<h3>In September a small group of the ENV75 cohort gathered in Norwich for a reunion to mark 50 years of starting at UEA. This is their report of their reunion, as written by Ian Woods (ENV75).</h3>
 This group had met in 1988 to mark 10 years since graduation and a follow up was rather overdue. &nbsp;Sadly we were never going to have the full group as we had already lost Fiona Goodhead (nee Hemming) in 2007 and so rather than waiting until 2028 to mark 50 years of graduation a starting celebration was in order.&nbsp; How do you mark such a date&hellip; when so many things have changed, careers diverged and hair lost or gone grey? &nbsp;A light touch of organisation was in order so a pub &ndash; The Golden Star - and beer as an ice-breaker before heading to the Namaste for a curry. &nbsp;After the initial surprises of changed appearances etc conversation ﬂowed as it did for the weekend thereon. &nbsp;
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/555x416/d0aef3340b/golden-star.png" border="0" alt="UEA Graduates sitting around restaurant table" width="500" height="375"> Namaste for a reunion meal Saturday saw the group split into two &lsquo;teams&rsquo; and a mildly competitive treasure hunt through the streets of Norwich in search of the &ldquo;Golden Canary&rdquo; whilst taking in corners of the City we knew from off-campus trips including half remembered shops etc like Just Johns for coffee and best cheesecake in town, Johns the Butchers for cheap mince (how did we escape BSE?!), and Captain America&rsquo;s for cocktails whilst waiting for a table, burgers and hot chocolate fudge sundaes. The weather was mostly kind and only drove us indoors at the Adam &amp; Eve with a downpour and therefore a second round at the bar!&nbsp; An evening BBQ with a composite photo reel of images from the 1970&rsquo;s brought conversations around themes of &lsquo;who&rsquo;s that&rsquo;, &lsquo;where&rsquo;s that&rsquo; and &lsquo;which field trip was that&rsquo;! Lecturers, subjects, places, events bounced around and were added to by the addition of folk on Zoom from Guernsey and Northern Ireland to nearly bring the group to its full strength. <img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/636x511/44c2015c22/fieldtrip1.png" border="0" alt="A field Trip" width="500" height="402">&nbsp; An ENV Field Trip in the 1970s Sunday, it was time to go into full nostalgia mode and visit the campus. &nbsp;So after a coffee in the Sainsbury Centre (which opened in our final year in 1978) it was time to wander the grounds and walkways. Fifer&rsquo;s Lane and the Village (as we knew it including the much lamented Barn) are long since gone so it was&nbsp;Ziggurats, Teaching Wall, Library and Union House to take our minds back 50 years.&nbsp; The gravel pit is now The Broad, Suffolk Terrace Squash Court is accommodation, Waveney Terrace replaced, the small shared TV in Union House gone &ndash; as is the bookshop! &nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/742x495/744959e403/tugofwar.png" border="0" alt="Students playing Tug of War" width="500" height="334"> UEA Students playing Tug of War in the 1970s The entrance to Environmental Sciences moved, the stream and &lsquo;pond&rsquo; in the square no more &hellip; but the concrete, as do our friendships, endure.&nbsp; Our reunion weekend ironically fell on arrivals day for the new intake of students (freshers) so we pondered how many of those arriving in 2025 will gather in 2075 to reflect on their 50 years? <img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/557x472/9e5c9c1456/graduation.png" border="0" alt="4 UEA Graduates in graduation gowns" width="500" height="424"> Attendees&nbsp; Ian Woods&nbsp; Mark Thompson &nbsp; Robin James&nbsp; Cathy Jones (nee Jordan) Wendy Fancourt&nbsp; Lesley Healey &nbsp; Andrew (Knowles) Harrison&nbsp; By Zoom &nbsp; John Robinson &nbsp; Ann Blease (nee Jennings) Absent (with permission!) Chris Ashford (nee Harris) Judith Dobson (nee Dodd) Sadly Missed &nbsp; Fiona Goodhead (nee Hemming)&nbsp;

In September 2025 a small group of the ENV75 cohort gathered in Norwich for a reunion to mark 50 years of starting at UEA. This is their report of their reunion.

ENV75 at 50: An alumni return to campus

UEA is celebrating the impactful work of Seema McArdle: a writer, educator and ant-racism ambassador for the <a href="https://www.theredcard.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Show Racism the Red Card</a> charity, who has dedicated her time to encouraging inclusion across literature and education.&nbsp;
Find out more about Seema &ndash; from her involvement with the Show Racism the Red Card charity (including her involvement in UEA&rsquo;s Wear Red Day on Friday 17 October) to her contributions to The John Blanke Project, and pathway to publication.
<h2> Seema McArdle&nbsp;</h2>
Seema describes herself as a &lsquo;PunGeordie&rsquo; writer, born in Newcastle into a Punjabi family. She has played a key role in deepening understanding of British South Asian and Black identities, not only through her lived experiences &ndash; including 17 years as a primary teacher &ndash; but also through her growing profile as a writer and her proactive ambassador work.&nbsp;
Currently working within the Faculty of Humanities supporting placement students, Seema is also a member of UEA's Race Equality Steering Group, which aims to embed and promote race equality, to bring about institutional change for the benefit of our UEA community.&nbsp;
She is also a member of the Racial Justice Champions Group, organised by the Diocese of Norwich, working towards countering racism within schools across Norfolk. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Find out more about Seema&rsquo;s involvement with the Show Racism the Red Card charity (including her involvement in UEA&rsquo;s Wear Red Day on Friday 17 October), her contributions to The John Blanke Project, and her pathway to publication.
<h2> Show Racism the Red Card and Wear Red Day&nbsp;</h2>
As an ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC), the UK&rsquo;s biggest anti-racism educational charity, Seema is currently involved in campaigning (alongside the National Education Union and other organisations) for anti-racism education to be embedded into the National Curriculum. &nbsp;
This work has involved visiting the House of Lords for cross-party discussions, and meetings with Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Norwich South MP Clive Lewis, alongside Doreen Lawrence, Migrant Voice UK, sportspeople and more.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/720x350/b8e6953a71/seema-mcardle-2.png" border="0" alt="Seema wearing red for Wear Red Day 2024; Ugbana Oyet, Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons, and Seema at last year's Black History Month event at the Speaker&rsquo;s House; Seema with Norwich South MP Clive Lewis" width="720" height="350"> Image caption:&nbsp;Seema wearing red for Wear Red Day 2024; Ugbana Oyet, Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons, and Seema at last year's Black History Month event at the Speaker&rsquo;s House; Seema with Norwich South MP Clive Lewis 
At&nbsp;UEA, she has also played a key role in launching both <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/university-of-east-anglia_south-asian-heritage-month-2024-activity-7230626771698667520-2Tnn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Asian Heritage Month</a> and <a href="https://my.uea.ac.uk/news/article/celebrate-this-years-black-history-month-by-showing-racism-the-red-card" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wear Red Day in 2024</a>, helping foster a more inclusive and representative environment across the University.&nbsp;
With Wear Red Day celebrating its eleventh anniversary on Friday 17 October this year during Black History Month, Seema explains why this day is important to acknowledge and how you can show support:&nbsp;
&ldquo;Victims of racism often feel isolated, unseen and unheard. Wear Red Day is a voluntary way for staff and students to raise awareness and show support for anti-racism by wearing something red.&rdquo;
<h2> The John&nbsp;Blanke Project and why representation matters&nbsp;</h2>
This year, Seema contributed to the publication &lsquo;Who is John Blanke?&rsquo; (pages 168-169), a new book edited by TV historian Michael Ohajuru, which explores the life and significance of <a href="https://www.johnblanke.com/about.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Blanke</a> &ndash; the first known Black person to be visually depicted in British art, featured on the Westminster scroll of 1511. &nbsp;
The book is now available in libraries at UEA, Norwich University of the Arts and The Forum, and at Norwich Book Festival&rsquo;s bookshop.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/720x350/f3713c280c/seema-mcardle-3.png" border="0" alt="Seema and Michael Ohajuru at the &rsquo;Who is John Blanke?&rsquo; book launch" width="720" height="350"> Image caption: Seema and Michael Ohajuru at the &rsquo;Who is John Blanke?&rsquo; book launch&nbsp;
John Blanke was a Black trumpeter to the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, captured in two images in Tudor artwork, as well as official records, which show him receiving wages and petitioning for a wage increase, and receiving prestigious gifts from King Henry VIII.&nbsp;
Speaking about <a href="https://www.johnblanke.com/seema-mcardle.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The John Blanke Project</a>, Seema says: &nbsp;
&ldquo;Representation matters as by seeing ourselves in stories, we learn and dream of what we could become and achieve.&nbsp;
&ldquo;To know that Black people existed in Britain in the past is powerful, as it counteracts the racist rhetoric we hear in society claiming People of Colour are &lsquo;foreigners&rsquo; that don&rsquo;t belong.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;We may never find a better representation of a Black Tudor than John Blanke and this is why I believe in celebrating his amazing journey, talents and phenomenal success.&rdquo;
<h2> Seema's writing journey&nbsp;</h2>
After being selected for the <a href="https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/get-involved/writers/escalator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Centre for Writing&rsquo;s Escalator programme</a> (2023-24), an annual programme that celebrates East Anglian writers whose voices are underrepresented on UK bookshelves, Seema worked on her debut children&rsquo;s novel with mentorship from award-winning author Ashley Hickson-Lovence.
Through this, she developed a &lsquo;middle-grade time-slip adventure&rsquo; novel, The Golden Goblet. &nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve created diverse characters I identify with,&rdquo; says Seema, &ldquo;that I&rsquo;ve taken on a thrilling adventure, while shining a light on amazing British People of Colour from the past.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Seema&rsquo;s novel is now on submission to publishers, and she is represented by literary agent Kerry-Ann Bentley (from KAB Literary agency). &nbsp;&nbsp;
This creative milestone follows earlier recognition, including her winning Faber&rsquo;s FABPrize 2020 Publisher&rsquo;s Prize, and being a shortlisted writer for Penguin Random House&rsquo;s WriteNow 2021 competition.&nbsp;
This summer, she spoke at an Essex Writers Festival event, In Conversation with Ashley Hickson-Lovence, sharing insights into her journey on the Escalator mentoring programme and how to find your writing community. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Later this year, on Sunday 26 October at 1-2pm, Seema will host Prof Keon West, author of The Science of Racism, for <a href="https://norwichbookfestival.co.uk/whats-on/keon-west-the-science-of-racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Norwich Book Festival</a> at The Forum. They will discuss racism in Britain, following scientific evidence, and how we may work together to counteract it.

