Tag Archives: students

Time capsule – your ideas needed!

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To celebrate your fantastic new Student Centre, an official opening ceremony is being held in May. To commemorate the occasion, a time capsule will be placed within the stairwell on the ground floor – and will remain locked until 2065.

When students and staff open the capsule in 50 years’ time, we want them to know what life was like for students in 2015, and we want your ideas on what should be included.

The top three ideas will be placed in the capsule and the winners invited to the ceremony.

To send in your ideas, by Monday 11 May, Tweet @Bournemouthuni, comment on our Facebook page, or post an image on our Instagram page using #BUtimecapsule.

#BUProud: PhD students take on the Isle of Wight Challenge this weekend

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Sarah Noone and Laura Reynolds, PhD students in the BU Dementia Institute, are embarking on a 54km (33.6 miles) trek along the Isle of Wight coastal path this May Bank Holiday weekend, 2-3 May, as part of the Isle of Wight Challenge.

Sarah and Laura have been training for the Isle of Wight Challenge to help raise awareness of dementia, and undertake some fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Students help Colombian communities move on from violent past

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Five students from Bournemouth University (BU) have just completed four-week internships in Medellin, Colombia to volunteer with families and communities hoping to change perceptions of their country.

The BA Social Work students had the opportunity to complete their work placements in a kindergarten or an elderly person support centre. The kindergarten offers free placement for children under six, enabling them to give support and advice to families and communities who want to free themselves from the violent troubles of their past. The students were also able to work for Fundicol, a housing and support facility that helps elderly people that may have been abandoned or can no longer live alone.

The group was made up of first and second year BU students Karen Sampson, Gemma Chiverton, Georgia Foy, Cassie Dando and Michelle Lillywhite who were guided by the local Colombian social workers during their trip. One student, Karen Sampson said “We were told more don’ts than do’s. The warning of safety issues and possible hostility to tourists by local ‘guerrillas’ could not have been further from the truth.”

As well as the local social workers, the students received support from a local university as well to help them bridge the language gap. This allowed them to explore how organisations were coming together to overcome their historic issues. Sampson continued, “We were asked if it was safe and actually yes it was; as safe as anywhere here in the UK. It was suggested that we did not venture into certain areas alone at night but that is not dissimilar to some areas within the UK.”

The students were able to fund their trip thanks to the BU Global Horizon Fund, securing them £1,500 each to go towards their visit. Michelle Lillywhite said, “The whole experience was amazing and we need to bring back the message from Colombia  that asking for help is a positive move and does not mean people are weak or to be shunned. Families and individuals should be celebrated for understanding when support can make all the difference to empower themselves to be more independent.”

Jill Davey, a Social Work lecturer at BU, commented, “This was a great opportunity for our students to be exposed to the social work profession in different countries; to see the issues and care solutions in rural communities is a once in a life time opportunity. Our Social Work curriculum is centred around globalisation of the profession, but for these students to see it first hand and then share their experiences will be a great learning experience for other students too.”

By Charlotte Cranny-Evans

Charlotte is a graduate of Budmouth College in Weymouth, who is working at Bournemouth University in the Press and PR Department. She joined BU on a Sir Samuel Mico Scholarship, which provides 10 students from the college with work experience for four weeks over the summer.

BU Academic Rules and Regulations 2014-15

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bu-logoThe University’s Academic Rules and Regulations have now been published for the 2014-15 academic year.

This includes documents such as the assessment regulations for your programme. If you are a returning student, it is important that you familiarise yourself with any changes that will come into effect for your forthcoming academic year. A summary of key changes are available on the Rules and Regulations page on the Student Portal and will also be referred to in your e- newsletter once the new academic year has begun. If you need to access documents or information relating to the 2013-14 academic year, please contact your programme administrator for help.

Calling all businesses: BU needs you…

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Are you struggling to manage your business social media accounts and online presence?

It wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t think that all your competitors are online and doing a better job than you are. This could be easily solved by allowing our students at Bournemouth University to propose solutions to your problems as part of an assessed unit assignment this Autumn.

Whether you need to increase traffic to your website, keep customers on your website for longer, make people read your blog more often, improve your Facebook page engagement, increase Twitter customer service positive replies or introduce new social media platforms into your marketing and communication mix (YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Flickr, LinkedIn, Forums) our students can help.

2nd year Advertising, Marketing, PR, Politics and Media undergraduate students at Bournemouth University will be working offline and in pairs to pitch solutions to your social media marketing and communication challenges. You can then implement any of proposals by working with the pairs who created them as an “extra-curricular” project.

Please contact Liam Toms for further information (ltoms@bournemouth.ac.uk) if you are interested in participating.

