Author: Clare

Alumna Eboni Usoro-Brown (née Beckford-Chambers) (LLB 2009, MSc 2011), Solicitor, Team Bath netball captain and play for England  talks to us about her time at Bristol and the career that’s led to this award.

You can hear Eboni Usoro-Brown in-conversation with The Rt Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE (Hon LLD 2002, Hon Fellow 2017) on Tuesday 11 May, 1 pm – 2 pm as part of the 2021 Alumni Festival. Click here for more information and to book your place.

The award
I’m really honoured to receive this award, especially given the calibre of the other recipients. I feel very privileged to even have been nominated.

Why Bristol?
I was first attracted to Bristol as a vibrant city with very welcoming people. I had been training at the Bath Netball Academy and the University of Bristol had an excellent reputation and was near to Bath. I liked the fact that the Bristol campus was part of the city as some university campuses can be quite isolated.

At the time Bob Reeves was the Director of Sport, Exercise and Health and he was one of the first in the University Sector to establish a sports performance programme for students, enabling them to fulfil their potential both academically and in sport. He wanted to attract elite athletes of high academic ability, and this allowed me to study law as well as continue my netball career. This was quite unusual as at most universities elite athletes study things like Sports Science degrees alongside their athletic commitments. I was drawn to studying law because my Dad is a lawyer. I also loved the debating team at school so law was a natural choice.

At Bristol pastoral support was offered to help manage my degree as well as my sport. I was given help to facilitate conversations with the academic tutors, to understand what I was doing. I was also able to access things like sports massage, sports psychology, nutrition and so on, which really helped my performance.

I’m so excited by the prospect of Bristol’s new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus. Studying at Bristol was one of the best times of my life. If this experience can be expanded to more people, then that’s a great opportunity.

Advice to current students
Make sure you get involved in the city when you’re studying at Bristol. There’s such a buzz about Bristol, it’s a very multi-cultural city, throw yourself into it because your three years go by quickly.

Career
I started netball at primary school and began to take it more seriously at secondary school. I was scouted for England aged 15 at a game. In 2008 I got my first Senior cap and I have 96 caps so far. I want to get my 100th cap during the Netball World Cup in Liverpool in July. So far in my netball career I’ve played in two World Cups and three Commonwealth Games.

My Mum is a headteacher and she really encouraged me to try all sports at school. I initially liked netball because all my friends played and then I grew to love the teamwork and the strategy involved. All the games are different and tactical, you must constantly develop your skills.

Studying at the University of Bristol gave me the confidence that I could commit to both sport and study fully. When I later applied for a training contract with Bath law firm Mogers Drewett I already had proof that I could juggle both and so they were very supportive of me continuing my netball career as well as my legal career.

Bristol provided an excellent standard of education. It’s well-renowned, it has a good reputation. Wherever I go I’m met with approval when I say I’m from the University of Bristol. Bristol really helped develop my level of professionalism. I was given a great foundation in things like time management, discipline, determination. Staff like Matt Paine and Bob Reeves were instrumental in helping me network and make the right contacts in netball. And my Master’s degree is what made me really fall in love with Law as a subject and made me want to work in law.

Following my Master’s at Bristol I did my LPC at UWE and then spent four years in Australia playing professional netball while also working for law firm Allen and Overy. I then came back to the UK for my training contract with Mogers Drewett in Bath. Today I’m proud to say I’m now a fully qualified solicitor as well as about to embark on the Netball World Cup this summer.

The Bristol Reds sports awards and the #wearebristol campaign are phenomenal. They really make Bristol sit above other universities in their promotion of sports excellence.

Memories of Bristol
I knew from the start of my time at Bristol what my long-term goals were. I had to be very focused and disciplined. Everything was geared towards that. I had to develop extreme resilience. Sometimes it felt like the hardest thing in the world to keep everything going.

Highlights for me at Bristol were both my graduation ceremonies, from my LLB and MSc. I had spent so long in the Wills Memorial Building studying and working that it was wonderful to be there to finally have a moment of achievement. It was a big celebration for my family too. I enjoyed my MSc graduation in particular. My course was wonderful. I had such phenomenal, passionate teachers. I really enjoyed it. There was a real moment of ‘I did it’ at that graduation ceremony. A moment of realisation and recognition after working so hard.

Greatest achievement
I think my greatest achievement has been the level of resilience I’ve built. I’ve had to generate extreme levels of mental toughness and self-belief. It’s taken me 15 years to get a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. You need real persistence to keep going.

Greatest challenge
I guess my greatest challenge is knowing when to say ‘no’ to things. I’m enthusiastic and ambitious but one needs to be careful not to get burned out. I need to learn to make myself less available sometimes.

