SPace
Bath Spa University’s monthly magazine MARCH 2015
The Gruffalo Shaun
FEATURES 13
Review
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My Student Experience Emily Furnell, The Gane Travel Award
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Bath Literature Festival
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Institute Laue Langevin
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contents
6 Update from the Vice-Chancellor
13 Review: Bath Literature Festival
8 Shaun in the City
16 My Student Experience‌ Emily Furnell
9 Business Plan competition
18 In the News - What cures may lie within Kew Gardens? - Don’t judge a book by its author - Pegida makes its UK debut - Guardian University Awards - Suffragettes forever
11 Ted Hughes Award for New Work 12 Health and wellbeing in children 4
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SPACE magazine is published every month and is aimed at staff and students of Bath Spa University. SPACE welcomes contributions from all members of the Bath Spa community. Want to get involved? Contact Anya Clifton – a.clifton@bathspa.ac.uk
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Editor Anya Clifton Features Writer Bethany Tomlins Design and layout Lorna Harrington Contributors Naomi Box Emily Furnell Abigail Herbert Scott Rogers Faye Williams Front cover
Front cover: Bath Spa’s ‘Shaun the Sheep’ sculpture © and TM Aardman Animations Limited 2015. All rights reserved. “Shaun the Sheep” and “Shaun in the City” (word marks) and the character ‘Shaun the Sheep’ are trademarks used under licence from Aardman Animations Limited. “Shaun in the City” is a fundraising initiative by Wallace and Gromit’s Children’s Foundation, raising money for children in hospital across the UK. Charity no. 1043603.
19 Development and Alumni Relations - Telethon 20 What’s On 24 Staff news
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Professor Christina Slade, Vice-Chancellor
Update from the Vice-Chancellor Welcome to the latest issue of SPACE magazine. As you will see from the image on the front cover of this issue of SPACE, the University is very proud to be a sponsor of the ‘Shaun in the City’ art trail, which launched in London on 28 March. The ‘Shaun in the City’ trail will run across London until 25 May. This will be followed by a second trail across Bristol, featuring 70 different Shaun sculptures, from 6 July to 31 August. Our Shaun the Sheep sculpture was designed by Bath Academy of Art graduate and award-winning illustrator, Axel Scheffler. Best known for his collaborations with author Julia Donaldson including the modern classic The Gruffalo, Axel has also illustrated numerous other books including the well-known Pip and Posy series. I recommend you visit our Shaun at his prime location in Piccadilly Circus if you can. The work of our alumni, such as Axel, continues to be a source of pride for the University. Our Development and Alumni team have just finished a three-week long telethon which was aimed at contacting past alumni; not only to find out what they have been up to since graduation, but also to see if they are interested in providing career placements, mentoring or talking to current students. The diverse range of careers undertaken by our alumni is truly inspiring and I am delighted that they want to give something back to our current students.
Professor Christina Slade Vice-Chancellor
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UNIVERSITY NEWS Illustrator and alumni Axel Scheffler announced as artist for Shaun the Sheep Sculpture Bath Spa University is pleased to announce that best-selling
award-winning illustrator Axel Scheffler is the artist for it’s Shaun the Sheep sculpture as part of the ‘Shaun in the City’ art trail. Best known for his collaborations with author Julia Donaldson including the modern classic The Gruffalo, Axel has also illustrated numerous other books including the well-known Pip and Posy series. Axel came to England in 1982 from his native Germany, where he studied at the Bath Academy of Art, which was originally founded as the Bath School of Art in 1852, and became part of Bath Spa University in the 1980s. The sculpture designed by Axel Scheffler will join 49 other five-foot tall sculptures of Shaun the Sheep, which have been designed by artists, designers and celebrities. The sculptures will stand at iconic landmarks, attractions and locations throughout the capital later this month. Bath Spa University’s sculpture will be located at Piccadilly Circus. The ‘Shaun in the City’ trail will run across London from 28 March to 25 May. This will be followed by a second trail across Bristol, featuring 70 different Shaun sculptures, from 6 July to 31 August. Following both trails, all 120 ‘Shauns’ will be sold off at a public auction in October. The money raised by the sale of the London sculptures will go towards Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Charity, which supports sick children in hospitals throughout the UK. The proceeds from the Bristol sculptures will go to The Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children’s Hospital charity. The Wallace & Gromit Children’s Charity organised the ‘Gromit Unleashed’ trail across Bristol in 2013, featuring the classic Aardman Animations character, which raised over £2.3 million for Bristol Children’s Hospital. www.shauninthecity.org.uk
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Chief Operating Officer Neil Latham and winner Florentyna Sidery
Winners announced of the Bath Spa University Business Plan Competition 2015 Florentyna
Sidery, a final year Film and Drama student was announced as the winner for this year’s Business Plan Competition for her novel multimedia business focusing on remembrance events. The award was announced at an event at Bath Spa University on Thursday 19 March 2015 which saw a panel of five judges sift through six finalist entries drawn from forty-four initial entries.
