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  1. Unbinding Gender and Ecology—and Foucault!—at BAVS 2017
    The theme of the 2017 BAVS Conference at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) was 'Victorians Unbound: Connections and Intersections'. Dr Pandora Syperek offers her thoughts... The ostensible theme of this year’s BAVS was the paradox between the parallel Victorian impulses to classify (knowledge, matter, people) into neat categories and to challenge established order and its inherent hierarchies through advancement and innovation. The goal was to consider what happens when the Victorians are ‘unbound’ from this seeming contradiction, instead granted the complexity to recognise that the one informed the other – the understanding of order and definition was necessary to blow it all apart and reorder and redefine. In order to do this we need to loosen the rigidity with which we have categorised the Victorians. In a way, this is a major thread running through my own research on the gendering of objects in the Natural History Museum, London: by looking at the less examined ‘jewel-like’ specimens on display—small, pretty, crafted, straddling art and science—and their resonance within the broader culture, I explore how categories of gender and genre were unstable and fluid. Like many Victorianists, I have been influenced by Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality (1976) and its reconception of Victorian attitudes to sexuality and the epistemic implications. Foucault’s thesis in Volume 1 is that what has traditionally been characterised as the modern repression of sexuality, culminating in the notorious prudery of the Victorians—aka the ‘repressive hypothesis’—in fact reveals an explosion of interest in sexuality, hence the scientia sexualis of the late nineteenth century, which spawned the new field of psychoanalysis and the new ‘species’, the homosexual. Foucault’s notion that sexuality is a cultural construct had major impact, and followed on from his concept of the episteme—the historical conditions of possibility of a given discourse—as developed in The Order of Things (1966). Instead of the transition from sexual repression to sexual science, the latter focused on the transition from classical natural history to modern biology. While Foucault may no longer be the ‘hot’ theorist he once was, his ideas remain influential: I detected a strong Foucauldian thread running through the talks at BAVS 2017 and their unifying theme of Victorians Unbound. Here I will consider how the dual Foucauldian themes of sexual and natural science emerged—were unbound—in discussions of gender and ecology. Ghosts of The History of Sexuality and The Order of Things haunted the keynote lectures and roundtables that in turn lingered throughout the panel sessions and in delegates’ consciousness, but the phantoms seemed to reconfigure themselves into new forms. Let’s call it Foucault 2.0. The opening round table highlighted the importance of things: Kate Hill argued that museum collections and their treatment disrupt Victorian boundaries, with the hierarchies of objects echoing those of people. Edwina Ehrman beautifully literalised the conference theme in her talk ‘Unlacing the Corset’. Interesting to me was that WH Flower, the second director of the Natural History Museum, campaigned against corsetry—in my paper a couple hours later I would describe how he campaigned against women’s adornment with exotic bird plumage. Who knew comparative anatomists were so concerned with women’s fashion? While the disfiguring of women’s bodies through corsetry might seem similarly cruel and barbaric to the murder of innocent birds, the museum director’s opposition points towards a counter-regulation of women’s activities and self-adornment. This despite the fact that he was personally responsible for the killing of numerous specimens. Meanwhile, non-corset-wearing women like female activists were seen as unfeminine. This is the type of complexity that requires unravelling in contemporary scholarship.Mike Huggins’s jovial keynote on Victorian respectability established a running joke throughout the conference proceedings that carried with it a Foucauldian flavour. To understand the Victorian episteme(s), we need to acknowledge our own. While this may be an impossible task, asking historiographical questions of our work as Victorianists—e.g. why are we so obsessed with Victorian respectability? Why not Victorian unrespectability?—is essential for recognising how the current period and its concerns shape our vision of the Victorian era, and why it matters to us. The contemporary interest in the period in fiction and popular culture emerged in panels examining Steam Punk and NeoVictorianism, again questioning our relationship to the past via its representation in the present. The weight these areas were given marked an important development for Victorian studies and was fitting seeing as directly following the conference in Lincoln was a steam punk festival! These themes and Huggins’s talk set the tone for prioritising everyday realities and ‘low culture’ as much as high discourse. I’d have to say the most revealing experience for me was a tour of the Victorian Prison following the drinks reception on the beautiful grounds at Lincoln Castle—descriptions of cell conditions for inmates including children and women with babies, as well as public hangings, brought home some of the grimmest aspects of Victorian life. As well as topics of gender and natural science, as an art historian I was drawn to the