EHU Alumni Issue 8

Edge Hill University Alumni Magazine

GOD’S GIFT TO RADIO

NGUNAN ADAMU From Belfast to Big Brother Edge Hill Psychologist Geoff Beattie And The Winner Is...

Issue 08

Contents

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04 UNIVERSITY NEWS

06 VC’S WELCOME

07 INTERVIEW: NGUNAN ADAMU 10 AND THE WINNER IS...

12 25 YEARS OF BIOLOGY

16 STAFF PROFILE: GEOFF BEATTIE 18 STUDY ABROAD ANNIVERSARY

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20 ALUMNI CATCH-UP DAY

22 PROFILE: MARK LANG-YATES

23 SUCCESSFUL BY ASSOCIATION

26 PROFILE: REBECCA CUNNINGHAM 27 PROFILE: HANNAH O’NEILL

28 BANKING ON A GREAT FUTURE 30 PROFILE: PAUL COOKSON

32 PROFILE: VICTORIA ROW-TRASTER

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33 REF SUCCESS

36 BE READY, BE PREPARED, BTEC

38 LETTERS

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ALUMNI

Edge Hill University Alumni Magazine Published by Edge Hill University Editor: Lucy Rees Copywriter: Sophie Wilcockson Photography: Stuart Rayner, Design: Andy Butler, Mark Molloy

If you have any comments, changes to personal details, or wish to be included in future editions, email alumni@edgehill.ac.uk or write to The Alumni Team, Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, L39 4QP. Alternatively you can update your personal details via the Edge Hill Alumni Network at edgehill.ac.uk/alumni

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Letter elcome to the latest edition of Alumni – the magazine for and about former students of the Times Higher Education’s University of the Year!

As we are now officially THE’s top UK university, this issue celebrates the things that helped to get us there – our commitment to students, our research and, most importantly, our people.

We have a plethora of pleasing and provocative profiles, featuring alumni, students and staff who have made their names in a diverse range of fields. We have a psychologist, a poet and a performer, and if that wasn’t enough alliteration for you, people in radio, research and retailing. And two tremendous teachers.

We take a nostalgic look back over 25 years of both Biology and the Study Abroad programme, and share photos and quotes from our most popular Alumni Catch-Up Day last summer.

We also feature some of our current students who chose a BTEC route to higher education, as well as some recent graduates who have landed fantastic first jobs with Barclays, one of our most successful employability partners.

Finally, we look at the rise of research at Edge Hill which has resulted in the University’s outstanding performance in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. With more academics than ever submitting research for assessment, and all 12 departments judged to be undertaking ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘world-leading’ work, Edge Hill is establishing itself as a centre for research that changes lives.

If you have an interesting job or a fantastic achievement you want to tell us about, have a brilliant idea for a future article or just want to share your memories of Edge Hill, please get in touch – we always love to hear from you.

Best wishes The Alumni Team

News From courtroom to classroom

Edge Hill Law students can now practice arguing their cases in an authentic environment after the University bought the contents of a former real-life courtroom.

The new ‘mooting room’ features American oak furniture and fittings from North Sefton Magistrates’ Court in Southport, which was closed in 2011 after a Government review.

The University bought the furniture from the new owners of the building after spotting it advertised for sale in a local newspaper. Along with the contents of what was Court 2, the room has also been fitted out with more than 600 law books, donated by Southport-based Fletchers Solicitors, one of the UK’s leading clinical negligence and serious injury law firms.

“This excellent acquisition provides us with the infrastructure to give students experience of doing things in a real place,” says Professor Franco Rizzuto, Head of Law and Criminology. “It will allow students to practice their advocacy skills and pleading before a judge or a bench, as well as giving them a space where they can challenge and be challenged.

“It’s very exciting to think that a piece of legal history from our local area will be used to support the next generation of law professionals.”

100,000 children and counting

A pioneering numeracy and literacy intervention scheme, developed by Edge Hill academics, has helped more than 100,000 children across the UK and beyond.

Every Child Counts provides professional development, training and resources for school leaders, teachers and teaching assistants to help them support children who find it hard to read, write and do mathematics. The scheme features a range of interventions focusing on the essential numeracy and literacy skills children need at Key Stage 1.

The latest addition to the scheme, Talk 4 Number, is being rolled out to schools this year. Aimed mainly at pupils in Year 3 and Year 4 (seven to nine-year-olds), the intervention helps children understand and talk confidently about maths. In trials, children gained an average ‘number age’ of nine and a half months after less than two and a half months of Talk 4 Number sessions.

Edge Hill has also launched 1stClass@Writing, part of the Every Child Writes initiative, designed to improve reading standards in Oxfordshire schools. The smallgroup intervention is targeted mainly at pupils in Years 3 and 4 and aims to equip them with transcription and composition skills. The partnership with Oxfordshire County Council has successfully exceeded its targets, leading to some children raising their reading age by 13 months after only four months on the scheme.

The Every Child Counts scheme has now been rolled out to Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, and has recently been implemented in Dubai.

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Education to improve health

Edge Hill University has launched an interdisciplinary Institute designed to improve the health and social care of people locally, nationally and internationally.

Established in 2013, the Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI), based in the Faculty of Health and Social Care, brings together Edge Hill academics and external healthcare professionals to work in partnership on practice-based research and innovative professional development projects.

The PGMI hosts a range of educational programmes providing multi-professional postgraduate training to doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. Many of these are delivered in partnership with NHS trusts and organisations and many are accredited by professional bodies. These include both postgraduate taught and postgraduate research programmes.

The Institute has recently secured a three-year contract (worth in the region of £1 million) with Health Education North West to deliver a new Postgraduate Certificate award for Medical Educators. The programme will be delivered by academics within the PGMI, in association with external clinical experts. It is accredited by the Academy of Medical Educators (AoME) and features enhanced modules mapped to GMC standards.

“Professional development and education are of prime importance to our external collaborators and partners and, ultimately, will improve patient care,” says Clare Austin, the Faculty’s Associate Dean for Research & Innovation and Chair of the PGMI Management Group.

The art of the forgotten surrealist

The University has played a leading role in a major exhibition at Tate Liverpool, celebrating the life and art of Lancashire-born surrealist icon Leonora Carrington.

As well as sponsoring the exhibition, which ran from March to May 2015, Edge Hill also supported the Tate’s curators through the research of Professor Roger Shannon, who uncovered several artworks that had never been on public display before.

The University also hosted an ‘In Conversation’ evening with journalist, writer and cousin of Leonora Carrington, Joanna Moorhead, and Francesco Manacorda, Tate Liverpool’s Artistic Director. The event explored the intriguing history and artistic practice of a painter who became a national treasure in Mexico, thousands of miles from her Chorley origins.

Guests were treated to the first performance of Imaginarium – an exploration through dance of the metamorphic nature of Carrington’s work. Performed by Edge Hill lecturers James Hewison and Michelle Man, the work captures the physicality, colour and energy found within her sketches and paintings.

The University also contributed to a showcase of surrealist and fantastical new writing, inspired by Carrington. Readers included renowned writers and Edge Hill academics Ailsa Cox and James Byrne.

Leonora Carrington coincides with the 2015 Year of Mexico in the UK celebrations.

VC’s Message

No longer the bridesmaid!

Our administrative teams are also shortlisted for three trophies at the upcoming THE Leadership and Management Awards, and were also shortlisted in four categories at the Daily Telegraph’s inaugural Educate North awards – top ‘new’ university, best university environment, business school of the year and lecturer of the year.

It is extremely gratifying to be writing my welcome as Vice-Chancellor of the Times Higher Education University of the Year. Having been shortlisted four times in the past seven years, I was considering buying a bridesmaid’s dress for the last award ceremony, but thankfully that was not required. I am immensely proud of all the staff and students, past and present, who have contributed to Edge Hill’s success over the years; this achievement is for all of us.

National recognition for the University doesn’t end there, however. Edge Hill was ranked by students as the best university in the region, and in the top quartile nationally, in the What Uni? Awards, above Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, London and Bristol in the poll of 20,000 students across the UK. We were also voted ‘Best University Workplace’ on all four measures

by Times Higher Education (THE), following a national survey of employees, proving that our staff are as happy as our students.

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And, finally, the University has been shortlisted for the HR Excellence Awards for our WellBeing Strategy, where we’re up against Virgin Atlantic, Hilton, Santander, Kimberley Clark and Penguin. This external recognition shows how increasingly respected the University is and is another very positive step on our journey.

Our status as University of the Year is already having an effect on applications. We’ve seen a fivefold increase in applications in the last 12 years, and figures continue to rise every year. This year, however, has seen a dramatic increase in conversions – those applicants who choose to study here – and more than one in three are now putting us as their first choice university.

I’m delighted with the results of the recent Research Excellence Framework.

