Tag Archives: Graduate Success

BU graduate ‘scores’ publishing deal with football book

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A Bournemouth University graduate has found success with the publication of a new book for budding football professionals.

Dean Caslake, an Accounting and Finance graduate, wrote ‘The Footballer’s Journey’ alongside current professional footballer Guy Branston to offer practical tips on becoming a professional footballer.

‘The Footballer’s Journey’ is aimed at young footballers, parents, amateur coaches and even current footballers who are looking to find success on the football field. The book also talks about the importance of education and how to react to setbacks within professional football.

Dean is no stranger to competitive football, as he was a key part of BU’s men’s football team while studying at university and nods to BU in his book. On studying at BU, Dean said, “Ultimately the experience at Bournemouth University improved my drive to achieve and opened my eyes to the possibility of doing something for myself and going it alone.

“After playing football myself and having a couple of unsuccessful trials with professional clubs, I was left wondering how the pros are different and what they had done that I didn’t to make the transition from an amateur level to a Professional level.  I initially had the idea to actually explore these unanswered questions in my final year at Bournemouth Uni.”

A number of current and former professionals were also involved in the book including current Manchester United footballer Chris Smalling and former Bournemouth striker and television pundit Steve Claridge.  Much of the work in contacting professional players was done by Dean, who said, “I contacted clubs and then sent individual letters to a large number of players at their clubs training grounds. Then it was a waiting game and thankfully quite a few responded.

“I must say I was hugely impressed with their willingness to help, they were brilliant throughout and gave up huge amounts of their time, and never once asked for a penny.”

The forward for the book was written by former footballer and television personality Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock, who says, “The Footballer’s Journey is essential reading. It helps guide and advise not only football hopefuls, but also parents, and even current professionals when looking at life after football.”

The book was released in April 2014 and has been well received, with mentions in FourFourTwo magazine and an appearance on Sky 1 television programme Soccer AM due in May.  Further endorsements for the book have come from the likes of Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

Dean graduated from BU in 2013 and had these words of wisdom to share with current students who are burning with an idea for the future, “If you come up with an idea, or a project you have a great passion and drive for, and you think it can really make a difference and be successful, give it a try or you’ll forever wonder what might have been.”

More information about The Footballer’s Journey can be found through Amazon.

BU graduates have animation selected for prestigious film festival

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A short film created by recent graduates from Bournemouth University will be shown at a prestigious international animation festival after being chosen from thousands of entries.

Espero? (Hope?) was created by Simone Giampaolo, Yifan Hu and Henrik Linnes as their final year project while studying at the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) at BU in 2013.

It has been chosen for inclusion at the Annecy International Film Festival this June – one of just 201 selected films from 2,290 entries.

Simone, who studied BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts at BU, said being part of the prestigious French event was an unbelievable opportunity.

“We’re thrilled about Annecy. It is one of the most prestigious animation festivals worldwide and we still cannot believe our work will be part of it,” he said.

“I remember attending the Annecy festival as a student a couple of years ago, when the idea of having a film in the official competition was still only a dream.

“Now that it actually happened, it really feels unreal. “

Espero? is the first 3D animated film fully dubbed in the universal language Esperanto. It follows the story of Mother Earth and shows what happens after she creates humanity.

Simone, who acted as director for the film, said: “The general aim of this project was to create a high-quality, funny, entertaining and educational animated short that presents in a sarcastic way how humanity has been affecting planet Earth over the centuries.

“I see animation as one of the most powerful mediums to reach a wide range of audiences, which goes from kids to adults. It allows you to talk about inconvenient and sensitive topics in a funny and relaxed way, which is much more difficult to achieve through life-action.”

Annecy is not the first prestigious accolade the film has gained. It has already been shown at more than 20 international film festivals and won several awards – including the Children’s Prize at the Dieciminuti Film Festival 2014 in Italy.

Henrik, who also did the Computer Animation Arts degree at BU, said: “It feels great! We put so much work and effort into this short so it’s really satisfying to know that people like it.

“It’s been going really well so far, so let’s just hope that good things keep happening.”

All three of the team – who received the prize for Best Major Project at their BU graduation ceremony – are now working at animation and production houses in London, and hope they will have chance to work together again on an equally successful project.

“It was amazing journey working with those two guys and I feel really lucky that our film has gotten this far,” said Yifan, who did the BA (Hons) Computer Visualisation and Animation degree.