art and visual culture panels—luckily for me, a number of talks combined these fields. In the panel ‘Sex, Sexiness, Sexlessness: Problems of Eroticism in Victorian Classical Forms’, Rebecca Mellor and Melissa Gustin’s papers examined how queer sexuality can and has been both overemphasised and underemphasised, respectively, to the detriment of art historical narratives in the cases of Pre-Raphaelite painter Simeon Solomon and American Neoclassical sculptor Harriet Hosmer. The artists’ gender is implicated here, in that art historians have traditionally overlooked beauty as the embodiment of intellectual and spiritual ideals in Solomon in favour of an oversexed reading of homoeroticism, according to Mellor, while Gustin argued—in her excellently titled paper ‘Fifty Shades of Gay’—that conversely art historians have tripped over themselves to ignore and deny Hosmer’s lesbianism and its influence on her work. The consensus was to reclaim the queer gaze whilst broadening our conception of the erotic to go beyond the physical. While contemporary theories of gender and sexuality can facilitate new understandings of such material, a historicised conception of sexual categories, à la Foucault, is essential.Also on the positioning of gender in between lived experience and representation, in their panel ‘Transgender’, Ann Heilmann, Billie-Gina Thomason and Rachel Egloff discussed transgenderism in Victorian lived realities and textual personae. A recurring problem was the privileging of ‘biology’ in both historical and current discourse—e.g. the Victorians’ determination of gender through breasts and external genitalia, and recent biographers’ insistence that James Miranda Barry was female, despite living as a man for over fifty years. As with the panel on queer artists, unpacking trans histories brings up important methodological questions for how we address these histories whilst, as Thomason urged, avoiding the problem of presentism—imposing our current understanding, or episteme, on the past. And yet this does not only comprise current debates such as those surrounding trans rights, but equally broader categories developed during the Victorian era, such as modern biology.Subtler modes of categorisation were explored in panels such as ‘Decadent Spaces/Pleasurable Places’, which featured Joanne Knowles on the geographically and socially liminal space of the pleasure pier, Joseph Thorne on marginality and hybridity in Decadent cosmopolitanism and Giles Whiteley on the ‘curious effects’ of Wilde’s psychogeography. Rayanne Eskandari and Stuart McWilliams discussed the ‘Politics and Medievalism’ of John Ruskin and William Morris, respectively, and their paradoxes of authority and subversion in the case of Ruskin, and populism and scarcity in the case of Morris. In one of the few explicitly art focused panels, ‘Sculpture: Connections and Intersections’, Katie Faulkner discussed the gender and genre performance of Julia Margaret Cameron’s photography, as engaging with both sculpture and theatre to construct a particular vision of femininity. Jordan Kistler reconsidered evolutionism in Walter Pater’s theory of artistic development as representing a taxonomy based on the Lamarckian archetype, as promoted by Richard Owen (founder of the Natural History Museum) rather than an illustration of Darwinian progress. The implication, according to Kistler, is that in Pater’s formulation sculpture may come out favourably, as the epitome of art rather than its lowest form. In my own panel, simply titled ‘Objects’, Leonard Driscoll discussed things unrealistic but real in HR Haggard’s paratexts, taking the discourse of naturalism beyond the literary genre (which Haggard found rather ugly and smelly) to explore liaisons with archaeology. While the ‘connections and intersections’ between Leonard’s paper and my own on gendering taxidermied hummingbirds were not immediately obvious, parallels concerning the real or more-than-real and corresponding issues of taste and authenticity quickly emerged between these historically marginalised artefacts. Throughout BAVS 2017 there was an emphasis on the everyday and its objects. As Kate Flint stated in her beautifully illustrated keynote on the cultural history of dandelions: the attention to the ordinary, commonplace and overlooked was one of the Victorians’ greatest contributions. This sentiment was echoed in the final President’s Panel speakers Katherine Newey’s enthusiasm for studying theatre with its liberating marginality and infinite materiality and Brian Maidment’s call for more studies of songbooks and almanacs and the need to experience archives in the flesh. This theme was fostered by, and in turn facilitated, a sense of fluidity or boundlessness of disciplines. And yet disciplinary demarcations were still apparent in different approaches taken, confirming there is still much to be learnt from one other. As a non-literary studies person, I felt like a tourist. But then again maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much. The historian Peter Gay has written that Foucault’s ‘accustomed technique…of turning accepted ideas upside down’ is reminiscent of the principle underlying Oscar Wilde’s humour. This method is as relevant now as it was to the Victorians.Pandora Syperek is a postdoctoral researcher who recently completed a fellowship at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. She is developing a monograph titled Jewels of the Natural History Museum: Gender, Display and the Nonhuman, 1851-1901. She received her PhD in the History of Art at UCL in 2015.
