MBE for LizThe year got off to a happy start with news that the Reverend Professor Elizabeth Stuart, former Vice-Chancellor of the University had received an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours for services to higher education. Liz, an internationally renowned theologian, served in various roles at the University for over 25 years including Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost. In October she received a further accolade as she was presented with an Honorary Doctorate from the University at a graduation ceremony held in the cathedral (pictured).
A report undertaken by the University of Winchester was instrumental in helping widen access to higher education for the children of Armed Forces personnel. Under the Radar, co-authored by Dr Liam Satchell, Lecturer in Psychology, prompted a re-think by the Office for Students, the government’s regulator charged with widening access to higher education. The OfS now includes service children in the measures it uses to monitor the diversity of universities’ intakes. The report was also evidenced in the University’s entry for the UK Social Mobility Awards. and helped Winchester gain a place on the shortlist, announced in July.
Call the MidwivesThe University also welcomed its first cohort of trainee Midwives (pictured) in January for the new BSc Hons in Midwifery and Midwifery Degree Apprenticeship. This month also saw the University host the Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA) Conference for the Southeast Region in the same month.
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Chancellor HughHugh Dennis, the comedian and actor best known for Outnumbered and Mock the Week, was announced as our new chancellor in February. He succeeded TV gardener and writer Alan Titchmarsh MBE, who served as Chancellor for six years. Hugh was officially installed in June and undertook his first graduation ceremony in October.
A new study, by academics at the University of Winchester and Bournemouth University, claiming impact sports, such as rugby and boxing, should be considered a form of abuse to a child’s brain hit the national headlines. Since the report’s publication there has been growing evidence to suggest professional rugby players have suffered long-term damage from collisions on the field and that repeated heading of the ball has led to high rates of dementia among retired footballers.
Mealtime scheme is a winnerThe Mealtime Assistant Volunteer Placement programme - created by Dr Emma Parsons, Senior Lecturer/Programme lead in Nutrition and Dietetics and Irantzu Arregui-Fresneda, Lecturer and Year 1 module lead for Dietetic Practice Education - received the Dame Barbara Clayton Award for Innovation form the British Dietetic Association (BDA). The placement allows students to begin clinical training in a hospital setting within their first semester. Working closely with volunteers at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT), dietetic students go on to wards as mealtime assistant volunteers to develop their communication and professionalism skills. The scheme received a second helping of acclaim when it scooped the Innovation Award at the 2024 HHFT People Award in June.
The University teamed up with local solicitors Dutton Gregory LLP to launch free family law advice sessions. Sessions proved popular, and a second series ran through November and December. Legal advice is provided free by qualified lawyers with law students on hand to assist, learn and observe.
Breaking Barriers, a new collection of writing celebrating the diversity of mental health and wellbeing was launched at University in March. It featured 100 personal accounts of mental ill health, recovery and connection, and was edited by the University’s Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences Dr Glenn Fosbraey and Creative Writing graduate Katie Pether.
The University was the main sponsor for the second Winchester Books festival which held its launch at the University in this month. The University was also a venue for several events during the festival, which took place in April, including a sell-out Whodunnit staged by Faculty of Law and Crime and Justice. As at the inaugural festival, students from Film and Media helped run events across the city.
Lim rewarded for making finance funSenior Lecturer in Accounting and Taxation Lim Teoh was named Public Sector Lecturer of the Year at the 2024 PQ Magazine Awards. An expert in taxation, Lim was praised for bringing his subject to life with the use of digital gaming technology. He was also shortlisted for THE Most Innovative teach of the Year Award this year.
Four MSc students from Winchester calling themselves ‘The AI-nsteins’ were runners-up in the Wessex APM (Association of Project Management) Challenge and were the top performing university team. This year’s theme was AI and the Winchester quartet of Holly Tate, Molly Hamilton, Owain Lloyd and Annie Ogle organised a successful AI Symposium at the West Downs Centre.
Dr Julian Stannard was awarded a prestigious literary prize in Italy. He was this year’s recipient of the Lerici Anglo-Liguria Prize, whose previous winners include Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. The prize goes to a poet who writes in English but who honours the literary traditions of the Lerici and Liguria area of north-west Italy. Julian spent several years as a lecturer at the University of Genoa and is well known in Italy where his bilingual poetry collection Sottoripa: Genoese Poems was a commercial and critical hit.
Red Squirrels may have passed leprosy onto humans in medieval times, a new study co-authored by academics from Winchester revealed in May. The report, published in Current Biology, was based on analysing DNA from 25 human and 12 squirrel bone samples found at the site of a medieval leprosy hospital at Magdalen Hill which has proved fertile ground for research. This year also saw broadcaster Dr Alice Roberts devote a whole chapter of her new book Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond to the leprosy hospital site.
Ofsted rated primary and secondary teacher training at Winchester 'Outstanding' across the board. Inspectors gave the University the top rating for its quality of education and training, leadership and management, and overall effectiveness. Their report said the University develops students who have a considerable breadth of confidence and competence to launch their teaching careers, and who will nurture pupils' “curiosity and wonder”. Pictured top: students celebrate the report.
Rising star LaurenFashion Business and Marketing student Lauren Watson won the Rising Star award at the first Maven Awards. The awards were organised by Maven, a co-working space for female entrepreneurs based in Winchester. Lauren and fellow Fashion Business and Marketing student Rachel Stenning were shortlisted for their work on the Charity Shop Chic Fashion Show, part of the city’s fashion week.
More than 150 delegates from six continents gathered at the University for a major international history conference in June. The University hosted “Britain and the World 2024” an annual global gathering for scholars working on Britain’s international connections. Historians from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania attended.
