Alumni News Postgraduate Edition 2021 by University of Suffolk

ALUMNI NEWS Postgraduate Edition 2021

Contents

ONTENT

Contents

5 Welcome 6 Forward 8

Postgraduate Loyalty Scheme

What’s new?

Postgraduate courses

Events and further information

IN A WORLD THAT NEVER STAYS THE SAME, WE NEED TO CHANGE, EVOLVE AND SUCCEED􀌢 THAT’S WHAT WE DO, COME AND JOIN US􀌢 Professor Helen Langton Vice-Chancellor

Welcome

WELCOME Postgraduate study gives you the opportunity to broaden your existing knowledge or explore an entirely new subject. On our postgraduate programmes you will receive excellent teaching, delivered by academics established in their field, with extensive specialist knowledge and actively engaged in research and scholarly activity. Benefits of postgraduate study: Competitive edge — Enhance your employability and stand out in a competitive job market. Relevant to you and your employer — Our programmes have a strong vocational focus designed to be easily applied to your chosen sector. Broad strategic knowledge — Strategic knowledge gained at postgraduate level provides the basis for career progression. Advancement in academia — Postgraduate study can provide the next step towards an academic career, achieving a doctorate or professional title. Welcome to the Alumni News, Postgraduate edition Ever considered postgraduate study? Dreamt of delving deeper into a subject you love or are you keen to give yourself that competitive edge? Well look no further because this edition of Alumni News is bringing you all the information you need to make the right choice for you. Whether you’re thinking about a Masters, Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma, CPD opportunities or even a PhD, we have all the information you need and this year we are offering you a 30% reduction in fees to do it.

We have a wide range of courses available and some new to the University this year. If you are interested in a PhD, there are some changes to the entry criteria as well as brand new short courses and CPD opportunities. Whichever type of course you embark upon, postgraduate study equips you to meet academic and practical challenges, demonstrating your readiness to contribute at a high level within commercial and research environments. Find out more at uos.ac.uk/postgraduate

FORWARD As a Suffolk Graduate myself, I was delighted to be asked to introduce this edition of Alumni News to you. Over the past 19 years I have been incredibly proud to be part of the development of the University of Suffolk on the journey from higher education provision at Suffolk College to being University Campus Suffolk and finally achieving our independence and taught degree awarding powers in 2016. As our alumni you have been with us on part of our amazing journey too and will have experienced first-hand our commitment to outstanding learning, teaching and research. Our vision states: by 2030 we will be recognised as an empowering force for individual and community growth and development. A key aspect of this commitment is expanding our postgraduate portfolio to offer an exciting range of taught Masters Level and postgraduate courses across our four academic Schools.

Forward

Postgraduate study offers opportunities to deepen your understanding by adopting a focused approach to an area of study, enabling you to develop expert knowledge and enhance your skills to think creatively and critically. Postgraduate degrees are highly regarded in both public and private sectors and can transform your career prospects. They also provide you with valuable opportunities for personal growth and development. The University of Suffolk is a transformational university combining

the best traditions in higher education with the demands of contemporary society and the knowledge economy. A key difference between your undergraduate degree and postgraduate study is the level of independent study. We use the latest technology to support your learning in a way that suits you best, making the most of the learning opportunities available to you — both on and off campus — giving you the option to study flexibly alongside other work or family commitments. We also have a thriving, vibrant interdisciplinary PhD community with over 70 Postgraduate Research (PGR) students. Thanks to our new partnership with the University of Brighton as our validating institution, we accept applications from students with a 1st or 2:1 at Bachelor level and we have ambitious plans to grow our PhD provision in the next few years. A PhD is the UK highest academic qualification and recognises an original contribution to knowledge. Dedicated guidance from your expert supervisory team will support and advise you through your PhD journey, through your research, writing your thesis, and your viva voce examination. As a graduate of the University of Suffolk we hope you will consider joining us again to start your postgraduate career and let us share your journey with you.

