Campus News
The university receives Stand Alone Pledge Award
December 13th, 2023
The award recognises our work to support estranged students, and this year’s awards were focussed on driving institutional change and embedding institutional policy and practise.
The university signed the Stand Alone Pledge in August 2022 as a mark of commitment to our estranged students.
Following the fantastic work of our Accommodation, Widening Participation, Funding and Finance, and Support and Wellbeing teams, the university has received the Stand Alone Pledge Award in three categories: Finance; Accommodation; and Mental Health and Wellbeing.
The awards recognise the following developments for our estranged students:
- Accommodation Bursary – provides eligible first year care experienced and estranged students with support to cover the costs of their university accommodation.
- Guarantor scheme – supports care experienced and estranged students who wish to move into private accommodation from their second year.
- Care Experienced and Estranged Bursary – offers up to £2,000 per year for eligible students starting in September 2023.
- Dedicated staff to support care experienced and estranged students in our Widening Participation, Support and Wellbeing, and ResX teams. These teams offer support at pre-application and arrival, and throughout their studies.
Vikki Welch, Associate Director Student Living, said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have been recognised by StandAlone for the initiatives we have implemented across the Student Living teams. The implementation of the Accommodation Bursary scheme has been a career highlight for me and I am hugely proud of our commitment to supporting and encouraging applicants from a care and estranged background to flourish here at Nottingham”.
Visit the Stand Alone Pledge website to find out more about our commitment.
Tags: awards, care experienced students, estranged students, stand alone, stand alone pledge, student support
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Update to university’s home web page
December 12th, 2023
The university is making some iterative changes to our homepage to provide an exceptional online experience for our users.
These updates are designed to enhance engagement, simplify navigation, and ensure that our flagship content around recruitment and research takes centre stage.
What’s new
User-centric design: More than 60% of our homepage visitors want to explore study options, rising to more than70% during high recruitment periods like Clearing. We’ve revamped the design to create a clear and intuitive navigation path tailored for key audiences—students, parents, and teachers.
Streamlined experience: Embracing good user-experience (UX) principles, we’ve eliminated heavy-loading content to enhance page speed and reduce size. We have removed the video to prioritise a more interactive and user-friendly experience to drive engagement rates.
Strategic priorities: Our homepage now serves as simplified and attractive shop window, focusing on key strategic priorities – student recruitment, course search, popular links, campaigning, and a hero message.
Research and reputation: Homepage visitors keen to engage with our research will now see one hero story and three research priorities. This helps them to navigate direct to our research landing page and microsite.
Essentials: A simplified top navigation and footer with News and Events. Stay informed with key stories and events, linked directly to their respective homepages.
Nicola Anderton, Director of Digital and Marketing, said: “Our goal is simple – to provide an attractive shop window that not only showcases our strategic priorities but also ensures a swift and enjoyable journey to the content our users are seeking.
“By enhancing SEO across our site, improving engagement rates, and reducing bounce/exits, we’re confident that this revamped homepage will be a go-to gateway to all things recruitment, research, and beyond.”
Tags: home web page, university homepage, University website
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University of Nottingham honey
December 11th, 2023
Did you know that the university makes honey?
The university has around 70 bee colonies in total, each housing tens of thousands of honeybees. The university’s beehives are managed by professional bee farmer, Parks Apiaries and are located at King’s Meadow Campus in Lenton and at Bunny Park – arable farmland south of Nottingham used for a variety of university research.
The flavour and colour of the two varieties reflect the different landscape settings. The King’s Meadow honey is predominantly multi-floral, with bees foraging in the nearby King’s Meadow local nature reserve, University Park, the city centre and beyond as honeybees can travel up to several miles in search of food.
Honeybees at Bunny Park collect nectar from crops such as field bean, but also from trees such as horse chestnut, lime and hawthorn. The bees help increase pollination enhancing biodiversity and once the honey is extracted, it is bottled in its raw state. It’s simply filtered through a nylon mesh, so keeps its valuable enzymes with pollens.
Find out more about encouraging wildlife
By encouraging wild bees into your garden you can help to address concerns about declining bee populations and the impact on crop pollination and food security. To find out how you can help, take a look at The Wildlife Trust’s tips.
Visit the Wildlife Trust website
Buy university honey
University of Nottingham honey is available to buy at the following outlets across campus:
University Park
- SPAR, Portland Building
- SUstainable shop, Portland Building
- Portland Clothing Co, Portland Building
- Trent Cafe, Trent Building
- Coates Cafe
- Hipps Cafe, Medical School
Jubilee Campus
- SPAR, Exchange Building
- Aspire Cafe
Sutton Bonington
- Costcutter
King’s Meadow
- Costa Coffee
Each pot costs £5 and proceeds will go on to fund environmental initiatives at the university.