Grounds for a celebrationThe University was able to hoist the prestigious Green Flag after achieving the international quality mark for its King Alfred Campus. The Green Flag Award scheme - managed by Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government - recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces. King Alfred was one of just 30 university campuses across the UK to earn the honour.
Breath of fresh airA new picture book created to teach primary schoolchildren about the hazards of air pollution was shortlisted for a Green Gown Award in June. A Clean Air Cycle to School by Emily Jordan and Katt Grover (pictured) was commissioned by Southampton City Council. Glenn Fosbraey, Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences came up with the idea of combining the talents of two alumni - writer Emily, who is also a Student Recruitment Events Officer at the University, with artist, designer and poet Katt.
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Striking partnershipWinchester City Football Club and the University of Winchester announced their new partnership in August. Under the agreement the University gains exposure across the region as the first team’s away shirt sponsor and has promotional hoardings pitch side. However, the main aim of the partnership is to widen participation in sport and higher education, with a particular focus on deprived communities. There will also be placements at the club for Physiotherapy and Sports and Exercise Science students.
This was an important year for partnerships, as the University also signed agreements with Winchester Film Festival and Winchester Poetry Festival.
Library takes shape...A major government funded project to update and refurbish one of the University of Winchester’s most important learning resources – its library – reached the end of its first phase in August. A new interior design will see conventional book shelving replaced by roller racks to make room for a variety of study spaces for students and areas for group and collaborative work. Added features will include mock classrooms, a virtual interview room and a new courtyard kitchen with self-service facilities. New double glazing, insulation, ventilation, and lighting will make it a more pleasant place to study and a more energy-efficient building. The project, made possible by £5.8 million from the Office for Students, is due for completion in the summer of 2025.
Games changerSenior Lecturer in Journalism Angus Scott performed an important behind-the-scenes role at the Paralympics in Paris. Angus coached EastEnders and Strictly star Rose Ayling Ellis, who made TV history when she became the first deaf presenter to host live sport on UK television when she anchored Channel 4’s coverage of the games.
A new study by academics from the University of Winchester suggesting that dogs can be healthier on a vegan diet than the traditional meat-based one made headlines in September. Andrew Knight, a qualified vet and Visiting Lecturer in Animal Welfare, co-authored the study with Hazel Brown, Associate Dean of the University’s Faculty of Health and Wellbeing and Alexander Bauer of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
Registered Nurse Apprentice Bronwyn Flower-Bond was picked to be part of the prestigious Council of Deans for Health’s 150Student Leadership Programme. The programme aims to promote and develop leadership skills among the future generation of nurses, midwives and Allied Healthcare Professionals.
Two events involving the University helped shed light on the worlds of crime and punishment during the Cathedral’s Law Week Festival in early October. Death in the Cathedral, a Tudor whodunnit got the festival off to an exciting start and tested the public’s detection skills and Behind Closed Doors staged at the Stripe Auditorium took a close look at today’s criminal justice system, following the progress of the accused in murder case from charge to conviction and beyond.
Film festival winnerA short film made by four students from Winchester scooped an award at a festival in New York. Children of the Valley, made by third year Film Production students Benjamin Phillips, Ollie Trowern, Ben Dunks and Nathan Bloor, won the award for Best Ensemble Acting at the International Film Festival Manhattan. The quartet’s movie, made as their Final Major Project, was also a runner-up in the Best Student Film category.
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Graduation ceremonies filled Winchester Cathedral at the end of this month. More than 2,000 graduates stepped up to receive their certificates and they were joined by recipients of Honorary Doctorates, including One Show presenter Roman Kemp, TV sports presenter JJ Chalmers and record producer Giles Martin. The ceremonies marked the debut of Hugh Dennis as chancellor and also the first official duties of the University’s new Pro Chancellors – Maggie Carver, Major-General Alastair Bruce and Mohamed Bakhaty.
The night before Hallowe’en academics from across the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences scored a sell-out success with Dissecting Dracula at the Theatre Royal. The entertaining evening looked at the vampire in history, literature, psychology and classical mythology. A follow-up HSS event to celebrate St Valentine’s Day, 'For the Love Of…', is set to take place at the Theatre Royal on 13 February 2025.
Journalism students nominated for radio awardTwo University of Winchester journalism students were nominated for Community Radio Awards for their coverage of the General Election. Molly Keane and Guy Nicklinson reported live throughout election night from counts in Hampshire for a national student radio show which was a runner-up the category for 2024 General Election Coverage.
Inspiring first year Creative Writing student Stevie, aged 22, made a speech at House of Commons to a group of MPs about the issue of youth homelessness on behalf of the charity Step by Step. Stevie’s speech received plenty of media coverage and she appeared on BBC’s South Today.
PhD Scholar Yvette Obika travelled to New York where she addressed a UN meeting. Yvette joined speakers from all over the globe to give a presentation on Commodity Prices to a UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) workshop.
Alex is panto heroCreative Writing student Alex Emms was on hand to save the day when an amateur company found itself without a scriptwriter for its Christmas show. He penned a panto version of Peter Pan for the Nix Academy in Egham at very short notice when the original writer fell ill with the start of rehearsals looming. Versatile Alex travelled to Malta to collect his prize after winning the sci fi/fantasy category at the prestigious Plaza Prizes competition for which writers submit the first 5,000 words of an unpublished novel. Alex scooped £1,000 for his entry – a fantasy western, entitled Twice Gallowed.
Staff and recent graduates from the University of Winchester’s Film Production course helped bring to life the work of a charity striving to keep our beaches free of plastic. And the charity Final Straw were so pleased with the results that they entered Waves, Wind and Waste: A Battle to Save Our Beaches in the Smileys – the annual charity film awards. To vote for it, visit https://smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/waves-wind-and-waste-a-battle-to-save-our-beaches
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