Be a part of the Bournemouth Echo’s World Cup coverage

The Bournemouth Echo are looking for representatives from all of the nationalities represented at this summer’s World Cup Finals.

You may be asked to give your thoughts and views on the prospects of your team before, during and after the soccer competition and will feature as a part of the Echo’s World Cup coverage online and in print.

The following countries have qualified for the World Cup:

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil (host), Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, U.S.

Students and staff are all welcome to get involved.  If you would like to represent one of the countries above then please send an email to newsdesk@bournemouth.ac.uk in the first instance confirming the country you would like to represent and we will send details on to the Echo.

BU’s PR Team

NCTJ Journalism Skills Conference hosted at BU

The sixth annual NCTJ Journalism Skills Conference is to be hosted by Bournemouth University between 27 and 28 November 2013.

The conference is marketed as a ‘must-attend annual event for those who are passionate about quality multimedia journalism’. BU’s Multimedia Journalism course is accredited by the NCTJ.

Speakers at this year’s event include:

·         Mark Austin, journalist and presenter, ITV News
·         Peter Bale, vice president and general manager, CNN International Digital
·         Pete Clifton, executive producer, MSN UK
·         Ollie Joy, digital business journalist, CNN
·         Sandra Laville, crime correspondent, The Guardian
·         Frank Le Duc, editor, Brighton and Hove News and Latest TV
·         Andy Martin, deputy editor and head of news, Bournemouth Echo
·         Ian Murray, editor-in-chief, Southern Daily Echo
·         Liisa Rohumaa, journalism lecturer, Bournemouth University
·         Mark Russell, managing editor, GQ
·         Tom Thomson, managing editor, The Herald and Times Group
·         Andrew Wilson, head of the journalism foundation, BBC.

To book a place at the conference you can visit the NCTJ website.

University contribution recognised in the Bournemouth Echo

An article in the Bournemouth Echo highlighted Bournemouth University contributes more than £1 million per day to the economy of the South West.

An economic impact study produced by Professor John Fletcher and Dr Yeganeh Morakabati of Bournemouth University shows the university is worth £378 million in the South West.

John Fletcher said in the Bournemouth Echo the University was “part of the fabric of the conurbation of Dorset”.

He suggested it’s more than just numbers saying “it brings in people who you meet on the street, who enjoy the entertainment, enjoy the beach, go to the shops and spend money. It creates a vibrant and young society”.

“It also brings a highly creative and skilled workforce into the region, as well as their families”.

Across the region the university contributed £85 million for wages and supported 3124 jobs. These numbers are the equivalent of 11,476 households or 3.3 million visitors.

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns praised the University for “seeking to become an integral part of the community it’s serving”.

Burns also said “Bournemouth would not only be economically and socially diminished without Bournemouth University, it would be decimated without Bournemouth University”.

By Peter Blackhall
2nd year student studying BA Public Relations at Bournemouth University

Student wardens scheme gains widespread regional media coverage

The introduction of BU student community wardens to work with residents in Winton gained widespread regional media coverage across TV, radio and print.

BBC South Today came to Winton to film the wardens in action, knocking on doors and speaking with residents and students about potential issues.

An interview with student warden Coralie Wood and Winton Community Forum chairman Pat Oakley was broadcast on the lunchtime bulletin, and a longer report – which featured additional interviews with Winton residents and SUBU VP Comms Annie Hall – was shown in the evening bulletin.

The story was also picked up by the Bournemouth Echo newspaper and in news bulletins on local radio stations BBC Radio Solent and Fire FM.

BFX Festival highlighted twice in the Bournemouth Echo

Bournemouth’s visual effects and animation festival, the BFX Festival, was held at Bournemouth University recently, giving students a behind the scenes look into the digital effects used in some of Hollywood’s biggest movies. The Festival’s success was highlighted during two articles in the Bournemouth Echo.

Peter Truckel, director of the VFX hub at Bournemouth University, told a gathering of industry experts and students how 50 per cent of graduates entering special effects and animation jobs in London’s Soho come from BU.

The Dean of the Media School, Stephen Jukes was hoping to “inspire and foster talent” by trying to bring higher education and the industry together. He said in the Echo, “We want to celebrate and promote Bournemouth and the conurbation and it’s growing role in the industry. A lot of the industry is beginning to setup here”.

The team Poseiden, made up of Bournemouth University students, won the best film prize at the event sponsored by Total Film magazine. In addition The Blonde Rangers team, a collaboration between Bournemouth University, Arts University Bournemouth, and Edinburgh University students, took four awards.

Willi Geiger, the digital supervisor for some of George Lucus’ most iconic movies, said to the Bournemouth Echo, “I’m blown away with what they have achieved”.

By Peter Blackhall
2nd year student at Bournemouth University, BA Public Relations

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis on Spain’s rising tourism levels

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Director of the E-Tourism lab at Bournemouth University, has commented on Spain’s record year for tourism.

His views went on to feature in 13 media outlets including Reuters, Yahoo News and CNBC Online.

Sunseekers avoiding the unrest in Egypt and Turkey flocked to Spain in record numbers last month, setting the country up for its best-ever year for visitors and giving a boost to its ailing economy.

Professor Buhalis put the rise of private rentals in Spain down to the economic crisis. He says that because people have less money they are choosing smaller accommodation and less established airlines for their holidays.

“What’s happening … because of the economic crisis is that people are preferring smaller airlines, smaller hotels and they are paying less,” he said.

Professor Buhalis’ work was also featured in the Business section of the Bournemouth Echo, with a feature on a social media seminar he will run in November.

The seminar will look at how social media is increasingly influencing consumer behaviour, with travellers relying on the guidance of others.

Professor Buhalis said: “Travellers will, more and more, rely on the advice of other travellers as against advertising, guidebooks and printed material” and suggests “marketers should use social media to try to stimulate conversation and encourage interaction”

BU mass grave work features in the Echo

Simulated mass grave excavation work carried out by BU students has been featured in the Bournemouth Echo.

The week–long practical was set up for Forensic Osteology and Archaeology students to learn first–hand what it is like to excavate a mass grave. They were tasked with digging into the simulated World War I grave cataloguing the items the discovered as they went.

Martin Smith, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at BU, said to the Echo, “It’s a really nice exercise that pulls together everything the students have been doing through the year.

“The anthropologists have learnt lots of theory about the anatomy of the body and how we can interpret types of trauma and disease, who we can tell age and sex and so on. The archaeologists have done all sorts of work on how we can find buried remains and how we can excavate them in a controlled and scientific manner.”

Martin continued, “This allows us to get them to work together as a team, pull together everything they have done and put it into practice.”

The work all took place on the estate of Giles Sturdy, Pro–Chancellor of Bournemouth University.