February: take five

A special thanks to our hosts in Lagos, Tobi Odukoya (Agriculture, 2007) and Nairobi, Dr Eric Masika (Chemistry, 2008). 

Further thanks to all our wonderful panellists:

• Olúwatóyìn Emmanuel-Olubake (Mechanical Engineering, 2004)
• Modupe Emmanuel (International Commercial Law, 2007)
• Ghadebo Rhodes Vivour (Architecture, 2004)
• Patrick Obath (Mechanical Engineering, 1976)

The events provided the perfect opportunity for alumni to make new connections, as well as offering prospective students in attendance an insight into life at Nottingham.

Take a look at our upcoming events programme >

In other sporting news our state-of-the-art facilities at the David Ross Sports Village will play host to Nottingham Forest Netball’s training programme as part of a second groundbreaking new partnership revealed in February.

The first team will train at the David Ross Sports Village utilising the indoor courts which are fitted with the latest performance analysis technology, as well as conduct their strength and conditioning sessions in the High Performance Zone. The partnership will offer unique access and a raft of exciting opportunities for the university’s thriving community of student athletes, particularly its netball stars of the future.

3. Alumni volunteering roundup

Our dedicated alumni volunteers have wasted no time getting stuck in this year, with a host of events taking place to help current students start to think about their careers after graduating from Nottingham.

23 alumni took part in our Faculty of Engineering "Where Are They Now?" event, with over 250 students in attendance to take inspiration from our speakers – and to enjoy some free pizza!

We welcomed back Faculty of Science graduate Tina Barsby (Plant Sciences, 1981) for our "Lunch with a Leader" session, sharing her career insights into both industry and academia.

The Nottingham Economics and Finance Society (NEFS) conference hosted 25 speakers across the two days, the vast majority being Nottingham alumni – including a closing address from Mike Dennis (Economics, 1997) who is a Partner at Ares Management.

Over 450 students attended from a host of universities – with the central theme focused on how to break down the north/south divide across the finance sector.

Elsewhere in the Faculty of Social Sciences we launched a new School of Law mentoring scheme, "Pathways to Practice" pairing 20 alumni solicitors from different career stages with 30 law school students for virtual mentoring until May.

Finally, we hosted the Spring Alumni Careers Conference, with returning alumni participating in showcases for the School of Politics and International Relations: Adam Collins, Emily Oxbury, Joseph Forward, Sarah Hayford and the School of Economics: Anu Carew, Chris Hyland, Ellie Gough, Janvi Patel, Tamilore Mustafa.

Our Black Industry Connections and Empowerment Programme (BICEP), which supports students of Black heritage expand their personal and professional networks, continues. 20 of our inspirational mentors supported 41 students in February, holding virtual sessions covering career exploration and professional development.

Find out more about volunteering with the alumni team >

4. Only in Nottingham - at the House of Commons

One of the great benefits of being part of our alumni community is receiving invites to exclusive events unlike any which you would experience elsewhere.

A perfect example being our panel discussion in the House of Commons this month. Titled as 'Only in Nottingham', over 150 of you joined us to hear from our four experts as they discussed inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation at the inaugural event of our new Westminster series.

Speakers included Professor Maggie O'Carroll, the co-founder of The Women's Organisation, Natalie Gasson-McKinley MBE from the British Business Bank and Dr Adigo Atabo, Founder and Director of Persomic, a health technology company developing food-as-medicine software to improve disease management through personalised nutrition insights.