March is when our events really kick into gear - and this year is no exception! We hosted a Nottingham University Business School (NUBS) 25th anniversary event in the prestigious offices of PwC in London thanks to Kevin Ellis (Industrial Economics, 1984), followed closely by a similar event in Lagos.

This coincided with a number of other informal events across Africa led by James in our International Volunteering team, before he then handed over the baton to our NUBS team, who hosted several across Asia! Quite the whistle-stop tour.

Elsewhere, the university celebrated International Women's Day and Sustainability Action Week and we joined forces with the faculties to host a plethora of volunteering events on campus - thank you to those of you who took part.

And finally...for many of you, a trip to the legendary city centre music venue The Chameleon will have been a rite of passage, this month will see it host its final gig after two decades.

Trent Building and lake.

1. NUBS on tour

London you rocked. Nearly 100 of you joined us for our first UK-based NUBS 25th anniversary event at the PwC offices at Embankment in London. Our panel of experts discussed what the next 25 years of business might look like, before some top quality networking broke out in our salubrious surroundings.

We'll be right here on campus for a very special Nottingham event in May - want to join us? Sign up for our Connect Business updates to be the first to know about registration.

2. Another legendary Nottingham venue plays its last tune

The likes of Sleaford Mods, Royal Blood and many other well-known acts have played to music lovers at The Chameleon, one of the city centre's most beloved of venues, which is now set to close after two decades of service.

Tucked away down Newcastle Chambers just off Old Market Square, the bar, which has capacity for just 70, has become a legendary city centre spot for many. But after 20 years the owners are closing for good by the end of the month after their landlord sold the building within which it sits.

3. Africa networking events

As well as our next NUBS anniversary event in Lagos, we also managed to squeeze in another three casual networking events in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nairobi during March, with our International Volunteering Manager James Stephenson heading out to host.

A special mention to our alumni who helped James across the events; Dr Eric Masika (Chemistry PhD, 2012), Mecia Peterson (MBA, 2019) and Governor Manganye (Economics of Monetary and Financial Policy, 2020).

It was great to be able to catch up with so many of you across the continent and we'll be heading out to the USA in the summer for even more networking events - keep an eye out on our events page for the latest news.

Nairobi 2024

4. Volunteering in volume!

Our Alumni Volunteering managers have been keeping you occupied over the last couple of months, with the events coming thick and fast during February and March.

By our rough estimates we have supported our faculty staff in hosting no less than 50 events, fielding over 150 alumni to talk to over 2,000 students! A couple of highlights include:

  • Inspiring Women in Engineering - groups of female undergraduate engineering students were mentored by female alumni to create an outreach activity around the theme of carbon neutrality to deliver to secondary school students. Around 75 students from four schools visited campus to take part and get a tour of some of the amazing engineering facilities at the Advanced Manufacturing Building.
  • In partnership with Nottingham Trent University's Black Leadership Programme, students taking part in BICEP were invited to an evening of talks and networking focusing on student mental health at the institute of mental health.

All of our volunteers help to inspire current students to consider their future career options by sharing their own experiences and insights - we know how well regarded all of our alumni speakers are by the students who attend, and how grateful our faculty teams are too, so a big thank you as always to those of you who take part.

Inspired? Register your interest in our volunteering programme.

Our five alumni volunteers at our recent Law 'Where are they now?' event

5. BUCS Big Wednesday success for our sports teams

The annual culmination of the inter-university pinnacle of sporting competition that is BUCS took place at Loughborough University on Wednesday 20 March.

The Green and Gold acquitted themselves superbly, with no less than six national champions being crowned in tennis, table tennis, fencing, hockey and water polo.

You can watch highlights of many of the finals on the BUCS YouTube, including the Women's Tennis 1's, right.

See the full results listing >