Tags: Honey, university honey
Posted in Announcements, Environment, News | 1 Comment »
Funding call open for International Women’s Day 2024 events
December 11th, 2023
As part of the university’s ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, we are inviting applications to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Applying for local funding
International Women’s Day (IWD) takes place each year on 8 March and at the University of Nottingham we will be celebrating IWD throughout the month of March.
This year’s theme is #InspireInclusion and you can find out more about this international campaign on the IWD website.
We are inviting the entire university to be part of this conversation and show how you are breaking gender stereotypes.
Why not share a photo and caption on the 8 March using #InspireInclusion, #WeAreUoN, #IWD_UoN.
Funding will be awarded to host local events or activities to a maximum of £200.
Applications will be assessed according to how closely the proposed activity or event align with one or more of: the Inspire Inclusion theme; the People and Culture Strategy 2023 – 2028; and our EDI Priorities for 2023/24. We will also prioritise applications likely to have the widest impact.
For applications, please complete this form by Friday 26 January 2024.
Everyone who applies will be notified of whether they have been awarded funding by Friday 2 February 2024.
For guidance on running EDI events, please see the EDI events toolkit.
You can find inspiration from previous International Women’s Day events here.
Not all events and projects celebrating International Women’s Day will require funding. However, we are asking anyone who wants to host an event or deliver a project to complete the application form so we can promote the event wider to the university community.
This is so that the team know about all the great activities that are taking place and can offer any other support and advice and to promote the event wider.
Tags: edi, Funding for events, International Women's Day, International Women's Day 2024, IWD, IWD events
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How to save energy this winter
December 11th, 2023
Over the Christmas holiday period, the university spends around £320,000 on electricity despite being closed. On Christmas Day itself, we still manage to use 65% of our average annual daily energy consumption! This isn’t environmentally or financially sustainable.
Energy costs continue to rise for everyone. The university’s energy bill has gone from £14m in 2020/2021 to an eye-watering expected £33m this year. This is a significant budget pressure for the university and every extra £1 spent on energy could be directed towards our core business and to supporting staff and students.
Actions we’ve taken to save energy
The Sustainability Team and Estate Office have accelerated work this year to drive down our carbon emissions and energy use, whilst at the same time providing warm places in which to work and study.
For example, we have upgraded LED lighting, ultra–low temperature freezers and chemical storage units and high-efficient air compressors.
Our asset replacement program has invested in new boiler heating systems, roof and insulation replacements, and improved our building management system (BMS) to optimise building’s heating and reduce waste, plus much more.
Despite all this we are still seeing a significant increase in energy costs. Work is ongoing but we also need the help of everyone to meet our energy and carbon reduction targets.
Your actions matter
We all have responsibility to act sustainably to reduce our environmental impact. When it comes to saving energy:
- Switch off lights and electrical appliances fully when not needed, especially overnight and when the university is closed over Christmas. Follow our checklist to switch off your area before the holidays. Ask permission if you are unsure
- Avoid using portable electric heating devices – if your space feels cool contact the Estates helpdesk
- Keep doors and windows closed when the heating is on and close windows at the end of the day
- Report faults that are leading to excessive use or waste of energy to the Estates helpdesk
- Put up posters and stickers to remind people to switch off. Contact the sustainability team to obtain some
- Identify additional steps your department could take to reduce energy and establish a building shut down manager if needed. The sustainability team can provide advice on how you can go about this.
Laboratories are our most energy intensive areas where additional savings can be made. Please:
- Make sure that someone is responsible for shutting down labs in your area
- Use the labs energy saving checklist and labs shut down information
- Timer switches, reminder stickers for equipment and posters are available to help
- Where possible, fume cupboards will be turned off over the winter break
- Get involved in LEAF within labs.
Contact the sustainability team for more information on any of the above.
Take a look at what else you can do to save energy on campus and at home this winter.
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Vice-Chancellor’s Medal 2023 – winners announced
December 11th, 2023
The exceptional achievements and service of staff and students have been recognised with this year’s annual award of the Vice-Chancellor’s Medal.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Medal recognises those who have delivered the most exceptional achievement or made the most outstanding contribution to our university community.
For colleagues in faculty and professional services, the Medal recognises impact delivered through research; exceptional teaching for students; and service to Nottingham’s communities at home and across the globe.
For our students, the Medal recognises personal achievements and service to fellow students including contributions to life in halls; student societies and sporting clubs; representation of the student body; or volunteering in the community.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shearer West congratulated each of this year’s winners. She said: “I extend my heartfelt congratulations to this year’s remarkable recipients.