Alumna Annie Hudson (BSc 1972), Director of Children’s Services, London Borough of Lambeth, tells us what she loved about studying at Bristol and why she’s honoured to have received this award.

Annie originally started studying Law at Bristol but five weeks in she realised it wasn’t for her and switched to Social Science, a decision which was instrumental in her rise to becoming one of the country’s foremost authorities on services for children. Graduating in 1972 with a BSc in Social Science, Politics and Sociology this current Bristol resident (and ex-staffer at the University) explains what drew her to Bristol and how it has informed her career and life to date.

Why Bristol?
I’m originally from London and as an undergraduate I was drawn to Bristol for several reasons, not least its reputation as a place of academic excellence. I also liked the idea of being in a city, especially one with such an aesthetically pleasing campus and with good access to the countryside. It’s the best of both worlds. It was, and remains, a very well-regarded university. Bristol gave me a solid bedrock of an education. It was here that I acquired skills in critical and analytical thinking as well as confidence in writing and communication skills. I got an excellent grounding in the social sciences. Some of the politics and sociology lectures were real highlights of my time there, pushing me to think deeply and broadly about complex social issues. We had big, challenging debates with one another and with our lecturers, pushing us to think about different ways of seeing and understanding the world we live in.

Advice to current students
Bristol has high academic standards and a great physical and social environment. One thing I would advise current students is to get out and explore all parts of the city. Looking back, I think I had quite a narrow geographical experience of the city as a student, I wasn’t fully aware of some of the social differences between different communities living in the city. It is really important to use your time here to engage actively with the city, its diverse and resourceful communities; so get out and don’t stay in a bubble. This is important in terms of making a social contribution to the city, to your future careers, and for general personal enrichment. Get as much practical experience as you can.

When you’re at Bristol your intellect is really stretched. Bristol has very high academic standards and a great physical and social environment. It’s a wonderful place to be a student.

The award
I’m so touched that David Berridge, Professor of Child and Family Welfare at the University nominated me for this award. I’ve known David from when I worked as Director of Children’s Services in Bristol from 2008 -2013 and I’ve long been an admirer of his work. I appreciate the fact that the University of Bristol works hard to promote evidence to inform social work practice. Research from Bristol was an important shaper of some of my professional decisions in in Children’s Services in Bristol and now in Lambeth. Receiving this award means a lot as it’s from my alma mater and I’m a resident of the city so I’m immensely proud to be counted amongst the winners.

Career
I was a social worker first, then an academic, before returning to social work. Studying at Bristol undoubtedly shaped and helped my career because of the intellectual skills and understanding it provided. I subsequently chose to train and work as a social worker for a range of reasons, including a natural curiosity about families and relationships I enjoy social work’s interest in working at the interface between individuals, communities and society. It can be a very challenging and demanding job; it is also one the public (and media) often misunderstands. However, the rewards are also very great when, for example, a child is helped to be safe and recover from trauma.

I’ve been a senior manager for the last 20 years; this involves being both able to operate very strategically and to stay fully in touch with the realities of practice and work with families. I’m sure that my excellent academic training at Bristol has contributed to my ability to speak across different systems to find solutions to social problems. In my area of work, one must look for answers to issues that cut across different public services. It involves being a leader across different ‘systems’, services and communities, including schools, the police, and health services. You need the ability to see the bigger picture.

My degree at Bristol made me more socially conscious. We had rigorous intellectual debates about politics and social issues facing the world. For me it was a time of discovery. I learned so much not just from my studies but also from my peers. Studying at Bristol is a great opportunity to make social networks.

Career highlights
It’s my view that social work can be terribly misunderstood and misrepresented. What we do is unbelievably difficult work and most of it is hidden from public view, except of course when things go wrong. So when we had the opportunity in Bristol to work with the BBC on a TV show to raise the profile of social work, I jumped at it. Some colleagues thought I was crazy and taking a great risk in inviting in the cameras. There were risks but I felt it really crucial that we provide a more accurate picture of social work to the general public. Protecting our Children went on to become widely acclaimed for its portrayal of social workers’ daily and direct work with children and families. I’m incredibly proud to have been part of that project.

I’m also very proud of a body of work I did in the 1980s as an academic, researching adolescent girls who were in care. This research has of course been superseded since then, but at the time it was influential and had a real impact. I believe that it made a difference to work with this group of children and young people.

