Published: 24.07.08

Over 5,000 students will be receiving their awards this year from the university - graduating in a range of subjects as diverse as: automotive engine design, law with accountancy, midwifery, three-dimensional design, architecture and pharmacy.

Eight ceremonies will take place over four days from 29 July to 1 August at the Dome in Brighton. Students will receive awards which range from degrees to diplomas, from the university's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Julian Crampton and Chairman of the Board of Governors, Lord Mogg.

"Graduation is a time of great celebration for the university and its students," said Professor Crampton. "It provides an opportunity for us to congratulate our students on their academic endeavours and to wish them well as they make the transition from student to graduate.

"We hope however, that is not the last we see of them. On graduation they will join tens of thousands of Brighton graduates who make up the university's alumni society and we look forward to hearing about their future successes."

Joining the celebration at the Dome for the first time this year will be the first cohort of students from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). Among those graduating is Joanna Smith, 38, who has been awarded the Alasdair Smith prize for overall performance in the BSMS programme.

Although Joanna (pictured right) is now well on the way to becoming a full member of the medical profession after five years of training, a career in medicine was not always her plan. After taking a degree in mathematics at Cambridge University, Joanna worked as a management consultant in London, a professional yachtswoman on superyachts and did a year’s training as a psychoanalyst – all before being given an unconditional offer to study at BSMS.

"I really have enjoyed the majority of the work. It was no tougher than I expected but the sheer volume of information that you need to digest is hard to prepare yourself for beforehand. The attitude of support, encouragement and positivity at BSMS has been fantastic. I've been taught by excellent teachers and clinicians, and have found that medicine really is the right career for me."

With her clinical placements undertaken in Sussex, Joanna is now preparing for her foundation training: "I am interested in anaesthetics and cardiology, and am looking forward to a year at the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital – hopefully with no exams!"

Against the odds

It's with determination and strength that 30-year-old Richard Gregory (pictured below) graduates with a degree in environmental sciences. Just under two years ago Richard suffered a near fatal accident which left him in a coma for ten days and suffering brain injuries.

A second year undergraduate at the time, Richard’s studying came to a halt as he embarked on a long road to recuperation with medication, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists and brain injury support groups.

But against all the odds and with the support of family, friends and university staff, just four months after the accident, Richard returned to university to complete his final year: "Early on I was severely fatigued, needing to take two or three naps in between any tasks. This was until a metal plate was fitted to my skull to relieve the pressure on my brain caused from having a hole in my skull. I had to live with this for nine months whilst the plate was made."

"My dissertation advisor, Professor Marie Harder, was great, finding me a quiet little room for study because I have severe concentration problems. It took an additional six months to complete my dissertation but when I handed it in the feeling was fantastic!"

The disability and dyslexia team made a huge impact on Richard's learning experience, providing Richard with his learning support tutor. "My tutor, Jenny Teare, has been incredible, becoming more of a personal assistant than a support tutor because of my organisational problems. I would not have finished without her support."

Such was the tutor's support that Richard has invited Jenny to his graduation to share in his success. Jenny says: "It's been very rewarding to be Richard's learning support tutor - he is very receptive to learning and a highly committed student. He deserves full credit for his determination to achieve a degree in environmental science and to seek employment that helps to save the planet."

Now working for the sustainability team at Brighton & Hove City Council, Richard continues to attend brain injury support groups during his period of recuperation. "As a generic rule people with a brain injury are as recovered as they will ever be after five years."

"Physically, the left side of my body has been affected which impacts hearing in that ear and the feeling and movement in that hand. My general cognitive function has also been reduced and I process all information slower and so depend on routine and things to be well planned."

"My emotions are erratic and more intense making me sensitive to every emotion that comes over me. Apparently the most common effect of a brain injury is depression, which I experienced for the first time in my life."

The eureka moment

Why do some people become addicted to nicotine whilst others don't? It's a question which has puzzled scientists for decades. But one pharmacy student, 39-year-old Danny Brooks, may have had the 'eureka moment' which could help us to understand why.

Danny (pictured right) has been exploring the factors that may protect individuals against smoking dependency and make others addicted. He explains: "My research involved looking at differences in impulsive behaviour in regular smokers compared to people who only smoke 'now and again' and are not dependent on nicotine, otherwise known as chippers."

And it's these chippers which have proved vital during research as they highlight the fact that addiction does not depend solely upon drug exposure says Danny. "Since chippers regularly consume nicotine without developing dependence, meaning they don't have to smoke every day, they provide an important resource in examining factors that may protect individuals against smoking dependency. It may also be of use in understanding nicotine withdrawal and relapse."