“Your achievements reflect the essence of our collective pursuit of knowledge, innovation, and positive impact.
“Your dedication, outstanding contributions, and collaborative spirit have not only enriched our academic community but have also set a standard of excellence for all.
“As we celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of our staff, students, and teams, let us be inspired by their success and continue to strive for excellence in all that we do.”
A full list of staff, student and team winners of the Vice-Chancellor’s Medal is available at VC Medal 2023 – Listing.
This year’s recipients of the Vice-Chancellor’s Medal were handed their awards at a special ceremony in the Senate Chamber, Trent Building on Monday 4 December 2023.
Tags: vc medal, VC Medal winners, Vice-Chancellor's Medal, Vice-Chancellor's Medal 2023
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Work to improve potholes around campus due to start
December 7th, 2023
The university’s Estates Team will be beginning a programme of work over the next few weeks to improve some of the more significant potholes around our UK campuses.
Using feedback gathered from reports by road users, the team have compiled a list of most impactful potholes and have identified and prioritised them accordingly.
A contractor has been appointed to carry out the works, which are scheduled to be complete over the next two – four weeks, subject to suitable weather.
Areas with significant potholes identified include:
University Park
- Bottom of Jubilee Avenue near Florence Boot Hall
- North Exit, out bound near the gate house
- Entrance to Cripps Annexe
- Ancaster car park
- Physics car park
Sutton Bonington
- Entrance to Car Park 4, near Phytotron/Agronomy Store
Jubilee
- Access road outside of Melton Hall
- Car park behind Sports Centre
The team anticipates that work to repair the potholes will take place outside of peak traffic times, with maintenance vans, temporary barriers and traffic management in place during the repairs.
These should only cause minor delays to traffic and we thank people for their patience and understanding during this time.
The team can’t tackle every imperfection at once, but hopefully the work in the next few weeks will make an improvement to how people travel around campus.
A wider resurfacing repairs plan has also been proposed and could be implemented later this financial year or early next.
For any questions or queries, please contact Mark Buckby in the Estates Team
Tags: Potholes, road repairs, road safety, roadworks
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New Race Equality Charter chairs and steering group announced
December 7th, 2023
The university is pleased to announce the launch of our new Race Equality Charter steering group, chaired by Dr Kelly Vere (Director of Technical Strategy) and Professor Jasmeet Kaler (Race Equality Theme Lead).
In June 2021, the university made a successful submission for a Bronze Award for the Race Equality Charter (REC).
This submission was an important and difficult step in our understanding of the systemic racism experienced by our racially minoritised staff and student community. This process helped us to identify actions to address inequality within the university and we are committed to making long-term, meaningful change.
Jasmeet was involved in the original REC submission and has been involved in numerous race equality initiatives. Kelly is experienced in creating meaningful university and sector-wide change through initiatives like the Technicians’ commitment.
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- Dr Kelly Vere
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- Professor Jasmeet Kaler
Kelly said: “Something that’s very important to me is the need to ensure that all colleagues have an equitable, fair and fulfilling work experience here at the university. I firmly believe that race equality work is something we should all be doing, and I want to see us be ambitious and make a real difference in this space.”
Jasmeet said: “I am very excited and grateful to lead this group alongside Kelly. It’s important to me that this group is authentic, we build up our evidence base and understand what creates change. On a personal level, my daughter is going to university very soon and I want to live in a society where I can tell her that she will have an equitable experience.”
We are committed to making meaningful, structural, and long-lasting change at the University with the ambition of becoming an anti-racist institution. We know this will take time, hard work, and dedication from everyone – from our senior leaders to our students, and every single colleague on every single campus.
We’d like to take a moment to thank the people who were involved in previous iterations of the group for their hard work and commitment. We especially want to thank those who have been, and continue to be, our critical friends. We need our community to hold us to account – to tell us when we get things wrong, but also to help steer us and tell us where our priorities should lie.
We know there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in what is a fast-moving area for work and dialogue, where we often don’t have the ‘correct’ answer. We are committed to being brave, trialling new things, learning from when we get things wrong and sharing the lessons learnt. We know that some of our action plan is already obsolete, so we’d love to hear from colleagues who are doing work to embed anti-racism in their departments or in their teaching.
The group met for the first time in October and will be meeting termly with focus on improving the existing action plan and creating meaningful change. The group has representatives from the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Staff Network, teaching and research leadership, HR, the Students’ Union, and different Professional Services departments.
If you want to get involved, please get in touch with Kelly, Jasmeet, or Eli Todorova (EDI Manager and co-theme lead for race equality).