Although we started from a relatively low base, we have seen a significant four-fold increase in both the quantity and quality of our research at Edge Hill. We demonstrated world-leading expertise in all 12 units of assessment entered, showing the real impact we’re having on people’s lives. We have more than achieved our aspirations this time around, and I’m looking forward to seeing further progress in 2020.

At the time of writing (just after the General Election), we can’t be sure what challenges lie ahead for us, or the Higher Education sector as a whole.

Whatever happens, we know there is always more to do and further progress to be made, so we will continue to invest in our campus, create new, industryrelevant programmes and support our staff and students to achieve their potential as we always have.

Dr John Cater was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to Higher Education and Teacher Training.

Profile

God’s gift to radio

Ngunan Adamu PGCE in Further Education and Training, 2014

Despite moving to Liverpool from Nigeria at the age of three, Ngunan Adamu still feels a strong connection to her homeland. Describing herself as a “Nigerian Scouser” (her name means “god’s gift” in the Tiv language), she brings the best of both cultures to her role as presenter of BBC Radio Merseyside’s Upfront programme, and gives a voice to Liverpool’s black community.

What made you want to become a journalist?

I’d always been a keen storyteller with a vivid imagination. I would make up stories out of nothing on the way to school and I was constantly creating little books and leaflets as a kid. My granddad was a journalist and printer so I suppose a career in the media was in the blood.

Did you always plan to go to university?

I come from quite an academic family so going to university was never in question but, initially, my parents weren’t happy with my choice of degree.

My dad is a doctor and I think he expected me to go into Medicine. I started off doing science A Levels at Sixth Form, but decided to leave after the first year and enrol on a new one-year foundation course in Film Studies and Media at Liverpool College of Art. This enabled me to finish at the same time as my friends doing A Levels with a qualification that would get me into university in subjects I really enjoyed.

What did your parents think about this change of direction?

I didn’t even tell them to start with! They thought there was no future in journalism, no stability or financial security, but they love politics so I won them round by saying I wanted to go into political journalism. I really loved my Journalism degree and I think my parents could see I’d found my vocation.

What was your first job after graduation?

I was interested in television journalism so I applied for work experience at the BBC and was

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taken on as a runner on a programme called Honey, We’re Killing The Kids. I’d heard lots of horror stories about junior crew members doing all the menial jobs but I thought they were exaggerating. I didn’t realise being a runner meant you were actually running all day. It was awful and exhausting; I was 25 years old and felt ancient. It didn’t put me off though, it just made me more determined to work my way up to the better roles.

You’ve worked at the BBC for ten years now – which have been your most memorable jobs?

I really enjoyed working on School Report, the BBC’s online children’s news service. That was my ideal job and I did it for three and a half years. It involved a lot of outreach work, which I’d always enjoyed and which has now become a real passion of mine. We worked with groups of kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, giving them opportunities in the

media they otherwise wouldn’t have had, so it was very rewarding to be part of that.

How did you make the move into radio broadcasting?

I was the entertainment reporter on Shout FM, the student radio station at Liverpool John Moores University and really loved working in that environment.

A few years after I graduated, BBC Radio Merseyside announced a new scheme to get more people from ethnic minorities into radio. I applied and was one of seven people accepted. I gained a lot of experience of writing for radio and learned about the industry by shadowing lots of different roles on different programmes.

Eventually I left for a job with BBC Radio Manchester but returned to Radio Merseyside in 2009 to work on Upfront, Merseyside’s black magazine programme.

That was your first high profile presenting job – what was it like moving from behind the scenes to the limelight?

I’d worked on the show as a broadcast assistant so I felt like I knew it really well but taking over as presenter was very daunting. I had lots of new ideas but I wanted to remain true to the values of the original presenter, James Klass, who trained me up for the role. The show isn’t about me, though, it’s about the people of Liverpool and the things that are important to them.

What do you enjoy most about working on Upfront?

The wide variety of topics we cover in the show. We’ve done pieces on everything from African musicians to the Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapping in 2013. The show doesn’t have a political agenda, we just try to find stories that will resonate with Liverpool’s African and Caribbean communities. As long as they are entertaining and newsworthy, we’ll feature them.

Do you get recognised when you’re out and about in Liverpool?

I wouldn’t say I’m a celebrity or anything - I don’t get mobbed in the street - but people sometimes recognise my voice.

Being on the show allows me to use my name to get issues out there and stand up for the city’s black community. I like the idea of giving a voice to people who don’t usually get heard.

Jackson “toldJesse me, little Ngunan from Liverpool, to “keep hope alive”!

I couldn’t have been more proud.

”

What is your greatest professional achievement?

I’ve been lucky enough to interview some amazing people over the years, but the best moment of my professional life was interviewing Reverend Jesse Jackson. Knowing that I was talking to one of the last people to spend time with Martin Luther King was incredible. At the end of the interview he said, “Ngunan, you must keep hope alive”. Jesse Jackson told me, little Ngunan from Liverpool, to “keep hope alive”! I couldn’t have been more proud.

Why did you decide to do a PGCE at Edge Hill?

Through my career, I’d become more and more interested in outreach programmes, and particularly in using media to promote social inclusion. I had the germ of an idea for a business in this area but I knew I needed a teaching degree to make it happen. I needed the theory to inform how the business would work. I’ve now started my own company, dedicated to training people across the UK and abroad in media. The aim is to improve skills and help people to change their lives through employment or entrepreneurship. I love it because it allows me to use both my broadcasting and teaching experience to make a difference.

Has your Edge Hill degree been useful in your professional life?

My teaching experience has been vital in setting up my company. Knowing how to plan and deliver a lesson has been really valuable when developing our projects, and I’ve used lots of tools and techniques that I learned at Edge Hill, particularly around interactive and online learning. I didn’t realise how much I’d taken in at the time, but the learning really shines through, and that’s the sign of a good university.

Catch Upfront on Sundays at 8pm on Radio Merseyside or listen countrywide at bbc.co.uk/radiomerseyside

And the winner is‌

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his is the most prestigious accolade in the Higher Education sector and the University was chosen as the winner from a list of six shortlisted institutions after a visit from the judges in September 2014.

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“I’m delighted and extremely proud that Edge Hill has won University of the Year,” said Dr John Cater, ViceChancellor of Edge Hill University. “The University is stronger than ever before and I’m honoured to have been involved in its consistent growth and improvement during my tenure as Vice-Chancellor.”

The award rounded off a year of great accomplishment for the University, with the institution being named as the top diversified University according to the Graduate Social Mobility Index, and gaining the North West region’s highest rating for student satisfaction across all 23 questions in the 2014 National Student Survey.

The year also saw the opening of the University’s flagship Creative Edge computing, music, film and TV production facility, one of the latest developments in a programme of campus investment totalling a quarter of a billion pounds in the last decade.

John Gill, Times Higher Education editor, said:

“

Edge Hill is a great success story, having quietly established itself as an institution that improves and impresses year after year.

”

“Its achievements in student satisfaction and graduate employment were noted by our judges, as was its financial performance and the part it plays in transforming lives in the local region.”

The THE awards showcase the pioneering spirit, adaptability and sheer quality of the Higher Education sector.

Hundreds of nominations for outstanding institutions, departments and individuals were submitted across 18 categories covering the full range of university activity.

Feature

Edge Hill University has been named University of the Year in the 10th annual Times Higher Education (THE) Awards.

The winners were announced in November 2014 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London in a spectacular event with over 1,000 guests, including politicians, senior sector figures, and academic and university staff from all corners of the UK. As well as winning the evening’s most coveted award, Edge Hill’s Learning Services department was also shortlisted in the Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development category.

“It is a privilege to work alongside all those who strive to fulfill Edge Hill’s commitment to changing lives – our staff, our students, our alumni, our Students’ Union, our partners and our friends – and it is rewarding to see this enterprising spirit recognised,” added John Cater.

“I have no doubt that the University will enjoy continued success in the future.”

Feature n a time when climate change, global public health, obesity and the impact of an ageing population on society dominate the news, the study of Biology has never been more important - or more popular.

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“Biology is the study of life,” says Head of Biosciences, Dr Paul Ashton, “so understanding it is essential if we are to tackle the major challenges facing our planet today. By celebrating 25 years of Biology at Edge Hill, we are also celebrating our contribution to global understanding of this fascinating and important subject.”

Back in the late 1980s, Edge Hill College, as it was then, recognised the growing importance of environmental issues and, in 1990, introduced a new BSc in Field Biology and Habitat Management. This forward-thinking step reflected Edge Hill’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and marked the beginning of a new Department of Biology.

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of Biology “Prior to 1990, Biology had only existed as part of teacher training programmes,” explains Paul, who joined the fledgling department in 1994. “This was the first time that Biology was considered a subject in its own right at Edge Hill, and it went on to prove extremely popular with students.”

accommodation and facilities for a new, separate Department of Biosciences, as well as a number of new staff with a range of research interests.

