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The UEA Autumn Literary Festival returns next month, and we have two sets of tickets to give away to readers of Ziggurat.
Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement and popular broadcaster is speaking on 6 November. The event is now sold out, but we have two tickets to give one lucky winner.
And UEA Creative Writing grad Elizabeth Macneal returns to campus to discuss her debut novel The Doll Factory with Christopher Bigsby. Again we have two tickets to give away for this event, plus a copy of Elizabeth’s book.
To enter, simply email alumni@uea.ac.uk with the name of the author you’d like to see in the subject header. Winners will be pulled out of the hat week commencing the 16 September.
The full festival line-up includes: UEA grads Tash Aw (9 Oct) and Tracy Chevalier (16 Oct); Steve Jones (23 Oct); David Owen (30 Oct); Elizabeth Strout (13 Nov); and Louis de Bernieres (20 Nov)
This year’s Global Gathering events kick off this week, with grads getting together to celebrate in Kathmandu on 14 September.
It’s one of dozens of global events taking place over the next couple of months, and hundreds of you have already signed up to attend.
If you’re keen to attend an event, but haven’t yet signed up, you can visit the booking page to find a Global Gathering taking place near you.
All Global Gathering events are held in September and October and this year range from boat trips to grad-run brewery tours. They’re all hosted by UEA graduates, with support from the alumni office.
Students, staff and visitors to Earlham Hall can now enjoy a corner of UEA’s campus in peace and quiet.
The ‘Silent Space’ in the Dutch Garden at Earlham Hall is the first in East Anglia and the first at a UK university. It’s been developed as part of the Courage project – a collaboration between UEA and the Student Union to promote postgraduate researchers’ wellbeing on campus.
Established by garden writer Liz Ware, Silent Space is a not-for-profit project that encourages gardens already open to the public to reserve areas for silent visiting, so that visitors can enjoy the restorative benefits of peacefulness in nature.
Visitors are asked to switch off from technology and social media, and cease talking, enabling them to enjoy and contemplate the gardens with only the sounds of nature in the background.
The UEA scientist who pioneered a test to detect microplastics in water has welcomed a World Health Organisation report calling for more research into how these particles affect the environment and human health. Dr Andrew Mayes developed a test used to reveal microplastics in bottled water around the world. The research generated widespread media attention and led the WHO to conduct a much-needed review.
New UEA research finds omega-3 fats have little or no effect on risk of Type 2 diabetes
Increased consumption of omega-3 fats is widely promoted because of a common belief that it will protect against conditions such as diabetes. But a review involving UEA scientists has found that omega-3 supplements offer no benefit. Despite over 58,000 participants being randomised into long-term trials, and four per cent of those participants developing diabetes, the people who were randomised to consume more long-chain omega-3 fats (fish oils) had the same risk of diabetes as the group who did not take more fish oil.
The emotional rollercoaster of a digital-free holiday
New research reveals the emotional journey that tourists go through when they disconnect from technology while travelling. The study, involving researchers at UEA, investigated how engaging in digital-free tourism impacted travellers’ holidays, and showed there were initial withdrawal symptoms followed by acceptance and a sense of liberation. Talking to locals and other travellers proved a welcome impact of the study. The findings come as the demand for so-called ‘digital detox’ holidays is on the rise.
Opportunities to enjoy classical music abound this autumn, with lunchtime concerts and auditions now open for the UEA Choir and Symphony Orchestra.
A series of lunchtime concerts will run at the UEA Music Centre until the end of the year, with some of the University’s best student performers joining professional musicians. Concerts are free and take place in the Strode Concert Room in the Music Centre on the first Wednesday of the month (starting on Wednesday 2 October and running through December), from 1.10-1.55pm.
Or, if you fancy hopping on stage, auditions for the UEA Choir and Orchestra kick off this September.
Singers of all abilities and levels of experience are welcome to audition for the 150-strong UEA Choir, and singers with some prior choral experience and sight-singing ability to the UEA Chamber Choir. The UEA Symphony Orchestra is open to players of Grade 7/8 standard or above (though you don’t need to have taken any exams).
Auditions take place Friday 27 and Monday 30 September in the UEA Music Centre. If you would like to audition, fill out an online audition application form or email musicevents@uea.ac.uk to book an audition.
