Tag Archives: University of Sheffield

Sheffield students celebrate World Week

Sheffield students are celebrating cultural diversity and the city’s international connections in a week long series of events commencing with a parade to Barker’s Pool. World Week 2014 is organised by the University of Sheffield International Students’ Committee, One World and Global Campus.

Interview with alien life Professor, Milton Wainwright

Professor Milton Wainwright works at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Last week he attracted national and international media attention after writing in the Journal of Cosmology that he has recovered biological entities from between 22 and 27 kilometres above the earth that – he concludes – may originate from space.

And this week Professor Wainwright spoke with Sheffield Live’s Andy Cooper about his conclusions.

You can listen to Andy’s 49 minute interview with Professor Wainwright here:

Or you can listen to an abridged 11 minute version of the interview within the Communities Live programme from 26/09/2013, here.

Wainwright claims that it would be impossible for particles of the size he has recovered to ascend from Earth to this distance above the earth without an event such as a violent volcanic eruption, and that nothing like this occurred within three years of the sampling (done via a special balloon). He’s also emphatic that no cross-contamination occurred.

“Potentially a history making story,” says Andy. Listen to the complete interview, above.

Workstation celebrates 20 years of creativity

Image: Workstation portrait by ‘We Live Here’ artist Jonathan Wilkinson

Image: Workstation portrait by ‘We Live Here’ artist Jonathan Wilkinson

Sheffield’s Workstation Creative Business Centre – home to Sheffield Live’s studio – is celebrating its 20 year anniversary.

Built as a stylish art deco car showroom in the 1930s, the Workstation opened in 1993 as Sheffield’s first managed workspace and centre for creative industries.

It now houses more than 60 enterprising creative companies with a vibrant community of over 400 designers, film makers, new media developers, architects, festival makers, marketers, publishers and social enterprise champions.

Over the years, many of the greats in Sheffield’s creative community have been associated with the Workstation, from Designers Republic to Warp Films to Sheffield Doc/Fest to Last Laugh Comedy Club.

And the Workstation has been the backdrop for some legendary local moments – Warp Films used the roof of the building to film scenes in Four Lions, The Human League used to rehearse in the basement, the Arctic Monkeys made a music video here, the auditions for Prisoners’ Wives took place on the third floor and Richard Hawley’s old band The Longpigs used to call office 103 home.

Now a new generation are making their mark, like young entrepreneur Lianne Mellor whose Mellor Ware beautifully handcrafted tea sets are in hot demand, or The Nutribox, a new start-up providing healthy snacks to hungry office workers.

The Workstation is planning a series of events to mark the anniversary, beginning with the We Are 20 Exhibition, which runs throughout the summer until the end of September. It is free for anyone to pop in and take a look, open 8.45am-7.45pm Monday to Friday.

This exhibition charts the development of the former Kennings car showroom on Paternoster Row from post-industrial husk, ear-marked for demolition in favour of a car park, into the thriving cultural and creative hub it is now. The exhibition features a specially commissioned piece by ‘We Live Here’ artist Jonathan Wilkinson, alongside photography by Graham Gaunt, Mark Harvey, Shaun Bloodworth, Hugo Glendinning and Matthew Conduit.

On Thursday 12 September there will be a special ’20 by 20×20’ Pecha Kucha event dedicated to celebrating the legacy of the Workstation in which notable tenants, past and present, will give snappy insightful presentations about their work using the Pecha Kucha format of 20 slides with 20 seconds per slide. Pecha Kucha events are fun, sociable networking events with a strictly no business cards policy and this event will be a showcase for some of the city’s most successful creative and digital entrepreneurs – a must for anyone wishing to follow in their footsteps and get inspired. The lineup of speakers will be announced shortly – tickets are on sale now at: http://pknsheff14.eventbrite.com/

At the end of September, the Workstation will host a great big anniversary party – a chance to reunite and reminisce for tenants and a thank you to all the Workstation’s friends, associates and supporters.

In addition to these events, the Workstation is working in partnership with Dr. Marta Herrero of the University of Sheffield who is conducting a research project to assess the economic and cultural impact of the Workstation as a means of launching a broader discussion about the value of culture. Further events linked to the research project will be announced soon.

What next?

New term, new building, new President…


Emma Wass speaks to Joshua Forstenzer, president of the University of Sheffield Students’ Union.

Josh Fostenzer speaks to Emma Wass

As a non-British PhD student, Josh talks about how he hopes to bring something different to the role. He speaks passionately about the Students’ Union’s involvement with the local community and discusses the Gold Award, which was granted by the Student Union Evaluation Initiative to the union.

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Theatre goes bespoke

EmmaWassinterviewsStacySampson.mp3

Sheffield Live! reporter Emma Wass interviews Stacey Sampson from Dead Earnest Theatre, an applied theatre company in Sheffield who create bespoke theatre and interactive workshops to address a range of social issues. Most recently they devised a performance for the Accommodation and Campus Services Department of the University of Sheffield around the issue of staff absence and returning to work interviews.

In this interview, Stacey talks about the Creative Sparks programme, an initiative for children funded by Sheffield City Council. Over the past two weeks they have been delivering free drama and art and craft workshops in Firth Park and the city centre.

For more information about the Creative Sparks workshops, email Stacey on stacey@deadearnest.co.uk.

The report was aired on Communities Live on August 27, 2010.

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Carol Ann Duffy Speaks to Sheffield Live!

On the 1st of May 2009 Carol Ann Duffy succeeded Andrew Motion to become Britains first female and openly homosexual poet laureate. She was in Sheffield to read for the New Ground event at the University of Sheffield.

Communities Live!’s Harriet Cross and Lauren Anderson from the Sheffield University Press Office spoke to her earlier this week about her life, her work and the weather!

Carol Ann Duffy