Housed in the now defunct Department of Natural, Geographical and Applied Sciences, the BSc in Field Biology and Habitat Management was followed in 1997 by a degree in Conservation Biology, and both ran until 2004 when a new integrated Biology programme was launched.

“The change reflected changing student requirements – broader Biology courses were becoming more popular – and also advancements in the field of biology,” says Paul. “The new Biology programme retained the best elements of the previous courses while bringing it up-todate with a new focus on genetics and human biology.”

In the ten years since the introduction of the integrated programme, Biology has grown from an initial cohort of 20 students to an intake of 70 in 2014. To meet this demand and increase research capacity within the department, Edge Hill has recently invested more than £4 million in

As a result, the University was able to offer two new BSc programmes in 2013, Human Biology and Ecology, which draw on new areas of expertise within in the department, and an MRes in Biology, which began in 2014. All of these programmes are supported by high tech equipment that wasn’t previously available in the department but now forms the centrepiece of a brand new Biosciences building.

The department’s new home features state-of-the-art laboratories with industry standard resources including

DNA analysis equipment, a scanning electron microscope and several insectaries for breeding and studying

disease-transmitting insects.

The latest addition is a DNA sequencer, making the department one of the best equipped in the region.

The facilities support the department’s growing research culture, with staff working across disciplines in biology, including ecology, microbiology and molecular biology.

“As well as being vital for research, these facilities give our students the rare opportunity to work with the type of equipment that is used in industry,” says Paul. “It’s extremely expensive so normally reserved for postgraduate students and staff, but we believe that hands-on experience of molecular biology is essential for undergraduates, not just for their studies but also for their future employability.”

It’s not all hi-tech gadgets, however. Former students will be pleased to know that fieldwork, a much-loved part of Biology courses down the years, still plays a major role in undergraduate study today. First years are immediately thrown in at the deep end with a field trip to Cyprus within weeks of starting at Edge Hill.

As well as introducing some key themes and skills, the trip also serves to build cohort identity and ensure the students develop a good rapport with staff. As well as overseas excursions, Edge Hill’s location, close to Martin Mere and the Sefton Coast, offers plenty of opportunities for field study closer to home.

“I’m immensely proud of the department’s development, particularly in research,” says Paul, “and as a trained scientist, I’m constantly delighted to see the intellectual development of our students as they discover more about Biosciences.

“Although we’ve been around for 25 years, the new building felt like a new start for us. This is the first time all staff and students have been located under one roof, which has really boosted collaboration and helped us discover new synergies between areas of research and teaching.

“The department is expanding, with new staff and new programmes, but I think our ethos remains the same,” adds Paul. “We’ve always been a close-knit, student-focused, friendly department, with staff who genuinely care about the student experience. That’s as important to the department today as it was 25 years ago.”

Biology research was identified as ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘world-leading’ in the national Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014.

The Biology Department was voted top in the country for personal development in the 2014 National Student Survey.

Biology students have the highest rate of graduate employment in the North West.

A snapshot of the research currently happening across the department…

Research into the potential role of mosses in keeping bird diseases at bay that looks at the bacterial content of nest boxes at various stages of nest building. The research aims to determine whether nest material is actively selected or chosen randomly, and whether the female bird controls the bacteria to protect her young. The results could help future breeding projects.

Research into ways of maintaining and enhancing the biodiversity of managed forests and woodlands in Ireland has directly informed Irish forest policy and significantly contributed to the ecological knowledge of these habitats. The team is also investigating the vital function of invertebrates in forest ecosystems, as predators, prey, nutrient cycling and pollination, and how these can be used as a model for environmental change and biodiversity assessment.

Examination of the impact of livestock grazing on vegetation and invertebrates in upland limestone areas of the UK that aims to provide conservation managers with recommendations for best grazing practice.

This type of scientific data, which has not been available previously, is an important tool in the conservation of these species-rich grasslands.

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In June, the Biology Department marked its 25th anniversary with a Schools Olympiad designed to test sixth former’s biology skills and knowledge, while giving them a taste of studying biology at undergraduate level. Teams of students competed in a range of tasks including DNA extraction, beetle identification and a butterfly walk.

The celebrations continued with a family open day. Visitors explored the new building, getting involved in fun experiments and finding out about current research within the department. They also had the opportunity to try their hand at pond-dipping, skeleton identification and a tree treasure hunt, before enjoying a barbecue in the University grounds.

The day ended with an Alumni Evening to welcome former students back to campus to see the new facilities and catch up with staff and old friends over dinner.

Identification of Carex Salina in West Scotland and Carex Flava in Malham, Yorkshire, two previously unknown types of sedge, an ecologically important plant family. As a result of this research, conservation managers adapted their approach by reducing grazing and introducing a population census to ensure the plants’ conservation. Without this work, these species may have been lost from the UK’s biodiversity.

Development of a new guide to British mosquitoes, the first resource of its kind to be published in 30 years, which will enable scientists to identify newly discovered species and also track the movement of species that could bring tropical diseases to the UK. This is part of a wider mosquito project with Liverpool Port Authorities and Public Health England to monitor the movement of mosquitoes into the country and predict areas of high risk.

Study into the landscape genetics of the common Small-leaved Lime tree (Tilia cordata) that explores how individual patches of woodland are connected genetically, and whether it is geographic distance or landscape features, such as roads or rivers, preventing populations from exchanging genetic information. As the climate changes, understanding the dispersal ability of the species is key to its future survival.

Staff Profile

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uch has been written about the transformational power of education, but for Geoff Beattie, Edge Hill’s new Professor of Psychology, education not only changed his life but probably saved it too.

Alumni Magazine Issue 8

Geoff Beattie Professor of Psychology

consultant on an award-winning documentary film about Sheffield, entitled Tales from a Hard City.

As a young boy growing up in Belfast during the 1960s and 70s, Geoff spent his days studying at the prestigious Belfast Royal Academy and his evenings on street corners with friends who would go on to become involved with various paramilitary organisations. Later, after doing a PhD at Cambridge, he would visit those same friends in Northern Ireland’s infamous Maze prison.

“I always want to understand things from the inside,” says Geoff, “to see what it feels like rather than just observe. When I wrote about Northern Ireland, for example, I wanted to drive with the families to the prison, not meet them there, so I could see it from their point of view.

My working class background gives me some insight into these people’s lives and they trusted me to write about them more honestly.”

“The area I grew up in was known as the ‘Murder Triangle’,” explains Geoff, who joined Edge Hill in 2014.

“My university life was punctuated by phone calls from my mum telling me which of my friends had been killed or imprisoned that month. I saw university as an escape from the realities of living in Belfast at that time.

This commitment to immersing himself in his subjects’ world is epitomised in his study of boxers’ psychology. Unlike most researchers, who would simply take a ringside seat and watch, Geoff needed to experience the sport at first-hand and began training with the boxers he was studying. After being punched so hard by Mick ‘The Bomb’ Mills that he feared his heart would stop, he felt that he understood boxing and boxers a little better.

“It was like living in two different worlds. I was comfortable with my new university friends and I was still close to my mates back in Belfast, but I never felt like I really belonged to either group and I think this has informed my academic work ever since.”

This ability to have a foot in several camps, or being the ‘professional stranger’ as he calls it, is reflected in Geoff’s prolific – and eclectic – academic output, which covers subjects as diverse as body language, sustainable consumption, implicit prejudice, sport psychology and the enthnography of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

His early interest, however, was in the psychology of the working classes, leading him to explore issues that affect people beyond the ‘ivory towers’ of academia. While working at Sheffield University Geoff wrote a series of articles for The Guardian on the impact of the recession on the North of England. These focused on the lives of the city's underclass and included revealing interviews with unemployed steel workers and miners, doormen, boxers and petty criminals. This work resulted in a number of books and a role as story

During his academic career, Geoff has published 19 books, a number of which have either won or been shortlisted for major national or international prizes, more than 100 academic articles and a novel based on his childhood in Belfast. Before joining Edge Hill he was Head of the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Manchester and is a Masters supervisor on the Sustainability Leadership programme at the University of Cambridge.

However, for many people, Geoff is best known for his media work, and in particular for being the resident psychologist on Channel 4’s Big Brother. Geoff worked on the reality show for 11 series from 2000-2010, becoming a regular face on the nation’s TV screens. He prides himself on being the first person to notice contestant ‘Nasty’ Nick Bateman’s devious behavior, which dominated the tabloid press during the show’s first series.

“I absolutely loved Big Brother at the beginning,” says Geoff, “it was such a great idea. It felt like a genuine social experiment, and it was very exciting to be in on something that was new to TV. I enjoyed watching the different characters interact and seeing what psychology I could bring to bear on their activities.”