Fond memories
Bristol wasn’t all about the study. I used to love walking across the suspension bridge late at night, enjoying romantic views of the city, sometimes in good company! I enjoyed my time at Bristol, so much so that I’d slowed down a bit in my second year on the studying front. I was at a Christmas party in my third year when a tutor made a comment that I’d be fine, I’d definitely get a 2.2. I was somewhat peeved by this and pulled out all the stops for the rest of my time there! I worked very hard to gain a 2.1 and it probably contributed to my work ethic since then. It is a long time since my first week as a fresher in Badock Hall. I remember being in a long line of students getting BCG injections and then, when it came to my turn I fainted in front of everyone. It was deeply embarrassing! I have better memories of enjoying myself in the Anson Rooms, especially at the great rock and folk concerts they held there, I remember being particularly enthralled by Deep Purple amongst others.

Greatest challenge
The work that I do now involves working to help and protect children, young people and families who are often facing unimaginable adversity but who also have great resilience and personal resources. Our challenge is helping to create conditions in which we can best help individual children and families have good, safe and happier lives. Searching for the best way of making a difference to individuals and communities, in the face of great austerity, is sometimes hard. But I remain optimistic and have real faith in making good change possible.

Children’s author, Gruffalo creator, former Children’s Laureate and Bristol graduate Dr Julia Donaldson (BA 1970, Hon D Litt 2011) MBE, CBE, has been honoured with the 2019 Alumni Award for Arts and Media.

Why Bristol?
Back in 1970 when I was applying to universities, only four in the UK offered Drama, which is what I wanted to study. Of those four, Bristol had the best academic reputation and I liked the fact that the university was in the heart of an attractive city with accessible countryside. I grew up in London and I had to take the tube out a long way just to get to some countryside, so I was enticed by the idea in Bristol you could just walk into the countryside.

Why Drama & French?
I’d always loved acting. Aged 12 I was an understudy for one of the fairies in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Old Vic in London. I managed to get on stage to perform and was starstruck by the actors Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay who were part of the cast. I wanted to be an actress but was also quite academic and loved languages, so I decided on a joint degree in Drama and French.

Advice to current students
My advice to students is to work hard but don’t forget to have fun. And enjoy the surroundings – there is proper countryside just across the suspension bridge!

There’s great pleasure to be had in exploring not just the city of Bristol but also its surroundings. I remember some great fungus- foraging in Leigh Woods when I was a student.

Fond memories
Going to university was my first big adventure away from home, and I relished the independent living, especially when I moved out of Hall to a flat in Clifton – I used to like buying bacon ends and bargain vegetables like a proper housewife! I enjoyed the course, especially the plays we put on in the Drama Department and the time in Paris and Avignon as part of the French course. Probably the best part was meeting my husband and also making many friends who have remained friends for 50 years.

Career
At Bristol I acted in a lot of plays put on by the Drama Department and various dramatic societies. In a production of Moliere’s Dom Juan I met Dave Illingworth. He later founded the Bristol Street Theatre, which I joined. The plays we devised turned out to be formative for my future writing career.

In my second year, as part of the French course, I studied in Paris, where I went busking with my future husband (a Bristol medic). This led to my writing songs and performing in folk clubs. It reached the point where I had a body of songs written that I pitched to the BBC, and my children’s books eventually grew out of that.

Alongside the writing, and before starting a family I also had various jobs in publishing, at Radio Bristol, and teaching English in a secondary school. All of these turned out to be useful in my writing career, though I never imagined at the time how the writing would take off.

I remember doing cabaret at student balls, often writing songs to order – like one about teeth for a group of dentists!

Greatest challenge
Back in the early 70s there weren’t so many job opportunities for women. In order to work in publishing you had to be a secretary, whereas men could just walk in to an editor’s job. I remember interviewing for an editor’s job and being told they wouldn’t hire me as I was young and newly married and would just have children!

Career highlights
I love the feeling that I’m part of a chain of verse and stories. As a child I would learn poems off by heart and today I get told by so many parents that their children can recite my stories word for word. Maybe some of those children will one day be writers themselves – the next links in the chain. I also know how special reading to a child at the end of the day can be, and I like the feeling that through my books I am playing some part in that bonding time between parents and children.

I’m delighted to hear of the University’s plans for the new library at the heart of the campus, which will host events and have areas open to the public.

Dr Bhikhu Patel (BA Hons Architecture 1973, Hon LLD 2006) and his wife Shashi have just donated £1 million towards Bristol’s transformational new campus at Temple Quarter.

Bhikhu himself describes the education he received at Bristol as ‘first-class’ and he also personally understands the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship, key elements of the teaching at the new campus:

My father died when I was young, and my mother set up her own business whilst also caring for her family. I learnt self-reliance at a very early age from her as well as a strong belief in philanthropic giving and helping others who are less well off.

