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Lecturer Shares Expertise and personal experience at County Council Care and Community Staff Training Event
Leanne McHugh, Lecturer in Health & Social Care at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), was invited to be a guest speaker at the “carers and our statutory responsibilities towards them” training event delivered to Lincolnshire County Council Adult Care and Community staff. In addition to her academic expertise, Leanne is also a carer herself, and was able to share her personal expertise as part of the training.: “My contribution was to share my personal lived experience as my husband’s carer. It was also a great opportunity to promote the carers community at BGU. I discussed our ongoing work including designing and implementing a platform to share the Carers Passports, our Carers Café’s, the procedures that HR have been developing along with the services of our Student Advice team and their role in supporting carers. As I have previously been with a different organisation, I was able to compare and contrast how the measures in place at BGU had ensured that my career was progressing alongside my carer’s role. It was fantastic to be able to share our efforts with partner agencies, marking us out as a role model, showcasing what good support for carers looks like through our carer’s community.” The training event also included contributions from Carers First, Young Carers Services and Every-one. To create your own successes in our collaborative learning community, visit our website, speak to a member of our Enquiries Team or join us on one of our Open Days. -
BGU Staff Members Contribute to Award Winning Book
Bishop Grosseteste University’s Dr Andrew Jackson, Head of Research, and Dr Rose Roberto, Teaching Resources Librarian and History Lecturer, have contributed to The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press, a unique resource recently awarded The Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize by The Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP). The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press is a collection of essays examining nineteenth-century British and Irish newspaper and periodical history during a key period of change and development. It covers an important point of expansion in periodical and press history across the four nations of Great Britain (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales), concentrating on cross-border and transnational comparisons and contrasts in nineteenth-century print communication. Designed to provide readers with a clear understanding of the current state of research in the field, in addition to an extensive introduction, it includes forty newly commissioned chapters and case studies exploring a full range of press activity and press genres. Practical features in this tome, which probably swayed the panel, include a helpful timeline of significant events in the history of printing technology intersecting with social, political, and cultural history. There are also a large selection of high-resolution images showing 19th-century visual and tactile material that readers will find engaging. The Colby Prize is for original book-length scholarship about Victorian periodicals and newspapers and in awarding it to The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press, the RSVP praised the new book for being “a remarkable, wide-ranging resource that gives welcome attention to diversity and transnational connections.” Continuing their praise the society added: “It will be valuable for a wide range of readers. RSVP is pleased to honour the work of all the writers as well as the editor, who together have made a contribution to nineteenth-century periodical studies that will remain a standard for many years to come.” Dr Roberto and Dr Jackson authored chapters 3 and 26 respectively. Speaking after the announcement Dr Jackson discussed what readers could expect from the book: "Our newspaper media today owes much to its history of rapid expansion and cultural diversification during the nineteenth century. This volume provides a definitive survey, and a wide-ranging and deep exploration. It was privilege to contribute, offering perspectives on the great outpouring of local and regional newspapers, and what these tell us about the development and character of the communities and districts in which we live today." Dr Roberto shared her excitement at her inclusion and on the potential impact the book could have: “I was delighted to find out that my paper at an international conference in Edinburgh, called “Communities of Communication” was the basis of an award-winning book. There were numerous outstanding presentations that were delivered over two days, and I am pleased and humbled that my research on Victorian-era illustration was chosen by editor David Finkelstein for inclusion in this comprehensive volume.” The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press is available as an e-book at the BGU Library. Members of the BGU community can access it by clicking here. To create your own successes in our collaborative learning community, visit our website, speak to a member of our Enquiries Team or join us on one of our Open Days. -
“You care, so let others care for you” – My Experiences as a Student Carer
Stefania Brien, BA (Hons) Health and Social Care student at Bishop Grosseteste University, shares her experiences of balancing her studies with her responsibilities as a carer and offers advice on how others in her position can access support. -
