The inaugural Eutopia Summer School on the history of violence is taking place at TU Dresden from 2-8 July 2023. The school is aimed primarily at undergraduates about to enter their final year of study and will enable exploration of themes such as:

• Historiography of Violence
• Gendered Violence
• Colonial Violence
• Violence in Political Discourse
• Representing Violence
• Drink-Related Violence

Born out of the longstanding relationship between Warwick and Dresden, the summer school is run by scholars from both institutions, providing students access to world-class research and teaching. An amazing opportunity and we wish them well this week!

When you purchase an IP-based spy (hidden) camera for surveillance, are you aware that others may be spying on what you are watching? Recent research by Samuel Herodotou in the Department of Computer Science, Warwick, as part of his third-year undergraduate dissertation project under the supervision of Professor Feng Hao, has revealed a wide range of vulnerabilities of a generic camera module that has been used in many best-selling hidden cameras. Exploiting these vulnerabilities, an attacker may capture your hidden camera's video/audio streams from anywhere in the world, and furthermore, take complete control of the camera as a bot to attack other devices in your home network. To launch the attack, all the attacker needs to know is merely your hidden camera’s serial number. It is estimated that these vulnerabilities affect millions of hidden cameras, mostly sold in America, Europe and Asia. The (insecure) peer-to-peer network that is used by the affected cameras is also being used by 50 million IoT devices as a general communication platform. Hence, many millions of other IoT devices may also be affected. Researchers have responsibly disclosed findings to the manufacturers, and a CVE has already been assigned. Samuel will present this research work at the 17th International Conference on Network and System Security (Canterbury, UK, 14-16 August 2023). More details can be found in the paper.

Xaymaca Awoyungbo, a final year undergraduate student studying History at Warwick, has written an article for Lacuna magazine. Xaymaca speaks with author Sandra A Agard and explores Britain’s young Black creative networks.

You can read the full piece here.

Emma Tetsill, who studied on our Law 3 year LLB degree and graduated in 2022, has written a touching story titled 'My Grandad and Covid - with underlying health conditions in care home, his life was no less valuable'. The heartfelt piece was recently published by our Lacuna Magazine and addresses the tragic human cost of the pandemic and government neglect.

In the next feature in our series focusing on our undergraduate entrepreneurs, we meet the team behind Butterfly, a new app taking flight on campus.

Alex Reid, Zain Mobarik and Josh Okusi (pictured above, left to right) are a team with an ambitious vision – they plan to “put the social back into social media” with their app, Butterfly.

Second year Economics student Alex and his friends were workshopping ideas for a new sorting algorithm Josh had developed. They realised that they had a bigger vision than simply ranking undergraduates according to their popularity – why not make an app that would help to bring digital friendships off the screen and into the real world?

Alex explains: “We all felt that social media has lost its way – far from being social, these days it is about passive scrolling and the consumption of entertainment, often far removed from our own day to day lives.

“We decided to create a social media app that is grounded in our community, with all the content shared on the app being relevant to the real lives of its users – and which puts the focus on enabling friendships in the real world.”

Butterfly is only available to users with a Warwick student email, which keeps the content grounded in the realities of campus life. As well as creating their profile pages – the Butterfly ‘Flashcard,’ – and posting thoughts and confessions, users can chat with their course-mates or explore societies and campus events before deciding to attend, taking a bit of the anxiety out of trying something new.

Regular giveaways and prizes keep the community engaged, and there are perks for registered users such as discounts. Alex says “We now have over 60 discounts at partner stores, exclusive to Butterfly users. Our partners now include Kasbah, Tenpin, Phat Buns, Royal Pug, and Boom Battle Bar Coventry.”

“We also have a fantastic partnership with Benugo,” Alex added. “Butterfly users can get 10 per cent off anything on the menu and we ran a competition last year where the app’s most enthusiastic users won a free meal with a plus one. That really captured our ethos of supporting students to grow their real-life friendships.”

Commenting on the app, first year student Sofia said: “Butterfly has completely changed my university experience at Warwick. It has built my confidence and encouraged me to go to loads of events.”

Since its launch in September last year Butterfly has been downloaded 3,000 times. Its creators have won Warwick’s Student Enterprise Competition and been accepted onto Google’s Startups for Cloud Programme.

The app is available in the App StoreLink opens in a new window and Google PlayLink opens in a new window .

First year LLB students Siara Parveen and Charlotte Neal, successfully completed the regional semi-final of the Student Client Interviewing Competition (CIC) held in Sheffield earlier this month. “It was definitely unexpected, but we are both really proud of ourselves [...and] absolutely delighted.”

The National Student Survey (NSS) is now open!

Participation will led to funding for @warwickengsoc, @womenwarwick & EWB Warwick plus a prize draw for individuals.

Find out more and take part....

Lucy Alder, a final year History student, has written a play which is being staged at Warwick Arts Centre 22-24 February 2023. "A Noble Game" is a murder mystery that revolves around British aristocracy and their relationship with the media.

Visit A Noble Game | Warwick Arts Centre Link opens in a new windowfor full details and to purchase tickets.