Since then Geoff has brought his psychological insights to numerous TV shows including the Ghosthunting With… series (“great fun, especially the episode with the Happy Mondays”) and Family SOS (“the most rewarding programme I’ve worked on”). He has also made a documentary, From The Turn Of The Road, about his return to Belfast, which explored his complex relationship with the city and the psychological impact of the Troubles.

Geoff’s current research focuses, appropriately, on what he calls the ‘divided self’: how people’s thoughts and actions are often in conflict with each other to the detriment of themselves and society. He claims that human beings don’t actually have a mind – they have two – and this is why people behave in certain ways. Understanding this ‘divided self’, and how the two separate systems interact, may ultimately hold the key to our survival.

“I was drawn to psychology because it enabled me to write creatively in a way that was rooted in science,” says Geoff. “I write about whatever interests me and I always have several ideas on the go. Some of them are crazy and will never come to anything, but I beat myself up if I don’t have regular new ideas.

“I feel very grateful for what a university education has given me.

I’m passionate about psychology and I love being able to share that with people, whether that’s with my students or with the public through my media work,” he adds.

“After all, nothing is more interesting, or more perplexing, than human beings.”

International

Bringing the World to Ormskirk eople travel from across the world to enrich their learning at Edge Hill University. In 2014, more than 100 students enrolled on short study programmes, spending anything from one semester to a full year gaining academic credits and a unique cultural experience.

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This year marks the 25th anniversary of Edge Hill’s award-winning Study Abroad programme, which allows students who are enrolled on university programmes overseas to take part of their course at Edge Hill.

“The programme was originally only open to students from the US,” explains Bill Johnson, Acting Director of Edge Hill’s International Office, “but we have expanded our range of international partners significantly in the last few years, and now welcome students from Central and South America, Korea and China as well.

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“Each student has a bespoke timetable that is carefully mapped against their home degree. They can now study a wide range of modules from across the three Faculties that either complement their home studies or give them the opportunity to explore a new subject in a different cultural environment. As Study Abroad students work alongside our own students, they get an authentic taste of UK student life, a greater understanding of other cultures and the opportunity to make friends from across the globe.”

Things have come a long way since 1989 when three Edge Hill academics first mooted the idea of bringing US students to Ormskirk.

Mike Frain, along with American colleagues Michael Clarke and Jane Clarke, who is now Edge Hill’s US Director of Study Abroad, originally worked for Edge Hill Enterprise, which aimed to engage with the community and increase revenue from the campus.

“Lancashire was an EU Objective 3 area at the time, so there were opportunities to gain European funding,” explains Jane Clarke. “We initially set up a short course to train court reporters in emerging technology which was pretty successful.

“This gave us the idea of running other short courses aimed at overseas students. With our connections in the US, we started to develop relationships with partner universities and introduced the first summer programme for American students. It was tough to recruit students to begin with because noone had heard of Edge Hill, but little by little our name got around and people started to see the unique benefits of going there.”

The Study Abroad programme began with just three students making the 4,000-mile trip to Ormskirk in 1990. Despite only being able to choose from a limited range of modules from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, feedback was very positive and each year more modules were validated and student numbers grew.

“We wanted US students to experience the ‘real’ England, as we had,” says Jane. “It’s such a beautiful campus with such wonderful people; we wanted to share that. People were sceptical to begin with – brand recognition is still our biggest challenge in the US – but once people visited the campus they became advocates and our reputation spread by word of mouth.

We now have the support of NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, which has helped us get our name out there and added extra credibility to the programme.”

Some of the original modules, such as American History and English, remain as popular with Study Abroad students today as 25 years ago. However, with new modules being validated every year, students can now study anything from Animation and Performing Arts to Public Health and Psychology.

“I feel very proud to have been involved in this exciting, forward-thinking programme from the beginning,” adds Jane. “Even though I left Ormskirk for Texas 19 years ago, I look back on my time at Edge Hill with real fondness and I still miss it.”

Jason Keeling came to Edge Hill as a Study Abroad student in 2002. After initially enrolling for one semester, he ended up staying for a full year and now shares his passion for the University with US students as Associate Director for the Study Abroad programme in the States.

“Before coming to Edge Hill, I had never travelled outside the US. I had mixed emotions before coming to Ormskirk, as most US students choose to study in London, but I was really excited about visiting a region of England that most Americans never see. Any doubts vanished as soon as I arrived on campus, and it took about a week to realise that I’d made the greatest decision of my personal and professional life.

During my year at Edge Hill I learned how to adapt to a new environment and assimilate into a different society. I left feeling confident that I could travel the world and communicate well with cultures other than my own.

However, the most important thing I gained was lifelong friends, many of whom have travelled to Ohio to visit me.

So, why do students continue to choose Edge Hill over universities in London, Liverpool, Manchester or other European cities?

“I think the Edge Hill Study Abroad programme works because we still offer what we’ve always offered – a highly personal, nurturing experience on a small, safe, friendly campus,” says Bill. “We have major cities on our doorstep so students can get a sense of being global citizens without being overwhelmed, and they really like the close-knit community at Edge Hill. They genuinely feel part of the University, even if they’re only with us for one semester.”

The Study Abroad programme continues to grow year on year. As well as seeking out new educational partners from other parts of the world, Bill plans to expand the programme in the future to allow Edge Hill students to travel abroad to study as well.

“The Study Abroad programme is a fantastic opportunity that benefits both home and overseas students.

It really challenges people’s cultural perceptions, gives them great life skills and helps to prepare them for employment anywhere in the world.”

About six months after graduation I received an email from the University advertising for someone to work on the Study Abroad programme in the US. I had just returned to America after living in Bolton and I felt this job would be a wonderful opportunity to share with others the great opportunities offered through the programme.

I began working for Edge Hill in 2005 and I’m now Associate Director for the Study Abroad programme. My role is to build relationships with universities throughout North America and promote Edge Hill to students and Faculty.

Being a former Study Abroad student really helps me to recruit and prepare current students. I can give them good advice about dorm life and how courses are taught as I went through the same thing only a few years before.

I really enjoy sharing my Study Abroad experiences with new students. Their curiosity, excitement and newfound sense of exploration are constant reminders of the fun I had, and the fun I’m still having, because of my time at Edge Hill.”

Alumni Support

ore than 150 former students reunited on campus last summer for Edge Hill’s annual Alumni Catch-Up Day, making it our biggest-ever graduate event.

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Alumni spanning five decades returned to Ormskirk to celebrate their time at university, with many from the noughties marking ten years since graduation. Guests enjoyed a sunny outdoor barbecue and campus tours led by current students before gathering in the newly renovated Students’ Union bar for an evening of nostalgic tunes to remind them of their student days.

“It’s amazing to see how the campus has grown since we were here. It was a college when we were here with 5,000 students; it’s now a fully-fledged University with over 20,000 students. The place is enormous, there’s so many new buildings and it’s great to see developments that are focused towards individual courses.”

Murray Dron, Class of 1996

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Catching up on campus

“I think the campus now looks absolutely stunning.

As I pulled up today I thought if I was 18 and coming here now I’d be amazed and would still want to come here, it looks absolutely beautiful.”

Carrie Johnson, Class of 2005

The Alumni team can put you back in touch with old friends, help you to organise your own reunion and keep you updated with all the latest University news.

For further information contact alumni@edgehill.ac.uk or call 01695 584119.

Profile

Mark Lang-Yates BA (Hons) Physical Education, 2011 PG Dip International Management, 2012

Once a Senior Pilot Officer in the RAF Reserves, and the most experienced student airman in the University Air Squadron, Mark Lang-Yates now has a high-flying career as an area manager for Aldi.

joined Aldi’s graduate training scheme in 2012 after an extremely challenging selection process. It has to be tough to prepare you for the intensive on-the-job training that takes you from store assistant to store manager to area manager within 12 months.

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I’ve definitely done all the worst jobs as a store assistant – counting carrier bags and cleaning out freezers to name just two – but I think it’s important to experience all roles within a store if you’re going to gain the respect of your staff and manage a store within a very short time. It gives you a unique insight into the job and ensures you don’t make unreasonable demands of your staff.

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Being in the RAF Reserves gave me valuable leadership, organisation and people management skills that I think helped me secure a place on the scheme – and that I continue to use every day. I’m in charge of three stores and manage 115 members of staff, including three store managers. As well as weekly performance reviews, I’m responsible for staff recruitment and training and ensuring any new procedures or legislation are understood and implemented by all staff. It’s a very demanding job – I drive around 500 miles per week – but I love not being tied to a desk and being able to make a difference on the shop floor.

I returned to Edge Hill last year to help out at a careers fair. I wouldn’t have made it on to the graduate scheme without the support and guidance of the Careers Service, so I was very keen to return the favour by sharing my experiences with current students looking to apply to Aldi.

I’m proud to be working for one of the country’s best employers at a really exciting time for the company. There are 70 new stores planned this year, one of which I will be adding to my area later in the year, giving me four stores to manage.

