Campus News
Malaysia Campus 15th anniversary – this week’s highlights
September 21st, 2015
To celebrate our 15-year anniversary as the first UK university to establish an overseas campus in Malaysia, we’ve asked staff and students who’ve spent time there for their memories.
- Former UNMC Student Association President and new Google employee, Ben Hunte tells us three things from his time in Malaysia that have changed his life (so far) in the latest anniversary blog post
- We also have a round-up post of all the contributing stories to date to mark the celebrations
- More facts and milestones about the campus’ early days, as we celebrate its 15th anniversary, are published on Twitter
If you have a story to tell on your experiences at UNMC, please contact emma.lowry@nottingham.ac.uk, and you will be put into a prize draw for travel vouchers worth £200.
Follow the celebration campaign on Twitter #UNMC15.
Tags: Malaysia, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, UNMC, UNMC15
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Want to get fit? Follow the University’s new outdoor Active Trail
September 18th, 2015
The University of Nottingham is inviting students, staff and local residents to work up a sweat by trying out its very latest outdoor Active Trail – which extends over one and half miles around its campus.
This latest investment in sport by the University is an innovative trail featuring five fitness stations which offer small group training facilities for people of all abilities in the beautiful setting of its University Park campus in Beeston.
Designed especially for outdoor training, the new trail offers a range of body weight training stations including Dip/Leg raises, pull up stations, arc traverses, and press and row stations – to name a few, allowing for upper body, lower body, core and full body workouts.
Free demonstrations
On Tuesday 22 September to mark the start of Welcome Week, sports teams and staff from the University will be on hand to give students and staff demonstrations on how to use the new trail.
A day of 30-minute training tutorials will also be offered to introduce users to fun, energetic workout sessions, starting on the hour between 10am and 4pm at fourth fitness station. Everybody will be invited to participate in some fun challenges on the equipment with the chance of winning some great prizes.
Samantha Bell-Minogue, Assistant Director of Sport (Participation), at the University, said: “The Active Trail enhances our offer for both students and staff providing them with access to free fitness equipment at a time that is convenient to them. We look forward to engaging with a wider population of our community and hope that it will encourage more people to become active in new and innovative ways in the outdoor environment across our exceptional green campus.”
First-class training facilities
In the absence of personal trainers, users of the Active Trail can refer to either placards on the stations that clearly outline proper use of the equipment, or they can use QR codes via their mobile phones to access tutorial videos online.
The Active Trail was installed by sports equipment company Life Fitness UK. Craig Cocking, UK Vertical Sector Manager, Life Fitness, explains: “As the popularity of outdoor fitness continues to grow, we’ve teamed up with The University of Nottingham to make more use of its green space so it benefits both students and staff as well as the wider community.
“The installation of SYNRGY BlueSky provides a fantastic alternative to indoor workouts and together with the University, we’re encouraging both students, staff and local people to take advantage of the first-class training facilities on their doorstep so they can enjoy a more active and healthier lifestyle.”
David Ross Sports Village
This latest investment by the University into its sporting facilities follows the start of construction earlier this year on its £40m new sports complex on University Park, called the David Ross Sports Village.
The new development, which is due for completion in summer 2016, will help to deliver the University’s ambition to increase participation in sport at all levels, from encouraging children to experience a range of new sporting pastimes, through to the enhancement of elite performance at a national and international level.
More information
Take a look at a map of the Active Trail for more details and locations.
Tags: Active Trail, David Ross Sports Village, health, sport, staff, student, trim trail, University Park
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How do you present an 80,000 word thesis in just three minutes?
September 16th, 2015
It may sound like an audacious attempt to enter the Guinness World Records hall of fame but a University of Nottingham engineering student has done just that to win a national prize at the Vitae Researcher Development International Conference.
Zaid Janjua, Civil Engineering PhD, fought off strong competition to win the Vitae 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) 2015 prize at the conference held in Manchester last week.
The 3MT competition challenges PhD researchers to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.
The University of Nottingham was one of 48 universities in the UK to hold an internal competition in 2015, organised by the Graduate School. The winners of each local competition then submitted a video presentation to the Vitae national competition. Zaid was one of just six finalists shortlisted and then faced the task of presenting his research in the live final at the conference:
Entitled ‘On thin ice!’, Zaid’s presentation summarised his research into producing an anti-ice coating for aircraft wings. The build-up of ice on the wings of a plane, or ‘icing’, is often a factor in aircraft accidents and between 2006 and 2010, 292 flight accidents were attributed to icing in the USA alone.
