B&FC students chosen to present at undergraduate research conference

Students from Blackpool and The Fylde College have presented their work at the prestigious British Conference of Undergraduate Research at Bournemouth University.

Three students from Leadership and Management, six from B&FC’s Project Management Centre of Excellence and one from the College’s Computing curriculum area were chosen for the honour after submitting their academic research proposals for peer review by the event organisers.

BA Hons Hospitality and Events Management student Peter Cox presented a study on Blackpool’s hopes for a tourism boost following Brexit and a range of external geo-political factors.

29-year-old student Peter Cox, from Poulton, said: “It was great to have my work recognised on a national scale in this way. I posted on LinkedIn that I was going to be presenting and it got a big response.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of presenting in front of peers and will always look back and remember it.

“It was a great opportunity for me and my colleagues from College to go down and experience this type of academic conference. Some of the presentations we saw were really interesting.”

BA Hons Tourism Management students Ruth Marchant and Carol Cartwright were chosen to present posters at the prestigious event.

Ruth’s featured an investigation into the opportunities and challenges of Brexit for the UK air travel industry while Carol’s considered whether customers would be prepared to pay more to help airlines to meet sustainability targets.

Marc Potter, Curriculum Manager for HE in Leadership and Management at B&FC, said: “We’re extremely proud of the students who were chosen to present at this prestigious conference.

“In the past, students from our Project Management Centre of Excellence have been chosen to attend, but in recent years students studying sport, hospitality and tourism are starting to be recognised.

“We now plan to support students who wish to present their work at next year’s international conference.”

The College’s Computing Department this year saw its first candidate accepted to present, with Robert Simms’ work on “teaching conditional statements through an interactive application within a flipped classroom” well received at the event.

Christopher Willitts, senior tutor in HE Computing at B&FC, added: “We were really pleased to be presenting for the first time at BCUR and will be redoubling our efforts to take part in future events as they are a great opportunity for our students’ excellent work to be shown to a national audience.”

B&FC’s Project Management Centre of Excellence this year saw six students invited to present their work to peers, with fourth year students attending from its Portsmouth site – the first time learners from the College’s remote locations have been involved.

Andy Smith, Programme Leader from the Project Management Centre of Excellence at B&FC, added: “We got such strong positive feedback that we are now in the process of assisting two students to turn their dissertations into academic papers to submit for possible publication within the International Journal of Project Management.”

The conference, which was established in 2011, welcomes student presentations from all academic disciplines.

B&FC offers more than 60 degrees accredited by long-standing partner Lancaster University, ranked in the top 10 of universities in the UK.