Alumni News Autumn Edition 2021 by University of Suffolk

ALUMNI NEWS Autumn Edition 2021

Contents

ONTENT

Contents

5 Welcome 6

Marking the achievements of our graduates

Careers, Employability and Enterprise Service

CPD and postgraduate opportunities

Our amazing alumni

A DEGREE ISN’T JUST ABOUT LEARNING NEW PROFESSIONAL SKILLS BUT ENHANCING THE NATURAL ONES YOU HAVE ALREADY􀌢 Kesha Allen BA (Hons) Event Management and Business Management, Class of 2017

Welcome to the autumn edition of Alumni News. My name is Kate Burgess and I am the Alumni Relations and Development Manager at the University of Suffolk. My role is all about making contact with our graduates, creating a community of people who have completed their studies with the University of Suffolk or one of our previous institutions. I am here to enable you to have a close, lifelong relationship with the University, regardless of what you studied, when or what you have gone on to do. In this edition, I am delighted to bring you some further information on some new and exciting CPD and postgraduate opportunities, some really inspiring alumni stories and an insight into our new Careers, Employability and Enterprise Service and how you can continue to access it. Alumni Relations are here to support you, right from those first steps as a new graduate, through to important decisions you will make about your career and professional development. We recognise the significant impact our alumni have had on our past and will have on our future. You are our best ambassadors, and you can continue to help sustain the University and have a powerful impact on our current and prospective students. We want to celebrate your success and continue to offer you support to achieve your dreams. Although in its infancy, Alumni Relations is growing and continually developing and we will always welcome your input into how we do this. Over the past 2 years we have seen a significant increase in the number of graduates wanting to give back to the University, reconnect and get involved.

Welcome

WELCOME We have a lot in the pipeline, in addition to what we already have on offer, and are currently working on further establishing the following: Alumni blog — Regular articles by our alumni to help guide and mentor our current students and other graduates Alumni reunions and networking events — Whether you come together as a whole or in more specific areas of study/work we will provide you with opportunities to come back to campus, reconnect and network Alumni stories — Already in progress, our alumni stories are gathered to help us celebrate you! We want to hear what you have been up to, what your time at Suffolk was like and what your plans are for the future. The stories are shared widely and used to inspire students and other graduates. They are the easiest way for you to reconnect with the University. Read our amazing alumni stories Guest talks/lectures — Our alumni regularly give back to the University by coming in to share experiences, skills and expertise with our current students To access and find out more information on all of the benefits and services we already have available, visit uos.ac.uk/alumni If you would like to get involved or have an idea you would like to discuss email me on alumni@uos.ac.uk and follow us on social media.

Marking the achievements of our graduates

MARKING TH ACHIEVEMEN GRADUATES Welcome Class of 2021 to our Alumni Community. This year we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate both the graduations of the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021 in person. The University recognises the importance of such an event and we go all out to ensure it is the best possible experience for all of our graduates who wish to attend with their families and friends. We were delighted to hold a ‘Marking Your Achievement’ event for the Class of 2020 in May this year which was an exciting and new way to celebrate the achievements of our students. We were also proud to attend both classes graduating from our partner colleges this year at East Coast College

and West Suffolk College who both held wonderful celebrations. The Class of 2021 graduation ceremonies on the Ipswich campus went ahead in October and were as exciting and emotional as ever. The pride we have as we watch you all receive your awards and celebrate with your family and friends is exceptional. We hope you all enjoyed the coverage of these ceremonies in the press and on social media and reflected on your own graduation ceremonies. We are always thrilled to see our graduates, recent and past, sharing their memories on social media using the hashtags #unisuffolkgrad or #Suffolkgradmemories

Marking the achievements of our graduates

HE NTS OF OUR

CAREERS, EMPLOYABILITY AND ENTERPRISE SERVICE An interview with Amy Carpenter, Head of Careers, Employability and Enterprise

Careers, Employability and Enterprise Service

Hi Amy, tell us a bit about yourself Hi Kate, I joined the University of Suffolk in August to lead the Careers, Employability and Enterprise team, and the wider strategic goals of ensuring employability and enterprise is embedded throughout the University journey. I worked in retail management and graduate recruitment prior to entering Higher Education in 2015, and even did my degree here at the University, back when it was known as UCS. I’m a fully qualified Careers Practitioner with a PGDip in Career Coaching, and spent the last two years at the University of Essex supporting students plan for their future. Although, thanks to Covid, most of that was spent teaching via Zoom in my spare bedroom! Aside from work, you’ll probably find me at the beach, baking, with my cat or badly attempting some kind of extreme sport (my husband’s currently trying to teach me to skateboard). It’s amazing to be back at Suffolk, and I’m particularly looking forward to working with our fantastic alumni!

