The past month at Coventry has been focused on celebrating success in our Health and Life Sciences. Our very own Jess Vaughan won the Nursing Times Student of the Year Award for Nursing. The was the result of nearly three years of hard work and selfless volunteering, while juggling being a mum to her little girl. Jess has combined learning her trade at Coventry University with placements at hospitals across the city and Warwickshire, and even spending a week at a hospital in Kenya. She said that the experience was a real eye-opener and a good learning experience and was honoured to have won the award. She has also secured herself employment at a local hospital after she graduates.
Staying within Allied Health we have also been celebrating with the community International Nurses Day and International Day of the Midwife. The celebrations cumulated in a parade of hundreds of past, present and future nurses and midwives through Coventry City Centre, following a service in the cathedral. The theme of this International Nursing Day was “Our Nurses. Our Future”, the local NHS providers and Coventry University Group are currently working together with the aim of recruiting 1,000 adult nurses from the local area over the next five years. Suzanne Hilton, Head of Coventry’s School of Nursing and Midwifery had nothing but praise for the event.
Our Research Centres have also been working on the Health theme, one of our PhD researchers Rachael Hughson-Gill has been working on a clothing range specifically for young women with Type 1 Diabetes aimed at mitigating the challenges they face on daily basis. The project is based on co-design principles and aims to explore how wearable technology bruising and weight fluctuations can be incorporated/ dealt with through this range. The project, as part of Rachael’s PhD in our Centre for Arts Memory and Communities, is hoping to produce a toolkit for designers as well as a wearable clothing range.
Elsewhere in the university, we have appointed a Regional Managing Director to the Group’s new India Hub. Leena Arora Kukreja will be the most senior representative of the University Group in the region and will lead the Hub’s opening and the development of new collaborations. The India Hub, which will open towards the end of this year, will be the sixth in Coventry University Group’s network of Global Hubs, joining those in Brussels, Dubai, Africa, China and Singapore. The global hubs act as Coventry University Group’s embassies, serving key regions and developing collaborative relationships that further its work as an economic development organisation for governments and public and private sector organisations. Leena has worked extensively with the UK science and innovation community and in her role as Senior Advisor to the UK Science and Innovation Network for the British High Commission, Leena led on various innovation projects including the launch of India-UK Industrial research and development programme.
Finally, within the West Midlands (UK) region, we have been working with the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation and the Connected Places Catapult developing the West Midlands innovation ecosystem through the Clean Futures innovation accelerator project. The project is supporting the development and diversification of transport manufacturing supply chains in the West Midlands, enabling the transition from fossil-fuelled to clean-tech solutions. This will provide a foundation for sustainability through the Clean Futures Academy, bringing together the West Midlands innovation community to support longer-term sustainability and social benefit. By bringing together the West Midlands innovation community, Clean Futures will drive jobs and growth, bringing new investment to the region and convening buyers and suppliers to tackle the challenges of clean transport.
Signed,
Joanne Dobson
Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Coventry University