Learn more about Wear Red Day in Black History Month and Show Racism the Red Card – and how you can take part – from Seema McArdle, a writer, educator and anti-racism ambassador here at UEA.

Spotlight on Seema McArdle

<h3>Grace Mead P&eacute;rez Gonz&aacute;lez (LDC18) studied BA English Literature at UEA, graduating in 2021. She now works as a Pitch Coordinator at law firm Bird &amp; Bird. We interviewed her to find out more about her career story.</h3>
&nbsp;
<h4>What have you been up to since you graduated?</h4>
Oh, lots of things! I went out to Dublin to study a Masters at Trinity in Identities and Cultures of Europe. About half-way through I realized it wasn&rsquo;t for me, but I loved Dublin which is just the most amazing city and is also where I met Alvaro, my husband. So that was really cool and I stayed on there for a while, and then did some travelling, and lived in Spain for a few months, which is where Alvaro is from. (We celebrate our two-year anniversary on Friday!) While there, I did an editing and proofreading course with the Chartered Institute of Proofreaders, and a bit of freelance proofreading, editing and translating. When I came back to the UK, I started job hunting. I set up a website with some samples of my writing, and even had professional photos taken for it (which I hated)! &nbsp;I sent off a mail shot to over 150 local companies, and out of it got quite a few interviews &ndash; which was great experience. I also put my CV up on Glassdoor, and a recruiter got in touch and I got my first job as a bid administrator, working in the bid team of a company that dealt with managed print (supplying printers to offices) and things like that. You don&rsquo;t think when you&rsquo;re five &lsquo;I want to grow up and become a bid manager&rsquo; but actually what I&rsquo;ve discovered is that it&rsquo;s a job that uses a lot of the skills I learned at uni. I&rsquo;ve since moved to working as a bid coordinator in the legal industry which is great, and my job includes a wide variety of tasks which keeps things very interesting.
<h4>Tell me about that: how has your degree in English Literature influenced your career do you think?</h4>
Well bid management is actually one of those jobs that specifically asks for an English Literature degree in the job description! And I definitely use all the writing skills I honed at UEA &ndash; it can be a really writing-focussed job. Bidding is basically writing a competitive essay, telling a client why our services are the best and most suited to their needs. Reading comes in too: you have to read and analyse long documents, with an eye for the essentials but also the small things. That&rsquo;s something that if I hadn't done English and had that experience, I would have found really difficult.
<h4>Going into UEA, did you have a career ambition or a career specific career path in mind?</h4>
I knew I wanted to do something creative, and I knew that I'd always liked writing.&nbsp; I probably wanted to go and be a reader and a publisher and just read books for a living, which would still be lovely, to be honest!
<h4>Tell me about your experiences studying at UEA.</h4>
Despite COVID, my experience at UEA was great. I really enjoyed university life. The course itself was really good for someone like me, particularly because it was all coursework based and I had struggled in school with the rigidity of exam based learning. In terms of modules, I really enjoyed the Shakespeare module, and there was an optional module I took in first year about the witch hunts in early modern Europe, that I loved. And then there was a postcolonial course that I really enjoyed and journalism &ndash; that was a really good one too. Basically I enjoyed all of them! Norwich itself is amazing, it's such a nice city: there's something about it that makes you feel like it's a small town, but it's still got all of those city things. That was fantastic. And then I really loved meeting lots of like-minded people, people with similar interests. I know you might find that at any university, but I really think that at UEA there wasn&rsquo;t the kind of competitiveness that you might get elsewhere. Everyone was really supportive: in classes everyone was just there for the love of learning and to support each other. It was really helpful for me to meet people on a similar wave-length. And I went on to live with people on my course in my third year, and we had a really, really good time, just loving English, and basically talking about books all the time!
<h4>Did you do any extracurriculars?</h4>
I tried a few different things but didn&rsquo;t stick with anything until my third year, when I did an internship as a shortlister on the UEA publishing project. This was really cool and aligned with my interest in reading and editing. It was also led by one of my close friends so we had a lot of fun. There are so many clubs and societies at UEA so there&rsquo;s definitely opportunity to find friends with similar interests and get involved!
<h4>What were your experiences of Norwich as a city? Do you come back at all?</h4>
I do come back! I met a girl at&nbsp;UEA who was also doing English Lit, and she became my absolute best friend &ndash; I was her maid of honour, that kind of thing &ndash; and until recently she was living in Norwich, so I used to love coming to visit her, to see her, but also to be in Norwich. In our uni days there was a lot of clubbing and bars, but now we go to coffee shops, restaurants &ndash; there&rsquo;s a really nice Belgian restaurant, the Belgian Monk. Oh, and there&rsquo;s a little caf&eacute; just down from there, Slice + Dice, where you can play board games and have coffee and cake! And then there&rsquo;s the market, which is lovely, and the whole city is just really pretty.&nbsp;
<h4>Would you recommend studying at UEA and why?</h4>
Yes, I absolutely would. Particularly for people that are maybe a little bit nervous about leaving home for the first time just for all the reasons I've said. It's just feels like such a welcoming environment and Norwich feels safe. It&rsquo;s got that kind of small town charm but in a city somehow. And in terms of&nbsp;UEA itself &ndash; there&rsquo;s the variety of things to choose from when choosing modules, and then in LDC there are great support systems there too. I would 100% recommend UEA &ndash; you could put that as my tagline!
<h4>Is there any advice you'd give to current like students or current students wanting to follow a similar career path to you?&nbsp;</h4>
I appreciate how difficult it is post graduation to go out there and find your first job. I suppose partly the advice I'd give is it's a numbers game, so you&rsquo;ve got to keep applying. But if you've got the kind of skills that you've learned from studying English they will definitely come in handy. Bid management requires lots of the things that I learned at uni, and they have been really useful, so it&rsquo;s definitely a good choice. Everyone in my team at my current job studied English at university! It&rsquo;s also a job you can find at a lot of companies, so you&rsquo;re not limited to using the skills and experience you gain in one industry.&nbsp;
<h4>What&rsquo;s next for you?</h4>
At the moment, I just want to continue to find out what it is about work that I enjoy in general and what my priorities are. My company recently arranged for me to do a project management course, for example, which I really loved, and the skills I learnt through that are transferable to a variety of things. &nbsp;I'm only two years into my career, so I've got plenty of time.&nbsp;
<h4>Is there anything else you&rsquo;d like to say about yourself or your time at UEA?</h4>
I think the advice I&rsquo;d given anyone starting at UEA is to really enjoy it, and do lots of extracurricular stuff. Just go and try everything once because you never know what you might find out that you like! On a more serious note, I would also mention again the support systems in place &ndash; if you&rsquo;re struggling at uni reach out to your advisor or a supervisor you trust because help and support are available, and I found the systems in place to be so helpful and understanding.
<a class="ui-button" href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/undergraduate/ba-english-literature">Study BA English Literature at UEA</a>
&nbsp;