Chief Operating Officer Neil Latham and Louisa Berrington
Each finalist had twenty-five minutes to wow the judges with their ideas with a ten minute presentation followed by a fifteen minute Q&A session. Florentyna Sidery won the competition for ‘This is My Life’. Louisa Berrington was the runner up with ‘Tetbury Nutrition and Fitness’ and Leian Meldon received the highly commended prize for ‘Paradice’ – a superfood ice-lolly product. All of this year’s finalists were female for the first time ever in the competition. SPACE MARCH 2015 SPACE NOVEMBER 2013
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The brief for this year featured some demanding criteria which all had to be met in order for the finalists to be selected including vision, business objectives, the product and the funding and finances. Head of Enterprise and Employability Dave Jarman commented: “This competition allows budding entrepreneurs the chance to expand an initial concept into a strategy for getting it off the ground. I was really impressed with the high quality of the entries and the judges had some tough decisions to make. I want to congratulate all the finalists and I look forward to hearing how their projects progress. As a university we’re committed to helping creative students develop innovative businesses here in the region.” Generously sponsored by Watertight Marketing, Santander Universities UK, Veale Wasbrough Vizards, and MarkEtest, 2015 has seen the competition enter its eighth year. The competition was open to all Bath Spa University staff and students from all subjects as well as recent alumni and aims to provide expert feedback from professionals on business plan ideas as well as provide useful resources and support. The prize for the award increases every year and this year the total prize fund for over £7500 with £4000 of cash and in-kind prizes awarded to the winner, £1750 given to the runner up and £500 given to the highly commended achiever. Chief Operating Officer Neil Latham and Leian Meldon
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Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Bath Spa shortlisted for The Poetry Society’s Ted Hughes Award for New Work Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Carrie Etter
Senior Lecturer Dr Carrie
Etter’s Imagined Sons has been shortlisted for the prestigious Ted Hughes Award for New Work, alongside just four other finalists, including previous Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.
The award acknowledges poetry that is considered to go beyond the page, and make an exciting and outstanding contribution to our cultural life. Imagined Sons evokes a birthmother’s life after the loss of a child through adoption. The award was established in 2009 by Poet Laureate and Vice President of the Poetry Society, Carol Ann Duffy, and the £5,000 prize is funded by the annual honorarium the Poet Laureate received from HM The Queen. The diverse range of poetry submissions are received from members of the Poetry Society and the Poetry Book Society. The judges for this year’s competition included the artist Grayson Perry and poets Julia Copus and Kei Miller. Previous winners include Maggie Sawkins for her poem entitled Zones of Avoidance in 2013 and Kate Tempest for Brand New Ancients in 2012. The winner of this prestigious award will be announced on Thursday 2 April 2015 at an awards ceremony held at the Savile Club in London.
