Departmental news

WMG at the University of Warwick welcomes the recent Edge Foundation report on Degree Apprenticeships in England.

As a major provider of degree apprenticeships in engineering and digital technologies in the West Midlands, WMG recognises the transformative impact that they have on employers and learners who gain real industrial experience alongside a degree qualification.

The report explores the experiences of apprentices, employers, and education and training providers (ETPs), and makes a number of key recommendations for Government and Skills England to explore, which WMG strongly supports.

Professor Rob Thornton, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at WMG, said: "Degree Apprenticeships provide fantastic opportunities for young people to learn and gain work experience, at the same time delivering value for and meeting the ongoing skills needs for businesses.

“While awareness of these programmes and their popularity is growing, ETPs may struggle to meet this demand due to administrative complexity and the fragmentation of apprenticeship standards. It's vitally important that employers take the lead in defining apprenticeship standards, but these also need to be flexible to allow ETPs to tailor their programmes to better meet employer and regional needs, and incorporate the world-leading research and development being carried out in our universities."

Find out more about WMG Degree Apprenticeship programmes here: Degree Apprenticeships

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP has delivered a major policy speech outlining a number of changes to UK planning law, including a pledge to "introduce a new approach to planning decisions on land around stations, changing the default answer to yes.”

Dr Amrita KulkaLink opens in a new window, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, comments:-

“Among a number of policy headlines in her speech today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced ‘a new approach to planning around stations’ in order to make more land available for housing.

"Policies to increase access to housing in general, and access to affordable housing in particular, in and near cities can improve economic growth and individual prosperity, while preventing households from being forced to re-locate to regions with worse opportunities.

“In 2021, the US state of Massachusetts introduced reforms (Chapter 40A) that required municipalities to permit apartment buildings and higher density development within an 0.5-mile radius of commuter rail and subway stations.

“With colleagues, I simulated the results of the Chapter 40A reforms in Greater Boston. We found that while the effects of this policy vary from place to place, it has the potential to increase housing supply and reduce house prices and monthly rents, especially in strictly regulated suburban municipalities near Boston, in the long run.

“Although the US and UK planning systems are very different, we may well see similar effects here in the UK as a result of this policy change."

• Read the US research: Kulka, Amrita and Sood, Aradhya and Chiumenti, Nicholas, Under the (Neighbor)Hood: Understanding Interactions Among Zoning Regulations (December 24, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4082457 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4082457

Congratulations to Professor Roberta Bivins and Professor Mathew Thomson who have had their article about NHS anniversaries published in Modern British History.

This was drawn from reflections from The Cultural History of the NHS research project.

Read the full article here.

Abstract

Delivered a day after Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) reached its 75th year since its opening on the Appointed Day of 5 July 1948, the Pimlott Lecture for 2023 explored the culture of NHS anniversary-making. What can the marking of these anniversaries tell us about changing attitudes towards the service, and indeed, the British state? Here, examining evidence from the media, government archives, and Mass Observation, we argue that NHS anniversaries have long functioned as points of reflection but that their role as moments of national celebration and even communion has come to the fore only recently and culminated in the apparent ‘anniversary fever’ of 2018. We will explore the reasons behind the growing public fervour, what it can tell us, and the lessons offered by our work on this (still) best-loved of British institutions for historians working on highly politicized objects in ‘fevered’ times.

We would like to invite you all to attend, and take part in, The Abstract! The Abstract is an opportunity for SCAPVC and Faculty of Arts postgraduate students to share and discuss their research, writing, and output (all formats welcome!). It allows postgraduate research and taught students to present their work to an audience of other postgraduate students and friends. Each session, 2-3 researchers will present their work (which can be a finished product or the first rough draft of a new idea), followed by a lively discussion. The Abstract aims to generate interdisciplinary connections between students and their work and invites contributions from a range of different fields, incorporating diverse methodologies and theoretical contexts.

Our first session of The Abstract will be Wednesday 5th February 2025 at 6pm, FAB 0.20 (refreshments provided)!

Following session dates (6pm, FAB 0.20):

Week 5, Term 2 - 5th February

Week 9, Term 2 - 5th March

Week 2, Term 3 - 30th April

Week 7, Term 3 - 4th June

We are therefore looking for people to share their work! This academic year The Abstract is inviting presentations on the theme of: Fragments/Remains/Glimpses

Areas of focus might include (but are not limited to):

• Fragmentation as a theme, form, or physical process
• Material preservation and destruction
• Conservation and waste
• Ways of looking at and seeing texts and artworks
• Archives, collections, archaeology
• Obfuscation, difficulty, confusion
• Perspective, perception and vanishing points
• Incomplete literary texts and art objects
• Organs, remaindered lives, body parts

If you would like to present your work at a session of The Abstract please email theabstractwarwick@gmail.com with the following information by Monday 3rd February:

• Your name, department, and year of study
• A title and short abstract which should include the form and focus of the work you would like to present and how it connects to the theme
• All dates where you are available to present

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us for more info!

