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University news
Howzat! Joe Root awarded honorary doctorate
The England cricket captain, Joe Root, was bowled over when he was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Sport in recognition of his significant sporting achievements.
The top-order batsman spent a day at the University's Walsall Campus in September last year, when he took part in a training session with local primary and secondary schools, officially opened new £1million facilities in the William Penny Brookes building and tested out some of the latest sports science and research equipment.
Afterwards, staff and students were treated to an 'audience with ...' event with the 2019 Cricket World Cup winner.
The visit was Joe's second to the University, which sponsors Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club where Joe’s stellar career started.
Bringing the house down: world’s first demolition graduates
Seven students have completed the world’s first demolition postgraduate degree, launched by our School of Architecture & Built Environment in 2017.
Accredited by the Institute of Demolition Engineers (IDE), the Master’s in Demolition Management course was designed with industry specialists and comprises a range of modules including management, methodologies, research and sustainability, and building information modelling (BIM).
Dr Paul Hampton, Head of Built Environment at the University, said: “We are very proud to be the only university in the world that offers a programme for the entire lifetime of a building, from design right through to demolition, and it is thanks to the tireless efforts of partners that we are able to develop programmes which are both relevant to industry and vital to supporting local, national and international economies.”
Croeso, Tîm Cymru!*
We’re proud that our Walsall Campus has been chosen to host Team Wales for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Coaches and support staff will be based at the University campus for the major sporting event, which takes place in July and August 2022.
Team Wales will occupy around 50 rooms in the halls of residence for the duration and as part of the deal, Team Wales Athletes Commission will be invited for Q&A sessions with our sports students and there will also be opportunities for our media students to interview and film athletes.
National coaches, performance directors, physiotherapists, doctors and psychologists will also be invited to the campus to give presentations.
* Hello, Team Wales!
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Geoff Layer said: “We are delighted to be hosting Team Wales for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. This news builds on the recent hugely successful Commonwealth Judo Championships, which we hosted in September and really put Walsall on the sporting map.
“Sport is a key priority for the University and we are continuing to invest in cutting-edge new technology to develop our offer for elite sports teams and further expand the learning experience for our students.”
So far, we’ve invested £1 million in revamping the sports and research facilities at Walsall Campus, installing hi-tech equipment such as 3D motion capture technology, which was tested out by England Test cricket captain Joe Root, and an environmental chamber to replicate almost all climates on the planet.
F3 success for engineering students
Our engineering students have demonstrated their talents after successfully competing in Formula 3 races. The UWR Race Team clinched second place in the national MSV F3 Cup Championship title in October last year – the only university team to compete – and the following month saw the team secure second place in the F3 championship for the third time in four years of competing. Driver Shane Kelly said: “Since UWR entered into F3, we’ve never finished a season outside the top three. It’s an amazing effort by an incredible group of hardworking students who never give up.” The University has invested £10 million in the engineering facilities at its Telford Campus in Priorslee, creating world-class education facilities for engineering students, including industry-standard design, development and testing facilities as well as motorsport workshops.
Our health education students have access to state-of-theart facilities with the opening of our £4.8 million nursing and health lab at the Walsall Campus.
The Sister Dora Building features innovative teaching rooms, skills labs and simulation facilities, including several mock hospital ward rooms, mock bedsit and terraced house.
Other advanced technology includes a computerised anatomic model that allows students to ‘see inside’ the human body, enabling them to practise skills in a safe environment.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Geoff Layer said: “As a university we are committed to providing excellent teaching environments for students to learn, develop and grow. It’s not a bad way to start your life at University: winning a gold medal in the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championships, held for the first time at our Walsall Campus!
Jamie Spencer-Pickup, a BA (Hons) Business Management student, claimed first place in the -73kg category of the Junior competition in the week he arrived at University.
Also celebrating were first-year student Oliver Barratt, who scooped gold in the -100kg (Junior) category, and student Ebony Drysdale-Daley, who took top spot in -70kg. Graduate Jodie Caller won silver in the -57kg competition, while fellow Wolverhampton alumnus Tomas Luckus won gold in the -90kg category (Senior).
Dr Richard Medcalf, Director of the Institute of Human Sciences, said: “This was the first time a multinational event has come to the town of Walsall. It really
£4.8 million health education facilities open
has helped to put the town and our campus on the map.”
These new facilities at our Walsall Campus will ensure we continue to provide the very best education for the next generation of health professionals.”
Dr Alex Hopkins, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing, said: “Our new health labs at the Walsall Campus have been designed with the needs of our students and the professions they will enter right at the heart of our plans. This will make a huge difference to the clinical experience our students gain while they are training with us.”
The facilities were opened in January by Professor Lisa Bayliss-Pratt, former Health Education England’s Chief Nurse and a previous student and staff member of the University.
£9 million cyber centre to open
A £9m state-of-the-art centre of excellence in cyber security – a joint venture between the University and Herefordshire Council – is due to open in Hereford later this year. The centre, which will support innovation and industry in the sector, is a trail-blazing project that will be part of a wider, growing campus of cyber sector companies based within the Cyber Quarter – Midlands Centre for Cyber Security, on Skylon Park. Supported by the University’s Wolverhampton Cyber Research Institute (WCRI), the centre will also be home to 16 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and will offer product testing and certification, continued professional development and short courses, and cyber conferences attracting experts from across the globe. It is part-funded by the Government’s Local Growth Fund, via the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
From left to right: Mark Pearce, Managing Director, Hereford Enterprise Zone; Councillor Trish Marsh, Herefordshire Council; Andrew Manning-Cox, Chairman, Hereford Enterprise Zone; Councillor David Hitchiner, Leader, Herefordshire Council; Professor Geoff Layer, Vice-Chancellor, University of Wolverhampton; Adrian Speller, Technical Director, Speller Metcalfe; Prashant Pillai, Professor of Cyber Security, University of Wolverhampton; Richard Clarke, Project Manager, Speller Metcalfe.
Indian students fly over for graduation
We were thrilled to welcome 23 graduates from Rustomjee Academy for Global Careers, one of our partners in India, who flew to the UK to attend their graduation in September.
The students, who completed degrees in International Hospitality Management and Automotive Engineering, were keen to join the rest of their peers in Wolverhampton for the ceremony.
And they were delighted to meet with our Chancellor, the Rt Hon. the Lord Paul of Marylebone, PC, who presided over the Schools of Engineering and Pharmacy graduation ceremony and said: “I would like to congratulate the Rustomjee students as well as all the people who are responsible for that university. What a wonderful thing you are doing. Education in India is most important and what they are doing is a great service to the nation.”
Winny Rawal, Head of Transnational Education at Rustomjee, said: “For them it was a dream come true. They always knew the Chancellor was Lord Paul and it has been really nice of him to share so much of his time interacting with them and hearing their experiences.”
This was the second cohort to graduate through the partnership between Rustomjee Academy For Global Careers and the University, which launched in October 2017 and offers degrees in BEng (Hons) Civil and Construction Engineering; BEng (Hons) Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering; BEng (Hons) Automotive Engineering; BA (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management and BA (Hons) International Hospitality Management.