Tell us about the new Careers, Employability and Enterprise service We know that people do not stay in one job or organisation for life, and the average graduate remains in their first, graduate job for just 1-2 years. We also know that careers are no

How can your team support our graduates? We are currently able to support graduates for three years after graduating from their most recent course, so please be assured that we are still here for you, even though you’re no longer a student potentially no longer living near campus. You can continue to access the full service, including 1:1 appointments with an Adviser via Microsoft Teams, attendance at our online and campus events, and access to our online platform, FutureMe. You can also continue to access FutureMe past the three years after graduating. And don’t forget, that we’re not here just to talk about jobs – we can help you explore postgraduate study, becoming a freelancer, and making your business start-up idea a reality/expanding your current business. If you know what you want to do, but aren’t sure how to get there, have absolutely no idea, or are somewhere in between, it doesn’t matter, please reach out to us so we can help you set and achieve your goals.

future plans, we’d also love to hear from you! We know that hearing from other alumni is an essential part of the student journey, to provide advice and insights on their path to the current day, and to inspire current students to explore their options before the end of their degree. If you’d like to support current students, please get in touch. There are so many options, including guest talks, offering work experience (and there’s lots of ways to do this, beyond internships and placements), and attending large scale careers events. We also love to share case studies and stories in our classes to support teaching, so you could get involved with something as simple as sharing your story. We’d also be particularly keen to hear from graduates that have successfully started a business or established themselves as a freelancer — it doesn’t matter if it is your full-time job, or a side hustle alongside other things; we want to build a community of support for students who want to make a job rather than taking a job, and would love to see alumni at the heart of that.

Careers, Employability and Enterprise Service

longer linear, and the journeys we will all take over our lives will be full of twists and turns. As a result, we want to make sure that we have a Service in place that reflects the future of work, and provides the right support to prepare all students to be able to navigate the variety of different paths and options they may take as a University of Suffolk graduate. To do this, we’ve brought together the Careers and Enterprise support to establish the new Careers, Employability and Enterprise team. This will mean that we can provide a rounded package of support, and ensure students are not only ready to apply for their next role, but can explore freelance and portfolio careers, business start-up, further study, and all combinations! We want to prepare people for a future where finding a job in an organisation is not their only option…

What’s the best way to get in touch? If you’re a graduate who would like careers support, please email the team on careers@uos.ac.uk so you can book a 1:1 appointment. If you are a graduate who would like to give back to the University community, please email alumni@uos.ac.uk To access FutureMe, visit suffolk.careercentre.me/welcome/Suffolk

FutureMe

How can our graduates get involved? For those of you who would like to support students and recent graduates with their

CPD AND POSTGRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES Health and Sports Sciences The School of Health and Sports Sciences offers a range of high quality Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities for individuals and organisations working within the Heath and Care sector. All of our courses are practicebased and impact-driven in order to support high quality teaching and learning, providing opportunities to improve health and care delivery in the region and beyond. Our CPD portfolio is continually updated to respond quickly to national and local initiatives, and has been designed to be delivered in a flexible way with a range of delivery patterns including: Study days Bespoke programmes Fully accredited CPD modules and programmes of study at Master’s level

CPD and postgraduate opportunities

Blended learning All CPD courses offered by the School of Health and Sports Sciences are based on clinical delivery requirements and research into your practice, and designed to affect a real and lasting practical impact on health and care delivery and improvement. The School of Health and Sports Sciences offer qualificatory CPD health programmes, both at undergraduate Degree level and postgraduate Masters level.

The University of Suffolk prides itself on offering a flexible portfolio of CPD provision and a number of stand-alone CPD health modules can be taken. For further information regarding pricing, please email cpdhealth@uos.ac.uk

ICET (In-Career Education and Training) Project The European Social Fund and University of Suffolk have financed a £1m project to support small and medium sized enterprises in Suffolk and Norfolk to access Executive Education. Sole traders or professionals employed at a business or charity of up to 250 employees can take advantage of 50% funding towards the course fees. Contact the team at icet@uos.ac.uk and one of our Business Development Managers will contact you to discuss your training needs. The University of Suffolk is partnering with prestigious national training providers to deliver the following high quality, immersive training courses.