Grace Mead Pérez González (LDC18) studied BA English Literature at UEA, graduating in 2021. She now works as a Pitch Coordinator at law firm Bird & Bird. We interviewed her to find out more about her career story.

Being a Bid Manager and studying English Literature at UEA

<h4>Rebecca Quigg studied BA English Literature at UEA from 2004 to 2007. After working at a booksellers she returned to UEA for a Master's and then a PhD, before going to establish a career in communications. She now works as an Associate Consultant for professional services firm&nbsp;WSP</h4>
&nbsp;
What have you been up to since you graduated?
I&rsquo;d managed literary events during my time as a student. This was as part of my job working for Toppings &amp; Company Booksellers in Ely. My first really big event, one which meant a lot to me because he was somebody that I'd read, was Terry Pratchett in Ely Cathedral. We had over a thousand people! We also had Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel and UEA alumnus Kazuo Ishiguro!
I ended up returning to UEA to do a Master&rsquo;s in modern and contemporary literature. And from there I went straight into doing a part-time PhD. So that was 2009 to 2016, and I graduated from that in July 2017.
Afterwards, I went into alumni relations working for one of the University of Cambridge colleges. I ended up doing some interim work as Deputy Development Director there before I left. And then I moved on to do comms and engagement work for the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority, which was fascinating.
I started working there on October 19th 2019 &ndash; and four months later we went into lockdown. Everything was suddenly very different, particularly how we communicated with people. So, I moved from being in an organisation that was really keen for me to be sending out press releases to needing to talk to actual people about what was happening and what we were going to do about it. The Facebook page became very important! I did a lot of social media work. It was very instructive in the ways of how people engage on social media, and in understanding a lot about how politics and general public perceptions intersect.
I was there for five years, after which I moved to work on comms and engagement for an engineering consultancy firm. I specialise in transport projects and infrastructure projects, so helping to make sure that local people understand what's happening about the environment that they live in, helping them understand how they can have a say, which is so important.
If you're talking about bus services, for example, I try to make sure that the people we hear from are the people who use the bus most.
At the moment I'm on quite a unique project: a full-time secondment for a nationally-significant infrastructure project. It&rsquo;s a challenge, but very exciting!
What was your ambition for your career when you started at UEA? Did you have a specific career path in mind?
Absolutely not; not at all! I was very young when I came to university. My birthday was five days before I arrived at UEA! I think I knew that an English degree was almost infinitely transferable and that was a conversation I'd had with my parents. I desperately wanted to keep doing the English after A-level. English can take you anywhere, so why wouldn't that be a good thing for you to do?
What made you want to study at&nbsp;UEA?
We came to visit the campus and it was a grotty grey, rainy February day. And I fell in love with it! I remember standing looking into the Square and going, yes, this is where I want to be. It was all about the landscape and the way that the people on campus were moving round its places. I had this incredibly powerful moment where I stood in a place looking at its absolute worst and went: yes, I want to be here.
And interestingly, it wasn't just me that ended up completely seduced by Norfolk. My parents had never really been to visit and they fell in love with Norwich and with the area when I was at university. And in 2013 they relocated and moved up to live on the North Norfolk coast. All because I went to UEA!
Did you get involved with any societies or&nbsp;extracurriculars during your time at UEA?
UEA gave me the flexibility to be able to work when I needed to, which gave me the money to be able to have that bit of extra breathing space; to have a bit room for manoeuvre, and that was important. But the other thing that was really important to me when I was here was the Creative Writing Society, which I joined in my first year (even though I wasn&rsquo;t doing a creative writing degree). It's where I met my husband!
In your career what key tasks &amp; skills are involved on a day-to-day basis, and what are/have been the most rewarding/challenging aspects?
The thing I do most in my day is talk to people. I spend a lot of time unpicking problems for people and helping them understand why the problem exists and what we can do to make it better. And that's both helping people to find the right way of communicating themselves, but also helping them to understand.
It can involve the people who live amongst where the developments are happening. They can feel like the things that are happening are completely out of local people's control, so I&rsquo;m helping them understand what's going on and helping them to frame questions. It can involve taking technical documentation and finding a way to explain that is both clear and reassuring.
But it&rsquo;s also about listening to people and having some emotional intelligence regarding how people might be feeling. Empathy is a big part of what I do!
Has your degree influenced your career?
I spend a lot of time understanding how people feel and trying to write for them in a way that is going to meet them where they are. And that is absolutely a critical skill that I learned during my degree: understanding things like register and tone, and seeing practical examples of that. Understanding the nuts and bolts of what a piece of writing is doing and how it might be read. It's not just about how one person reads a thing: it's about recognising the hundreds of different ways of reading and understanding.
And my writing obviously is a million times better than it would have been if I'd not done my degree! I was allowed to come at things from different angles during my degree. And I could write creatively as well as critically, which was both exciting and instructive. I write for so many different audiences in my job. I write for technical audiences. I write for local people. I write for colleagues who maybe have some understanding, but not all. And my ability to do that comes absolutely from my degree.
And also the ability to talk to people, because my undergraduate seminars were my first experience of having those critical, difficult conversations &ndash; sometimes really difficult, emotive conversations as well. And I think that's one of the things about studying literature, isn't it, that some of the conversations you have are about the way that people feel, and why?
Doing that in a way that's tactful and thoughtful while still not giving ground on your own view, is a skill that I don't think anybody really realises they're gaining until they come to use it &ndash; which I do, now, in my job!
What personal or professional achievement are you most proud of?
I helped support a donation for a building that will keep students safe and comfortable in one of the Cambridge colleges. I helped to ensure that that happened.
What were your experiences of Norwich as a city? Is there anything in particular that you miss or have fond memories of?
I would move back to Norwich in a heartbeat, if, professionally, I could. I would be back in Norwich because for me it's perfect. And, actually, I think this is very true for people who are coming to Norwich for university as well. It's that it's big enough to be exciting and small enough not to feel anonymous. I always think it's the perfect size for a city. It's got an interesting history. It's got interesting shops; it's got interesting restaurants. There is everything you could possibly need in Norwich.
You've also got the countryside right there, and you're close to the seaside. We used to do day trips to Cromer all the time!
It&rsquo;s safe-feeling as well. As a woman walking along the street at night, I very rarely felt uncomfortable or unsafe. I think for my parents that was a big thing as well. They could tell that I was happy and comfortable in Norwich and I think also they felt that it was a friendly, comforting place to leave.
The fact that Norwich could feel like another home was huge for me. It's a really friendly place to be. Norwich is extraordinarily special to me still and I still get to come and visit now and again. We tend to leave the kids with my parents for a day and then we go to Norwich for the day and we get to go out!
Would you recommend studying at&nbsp;UEA? Why?
There are so many things about UEA! UEA was always somewhere where I felt that I could be myself, both academically and personally. Emotionally and academically, UEA gave me everything I could possibly need. I never felt that I was expected to be something else. I feel very much that I got to stretch my academic wings. It was life-changing! And actually, that's true of all my friends, whatever their backgrounds were, however they came to UEA.
I met so many wonderful people here. Many of my closest friends are UEA bods.
Is there any advice you would give to current students, wishing to follow a similar career path to you?
What I would say for anybody who's a current literature student at UEA is, don't underestimate the transferable skills that your degree is giving you; the ability to think critically, the ability to have open, clear, confident conversations in a way that doesn't expect you to back down. And particularly for female students. For women doing their degrees now, the ability confidently to stand up for your viewpoint and to be able to practise that in a safe environment is so important. Don't take that for granted and remember that you were given that opportunity as an undergraduate and you deserve it in your career.
What is next for you?
I&rsquo;ve started a secondment working on a major infrastructure project. I'm really interested in how we help people on these huge projects because they have to happen, especially those involving renewable energy sources. You are looking at significant amounts of local disruption and we know that finding the space to be able to do what we need to support our internet use, our energy use, is crucial; to try and make those things environmentally friendly; to try and reach net zero.
I don't think there's ever not going to be space for work like mine and we have a government who have emphasised the need for consultation and engagement with local people when we're doing work of that kind.
<a class="ui-button" href="#https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/undergraduate/ba-english-literature">Study BA English Literature at UEA</a>