The Tilly Lunken-scripted Beastly Belle comes to the Norwich Puppet Theatre this Christmas.
The performance is a new twist on an old tale, inspired by the iconic era of 1920s and 30s cinema and features a skilful mix of puppetry, film projections and an original musical score.
Tilly, who received a Masters in Creative Writing at UEA, and the Malcolm Bradbury Development Award, is set to teach a masterclass at the University later this year. Watch this space for details.
Drama grad and BBC Radio 4 newsreader Zeb Soanes returns to Norwich in an unlikely pairing between a radio presenter and an urban fox.
Zeb’s children’s book, Gaspard the Fox, was inspired by a friendship he struck up with a fox outside his north London home.
Gaspard is now the star of a series of children’s picture books, and Zeb is appearing at this year’s Norwich Science Festival (21 October) to share stories of Gaspard’s adventures and create some foxy crafts. He’s also joining up with a team from UEA's School of Biological Sciences for an urban safari in Norwich.
The latest book in the series, Gaspard Best in Show, is available now.
The legendary label Cherry Red Records has released a new four-CD box set focusing on DIY releases between 1977-81.
Plan 9 from Outer Space by The Happy Few, Shades of Black by Screen 3 and Insect Love by the Higsons – three bands featuring line-ups of UEA grads – all make an appearance.
Terry Edwards of the Higsons and Neil Dyer of Screen 3 also return to Norwich in September to perform with Richard Strange at Norwich Arts Centre.
Remember these bands, or others during your time at UEA? Check out the University’s Gig History Project.
Hilary Macleod (ENV 1981) has received an International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Oceania CEC Excellence Award for her decades-long work in environmental education.
Hilary established an education programme for the Sabah government whilst living in Borneo in the late-90s, and has been a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication ever since.
Since retiring, she has been volunteering with the North Shore Community Centre in Mudjimba, Queensland, and has recently been elected as a member of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council Management Committee.
Congratulations to Hilary!
13 September to 9 February 2020£8, £7 concessionsMezzanine Gallery at the Sainsbury Centre
Following hot on the heels of a landmark show celebrating WG Sebald comes a show that explores the life and work of another author whose archive lives at UEA – Doris Lessing. A selection of Lessing’s archive will be on display this autumn for the first time, giving a rare and intimate glimpse of the life of a Nobel Laureate.
Art and objects, alongside private correspondence and working papers, will explore the unfamiliar aspects of the author’s life, including files from The National Archives charting MI5 and MI6 surveillance of Lessing and documents that provide a fresh context for understanding her forays into science fiction.
From Tuesday 8 October, 6.30pmThe UEA Julian Study CentreFree, no need to bookFind out about the range of research being undertaken by six of UEA’s newest professors at the upcoming autumn season of inaugural lectures.
In the first of the season on Tuesday 8 October, Prof Ana Marques from the Norwich Business School will shine the spotlight on alternative performance measures and will discuss whether managers disclose them to inform us, or mislead us.
In the rest of the series, we’ll hear about marine microbes, water waves under ice, feminism and eating problems, international treaties, and small talk between doctors and patients.
These lectures are free and there's no need to book; simply turn up on the night, or watch live on YouTube.
Monday 23 September, 7pmNational Centre for Writing, Dragon Hall, NorwichFree, booking essential
Are we working too hard? Is burnout a phenomenon just for millennials, or have we always been pushed to our limits? Join the discussion with our panel of experts at the first Dragon Hall Debate of the season, in partnership with the National Centre for Writing.
For this debate, writer and journalist Dawn Foster will critique the notion of millennial burnout, UEA's Dr Alpar Lazar will examine the link between lack of sleep and the onset of dementia and author Dr Anna Katharina Schaffner will argue that exhaustion has always been a part of our collective narrative.
Tickets, and suggested reading, are available via the National Centre for Writing website, where you'll also find booking links for the rest of this season's debates. In October, we'll be talking all things 'guts' as part of the Norwich Science Festival, and in November, discussion will focus on the global trend towards near-constant surveillance and the problems – and benefits – that it could bring.
Lee Claxton (ENG 1965)Luke Goodere (NBS 2004)
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