AgilePM® Combined Foundation & Practitioner (with Quanta Training) 50% Discount available The University of Suffolk is partnering with Quanta Training to deliver this short course. Quanta Training is one of the UK’s leading training specialists in Agile, Scrum and

Progressive Leadership for Women (in partnership with the IoD) 50% ESF funding for small and medium size enterprises in Suffolk and Norfolk. The intensive three-day course is a highly interactive programme, facilitated by an experienced practising director. The course will provide a valuable opportunity for SME leaders/directors to explore strategic leadership issues both within and beyond their organisation, with a specific focus on the additional challenges that can be faced by female business leaders. To find out more, visit uos.ac.uk/IoD-plw Courses available: Strategy for Directors ILM 7 Progressive Leadership for Women Leadership for Directors Agile Project Management Data and Analytics for SMEs Product Management Digital Marketing Front end web development All businesses that engage in the project will benefit from extensive wrap-around services from the Business Engagement team at the University of Suffolk. The project is particularly looking to engage with and support women to progress into leadership positions in Suffolk and Norfolk.

SEMBA

Through our dual accreditation scheme, and upon successful completion of modules on the Suffolk Executive MBA programme, students will also achieve the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Leadership and Management. Further information about the University’s relationship with the ILM and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is available in the PSRB register. Contact the course leader, Dr Ross Kemble on r.kemble@uos.ac.uk or phone 07721 529912. To find out more, visit uos.ac.uk/SEMBA

CPD and postgraduate opportunities

PRINCE2. To find out more, visit uos.ac.uk/quanta-apm

Marketing Labs ‘The Marketing Lab’ is an interactive, problem-solving hackathon style experience which enables Suffolk Business School students to solve marketing issues for local businesses. Lecturer in Marketing, Claire Culley, is passionate about bringing modern day marketing to the next generation of marketeers through real-life case studies, interactive content and events. If your business or employer would be interested in being involved, contact Claire Cully on c.cully@uos.ac.uk

Alumni Postgraduate Loyalty Scheme The Alumni Postgraduate Loyalty Scheme is open to all alumni. As a graduate of the University of Suffolk or previous institution you can access a reduction on your postgraduate fees. To find out more about the Alumni Postgraduate Loyalty Scheme, visit uos.ac.uk/alumniloyaltyscheme

The Suffolk Executive MBA (SEMBA) will equip you with advanced skills, opening doors that have previously been closed and most importantly standing you apart from the crowd. Don’t miss the chance to expand your horizons and take on new and exciting challenges.

OUR AMAZING ALUMNI

Our amazing alumni

Steph is the Product Development Manager for a large frozen foods company, Nomad Foods, with a base in Lowestoft. Steph contacted the Alumni Relations team to enquire if we could help with advertising graduate roles to our students and alumni community. We are always happy to advertise jobs to our graduates and put them on our jobs board and on meeting with Steph we realised we could do so much more!

Stephanie Calver

Product Development Manager, Nomad Food BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Human Health, Class of 2013 and MSc Regenerative Medicine, Class of 2014.

Steph is interested in supporting our current students in the School of Engineering, Arts, Sciences and Technology (EAST) so we have introduced her to the course team to make that happen. Steph was also interested to hear all about our Careers, Employability and Enterprise team and all of the ways the University could work with her organisation. From research opportunities, knowledge exchange and career possibilities, this is just the start of what we hope to be a long relationship with both Steph and Nomad Foods.

Our amazing alumni

“Not wanting to stop my educational journey at the University after graduating from BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Human Health, I decided to study MSc Regenerative Medicine. I wanted something which would set me apart from other potential candidates when it came to interviews and had already enjoyed my years of undergraduate study at the Uuniversity, and was impressed with the laboratory facilities and support available. The hard work paid off and I was able to secure my first job interview soon after graduating where I was chosen for the role of new product development technologist for a local food company, Stoke’s Sauces. Here my main role was to design food products from concept to factory and scale up ready for manufacture, before being sold in shops all over the country, and even used in restaurant chains such as Miller and Carter, as well as on cruise ships and passenger planes. I still pinch myself when I see a product I developed on the shelves in the supermarkets!