Zaid was chosen as the judges’ winner, receiving £3k to spend on public engagement activities, as well as the People’s Choice Winner, voted for by attendees via a conference app. Dr Tom Parsons, Research Training & Development Manager at The University of Nottingham said ‘We’re very proud of what Zaid has achieved, we worked with him throughout the process and are delighted with the outcome’.
Zaid said ‘I feel honoured not just for myself but my parents, my supervisor Dr. Barbara Turnbull, co-supervisors Dr. Stephen Hibberd and Prof. Kwing-So Choi, Dr Tom Parsons form the Graduate School, friends, extended family and the entire University of Nottingham. This is truly an example of great team work and I hope to make the University proud many more times in the future’
He plans to use part of the prize money to visit schools in the UK to educated children about the topic of his research and the benefits of pursuing science. Part of the money will also be used for travelling to conference to further publicise his research.
Tags: 3MT, aeroplane, aircraft, aircraft accidents, award, de-ice, icing, prize, public engagement, research, Researcher Development International Conference, student achievement, Three minute thesis, video, Vitae, Zaid Janjua
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Nottingham soars in global university rankings
September 15th, 2015
The University of Nottingham has been ranked amongst the top universities in the world in the QS World University Rankings.
In the latest results, Nottingham has improved by seven places, up from 77th in 2014 to joint 70th in 2015, placing the University amongst the top 1% of global universities. Domestically, the University placed 14th out of just 75 UK universities included in the rankings.
The most recent rankings particularly emphasise Nottingham’s academic reputation and the international diversity of staff and students. The University also scored very highly in the assessment of its reputation amongst graduate employers, placing 45th in the world.
The University is consistently named as one of the most targeted institutions by leading graduate employers and was also named as the number one university in the UK for job prospects at the WhatUni Student Choice awards in April 2015.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Greenaway said ‘The latest QS league table again emphasises the excellent value that this university offers its students as well as the global impact of our world-class researchers and staff.’
‘Our significant improvement in a leading and globally recognised ranking reflects the hard work of our talented students, dedication of our excellent staff and our continued investment in people, infrastructure and innovation to ensure the very best environment in which to study and work.’
The QS World University Rankings have been published since 2004, taking into account academic reputation, research impact, employer reputation, teaching commitment and international diversity. The twelfth edition of the rankings assessed over 120,000 survey responses and also established a new approach to measuring research impact.
In December 2014, the Research Excellence Framework ranked Nottingham eighth in the UK for research power, confirming the University’s place in the top tier of the world’s elite higher education institutions. The QS World University Rankings further endorse this position with all five faculty areas ranked within the world top 125: Life Sciences and Medicine (=67th), Social Sciences & Management (=76th) and Arts and Humanities (=90th), Engineering& Technology (=116th), and Natural Sciences (=124th).
Tags: global reputation, league tables, QS World Rankings, QS World University Rankings, WhatUni Student Choice Awards, world rankings
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Earn £8.57 an hour as a University student telephone fundraiser
September 14th, 2015
From October this year, you could be part of the University’s celebrated and high-achieving Student Telephone Fundraising team!
We are currently recruiting to fill a team of 70 students to telephone our alumni, talk with them about their time at Nottingham and seek their support for University of Nottingham scholarships.
It’s a great way of getting to know more about your University, the UoN community around the world and what the future can hold. All this, and you’ll be raising money for students who need assistance in getting a world-class education.
Pay is an excellent £8.57 an hour (including holiday pay) and you will receive full training and develop marketable career skills.
Email annual-giving@nottingham.ac.uk for further information and an application form. The closing date for completed applications is Monday 28 September, but early applications are encouraged.
Tags: alumni, Campaign and Alumni Relations Office, fundraising, job, money, student, Student Telephone Fundraising Team
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Project Strategy 2020 Organisation Design
September 10th, 2015
Project Transform is set to change the way the University is structured, with some administrative staff moving from central departments and schools and faculties into student service centres. The management structure and job roles required to run the service centres are currently being designed as part of Project Transform.
Administrative roles which remain in faculties, schools and some central departments will also be affected by the changes to the systems and structures which Transform will introduce. A new project — Project Strategy 2020 Organisation Design — is currently working to define how administrative roles outside the scope of Project Transform will be structured in faculties, schools and departments. This will ensure that academics and central services are fully supported during the transition to and following the launch of the new system.
The Project Strategy 2020 Organisation Design steering group, chaired by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Karen Cox, is leading this work. Two sub groups, covering faculties and Professional Services, will develop proposals that will be presented at the UEB Away Day at the end of October.
For more information on the project, its scope, principles and next steps, read the project output report by Prof Cox.