One of the benefits of working for Aldi is the structured career progression. Graduate trainees are expected to become directors within five years, so I am looking forward to taking on a regional role in the next couple of years and then, hopefully, a national position.

The sky really is the limit!”

Successful by Association Graduation doesn’t have to mean the end of your connection to Edge Hill. More and more former students are realising the benefits of keeping in touch with the University and are using the growing number of Alumni Associations to forge new networks, progress their careers and give something back to the University.

Alumni looks at one of the first, and one of the newest, Alumni Associations and discovers what their members gain by being involved.

Alumni Support

Legal Aid

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he Law Alumni Association was established in 2011 by former students who wanted to support each other as they began their legal careers.

“The aim of the Association is to bridge the gap between Law students and the legal profession, to build mutually beneficial relationships and inspire the next generation of practitioners by sharing home-grown success stories,” says Adam Pendlebury, a Senior Lecturer in Law who plays a major role in promoting the benefits of the Association to current students.

As well as alumni, the Association includes current undergraduates, academic staff and members of the professional community. It hosts a programme of activities for the Law community including lectures, dinners and undergraduate awards. Alumni regularly return to campus to give career talks and update current students on everything from using social media to surviving a Legal Practice course. They also organise twiceyearly networking events for current and former students and staff that attract high profile guest speakers, such as professional footballer turned sports lawyer, Gareth Farrelly.

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Adam Pendlebury (left) with James Pearson, who won the Alumni Ambassador Award 2015 for his contribution to the Law Alumni Association.

“These activities are a great opportunity for students to see what’s possible with an Edge Hill Law degree and to meet potential employers,” says Adam. “Alumni also find it useful for sourcing work experience candidates or discussing internships, so there are clear benefits for everyone involved.”

Trainee solicitor James Pearson was one of the founder members of the Law Alumni Association and is its current President. As a student, he realised the importance of alumni to the undergraduate experience.

“It’s often quite difficult to visualise a career path when you’re a student,” he says. “We had some great external speakers, but none were former Edge Hill students so hadn’t been through the same experiences as us. When we set up the Association we wanted to give current students more realistic role models. We’re only a couple of steps ahead of them on the career ladder so they can imagine themselves progressing in the same way, and we can relate to their issues because we’ve been through them.”

The benefits are not just one way, however. James believes he has benefited both personally and professionally from being part of the Alumni Association.

“The events are not only a good chance to catch up with old friends, they are also an opportunity to promote my firm and help it fulfil its corporate social responsibility role. Running the Association has also helped me increase my professional network and add new skills to my CV. “On top of that, I get personal satisfaction from seeing students that I’ve spoken to going on to start their own careers. It’s rewarding to see them doing well, as this helps increase the value of an Edge Hill Law degree for all of us.”

Get involved!

Law Alumni Association Find out how we can help you in your career and how you can help current students.

Legal Professional Advisory Panel Discuss hot topics with fellow practitioners and have an impact on the future development of the Edge Hill Law degree.

Law Clinic Share your expertise and mentor a final year student as part of our pro bono clinic.

For more information please contact: Adam Pendlebury T: 01695 657624 E: adam.pendlebury@edgehill.ac.uk

Surgical support Graduates of Edge Hill’s Masters of Surgery (MCh) have established their own professional engagement network designed to help them remain connected to the University and each other.

Announced during the inaugural MCh conference last year, the new network aims to bring the region’s surgeons together to share expertise, enhance professional development opportunities and build a network of contacts for the future.

The MCh is a collaboration between the University and Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust.

Now in its seventh year, the programme has 82 graduates, plus 66 current students.

Carol Kelly, MCh Programme Leader, says: “The network is an important part of Edge Hill’s continuing support of MCh graduates. As well as establishing a community of peers who can continue to learn from each other, the network allows the University to harness the expertise and experience of surgeons at different levels in their careers for the benefit of our current Health students.”

I forged many strong alliances through the course and I am keen to keep in touch with my fellow course peers and remain connected to the dedicated teaching staff at the University. It was these relationships that have not only led me to complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Medical Education at Edge Hill but to also become a clinical tutor on the course.

Dr Constantinos Mamais 2010 MCh graduate

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Profile

Rebecca Cunningham BA (Hons) Dance, 2008

Rebecca Cunningham has transformed her school's Dance programme from an after-school club to a successful, and title-winning, department. But, before Edge Hill, she hadn't even considered a career in teaching.

’ve been dancing since I was three and wanted to dance professionally for as long as I can remember. At 16 I won a scholarship to a dance school in London, but my parents wanted me to have some academic qualifications to fall back on. It was a trade-off really, I could study Dance as long as I went down the A-Levels/degree route. If they hadn’t encouraged me to do that my life would have turned out very differently.

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I enrolled on the Drama, Dance and Physical Theatre course at Edge Hill but it didn’t have nearly enough dancing on it for me. Fortunately, the University introduced the single honours Dance programme in 2005 and I was able to transfer to a course where I could literally dance all day!

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I thought I knew about dance before I came to Edge Hill, but as soon as the course started I realised I had so much more to learn – and I loved every minute of it. I feel really lucky to have been in the very first cohort because we trialled a lot of different things that later students didn’t get to do – it felt like being in at the beginning of something very special.

At first I was only interested in the performance side of dance and only reluctantly took some modules about teaching. The idea of teaching dance didn’t appeal to me at all but, when we went out to primary schools to teach creative dance, I was suddenly struck by the power of dance to engage children and help them in all aspects of school life. I realised it wasn’t about taking a young child and training them to be a dancer, it was about building confidence, giving them opportunities to experience new things and

seeing them change and grow through dance. I was completely hooked.

After a period as a freelancer, I took a job as a learning supervisor at my old secondary school where I trained to be a teacher. Dance wasn’t even part of the PE curriculum before I arrived but, over the past seven years, participation in dance has grown from a couple of after school cheerleading and hiphop clubs to a department with 11 dance teams, which won three national titles last year, and a GCSE Dance programme.

I’m now Head of Dance and encourage any promising students to look at Edge Hill if they want to study Dance. It’s not just the facilities, like a working theatre to practice in – the course opens your eyes to different ways of thinking about Dance and can even introduce you to exciting career paths you hadn’t even considered.”

Recording radio shows, looking after chickens or creating ‘green screen’ movies don’t feature in many primary school lesson plans. But for Hannah O’Neill, a newly qualified teacher in a pioneering forest school, finding new ways to teach and learn is part of everyday school life.

did a placement at a forest school in my first year at Edge Hill, and it really opened my eyes to a different way of doing things.

After completing a module on outdoor learning as part of my course, which I really enjoyed, I knew that was an area I wanted to explore further.

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I secured a job at Sacred Heart RC Primary School in Westhoughton straight after graduation. They have a very innovative curriculum that uses the whole school, both inside and outside, as a learning environment. The children love using stones, twigs and leaves for numeracy and writing in mud! We recently had an Eco Day during which the children

built campfires and cooked their own food. They also burnt willow to make charcoal and used it for an art project.

As well as growing our own fruit and vegetables, the school has a city farm with animals that the children have to care for, and that we use to teach aspects of the curriculum. The school also has its own radio station, run by the children, movie-making equipment and there’s even a small recording studio in my classroom. Being able to write and broadcast a radio show, for example, gives the children’s writing a sense of purpose and audience, enhances their learning and develops their skills and confidence.

Sacred Heart is one of the top performing schools in the

Profile

Hannah O’Neill BA (Hons) Early Years Education, 2014

region so this kind of learning obviously has a positive effect on academic outcomes. I love using natural resources to bring the lessons to life for the children and seeing them have fun and make progress.

I think my degree, in which I achieved first class honours, prepared me very well for life in the classroom and I’m able to use lots of the practical tools I learnt at Edge Hill on a daily basis. I’m very excited about starting a Masters programme in Early Years Education at Edge Hill in September. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to further develop my understanding and apply that knowledge to my teaching, but mostly, I’m just pleased to be going back to Edge Hill. I’ve really missed it!”

Employability

Banking on a great future

The successful partnership between Edge Hill University and Barclays brings the bank’s knowledge, expertise and recruitment power to campus while providing Barclays with a pool of talented graduates to enhance their workforce.

“We have worked closely with Barclays since 2012,”says Edge Hill’s Head of Careers, Jacqui Howe.

“They originally came in to discuss getting involved in the Young Enterprise project, which nurtures new business ideas.

We discovered that one of their colleagues, Julian Bucknall, was an Edge Hill alumnus, and from that initial contact the relationship with Barclays has continued to grow ever since.”

As well as Young Enterprise, Barclays also works with budding app designers on the annual Barclays BBC and Bank of America Technology Challenge. They also provide 28

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regular industry and careers talks, deliver employability conferences and are part of the Employer Advisory Panel for Computing programmes, as well as providing internship and employment opportunities.