I’m now lucky to have progressed into a fantastic job working for Europe’s largest frozen food producer, Nomad Foods, as Product Development Manager for the Futures Research and Development team, working with brands such as Birdseye, Iglu and Findus. As part of this team I am responsible for driving innovation and researching new ingredients and process technologies for our portfolio of food products sold all over Europe. You may have eaten a few made famous by a certain Captain! I find it so exciting that I can play a part in designing the future of the food we eat whilst working alongside a great team here in Suffolk. No two days are the same and I am proud to say I enjoy going to work! The department and scientific research skills I learnt during both courses have since proved invaluable for my job, as well as the confidence boost I gained from being a student ambassador at the University. Fast forward to now and I have recently filed two UK patent applications and am now managing an undergraduate student during his placement year with our team.”

14 Counselling Alumni 3 different routes to success

We’ve been catching up with some of our Counselling alumni and wanted to share three very different stories of what our graduates have gone on to do with their degrees.

For information on our Counselling courses, including the MSc Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Counselling please visit, uos.ac.uk/counselling

Jo Burdett

were courses I could attend much closer to home but the diversity of the UCS course content really appealed to me. In hindsight, having worked as a counsellor for the past six years, this course was absolutely the right choice. Studying a range of therapeutic models and theoretical conceptualisations, which can be tailored to client’s individual needs, works well for me. At the same time, you can develop one predominant therapeutic approach while accruing a broad understanding of other intersecting therapeutic models. This facilitates a deep level knowledge to apply to the range of difficulties clients bring to therapy.

Counsellor for Eating Matters PhD Student and BA (Hons) Councelling, Class of 2016.

Our amazing alumni

I am currently in the final year of full-time study as a PhD student at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York. Research field — coercive control. I also work part-time for Eating Matters, Norwich — counselling with clients online via video call. I chose to study at the University of Suffolk (then UCS) because they offered an integrative counselling degree course. Living in North Norfolk at that time, there

One of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking elements of the course was studying philosophy; I remember this generated some very lively debate within our peer group. You also embark on a journey of personal development, so there is a good combination of theoretical and personal learning. Though, my greatest memory is of two residential weekends away, intensive learning, especially around personal development, so the days were demanding and the evenings spent letting off a lot of steam! This still makes me smile. A counselling placement was a mandatory part of the course and I felt very well prepared for this; the tutors were tremendously supportive. My placement led to paid work at the organisation where I am still working several years later. I have also trained and worked at other third sector organisations such as rape crisis services

I specialised in working in the field of eating disorders but became interested in gender-based violence and this led me to study at Goldsmiths College, London, for an MA in Understanding Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse. This also was a positive learning experience and so I decided to study for a PhD focusing on coercive control and gender-based violence. I felt there was still much to learn to advance my career and important research to undertake.

I loved my degree course at UCS. I was 53 when I started there and didn’t ever feel out of place as a mature student. I brought up my 4 children, mainly as a single parent, so had to wait until they had all been to university before my turn. Starting academia late in life, and having such a positive experience, gave me the courage to continue.

Our amazing alumni

for women and for men, which has allowed me to gain varied experiences and develop my career.

Out of the three universities I’ve attended the University of Suffolk is definitely my favourite.

I began university as a mature student but when I look back I can see I definitely caught the learning bug at UCS, my time there was such a great experience.

Yasmin Fryer Counsellor and Psychotherapist, NHS Wellbeing Service BA (Hons) Person-Centred Counselling, Class of 2015.

My name is Yasmin Fryer and I graduated from the University of Suffolk (then UCS), in 2015 having completed 3 years studying Person-Centred Counselling under the brilliant tutelage of Mr Peter Baumbach. I attended my graduation ceremony and received a BA (Hons). I felt such a sense of pride as counselling training is not only an academic course, but it also requires hard work and commitment to personal development too. I chose the course at East Coast College at University of Suffolk (then UCS at Great Yarmouth) as I felt it would be a better fit for me and having an initial interview, I felt comfortable straight away. Many of the early course work projects helped me focus on how best to deliver my work in a way that had academic clarity. The course also helped me understand how best to structure my time and effort without feeling stressed. Completing my second year gave me the push I needed (as well as lots of encouragement) to go for the final degree year.