  2. Tree-mendous Event Will Plant Seeds of Knowledge for Future
    Two trees will be planted at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in Lincoln and school children will learn about the importance of trees and forests at an event marking the 800th anniversary of the Charter of the Forest. On the same day The Woodland Trust, a national charity based in Grantham, will launch its new Charter for Trees, Woods and People at Lincoln Castle – home to one of the two remaining 1217 Charters of the Forest. BGU has invited school pupils onto its campus in Lincoln on Monday 6th November as part of a major campaign, sponsored by the Woodland Trust, to work on Britain’s environment for future generations. The schools involved are Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Horncastle, Ravensthorpe Primary School in Peterborough, Morton Trentside Primary School near Gainsborough and Brockley Primary School near Chesterfield. They will take part in educational activities relating to the Charter of the Forest and the Charter for Trees, Woods and People. The primary school pupils will make lanterns with handles made of sustainable, locally coppiced hazel, and they will be invited to attend a lantern parade being held as part of the TreeCharter launch that evening at Lincoln Castle. They will also be invited to think about why woods and trees are important to them and to add their thoughts to the lanterns. PGCE secondary Art and Design students will work with the primary school pupils on art activities using natural forms, with a special emphasis on materials derived from trees to create artworks that can be displayed in natural environments. The grammar school students will learn more about the 1217 Charter of the Forest and how it became part of the ‘Ancient Constitution’ of the kingdom, a notion of vital importance for the political and constitutional history of the British Isles, and eventually its American colonies. The event, from 10.45am until 2.30pm on Monday 6th November, will end with the ceremonial planting of a hornbeam tree and a wild cherry tree on campus at BGU. Robert von Friedeburg, a Reader in History at BGU who is organising the event, said: “England has lost a lot of historic woodland over the centuries and the Government’s reforestation plans are behind schedule, so civil society needs to jump in and engage for the good of us all. “This Woodland Trust campaign is almost too good to be true, and we’re pleased to be taking part in it. At BGU we teach good people to become good teachers, and good teachers are essential to teaching our children well. “For the younger pupils the event will help them to understand that nature is important, that we can do stuff with nature, but that we need to preserve it for future generations. The world does not only consist of electronically made illusions on smartphones!” The Charter of the Forest was sealed by King Henry III in 1217 and re-established for free men rights of access to the royal forest that had been eroded by William the Conqueror and his heirs. It was in many ways a companion document to the Magna Carta signed by King John two years earlier. More than 70 organisations and 300 local community groups have helped The Woodland Trust to collect over 60,000 tree stories from across the UK, demonstrating the important role that trees play in their lives. These stories helped to define the 10 Principles of the Tree Charter, ensuring that it stands for every tree and every person in the UK. Find out more about History at BGU.