Professor Emma Bond Pro Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor of Socio-Technical Research

POSTGRADUATE LOYALTY SCHEME All graduates are entitled to a loyalty reduction on selected postgraduate course fees. The Alumni Postgraduate Loyalty Scheme has been developed to support and encourage alumni students to progress to full or part-time postgraduate taught or research programmes at the University, including PhD study. Please note this scheme is assessed every year and students will need to apply yearly after enrolment.

Postgraduate Loyalty Scheme

The University recognises the possible financial impact on students during the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore we are offering a flat 30% reduction on the course fee for one year only (Academic Year 2021/22). To be eligible you must meet all the following criteria: Be a University of Suffolk (formerly UCS) alumni or alumni who completed an undergraduate or postgraduate degree prior to 2007 at one of our legacy institutions in Suffolk. Be paying full postgraduate tuition fees. Have been offered and accepted a place on an eligible Masters degree or postgraduate research degree. Have cleared any previous outstanding debt with the University. Be in continued attendance for the duration of the Masters degree or postgraduate research degree. Students who have completed SCITT or PGCE courses at Suffolk in previous years and are paying full postgraduate tuition fees will be eligible for 10% discount in the Academic Year 2021/22.

Find out more about eligible postgraduate courses, T&Cs and how to apply at uos.ac.uk/alumniloyaltyscheme

Phd Study — A letter from our Graduate School Dear Alumni Community, The University of Suffolk has recently partnered with the University of Brighton to provide even more opportunities to study for a PhD across a range of research areas and we wanted to highlight this opportunity to you, our alumni, at a period in time when the University is offering a 30% discount on your yearly fees. A PhD can be an intimidating thought. You may never have even considered being able to study for one before. At the University of Suffolk, anybody with a Bachelors (Honours) degree, graded at 1st or 2:1 is eligible to apply, so if you have a research topic in mind and you’re passionate about it, there is every chance you could be able to research that topic for your PhD with no need to study for any other postgraduate qualifications beforehand. As part of our new partnership with the University of Brighton we are now able to accept new PhD students any month of the year, so you can begin your journey whenever suits you best. Find out more about the application process as well as learn more about the PhD journey and whether or not a PhD is right for you. Working closely with academics, and supported by our commended

What’s new?

WHAT’S NEW? Graduate School, you will have an excellent experience here in Ipswich as a postgraduate research student and make a valued contribution to our emergent research community. Students will study for around 3-4 years full-time and 6-7 years part-time. We operate a rolling intake of students so you can make an application any time during the year. Typically UK students would start their PhD one month after a formal offer is made. International students would start around three months after an offer is made. As a graduate you will also be entitled to a discount through the Alumni Loyalty Scheme. The discount is currently 30% off your fees which means there has never been a better or more affordable time to get your PhD. All PhD’s are administered and run dayto-day by the Graduate School and the Graduate School Coordinator, and fellow Alumnus Chris Mitchell (Class of 2013), who can be contacted with any queries you may have at graduateschool@uos.ac.uk or 07939 401023. If you are interested in applying, then all you have to do is reach out to the Graduate School for further information. The Graduate School

Leadership Academy — Dr Will Thomas We’re excited about the launch of the University of Suffolk Leadership Academy, the home of executive education and short courses that focus on sustainable, responsible leadership and management. The Academy will start with new provision from the Institute of Leadership and Management — offering their Level 3 and Level 5 Certificates in Leadership and Management — alongside a programme of workshops and short-courses. In time, this provision will expand to include a wider offer including bespoke training and knowledge transfer activity. This is something that we hope you will be excited to support. You will start to see the first pieces of Leadership Academy activity over the next couple of months with some workshops and then going forward to welcome the first cohort of students onto the Institute of Leadership and Management Level 3 Certificate. As you see these opportunities please share them with your networks and encourage colleagues to participate and attend.

