UEA in 2024

4. A clean and charitable cause 

With our thriving community of students, staff and graduates, there’s no end to ideas that can contribute to and inspire real change.

Soapful Hands, an initiative that aims to help local disadvantaged people by combatting hygiene poverty, is one great example of this.

A Norwich-based project created as part of the Enactus UEA society, Soapful Hands was conceived and is run entirely by UEA students, to provide those in need with access to basic hygiene products and facilities through hygiene kits. These are packed with essential items like shower gel, body scrub, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and even handmade soaps.

And who makes the soaps, you ask? The students themselves! Through dedicated soap-making workshops on campus, they craft their own creations, with a portion used in the hygiene kits – a fun and collaborative way to scrub up and help.

So far, they have delivered more than 20 hygiene kits to local charities like YMCA Norfolk and St Martins, and we’re feeling ‘soapful’ that there’s lots more to come.

5. What a nice Chap

We have more than 170,000 alumni all around the world, and they all continue to make their mark in their professions and communities. In the past year, we’ve been lucky enough to illuminate a small sample of these alumni highlights.

One such moment this year was our collaboration with author Jim Chapman (SWP06). Social media star Jim visited campus and recorded a video for our Student Services team, which saw him share his favourite places on our beautiful campus to unwind, and stress the importance of addressing your mental wellbeing during exam season. The message resonated with our campus community, and we always love seeing our alumni give back to current students.

Jim has written and vlogged extensively on the importance of talking about our own mental wellbeing, as he did so in an interview with us earlier in the year.

6. Taking it to the Max 

And now we’ve got back-to-back inspiring alumni sporting stories. First off is the tale of Economics graduate Max Levene (ECO12).

Max talked to us back in March about his desire to become the first complete spinal injury tetraplegic to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Max broke his neck playing rugby aged 17 and the rugby community leapt to his support. He came to study at UEA for both his undergraduate and postgraduate degree and has since forged a successful career in the civil service.

After building physical confidence with regular wheelchair rugby, he hatched a plan with a friend over a beer or two; a plan to climb the tallest mountain in Africa. Such a plan would need extensive support – both in terms of equipment and people – and thankfully Max was able to successfully fundraise for all of the equipment needed, with a healthy surplus going to rugby and paralysis charities. 

Joyously, it was confirmed in September that Max had completed the climb. Huge congratulations, Max, and what an example of ‘Doing Different’!

7. Not half bad  

Next, we go to Jodie Snow (LDC13) and Naomi Rhodes (AMA14). Earlier in May, they ran the Hackney Half Marathon in memory of their fellow alumni friend, Gboyega Odubanjo (PPL14), who sadly passed way in 2023.

Wanting to honour his legacy, Jodie and Naomi managed to raise £3,000 towards Gboyega's vision of empowering and celebrating black excellence, particularly within the realm of literature. 

In addition, a percentage of the proceeds from the fundraiser were donated to the Monitoring Group Charity, which provided invaluable support to Gboyega's family and friends during a difficult time, as well as to Missing People UK.

Jodie and Naomi have described finding “their chosen family” at university – and their dedication to their little slice of the UEA community is a beautiful thing to see. 

8. Tom's Gen Z video delivers rizz-ults 

Do you know your delulu from your rizz? If I told you I’d spilt the tea, would you go running for a paper towel?

Chances are that if you were born in 1997 or later, you’re thinking ‘please stop with these cringeworthy questions’. But if you’re not sure what we’re talking about, maybe you’d benefit from watching a video of one of our academics trying his hand at Generation Z slang.

The video in question (which you can watch above) sees Dr Tom Roebuck, Associate Professor in our School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, giving a tour around campus during Welcome Week. The content jumped on a trend of Gen Z-ers writing video scripts for colleagues of different age demographics, with Tom embracing his main character energy to deliver a verdict on some of the sights and sounds of UEA, with a special Gen Z twist.

The clip caused Tom to go viral (and become a minor celebrity on campus) on UEA’s social media channels, with more than 250k views across TikTok and Instagram.

As a wise man once said: ‘slay’.

9. A decade of Derby Day glory

History was made at this year’s Derby Day, as UEA retained the title by securing our tenth consecutive victory against the University of Essex.