Email: theabstractwarwick@gmail.com or Emily.Nicholson@warwick.ac.uk

Instagram: @the.abstract.warwick

Congratulations to the WMG graduates who celebrated their achievements at the University of Warwick's Winter Ceremonies.

A total of 1307 Master’s, Postgraduate Research and Undergraduate students graduated from across WMG Including:

• 1,212 Master’s students; with 1,123 of those full-time, 38 part-time, and 51 studying overseas.

• 11 PhD students and one EngD student

• 83 Undergraduate students from Applied Engineering; Digital and Technology Solutions; Cyber Security; and Digital Healthcare Science

At the event, keynote speeches were delivered by members of the WMG alumni community - Dr Andy Palmer CMG, MSc Manufacturing Systems Engineering, (1990), former COO at Nissan and President & Group CEO of Aston Martin; Paul Faithfull MSc/EngD Engineering (UK), (1997), Chairman, Watt Electric Vehicles and Jim Shaw, MSc Engineering Business Management, (1996), Chief Experience Officer, bloom³.

The Warwick Economics Summit (WES) is one of the largest student-led conferences in Europe. WES 2025 will host speakers from Nobel Peace Laureates to former World leaders and showcase keynote speeches on chemical disarmament to panel debates on the future of AI.

The summit is hosted yearly at the University of Warwick, with its 24th edition, WES2025, set to take place from 24-26 January 2025. Among our past speakers, we have hosted 19 Nobel prize recipients and numerous heads of state. Some of the summit's attractions include keynote speeches, specialist discussion panels, and workshops targeted at delegates.

Daniel Rego, co-President of WES 2025 said

“It has been a great experience working with such a talented group of students to bring the 24th edition of WES to life. This year, we have increased the number of discussion panels in the conference as well as broadened our scope to include more conversations between economists and experts in science and technology. I am personally looking forward to our panel on digital currencies and the challenges and opportunities resulting from their widespread adoption”.

Keynotes

• Kate Raworth – Author of Doughnut Economics (In-Person)
• Tawakkol Karman – 2011 Nobel Peace laureate, journalist, and human rights activist (In-Person)
• Paul Donovan – Chief Economist of UBS (In-Person)
• Ugochi Daniels – Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (In-Person)
• Ahmet Üzümcü – Former Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (In-Person)
• Paolo Gentiloni – European Commissioner for Economy, former Prime Minister of Italy (In-Person)
• Simonetta Sommaruga – Former President of the Swiss Confederation, Former Member of the Swiss Federal Council (In-Person)
• Max Klymenko – Consultant, Forbes 30 under 30, and TikTok creator on business (In-Person)
• Michael Spence – Nobel Economics Winner (Virtual)
• Kevin Chika Urama – Chief Economist at African Development Bank (Virtual)

The Future of Global Development: Envisioning a Path for Economic Convergence

• James John – Director of IMF Europe Offices
• Chinwe Egwim – Chief Economist and Head of Economic Research at Coronation Merchant Bank
• Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin – Former Investment Minister of Egypt, Executive Director at IMF, and World Bank Managing Director
• Arianna Legovini – Director of the Development Impact (DIME) department at the World Bank
• Chelsey Dulaney – EM Reporter at Wall Street Journal

Healthcare In Crisis: The Role Of Nationalisation And Government In Pandemic Response

• Nora Colton – Director of the UCL Global Business School of Health
• Katharina Hauck – Professor of Health Economics and Deputy Director at Imperial College London
• Rocco Friebel – Associate Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Global Surgery Policy Unit at LSE
• David Rowland – Director of the Centre for Health and Public Interest
• Sarah Neville – Global Health Editor at Financial Times

The AI Economy: The Role of AI in Transforming Industries

• Professor Thorsten Beck – Director of the Florence School of Banking and Finance
• Dr. Anjali Mazumder – AI and Justice and Human Rights Theme Lead at Alan Turing Institute
• Michael Peel – Journalist at Financial Times

Beyond Banknotes: Navigating the Future of a Cashless Society

• Nick McLaren – Head of Future of Money at Bank of England
• Paul Buitink – Managing Director of Holland Gold
• John Howells – CEO of LINK

The World Ahead: Navigating The Next Economic Era

• Richard Portes – Professor at LBS, Founder and Honorary President of CEPR
• Felipe Camargo – Lead Global Economist at Oxford Economics
• Bhanu Baweja – Chief Strategist at UBS
• David Omojomolo – Economist at Capital Economics

Among the invited guests, Warwick Economics alumnus Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin will be delivering a keynote talk. Dr Mohieldin, who was awarded an Honorary Degree at the Department of Economics degree ceremony on 23 July last year, is a former Investment Minister of Egypt, Executive Director at IMF, and World Bank Managing Director.

WBS alumnus, Max Klymenko (MSc International Business, 2017), is also a keynote speaker at the conference. Max was listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 and is known as a TikTok creator on business.

For details of the event please visit Warwick Economics Summit: https://www.warwickeconomicssummit.com/

Hatton and Sosso groups report a zinc-based transparent electrode for organic solar cells in Advanced Energy Materials. Read more at bit.ly/40LTnXKLink opens in a new window