Exeter’s Lucy Loveday selected to join first group of UK Acumen Fellows

Lucy Loveday is one of 22 bold and generous leaders selected to be part of Acumen’s inaugural UK-wide Fellowship. Fellows have been selected based on their commitment to bridging societal divides and tackling injustice across the UK.

Lucy Loveday’s heart lies in social justice. She is a qualified GP and experienced medical educationalist and currently works as a GP Training Programme Director. Loveday is relentlessly passionate about using education and training as vehicles for positive social change. She designs and develops creative programmes that translate research evidence into accessible and meaningful action.

Loveday is leading the launch of a 'Green Prescription' project she has designed in collaboration with The Woodland Trust, 'Resilient Young Minds', within mainstream healthcare. This programme is very much focused on offering young people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to connect with the natural world in a transformative way.

The UK Acumen Fellowship equips Fellows with the knowledge, skills and community to accelerate and sustain their impact tackling poverty and injustice. The Fellowship begins with a year-long immersive leadership programme, where Loveday will take part in a series of residentials and virtual seminars connected by group practice. The programme is designed to increase her capacity to lead through complexity, walk across lines of difference, and mobilise action in order to solve long-standing problems of injustice. The Fellowship is grounded in 20 years of Acumen’s work tackling poverty across the world. For the first time in 2020, a UK cohort will join Acumen’s growing global community of social innovators and builders accompanying each other to create a world based on dignity.

Loveday said: “Being an Acumen Fellow is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Acumen Fellowship will provide me with a unique network and community of support, as well as a globally reputable space to learn and develop as a leader so I am able to fully realise the vision I hold for healthcare in the UK.

“By way of a green prescription, I hope to facilitate individuals to connect with nature so that they begin to feel a sense of belonging and are empowered to become agents for their own health, whilst also promoting sustainable behaviours for the health of the planet. It is a total privilege to be alongside a global community of inspirational people joining together; sharing values of hope, compassion and possibility, to ultimately bring about positive social change for some of the most disadvantaged people in UK society.”

The Programme Lead of Acumen Academy UK, Benjamin Lane, said: “Fellows such as Lucy Loveday are redefining how we measure success across the UK; they are building bold solutions, connecting our communities, empowering our youth, standing with our vulnerable, protecting our environment, and serving us all. The Fellows understand that the challenges they are committed to solving are far too large and complex to be dealt with by any one individual, therefore are invested in solving these challenges collectively.”

As part of Acumen’s commitment to invest in the global ecosystem of social leaders, they have taken many elements of the Fellowship programme and made them available online and for free, through Acumen Academy - the online school for social change. More information on Acumen’s online courses can be found at https://www.acumenacademy.org/learn/.

To find out more about Acumen Academy in the UK and the Fellows Programme, visit https://www.acumenacademy.org/fellowship/uk and read more about the UK 2020 Fellows at https://acumenacademy.org/blog/united-kingdom-2020-fellows.