BU WWI Film Set for Leicester Square Premiere

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A film created by Bournemouth University students and set during the First World War is to premier in Leicester Square.

The Journal is a fiction film about a man called Blake, who finds a diary written by his Great-Grandfather during the First World War. The film is a flashback account of deception and honour.

The film was created by Bournemouth University Television Production students eager to enhance their learning through the summer months. Keen to tie in with the 100 year anniversary of the First World War, the team set about creating the film.

First year student and Journal Director Tim Mizon said, “We wanted to create a film that can catch the eye of the audience. We took on crowd funding first and raised nearly £3,000 – getting sponsorship from a number of executive producers. The team were so dedicated that they also contributed to the funding of the project. We are all passionate film makers and we wanted to make a film that we can take away and be proud of.”

The film is due to be premiered at Leicester Square on 25th October, and the first screening sold out within two hours of ticket release.

Tim continued, “A group of television 1st year students wanted to create a film during term time to create more opportunities for ourselves and to really take advantage of creating films before we depart from student life.

“We filmed in France and Belgium within the grave sites. I found a trench that was constructed by BBC Time Team’s investigator Andrew Robertshaw. He supported us with the 60ft trench, with costumes and weapons. We then moved location to Yorkshire to film the final scenes inside a house.”

Looking back on the film so far and how far it has come, Tim concluded, “We are very pleased with the success we have had so far, we still have one more scene to go but we are really proud with what we have achieved.  As a crew we are excited to be showing our film in such a prestigious area where Hollywood films are premiered.”

You can view the trailer for the film on YouTube and more information about the film can be found at www.thejournalfilm.com.

Highlights from BU’s Festival of Design and Innovation

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A range of gadgets and technological advances designed to make an impact on society were showcased during Bournemouth University’s Festival of Design and Innovation.

The exhibition showcased the work of final year Design, Engineering and Creative Technology students.

This year, displays included a tunnel boring machine for laying cable, an atmospheric respirator, a trailer for use with hovercrafts and a product for treating jaundice in babies.

As part of their projects, students were encouraged to think about market needs, functionality, engineering, sustainability and style when creating their products.

Final year Music and Audio Technology student, Asha Blatherwick, spoke about her product, known as the SenseEgg.

“It’s basically an egg shaped device with loads of sensors that wirelessly communicates with the computer and is aimed at children with special needs. The idea is to provide them with another way to interact with music, rather than just using traditional instruments.

When asked about her inspiration for the creation, Asha said, “I did my placement in a special needs school so I think my inspiration came from that. I wanted to find a way to make it easier for students and teachers to communicate. The Festival has provided a good platform for lots of different people to see the product and interact with it.”

Alongside technology like the SenseEgg, were games reminiscent of Pokémon. Static Games Gameplay Programmer, Ryan Pinfield, spoke of his team’s contribution to the Festival – Mendel’s Farm.

“I’m part of a team of seven Games Technology students on our placement year at BU. We are a new company, just started in July 2013, which makes video games and is also client based as well.

“Our game is a resource management game that puts the player in charge of a failing farm. Their task is to keep the farm afloat, but there is a twist in that the animals can breathe fire or have other such mutant powers.

“As you progress through the levels, you unlock more mutations. We’ve been working on it for a year now and it is constantly updating. Hopefully the game will be released by the end of the year and we are looking forward to people’s responses.”

Speaking about the festival and the opportunity it provides students like Asha and Ryan, Professor Jim Roach, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, said, “The Festival of Design and Innovation is where education meets industry and commerce, providing a showcase for our students’ skills in design and innovation. We take great pride in the quality of the project work and the ability of our students to employ the latest technology in the design of solutions to real problems.

“Many of the projects are the direct result of industrial collaboration, a successful placement year or are linked to one of our research centres. It is great to see our students working on a huge range of exciting, innovative and creative projects.”

BU students land dream opportunity to work at FIFA World Cup

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Five BU students have been given the chance of a lifetime to work at the FIFA World Cup

Working with local PR company, The Milk Round Ltd, five BU students have been given the chance to help run an online information service at the FIFA World Cup. The service alerts television broadcasters, such as the BBC and ITV, to recommended match and story footage during the world’s biggest football tournament.

Footage is being filmed by 32 cameras at each of the 12 match venues and stories are being gathered by more than 40 specialist news crews that are traveling between the venues.

The Milk Round director, Steve Webb, is the senior producer on the project and he is working with a team of eight publishers – five of which are students from Bournemouth University. The Milk Round team is based at the FIFA International Broadcaster Centre in Rio de Janeiro.

“We’re thrilled to be playing such an important role in the TV production at one of the world’s largest sporting events,” Steve said. “Normally we would expect to recruit publishers – with experience on television production and multimedia publishing – in London, but it’s been really pleasing that we’ve found such exceptional candidates in Bournemouth.

