Written by Dr Dani Shalet

Thanks to the wonderful organisational skills and IT magic of Dr Lee Hazeldine and with the help of Caroline Thomas and Dr Dani Shalet the EI team held an (online) scholarship day on Friday the 21^st of May 2021.

The conference was designed to give students an opportunity to showcase their work from a year that was, due to the pandemic, quite difficult for many. With over 50 attendees and 20 speakers including Keynotes from Dr Lynn Revell (Faculty Director of Research), Michaela Barnard (Head of Teacher Education), Professor Bob Bowie (Director of NICER), and Professor Berry Billingsley (Director of LASAR) the conference was very successful.

The sessions included the work of Primary and Secondary ITE students from multiple disciplines including but not limited to, music, dance, art, history, science, and RE.

We were also extremely delighted to have Dr. Angela Pickard’s BA(Hons) Dance in Education students to perform several beautiful pieces for us. These beautifully choreographed routines combined dance and specially selected musical accompaniment to express the feelings and emotions felt by those suffering from many different types of ‘invisible’ disabilities. These were welcomed, as well as emotionally charged and heartfelt, additions to the day.

The scholarship day was also designed to enable our students to experience, first-hand, what presenting at an academic conference is like; as it comprised of chaired sessions, strands, and short Q and A sessions. The conference ran from 9:30 to 2:45 PM. More importantly what this day highlighted is that despite their difficulties and setbacks, our students’–with the help of their wonderful tutors–managed to produce some incredibly unique and fascinating projects, demonstrating an unrelinquished spirit, resolve, and resilience which they share with their entire cohort.

As a team we would like to send a huge thank you to all our organisers, participants, keynotes, and attendees who worked very hard to make this wonderful day possible, and through their constant support made this day a meaningful experience for everyone involved.