What’s new?

Find out more at uos.ac.uk/leadershipacademy

CPD — Flexible, Innovative, Bespoke Too much to take on a full-time or even part-time course? Have you considered our short courses and CPD opportunities? Designed to prioritise flexibility and recognising the importance of your time, we are able to create and deliver bespoke training programmes for businesses and have a wide range of opportunities for individuals too. Check out our course listings

The Master of Research (MRes) in Social Sciences and Humanities is a flexible, interdisciplinary postgraduate programme designed to provide students with advanced theoretical, methodological, and practical research training and prepare them for future career as researchers in a workplace, or for continuing into a PhD within a social sciences and humanities area of interest. The programme of study on the MRes Social Sciences and Humanities is composed of a core curriculum in research methodology, a module on a subject-specific area (more details in the following paragraphs) and an independent piece of research as part of a 30,000 words dissertation, where you will put into practice some of the methods and theoretical concepts you have been taught. The core methodology curriculum covers introductory and advanced topics in research methodology and design, both qualitative and quantitative, and a good grounding in non-primary research design such as systematic review methodology and secondary data research. The 4 mandatory modules in the core curriculum are listed below: Principles of Research Systematic Review Methodology Advanced Qualitative Methodology Advanced Quantitative Methodology While a Master of Research is a researchoriented degree aimed at training independent researchers, it is equally important that we offer you disciplinespecific orientation so that you can focus on an area of specialism and graduate with recognised expertise in both research and a substantive discipline. The proposal is to offer students the choice to select a discipline-specific pathway mapped onto our existing (taught) postgraduate programmes within the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Students who select a pathway will need to enrol in one

subject-specific 20 credits module from the MA/MSc programme of their pathway of choice. Upon successful completion you will be offered a MRes Social Sciences and Humanities degree with a pathway, as follows: MRes SSH (Childhood) MRes SSH (Education) MRes SSH (Criminology) MRes SSH (Psychology) MRes SSH (History) MRes SSH (Psychological Therapies)

What’s new?

Master of Research (MRes) — Dr Cristian Dogaru

Alternatively for students who prefer to focus on a specialism that is not part of the existing postgraduate taught programmes (for example, Sociology or Law), as well as students who seek to do a combined specialism dissertation, they can enrol in an independent academic project module (in lieu of the subject-specific module) in which they can explore in depth a topic of interest, by producing, for example, a theoreticaloriented paper. These students will be offered a generic MRes in Social Sciences and Humanities. Contact Dr Cristian Dogaru on c.dogaru@uos.ac.uk

Building on the success of our undergraduate programme ranked 1st in the UK for Student Satisfaction in the Complete University Guide 2021, the MA in Creative and Critical Writing brings together the study of English literature, critical theory and creative writing in a holistic and engaging postgraduate curriculum.

MA Creative and Critical Writing — Dr Amanda Hodgkinson The MA is designed to enable you to develop your skills as a creative writer, reader and researcher, through an integrated approach to creative writing and contemporary developments in critical and cultural theories. The MA offers you the chance to explore a range of established and evolving literary genres, such as historical fiction, memoir, and children’s literature. We also offer our ‘Writers in Residence’ module, which invites you to build fruitful relationships within a chosen residency, community or environment, encouraging you to think and act autonomously in planning and engaging with the role of the writer in the community. As a course which puts student learning experience at its heart, teaching is carried out two days a week, on campus and via our online learning environment. Many of our students have work/family commitments, and we offer the MA as full-time study (one year) or part-time (two years). It is also possible to sign up to do a single module of your choice, should you have a specific interest, or you’d like to try out postgraduate study to see if it is for you.

What’s new?

