BU & Beyond 2012 - Bournemouth University

20 years of graduates
This November sees the 20-year anniversary of BU gaining university
status. What better way to mark the occasion than through a look at
some of our graduates from the past two decades?
Lydia Ward
BA (Hons) Events
Management
2010
Originally from south Devon, I moved to
Bournemouth in 2006 to study for a four
year Event Management degree. During
these years I met and worked with some
fantastic people and was lucky enough
to make many great life-long friends. In
2008 I moved to London for a placement
year at The Royal Society of Medicine’s
event venue, One Wimpole Street. In
2010, having completed my demanding
final year at Bournemouth University,
I relocated back to London to work for
Banks Sadler, a market leader in the
Darren Jones
BSc (Hons) Computer
Aided Product Design
2009
After graduating, I returned to my
placement year company, Fireco in
Brighton. I was tasked with designing
a new fire safety product, Freedor, that
was launched in early 2011. Since its
launch, Freedor has won Best Passive
Protection Product at the Fire Excellence
Awards and Best Mechanical Award
at the British Engineering Excellence
Awards (BEEAs).
At the BEEAs, I was awarded Young
Designer Engineer of the Year 2011.
Since then, I have been improving
14 | BU & Beyond
Events Agency industry. Having lived
in London for two years, the fresh air
of Devon called me back and I moved
to Exeter to work for a large national
company. My job now incorporates event
management and business support and
has great scope for career progression.
Freedor’s design along with working on
a number of other products, including
the development of the product I
designed in my final year at BU.
Lindsey
Connett
Legal Practice Course
2007
After completing my Legal Practice
Course in 2007, I returned to work for
the Court Service before moving to
Devon in 2008 to complete my training
as a solicitor with Foot Anstey LLP.
After qualifying in September 2010,
I now practise in the area of clinical
negligence; specifically the abuse
of vulnerable adults by healthcare
trusts or private care providers. I
was part of the team responsible
for a settlement of over £7 million in
September 2011 for 165 claimants with
learning disabilities who had suffered
various forms of abuse whilst living
in the care of an NHS trust. I now
work full time, representing former
residents, on claims arising from
events at Winterbourne View, which
was the private hospital featured on a
BBC Panorama programme broadcast
in May 2011 which used undercover
reporting to show evidence of physical
abuse and bullying of residents by
staff.
Outside of work, having recently
discovered the world of running, I am
training for my first 10k. Anyone who
remembers me from my BU days will
recall I am the least likely person ever
to do this sort of thing! I am still in
Bournemouth frequently due to family
still living there, and it is always great
to see the ongoing building works and
buzz that surrounds BU.