News

Five Durham students win prestigious academic awards

(1 October 2012)

The Calman Learning Centre

Five Durham University students have won international academic awards through a programme that identifies top students across the globe through their innovative undergraduate research.

A further two Durham students were highly commended in the 2012 Undergraduate Awards.

Henrietta Bailey-King was awarded in the English Literature category for her essay entitled “Unspeakable Things: Representing Atrocities In The Works Of Jonathan Safran Foer“. 

Alexandra Mansell was awarded for her essay “To what extent does libertinage allow for diverse sexual identities?” in the Language & Linguistics category and Louise Sayers bagged an award in the Law category for her paper “The Failure of the Coroner’s and Justice Act 2009 to Recognise the Relevance of a Defendant’s Cultural Background to Successfully Raising the Partial Defence of ‘Loss of Control’”.

Further representing Durham University were Andrew Barratt who won in the Social Studies category for his essay entitled “A study into the homosexual community and ‘queer quarter’ of Liverpool: For whom and (why) is it there?” and Jonathan Penny who has been awarded in the Modern Cultural Studies category for his essay “The Brain of Britten: Notational aspects of the 'Serenade'”.

Panels of international academics assessed the 2,890 coursework entries that were received from students attending institutions across Ireland, the USA, UK and Canada, and selected two winners per academic category.

The five winning Durham students, along with the 34 other UA winners, will be brought to Dublin for the UA Summit, “a Davos for students”, from November 7to 10. “This conference will serve as a three-day pop-up incubation centre for some of the world’s most exceptional young minds” said Louise Hodgson, UA Programme Director. “From hands-on workshops and talks with inspiring young achievers, entrepreneurs and academics to networking events with top graduate recruiters, the UA Summit is going to be one of the most exciting student-focused events in Europe”.

As part of the UA Summit, President Michael D. Higgins, patron of the Undergraduate Awards, will award the 39 winners at the Undergraduate Awards Ceremony at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, on November 9, for excellence and innovation within coursework at undergraduate level.

The UA Summit will also include the Forum on Higher Education that will bring together innovators and pioneers in the field of education to discuss disruptive education. Speakers include CEO of the Wolfram Group and world famous TEDster, Conrad Wolfram.  For further information on the UA Summit and the results of the 2012 Undergraduate Awards, please see www.undergraduateawards.com.