Celebrating student, staff and alumni success

More BU Oscar success

BU graduates worked on several films nominated at this year’s Oscars, and wins for Inside Out in the Animated Feature category and Ex Machina in the Visual Effects category ensured Oscars for BU graduates.

Mark Ardington graduated from BA (Hons) Computer Visualisation & Animation in 1997 and took to the stage as a part of the team who worked on Ex Machina to collect an Oscar in person on the night.

Mark’s success follows that of another BU graduate Andrew Lockley, who won Oscars in 2011 and 2015 for his work on Inception and Interstellar respectively. Mark’s success this year means that Bournemouth University graduates have been on stage collecting an Oscar in successive years for the first time.

Marketing award

Bournemouth University’s Marketing & Communications team celebrated winning the Gold Award for Marketing Team of the Year at the Heist Awards 2016.

The Heist Awards celebrate the best in higher education marketing and the Bournemouth University team competed with over 70 institutions to win the top award in the Marketing category for the quality of their work over the last 12 months, ahead of nine other shortlisted universities on the night.

Rare archaeological discovery

Nine Iron Age skeletons were uncovered by a BU Archaeology team at the Durotriges Dig in Winterborne Kingston. 

The well-preserved remains, which are rarely found from this time period, were found by Bournemouth University students during a dig at the pre-Roman town, which the university has been studying since excavations began in 2009. 

Marine archaeology grant

Fresh from unveiling a Portuguese wreck in Oman, a team from Bournemouth University will work with the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust (MAST) and the National Museum of the Royal Navy to excavate the wreckage of HMS Invincible off the shores of the Solent coastline.

A grant of over £2 million has been given to the team to carry out a rescue excavation on the wreck, which is currently exposed to damage due to shifting sands and will fill an important knowledge gap between the Henry VIII era Mary Rose and Nelson’s HMS Victory. 

Virgin Media Intern Superstar of the Year

BA (Hons) Business Studies student Chloe Mulligan received the Virgin Media Intern Superstar of the Year award for her work as an Insight Analyst while on placement at the company. Chloe tracked and monitored the performance of Virgin Media’s network, presenting findings and investigating potential cost and efficiency savings.

Vice-Chancellor's graduate visit

Ahead of the 2016 Festival of Design & Technology, the Vice-Chancellor visited graduates now working at bespoke exhibition stand designer, Quadrant2Design in Poole.

Student's special achievement 

A BU student has been praised by her lecturers after learning to walk again following an operation to straighten her spine. Danielle Foster, a BA (Hons) Law graduate, had surgery after finishing her undergraduate degree, meaning that when she graduated for the second time (with an MSc Professional Development (HRM) with Distinction) she was four inches taller.  

Sporting success

BU finished 30th in the overall BUCS league table out of 174 institutions across the UK. Regionally, BU is ranked 7th out of 23 institutions in the south west. SportBU’s Futsal programme had a very successful year, coming 3rd in the BUCS Championships, winning two leagues and the BUCS Conference Cup. Our students also enjoyed success on the international stage – BU student Chloe Thomas represented Wales at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Malaysia, helping the team to a tenth place finish. 

Placement year experience

Bulgarian BA (Hons) Business Studies student Yolana Bankova has just completed her placement year at Disney. While in London, Yolana looked for extra volunteering opportunities and helped to set up a group called Europeers, where she took charge of their social media content.