Current membership of group
- Jasmeet Kaler, Race Equality co-theme lead
- Kelly Vere, University Director of Technical Strategy
- Eli Todorova, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion manager and Race equality co-theme lead
- Amrina Kaur, Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic staff network co-chair
- Andrew Fisher, University Senior Tutor
- Namra Mansoor, Curriculum Design Manager
- Nagamani Bora, Academic Lead for Degree Awarding Gap
- Sally Zhou, Researcher Training and Development Manager
- Musa Yusuff, Strategic Delivery Lead for Education and Student Experience and Access and Participation
- Tara De Cozar, Head of Internal Communications
- Janette Alvarado Cruz, Associate Director EDI – Student and Campus Life
- Katy Teasdale, Associate Director of Sport
- Noa Holt, Student Union member (Liberation Officer)
- Ella Benson-Roberts, Students’ Union member (BME Students’ Rep)
- Sam Rudd, Operations Manager (representative for Leadership and Management Academy Director and Professional Development Director)
- Alex Owusu, Placement Year Officer (representative for Director of Careers and Employability)
- Steven Macnamara, Strategic Delivery Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Claire Jagger, Associate Director of Organisational Development (Interim representative until HR Race equality lead has been recruited)
Tags: Race equality charter, Race Equality Charter steering group, REC
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University wins Silver Engage Watermark for approach to public engagement
December 7th, 2023
The university has been awarded a prestigious Silver Engage Watermark by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). The watermark recognises the university’s commitment to involving the public in its work and the sharing of knowledge, teaching and research.
Every year, the university engages and interacts with many thousands of people and organisations, sharing knowledge and insights from our research and teaching, and working with business and civic partners to co-produce innovative solutions to the challenges faced by society. The NCCPE’s Silver Engage Watermark indicates that engagement runs through the fabric of the University of Nottingham.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane Norman said: “I am delighted that the university’s commitment to public engagement has won national recognition.
“Our teaching and research is informed and enriched by interaction with the communities we serve. Public engagement is at the core of our mission as a civic university and our vision as a university without borders. It strengthens the value of our publicly funded research by ensuring it is informed by and addresses real-world experience, and offers students an opportunity to make a difference. By reaching out, sharing and co-creating knowledge we help build stronger communities and inspire young people to reach their potential.”
Stephen Meek, Director of the university’s Institute for Policy and Engagement, said: “Achieving the watermark is fantastic recognition and demonstrates to staff, students, partners, communities and funders the university’s commitment to embed public engagement in all that we do.
“So much work goes on this area across the university and the support of students, researchers and staff was instrumental in achieving the Silver Engage Watermark. The watermark is also an opportunity to focus our efforts and future plans.
“And the Silver Engage Watermark will add lustre to our 2024 Policy Impact and Public Engagement Awards, where we celebrate innovative, inspiring and impactful contributions in this areas by our staff.”
Public engagement: what we do
In the past year, University of Nottingham students, researchers, technicians and colleagues engaged with more than 22,000 people through festivals and public programmes such as the Nottingham Festival of Science and Curiosity, Science in the Park, which is held at Wollaton Hall, Pint of Science, which takes place in pubs, and Being Human, which highlights the ways in which the humanities can inspire and enrich our everyday lives.
More than 200,000 people engage annually with the university’s Lakeside Arts, our on-campus public arts centre and cultural programme and the university’s free-to-access public lectures, arts performances, exhibitions and museum education events were attended by more than 110,000 people in 2022/23. 
We teamed up with Nottingham City Council to introduce interactive, talking street furniture such as lamp posts, benches and even bins to gather views on what climate change means to local people, and how sharing how they can get involved in Nottingham’s goal to become the UK’s first carbon neutral city.
Heart and stem cell researchers from the university’s Biodiscovery Institute have taken their research into the community, working with artists, schools and primary schools to connect science, health, art and learning in innovative ways.
Public engagement: what to look out for
Castle Meadow Campus, the university’s new city-centre base, is providing access to innovation labs and digital resources to foster entrepreneurship and drive economic progress. Castle Meadow also provides the community with an inclusive space to help solve challenges through research projects, community initiatives and knowledge-sharing events.
City as Lab, which has exhibition and engagement space on Castle Meadow Campus, is connecting researchers, communities and partners to create, co-produce and test new ideas and digital technologies, focusing on real-world challenges in the Nottingham area. Projects include a study to further develop Nottingham’s thriving creative and digital industries, and helping Nottingham and Lincolnshire Credit Union to improve data management and better support people facing debt.
The university is supporting Nottingham’s bid to become a UNICEF child friendly city and is sponsoring and collaborating on Notts Youth Trends, a survey capturing the voices, opinion and hopes of 11-25 year-olds.
Tags: public engagement, Public Engagement Watermark, Public Engagement Watermark award, Watermark
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