, Director of the Global EMBA programme. “We are confident that the Global EMBA programme, like its EMBA counterpart, will go from strength to strength in the years ahead.”

Read 'Global Executive MBA programme begins at Cambridge Judge'

The annual Cambridge Master of Finance (MFin) employment report finds that graduates of the 2022/23 MFin class show resilience in the face of economic uncertainty and a challenging job market. “We are proud of our students’ resilience to these very challenging times,” said Director of Careers Sadia Cuthbert. “In our 2022 class, 78% of job seekers had accepted full time jobs 3 months after completing the programme, and 84% had accepted jobs 4 months out.”

Read 'New: 2024 Master of Finance (MFin) employment report'

Can being attractive or from an elite university ever hurt job applicants? Research by Professor Christopher Marquis finds that it can. The research focuses on consistency between different status characteristics such as good looks and education. “Our study focuses not only on characteristics such as attractiveness and education, but how particular status combinations fit with the job context involved,” says Chris. “We develop a framework that suggests that it’s the degree of status consistency rather than only the number of relevant status characteristics that matters most to prospective employers.” 

Read 'Why being attractive or clever isn’t enough to get the job'

There are 5 blockages that have made progress painfully slow in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, says research from the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation. These are:

1. financial resources
2. greenwashing by private firms
3. marginalisation of the state
4. top-down intervention
5. a misguided focus on how to scale social enterprise

“Our collective ability to achieve the goals is questionable: while governments, companies, and social sector organisations participate in a grand social-symbolic narrative that indicates progress is being made, the evidence at the coalface of these initiatives paints a different picture,” says the research by Professors Paul Tracey and Neil Stott. 

Read '5 biggest obstacles to achieving the UN sustainability goals'

Cambridge Judge won top honours in both the Teaching and Academic Research categories of the 2024 Financial Times Responsible Business Awards, while the Business School was also Highly Commended for its Business School-wide activities. The award-winning teaching course called Purpose of Finance was developed by Cambridge Judge Fellow David Pitt-Watson and by Dr Ellen Quigley of the University of Cambridge. Research on the controversial practice of paedophile hunting by Professor Mark de Rond won top honours in the FT Academic Research category for best business school impactful academic research addressing societal challenges.

Read 'FT Responsible Business Education Awards: 2 wins for Cambridge Judge'

Learning from failure is crucial, and the growth of AI in the workplace offers more opportunities to deliver machine feedback. Research by Professor Thomas Roulet finds that automated critiques can act as a catalyst to motivate people to learn from each other. “Machine failure feedback facilitates learning both directly – by leading individuals to learn from their failures – and indirectly – by amplifying the learning effect of failure feedback provided by other humans,” says the study.

Read 'How AI can make us more receptive to negative feedback'

Cambridge Judge alumna Divya Dewan (MBA 2021) made a career triple jump across country, sector and role to change roles from sales to human resources strategy, using her Cambridge MBA as a springboard. “One of the reasons I chose to do my MBA in Cambridge was that before applying I found lots of stories online about people who I could relate to,” Divya says. “I have achieved the triple pivot: I had only ever worked in India before and now I am based in London. I have moved sector from office automation to people strategy. Rather than sales, I am now a subject expert in careers, working as an in-house consultant.”

Read 'MBA alumna Divya’s career triple jump: following her passion'

A very generous donation pledge of £750,000 over 5 years from Dimitris Tsikopoulos, CEO of maritime technology company Navarino and one of the early students (MBA 1994) to attend Cambridge Judge Business School, will allow outstanding candidates who would not otherwise come to Cambridge to enrol in the Business School. The Navarino CJBS Masters Studentships became available beginning September 2024. Based in Greece, Navarino develops IT solutions for ship operators. “It is my honour to be part of the Cambridge Judge Business School alumni,” said Dimitris. “I am confident that this financial support will help students materialise their dream of becoming part of this amazing academic institution.”

Read 'New scholarships at Cambridge Judge thanks to very generous alumnus donation'