Now, thanks to Bhikhu and Shashi’s incredibly generous gift, future generations of students are set to benefit as this donation will be essential to the creation of the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus (TQEC).

This new campus is set to revolutionise teaching and learning at Bristol. Business education will sit alongside world-class science and engineering research and development. There will be a focus on large-scale digital innovation and provision to increase the skills pipeline to support the burgeoning digital economy. Education will be challenge-based and enterprise focussed with students working with key industry partners to tackle real-world problems.

The new campus is planned to be an open, green, inclusive centre. It will be relevant to international, national and local communities. It will inspire and connect local people, social enterprises, businesses, academics and students. And it will create jobs and celebrate Bristol culture.

Bhikhu graduated from Bristol in 1973 with a degree in architecture. After leaving Bristol he followed a career as an architect before taking on a couple of small businesses with Shashi. In the early 80s he joined forces with his brother Vijay to work in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2001, they were jointly voted Ernst and Young’s ‘UK Entrepreneur of the Year’ having already won numerous accolades from various top organisations and institutions including ‘Europe’s Top 500 fastest growing companies’.

I fell in love with Bristol – the University and city. I couldn’t have achieved what I have in my business and personal life without my degree. I’ve always followed the University and been very proud of its research and teaching successes. I wanted to give something back to Bristol. Entrepreneurship is in my blood and so many modern institutions don’t cater for this. TQEC will answer this in a very exciting way. The new campus will also be accessible to the wider communities of Bristol – inviting them to be part of University life. It will also put the University and Bristol on the global map and will bring tremendous benefits to the city and society as a whole.

As well as supporting the new campus, which will attract the best and brightest from around the world, Bhikhu and Shashi are also providing support to students most in financial need. Bhikhu said: “I came to the UK from Kenya with virtually nothing and was the beneficiary of a first-class education at the University of Bristol. Education is very important to me. I am so grateful for everything education has given me in life. I want others to benefit in the same way – helping the next generation to become entrepreneurs and innovators of the future.”

Through scholarships and bursaries, the Bhikhu and Shashikala Patel Student Support Fund will give much needed support to students, both international and from the UK, to help them during their time at Bristol.

The Development and Alumni Relations Office greatly values the expertise, involvement and philanthropic support of all our alumni and friends which is helping to power our researchers, our academy, our students and our contribution to this great city and worldwide.

Artist Luke Jerram has worked with Bristol Vision Institute to produce the stunning Impossible Garden exhibition at the University’s Botanic Garden.

Were you lucky enough to be in student residences near Bristol’s Botanic Garden? Did you spend some time as a student in this restorative space surrounded by a plethora of plants and flowers? If you haven’t been back recently you have until 25 November to catch a wonderful exhibition at the Garden, which is a collaboration between artist Luke Jerram, the University’s Bristol Vision Institute, the Botanic Garden and the University of Bristol Eye Hospital.

Over 15,000 visitors have explored the Impossible Garden exhibition since July this year, more than double the number of people enjoying the Botanic Garden in the same time last year.

The Impossible Garden is a unique set of 12 new experimental sculptures, inspired by visual phenomena and designed to help promote understanding and stimulate debate about how visual impairments can affect our perception of the world around us. The artist Luke Jerram is himself red-green colour blind and he has commented:

I’m fascinated by the processes of visual perception. Over the years many of my artworks have explored the processes and limitations of vision. The Impossible Garden has allowed me to test new ideas and share my findings with the public.

The unique idea of The Impossible Garden came about after Luke’s nine-month residency at the Bristol Eye Hospital and Bristol Vision Institute (BVI), funded by the Leverhulme Trust.  Luke applied for the residency together with Cathy Williams, a member of BVI and a Consultant in Paediatric Ophthalmology at Bristol Eye Hospital. Cathy hopes this exhibition will encourage greater public understanding about the many processes involved in “seeing”, because families tell her that lack of understanding is often a barrier to getting support for children with many kinds of visual impairment.

The University of Bristol is recognised as a world leader in vision research, spanning human and animal vision, artificial vision systems, visual information processing and the creative arts. Bristol Vision Institute (BVI) is the home of vision science research in Bristol and has been successfully stimulating research interaction and collaboration in science, engineering, Arts and Medicine since its creation in 2008 with the aim of addressing grand challenges in vision research. BVI’s research is on developing a better understanding of the visual mechanisms and processes evolved in humans and other animals, and their translation to innovations in technology, medicine and the creative arts.

Do take the time to visit this great exhibition in the beautiful Botanic Garden, before it finishes on November 25.