Research Festival
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BSU hosts annual Research Festival
Tuesday, 15 July, 2025Last Thursday, Bath Spa University hosted its highly anticipated annual Research Festival. The event, a celebration of cutting-edge research and intellectual curiosity, kicked off with powerful speeches from Vice-Chancellor Professor, Georgina Andrews and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise Professor, John Strachan, setting the stage for an exciting day.
The highlight of the morning came when Councillor Professor Bharat Pankhania, the Right Worshipful Mayor of Bath, made a special appearance. In his opening speech, the Mayor addressed the importance of expanding access to higher education, with a focus on inclusion and widening participation.
The buzz continued as the Three Minute Thesis competition took centre stage. PhD students were challenged to present their research in under three minutes. From sustainable video game development to the representation of Black mixed-race identity in children's literature, participants presented a range of topics.
Congratulations to Peter Underwood, who claimed the People’s Choice Award for his thesis on the intersection of power structures and performance practices in the Military Wives Choirs. Meanwhile, Emma Davies won the coveted Vice-Chancellor’s Choice Award for her captivating presentation, ‘Haunted Ground: Soil, Horror, and Ecological Crisis.’
The Mayor’s Choice proved to be a particularly unique moment and, after much deliberation and multiple re-markings, the Mayor declared a tie between all five finalists, admitting:
“I marked them, unmarked them, changed my mind. The quality was so high, and I couldn’t make a decision, and so I would like to extend an invitation to all five participants to join me in the Mayor’s Parlour for tea and cakes.”
Discussing the research competition, Professor Georgina Andrews said:
“Every year we find it difficult to make a decision and this year was particularly difficult. It’s such a useful skill to be able to capture such complex topics and encapsulate them in three minutes. We’re really excited to hear about how all the participants work develops in the future.”
Researchers from all corners of BSU also presented their findings in a series of enlightening talks, discussions, and poster presentations from BSU’s Schools.
In addition to the PhD students' impressive research, the Heads of Research from each School shared exciting updates and future goals, giving attendees an inside look at where BSU’s research is headed next.