“I’m very proud of our achievement and, as we are all working in London now, hopefully we will get a chance to work together as a team again soon.”

Watch Espero? (Hope?)

BU celebrates success during graduation week

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Over 5,000 BU graduates celebrated this week as they were handed their degree certificates during six graduation ceremonies.

The ceremonies, which all took place at the Bournemouth International Centre, saw students collect their awards alongside eight honorary doctorates before celebrating with fellow graduates at a champagne reception.

Former students from all six Schools were reunited with former classmates and lecturers for the first time since completing their studies in May to celebrate the completion of their degrees together.

Receiving their awards alongside BU graduates; the eight honorary doctorates included golf professional and consultant Eddie Bullock, television presenter and anatomist Professor Alice Roberts and Olympic Gold medallist Peter Wilson MBE.

Also honoured were Paralympic Gold medallist Helena Lucas MBE, international sports performance coach David Alred MBE, former Director of Operations at the RNLI Michael Vlasto OBE, former Principal of the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic (AECC) Dr Kenneth Vall and academic and 7/7 bombing survivor Professor John Tullock.

At the ceremony Professor Alice Roberts (pictured) said, “It’s an absolute delight and an honour to be receiving an honorary doctorate, and I’m really pleased to be here at Bournemouth University. I’ve made friends with a lot of Bournemouth University academics over the years and I’ve interviewed them for all sorts of different programmes on the BBC, and it was really nice to come here and catch up with those colleagues today. And to be here receiving my own doctorate is wonderful.”

Professor John Vinney, Vice-Chancellor of Bournemouth University, said, “I am delighted to be celebrating the success of our brilliant graduates once again. Graduation is one of the highlights of our university calendar and it fills me with pride to see so many students achieving their goal of attaining a degree. I hope that they will have long and successful careers and I know that they will continue to be valued members of the Bournemouth University community.”

The graduation ceremonies were also streamed online, where they were watched by around 5,500 viewers from 60 different counties.

BU graduate is Technical Lead at McLaren

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Bournemouth University graduate Jimmy Headdon is a Technical Lead for McLaren, working primarily in Formula 1 and other Motorsport fields, travelling the world to oversee the implementation and direction of motorsport software.

The path from university graduate to Technical Lead at McLaren was not straightforward, as Jimmy explains, “The six months following my graduation were spent re-adjusting to a non-academic life back home in Cornwall and the infamous graduate job hunt.  If I’m honest I was utterly lost as to which industry I wanted to start my career in, let alone one specific role.

“Fortunately I found a position at the Broadcast and Media Association where I had undertaken work experience several years before, based out of London.  They looked after me for three years and I had the pleasure of consulting [with] several blue chip companies around the world in this time.”

“London wasn’t for me though, and I decided to move back to a software development and architectural role similar to the industrial placement I undertook during my studies at BU.  I was now working for a telematics company designing web based applications for automotive insurance companies.  Whilst this was a valuable experience, I soon realised I belonged in a fast paced, challenging environment and therefore decided to push my luck applying for a software development role with McLaren Electronics.

“Three months later I was based in Woking at the McLaren Technology Centre applying my trade as a software engineer, working in numerous countries on an array of motorsport projects before progressing to where I am now.”

Jimmy left BU in 2008 with a degree in BSc (Hons) Business Information Systems Management and explains what his time at BU taught him. On the subject of what his course did to prepare him for his career at McLaren, Jimmy said, “The principles of applying yourself to a subject matter; analysing it from a different perspective and delivering something both valuable and unique.”

Jimmy continued, “[It was great] having the opportunity to work with some astoundingly talented and insightful people [at BU] who taught me the importance of balancing academia and socialising; predominantly at the beach!”

Now at McLaren Electronics, Jimmy is currently positioned as a technical lead for a software product which is used worldwide to provide accurate and complex data for Formula 1 and Motorsports industries.  Jimmy said, “I have technical authority over the direction of this [software] product and how we integrate with our customers systems, which are inherently complex and operate in an [environment] with zero patience for failures.”

Jimmy was also on hand to offer advice to current Bournemouth University students as they study towards their dream careers, “It’s easy to overlook the fundamentals when you are trying to stand out from the crowd.

“Take the time to learn your chosen speciality from the ground-up, you’ll likely be thrown in at the deep end when you find a position and those fundamentals will give you the confidence to ask questions and show your competence in the area.  You’ll have plenty of time to expand your domain knowledge, it’s the fundamentals that people often overlook when starting out.”