The day was a close one from start to finish, with plenty of spirit on show from both teams at the Essex campus, and an array of scores across events such as football, cheer, hockey and dodgeball.

By the final dance event of the day, it was still anyone’s game, but Team UEA’s determination saw us secure the trophy with a close score of 27-26 points!

A big shoutout to everyone who took part and represented UEA – our brilliant students, their supporters, and the incredible UEA Sport team. And of course, well done to our valiant Essex rivals for keeping us on our toes.

Here’s to 2025: game on.

15. Have I got cruise for you!

Remember that cutting edge climate research we told you about? (We’ll let you off if you don’t, it’s all the way back in part two...) Well, in addition to tackling forest fires, UEA has also been at the forefront of environmental research in the critical Antarctic region.

Specifically, it was the work of Prof Karen Heywood, Professor of Physical Oceanography in UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences, and a team of scientists who embarked on an expedition to the Antarctic aboard the RSS David Attenborough. That’s the boat formally known as Boaty McBoatface.

The aim of the 52-day PICCOLO cruise (the less catchy full name is Processes Influencing Carbon Cycling: Observations of the Lower limb of the Antarctic Overturning) was to investigate the movement and transformation of carbon dioxide in the Southern Ocean, with the findings from the group having since been used to inform decisions on international climate change policy, and support more accurate climate predictions.

We can’t possibly do justice to 52 days of ground-breaking research in four paragraphs, but luckily the team kept a comprehensive blog of their highlights and findings from the trip, which you can read as another one of these delightful long-read pieces.

16. Hitting all the right notes 

A new choir for people in the region with aphasia proved the power of music truly can transform lives.

Aphasia is a language disorder that affects about 350,000 people in the UK. It’s often caused by stroke or brain injury, and can affect a person’s ability to understand information, express themselves, read and write.

The Norwich Aphasia Choir, launched by Elissa Manzi (Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy) earlier this year, is the East Anglian region’s first choir of its kind. With help from UEA students and accompanist Heather Edwards, they’ve created a fun and inclusive environment for members to socialise and enjoy music through the art of singing.

But what’s the science behind it all?

Research shows that singing can be a powerful tool for people with aphasia, as it often engages areas of the brain that remain unaffected by the condition. While speech can be difficult, many find that humming or singing is easier, and that’s precisely where the Aphasia Choir thrives.

17. To dare is to do 

UEA proudly unveiled our brand new £100m fundraising campaign, Dare to Do Different, at this year’s Annual General Meeting in October, spearheaded by our Chancellor, Dame Jenny Abramsky GBE (ENG65). To mark this pivotal moment, we debuted a powerful film showcasing the transformative impact of philanthropy at UEA, with one of our notable alumni Zeb Soanes (EAS94) lending his voice to it.

By supporting this initiative, you will enable students to realise their full potential through scholarships, foster business ideas through student enterprise grants and drive research in medicine and climate change.

Your support can also enhance our campus as a dynamic centre for innovation or further cultural creativity. We invite our global UEA community to be part of this great journey, knowing that together we can change the world for the better when we Dare to Do Different!

18. The mechanics behind the movie magic

We all love a bit of Home Alone at this time of year, right? But have you ever thought about how Kevin actually managed to set those traps for the burglars? Or wondered how they manage to get the snow scenes in films like Elf without trekking up to the Arctic Circle?

If so, then you’re not the first. Two UEA lecturers – Dr Tony Blake from the School of Biology and Dr Rob Ferdman from the School of Engineering, Maths and Physics – unwrapped the magic featured in some of the most classic festive films earlier this month, in UEA’s annual (and iconic) Christmas lectures for children.

But these are academics we’re talking about, so ‘Christmas Cinema Classics: Ho ho how did they do it?’ combined artistry with science. Fear not though, it wasn’t about spoiling the magic. As Dr Blake puts it: “For me, understanding the science behind what we see on the screen makes it even more magical”.

And we’ve come full circle from Sir Paul Nurse’s appearance for local schoolchildren right at the start, as this event featured a celebrity appearance too: none other than Santa Claus himself!

All in all, a magical end to the year, setting us up beautifully for a sparkling 2025. See you there!