  3. #12DaysofBGU Day 1: Graduation
    For today's #12DaysofBGU we take you back to July! Graduation is the highlight of the academic year here at BGU. We always try to make it as special as possible for both our graduating students and their family and friends who are in attendance as guests. BGU graduation ceremonies take place in the breathtaking surroundings of Lincoln Cathedral, just a stone’s throw away from campus. Here, we relive some of the highlights from social media of #BGUGrad2017... Congratulations to all of our graduating students today. We hope you're all as excited as we are! 🙌🎓🎉 #BGUGrad2017 pic.twitter.com/JUldk4XrWZ— Bishop Grosseteste University (@BGULincoln) July 19, 2017 Today's the day! We hope all of our graduating students have a wonderful day. Hit the link in our bio to keep up to date with all the highlights from #BGUGrad2017 🎓🎉 #graduation #classof2017 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bishop Grosseteste University (@bgulincoln) We're here at @LincsCathedral ready for the first #BGUGrad2017 ceremony of the day 🎓🎉 pic.twitter.com/7w2RfcM2ya — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 19, 2017 We have our first graduates! See our Instagram story for more 👍 #BGUGrad2017 🎓🎉 pic.twitter.com/rn8JWPyXkA — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 19, 2017 First ceremony done! Congratulations everyone 👏 🎓 #BGUGrad2017 pic.twitter.com/gCgoJHC07N — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 19, 2017 It was a double celebration for Hannah and Jordan! Today had a little bit of everything, including an engagement! Congratulations to Hannah and Jordan 💍🎓 #BGUGrad2017 #graduation #classof2017 A post shared by Bishop Grosseteste University (@bgulincoln) on Jul 19, 2017 at 9:14am PDT The ceremonies were coming thick and fast. The procession is in and ceremony 2 of #BGUGrad2017 is good to go 🙌 pic.twitter.com/qvZznEv1cp — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 19, 2017 Just a few of our graduating students! #BGUGrad2017 🎓🎉 pic.twitter.com/dRkhqxDubc — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 19, 2017 #bgugrad2017 #bishopgrosseteste #graduation . Lovely day , happy students A post shared by Gill Bush (@gillbushpocklington) on Jul 19, 2017 at 10:25am PDT That's a wrap for the second ceremony of #BGUGrad2017 🙌🎓 we can't wait to do it all again tomorrow 🎉 pic.twitter.com/0cx5ySBZCF — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 19, 2017 The weather was misbehaving for the first ceremony of day 2! The rain hasn't dampened spirits here on campus! We're all set for day 2 of #BGUGrad2017 🎓🎉 pic.twitter.com/qCaXWoI0pM — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 20, 2017 Feeling Proud of my Beautiful Daughter! #BGUGrad2017 @BGULincoln pic.twitter.com/2Tt0J7gqfe — Andy Parker (@Andy_P_Parker) July 20, 2017 Who ordered the rain?! It was another fabulous #BGUGrad2017 ceremony this morning despite the dodgy weather! Check out the full album of photos on Facebook 🙌🎓🎉 #graduation #classof2017 A post shared by Bishop Grosseteste University (@bgulincoln) on Jul 20, 2017 at 4:44am PDT #BGUGrad2017 FOUND MY NAME!! So proud to have my name on here💙 Thank you BG!! pic.twitter.com/Ci5g0qcECZ — Ames (@AmyLouiseStreet) July 20, 2017 I made it!!! 👩🏻‍🎓🎉🍾 #graduation #grad #bgu #bgugrad2017 #grad17 #classof2017 A post shared by Hannah (@animusbaby) on Jul 20, 2017 at 3:40am PDT Gonna miss you @enyalucy 😘 #bgu #bgugrad2017 #graduation #student #graduate #teacher A post shared by Siân/22 (@m1nniemouse) on Jul 20, 2017 at 1:20pm PDT The final #BGUGrad2017 ceremony is well underway. Congratulations everyone 🙌🎓🎉 pic.twitter.com/amp9dVaspZ — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 20, 2017 The final ceremony is over! #BGUGrad2017 pic.twitter.com/6fKAnYljZv — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 20, 2017 The sun came out to greet graduates after the final ceremony! Hat throws in the sun, perfect 🙌🎓 ☀️ #BGUGrad2017 pic.twitter.com/VBp8d2d1gw — Bishop Grosseteste (@BGULincoln) July 20, 2017 Theology graduates @BGULincoln. Congratulations to you all #BGUGrad2017 pic.twitter.com/SOuFM0xpAt — Martyn Bowler 🇪🇺 #FBPE (@MartynBowler) July 20, 2017 That's it folks #BGUGrad2017 is over! We shall miss all our #history #heritage students @BGULincoln #excitingtimes #future #keepintouch pic.twitter.com/aSTLaTO1oc — History at BGU (@BGUHistory) July 20, 2017 And that, as they say, is that. BGU Class of 2017, you were amazing! Congratulations everyone. Hit the link in our bio to relive all the action from #BGUGrad2017 🎓🙌🎉 #graduation #classof2017 A post shared by Bishop Grosseteste University (@bgulincoln) on Jul 20, 2017 at 9:11am PDT