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Bath Spa University and Somerset County Council launch programme to help support health and wellbeing in children Bath
Spa University and EHCAP have launched a new project of ‘Emotion Coaching’, which has been commissioned by the Somerset County Council Public Heath team. The aim of the project is to train and develop a network of skilled professionals such as GPs, youth workers and Early Years intervention workers. These ‘champions’ will not only implement Emotion Coaching within their own organisations but will also take on a leadership role to cascade the work of the project to their peers. This news comes as the UK’s first Children’s Mental Health Week is launched by the charity Place2Be. The campaign, supported by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, hopes to raise awareness of the benefits of getting support to children as early as possible and to encourage parents to talk openly with their children about their feelings. The Emotion Coaching project will now be rolled out to professionals in South Somerset, Mendip, Sedgemoor, Taunton Deane and West Somerset district councils. The project will include promoting the use of emotion coaching by community groups, building on and strengthening current practices and promoting the Somerset Mental Health tool kit. Emotion Coaching is a practical strategy that helps children and young people to become more aware of their emotions and to manage these feelings more effectively. This project was inspired by Professor John Gottman’s research in the USA which showed that a child’s emotional awareness and ability to handle their feelings aided their success and happiness in life. The launch of the project involved an initial one-day workshop with an introduction to Emotion Coaching and the neuroscience of attachment. Further half-day workshops will include how mindfulness can be integrated into this work, how the mental health tool kit can be used, and the best ways for cascading the training within the champions’ own organisations.
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SPACEMARCH NOVEMBER SPACE 20152013
Review
Bath Literature Festival 2015 marked the 20th anniversary of the Independent Bath Literature Festival. Throughout its twenty year history the festival has hosted Nobel and Booker prize winners such as Doris Lessing, Margaret Attwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hilary Mantel and Howard Jacobson, as well as leading political thinkers, poets and humourists. Publishing graduate Bethany Tomlins was in the audience to hear about the Twenty Best Books of the Past Twenty Years:
“For the last 20 years, Bath has been home to the annual Bath Literature Festival, home of the best books, the greatest authors and dedicated readers from across England who descends on the region. On Monday 2 March, Artistic Director, Viv Groskop was joined by Radio 4’s The Write Stuff presenter, John Walsh and historical fiction writer and ournalist, Stephanie Merritt to discuss the 20 best books of the last 20 years. Artistic Director Viv Groskop with judges Stephanie Merritt and John Walsh
“Taking each year since 1995, the audience heard about the top 20 titles that have stood the test of
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time and continue to be seen as literature gems despite their age. Many of the titles were considered on their previous wins for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize but it wasn’t just the big award winners that were considered. The judges also considered books that didn’t receive award wins or shortlisting. The atmosphere in the room could be compared to that of a pantomime, with gasps and sighs of agreement when each yearly winner was announced and sounds of disagreement for some too. It was clear that the three guests upon the stage had the devoted attention of the audience. Some of the titles that appear on the final list include England, England by Julian Barnes, the winning title for 1998, Atonement by Ian McEwan, the award winning book from 2001 that has since been transformed into the award winning film from 2007 and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters which won for the year 2009. At the end of the talk, the audience was invited to comment, this raised questions such as; were the correct authors chosen? Or were the correct authors chosen but the book choices incorrect? Some even questioned whether the title for the event should have been ‘The Twenty Best Authors of the Past Twenty Years’ rather than ‘Books’. Even the judges had some reservations about the final choices. Viv admits that she wishes State of Wonder by Ann Patchett had won the 2011 category, Steph hoped for Notes of a Scandal by Zoë Heller to win the 2003 category and John thought that Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell could have been a great contender for the 2004 category. John also described how he didn’t agree with the decision that Goldfinch was the winner for 2014. Many authors were up for discussion for the final lists including Rose Tremain but for various reasons, never quite made it. The session concluded with the judges’ overall winner from the past two decades – Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel followed closely by Atonement, by Ian McEwan. These announcements also met with endorsements and disquiet from the audience – clearly the debate on the right or wrong choices for this list may continue for some time!”
