Bournemouth University

School of Design, Engineering & Computing

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All Hands on DEC - May 2007

 coolest festival tent This Months Stories:
BU graduate creates ‘coolest festival tent’

The Quick Pitch SS tent, created by BU graduate Fran Conrad, has been named as the 'coolest festival tent' in a guide to camping published by The Guardian. The editor of Camping Magazine, Clive Garrett, makes the recommendation in the 'May 2007' edition.

The tents can be bought through Gelert outlets or online; and with the festival season upon us hopefully the tent will prove a big success.

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An overview of this month's activities
  • Imagineering at the Bath and West Show in Shepton Mallet runs from 30 May - 2 June
  • Careers Advisors and Teachers Convention is on Thursday 14 June
  • The first general open day for 2008 entry students is on Saturday 23 June
  • The Festival of Design & Innovation runs from 28 June - 2 July at Talbot Campus

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Cancer Research donation

On 23 May Business IT students presented a cheque for £765 to Cancer Research. Diana Brown, Chairman of Broadstone Cancer Research, came to accept the cheque and met with the students to thank them for their efforts. The money was raised through a number of activities including a pirate treasure hunt, a quiz night, a sports day and a quazar competition. Melanie Coles, Business IT Course Leader, said she was 'very proud of all the students; they have worked very hard, they have learnt along the way, and enjoyed themselves whilst raising money for a very worthy cause.'

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CAD alumni wins award

Simon Phelps, who graduated from BU in 2004 with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Aided Design, outshone other young entrepreneurs from the South West with his company Fluvial Innovations. His central product is an amazing flood barrier, so light that it can be assembled in no time by just one person – an end to sandbags.

As a regional finalist in the Shell Livewire competition, Simon has already won prize money of £3,500. He’s now aiming for the national prize, to be announced on June 13.

Commenting on his success, Simon said, “Winning this Shell Livewire Award is a great boost for my business and will hopefully help it to grow even further. I’m looking forward to the National Final in June where I’ll be up against top young entrepreneurs from all over the UK.”

During his visit back to the UK he will be visiting the Festival of Design & Innovation as he is very keen to see this year’s students.

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Simulated Business weeks

Last week was Business IT first years taking part and this week sees the first year Multimedia & Network Systems students in their Simulated Business weeks. Business IT worked to produce a system for fictional company ‘Messing About In Boats’ who looked at buying, renting, selling and mooring boats. The Multimedia Network Systems group are designing and building a complete computer and Web based information system for a holiday property rentals agency.

Business IT had a visit from Ashdown School to their exhibition and the school pupils thoroughly enjoyed asking our students questions about their projects and the work they put in.

The Multimedia & Network Systems Simulated Business week is currently in full flow towards the exhibition tomorrow and the students and teaching team would like to invite anyone interested to their exhibition on the 4th Floor of Poole House.

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Design Engineering accreditation

It was announced this month that BSc (Hons) Design Engineering has been accredited by the Institute of Engineer Designers (IED) subject to some minor conditions. The accreditation will cover current students (full time and sandwich) on levels C, I, P & H. Unfortunately the accreditation does not include the top up students who entered level H, however, graduates of the top up programme will be able to apply for membership of the IED via the individual candidate route.

Congratulations to all involved.

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Human- Computer Systems Research Group update

Dr. Linda Hole is currently co-organising a workshop (FUN 2007) with the Fraunhofer Institute, entitled "Design principles for software that engages users". This has been peer-reviewed and accepted by the international conference, INTERACT 2007, to be held in Brazil in September. For more information please visit: www.fun-of-use.org/interact2007/

Linda is also presented her work on 'user experience' at the Services Management staff on Wednesday 23 May. Services Management staff are working on 'consumer experience', and they will be running a conference on "Extraordinary Experiences" in September.

User Experience is an emerging research area, and the phrase features in several commercial organisations, including Microsoft and BMW.

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DEC students win football tournament

Congratulations to the Product Design year 4 football team who won the University football tournament at the beginning of May.

They also found time to raise money at the event for the Festival of Design & Innovation for their course.

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Interior Design car wash thanks

The Interior Design Yr 4’s would like to thank all who supported their car wash on 24 May. They raised a lot of money which will be put into their areas at the Festival of Design & Innovation.

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The Festival of Design & Innovation 2007

After nearly a year of planning the Festival has once again come upon us. With 170 students displaying their final year projects we hope that this year will prove to be better than ever.

The preview evening is Thursday 28 June and the event runs until Monday 2 July. Please can all BU staff who wish to attend (at any point of the event) wear their BU badges so that you are identifiable.

If you wish to send an e-invitation to anyone the please contact Helen Stickland.

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Events calendar

To help keep you up to date with events happening within DEC, please find attached a chart which outlines Open Days, Conferences, School Visits, Planned Activities, Events, Careers Fayres and other activities.

We are hoping that the introduction of this calendar will provide a useful overview, to see which schools are having visits and outline various events you may wish to be included in.

You are welcome to add to the list yourselves by visiting the link below. If you are filling in a School Visit please also fill in the other sheet within the table outlining the details of your trip.

I:\DEC\Public\Marketing\All Hands on DEC

Any questions or queries please contact Helen Stickland via email.

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How to submit future stories

If you have a story you would like included in the next issue of “all hands on DEC” please send it to Sonia. Each month the next deadline will be found at the bottom of the newsletter and a document can be found in the ‘I drive’ (I:\DEC\Private\Marketing\All Hands on DEC) with all copy/story deadlines for the rest of the year.

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Next Newsletter

June copy/ story deadline is: Monday 18 June
June newsletter will be sent out: Friday 29 June

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