  4. WATCH: BGU lecturers' TEDx talks
    Lecturers from Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in Lincoln spoke at a new TEDx event in October. Lincoln hosted its first ever TEDx event, TEDx Brayford Pool, on 28 October 2017. The theme of TEDx Brayford Pool was 'Past. Present. Future' and the event highlighted the best and most current ideas generated in Lincoln and Lincolnshire. Lyndsay Muir, Senior Lecturer in Drama Education at BGU, discussed self-identified trans people creatively orchestrating conversations with the wider population. Dr Jack Cunningham, BGU’s programme leader for Theology and Reader in Ecclesiastical History, presented a keynote talk about Robert Grosseteste. Dr Elinor Vettraino, programme leader for Business and Enterprise at BGU, explored self directed learning in a university setting. Andrew Whitehall, who delivers short courses at BGU, explored what neurodiversity can teach us about the way we learn. Lizzie Jordan, founder of BG Futures-based social enterprise Think2Speak, delivered her talk 'Let's Talk About Sex, Baby'. Lewis Smith, BGU graduate in Education Studies with Special Educational Needs & Inclusion, reflected on whether it's schooling or education that makes you who you are. Click here to read more about the event.
  5. Dr20Katrin20Paehler20Masterclass20BGU2013.11.201720crop-1Expert on Nazi intelligence delivers masterclass to BGU students
    An internationally renowned specialist on Third Reich intelligence services recently delivered a masterclass to History students at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in Lincoln. Dr Katrin Paehler, Associate Professor at Illinois State University, delivered a session on her recent research entitled ‘Spying while Female: Hildegard Beetz, Nazi espionage and the quest for the Ciano diaries’. Final year BGU History students studying the special subject option ‘The Secret War: Intelligence during the Second World War’ were treated to a detailed exploration of the career of Hildegard Beetz (1919-2010). Beetz was a low-level secretary with good Italian language skills who worked within Nazi Germany's political foreign intelligence service. She was instrumental in German attempts to relieve the deposed Italian foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano of his political diaries. Alleged to have fallen in love with him, Beetz helped his widow Edda Mussolini to escape with the diaries to Switzerland around the time of Ciano's execution in January 1944. There the diaries came into the possession of the Western Allies and were eventually used at the Nuremberg Trials. Dr Paehler demonstrated to students how historians should question the available evidence and remain cautious of simplistic narratives. She ended with several conclusions surrounding Beetz, presenting her as a “New Nazi Woman”, who was able to use existing Nazi gender expectations to her advantage in her life as a spy during the war. May Guest, third year History student at BGU said, “Dr Paehler’s visit was very interesting as she presented a short history into the extraordinary life of Hildegard Beetz. “We are currently learning how, in history, female spies are often overshadowed by male spies, and so it was fascinating to understand a female’s position in an already discreet subject of secret intelligence during the Second World War. I thoroughly enjoyed this session, and it has helped me grasp a deeper understanding of how secret intelligence networks work.” Dr Paehler visited BGU during the week commencing Monday 13 November and was hosted by Dr Claire Hubbard-Hall, Senior Lecturer in History at BGU, who works on the Gestapo and Third Reich intelligence more broadly. Dr Hubbard-Hall is currently preparing her monograph ‘Hitler’s Secret Agents: The Gestapo Spy Network’ for publication. Find out more about studying History at BGU.