Edge Hill recently recognised this flourishing partnership by presenting the company with its Graduate Employer of the Year Award.

The latest collaboration is the pilot of Barclays’ World Class Technologists Programme, a new talent management scheme aimed at nurturing the next generation of IT professionals, which launched in September 2014.

“Working with Edge Hill on projects like the Tech Challenge or Young Enterprise allows us to get an early look at the most promising students and gives them an insight into working with us,” says Development Manager, Julian Bucknall, who completed his BSc in Communication and IT in 1995.

“Edge Hill routinely produces well-rounded Computing graduates that are both technically skilled and full of exciting ideas, and working in partnership with Edge Hill gives us the opportunity to encourage the best students to come to Barclays rather than another organisation.

“We’re now collaborating on a cyber security project which gives Barclays an input into the initial design of an academic programme for the first time.

This is great for students as it ensures their degree is industryrelevant and up-to-date. It’s also great for us because we can make sure that graduates leave with the specific skills we need to meet our future business needs. It’s a win-win situation.”

Barclay’s is currently working with Edge Hill on postgraduate qualifications to complement its suite of professional training programmes.

Internships, graduate employment, research projects, knowledge exchange – these are just a few of the ways that Edge Hill staff and students enhance and transform organisations. If you would like to discover more about the benefits of working with Edge Hill, please contact: Paul Ledsham T: 01695 584758 E: Ledshamp@edgehill.ac.uk

Eamon Karpuska, Unix Systems Support Engineer

Megan Keating, Middleware Solutions Integrator

Mike Kirby, Graduate Trainee, Enterprise Management

“I applied to Barclays in my final year after seeing their graduate scheme advertised on the University’s recruitment website. I received a lot of support from Edge Hill’s Careers Service, from helping with my CV to interview technique, and I’m sure this helped me stand out.

“I first got involved with Barclays through the Tech Challenge. I was assigned a Barclays mentor and I gradually built up my contacts which definitely helped when it came to applying for their graduate scheme. I didn’t think I had a chance of getting onto it, but being part of Edge Hill’s Employability Programme was valuable preparation as it helped me to understand what employers really look for in graduates.

I completed an internship with Barclays during my final year at Edge Hill so I knew the graduate programme would be a great opportunity to gain experience and learn new skills in a vibrant working environment.

I started as a Unix Technician, supporting live systems that host a variety of Barclays services that are used all over the world. I built up my skills and worked in a number of different areas, and when the programme ended I went straight into a full-time job.

My role now involves looking after the hardware and software of the Barclays infrastructure, and helping to create bespoke applications for services. It’s a vast subject area and I’m continually learning.

Barclays has invested a lot in my training and development and my colleagues are very supportive and encouraging. It also helps that the salary is good! I feel like the luckiest person, I didn’t think I would work for such a prestigious company for my first job.”

Barclays is an amazing place to work and the job is exactly what I had hoped for. I am part of a team that ensures new applications are implemented effectively, ensuring the right resources are in place and that the process runs smoothly from end to end. It’s like the bridge between business and IT, so I’m able to bring a lot of what I learned in my degree to my role.

If you want a career in IT with a blue chip organisation, this is the best first job you could have. There are endless opportunities to grow and develop in a really supportive environment.”

I am part of a team responsible for gathering information on all of Barclays software and hardware in the UK and abroad. Having this operational data to hand is vital for the organisation as it helps them plan for surges in demand and also ensures that assets are being used in the most efficient way.

The job is really challenging and there is always something new to learn or a different way of looking at things. Barclays really values its graduate trainees as a source of new ideas and fresh perspectives, so I am currently involved in finding innovative ways of using technology to engage with internal customers.

The graduate programme allows me to apply a lot of what I learned during my degree to my role, as well as giving me the opportunity to learn new software packages and see first hand the impact of technology on a big organisation.”

Profile

Paul Cookson BA (Hons) Applied Social Sciences and Drama, 1982; PGCE, 1983

From kicking words around with school children at the National Football Museum to being named “Slade’s Poet Laureate”, Paul Cookson has come a long way since his days selling photocopied poems to his mates at sixth form.

Now celebrating his 26th year as a professional poet, Paul spoke to Alumni about his career, his influences and being heckled by 10-year-olds.

Touched by the Band of Nod

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eople say you should write about the things that are important to you,” says Paul. “For me, it’s always been about football and music. These are the things that have shaped my beliefs, influenced my writing and continue to be the threads that run through my life today.”

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A lifelong Everton FC fan, Paul has written several collections of poems based around his beloved team and is the only poet to appear in the Everton match day programme. His poem about Brian Labone was even read at the former defender’s funeral in 2006.

His other passion – music – has also been a key theme throughout his literary career.

As a child he discovered legendary glam-rockers Slade and the band have featured in many of his poems over the years, either as the subject matter or as a point of reference.

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“Years ago, I did a book called Over 21 And Still Into Noddy, about my early experiences growing up in the 1970s,” says Paul, “and I wrote to Slade’s singer, Noddy Holder, to see if he would write a foreword for it.

I didn’t hear anything for about a year and then, out of the blue, a letter turned up containing a hand-written intro from Noddy, which I have quoted and used endlessly ever since!”

Paul eventually met his musical hero during National Poetry Week in 2006. He was invited to appear with another guest on Mark Radcliffe’s show on BBC Radio 2. The other guest turned out to be Noddy Holder.

“It was a really memorable day,” recalls Paul. “Mark asked Noddy if he knew about my poems, and he replied, ”Oh yes, Paul’s Slade’s Poet Laureate!” And from then on, that’s what I was.” Paul now performs regularly at Sladefest, the band’s annual fan club convention, and compered their 25th anniversary concert.

However, ‘professional poet’ wasn’t originally on Paul’s list of possible career options. After finishing his degree, he planned to study Social Work at Manchester Poly. He deferred his place to build up some relevant experience and continued working at Edge Hill’s summer playscheme for children with disabilities.

Paul became a teacher and spent five years teaching at a high school in Retford, Nottinghamshire. He began performing his poems in public and, at a local festival, met Barnsley poet Ian McMillan, who persuaded him to try his hand at children’s poetry.

“Before that I was writing quite political, serious poetry,” recalls Paul, “but, with my teaching background, writing poetry for kids really appealed to me. I started using poetry in my teaching and eventually went part-time to focus on writing and performing poetry in schools.”

Paul gave up teaching completely in 1989 and has since sold more than a million books, including the best-selling anthology The Works, which is used in primary schools across the UK. His work has taken him all over the world, from Argentina to Beijing, and he has been featured on TV, radio and

Now in his tenth year as Poet-in-Residence at the National Football Museum in Manchester, Paul gets to combine his teaching and poetry skills – and indulge his love of the beautiful game – on a regular basis, running poetry workshops for school groups and writing commissioned work for the Museum.

“I absolutely love working with children because they’re unpretentious and brutally honest,” says Paul. “I often try out new work in my school sessions because the kids will tell you if it’s rubbish. My background in teaching definitely helps, not only in terms of planning the sessions to meet National Curriculum requirements, but also for dealing confidently with groups of kids. There’s nothing like being heckled by a 10-year-old, but that’s part of what makes the job so enjoyable – every session is different and unpredictable.”

Paul is currently working on a new project that will see him fulfilling a few more childhood dreams, collaborating with some of his favourite singersongwriters. The project, which has a working title of Other People’s Voices, includes contributions from Miles Hunt and Martin Stephenson among others.

Profile

“A couple of weeks before I was due to leave, my Hall Warden, Ray Humphries, asked if I’d ever considered teaching because there were some places left on the specialist PGCE programme for children with learning difficulties. I hadn’t considered it before, but I’d really loved working with children and thought teaching might be something I could be good at. So, two days before the end of term, I decided to stay on at Edge Hill – a decision that completely changed the direction of my life.”

“I’m interested in how other artists could interpret my work,” says Paul. “The project involves working with singers to put poems that I’ve either written with them in mind, or that would be relevant to them, to music that they’ve composed.

I’m hoping there might be an album in it eventually, or even some performances – I can’t sing so this is the nearest I’ll get to being in a band! I might even ask Noddy to get involved, that would be the icing on the cake.

“I’ve been so lucky in my career so far,” adds Paul. “I’ve met so many of my heroes, been to places I never imagined, and I’m able to make a living doing something I love – all because of poetry.”

paulcooksonpoet.co.uk

Profile

Victoria Row-Traster BA (Hons) Drama and English, 2001

Using Drama to improve lives has always been at the heart of Victoria RowTraster's career. Now as a 'Teaching Artist' based in Miami, she is using her passion for performance and education to bring theatre to life for young people across the US.

hen I was an undergraduate, I had no idea just how far my Edge Hill degree would take me. My early experiences in and around the fantastic Rose Theatre gave me the strong foundations I needed to secure a place at drama school and paved the way for pioneering roles in prestigious theatres both in the UK and America.

