Celebrating undergraduate research at Bournemouth University

The inaugural SUREBU conference aimed at celebrating and recognising excellence in undergraduate students’ research projects. Nearly 50 Bournemouth University students presented their research to a panel of academic experts on the day.  Research Excellence Awards were given for the best poster, best oral presentation and best overall contribution, and prizes included a fully-funded Master’s scholarship for the overall winner.

Professor John Fletcher, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation at BU, who opened the conference, said, 
“Research is fundamental both to the purpose of universities and to human development. Through carrying out research, we are able to discover new ideas and knowledge. It is exciting to be here among undergraduate students who are just at the beginning of their research journey.”

Jozef Kulik, won a Research Excellence Award for his work on the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) to examine the neural processing of facial disfigurement, said, “I took part in SUREBU because I wanted to gain experience of presenting my research publicly as I soon hope to be presenting at national conferences.

“I am passionate about learning more about the applications of EEG, and there are a number of ways I’d like to extend my research project.  Winning a fully-funded Master’s at BU through SUREBU has given me the perfect opportunity to develop my research further.”

Winner of the best research poster, Emma Packer, said, “My research into medicine-related problems faced by people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will help me in future, as I want to work with the NHS once I graduate.  I really enjoyed being part of SUREBU- it has been a memorable experience.”

Ben Hayes, who won best oral presentation, said,
“I wanted to be part of SUREBU so that I could raise awareness of my research.  I have been carrying out a systematic review into the effect of current lifestyle interventions on the reduction of metabolic syndrome, which will have potentially life changing results.  I will be taking part in SUREBU next year!”

Martin Luck, Professor of Education at the School of Biosciences at Nottingham University and part of SUREBU’s judging panel, commented, 
“The research presented here today has been outstanding; of eminently publishable quality. Not only that, I’ve been hugely impressed by the confidence and presentation skills of BU’s students. They are skills which will be hugely helpful no matter what career path is chosen.”