  6. Historian Tracy Borman Joins BGU for an Evening of Elizabethan Exploration
    Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) are delighted to welcome Tracy Borman (www.tracyborman.co.uk), renowned historian, Chief Executive of the Heritage Education Trust and Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, back to Lincoln on Thursday 31 May 2018 for an evening delving deep into the riveting politics of Elizabeth I and her court. ‘Elizabeth’s Women: The hidden story of the Virgin Queen’ will explore the fascinating relationships that Elizabeth I had with the women who influenced her most. From her scandalous mother, Anne Boleyn, to her greatest rival, Mary Queen of Scots, and the ‘flouting wenches’ who served her at court, they all show Elizabeth in a surprising new light. Born and raised just outside of Lincoln, Tracey Borman is widely recognised as an expert on Tudor history with a collection of best-selling books and celebrated TV series. Her knowledge of Elizabethan England will undoubtedly ensure a compelling discussion on one of England’s most captivating monarchs. The event will start at 7.30pm and tickets for this unmissable evening are £7.50, for further details please contact the University Events Office on 01522 585635 or email events@bishopg.ac.uk. All funds raised at this event will go to the BGU Foundation Fund – enhancing the student experience and making a difference to other people’s lives.
  7. Winter Comes to BGU as Celebration of Women’s Voting Rights Continues with a Week of Unique Events
    Throughout the 2017/18 academic year students and staff at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) have been hosting events as part of Vote100, celebrating 100 years of women’s voting rights. With Tuesday 6 February marking the centenary of the Representation of the People Act (the first step towards all women getting the right to vote) BGU’s activities step up a gear with three special events to honour the occasion. Delving deep into history The week begins on Monday 5 February with an open lecture helmed by the renowned British historian Martin Pugh. Titled ‘Parliamentary Reform in 1918: Continuity, Reform or Revolution?’ Martin will be a exploring a number of important and relevant questions surrounding the Representation of the People Act 1918 and its impact on British history. What effect did the war have on the campaign for the vote? Why was the Act so comprehensive? What was the significance of the terms of the Act for women? We’ll be examining all these questions and more. Winging our way to Westeros On Friday 9 February our amazing Student Union team have put together two events for an evening of ‘Women Leading Change’. Transporting the BGU campus to the land of Westeros; the evening will include a debate on ‘Who Should Sit on the Iron Throne’. Participants will be able join a house, declare for their female leader, and argue her case with other Game of Thrones fans (cosplay not essential but always welcome). Alongside this there will be another debate, but this time focused on the recent US election. Delving into the complicated world of American politics the speakers will be discussing whether, if she were a man, Hilary Clinton would have defeated Donald Trump. Joining BGU amongst the dragons and political intrigue will be guest speakers Lincoln MP Karen Lee, former BGSU President Becca Smith and BGSU Manager Abigail Rogers. Both events promise a fiery atmosphere and are not to be missed. Be a part of Vote100 All the Vote100 events throughout the week, and indeed the rest of 2018, are open to the public and will offer the opportunity to gain a fascinating insight into the history of women’s suffrage and learn how the movement affected and changed BGU. You can read more about the events we have already hosted, as well as what is still to come, on our website.
  8. BGU Student's Wartime Drawings go on Display in Lincoln’s new International Bomber Command Centre
    Two cartoons, drawn in 1940 and 1941 during the height of the Blitz by former Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) student Betty Carpenter, are set to feature in the ‘Home Fronts’ gallery at Lincoln's new International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC). Due to open to the public Saturday 27 January, the centre will serve as a place for the recognition and remembrance of Bomber Command. Providing the most comprehensive record of the Command in the world, the IBCC ensures that generations to come can learn of their vital role in protecting the freedom we enjoy today. Joining the IBCC’s unique records, Betty’s two drawings show improvements made to the air raid shelters underneath BGU’s (then Lincoln Training College) Constance Stewart Hall between July 1940 and July 1941. Originally published in the college magazine at the time (copies of which continue to be held in the Library Archive at BGU) they were brought to the attention of the IBCC by Dr. Claire Hubbard-Hall, senior lecturer in History at BGU, who felt their level of detail and historical significance made them more then deserving of a home in the new memorial. In order to gain permission for the images to be displayed Betty's descendants were traced and contacted, and were pleased to agree to Betty's work being used in this way. In addition to going out on display to visitors at the IBCC the images will also be permanently preserved in the IBCC Digital Archive. Betty, who was from Cudworth near Barnsley, was born in 1921 and was a student at BGU between 1939 and 1941. One of the subjects she took whilst studying was Advanced Drawing, which (unsurprisingly) she passed with distinction in her Final Certificate Examination in 1941. She married Harry Bell (a Sergeant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve) in August 1942 but sadly was widowed just four months later at the age of 21, when Harry was killed during a training exercise near Kinloss. She married again, after the War, and died in 2000, aged 78. Although the IBCC is not officially opening until Saturday, you can get a sneak peek at Betty’s unique drawings both in their original format in our archives or on our heritage boards which you can find on our campus outside Constance Stewart Hall.