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The panel’s choices for the best works of the last 20 years were: 1995: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières
2007: Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
1996: Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
2008: The Outcast, Sadie Jones
1997: American Pastoral, Philip Roth
2009: The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters
1998: England, England, Julian Barnes
2010: Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
1999: Disgrace, J M Coetzee
2011: A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
2000: White Teeth, Zadie Smith
2012: State of Wonder, Ann Patchett
2001: Atonement, Ian McEwan
2013: Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
2002: Any Human Heart, William Boyd 2003: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
2014: The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
2004: Small Island, Andrea Levy 2005: We Need to Talk about Kevin, Lionel Shriver 2006: The Road, Cormac McCarthy
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MY STUDENT EXPERIENCE Emily Furnell
The Gane Travel Award is
Emily Furnell and Antonello Rizzo
my student experience
given to a School of Art and Design student at Bath Spa University on an annual basis. The purpose of the £1000 award is to enable students to travel abroad and study an aspect of design or craftsmanship. The award is funded by Bristol based charity, The Gane Trust whose aim is to support people engaged in any aspect of arts, crafts or design. The Trust was created in memory of the pioneering furniture designer, Crofton Gane. The 2015 winner of the award was second year Fine Art student, Emily Furnell, who used the money to travel to Grenoble, France to expand on her knowledge of science. “As one of the most scientifically developed and funded areas in Europe, it was essential to visit Grenoble as my work is based on scientific information and the properties of different materials. Institute Laue-Langevin
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“Grenoble is home to The Institute Laue Langevin (ILL), a research charity funded by three main governing bodies; France, Germany and the UK. Scientists apply to visit and carry out experiments on matter, whose
properties they wish to determine by probing them with neutrons. Several thousand apply, but only around 8-900 proposals are accepted each year. It is important to understand how materials function internally in order to develop methods in physics, chemistry and biology. For example, recently the ILL identified ‘antifreeze’ proteins that exist in arctic fish, which prevent their blood from freezing in cold waters. By harnessing the protein and conducting further developmental research, the hope is that they can be used to isolate good tissues in cancer patients, whilst the cancerous cells are destroyed.” During her visit to ILL, Emily had the opportunity to look at a number of facilities within the centre including the Neutron Optics, the Multi-layering lab, the Helium Spin Filter machine, Protein Crystallography, Synchrotron and the Reactor Core.
Liquid nitrogen on cryostat machine
Emily says: “One of the most interesting areas that I visited was the reactor core. Only certain scientists are allowed to enter, so it was a privilege to be allowed to visit. I was required to wear protective clothing and a dosimeter to count the radioactivity present on my person.
“Through nuclear fission, the uranium nucleus splits in two, creating isotopes and neutrons. From this fission, three families of neutrons are generated in different processes, in order to be useful in experimentation. “Within the reactor pool, tubes are used to insert and remove the fuel element. While it is radioactive and submerged in water, the element emits a blue light; this is called the Cherenkov Effect. This blue will never been seen anywhere else, except somewhere that has a nuclear reactor. It works due to electromagnetic pulses. Instead of the energy emitted travelling mechanically, like ripples in a lake, it is emitted as electromagnetic wavelengths with a frequency that is just within the visible range. This blue is incredibly interesting and important for my work, as due to the nature of the chemicals I use, blue is the dominant colour in my work.” Plasma inside spluttering machine
“I would like to extend my thanks to Peter Metcalfe and Cleo Witt of the Gane Trust for their assistance and acceptance of my proposal. The materials and chemicals I use in my own practice are expensive, so having the extra funding to visit such an amazing facility is greatly appreciated. I hope to return to the ILL in future to continue research and conduct further work based on the cutting-edge science that is experimented with there.” SPACE NOVEMBER 2013 SPACE MARCH 2015
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In the News What cures may lie within Kew Gardens? Give it the financial freedom to find them Course Leader in Environmental Science, Dr Nigel Chaffey wrote an article for The Conversation highlighting the secrets that may lie within the tranquil, green and pleasant land.