An interview with Rebecca Quigg, a former UEA student who studied BA English Literature from 2004 to 2007. She now works as an Associate Consultant for professional services firm WSP.

Using a UEA Literature degree to get ahead in Communications

<h4 class="MsoNormal">Ahead of the 2025 ceremonies, we are pleased to showcase an alumni graduation story. Lenny Neale-Krommenhoek and Beverley (Bev) Appleby both graduated with a BSc in Nursing in 2015. However, they had actually met in Greece back in 2008. This is their story.</h4>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">Lenny (Lecturer in Nursing Sciences) and Bev (Wellbeing Advisor &ndash; Mental Health) both now work at UEA. They answered a few questions on their UEA journey. </h4>
How did you both come to meet in Greece in 2008?
Lenny: I was living on Crete at the time and Bev visited with her parents, who were our friends. This was the first time we met, and our friendship started straight away.
Bev: We got on so well right from the start - I remember Lenny saying I reminded her of a young version of herself at the time. I was very uncertain at that point what I wanted to do with my life, having had many jobs in differing sectors.
What inspired you both to study Nursing at UEA?
Lenny: I was already a nurse, having studied nursing in the Netherlands in the mid-1980s. However, I studied for a BSc nursing after moving to the UK and getting an opportunity to work at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
Bev: I started my studies in 2011. I had been working as a support worker and team leader in a residential setting providing support to people with mental health difficulties and learning disabilities. It was this job that inspired me to seek a career in nursing. Having completed an Open University Health and Social care course I was accepted as a mature student into the 2011 cohort. We both went on to graduate in 2015.
How did you re-connect during your studies?
Bev: We did not really study together because we were in different areas of nursing, but we discovered in 2015 that we were due to graduate together. It felt special that it was by chance that we graduated at the same time, and I was very pleased to share this graduation experience with Lenny.
And how often do you keep in touch now?
Lenny: We work very rarely together, but our paths do cross when students need support. Privately though, we are still in contact. I attended Bev&rsquo;s wedding and was present during the birth of Bev&rsquo;s son.
Bev: It&rsquo;s wonderful that again our life paths cross, the highlights being: initially meeting in Greece, then sharing our graduation, amazing support from Lenny during the birth of my son and now both of us working at UEA and enjoying our jobs. Throughout, we have kept in touch and meet regularly to catch up &ndash; mostly we discuss our personal lives but occasionally the subject of nursing comes up in conversation. We remain professional and never share confidential details. As Lenny says the friendship doesn&rsquo;t really influence our professional paths - our nursing experiences are very different to date!

Ahead of the 2025 ceremonies, Lenny Neale-Krommenhoek and Beverley (Bev) Appleby discuss meeting in Greece and going on graduate together in Nursing in 2015.

Meeting in Greece and Graduating together 7 years later: Lenny and Bev's Alumni Story

The journey to medical school can be daunting, particularly for students with limited guidance on starting down this career path. &nbsp;
The University of East Anglia&rsquo;s (UEA) Preparing for Medicine outreach programme is designed to provide transformative support for aspiring medical students, to equip them with essential skills, confidence, and clarity about their career path ahead.&nbsp;
Laura Flower and Imogen La Chapelle are two final-year Medicine students who previously participated in the programme. We spoke to them about how their residential experience supported their decision to study Medicine at UEA, as well as how the programme prepared them for the rigorous application process.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I am continuously grateful for the support it gave me&rdquo; &ndash; Laura &nbsp;
&ldquo;I was certain that UEA was right for me&rdquo; &ndash; Imogen&nbsp;
Now serving as mentors, they also reflect on the rewarding opportunity to guide future medical students on the same journey that shaped their own aspirations:
<h4>Was there a moment during the programme that gave you clarity and reinforced your ambition to pursue medicine? &nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>
Laura: &ldquo;While I always knew I wanted to pursue a career in medicine, I wasn&rsquo;t exactly sure what medical school would include or what would be expected of a medical student day-to-day, until I took part in the Preparing for Medicine residential.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Through the residential specifically, I was able to experience first-hand some of the activities a medical student would get involved in &ndash; from anatomy and problem-based learning with small group teaching, to learning clinical skills like CPR and basic life support. I absolutely loved my time there, spending &lsquo;a day in the life of a medical student&rsquo;, so this really affirmed that medicine was for me!&rdquo;&nbsp;
Imogen: &ldquo;I think the whole experience just made me feel incredibly supported and motivated to study Medicine at UEA. &nbsp;
&ldquo;Before the residential, I had done a lot of research into different medical schools and was still quite unsure about where I wanted to study yet after completing it, I was certain that UEA was right for me. Everyone was incredibly friendly throughout the experience, and I learnt so much.&rdquo;
<h4>How did the programme equip you with the skills and confidence to progress onto studying medicine? &nbsp; &nbsp;</h4>
Laura: &ldquo;As a first-generation university student and the only student to ever apply for medicine from my sixth form, I initially found the medicine application process terrifying. When I applied to the outreach programme, I was unaware of the entrance exam, scared of the interview process and intimidated by how competitive medicine was. In my mind, I didn&rsquo;t believe I was good enough to apply.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The &nbsp;programme myth busted the entire application process &ndash; making it clear, understandable and, more importantly for me, achievable. With the help and support of the Preparing for Medicine team, they helped me develop the essential skills and confidence for me to go on and apply for medicine. &nbsp;
&ldquo;In fact, it equipped me so well that I gained a place at all four medical schools I applied to, something I am incredibly proud of. I truly believe that I owe my place to the programme, and I am continuously grateful for the support it gave me.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Imogen: &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s likely I would still be studying medicine &ndash; I&rsquo;ve wanted to be a doctor since I was a young child and have always been very motivated to get into medical school successfully. However, the programme gave me much more confidence in myself and in understanding the application process. &nbsp;
&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t just the residential itself, but also the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) study day, the mock interview, the personal statement activity. There was so much support throughout that getting into medical school felt much more achievable.&rdquo;
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/720x350/a6ff2066f6/workshop-720x350.jpg" border="0" alt="Participants from the 2024 Preparing for Medicine cohort in a workshop" width="720" height="350">Images: Participants from the 2024 Preparing for Medicine cohort in a workshop
<h4>Medicine is a demanding field &ndash; was there a specific challenge you faced during your studies that made you reflect on why you chose this path? How did you overcome it? &nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>
Laura: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re right &ndash; medicine is very demanding at times! In my fourth year at UEA, I completed a placement in oncology and palliative care medicine, and I found these specialties very emotionally challenging. For every patient that you can treat and help, there will be another where treatment hasn&rsquo;t worked and then your care focuses on quality of life, as opposed to quantity of life. &nbsp;
&ldquo;I often found myself speaking to close friends and family about how sad and helpless I felt, and I think sharing my emotions with others really helped me overcome how I was feeling. We also had reflection sessions at medical school, where we could discuss how we were feeling, and this gave us another chance to speak to a senior member of staff about what we had found challenging and how we could learn from what we experienced. &nbsp;
&ldquo;I met some of the most incredible people whilst studying this module and their stories made me reflect on why medicine is such a beautiful career, but also what makes life so very precious.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Imogen: &ldquo;The biggest challenge I have faced in medical school has definitely been my recent experience of revising for finals. I&rsquo;ve been trying to manage the stress of exams alongside placements and revision.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve found that the best way of overcoming stress and self-doubt is lots of communication with my partner and family, along with making sure to prioritise my mental health. If I am having a tough day and struggling with motivation, then I always try and take a step back to spend time on myself.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<h4>You're now acting as a mentor for other Preparing for Medicine students. How have you found this experience?&nbsp;</h4>
Laura: &ldquo;I am very grateful for the opportunity to have been a UEA mentor to other students for the past three years! As someone who has been through the programme myself, I find it very rewarding to further inspire future students to study medicine and give back to the programme that did so much for me as a student. &nbsp;
&ldquo;The application process to even apply for a medicine degree is a minefield and I think having a UEA medical student mentor (like me) to help guide students through the process &ndash; from day one of the programme to the day they collect their A-level results &ndash; is an enormous help!&rdquo;&nbsp;
Imogen: &ldquo;I have loved mentoring over the last couple years for the programme &ndash; it has been an incredibly rewarding experience to help aspiring medics, so many years after I was in the same position.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<a class="ui-button" href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/study/information-for/young-people/events/preparing-for/medicine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Discover more about Preparing for Medicine</a>
<a class="ui-button" href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/norwich-medical-school" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Find out more about Norwich Medical School</a>