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Leads Honorary Doctorates at Bishop Grosseteste University 2021 Graduation Ceremonies
Professor Jonathan Van Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for health protection in England, Susan Hollingworth GRSM ARMCM BEM, and Professor Nigel Curry, Founder of the Lincolnshire Food Partnership will all be awarded honorary doctorates as part of the University's 2021 Graduation ceremonies. -
"Do not sit on the side lines; roll-up your sleeves and rebuild the world you want to see"
Professor Jonathan Van Tam encourages graduates of BGU's Class of 2021 to take their place in deciding the World's future in his Honorary Graduation Speech -
Remembering 9/11 Twenty Years On
On the morning of September 11, 2001, an American Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Worldwide, millions watched in shock as events were broadcast by live television coverage. Many remember the chilling footage of the second plane hitting the south tower and the later collapse of the twin towers. At 9.45 am (Eastern Standard Time - EST), a third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C. At 10.10 am (EST), a fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field in western Pennsylvania. United Flight 93 had been delayed leaving Newark Liberty International Airport, leaving time for some of its passengers to learn of the attacks in New York and Washington from cell phone calls. A group of brave passengers and flight crew fought the highjackers preventing the terrorists from weaponising the plane and taking out their fourth intended target, either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. The coordinated attacks were carried out by the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives that day. Twenty years on, historians at Bishop Grosseteste University share their memories of a day that changed the world. Dr Claire Hubbard-Hall, Programme Leader for Military History. I was weeks away from submitting my Master's' dissertation when 9/11 happened. The day the planes hit the World Trade Center, I had broken away from editing a dissertation chapter. I made a sandwich and then switched on the weighty analogue box television that occupied the living room corner. Images of destruction and devastation greeted me. News of the attacks in New York dominated both BBC and ITV channels (two of just five channels then). For the rest of the day, I sat transfixed, unable to make sense of the news that followed. In an era before social media, the live broadcast made it feel as if I were there. I watched in horror as the Twin Towers plummeted to the ground. At the time, I felt sick. Looking back, I still do. During my doctorate, I spent some time in New York as a Fritz Halbers Fellow researching aspects of the Holocaust at the Leo Baeck Institute. In 2006, on a bitterly cold January morning, I visited the site of the 9/11 attack. Standing silently in Lower Manhattan, I felt overwhelmed with emotion, still unable to process the unthinkable. As we mark the 20th anniversary of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history, I wonder how much 9/11 is shifting from lived experience to a historical event connected to the years of history before and after the 9/11 attacks. Dr Hazel Kent, Lecturer in History. I was rushing from my classroom to the staffroom to grab a much-needed cuppa after a busy lesson (some things don't change). A colleague stopped me in the corridor: "Have you heard what's happening in New York?" I hadn't. There wasn't easy internet access in a Lincolnshire comprehensive at that time, and certainly not in my History classroom. I went over to the Science block, to the technician's long, thin preparation room; this was the only place in the school with a live television signal. Surrounded by the chemical bottles and equipment, I remember watching the coverage in disbelief and trying to make sense of what was happening as more and more staff crowded into the tiny space to do the same. I remember the confusion as TV reporters tried to explain, as the horrific trauma of a carefully coordinated terror attack began to unfold thousands of miles away. Watching the coverage of the event certainly had a profound effect on me. From a historian's point of view, it is interesting to reflect on the experience of watching such a significant event unfold in real-time before its narrative has been created. Dr Alan Malpass, Lecturer in Military History. I've lived my entire adult life in the post-9/11 world, but my memories of that day are hazy. I do remember, quite vividly, sitting on the sofa in my parents living room watching news reports of the attack. I had just returned from school, so it must have been around 4 pm (BST). My dad was still at work, but my mum was watching the TV. I remember walking in and seeing her stood in the middle of the room. I immediately felt that something serious had happened, and I sat down. I don't remember us speaking a lot, but just sitting and trying to comprehend the news coverage. I didn't understand what had happened – I don't think anyone did at that point. I'd never heard of the 'Twin Towers' or thought much about terrorism, but the chaotic images made an instant impression. The sense that something tragically earth-shattering had happened was clear. Twenty years later, I now find myself teaching the events of 9/11 and terrorism on some of the modules I deliver. They are requisite to understanding the world we live in today. Further information about the 9/11 Memorials can be found at The 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Flight 93 National Memorial and The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. -