Such is the success of the research findings that along with achieving a first-class honours, Danny presented his results at a national conference, British Association for Psychopharmacology this July, and they will be published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology - an international journal that publishes original research such as Danny's.

With his masters success behind him, Brightonian Danny from Lower Bevendean, now hopes to follow up his findings during studies for a PhD and contribute to ongoing research at the university. That's providing he has the continued backing of his wife of course: "None of this would have been possible without the constant support of my beautiful wife, June. In the four years doing the course I have got married; my wife has had two children, Luke and George, and we have bought a house together in Newhaven."

A great communicator

Lucy Wheeler, 24, has fought off nationwide competition to secure a coveted job at the national educational magazine, Times Higher Educational (THE). This is the UK's most authoritative source of information about higher education and it is a great feat for the communications and media studies graduate, who has already begun work as editorial assistant at the magazine's offices in London.

"I think it's a great role to start off in as it's allowing me not only to see how a weekly magazine runs but to do a bit of writing and make some contacts. The first couple of weeks were a learning curve so steep that it was vertical, but now things have settled down I’m finding my feet and really feel settled."

With a weekly turnaround, no two days are the same for Lucy, with key responsibilities changing daily. "It's massively different from studying," says Lucy. "I am developing different skills everyday – not that this is a bad thing, because from the degree I am able to think analytically and creatively."

It wasn't always Lucy's aim to go into journalism. In fact, it was during work experience at a public relations company in her second year that Lucy really started to discover her talent for writing. "Something clicked…and I began to enjoy writing my essays and especially researching them, which galvanised my decision to at least try and get into the field."

So what's been the highlight of the studying experience for Lucy? "That's a difficult question to answer because my highlights, and there have been lots, are of course very personal to me, and probably quite bizarre to everybody else! One of the major highlights actually came out of the manic brain grinding of third year. The last couple of days of writing up my dissertation were lacking in sleep to say the least, but they were also the time when I began to allow myself to think that I could get a really good mark, which was exciting. My dissertation supervisor had really pushed me to do well, so the last couple of days of really focused writing I loved."

Lucy's passion for studying shows. Not content with just her first-class honours degree alone, Lucy will soon begin juggling nine-to-five work with studying for a masters in creative media at the University of Brighton. She hopes that with her studies and work combined in the future she will be published in an academic journal.

Like father, like son

Chris Lumb, 64, graduates with a first-class honours in sports journalism - exactly 10 years after his son graduated from the same university.

A return to education was a novelty for Chris (pictured right), who left school at the age of 18. "Far fewer people went to university in the 60s compared with now. Following retirement, I decided to fill that hole and make up for lost time. I looked at the course as an educational opportunity – one that gave me the chance to study things that I knew very little about."

Prior to retirement Chris had spent 32 years in the RAF, commanding the last Vulcan squadron and later the RAF Brize Norton Station. "It was here that we hosted Margaret Thatcher and half the cabinet for talks with Mikhail Gorbachev at the height of Perestroika," Chris remembers. "Later, Margaret Thatcher, who flew everywhere in No 10 Squadron's VC10s, returned to present the squadron with a new standard."

Chris retired from the RAF in 1995 and worked as the bursar at St Bede's prep school in Eastbourne, where he also taught English and English as a Foreign Language to overseas children.

So with a distinguished career in the RAF and later in education, how did Chris's interest in sports journalism come about? "I have always followed sport with a close interest, having been Surrey Boys and Sussex Youths cross country champion," explains Chris. "I later got into marathon running as a hobby and managed a sub three-hour marathon at the age of 42. I also ran for the RAF and played cricket as an opening batsman for RAF Waddington."

"I enjoy writing and with a recent background of teaching English, the sport journalism course was of particular interest, especially as the university's Chelsea School is close to my home."

For now Chris has not decided what the future holds though it's unlikely to be a return to the workplace: "Having spent three weeks on a placement on the sports desk of The Independent in London, I know that at my time in life, I do not want the pressures that this type of work generates."

"In due course I will find something that interests me. Whether that will involve further study, I do not yet know. I think I am more likely to embark on a piece of investigative journalism into something that I feel passionately about. I have the time to do this when the pressures on journalists to produce instant, breaking news at a time of budgetary pressures leaves an important niche in the market."

Chris's son, Nick graduated from Chelsea School exactly 10 years ago with a degree in Leisure Policy and Administration. Now 34, he works as a qualified mountaineer running his own outdoor pursuits business in the Lake District.