Two final-year Medicine students, Laura and Imogen, share how their experiences on UEA’s Preparing for Medicine outreach programme supported their medical aspirations.

The transformative impact of UEA’s ‘Prep for Med’ pathway

<h4>UEA graduates Keith Tucker (BIO75) and others were kind enough to submit this nostalgic document on the UEA Motorcycle club. They also request involvement from lost members of the group - see their last paragraph.&nbsp;</h4>
 This year sees the 50th anniversary of the UEASU Bike Club - as it separated from the University Car Club in 1975 and became a fully fledged university club/society in its own right. Back then, there was a significant membership of active bikers, who not only used their motorcycles as (relatively) cheap transport from their residences to the university plain or into Norwich, but who also rode them just for the sheer pleasure of being on two wheels. There were regular meetings and ride-outs on a Tuesday evening, and the support of like minded souls shared their knowledge to keep these motorcycles &lsquo;on the road&rsquo; within a student budget. One of the major events during this period occurred in 1980 when the UEA Bike club hosted the national rally of university motorcycle clubs in the &lsquo;village&rsquo;. Whilst memberships came from across UEA&rsquo;s faculties (and even a few from the Norwich Art College) it was quite surprising to many that the largest proportion of club members were from the School of Biological sciences.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/1736x1336/674edd5ed3/1980-bikes-at-the-uea-village-rally.jpg" border="0" alt="A group of motorcycles out in UEA village" width="500" height="385"> A group of motorcycles out at the National Rally of University Motorcycle Clubs in the UEA University Village in 1980. During the period of the late 1970&rsquo;s and early 1980&rsquo;s some strong and lasting friendships were formed within the club, and indeed more than just a few marriages have occurred as a result. After a break of several years, a small group of ex club members started to meet up on an annual basis, one year in Norfolk, the following year somewhere else in the UK, then back to Norfolk again. Rather than these reunions shrinking over time, they have actually grown steadily over the last few decades as an increasing number of people have been joining in, rekindling old friendships and reminiscing about old times. And so, as this year sees the 50th anniversary of the formation of the UEASU Bike Club, we have a plan to commemorate this major milestone with a reunion event hosted at the <a href="https://www.angel-larling.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Angel Inn, Larling NR16 2QU</a>, from 19th to 22nd June 2025. This venue is able to cater for camping, caravans and motorhomes by arrangement, and there are several B&amp;B&rsquo;s nearby. Group breakfasts and a dinner are being organised, and there will be trips out to old haunts. It is also hoped to include a visit to the University campus amongst the activities, which will predominantly be arranged for the Friday and Saturday dates.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/960x540/6d42f0f970/2013-in-the-square.jpg" border="0" alt="A group of UEA graduates on campus with motorcycles" width="500" height="281"> A 2013 UEA Bike Club reunion on campus The hope is that as many of the ex bike club members as possible will be able to come along, and it would be fantastic to hear from anyone who was in the club during this period but who may not have been in contact recently. Not everyone is expected to still be riding motorcycles and all who can join in will be made most welcome. It would still be great to hear from ex members who cannot attend - simply <a href="mailto:alumni@uea.ac.uk">contact the UEA Alumni Office</a><a href="mailto:@alumni@uea.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a> who will put you in touch, or apply to join the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2674460725" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UEA Bike Club </a>group on Facebook.
&nbsp;

On the 50th anniversary of the UEA Motorcycle Club, a group of University of East Anglia alumni look back at the group and their time studying in Norwich.

