University scoops Learning on Screen Award for the second year running

The University of Derby has been awarded a prestigious accolade at the British University Film and Video Council (BUFVC) Learning on Screen Awards.

The University scooped the award for ‘Courseware and Curriculum In-house Production’ for the second year running, on April 23, 2015 at BFI Southbank in London. The award was for their short film titled ‘Life on Earth’s Cold Shoulder’ about glacier ecosystems and climate change.

The film was a joint collaboration between the Learning Enhancement team and Dr Joseph Cook from the University’s College of Life and Natural Sciences, and challenges the common misconception that the world’s great ice sheets are barren and lifeless landscapes. Dr Cook reveals that they are actually home to abundant and active microbial life and explored the role of ice sheets as sites of great biodiversity and drivers of climate change.

The film, directed and produced by Learning Enhancement’s Hannah Davies, features unique footage shot by Dr Cook on his field trip to Greenland in 2014 and aims to bring the remote, harsh and largely inaccessible landscape into the classroom, giving students the opportunity to observe and learn about specific scientific events in context.

Hannah said: “Our team love bringing the work of our academics at the University to life, in order to enable students and wider audiences to learn through the medium of video. We really pride ourselves on the quality of our teaching material, so to be recognised among such outstanding work and win for a second year running is a great achievement for us.”

Dr Chris Bussell, Dean of the College, added: “Joseph’s work in itself is extremely important in aiding our understanding of the dynamics of the ice sheets and to have such an innovative and engaging film to widen the accessibility to such globally significant issues is excellent”.

The Learning on Screen Awards is the UK's only awards that celebrate and reward excellence in the use of moving image and related media in learning, teaching and research. Each year broadcasters, production companies and education institutions, as well as students, enter the various categories.