BGU Academics Present at the International Nurse Education Today (NET) Conference
Two academics from the Health and Social Care team at BGU presented at the international Nurse Education Today (NET) Conference which is an annual event run by the Advance UK (formally the Higher Education Academy). NET provides a unique opportunity for delegates to engage with the latest worldwide research evidence, developments and thinking with educators, practitioners, and students. Papers are arranged in themed sessions where delegates participate in in-depth discussion and debate on a topic, facilitated by skilled convenors. Nicki Walsh (Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer) and Leanne McHugh (Senior Lecturer) presented on different themes. Nicki presented under the theme of “Educational Enhancement” showcasing her work supporting UK, the general practice nursing workforce (previously published). Her paper reviewed current drivers within practice and higher education, to support and develop the current and future workforce. It examined several initiatives that Nicki was involved with, from the support of General Practice to provide placements for undergraduate nursing and health and social care students, to the development of educational programmes to support nurses working in practice, or who wish to have a career in General Practice, with their continued professional develop and career enhancement. Leanne presented under the theme “Student experience, engagement and achievement”. Leanne shared an overview of the carers project at BGU. The presentation took the participants through the project’s development and planning stages and considered the student and staff engagement opportunities which this project presented. Consideration was given to how to craft the narrative of the project which focused on the question “What would it feel like to be a carer at the university?” “How can we identify a shared language, so we all hear your story?”. Future strategies to enhance the Carers project were also shared with the participants seeing the future vision, which is to consider, “What an active Carers community will look like”. During the question and answer session, feedback from the participants was really positive, offering networking opportunities and possibilities of increasing the awareness of the BGU Carers Community. Related publications Book Chapter - Chapter One – Contemporary General Practice Nursing – Editors Welsh, M. and Brooks, S., Elsevier Walsh, N and Mason, R., (2018) “Hitting the Ground Running": An Evaluation of Management Placements for Student Nurses with UK General Practice. Primary Health Care. Vol. 28 No.7 pp34-41 . doi: 10.7748/phc. 2018.e1443 Walsh, N., (2017) Using community education provider networks to develop general practice nursing. Primary Health Care. Vol.27, No.4, pp26-29 -
Heritage Open Days & The Early History of Bishop Grosseteste University
Since 1994, Heritage Open Days have run every year shining a bright light on England's rich and diverse cultural heritage. This year, from 10-19 September, heritage sites across the county reflected on the theme of 'voices unheard', exploring 'stories from women, children, the working class and agricultural workers, minority groups and even animals that have somehow contributed to the history of Lincolnshire'. Bishop Grosseteste University has been educating students for over 150 years, but its early history was devoted to training young 'school mistresses'. In January 1862, 'Lincoln Diocesan Training College for Schoolmistresses' opened its doors for women who aspired to be teachers. As seen in the image below, the 'Joyce Skinner Building' is one of the original college buildings. Figure 1: A watercolour painting of Lincoln Diocesan Training College in 1888. BGU Archive During the first fifty years some 1,320 girls entered Lincoln Diocesan Training College. After gaining their teaching certificates, some women went on to have careers in elementary schools. Others passed away far too young—some married, and their daughters later attended the college. A few daring women even travelled to far off British colonies to teach. Interestingly, the vast majority of trainee 'schoolmistresses' came from working-class backgrounds. During the nineteenth century, teaching was considered a working-class profession, as it was deemed immoral for the upper classes to educate working class children. Figure 2: The oldest surviving image of students at Lincoln Diocesan Training College c1860s. BGU Archive For a young woman to be given a chance to study at a teacher training college in the late nineteenth century there was an expectation that she would have successfully carried out the role of an apprentice teacher. 