  9. ‘Innovative’ University Design up for Regional Award
    Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) and LK2 - a unique company of chartered architects and sports & leisure business advisors - are pleased to announce that their recent renovation project has been shortlisted for this year’s RICS East Midlands awards. The impressive £2.2m redevelopment of BGU's Constance Stewart Hall has been shortlisted for the accolade of ‘Design through Innovation’ at the upcoming award ceremony. Innovation was central to the redevelopment of BGU’s Constance Stewart Hall and LK2 needed to find a visually striking way of introducing a contemporary new extension to a historic building on the University’s campus. The vice-chancellor of BGU, the Reverend Canon Professor Peter Neil, said: “We are incredibly proud of both our 150 year history of teaching excellence and our progressive attitude which has seen us become the top university in the East Midlands for widening participation. “When it came to creating a new flexible teaching space we needed a building that would support our ambitions as well as a team who could understand this. The design by LK2 for Constance Stewart Hall perfectly captured this balance and our finished building provides students with cutting edge facilities to help them progress. We are pleased to see it rightly celebrated by the RICS”. The RICS Awards showcase the most inspirational initiatives and developments in land, real estate, construction and infrastructure. Across eight individual categories, the awards are regarded as the premier property and construction awards in the country, celebrating the most innovative projects in the region and their impact on local communities. Andrew Kitchen, director at LK2, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised for our design of this iconic scheme which has transformed the cityscape. This project showcases the impact of good design in so many different ways. Acting as a ‘shop window’, the new building gives BGU’s campus greater prominence and promotes the University to the wider community.” LK2’s innovative approach to this redevelopment, has resulted in one of the project’s most unique characteristics- the architects were able to blend both new and old elements to create the illusion that the contemporary extension is sailing over the original building. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Nottingham Belfry on Thursday 3 May. Visit our new development by booking on to a 2018 BGU Open Day now.
  10. Nightmare Creatures to Haunt BGU at 2018 Monster Conference
    There is something alluring about monsters. From the dark corners of our imaginations to books and films they terrify and fascinate us in equal measure. But where did this cultural obsession begin and why has it continued for so long? For many the answers lie with Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ and this June the Monster Conference will seek to examine the legacy of Shelley’s classic work as well as how the Monstrous continues to capture our imaginations. Hosted by Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in Lincoln the interdisciplinary conference approaches Monsters and the Monstrous through the contexts of Education, History, Literature and Society, including panels on Monsters in Literature written for Children and Dramatic Adaptations as well as Architecture, Science & Technology and Art. Monstrosity and the Monstrous apply, in the first instance, to social and cultural threats; i.e. to behaviours and (visual) qualities which are deemed socially and culturally unacceptable because they are perceived as amoral or unimaginable. The conference will explore the relevance of these concepts and to see how academic research intersects with popular culture. Through its keynotes and panel discussions, this conference wants to further engagement with the different incarnations of Monsters in contemporary research and teaching. The conference will include a screening of the award winning monster movie ‘The Host’ (2006) by the acclaimed South Korean director Joon-ho Bong, as well as a Monster Story Telling Competition, which will involve BGU students. BGU regularly hosts conferences that are open to all who’d like to attend, you can find more information about the exciting events coming up on our Events Page.

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