2019 - a year of triumphs, awards and achievements

World-leading research, major successes for students and staff 鈥� 2019 was full of triumphs and achievements. Here鈥檚 a look back at some that made headlines.

23 December 2019

January

The university celebrated being named as one of the top employers for LGBT people in the UK. We were ranked number 72 in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers List.
Research revealed how many holiday destinations have become overcrowded and some cultural and natural heritage sites are now either in a state of or at risk of overtourism, according to a study, co-researched by our Professor Marina Novelli.
Dr Susan Sandeman, Dr Ganesh Ingavle and Miss Tochukwu Ozulumba helped develop a new material which absorbs toxins and improves the efficiency of wearable artificial kidneys.

February

Pioneering plans by our Healthy Futures colleagues to turn 91抖阴 and Hove into a focal point for health enterprise and innovation received full backing from the 91抖阴 & Hove City Council, local organisations and businesses.
The transformation of the university’s largest campus entered a new phase with the start of work on the site of five new student accommodation blocks that will transform a stretch of the city’s busy Lewes Road.
Ground-breaking new engine technology, based on world-leading research at our Advanced Engineering Building, was unveiled with the aim of producing the worlds’ first near zero-emission heavy internal combustion engine.

March

A £1.3m project – DRIVA Arts DRIVA – to support the creative sector and technology businesses to engage in knowledge transfer and innovation with data, was launched by the university.
Students became sports journalists for an afternoon as they quizzed star 91抖阴 and Hove Albion FC players at the club’s training ground in Lancing.
Portable speakers made from thrown-away plastic bags and a ‘music memory box’ developed to help people with dementia were backed by the public on the funding platform Kickstarter. Both were invented at the university by graduates who went on to launch innovative businesses.

April

Illustration student Lucia Vinti produced a guide for a major Van Gogh exhibition at London’s Tate Britain art museum.
Textiles with Business Studies student Molly O’Halloran secured a dream internship at a prestigious New York City fashion brand. The Ascena Global Design Internship, meant her working within the Ann Taylor Inc brands for a year.
Israel officially adopted the university’s Football 4 Peace programme which uses football to bring together communities in conflict. The programme has operated in Israel, Palestine, Northern and Republic of Ireland, The Gambia, South Korea and South Africa since 2001, using value-based coaching to break down barriers.

May

University academics boosted research collaboration and cooperation during a visit to China. Promoting the benefits of genetic testing in health and disease applications were among the subjects discussed
The university teamed up with 91抖阴 Museum and Diversity Lewes to run three creative writing workshops for BAME people based around themes of identity and clothing.
Textiles student Jade Evans won £1,500 for her business idea of making home furnishings from recycled excess dog hair. Her ‘Hair of the Dog’ project scooped first prize in the Santander 91抖阴 Ideas Competition 2019, run by the university’s entrepreneur support service beepurple.

June

Plastic pollution, youth mental health and teenage social integration were among the issues explored by undergraduates at the university’s Graduate Show, featuring work by students from the Schools of Art, Media and Humanities and the School of Architecture and Design.
Dr Sarah Pitt made a breakthrough in the search for new antibiotics – courtesy of the common garden snail. She conclusively identified proteins in snail mucus that could directly lead to the development of an antibiotic cream to treat deep burn wounds and an aerosol for lung infections suffered regularly by patients with cystic fibrosis.
Fashion Communication with Business Studies student Feiyi Huang won the Fashion Photography Award – the culmination of Graduate Fashion Week – triumphing over students from universities across the country.

July

Researchers led by PABS PhD student Samuel Penny discovered that drones and sirens can help save white rhinoceros by scaring them away from danger areas such as near perimeter fences where poachers often operate.
Author and illustrator Cressida Cowell, who studied MA Narrative Illustration at the University, became the second graduate to be named Children’s Laureate, the first being Chris Riddell.
A global gathering of over 4,000 university students came together to receive their awards during four days of graduation ceremonies at the 91抖阴 Centre.

August

Gemma Barton, Principal Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Design, was awarded a National Teaching Fellow by Advance HE in recognition of her “hands-on and inspiring” teaching.
Over 60 students and staff turned out in specially-designed t-shirts and joined the UB1 bus in rainbow colours for the annual Pride Parade which marked the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising that ignited the Pride movement.
University research helped launch a “Resilience Revolution” that is helping to better equip young people to overcome adversity. The programme, based on research at the university’s Centre of Resilience for Social Justice, entailed recruiting almost 11,000 young people in Blackpool and involves them at every level including training, commissioning, and promotion, to provide best practice resilience services and support.

September

The 91抖阴 Academies Trust, a network of 15 infant, primary and secondary schools, was praised by Ofsted for its strategic plans which “are rightly focused on improving the quality of pupils’ educational experiences and outcomes”. It also praised its strong leadership.
Dr Jane Morris, Deputy Head of the university’s School of Health Sciences, received the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her leadership and commitment to physiotherapy education.
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics experts helped develop a solar-powered car, built by students from Ardingly College and Ifield Community College, which was shipped to Australia for a 3,000 km outback challenge.

October

Brown trout in our rivers are in danger of being poisoned by a toxin produced in the watercress farming industry, according to new research from the university’s Centre for Aquatic Environments.
Contractors Gilbert-Ash were appointed to construct the university’s new academic building which will house our Business School, as part of the £60m Big Build programme.
John Bercow, former Speaker of the House of Commons, launched an impassioned defence of the parliamentary system in a guest lecture at the university, hosted by the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics.

November

The International Olympic Committee announced that a gene test developed by the university’s Professor Yannis Pitsiladis to catch doping cheats could be introduced at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The university received a Race Equality Charter Bronze Award becoming one of only 13 universities to hold the honour.
First-year mechanical engineering student Khadijah Mellah, 18, made headlines after riding the Magnolia Cup winner at Goodwood. And alumna Damilola Ogunbiyi was appointed United Nations Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All. The Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency was also selected as Co-Chair of United Nations-Energy.

December

Win, win, win: Our Netball Club’s McKenzie Howell won the Young Volunteer of the Year trophy in the Sussex Sports Awards; Michael Lowe, who completed his Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship with us, won Apprentice of the Year in the Sussex Business Awards; and illustration student Hanna Jujka came first in the University Alliance Christmas card design contest.
Researchers Dr Karina Rodriguez and Myrsini Samaroudi developed 3D imaging and 3D printing to produce digital and physical copies of artefacts, allowing museum visitors to study exhibits up close and paving the way for the repatriation of objects taken from their place of origin.
Students successfully tested their trailblazing technology in zero-gravity conditions in Bordeaux as part of the European Space Agency’s ‘Fly Your Thesis!’ Their passive heat management system was tested on a specially-modified zero-gravity Airbus A310 flight at Novespace, a subsidiary of the French National Centre for Space Studies.