We have a dynamic and supportive writing community on our MA programme and students speak of “the inclusive ethos of the course and the way that tutors support and encourage students to follow their own writing and academic interests, however unique or unconventional, which really places value on individual creativity.” If you choose to study with us, the MA programme welcomes you into its supportive, collaborative community. As Hannah, who has come to the MA straight from the BA (Hons) English at Suffolk states, “the cohort this year is just fab. We are all so supportive, encouraging and excited for everyone’s projects. The class workshops and chance to give feedback on everyone’s work is really exciting and joyous.”

The MA also offers you membership of our Creative and Critical Writing Centre. This features our online Talking Shop where we run events all through the academic year. Our guest speakers include writers, poets, literary agents and publishers. We also offer plenty of writing projects including being part of our Writer’s Anthology, this year titled ‘Suffolk Folk’ and published by the Talking Shop Press. As a student on our MA you are encouraged to get involved in readings and workshops in the region and on community and BBC radio. You can publish your writing on our Talking Shop podcast or add to our Creative and Critical Writing blog pages. This year our students have delivered conference papers, been shortlisted for Literary Agency representation, gained places on professional mentoring schemes and won cultural internship placements. Do get in touch if you need any further information and all our contact details and course specifications are available on the University Website. With the thought that it is always helpful to hear from students themselves, here are some words from a member of our current cohort who enrolled part-time; after taking redundancy from work, she decided to follow her dreams of becoming a writer. “If you are coming at the MA from a nonacademic background and you want your thinking and writing challenged, support from a creative and critical minded group and great teaching from passionate tutors, then this is the course for you. If you are an undergraduate wanting to build your confidence in your creative and critical abilities, this is the course for you. The MA is hard work, stretching and requires you to do your own thinking and devise which direction you want to go in, but allowing you to get the most from the tutors, the curriculum, fellow students and the addons, such as visiting publishers, agents and authors. If you have half a mind to do this, I would wholeheartedly recommend you apply.”

MSc Advanced Clinical Practice Postgraduate Certificate (PgC) Advanced Practice and Reporting in Computed Tomography Colonography (CTC)

Postgraduate courses

POSTGRADUATE COURSES Postgraduate Diploma Specialist Practitioner — District Nursing MSc Public Health Nursing

Becky Baker

MSc Applications of Psychology MA Childhood Studies

MSc Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Counselling

Postgraduate Graduate Certificate in Radiographic Reporting of the Chest and Abdomen MSc Regenerative Medicine

Postgraduate Certificate in Social Work Practice Education

Lecturer in Midwifery

MSc Community Nursing (Progression Route)

MA Creative and Critical Writing

Postgraduate Diploma in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing

MA Criminology: Crime & Victimisation

Suffolk Executive MBA (SEMBA)

MSc Data Science and Artificial

Postgraduate Certificate in Paediatric Imaging

Intelligence MA/PgD/PgC Education Studies PgC/PgD Enhanced Clinical Practice MSc Games Development MSc Human Resource Management Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management MSc/PgD/PgC International Business and Management MA History

Postgraduate Graduate Certificate in Education - PGCE (Primary) (North Essex Teacher Training) Certificate in Education / Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) Postgraduate Graduate Certificate in Education - PGCE (Primary) (North Essex Teacher Training) MSc Public Health Master of Business Administration

Senior Leader Masters Degree Apprenticeship (Master of Business Administration)

EVENTS AND FURTHER INFORMATION Open events Saturday 9 October 2021 9.30am – 2.30pm Saturday 6 November 2021 9.30am – 2.30pm Thursday 9 December 2021 4.00pm – 7.00pm To register or arrange a chat with one of our academics or student recruitment team visit uos.ac.uk/openevents

Chat to us on Unibuddy

Events and further information

Unibuddy is a new initiative which allows prospective students to chat to our student ambassadors and staff. Send a message today at uos.ac.uk/unibuddy

POSTGRADUATE OPEN EVENT Wednesday 21 July 2021 5.00pm – 7.00pm For more information or to register your interest please visit uos.ac.uk/virtualopenevent

uos.ac.uk/alumni