Category: News

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Brighton secures national Silver Award for teaching excellence

The University of Brighton has been recognised for the quality of its teaching and student outcomes in a UK-wide evaluation of higher education institutions.

The university has today secured a Silver award in the national Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The award confirms that the student experience and student outcomes across all of the university’s undergraduate provision including apprenticeships are “typically very high quality”, delivering excellence above the rigorous standards set for the UK’s higher education providers. The rating lasts for four years, until September 2027.

The TEF is a national scheme run by the Office for Students (OfS). It aims to encourage universities to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies.

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Graduate finalist in prestigious town planning awards

Congratulations to Town Planning graduate Laura Hemsley for reaching the finals of the prestigious Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Research Excellence (Student Award).

Now in their ninth year, the awards continue to recognise and promote high quality, impactful spatial planning research. Laura was nominated for her masters dissertation, ‘The Effectiveness of Strategic Planning Arrangements in Mineral Planning’.

We caught up with her to find out more about her dissertation, the support from her lecturers and what it meant to be nominated for the award.

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Brighton researchers helping create world’s first hydrogen-powered crematorium

A project to create the world’s first hydrogen-powered crematorium is being supported by a team of researchers from the University of Brighton.

The pioneering project, funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, is centred on Worthing Crematorium in West Sussex and is part of Adur & Worthing Council’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2030.

This summer, cremator manufacturer DFW Europe will begin testing pioneering hydrogen technology at its base in the Netherlands. If these tests are successful, the technology will be brought over to trial at Worthing Crematorium as early as spring 2024.

Dr Kevin Wyche, Pete Lyons and Dr Kirsty Smallbone from the University of Brighton’s School of Applied Sciences are carrying out air quality monitoring on the project to demonstrate that the proposed new hydrogen-powered system can dramatically reduce carbon emissions without worsening air quality.

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Abeer Aamir

Brighton pharmacy student wins prestigious national award

Thanks to her exceptional work in advancing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at the University of Brighton, Pharmacy MPharm student Abeer Aamir has won this year’s David Kearney Award from the British Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (BPSA).

Abeer, who has just finished her third year, described herself as “incredibly grateful and humbled” to receive the prestigious national award, which recognises outstanding contribution to pharmacy over the past 12 months. 

The nomination calls Abeer’s commitment to promoting inclusivity and diversity within the pharmacy profession “a testament to her dedication to advancing the field, keeping patients safe, and making it more equitable and accessible for all individuals”.

“As a first-generation immigrant and a pharmacy student, I’ve seen both sides of the coin,” Abeer said. “I’ve seen the ways in which medical racism penetrates the healthcare profession, and it really does disproportionately affect people of colour and women. So, using all that lived experience, I really hope to shine a light on unconscious bias and unconscious medical racism, so that the curriculum is a lot more reflective of the population that our graduates are serving.”

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University of Brighton scientist wins prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry Prize

Professor Bhavik Patel has won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Analytical Science mid-career Prize in recognition of brilliance in research and innovation.

Based at the University of Brighton’s School of Applied Sciences, the Professor of Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry has been named winner of the prize for the development of innovative electrochemical sensors for advancing the understanding of biological signalling processes. This year’s winners join a prestigious list of past winners in the RSC’s prize portfolio, 60 of whom have gone on to win Nobel Prizes for their work, including 2022 Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi and 2019 Nobel laureate John B Goodenough.

After receiving the prize, Professor Patel said: “This prize is real recognition for me and my group on our research approach to create sensors which are fit-for-purpose and provide impactful knowledge about biological systems.”

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Brighton researchers to explore better sourcing of vital rare earth elements needed in battle to decarbonise

University of Brighton researchers have received a £799,950 grant to explore more efficient and less damaging ways to source vital rare earth elements.

Researchers from the School of Applied Sciences and the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Brighton have been awarded a £799,950 grant by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to investigate the rock weathering processes in generating deposits of Rare Earth Elements (REEs). Information gleaned from the SCREED project should help to predict resource potential and minimise the environmental impact of extraction.

REEs are part of a group of elements that are crucial components in high power magnets used in renewable power generation and low carbon transport. In particular, neodymium and dysprosium are essential for renewable energy devices such as wind turbines and the development of electric motors. They are, however, in limited supply worldwide, and University of Brighton researchers will explore ways to access supplies in a more sustainable manner by examining the presence of REEs in rocks that have already been partly broken down by natural weathering.

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Funding boost for Brighton project to encourage more Black and Asian people to become blood, organ and stem cell donors

University of Brighton’s Donor Research team have received a share of £685,000 funding as part of the Government’s commitment to continue to tackle health inequalities and promote organ, blood, and stem cell donation among Black and Asian communities.

Donor Research is an award-winning network of University of Brighton students and academics from diverse backgrounds, supported by healthcare professionals and funded by NHS Blood and Transport (NHSBT). They work collaboratively to advance, support, and shape their community’s awareness of blood and organ donation for a fairer and more equal society.

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crabs and lobster baskets at the beach

Study probes sharp fall in Sussex crab and lobster catch

University of Brighton experts are investigating a steep decline in the catch of crab and lobster in key fishing waters off Selsey in West Sussex.

Three female researchers at the beachDr Heidi Burgess is working alongside University of Brighton students as part of the CHASM (Crustaceans, Habitat And Sediment Movement) Project, in partnership with Chichester District Council, the Channel Coastal Observatory, and University of Southampton. The project is also supported by over 20 national, regional, and local environmental organisations with interests in the marine environment. Continue reading “Study probes sharp fall in Sussex crab and lobster catch” →

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Media fellowship puts biomedical expert behind the scenes at the BBC

University of Brighton’s Dr Sarah Pitt will team up with the BBC Science Unit as part of a Media Fellowship from the Association of British Science Writers.

As a virologist, Dr Pitt has made regular appearances on TV, radio and in print since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing expert insights on the disease itself, as well as infection rates, new variants and vaccinations. More recently, she has been called upon to comment on other topics such as the discovery of polio in London water and the ongoing monkeypox outbreak. Continue reading “Media fellowship puts biomedical expert behind the scenes at the BBC” →

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Brighton professor draws on the lessons of The Apprentice to win national teaching award

The TV show was an unlikely source of inspiration for Bhavik Patel when he was considering how to boost his students’ employability skills 10 years ago.

Yet the lessons he took from the format have this week contributed to him being announced as a National Teaching Fellow by Advance HE in recognition of his innovative educational practice as Professor of Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry in the University of Brighton’s School of Applied Sciences.

The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme celebrates those in UK higher education who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession.

In awarding the fellowship to Professor Patel, Advance HE said: “He is renowned for his work on developing novel educational practices for the delivery of analytical chemistry, and… passionate about enhancing employability skills and understanding the barriers faced by minority ethnic students in higher education.”

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