Aminatta Forna: don’t judge a book by its author Professor of Creative Writing, Aminatta Forna wrote an article for The Guardian discussing the obsession with labels and identity when it comes to describing people.
Anti-Islam group Pegida makes its UK debut – but why choose Newcastle? Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, Sarah Hackett wrote an article for The Conversation about the Anti-Islam group, Pegida which has made its UK debut in Newcastle
Guardian university awards 2015: shortlist announced Bath Spa University appeared on the shortlist for the Guardian University Awards 2015 for two awards including ‘Buildings that inspire’ and ‘Marketing and comms campaign.’
Suffragettes Forever: The Story of Women and Power Professor in British History, Elaine Chalus featured in the new BBC series Suffragettes Forever: The Story of Women and Power. Elaine appears 17 minutes into the programme that is available on BBC iPlayer.
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Development and Alumni First Bath Spa Telethon The very first Bath Spa University telethon ran from Monday 2 March to Thursday 19 March. The Development and Alumni Relations Office employed 20 current students to spend their evenings and weekends working hard to build relationships and raise funds to support current students.
Our students have passed on requests for nearly 150 people who would like more information about the Alumni Reunion on 21-23 August. On top of that the students have all spoken to some amazing people, there has been laughing and gasps of amazement – finding out what our Alumni go on to do really is inspiring, as are the students who are doing the calling.
Student callers
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DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI NEWS
During the campaign they spoke to 919 alumni, of which 304 of those have either given or pledged to support our students financially. Furthermore over 103 Alumni are interested in providing careers placements, mentoring or talking to current students.
Bath Spa Live Visit www.bathspalive.com for all our events Give ‘em What They Want – Sat 18 April, 7:30pm – The Old Theatre Royal Tickets: FULL PRICE £5 Follow a trio of graduating drama school students put on a shockingly splendiferous showcase extravaganza; or should I say extravaganzaaa darling! This hilarious farce about the minds and matter of drama students struggling through their final project.
Marenje Ensemble – Wed 22 April, 6:00pm – Commons Atrium Tickets: Free – Book in advance ‘Meta-mbira’ is a unique cross-cultural music and dance project performed by Marenje ensemble: world-renowned Zimbabwean mbira player, Chartwell Dutiro with Denise Rowe and the string quartet of Exeter Contemporary Sounds
WORDPLAY – Sat 25 April, 2:00pm and 7:30pm – Burdall’s Yard Tickets: FULL PRICE £5 | CONC £3 | BSU STUDENTS £3 OnSet presents a series of rehearsed play readings of scripts from new and established writers. WordPlay brings together young actors, new writing and professional directors to develop new work and talent. 20
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Monster Fest – Thurs 23 to Sat 25 April, and Thurs 30 April to Sat 2 May – University Theatre Tickets: Free Bath Spa University Performance Projects
Drama
Studies
Monster Fest is a fringe festival comprising up to 21 different works. It is a chance to see the practical performance work of this year’s graduating Drama Studies students. Drama at BSU offers specialised, creative arts and combined study pathways for students who seek to explore the immensity of drama as both a performance medium and an applied subject. Accordingly, the Monster Fest programme is diverse. It includes devised theatre, physical and visual theatre, stand-up comedy, processional theatre, immersive theatre, text based drama, Shakespearean theatre, installations and more! Visit www.bathspalive.com for all our events
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Sustainability and Environment Gold Award for Best Fairtrade University Bath Spa University has won the Gold Award for Best Fairtrade University at the recent South West Fairtrade Business Awards 2015. Other winners of the Gold award included City College Plymouth, Falmouth and Exeter Plus and the University of the West of England, with the University of Bristol taking the overall prize for the category.
Licensing Manager at Aardman Laura Daniels (left), Sustainability Coordinator Sara Cundy (centre) with Managing Director of Divine Chocolate Sophi Trancell (right)
The award is given for the range of Fairtrade products available to the staff and students within the University. This includes the food and drink on sale in the Students’ Union shop and café-bar, as well as the products served in the Refectory and other catering outlets. The award also pays close attention to the amount of Fairtrade products available in the vending machines and the amount of training given to catering staff on the benefits of Fairtrade.
