Southcoast Blog

The University of Brighton Conference & Events Team are excited to be launching a new Partnership Programme, highlighting how academic conferences can be valuable to academics, the University of Brighton and our students.   

Here at the University of Brighton academic conferences are an integral part of the university calendar and the Conference & Events (C&E) Team are always on hand to support colleagues in hosting them either on campus or at local Brighton venues. We're launching our Partnership Programme to showcase the benefits of hosting academic conferences, how we can support academics and clients from start to finish and help them create an unforgettable experience for their delegates. 

Our Event Coordinator Esther "loves being able to help colleagues bring their vision to life", and by managing the conference organisation it enables the conference lead to concentrate on what matters to them. They can put their time into showcasing their research, connecting with their peers and collaborators and potentially make new links with industries and research partners.  

One of the academic conferences we've supported this year is the Martial Arts Studies Association Annual Conference. At the start of the year I was given the opportunity to reprise my role as Event Coordinator and work with the Chair of the association, Alex Channon, to host the conference at our Falmer campus. I really enjoyed being back in the live event environment and seeing first-hand the delegates having an amazing time. It was great to be able to use my event expertise and organisation skills and know I've made a positive impact.  

Showcasing the University

As a team we love showing what the University of Brighton has to offer, and academic conferences are the perfect opportunity to raise the profile of the university both withing the UK and internationally. Academic conferences bring colleagues together from across the world and our aim is to give them the best possible delegate experience, as you never know who will be attending and what impact you could have. Every conference delegate has the potential to become a new student or bring new research and partnership opportunities to the university.

Creating opportunities for Students

On top of these benefits academic conferences also bring fantastic opportunities to our students. They are given the chance to volunteer and/or attend the conference, they can join sessions, learn about new research in their field and make new contacts. Students can also see how their lecturers and the University of Brighton are actively involved in the wider academic community and the importance of knowledge sharing and exchange. The C&E team also employ students to be part of our extended event support team, giving students experience of working in the events and hospitality industry.  

Find out how we can help

With the start of the new academic year I know my Event Coordinator colleagues are looking forward to our upcoming conferences and are always on hand offer advice and answer any queries. You can find more information on how we could support your conference or event in our Event services brochure or contact the events team at southcoastevents@brighton.ac.uk. 

With finally some lovely weather in Brighton this week we hope this is a sneak peak of what is to come. Here at Southcoast Conferences & Events our summer 2024 plans are in full swing and we're looking forward to a very busy and exciting summer at the University of Brighton.

Each year we open up the university’s halls of residence to those visiting our wonderful city of Brighton & Hove. Our pop up hotel at the Phoenix Halls of Residences is open for business and we’re very excited once again to be welcoming guests to the university this summer. We have our label maker and mini shampoos at the ready for the opening on the 29th June.

You can book to come and stay in a flat with your friends, as a large group attending a conference or as an international student…and P.S. we currently have a 15% early bird rate available on Booking.com so if you’re planning a trip to Brighton check us out!!

As well as our pop up hotel our university campuses also become language schools for the summer holidays, where we have young people from all over the world come and stay with us. We have several different language school providers who book to stay and with us and we are busy putting all the necessary preparations in place to make it a successful summer 2024.  

But before we even make it to the end of June we’re getting very excited about the student events taking place at the end of the academic year. We have the Graduate and MA Shows for the School of Art and Media and the Architecture & Design Show, for which the university turns into a gallery for the students to exhibit the fantastic work they’ve created during their course. We’re busy helping to organise the private views for each event, so the students can celebrate in style with their friends and family.

So, let the countdown to summer begin and we hope to see you this summer at the University of Brighton.

When the University of Brighton staff and students returned to campus in September in a limited capacity, it was evident that some changes were needed to ensure the safety of everyone physically at campus. One of the initiatives was to place so-called Campus Champions on all campuses to ensure social distance guidelines were adhered to and that everyone could feel safe returning to campus.

Southcoast Conferences hired and trained over 20 new members of staff from the student cohort to fill the new role, which quickly became a central aspect of the University’s plan to ensure the safety on campus. In the training, we went through how to handle PPE, crowd-management, and the general Covid-19 guidelines the Campus Champions needed to help students and staff adhere to. The students were also trained extensively in how to keep themselves safe while working this role.

For Southcoast Conferences, it was really important to offer this opportunity of work to students who might be struggling financially as the pandemic has impacted several jobs often held by students, including retail, restaurant, and bar work.

“Southcoast gave so many of us students who were struggling to find part-time jobs work hours,” explained Elle Babe, who was hired by Southcoast to fill the role of Campus Champion, “The café I worked in closed due to lack of customers and I was struggling to balance out my student loan without the extra income. But being told about this job and then being offered the role of Campus Champion made a massive difference in a time when everything else was so unstable.”

Fellow Campus Champion Alex Hood agreed, adding that “being a Campus Champion has helped students that have to come into university feel a sense of security and safety, as they can see we are on station to uphold the social distancing and safety guidelines.”

The Campus Champion project has run since early October and will continue until Christmas break. With students having Covid-tests done before heading back home for break, our Campus Champions will also help keep an eye on the pop-up test-centres.

We are so happy to have been a part of keeping the University campuses safe this semester and proud of our amazing Campus Champions for their great work.

The Southcoast Event Support Team has helped out with moving-in-week at the University of Brighton halls of residence for the past couple of years and this year was no different – only it was. Very different. With the COVID-19 pandemic far from over, plenty of restrictions and guidelines were set in place to make this year’s moving-in-week possible. For starters, this year it was a moving-in-week instead of a moving-in-weekend.

The Southcoast Team assisted at Circus Street Halls of Residence, Welkin Halls of Residence at our Eastbourne site, and both Falmer Halls of Residences, Great Wilkins and Paddock Fields. Throughout the week near these sites, Southcoast’s casual staff could be spotted wearing their University of Brighton branded high-vis yellow jackets, signposting the way to the halls, monitoring carparks, and welcoming the students. Eastbourne lived up to its reputation for being the sunniest town in the UK most of the week, but it was a completely different story in windy Brighton. While the Eastbourne team was sporting shorts and sunglasses, the Brighton team was almost impossible to find under the many layers of clothes.

The first-year students arrived throughout the week at allocated timeslots to avoid too many people arriving at once, clogging up the carparks or walkways. Everywhere, social distance was kept as the students collected their keys, received welcome information, and moved their things into their new home.

The Southcoast Team on-site kept to strict COVID-guidelines: staff wore masks or visors when speaking in close proximity to students, used hand-sanitizer regularly, and stayed mostly outdoors the entire week, only ever showing students to their front door.

Moving-in-week was our first in-person event since February and it provided some perspective on how to conduct live events safely with no end to the pandemic in sight. We loved welcoming the students to University and hope that everyone who has moved into halls this year has settled in well. While we thoroughly enjoyed this year’s moving-in-week, here’s to hoping that next year will be a little less… different.

Until next year!