Tags: Global Strategy 2020, Karen Cox, organisation design, Project Strategy 2020 Organisation Design, Project Transform, staff, Strategy 2020, University Executive Board
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Your #MeantToBe winners
September 9th, 2015
This summer we asked our students to share their #MeantToBe moments – the time that they took a step back and realised ‘The University of Nottingham is where I’m meant to be’.
We received lots of fantastic entries celebrating friendships, achievements, academic success and of course, our beautiful campuses. It’s clear that The University of Nottingham means something different to everyone of our students.
Each of our winners takes away a £500 Amazon voucher. Our runners-up claim one of our fantastic prizes celebrating the best that Nottingham has to offer: a meal for two at Annie’s Burger Shack, a night of ping pong and pizza at Das Kino, a free meal at Five Guys and a free game at Cryptology live escape rooms.
Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you to everyone who shared their #MeantToBe moments.
The winners
Amy Summers
So, I’m entering this#meanttobe #UoN thing!! Warning – this will sound very, very cheesy… �� but it’s honestly so true. My #meanttobe moment at the University of Nottingham: It was a Friday afternoon in February, we’d finished our lectures for the week and the three of us went for a walk around the campus, visited the beautiful millennium gardens, the lake and Highfields park, where we’d wanted to go for ages ☺ I just remember laying on the big swing in the park staring at the blue sky and feeling like everything worked out, and we were all so happy. I was with two of my amazing friends who I’d met here, I was finally doing the course I’d always wanted to do and I was at the loveliest, most beautiful place having the best time. So anyway yeah. That was really it. ���� #bestdayever #universityofnottingham #meanttobe #tb #welovetheswings #sorryforthespam☀����
George Abrahams
At #UoN I was given the freedom to grow, inside and outside of lectures. #MeantToBe #SkydiveClub
The best of the rest
Kate Arnold
The moment I realised I’m #MeantToBe @ #UoN – at a PhD Writing Retreat, winner of an international space hopper race.
Goldie Aboutorabi
Favourite moment: celebrating 3 years with the friends I met in my first week! It was always #MeantToBe #UoN
Francesca Godenzi
#MeantToBe I came to Nottingham on a summer school and instantly fell in love..it was a difficult decision but I chose to go to uni somewhere else. After a year I knew that wasn’t the right place for me.. I’m so glad I started again in Nottingham, I’ve had absolutely no regrets, met the best people who will be friends for life and I really wouldn’t have it any other way. #UoN#BestUniEver
Dante Hall
First night in Halls. Strangers became close friends in only a few hours. Certainly was #MeantToBe #uon #freshers
Tags: Amazon, Annie's Burger Shack, competition, das kino, MeantToBe, memories, photos, pictures, students, UoN, winners
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Take the survey, shape the future
September 8th, 2015
We want to know what you think about our internal comms channels and the articles they feature. Are they accessible? Are they useful? Do they make you feel part of a community? What are we missing? How can we improve the way we communicate key information?
Take our Staff Internal Comms Survey to help shape our future channels and content — and be in with a chance to win a £50 Amazon voucher.
If you can’t do the survey online, contact Tara de Cozar on ext 68560 and we’ll send you a printed copy to fill in and return.
Thanks for your help — we’ll report back on the results in the autumn.
Tags: internal communications, survey
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Tour of Britain cycle race – travel and transport information
September 8th, 2015
On Friday 11 September, the Tour of Britain cycle race will come to Nottingham.
The tour is expected to reach Nottingham around 3-3.30pm from the Ilkeston direction, with the route including Nottingham Road, Derby Road, Lenton Boulevard, and Gregory Boulevard before finishing at Forest Fields. Roads linking on to the route will be closed for up to an estimated 30 minutes, with temporary road signs in place. You can find a map of the route on the Tour of Britain website, which will be updated live on Friday to show progress of the race. You can also find estimated timings here.
Please be aware that this takes place on the same day as a University open day, when University campuses are expecting thousands of visitors and will be extremely busy. Although road closures between 3pm and 3.30pm are outside of expected peak times for visitor traffic, visitors leaving around this time may be affected.
Tags: cycling, open day, road, Tour of Britain, transport, travel
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Have you been affected by the Syrian conflict and refugee crisis?
September 8th, 2015
If you, or any of your colleagues or students have been affected by the conflict and refugee crisis in Syria the University can provide support. Staff should contact their line managers or HR business partners and students should contact the International Office in the first instance.
The University will work with Nottingham City Council and other agencies in supporting refugees who arrive in Nottingham.
Tags: HR, human resources, international, International Office, Nottingham City Council, staff, student, Syria
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