'Pupil Teachers' aged between 13 and 18 years of age, spent four to five years shadowing teachers in an elementary school. Alongside teaching the youngest school children, they also carried out domestic duties. Pupil Teachers were also expected to conduct their study before or after the school day. While extremely demanding, the pupil teacher scheme was also preparing the young women to take the Queen's Scholarship Exam. This exam ultimately determined their national ranking. It was from this list that College Principals selected entrants. The Principal at Lincoln Diocesan Training College used the Queen's Scholarship List, but also chose candidates based on their physical well-being, religious knowledge, and geographical proximity, preferring candidates from Lincolnshire or nearby counties of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Figure 3: The Student Common Room c. 1900s. The Common Room was only added to the College in 1895 after numerous requests from the Inspector. BGU Archive Once at the college, the young women could not escape their working-class roots as domestic duties were still required. The college décor was plain, the amenities were sparse, and the food was basic. However, despite a rudimentary diet of potatoes, meat and bread, regular college food was more than what many of the girls were used to. A fascinating medical record held within the BGU Archive reveals that one group of undernourished trainee teachers managed to put weight on at the turn of the twentieth century, and their general health improved considerably during their two years at college. To learn more about the university’s early history and heritage, and study History, Military History or the MA in Social & Cultural History in the surviving Victorian buildings, please click here. -
Perceptions of Death in Collective Memory: Numbers | Spaces | Texts (2021-22)
Research by Sibylle Erle Death is an abstract concept. I have always been interested in Death; not because I am morbid but because I want to live a better life. Having co-organized Academic and Creative Responses to Death and Dying (since 2017) with Peter Green at BGU, I realised that I needed to move on as well as back into my own discipline. I wanted to contemporize my interest in Death, which is rooted in the Romantic period where it connects to my research on Mary Wollstonecraft, Joanna Baillie and Mary Shelley. This is how it happened. In conversation with Dr Makrina Agaoglou, from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT) in Madrid, I realised how Mathematics could inform and teach non-mathematicians about how mathematical modelling can give some inside information on what is happening and if and how outcomes can be predicted. Sophie Ungerer a London-based architect and designer working at the University of Brighton, on the other hand, showed me how COVID-19 has affected the way we move in our minds and through our cities, including the spaces designated for preoccupation with death, such as graveyards, (makeshift) morgues or memorials. In my head I quickly moved from “What is the maths behind the current pandemic?” to “How should we inhabit public spaces – as well as the intimate space between us”. Our project seeks to explore the perceptions of death in the context of COVID-19 and how they were affected by the pandemic. COVID-19 has been represented by mathematical graphs describing a global phenomenum, that are abstract and not always easily processed by the public; the data, moreover, is counterpointed by a plethora of individual stories about loss, mental health and lockdowns. Yet, though the threat of death is omni-present and has shaped our societies and lives irreversibly, many still have not experienced death first-hand. Death is well-documented in the public eye, but all too often the dying had to die alone to ensure the safety of their loved ones and related communities. This disconnect - between the public and the private - has to do with how we process ‘the facts‘. Through our project we want to take stock of how the current situation is poised; it is not about knowing or not knowing, it is rather to do with accepting or rejecting ‘the facts‘. Using interdisciplinary collaboration, we aim to explore the perceptions of death: from the abstract, for the general public, the parameters that affect the spreading of the virus and thus define social distancing, to how empirical experience of death may be represented in text and space. Our project is funded by AlumNode (a collaboration between the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF) and the German Scholars Organization (GSO), funded by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS). Facts rarely produce empathy; and this is where the TEXT (Literature) comes in. For any information contact Sibylle Erle, FRSA, FHEA, who is Reader in English Literature and lead of RKEU Literature and Literacies. She teaches on the English programmes as well as on MA Children’s Literature and Literacies. Our first event on 2 November brings together Speakers from different disciplines who will explore ‘Death’ from different angles: we will have short presentations, a round table and a creative workshop; This will be lead by artist Marina White Raven, who I have been working with since the first Lockdown on a story titled, 'What did you do during lockdown?' - Find out more about that story here. What remains? Each point or number on those graphs holds its own story. Is it personal stories that will compete with the trends in the formation of the collective memory of the time we are now living through? How do we perceive, construct as well as represent Death in our daily lives? For details: https://www.icmat.es/congresos/2021/PDM-NST/index.php To register: https://predictiondeathmemory.eventbrite.co.uk -
Bishop Grosseteste University ranked 2nd position in Top 10 Universities in the country for social inclusion
Bishop Grosseteste University has been announced 2nd in the top 10 ranking for social inclusion in the country in this year’s Sunday Times Good University Guide.
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