“Working at the FIFA World Cup is a terrific opportunity for our publishers and their experiences in Brazil will definitely benefit them in their future careers.”

The selected students are Jasper Taylor, who graduates this year with a degree in multimedia journalism, Charley Packham, who will be starting her final year of the BA (Hons) Television Production in September, and Evie Baudains, Claire Buswell and Tobias Jenn, who are graduating this year with degrees in Television Production.

Speaking about their time in Brazil so far, Claire Buswell said, “The 2014 Brazil World Cup is a once in a lifetime eye opening experience, and to be here in the international broadcasting centre is one of the most exciting atmosphere´s I have had the pleasure to be a part of. Thank you BU for this opportunity.”

Evie Baudains, who has been a part-time pie seller at AFC Bournemouth for the last three years, is enjoying her Brazilian experience. The Cherries fan said: “Working at the biggest football event on earth is a bit different to my Saturday job at Dean Court. Being in Brazil gives all of us the perfect opportunity to put what we’ve learned at university into practice.”

Project India coverage of Indian elections

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A project to report on and catalogue the Indian elections is underway at Bournemouth University.

Project India aims to give an alternate take on the 2014 Indian elections by focussing on voices not always picked up by mainstream media. Work is carried out by a team of students from Bournemouth University (BU), in collaboration with students and staff from other universities in India and the UK.

Stories are written and collated on the Project India website, and students are also encouraged to submit work to the project’s two media partners; rediff.com and WoNoBo.com, both based in India.

The project also seeks to research the traditional and new Medias used by politicians and voters during the elections, to provide in-depth analysis of the part that media has played in the historic election race.

This research will also look at the way politicians present themselves through media and how Indian citizens relate and react to the election through media and social media. Particular attention will be given to how the election is being covered in the margins, and how previously unheard voices in the media will come out through the elections.

Dr Ana Adi, Head of International Development at Bournemouth University and one of the coordinators of the project, said, “We had a wonderful experience with the US 2012 elections where students from Bournemouth University worked together to create coverage of the elections. Using the good practice acquired during the project, and considering our growing interest and number of connections in India, we found it timely to consider a similar project that enabled us to have an alternative look into the Indian Parliamentary Elections.”

Dr Adi continued, “Project India is a great example of international cooperation that brings together education, practice and research. We are proud that the project involves undergraduate and postgraduate students from various degrees, as well as researchers and practicing journalists.”

As a part of the project, students are encouraged to research the latest developments in the election and create unique and interesting multimedia content – often providing an alternative viewpoint of how the elections are affecting the country and how Indian citizens are responding to these political developments.

Stories written so far include a look at how Tibetans living in Delhi are voting in the elections for the first time and how talking about gay rights is still a taboo during the 2014 election race.

The other universities partnering with BU for the project are the University of Madras, Chennai; Amity University, Uttar Pradesh; University of Mumbai, Mumbai; and the University of Bedfordshire.

The project has already received significant interest from the UK and abroad, and is due to be covered by BBC World Service in the coming weeks.

For more information can be found on the Project India website or through social media on Facebook and Twitter.

Top London PR Agency run workshop at BU

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Leading London PR Agency Bell Pottinger ran a workshop at Bournemouth University (BU) aiming to give students an insight into the PR industry and assist them with their studies.

James Gater, Associate Partner at Bell Pottinger lead the first hour of the workshop, which focused on the Science of PR. Gater said he wanted students to understand that “the concept of public relations is a hybrid combination of head and heart”.

Gater, who studied PR at BU said, “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at BU. The thing it has above other universities is that it has a very practical and pragmatic approach to education, and focused firmly on getting people employment”.

Luke Chauvaeu, Partner at Bell Pottinger drew upon his extensive industry experience, leading the second presentation of the session focusing on ‘the guts’ of PR. Chauvaeu said “I’ve been entertained and had a very engaging team of people in terms of this afternoon’s lecture. Everyone’s been welcoming!”

After the presentations the students were set an interactive pitching activity, aimed to prepare them for the working world of PR and increase their professional presentation skills.

Dr John Oliver, Associate Professor of Media Management at BU said, “Hopefully the day has given students a chance to showcase their talents and exposure to a top agency. We have seen really high quality work from students today”.

Pippa Chester, a final year student at BU who took part in the session, said, “It’s really good to have people from a top communications agency. It says a lot about the course that they’ve come to Bournemouth.”

Hilary Stepien, Programme Leader of PR at BU said that she hopes “people will take away knowledge that there is a whole world of PR out there beyond consumer stuff. We would love to have them back again next year as the session would benefit any PR student at any level of their studies”.