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Although I enjoyed the performing side of the degree, and was grateful for the opportunity to try my hand at writing, directing and stage management at Edge Hill, I was more interested in how those skills could be used in other settings. I’d wanted to be a drama teacher since I was at school so, after a couple of years of post-graduation travelling, I applied for a PGCE at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where I honed my skills both as an artist and a teacher.

After gaining my QTS in a secondary school in Lincolnshire, my partner and I decided to relocate to his hometown of New York. I imagined myself teaching in a theatre school like the one in Fame, part of a community of like-minded, enthusiastic teachers ready to nurture the future stars of America. I learned very quickly that few state schools in NYC have 32

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Halfway through my Masters I got a job with The New Victory Theater in New York, working on their education programme.

I was responsible for creating cross-curricular study guides based on the theatre’s shows and spent a lot of time working with teachers. Having an education background definitely helped as I was aware of the issues and was able to address them as both an artist and a teacher. money for any arts subjects, let alone a full-time drama teacher, and even the private schools I applied to only required my services for extracurricular after-school programmes.

I started volunteering at the 52nd Street Project, a theatre organisation aimed at children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and soon realised that my future was not in directing musicals or vocal coaching but in looking at how theatre can support other skills.

I decided to go back to school and enrolled on a Masters in Education and Theatre at New York University.

It was while at NYU that I discovered the term ‘Teaching Artist’, a person trained by a theatre company to go out into schools and deliver programmes based on the shows in their theatre, and realised I’d found my niche in the theatre world.

After writing more than 50 published guides and online resource materials, creating a college apprenticeship programme and teaching on a Masters degree, I returned to London where I joined the Education Department at the Royal National Theatre. As an “Actor Teacher”, I delivered workshops in schools, collaborated with playwrights on new work and brought exciting theatre to hundreds of young people.

Four years later, I am back in the US and about to start working with the Miami Theater Center, training their Teaching Artists. I feel very grateful to be able to use my passion for theatre and teaching in such a rewarding way and I’m looking forward to the next chapter in a very exciting and rewarding career that began at Edge Hill University.”

Edge Hill’s impressive performance in the national Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 shows how much the University’s research profile has grown in the past few years. As well as being an outstanding place to learn and teach, Edge Hill is now developing a reputation for producing research that is not only world-leading but also has real impact. he REF assesses the quality of research at universities across the UK and informs research funding allocations from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

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Edge Hill performed strongly with all subject areas featuring ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘world-leading’ research, pushing the University up 33 places in the latest Times league table. The results of the REF also have a significant financial impact; the University will receive an increase of 355.3% in its HEFCE research funding in comparison with the previous year when the allocation was based on the results of the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in 2008. This is the

highest percentage increase in research funding in the sector and reflects Edge Hill’s commitment to creating a vibrant research community for staff and students.

“The number of academics contributing to the REF has significantly increased this time around, with submissions up by 14% to 27.2% against a sector average of 28%,” says Nikki Craske, Director of Edge Hill’s Research Office.

“We wanted as many of our academics as possible to have the opportunity to submit their work for assessment, so our benchmark for submission was 2-star research, rather than 3-star, which many other institutions use.

“This inclusive strategy allowed many of our early career researchers to submit work for the first time, and the increased volume of submissions means our research power, used by many analysts, has improved greatly since 2008.”

Research

REF Success

We wanted as many of our academics as possible to have the opportunity to submit their work for assessment

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Professor George Talbot, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at Edge Hill University, commented: “Edge Hill is five years into a capacity building programme for research and cultivating potential, and I am delighted to see the strategy vindicated by these REF results.

“This funding increase is a way-stage in our ten-year strategy which I am very confident will deliver a five-fold increase in successful PhD completions by REF 2020, stronger scores for the three categories (of Outputs, Impact and Environment) and a greater intensity of performance. We are especially pleased to have recorded 4* impact case studies in Education, Health, Media and Sport considering we are a young University with a short history of research activity in many of our disciplines.”

According to Nikki, Edge Hill’s success in REF 2014 is a result of a more joined up approach to supporting research in recent years.

Associate Deans from each Faculty are now part of a University-wide Research Strategy Group, and their input is already informing plans for the next REF in 2020. Each subject area has a clear research strategy that individuals can use to inform their own individual research plans.

The University has also invested heavily in research development and training, with targeted support for academics at different stages of their careers.

“Early career researchers represented 25% of our submissions last year so we have to put support in place to ensure that brilliant start continues,” says Nikki. “Internal funding for research allows 34

Alumni Magazine Issue 8

them to pilot projects to attract external funding, and also to employ Research Assistants to help them further their ideas.

“We are also investing in research leadership, with more professors appointed across all departments, and staff at all levels have access to external research training, such as Aurora, a leadership development programme for women in higher education.”

Future REF success also relies on supporting the next generation of researchers. The University has set an ambitious target of 100 PhD completions by the REF in 2020 – it recorded just 16 in the previous REF period – and has introduced several measures aimed at keeping full and part-time PhD students on track, building cohort identity and encouraging greater peer support.

“The REF results are very encouraging, but we still have more to do,” says Nikki, “particularly in Education and Health and Social Care where only 10% of staff were in a position to submit work for assessment.

“However, it’s a very positive trajectory and one I’m sure we can sustain in the long-term.

We just have to keep setting the bar higher each time.”

To read more about the research that underpinned Edge Hill’s REF success please visit: edgehill.ac.uk/news/tag/ref-2014

The University has recently established three research institutes: the Institute for Public Policy & Professional Practice (I4P), the Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) and the Institute for Creative Enterprise (ICE).

These will play a vital role in forming external partnerships and engaging with users of our research in ways that will support the institution’s impact strategy for the future.

REF 2014 Highlights • An increase of 355.3% in HEFCE funding • Research submitted in 12 out of 36 possible Units of Assessment, up from six in 2008.

• 100% of History submissions rated as either world-leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognised.

• Health and Social Care ranked in the top four in the North West for research impact, with 55% of submissions identified as internationally excellent or world-leading.

• Psychology and Media both ranked in the top five in the North West for research intensity.

• 44% of Psychology submissions rated as worldleading or internationally excellent, with 23% of those gaining the highest 4-star rating.

• Sport and Physical Activity ranked in the top 25 in the UK for research impact, and 45% of work submitted rated as internationally excellent or world-leading.

• Law and Criminology ranked in the top 30 in the UK for research impact. 50% of Law research rated as internationally excellent or world-leading.

• 45% of Media research and 44% of English research rated as internationally excellent or world-leading.

Feature

Be ready, be prepared, be successful, BTEC Edge Hill University has a long and proud history of welcoming promising students from a diverse range of educational backgrounds.

With its focus on both academic and practical skills, many students and alumni have found a BTEC to be excellent preparation for undergraduate study, and have gone on to flourish at Edge Hill, getting the most from their student experience and contributing to the life of the University.

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Alumni Magazine Issue 8

“ Nathan Little, 1st year, BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Health

“I’ve changed my mind a lot during my academic career so far. After school I enrolled on a professional chef course but I didn’t feel like it stretched me enough academically. I started doing an AS Level alongside a BTEC in Sport and Exercise Science and Creative Media at sixth form, but eventually decided to concentrate solely on the BTEC as I felt it was more engaging and better suited to my learning style.

Creative Media was something I’d studied before and enjoyed, but Sport was a last minute decision.

I wasn’t particularly sporty but I was really interested in the nutrition side of the course and I could see how that might lead to a rewarding career in the future. I liked flexibility of the BTEC; you could present your work in different ways depending on your particular skills and it gave you a good grounding in your subject – without the stress of exams.

I’d enjoyed the ‘learning through experience’ aspect of the BTEC so I started looking at university courses that would combine practice and theory in the same way. I liked the look of the Nutrition and Health course at Edge Hill, and loved the place as soon as I came to the open day so, luckily, it all fell into place for me.

I was worried that some universities wouldn’t accept a BTEC but I never let that put me off. As I saw it, I had left college with two qualifications equivalent to four A Levels and I felt that should be good enough to compete for a place on a degree course.

Since starting at Edge Hill I’ve found that my BTEC studies have really helped me adjust to undergraduate level work, particularly academic writing. So, after a lot of indecision and ‘happy accidents’, I think I’ve finally found my perfect path!”

Codie Austin, BA (Hons) Dance and Drama with Design, 2014

“I started learning to dance at three years old and I loved drama at school so it made sense to pursue a Performing Arts route at college. I always had Higher Education in the back of my mind but, as the first person in my family to consider university, I didn’t have any guidance on the best way to get there.

