What's On over Christmas?

If Dictionaries were Honest ...

Taken from 'boredpanda.com'

These ones are especially for me ...

These are for students out there ...

Just a few others I liked ...

Save our Planet - and help a stranger

There are so many small things you can do to help prevent unnecessary wastage.  
START NOW!!!

Turn your empty crisp packets into life-saving funds for the Air Ambulance Kent, Surrey & Sussex.

*All brands of crisp packet including supermarket own brands can be accepted. Outer packaging for multi packs can also be accepted.

You can find these boxes in the following locations:
* Gillingham building - G0-05
* Blake building, Student Centre
* Pilkington building, Chaplaincy entrance

To give you an idea of how the money raised will help …
** 3kg of recycled packets provides enough funding to wrap 3 patients in bubble wrap whilst being flown to a major trauma centre
** £15 pays for the tubing to ventilate a patient who needs to be put into an induced coma to protect their brain from brain damage whilst the machine breathes for them.
** £25 pays for 150 syringes needed to administer lifesaving drugs by the crew.
** £50 pays for the aviation fuel for one flight (called a mission).

Enterprise award (Champion of champions award)

On 28th October 2019 engineering students, graduates and postgraduates competed for a prestigious Engineers in Business Competition award and a share of a £10,000 prize pot. Ten teams from UK universities were short-listed to pitch their business innovations at the Champion of Champions Grand Final at the Royal Academy of Engineering – the awards ceremony was attended by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the patron of the Engineers in Business Competition (EIBC). 

Amira Eltokhy (PhD in Engineering), Mohamed Said (PhD in Science); Basel Barakat (PhD in Engineering) and Katherine Alvarez (Computing with Software) make up the Rapid Bio-Labs team, which aims to help medical researchers in their war against diseases through digital cell counting - this is a fundamental process that medical researchers have to perform but is currently costing them an average of 6 hours a day. 

Rapid Bio-Labs’ innovation is an artificial intelligence software solution which would allow researchers to upload a picture of their microscope plate and have the number of cells instantly, giving them more time for research. The Engineers in Business Competition inspires engineers to gain business skills through their university enterprise competitions. They then harness their combined engineering and business skills to create innovations that can change people’s lives and improve the lived environment.

Rapid Bio-Labs won its university heat of the Engineers in Business Competition receiving £3,000 to assist with the development of its innovation. The team then entered the Engineers in Business Grand Final and won a place in the Champion of Champions Final.

The Dragons’ Den Style competition saw each team present their pitch and answer questions from the judges who were: 
Ana Avaliani, Head of Enterprise, Royal Academy of Engineering 
Tim Chapman, Director, Arup - Infrastructure 
Andrew Doe, a Sainsbury Management Fellow, a serial entrepreneur, a highly experienced e-commerce and digital leader and a non-exec director 
Kate Beresford, Head of Membership and Operation, Enterprise Educators UK

THEY WON 1st PRIZE

Champion of Champions

"I am delighted to see that the Engineers in Business Competition has produced so many excellent entries, many of which, in my judgement, have real commercial potential," said Lord Sainsbury. "I am awarding the Enterprise Award to the University of Greenwich's Rapid Bio-Labs team, because they are the competitors that I judge to have the best commercial potential, in order to encourage them to proceed with the commercialisation of their product."

"We're so excited about this award," said Amira, "It is very prestigious and validation for our idea which is needed. We've had a dream to create this service for one and a half years. We didn't imagine we'd get this far in the competition, but we believed in ourselves and we've done it!"

Thought for the week ...

Where are they now? Afaf

My name is Afaf and I'm from Jordan. I have recently completed my Masters at the University of Greenwich.

People say that change usually happens when you step out of your comfort zone and embrace your fears and face them. It is always my goal to change myself for a better Afaf, either socially, intellectually or academically. However, changing requires courage, faith and like any other experiment, it is a trial and error process till the desired goal is achieved. After graduation with a bachelor`s degree from Jordan, I was looking for a different experience in a place where I can achieve my dream of studying masters and living in a European city.

In July 2018 the University of Greenwich contacted me back and accepted my application for studying masters in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. Although receiving my CAS number was like seeing that the dream is about to become true, fears and questions were in an equal measure of happiness in my mind. My family had concerns regarding the idea of living abroad independently for the first time with no friends or relatives around. Also, the security and safety in the accommodation was an important issue.  I was curious if I am going to be accepted by others as part of the community and concerned if I am qualified enough for the new educational system.

On the same day that I received my student ID, I met Ms. Lynne Martin for the first time, and she invited me to the World Café and TABLEtalk. True fact about this marvellous lady is that students, including me, consider her as a mother. She was truly the reason that opens the doors for all international students to socialise and have friends (family in the UK).  

About the fears mentioned earlier, by the time all my fears were fade away one by one. Table talk initially gave me the comfort I was looking for in the first few weeks by communicating with others being in my same situation where we all trying to adapt to a different culture. In fact, TABLEtalk taught me that the butterfly effect principle could be applied even in relations where we change, affect and be affected by other`s gestures and traits.  

Living with people I have not met before turns out to be one of the experiences that I am so grateful to have. My flatmates were my support, specially after a long day of lectures. Sharing them my worries while cooking and keep talking nearly about everything till dawn are unforgettable memories. Finally, my biggest fear in masters was scientific writing, as I used to have more exams than essays in Jordan. By the time I have learned and convinced that practice makes perfect.

 

My experience in the UK was not only lectures and courses; it was a whole different world of experiences, challenges, and joyful moments. I travelled, worked, studied and, most importantly, opened my heart and mind for everything despite the endless possibilities of differences. My experience made me realise that beyond my comfort zone was a fantastic journey worthwhile to be done.

My life journey is ongoing, as I am looking for new experiences and a job that is related to my speciality. My dream job is working in the research and development department of biopharmaceuticals in the pharmaceutical industries. I am not in that place yet but I am working on it by taking courses and practical training. 

Thought for the week ...

Green Week Book Sale & Quiz

This week has been Green Week and we ran three days of Book Sales on campus.  I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Prajakta, Frank, Niduka, Albin, Nadia and Talia who all spent time volunteering with this Chaplaincy activity.  Without your help we wouldn't have been able to do this. We made the grand total of £95 which will go towards funding several of our Christmas events.

In addition to the book sales, we ran a GREEN WEEK QUIZ which consisted of 10 multiple choice questions concerning the environment. A total of 82 people participated in the quiz, with the average score being 3.5 questions correct. Maybe we need to up our game on the environment front!!!

WELL DONE to Andrei and Aiste, who took joint first prize, scoring 8 out of 10.  This is what they both won ...            CONGRATS also to runner up Chintan who scored 7 :-)

Children in Need

Support Children in Need and be in with a chance to win an amazing hamper ... just the ticket in the run up to Christmas.






Pop along to the UoG Student Centre in Blake building, pay your £2, and take a guess as to how much money is in the bottle.