House of Lords Reception - 11 November 2016

On Friday 11 November, almost 300 alumni, friends and supporters of the University came together for the 13th annual House of Lords reception, to celebrate the successes that the University has achieved over the last year.

The University’s Chancellor, Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea CBE DL, and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, hosted this celebration for alumni and friends. Attendees came from across four continents, representing almost 70 years of the University’s history, with alumni from graduating years spanning from 1948 to 2016. 

You can view and download the event photos from our Flickr site.

Lord Bilimoria took the opportunity to look back warmly upon the last year and the recent strides that the University has made contributing to our increasing global reputation. Our tremendous Olympic success was celebrated, with 13 medals being awarded to alumni and a current student of the University. Lord Bilimoria also praised the development of portable genome sequencing equipment to better understand and combat the Zika virus, the achievements of the Shakespeare Institute and the 89% student satisfaction rate from the 2016 National Student Survey.

Professor Sir David Eastwood highlighted the University’s recent Nobel Prize success with three former Birmingham academics in Physics and Chemistry being awarded the prizes for research undertaken whilst at the University. The Vice-Chancellor also celebrated the part that Birmingham researchers and students played in the discovery of gravitational waves, and our recent success displaying one of the world’s oldest Qur’an Manuscripts in digital form at an event in Abu Dhabi to commend the forthcoming year of Creative Collaboration between the UK and the UAE.

The University is currently fundraising for work including research into miscarriage, cancer treatments, mental health and antibiotic resistance, plus scholarships for current and prospective students.

Whilst at the University of Birmingham, our students have had the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge and experience of more than 5,000 alumni volunteers. Please visit our Volunteering page to see how you can support our students.

Thank you to all who attended and made the evening such a wonderful occasion.  We are grateful for your continuing support, which is critical to the ongoing success of the University. 

Next year’s House of Lords reception will take place in Autumn 2017. Details of the event will be emailed to all alumni and online booking will be available in August. To ensure you receive your invitation, please visit www.your.bham.ac.uk to update your details.