Major milestone for University Motorcycle Club in 2025

Fin Brown, a BA Broadcast and Multimedia Journalism graduate, has been soaring to new heights in the world of journalism and documentary filmmaking. &nbsp;
His latest work, <a href="https://ueajournalism.com/2025/02/04/bomber-ray-the-last-mission/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bomber Ray: The Last Mission</a>, was nominated in both the &lsquo;Factual &ndash; Short Form&rsquo; and &lsquo;Craft &ndash; Writing&rsquo; categories for this year&rsquo;s <a href="https://rts.org.uk/award/rts-east-student-awards-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Royal Television Society East Student Awards 2025</a>. Louise Graham, another graduate of the journalism course, had her film &lsquo;Domestic Abuse: The Fight for Life&rsquo; nominated for the &lsquo;Factual &ndash; Short Form&rsquo; category.&nbsp;
These nominations are recognition of the dedication and hard work that went into bringing their powerful stories to life.&nbsp;
Ray Parke, the World War II veteran who embodied the heart of Fin&rsquo;s documentary, sadly died aged 99 this January &ndash; though not before Fin&rsquo;s fundraising efforts made his final flight in a Lancaster Bomber possible. Find out more about the story behind the screen: 
<h4>A story worth telling&nbsp;</h4>
Fin&rsquo;s inspiration for the documentary came from a deep-rooted interest in World War history and a desire to make these stories more accessible to younger audiences: &ldquo;I'd always been interested in the World Wars and realised that I was in the minority of people my age who shared that interest.&nbsp;
&ldquo;A lot of war documentaries are presented by older people about older people, which can make them feel less relatable to younger generations. I wanted to create something to show people that these stories are interesting, emotional, and can connect to anyone of any age.&rdquo;
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/720x350/4acce5e09b/l-r-fin-s-visit-to-ray-parke-on-his-birthday-ray-with-two-other-world-war-ii-veterans.png" border="0" alt="L-R: Fin's visit to Ray Parke on his birthday; Ray with two other World War II veterans" width="720" height="350">Images L-R: Fin&rsquo;s visit to Ray Parke on his birthday; Ray meeting with two other World War II veterans
<h4> Memorable moments behind the camera&nbsp;</h4>
The filmmaking process for Bomber Ray: The Last Mission was one-of-a-kind for Fin, with one standout moment being an invitation to the Netherlands, for filming at the site of the battle that Ray&rsquo;s story is based on.
Another was the emotional experience of taking Ray back onto a Lancaster Bomber in Lincolnshire and being on board while he taxied in the plane, accompanied by national TV media and a supportive crowd of cheers from onlookers.
Fin even got the chance <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2024-05-19/poignant-last-trip-on-lancaster-bomber-for-wwii-veteran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to speak to ITV Anglia about his role</a> in making the veteran&rsquo;s final flight possible.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/720x350/1b9abb56f3/l-r-fin-brown-and-ray-parke-under-the-lancaster-bomber-ray-aboard-the-aircraft.png" border="0" alt="L-R: Fin Brown and Ray Parke under the Lancaster Bomber; Ray aboard the aircraft" width="720" height="350">Images L-R: Fin Brown and Ray Parke under the Lancaster Bomber; Ray aboard the aircraft&nbsp;
<h4> By far the most impactful moment though?</h4>
&ldquo;The best part of the whole filming process was, without a doubt, the friendship I formed with Ray,&rdquo; Fin shares.
&ldquo;It was an off-screen bond between two guys, 80 years apart, and that was truly special.&rdquo; 
<h4>UEA&rsquo;s role in shaping the film&nbsp;</h4>
Fin credits his success to the Broadcast and Multimedia Journalism course: &ldquo;The project wouldn&rsquo;t have taken the shape it did without the course &ndash; everything I did in the documentary was built on skills I developed at UEA.&nbsp;
&ldquo;From the multi-camera sequences and piece-to-cameras to the editing process &ndash; it was a culmination of all the skills and practices I learnt there.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<a class="ui-button" href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/undergraduate/ba-broadcast-and-multimedia-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Study Broadcast and Multimedia Journalism</a> 
<h4>What&rsquo;s next for Fin Brown?&nbsp;</h4>
&ldquo;What's next is a good and exciting question. Currently, multiple things are all in the works at the same time!&rdquo;&nbsp;
Now a freelancer for Radio Suffolk and Norfolk, Fin is also developing a new podcast in collaboration with Help for Heroes, interviewing people with different combat experiences from all eras: &ldquo;We've got some exciting guests on, from D-Day veterans to rugby legend Rory Underwood and TV presenter JJ Chalmers.&nbsp;
"I'll also be completing a summer of fundraising for Help for Heroes, with three expeditions across this summer all turned into a mini documentary series &ndash; so lots of exciting plans on the horizon.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Find out how Broadcast and Multimedia Journalism graduate Fin Brown has been soaring to new heights in the world of journalism and documentary filmmaking.

The student documentary that brought a World War II veteran back to the skies

Natalia Makohon, a Chevening Scholar from Ukraine, is one of many international students bringing a wealth of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for collaboration here to the University of East Anglia (UEA).&nbsp;
She is currently studying <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/postgraduate/ma-broadcast-and-digital-journalism-international" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Broadcast and Digital Journalism</a>, drawn to the course for its hands-on learning and real-world applications, and considers it a &ldquo;huge honour&rdquo; to be part of the Chevening scholarship programme. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Natalia&rsquo;s education has taken her across the globe, exposing her to diverse learning approaches. In Ukraine, she navigated an intense curriculum, managing up to 11 subjects in a single semester. She then spent two years in Japan, working on group projects with a focus on teamwork and communication. Now, as a postgraduate student, she is adapting to the independence of Master&rsquo;s level learning.&nbsp;
Beyond her studies, she is dedicated to advocacy and awareness. Most recently, she hosted the <a href="https://www.unissueddiplomas.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&lsquo;Unissued Diplomas&rsquo; exhibition</a> at UEA, an impactful initiative dedicated to commemorating the lives of 40 Ukrainian students who lost their lives because of war. This exhibition is one of several she has championed across multiple countries.
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>What's been the most rewarding part of being a Chevening Scholar so far?&nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;Definitely being able to network. I'm meeting talented people from all across the world, as well as professionals in their fields and we all have the same goal &ndash; to make a positive impact and change this world for the better together.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When I see someone who is talented and professional, it inspires me to create more, think bigger and explore more ideas. It's all about people from different backgrounds and countries, working together in one place for only one year, and the opportunities we have to connect and network with each other.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<a class="ui-button" href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/news/blog/gaining-knowledge-giving-back-meet-the-global-talents-studying-at-uea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Natalia's article about Chevening Scholars at UEA</a> 
<h2>What&rsquo;s been your favourite project to work on at UEA?&nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;Probably my dissertation as I'm currently working on a documentary movie. This is our chance to combine all the skills we&rsquo;ve gained during the course and from our own background.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It's not only about storytelling, but also creativity, negotiation and having the skills to approach people for interviews. We also have more freedom to choose a story &ndash; we're not limited by region or theme, so we have the choice to choose a topic that personally matters to us.&rdquo;&nbsp; 
<h2>Have you explored much of the UK since coming to Norwich? &nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;I love to travel. So far, I&rsquo;ve visited places like Cambridge, London, Oxford and Bristol. I&rsquo;ve also visited Scotland with a friend from Japan who came to visit the UK, and more recently I&rsquo;ve traveled to Cromer with other friends.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Moving to Norwich has been a challenge for me because I&rsquo;m used to living in big cities &ndash; in Ukraine, I studied in Kyiv and then in Japan, I studied in Tokyo. But I also see it as a chance to focus on my studies and experience a different approach of living life here, and I&rsquo;m grateful for that opportunity.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I understand why people like it here. It's all about nature. If you feel tired being in a bustling city, Norwich is somewhere you want to come back to again and again.&rdquo; &nbsp; 
<h2>What advice would you give to other international students?&nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;For those on a one-year degree like mine: enjoy your first semester! If you want to travel, see new places and explore new cultures, the time to do it is then. After that, it&rsquo;s time for dissertations; you&rsquo;ll have more projects to complete and will be a lot busier. Treat your first semester as a space for adaptation and exploration. &nbsp;
&ldquo;Try to also be open to new experiences. It can be overwhelming to move to another country and a different education system, to meet new people and make new friends, but try to be open to new opportunities.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<a class="ui-button" href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/postgraduate/ma-broadcast-and-digital-journalism-international" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Study Broadcast and Digital Journalism at UEA</a> 
<h2>Why did you decide to arrange the &lsquo;Unissued Diplomas&rsquo; exhibition here at UEA?&nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;This project is made by students for students, and I see it as a great opportunity to bring awareness about what's happening in Ukraine, to remind people that the war is still going on. As it was recently the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, I decided that now is the time to do it. &nbsp;
&ldquo;I wanted UEA students to see themselves in these Ukrainian students. That we are the same age, the same majors; we have the same dreams and hobbies. Yet their futures were stolen by war and their diplomas will never be issued. &nbsp;
&ldquo;I hope everyone who reads these stories can relate and see this parallel. We are the same on a human level &ndash; we're just in different countries.&rdquo;
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/720x350/f715985ce7/natalia-s-unissued-diplomas-exhibitions-hosted-in-tokyo-panama-and-the-uk.png" border="0" alt="Image L-R: Natalia&rsquo;s &lsquo;Unissued Diplomas&rsquo; exhibitions hosted in Tokyo, Panama and the UK (credit: Yelyzaveta Poberezhniuk)" width="720" height="350"> Image L-R: Natalia&rsquo;s &lsquo;Unissued Diplomas&rsquo; exhibitions hosted in Tokyo, Panama and the UK (credit: Yelyzaveta Poberezhniuk) 
<h2>How did you first learn about the stories of these 40 Ukrainian students?&nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;When I was studying in Tokyo, I saw through social media that one of my friends from the US had prepared a similar exhibition. 24 countries had joined the initiative by then, with more than 100 different exhibitions set up by then, and I saw politicians and presidents from these countries coming to visit them.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It felt powerful and really inspired me to bring an exhibition to my own university in Japan, for the second anniversary of the invasion. From there, I did it again in Panama, and now this is my third time, in the UK.&rdquo; 
<h2>What message do you hope visitors took away? &nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about connecting deeply with short but powerful stories in a short time. For the people who came to view the exhibition, they dedicated their time to see those 20 pictures and read those 20 stories, and that&rsquo;s powerful enough. Even if one person understands their stories, I am more than happy.&nbsp;
&ldquo;My key message would be to highlight that it&rsquo;s not just a number. These are real lives that were lost, and I want everyone to understand that. They had a family and a life &ndash; these students had the same ambitions as the students looking at the exhibition, with wishes to have a family, a nice career, to travel to new places. Until those opportunities were stolen from them. &nbsp;
&ldquo;I want people to understand that the exhibition is about highlighting peace, education and human life. It's about humanity and humanising the circumstances.&rdquo; 
<h2>Do you have any plans to bring the exhibition elsewhere? &nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;This summer, in collaboration with Prof Matthias Neumann, I&rsquo;m hoping to bring &lsquo;Unissued Diplomas&rsquo; to the <a href="https://www.iccees2025.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Council for Central and East European Studies' (ICCEES) upcoming XI World Congress</a> in London. &nbsp;
&ldquo;The theme for this year is centered around disruption, and it&rsquo;s a big deal for me, because there will be more than 1,500 participants from around the world attending. I hope to share the stories of these 40 Ukrainian students more widely there.&rdquo;
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/4030x2638/6f26fc0618/the-unissued-diplomas-exhibition-hosted-at-uea.jpg" border="0" alt="The &lsquo;Unissued Diplomas&rsquo; exhibition hosted at UEA" width="1528" height="1000">Image: The &lsquo;Unissued Diplomas&rsquo; exhibition hosted at UEA

