The 5th Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching Conference, hosted by the University of Warwick, took place virtually on 15 April 2021 and brought together a diverse range of speakers and audiences including those involved in Liberal Arts, joint honours degrees, and single interdisciplinary modules.

Staff and students from the School for Cross-faculty Studies presented during the conference, sharing their experiences with collaboration, co-construction of knowledge, and practice underpinning interdisciplinary teaching and learning.

Congratulations to our students for securing funding for research projects over the summer!

The Undergraduate Research Support Scheme (URSS) enables undergraduate students to carry out an interdisciplinary summer research public engagement project. The scheme is open to any undergraduate student at Warwick and research can be completed in the UK or abroad.

This year, seven GSD students have successfully secured a bursary: Sara Azeem, Szebasztian Csernik-Tihn, Annabelle Early, Ari Hassan, Isaac McGirr, Virginia Thomas-Pickles and Melissa Yip. Their research projects will be presented in the form of a poster showcase at the annual URSS Celebration Research Showcase, which will take place next academic year.

Many congratulations to Ellie Hayter, final-year Economic Studies and GSD student and founder of the sustainable skincare brand ‘Gaia&Vie’, who was recently awarded a grant from the Warwick SU Environment and Sustainability Fund.

On Wednesday 9 December 2020, the School for Cross-faculty Studies hosted a 'Work Placement Talk and Live Q&A event', organised by the School's Employability and Placement Manager, Bodrun Nahar. The event aimed to give current students in the School the opportunity to hear directly from students who undertook a work placement. The speakers were encouraged to share their experiences of their work placements, including the challenges, the benefits, and their advice for any students considering doing a work placement.

Registration for the World Innovation Challenge is currently open until Monday 5 October 2020.

This is a great opportunity for Warwick students to work in international teams with Monash University students. The aim is to create a business idea that tackles a key sustainability challenge. The Challenge starts on Friday 9 October 2020 at 9:30 am (BST). Participants will work online for 48 hours (including sleep/resting and other work) to make a business plan.

The International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) is an annual academic conference, led and sponsored by the University of Warwick and Monash University, connecting student researchers globally using video conferencing technology.

This year, the forum will take place on the 29-30 September and will be modified to accommodate current pandemic restrictions. Both audience and presenters will join the conference virtually through the new ICUR App. A number of students from the School for Cross-faculty Studies will be presenting their research at ICUR next week.

The Graduate Outcomes survey opened on Tuesday 1 September 2020 for summer 2019 graduates. The survey will be open until Monday 30 November 2020. Graduates will be contacted on behalf of the University by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited (HESA)/IFF research by email, text, and telephone.

What is the Graduate Outcomes survey?

About 15 months after finishing their course, graduates are invited to respond to the Graduate Outcomes survey. This national survey collects information on the activities and perspectives of graduates. The survey aims to help current and future students gain insight into career destinations and development.

Have your say

If you graduated in the summer of 2019 we'd really appreciate it if you're able to fill out the survey. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. Your responses will be invaluable in helping current and future GSD students. They'll also help us promote our courses and inform our work with local and national employers. On a wider level, the survey is also of national significance as it provides a deeper understanding of the higher education sector and the state of the graduate labour market. Thank you in advance for your time and responses.

Throughout Term 3, Warwick Enterprise hosted a Summer Programme designed to inspire students, encourage them to think about something new, and to connect the community.

Staff and students from the GSD Department were involved in the programme, sharing their expertise, and engaging in conversations around the different topics.

Our GSD finalists were awarded their degrees on Wednesday 22 July 2020. We are incredibly proud of our Class of 2020 for all of their successes and for overcoming challenges throughout their time at Warwick.

This has been a year like no other and unfortunately, we have not been able to celebrate our students' successes on campus in the usual way. We hope to be able to congratulate our graduates on campus when it is safe to do so and give them the graduation ceremony that they very much deserve.

"I would like to congratulate you all and wish you an excellent summer. It will most probably not be the summer you had expected, but I hope you can relax, disconnect a little, and enjoy the break. I would also like to thank you for being such amazing students. Your support, adaptability, and resilience over the past months has been heartwarming and we're very proud of you. We wish you all the best for the future, whatever is awaiting you after the summer."

Dr Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla, Head of the School for Cross-faculty Studies

Virtual yearbook

Our staff and students have been adding messages to our GSD Virtual Yearbook 2020 which you can view here.

Staying in touch

GSD graduates, please remember to register on warwickgrad.net so that we can keep in touch with you. In addition, you can:

• Join our GSD Alumni LinkedIn Group
• Email us at globalsustainabledev@warwick.ac.uk (or one of your tutors) to let us know how you're getting on