Sustainability Coordinator Sara Cundy commented:“We are so pleased to win this Gold Award for our Fairtrade offering at Bath Spa University. This confirms our commitment to supporting and using Fairtrade products, and continues the excellent work done across the University which recently saw us receive the Silver Food for Life Catering Mark from the Soil Association.” The South West Fairtrade Business Awards began in 2013 and form part of the Bristol Green Capital 2015 programme, also linking with the Go Green Business Scheme. The awards are given annually to award high levels of dedication and promotion to Fairtrade products by businesses, educational centres and retail. There are seven categories in total including: Best Fairtrade Accommodation or Conference Centre, Best Fairtrade Café, Best Fairtrade Office, Best Fairtrade Retailer, Best Fairtrade Retailer – Multiple Products, Best Fairtrade University or College and Best Fairtrade Advocate. The 2015 awards were held at The Watershed, Bristol on Friday 6 March. 22
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Green Week The Sustainability and Environment team would like to thank all the students, staff and guests
who helped put on a broad range of activities during Green Week this year, which also coincided with National Student Volunteering Week and Fairtrade Fortnight. A photo album with highlights from the week can be found on our Facebook page. During the week Angela del Socorro Jarquin, a farmer who is part of the Fairtrade Co-operative Soppexcca visited the University. She talked to students about her experience of being a coffee producer in Nicaragua, explaining the need to diversify into different crops, such as cocoa to help protect against the volatile price of coffee and diseases that affect this crop. She also explained the need to develop new products in-house such as chocolate bars which help to increase the value of their raw product. Students were able to hear first-hand on how the Fairtrade premium was put to use, for example in providing health care screening for their wider community. Throughout Green Week, the Careers service ran a variety of events including workshops for students exploring opportunities for careers in the sustainability sector. They also ran a Green Jobs hour sharing tips, current vacancies, internships and volunteering opportunities. On the Friday evening the Bath Food Cycle ran a ‘take-over of the SU’ co-ordinated by BSU graduate Sam Rudd, with student chefs supporting a team of regular volunteers, cooking up an amazing free three course meal, using unwanted donated items from businesses across Bath. In the process they fed 120 students highlighting the issue of food waste. Finally, we would like to have your feedback on Green Week to help plan for next year’s event, we would be grateful if you could email any comments, ideas and suggestions to environment@bathspa.ac.uk – we’ll be drawing three names out of a virtual hat to win an ecogoodie bag. Please send your contributions by Thursday 30 April 2015 to be in with a chance to win.
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Starters and Leavers Starters Siriporn Jenkin; Cleaner (Sion Hill), Academic Services Mark Medway; Cleaner (Evening), Academic Services Katy Difford; Student Records Administrator, Student Services Joe Sallis; Film and TV Studio Supervisor, School of Humanities and Cultural Industries Sarah Cole; International Recruitment Officer, International Relations Malcolm McIntosh; Head of Department: Business and Management, School of Society, Enterprise and Environment Jacqueline Cousins; Receptionist, Chancelry Paulina Wegrzynek; Research Assistant (Psychology), School of Society, Enterprise and Environment Janine Amos; Senior Lecturer: Creative Writing (Writing for Young People), School of Humanities and Cultural Industries Rachel Withers; Senior Lecturer in History and Theory of Art and Design, Bath School of Art and Design
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Leavers Richard Parfitt; Course Director MMus Songwriting (Corsham Court), School of Music and Performing Arts. Ben Powell; Technical Support Assistant, School of Education. Chantelle Turner; Student Support Advisor, Student Services. David Campbell; Cleaner (Evening), Domestic and Portering Services. Amy Lobl; Development Officer (Prospect Research and Database), Chancelry. Jo Hotchkiss; Web and Social Media Co-ordinator, Marketing and Communications. Andy Sochanik; Helpdesk Technician, Computing Services.
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