I decided to do a BTEC in Musical Theatre because it enabled me to study a subject I loved while getting lots of practical experience to develop and improve my performance skills. I loved the course and ended up with a triple Distinction. If I’d had guidance I might have been persuaded to do A levels which wouldn’t have been right for me and wouldn’t have given me such a great result.

When I first came to Edge Hill I was a bit uncomfortable about not having any A Levels – I worried people might think I wasn’t clever enough. However, the desire to prove everyone wrong boosted my motivation to do well and I ended up being awarded a Chancellor’s Scholarship and graduating with a First.

I helped to run the student radio at Edge Hill, as well as founding the University’s first Amnesty Society. This led to an interest in student politics and, after graduation, I took on the role of Vice-President of the Students’ Union.

Coming to HE via a BTEC has given me a different perspective and I now work with the University to support students from nontraditional academic backgrounds. I hope my experience shows them what can be achieved with a BTEC. I’ve just been offered a managerial role at children’s casting agency that I worked for during my third year. I think this shows the wide variety of careers available to Performing Arts graduates – just because you don’t end up in Eastenders, doesn’t mean you’re not successful!”

Letters

Stories, memories, family news

Hats off to Edge Hill

This photograph summarises my experience at Edge Hill. Four words?

Absolutely loved every moment.

Lauren Stirzaker .................................

A special day

Thank you so much to the Alumni team for showing us around the beautiful Edge Hill University campus recently. I was so proud to have been a student here from 1982-1985 studying for my BEd in what was one of the final years of the specialist courses for Special Education. I was always fortunate to be employed in Special Education in Yorkshire, London and, finally, Bath. My training was excellent and was commented on very highly. Last year I wrote a children’s picture book, which I would not have been able to do without my background from Edge Hill.

Thank you also to the very patient students who showed us around, for our fab goodie bag and for a wonderful trip down memory lane.

Victoria Cullen .................................

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Alumni Magazine Issue 8

Proud to be back

I visited the campus recently with three old Edge Hill friends and had a most wonderful experience.

We were greeted by two excellent security staff at the University entrance, both of whom made us feel very welcome. They were happy to answer questions and humour us old ladies by taking photographs of us outside the main building. We then made our way to the fantastic new Hub area where we were showered with Alumni memorabilia and complimentary coffee vouchers!

Myself and the other Edge Hill old girls all studied at the college between 1982 and 1986, so our last time there was almost 30 years ago!

It was incredible to see how it has grown and developed over the years, it really is an amazing campus. It was great to see that it has retained many of the original buildings but, more importantly, still retains that very special Edge Hill community spirit.

It was a most memorable day and we all came away feeling very proud and privileged to have been Edge Hill students!

Linda McGrath (née Cotton) .................................

Another happy customer

We had a great time reliving old memories during our recent visit to campus. We were amazed at how the University has developed and the facilities it now offers. The students who showed us around were fantastic, full of enthusiasm and obviously extremely proud to be ambassadors for the University.

Denise Kelly .................................

Past production

I read with some interest your report of the facilities of the new Creative Edge building, and recalled Edge Hill’s first TV studio being opened, probably sometime in 1966. I was secretary of the SU at the time and was ‘press-ganged’ by the first group of Media students into presenting the first TV programme produced in the studio – I think it was a maths programme.

Guess the new facilities will be very different to that very basic set-up.

Mike Hamlett .................................

Septuagenarian support

I am now 70 and have had a year conquering bowel cancer. I was a student at Edge Hill between 1963 and 1966, before following a career in teaching which included two headships. College life was very different in the early sixties. Being the son of a coal miner, life at Edge Hill was so different to sharing a bedroom with two brothers. I had my own bedroom for a start. Life in Lancashire Hall was so wonderful with Walter Edge as warden (he once taught the Beatles!) I played rugby, went down to the pub in Ormskirk (no college bar in those days) and made lots of friends, some of which I still see now after nearly 50 years. I even married one of them.

They were memorable days and I am forever grateful for my time at Edge Hill. I am so proud that you have been deservedly made University of the Year.

John Williams .................................

Forty years ago - in a galaxy far, far away!

A few years ago a few old friends and I returned to Edge Hill for a reunion.

Since then we’ve continued to contact each other and a group meets nearly every week to enjoy a walk or event.

We are now in contact with 17 from our 30-strong cohort, including several ‘Colonials’, our friends who now live across the world in the USA, Spain, New Zealand and Australia.

As this is a special year for us – 40 years since we completed our Certificate of Education course – we are planning to get together again in the Summer.

Organising this event has brought back many memories of student life.

Mobile phones were a novelty back then and we still ‘Banda’ machined our lesson plans. Beer was 10p a pint and we boycotted the Bar for a week when the price went up to 12p. £1 in your pocket and you were in for a good night! The boiler house was brand new and Lancashire Hall was the most impressive building with the Environmental Studies ‘Nissen’ huts the most ‘endearing’. Food and discos in the Refec and student cars a dream to be realised. A metal framed glass Library was under construction and the college newspaper, OPUS, asked on its front page: “ What else would PE Students use it for?” while a cartoon showed students swinging and climbing on its bare frame.

Really looking forward to coming back again.

Tony Lyons

From our Friends on Facebook.com/EHUAlumni

We asked you to suggest things that only an Edge Hill graduate would know…

.................................

Only an Edge Hill graduate remembers waking up on a Thursday to the sound of ducks mocking your hangover.

Lynsey Jane Pearn .................................

The joys of an Acropolis Burger.

Jake Atkinson .................................

Walking the back way into the grounds in the autumn with all of the trees.

Katherine Farnell .................................

Marmaris pizzas for £3, the walk of shame up Ruff Lane and fire alarms in Forest Court ten times a day!

Beth Clark .................................

PE Group 1974: Back row: Bob Alexander, Tony Lyons, Frank McIntosh, Pete Rose, Dave Milburn, Gary Hornett, Eric Hughes, Dewi William. Front row: Joe Williams, Roger Gorman, Keith Massey, Kelvin Davies, Dave Williams, Phil Walsh, Colin Dixon

......................................................................

Thank you, Edge Hill!

Recently, I was on a course where we were encouraged to reflect on our lives, to be thankful for the different opportunities we’ve been given and the paths we took. I felt compelled to write to you.

I came to Edge Hill with a relatively low level of qualifications after a tricky start in life. I had always wanted to be a teacher but my self esteem was low and I never believed it would be possible for me, not only in terms of my own capacity but financially as well.

My qualifications were not traditional or held in high regard like the usual student teacher intake, but I knew if I was just given the chance, I would work so hard to be the best teacher I could be. I decided to try and applied to Edge Hill and was astounded to be offered an interview and then,

eventually, a place! That opportunity changed my life.

I was the first in my family to study at degree level and everything was unfamiliar to me but I grew as a person so much during my time at Edge Hill.

I am now the head teacher of a primary school in Oxfordshire. I have starred in a Government video modelling excellence in primary teaching and have been nominated for a National Teaching Award. I still love my career and cannot imagine doing anything else.

So, thank you for taking a chance on me and giving me the opportunity to make a difference to others. I hope that you continue to take a chance on people and develop that potential.

Paula Phillips (née Hogan)

Older ones know all about the joys of Decks night!

Sandra Birch .................................

The three-legged pub crawl race around Ormskirk once a year to raise money for charity, Monday nights at Manhattans (50p a drink!), Tuesday night Ormskirk, Thursday night Stanley Keg... how the hell I ever achieved my degree with all that going on god only knows! Happy, happy memories from 1992-96.

Lindsay Kutlu .................................

Lancs Hall - I was on the 4th floor and all I can remember were the water fights and the poor guy who had his whole room stripped and placed in the field that was behind Lancs. Also the first week where the girls were told to exercise in the gym early one morning only to find the whole of Lancs hanging out of the windows cheering.

Good days.

Colin Francies

Alumni benefits

The fun doesn’t have to end when you graduate. As a member of our alumni community you can still be part of University life and access a wide range of benefits and services to help you plan your career, undertake further study or keep in touch with us and each other.

Free online journal access Free access to academic journals plus use of our libraries and study facilities.

Postgraduate fee reduction Save 20% on tuition fees for a range of postgraduate programmes.

Help with reunions Help with locating old friends, publicising your event and finding venues on campus. In the summer months you can even stay in our Halls of Residence.

Alumni Catch-up Day See the latest developments on campus and re-live your student days.

Campus events Career fairs, workshops, networking events and academic conferences – as well as many opportunities for Continuing Professional Development.

Keeping in touch Regular e-newsletters and Alumni magazine (online and hard copy) to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on at Edge Hill.

Visit edgehill.ac.uk/alumni for more details.

Alumni Team, Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, L39 4QP

t: 01695 584119 e: alumni@edgehill.ac.uk w: edgehill.ac.uk/alumni f: facebook.com/ehualumni t: twitter.com/edgehill