I was able to find placements at Mind in Norwich and at The Sue Lambert Trust. Both charities gave me a real flavour of what it would be like to work as a Counsellor. In my final degree year, I was eligible for a Student Grant. I was appreciative of the help and support I gained from Student Support. Very soon after graduating I learnt that Mind, the mental health charity was employing counsellors. I didn’t lose any time and applied straight away. I felt so passionate about my studies and knew I had experience of working in other sectors which I could bring to the interview. I was successful and started my role as Counsellor within the NHS Wellbeing Service based in Great. Yarmouth, not far from where I had studied.

Kirstin Turner Counsellor, Private Practice BA (Hons) Counselling, Class of 2018

Six years later and I am still employed within the NHS Wellbeing Service as a Counsellor and Psychotherapist, seeing clients from all walks of life; helping them to understand and deal with difficulties they are experiencing. I love what I do and have even progressed further in my studies. Without the dedication and belief of the teaching staff at the University, I wouldn’t have thought it possible. Apart from the teaching staff, my favourite memory must be ‘Bob’ the Biology laboratory skeleton that we named and took selfies with.

was so fortunate that the University offered the course I wanted and the 10 week FdA course I did there first was a great insight into what it would be like to study at the University and get a feel for the tutors.

Our amazing alumni

The course gave a broad teaching of different modalities and theories, along with having to also work on ourselves in terms of having personal therapy and group practical work. Having to get a placement volunteering during my three years on the course was really useful as this was great preparation for when I would qualify to either work for an organisation or for myself. With the tutors’ support and the support from individuals where I volunteered it worked well in combination with university work.

Part of why I chose the University of Suffolk was because of the location. I had young children at primary school in Suffolk, so for me the choice of where to go was limited. It

Each module on the course was valuable learning; with a mixture of theory and practical each week. This felt like I was getting an all-round experience of what it would be like to work as a counsellor and a chance to see what theories resonated with me. For example, every Thursday afternoon

It was useful when we had people come in and teach us about how to best write, save and hand in essays/work and how to make presentations etc. Having been out of education for 18 years, I certainly needed some educating on how things have to be done now. I am aware that doing a degree in my late 30’s will have been a different experience than if I had done it at 18/19. I didn’t feel in particular need for any additional support, but if I ever did, I knew I could go and ask. What I do remember sensing from tutors was to go for it and not fear going into private practice, this was incredibly useful to encourage me to just jump in and see what happens! I decided to put what I could away each year from my student finance in the hope that it would help me convert my garage into an office and counselling room, which I did in 2018. With the support of friends that I made on the course, also embarking on private practice, I began working for myself

in May 2018, and my practice has grown slowly over the last few years. What works for me is that I can choose when I am able to work as it is also important for me to be available for my children. In 2020 with the virus issues, I had to either stop work or try online and phone counselling. Being open to trying this way of working has turned out to be very useful for myself and my clients. It has now added an extra way of maintaining flexibility of attending sessions. So we can turn to it if a client feels a zoom session would work better one week for example.

Our amazing alumni

we would work in groups to counsel each other; starting with made up stories and eventually building up to our real-life experiences. Teaching us about maintaining confidentiality, how we would feel as counsellors hearing client’s stories, and also to experience the vulnerability clients might feel. On Tuesday mornings we would attend ‘process group; where as a small group and a tutor we would discuss how we were doing and also let each other know what we might be finding challenging about certain relationships or dynamics in the group. It was very useful in helping us gain more self awareness, something necessary in order to be a competent counsellor! It was also compulsory to attend our own personal therapy and to keep a journal. So, not only was the course teaching us about theories and modalities, it was also teaching us about ourselves and how we are in the world. All of these have been incredibly useful in my personal growth and also in gaining confidence and belief in myself as a counsellor.

I think having been a part of a group of likeminded people, making new friends and learning from the tutors are all good memories for me. It felt good to be learning again and to be able to see an achievable career actually happen, which it has!

Social Media Follow us on our social media platforms so that you can keep up to date. Through social media we will share all of the things which are most important to our Alumni Community on a daily basis: Celebrating our graduates Events which are open to our alumni to attend Opportunities for your employers as well as you CPD, short courses and further study Offers and discounts An opportunity to reminisce and see the University grow We love to share your posts too! @UOS_Alumni UniSuffolkAlumni @UOS_Alumni

uos.ac.uk/alumni