September take five

2. Four-some Paralympic success for Nottingham alumna!

The 2024 Paralympics have recently concluded after twelve days of engrossing competition. The action from Paris has seen a number of notable moments for university alumni and former students.

Not to be satisfied with just the one medal, our own Sophie Unwin, above left, (Classical Civilisation, 2015) rode her way to an incredible four medals with her pilot Jenny Holl across the paracycling; two golds, one silver and one bronze.

Joining Sophie in Paralympic success were University of Nottingham Ningbo campus graduate Zhao Shuai, representing China in his fourth games and former University of Nottingham student and shooting para-athlete Tim Jeffery above right.

Competing in both the men’s and mixed doubles, Shuai and his partner Mao Jingdian made history as they were crowned the first-ever mixed doubles Paralympic champions after winning an all Chinese class 17 final. He also claimed a bronze medal the same day alongside partner Lian Hao in the class 18 men’s doubles, before rounding out his incredible Paris campaign by completing the achievement of standing on every step of the podium by adding silver after facing Ukrainian Viktor Didukh in the class 8 men’s singles final.

Jeffery entered the Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH2 on 4 September and shot a total of 227.8 to claim bronze - his first ever Paralympic medal at the third attempt, having competed in the Rio and Tokyo games.

4. University of Nottingham strengthens rankings in Knowledge Exchange Framework

The University of Nottingham continues to make strides in collaborative work with industry professionals and the public sector, demonstrated in this year’s Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) rankings. 

Conducted by Research England, KEF provides an overview of the knowledge exchange activities and performance of English universities, across seven broad perspectives including public engagement and local growth.

This year’s results show the University of Nottingham is outshining its Russell Group peers in four of the seven areas: ‘Local Growth and Regeneration’, ‘Public and Community Engagement’, ‘Working with Business’ and ‘Working with the public and third sector’.

Nottingham increased the levels of relative income across the board by a total of £5.7m and improved position within the Russell Group ranking in a number of areas, most notably collaborative research, regeneration revenue, regeneration capital and facilities and equipment.