College Dining Experience Focuses On Sustainability
Client: Cambridge University Centre for Doctoral Training, Artificial intelligence for Environmental Risk (AI4ER)
Type of event: Dinner
Venue: Gonville & Caius College
A celebratory dinner to mark the achievements of research students who had conducted ground-breaking research in the field of artificial intelligence and environmental risk was held at Gonville & Caius College in May 2024 – and featured an entirely vegetarian and vegan menu.
As one of Cambridge University’s Centres for Doctoral Training, Artificial intelligence for Environmental Risk (AI4ER) holds an annual Showcase event, culminating in a dinner to which programme directors, partners and participating students are invited.
Collegiate experience
The brief included creating a fine dining experience in a College setting, allowing the 40 guests to fully immerse themselves in the unique Cambridge atmosphere, as well as accommodating any special dietary requirements to ensure an inclusive and enjoyable experience for everyone.
Adriana Dote is Administrator for the event and says: “Based on our positive experiences in previous years, we were confident that partnering with Meet Cambridge at the outset would ensure a seamless process and help us find the perfect college venue for our special dinner.
“The service again proved invaluable, centralising the availability of all colleges around Cambridge and saving us the time and effort of contacting each one individually. This made our planning much more efficient and stress-free.
Perfect blend
“We chose Gonville & Caius and were able to use one of the dining rooms, along with the adjacent reception area. These spaces provided a perfect blend of sophistication and charm, creating a memorable setting for our event. The minor challenge of needing to adjust our reception start time slightly to accommodate examination schedules wasn’t a problem and worked well.
“We were thoroughly impressed with the entire set-up at Gonville & Caius and both the waiting staff and the administrative team provided service that exceeded our expectations.
Sublime food
“We decided to promote sustainability by offering a totally vegetarian and vegan menu and everyone agreed that the food was sublime—some dishes this year were almost Michelin-star level.
“Hosting our dinner at one of the colleges definitely added a unique and special touch to our event. The elegant setting, combined with the attentive and helpful staff, created an intimate and authentic Cambridge experience, appreciated by both our partners and internal team members. I would highly recommend this setting to other organisations for its charm, quality of service and the memorable experience it offers.”
