As week two comes to an end we’re taking a look at what has happened so far this term!
As the cohort of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences students expands, as does the department and with our brand new destination on the ground floor of the ERI we welcome a host of new members of staff to enlarge the realms of interdisciplinary connections within the LANS community. With Dr Julia Myatt acting as Dean for the next academic year, Ijila Rasovic as our new Cultural programme lead, Dr Julian Lonbay as the new College Lead for Arts and Law, Professor Jon Sadler as College lead for Life and Environmental Sciences and Ruth Johnson returning as Wellbeing Officer. This year the LANS department is bigger and better than ever, so a big welcome to the LANS Community to all our new students and staff.
The LANS society have hit the ground running from the start of the new academic year with a Film night in Week One followed by the infamous Canal Boat Party in second week where our LANS students took to the canals of Birmingham clad in underwater themed fancy dress. Furthermore, the LANS Netball team have been in training, get in contact with Joanna Stell or Claire Fletcher for more information. Don’t forget to buy your LANS Soc membership on the Guild website and follow lans_soc_uob on Instagram for more updates!
The new year sees the continuation of the popular LANS parenting scheme which sees second years becoming “parents” to first year “children”. The family parenting scheme is a great way for students from across the LANS Community to get to know each other, develop meaningful friendships and share advice on aspects of this challenging degree programme. We look forward to hearing about activities families get up to and we will be featuring our favourite stories in the upcoming weekly updates. So far we’ve heard plans of a family trip to the new Bear Grylls Adventure Centre and possibly even a family charity skydive! There will be fun LANS family-centered events such as family Quiz nights so keep an eye out on the LANS Society social media pages.
We’re loving seeing what our third years are getting up to on their year abroad! Spread over five continents students have been getting the hang of their new homes, embracing new opportunities and forging new friendships. This week we’re hearing from Sophie Laing who is currently in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan. Sophie has joined the University’s Huskie Formula Racing Team and has just celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving.
“Learning the rules of Canadian football has been an interesting experience, especially as many of the locals don't even seem to know what they are! The games are mainly an excuse to have a get together with beer, good atmosphere, and to have a laugh”
“Finding my way round a new campus has taken some getting used to, but I'm getting there. It's especially confusing when your uni has huge agricultural greenhouses, and a working farm…”
Sophie spending time with her flatmates
Exploring Saskatchewan
A note from Molly James on her prize for her work during the LANS Core Module: From Research to Policy I:
I received the first-year core module prize for LANS. For part 1 of the module, I was in a group called Plasticide. We campaigned for a plastic free week to be held in the university and Birmingham. For our short film we included interviews of people who studied the harmful effects of plastic, and research that we had carried out in our own disciplines. In the second term, I did a reflective essay on my experience of the group work. As I major in Biology, I was not familiar with this style of writing, so I attended workshops at the Academic Skills Centre in the library. I was happy to know that everything had paid off when I received the core module prize for LANS.
In further updates we will be hearing from more students on their year abroad as well as taking a look at highlights of the cultural programme!
For now, remember to keep up to date by following our social media accounts!