Natalia Makohon’s academic journey has spanned Ukraine, Japan, and now the UK, where she continues her studies in journalism as a Chevening Scholar. Find out all about her time here, as well as her commitment to advocacy.

Natalia’s international journey in learning, journalism and advocacy

To mark World Book Day on 6 March, we spoke to Leo Telford, a student author whose debut publication, a memoir co-authored alongside his mum, explores a unique dual perspective on identity, acceptance, and the evolving dynamics of family.

Mum and son publish memoir to humanise the journey of trans people

Bob Goodson graduated from UEA in 2002 with a BA in English Literature and Philosophy. He went on to further study at the University of Oxford where he studied for an MPhil in Medieval Literature, focusing on language theory. Throughout his studies, he was an active entrepreneur, starting businesses and founding student societies. In 2004, Bob moved to San Francisco and became the first employee at <a href="https://www.yelp.co.uk/">Yelp</a> where he helped to develop what would become the Like button we see and use today. He then set up his business <a href="https://www.quid.com/">Quid</a>, which uses A.I. to harness the power of the written word.
Bob has co-authored a book being published by Harvard in April 2025 and available for pre-order (<a href="https://mybook.to/likebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Like: The Button That Changed the World</a>) all about the surprising stories behind the creation of the Like button and what it reveals about innovation, business, culture and us.
We were thrilled to be able to put some questions to him. 
Where did your UEA journey begin?
I grew up on the North Norfolk coast and UEA was the closest university. I did look at lots of different places to go to university, and my first intention had been to get far away from Norfolk and explore. However, I had taken a gap year after A-Levels to work at Aviva in Norwich and developed friends at UEA. I&rsquo;d gotten a feel for the place over that year and felt at home at UEA. I was also very keen to study with Prof Peter Womack, who I was sure was the smartest person I had ever met! One of the things that surprised me when I joined UEA was that there was such a global community. Even in 1999 there were people from all over the globe studying a huge variety of subjects. It felt like another world and all on one campus.
What were your expectations when you decided to study English Literature and philosophy?
Long before university, I had a deep interest in language. I got drawn into studying literature and philosophy because of my interest in the underlying question of what language is and its amazing power to shape our mindsets and therefore, the world. An arrangement of words can become so important over time and that fascinated me. The mysterious power of words will never cease to fascinate me and has just entered a whole new era with the scaling of Large Language Models.
I had no idea what English and Philosophy would lead to, but it felt right to me.
What are some of your favourite UEA memories?
I started the UEA Yoga Club in 1999 realising there were no classes on campus and in our third year the university told me it was the most popular sport on campus, and I got the award for contributions to societies that year.
A memory I&rsquo;m often reminded of is something I missed! A flatmate from the F-Block of Norfolk Terrace was trying to get us all to come along to this gig at the LCR that night. He was from the West Country and said he knew some of the band members from school and that it was one of their first ever gigs. I passed up the offer because no-one had heard of them and I figured they would be terrible. I also didn&rsquo;t mind too much when they said how great it had been and that they&rsquo;d even got to hang out with the band after the gig. A week later, I picked up NME and saw the band on the front cover. The band was Muse. He still ribs me about my decision not to go, to this day.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/1600x1057/84a23f1bac/bob-goodson-as-yoga-club-chair.jpg" border="0" alt="Bob Goodson at UEA YOga Stand" width="550" height="363">
Bob at his UEA Yoga Stand at Societies Fair (2000)
And how did your interest in business come about while studying?
I&rsquo;ve always been interested in building teams and organisations. I&rsquo;d started a football club when I was a teenager for the kids in my village and I'd created various endeavours to make money through my teenage years.
When I got to UEA I started my first proper businesses. One was called Prana Publications which was a yoga publishing business which I started in 1999, and the other was a design agency which I started in 2000 that offered corporate identity work and logo design. I didn't think of those as startups at the time. The word startup really wasn't around or used at the time. I just was trying to find creative ways to test myself and learn but also make money while I was studying at UEA and helping to pay my way through my studies here.
UEA was an amazing environment for developing these interests. It felt like a very interdisciplinary community and has always been designed that way, being founded on &lsquo;Do Different&rsquo;. Innovation is in the DNA of UEA and I really felt that while studying there. People from all different subjects were coming together to start things, create and push past boundaries.
And how did you develop these entrepreneurial instincts after UEA?
After UEA, I went to Oxford to do a two-year MPhil degree in Mediaeval literature. While I was there, I co-founded a group called Oxford Entrepreneurs, which was the first student community of student entrepreneurs in the university&rsquo;s 750-year history.
I found my experiences with societies at UEA had given me a lot of confidence, and leading this new group was so exciting &ndash; it was an incredible hive of activity with so much talent and energy. &nbsp;I helped start 40 companies when I was at Oxford through my Start A Company programme, and many of the entrepreneurs involved have gone on to do amazing things, including the Collison brothers, who shortly after started payments company, Stripe.
How did your career in tech begin?
In 2003, when I was at Oxford, I went to a talk by an entrepreneur who had started PayPal, a guy called Max Levchin. Watching him speak on stage about the scale that PayPal had reached, the number of people it was serving, and the way they thought about the technology was life changing.&nbsp;They were talking about business philosophically, they were thinking about the politics, they were thinking about the future and thinking about how to disrupt existing inefficient systems. Until that day, I had never encountered people that thought like this. It was like a new world opened up to me during that talk.
I sat in the audience connecting with these ideas for the first time and decided I should do everything I can to work with and learn from these people. I met Max after the talk and showed him my portfolio of things I'd worked on, told him about my company, and I showed him an early social network that I'd built for students at Oxford in 2002, two years before Facebook started. He asked me to visit his colleagues in San Francisco a couple of months later, and within a few weeks of that trip I dropped out of Oxford and moved to San Francisco.
I ended working for him on three companies in an incubator, and one of them was called Yelp, a local review website, which was innovative and pushing web boundaries long before social media platforms had become well established. I became Yelp&rsquo;s first employee, hired by the co-founders. Yelp is now used by 140 million people per month and employs 4,800 people.
I found myself in the middle of this community of people who were way more experienced than me and had done other things before. Even then, in the whole of San Francisco, I estimate that there were probably only about 50 to 100 people that were deliberately trying to build stuff in that space in 2003, which is when I arrived. I found myself in this community of people working on things like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/185167/4284x2688/656ddf2130/bob-goodson-outside-norfolk-terrace.png" border="0" alt="Bob Goodson outside Norfolk Terrace, UEA Campus" width="550" height="345"> Bob outside Norfolk Terrace, where he lived in first year
And how did the Like button innovation come about?
We were trying new things out at Yelp one day in May 2005. We put buttons on our content that people could easily click on to share that they found it useful or funny or cool. We were the first to put multiple emotions on a piece of web content and the first to let you react to content with a single click that did not leave the page and reacted when you clicked it. It sounds obvious now, but back then it was totally new.
We had no idea or perspective that we were doing something important because you do stuff all day, and that was just that day's design challenge. And yet we contributed to the development and invention of what then became known as the like button and subsequently evolved into various reaction buttons that you see all over your apps, all over your content. We estimate that they are now clicked 7 billion times a day.
Why have you written a book about this experience now?
The Like button has become one of the most important user interface features ever developed. What has intrigued me as I&rsquo;ve watched it develop over the last 20 years is observing things that have worked and those that have not. At some point I just asked myself, &ldquo;How did this thing come about? Who were all the people involved? And what does it have to teach us about how innovation works? Why do we like to like things?&rdquo;
Together, with a good friend of mine, Martin Reeves, we&rsquo;ve spent four years researching the book. We&rsquo;ve interviewed 100 people &ndash; neuroscientists to anthropologists through to many of the people that helped develop the button at different stages.
What advice do you have for our students and graduates looking to start their own businesses? 
There is so much value in just getting started with something and seeing where it goes. It&rsquo;s very easy to overthink and get in your own way.
Almost nothing you try and create that's important ends up being the thing you thought at the start, and you only realise that by trying things. Just get started and roll with it. Put yourself in the furnace. That&rsquo;s where the good stuff happens. The furnace is intense, it&rsquo;s uncomfortable, but it&rsquo;s only by going there that you discover your best work and what customers really want.
Later on - once you're in a career - I think there's real value in asking yourself &ldquo;What is the most important problem in my field and am I working on it?&rdquo; Every field has its important problems, and it's usually obvious. Can you make sure that you&rsquo;re working on that problem?

