Seems a long while since I last wrote anything here, so lots to catch up on!

Since the last post I’ve had a birthday (and very nice that was), attended the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Conference here, went to a BBC ACE event in Birmingham, ate a burger at the Wellbeing BBQ, went to Salford for a ‘Change in HE’ workshop, accepted a carbon reduction award for us at the ‘Business in the Community’ awards, chaired a BBC Outreach event at the NMeM, took a day trip to Brighton and helped witha BBEC University Academy event.

Just the usual couple of weeks then!

 The LTA conference was very good this year, although I always have the fear that there won’t be time to implement all those good ideas into good practice. Hearing what the schools’ strategies are proved that although we all have much in common the diverse subject areas that we cover mean that there are some different priorities areas in each school. Which is to be expected, but it’s hp we pick out the cross-school themes to prioritise at a Univesity level that’s important.

The BBC ACE event was interesting, not least for the fact that I found out that the set of the Politics Show is in fact the corner of a shared office! No need for expensive studios now then!!! But more importantly it was good to hear how the BBC 4 ‘North’ commisions are developing, and to have a chance to discuss the future of programmes with regional content such as Late Kick Off.

Our ‘Wellbeing‘ week certainly improved my personal well-being. Well, a good barbbequeued burger usually has that effect on me!

Do I always look this uncomfortable in a dinner jacket?

Winning a Carbon Reduction award at the BitC Excellence Awards was very pleasing, even if I felt a little unworthy as I only chair the Energy & Carbon Task Group and everyone else does the hard work. We were also ‘highly commended’ in the Sustainable Travel category. It was an added bonus that my allocated ferret was a winner on the night, but that’s a whole different story!

Next major event was the BBC’s Yorkshire Regional Audience Council ‘Outreach’ event at the NMeM. I was chairing this for the first time and it covered three topics – ‘localness’ and what it means in relation to the BBC, feedback on the election coverage and finally what would people like to see more (and less of) as part of the BBC’s strategy of ‘doing less better’. Always interesting to hear a variety of opinions, although there were some definite themes emerging that will be fed back to the BBC Trust.

The ‘day trip to Brighton’ was a bit of an ordeal. Because of other commitments, I had to travel for my external examining duties to Sussex and back in one day. That involved getting up at 3.30am and getting back at about 11pm. Still, letting the train take the strain was relatively relaxing and fairly eco-friendly.

BBEC University Academy

Last but not least is was the awards for students from Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College ‘University Academy’. This is for high academic achievers, and the  presentations were held here at the University. Good to see so many bright pupils and their families, I think there’s hope for the future of the planet after all! And my assumption that the crisps would go quicker than the fresh fruit proved to be completely wrong, children are clearly listening to the healthy eating message. Thanks to Jennie for helping to arrange the evening and the catering.

Of course in between all this there’s been the usual meetings, marking, assessment committees, etc. I think a quiet weekend is in order, but with England v Germany on Sunday, that can’t be guaranteed.