A Birmingham artist and academic who was enlisted in the Iranian military at 14 and later fled to the West Midlands to escape conflict has been named as the winner of a Coventry gallery’s public art competition. 

Dr Mohsen Keiany, a Visiting Lecturer at Birmingham School of Art and Birmingham City University architecture alumnus, whose work responds to ongoing violence in Iran and his own experiences as a soldier, made first place at the 2023 Coventry Open at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum for his painting ‘The Motherland’. 

A University of Wolverhampton graduate has won more recognition for her sustainable business which produces bio-based, bio-degradable 3D printed products and filaments for the consumables market, mainly focusing on the medical sector. 

Olivia Simpson, 21 from Bridgnorth, graduated in 2022 with a degree in Medical Science and Clinical Practice at the University of Wolverhampton and recently won the Verizon Business & Unloc Young Entrepreneurs Competition which received applications from across Europe – gaining a £10,000 boost for the business. 

Commenting on the announcement by the Department of Education of investment in school buildings in England, Alex Green, Project Lead for the Let’s Go Zero campaign, said: “We welcome any new funding that supports desperately-needed improvements across the school estate but we can’t just be replacing like for like. We need to see robust plans from DfE in regard to future proofing schools and action that will lead all schools to be zero carbon.”

Birmingham City University has got Warwickshire’s back! The Club’s Official University Partner has agreed a new deal that will see them be the back-of-shirt sponsor for this year’s LV= Insurance County Championship. BCU’s relationship with Warwickshire stretches back to 2014.

Students have benefitted from work experience at Edgbaston Stadium – including Sports Journalism undergraduates getting a taste of life as a reporter – and also played a lead role in ground-breaking research projects.

Almost 1.8 million children missed at least 10% of school in the autumn term in England, according to new estimates. The number of children missing at least half of school is also greater than previously thought, at 122,000.

The figures are based on information gathered from 145 councils for the Children's Commissioner. Dame Rachel de Souza said urgent action was needed to identify the children most at risk, and the reasons why they miss school.

From an idea conceived in wartime, the UK’s largest environmental education charity is continuing to equip the eco-guardians of the future to fight for nature. 

The Field Studies Council, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, welcomed nearly 120,000 learners to its residential and day learning spaces in 2022, with hundreds of thousands more making use of online learning, digital resources and its own wildlife identification charts. The council was created in 1943 with a vision to connect people with the great outdoors.