Bob Goodson graduated from UEA in 2002 with a BA in English Literature and Philosophy. Bob talks to us all about the surprising stories behind the creation of the Like button and what it reveals about innovation, business, culture and us.

UEA graduate Bob Goodson talks about helping to develop the Like Button

<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10308388/?ref_=tt_ov_dr_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fr&oslash;ydis Fossli Moe</a>, has recently been featured in the New York Times along with her short film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33184511/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_lk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Final Chapter</a>, which follows Fr&oslash;ydis&rsquo;s journey a decade after cutting all ties with her parents due to a difficult upbringing, as she is forced to confront her past while her father lies on his deathbed.
UEA&rsquo;s Social Media and Communications Intern, Jess caught up with Fr&oslash;ydis ahead of International Women&rsquo;s Day 2025, to discuss her career since UEA, and the success of her recent films.
Q. Would you be able to introduce yourself?
My name is Fr&oslash;ydis, it is a very Norwegian name, and I&rsquo;m a film director. I studied at UEA eight years ago, so a long time ago now. I was an Erasmus student, studied International Development studies and I absolutely loved it, &mdash;so much so that I even considered completing my entire BA there. In the years since UEA, I have made award winning short films and a feature film, and today I am studying Directing Fiction at National Film and Television School.
Q. Hard question, but could you sum up what International Women&rsquo;s Day means to you?
International Women&rsquo;s Day is about raising awareness of the incredible women around the world and amplifying their stories. It&rsquo;s such an important day, and I believe it&rsquo;s crucial to recognise the challenges women face in a patriarchal society. Through my work and this film, I want to remind people why our voices matter.
I work in a very male-dominated industry. I love making films and creating art, and I&rsquo;m lucky to be surrounded by great people most of the time, but there still aren&rsquo;t enough women in the film industry. I believe that&rsquo;s largely because it&rsquo;s so male-driven, making it difficult for young women to find space in such a competitive field.
I think it's really important that we as women support one another, especially within the arts. I felt that very much when I was studying at UEA, I felt like I was part of a strong, like-minded community.
Q. Speaking of UEA, did you enjoy your time studying with us?
I felt that my time at UEA really shaped me as a human being and I probably wouldn't have become a filmmaker and director if it wasn't for my time there.
It was amazing, I wanted to make the most of it, so I was in every society possible. I had such a big fun group, that every time I went to lunch, I struggled to fit everyone around the table. We were such a tight knit group, but everyone was studying different things. It felt very vibrant and such a kind community to be a part of.
The funny thing is that while I was at UEA, I didn&rsquo;t study film. I had studied media in high school and kept making short films on the side, but I never saw myself becoming a film director. My plan was to continue with International Development&mdash;until one film I made at UEA grew too big for me to finish on my own.
Q. What film was that?
While at UEA, I made a film called&nbsp;Believe in Me, which serves as a prequel to The Final Chapter. It followed my life during my time at UEA, capturing my struggles with family issues while trying my best to be a good student and friend. I finished the film right after graduating and decided to submit it to various festivals&mdash;never expecting much.
To my surprise, it was chosen to be screened at multiple festivals, which felt surreal because I never thought anyone would relate to it. The charity Save the Children even selected it for screenings in different cities, and it ended up gaining a lot of attention. People started sharing their own personal stories with me, and I was completely unprepared for the overwhelming response.
Q. And how did that feel? For it to get so much attention?
Receiving recognition was great, but over time,&nbsp;I felt that the documentary no longer visually represented me. I transitioned into making fiction films, and the film belonged to my old life, not my new one. So, I left it untouched and didn&rsquo;t think about it for a long time.
Then my dad got ill, and I didn&rsquo;t know how to process it. I had always heard that film and art could be used to express emotions and make sense of difficult experiences. In a desperate attempt to understand my feelings, I started The Final Chapter. I wanted something to look back on, almost like a time capsule. I never imagined the film would do as well as it did.
If you compare the documentary, I made at UEA to The Final Chapter, they tell a continuous story, but they feel completely different. You can see that I&rsquo;ve grown, my perspective has changed, and my taste has evolved.
Without the film I made at UEA, I would have never been able to make this one.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s crazy to think that it all started with me just having fun, filming my adventures with friends while studying.
Q. And have you found your International Development degree has helped you with your career in film?
I think that everyone who does art should study International Development, obviously, because it is amazing. I think&nbsp;it's so important that if I'm going to try to portray or make films that different kinds of people or different stories is so important that I can understand the different perspectives. When I start a new project, I try to approach it like it was a thesis from school or something like that, because I think doing the research and actually portraying real communities is so important.
International Development is where my heart is. I want to tell stories about important issues&mdash;things that often go unspoken, the conversations people tend to avoid.
When it comes to film, I hope to see more women in the industry and greater representation,&nbsp;that&rsquo;s something I truly believe in and want to be a part of.
I think the time I was studying at the UEA was&nbsp;probably the best time of my life, the&nbsp;community is so incredible, and I hope we extend that energy for International Women&rsquo;s Day, let's listen and be there for one another, and let's celebrate.<span class="EOP SCXW209077100 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:300}">&nbsp;
<span class="EOP SCXW209077100 BCX8" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:300}"><a class="ui-button" href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/undergraduate/ba-global-development">Study Global Development at UEA</a>

Ahead of International Women's Day, Frøydis Fossli Moe, a UEA graduate who has gone on to make name for herself in film making, says she: “would love for there to be more women in the industry, more representation".

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