Academic Sessions for Schools and Colleges

Marketing Sessions

Social Media and Your Brain: How they Keep You Hooked

This talk explores the hidden psychology behind popular social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. It explores how these platforms are designed to exploit cognitive biases and keep users engaged for extended periods. Key topics include the attention economy, persuasive technology, and the impact of constant notifications on focus and mental well-being. Using relatable examples, the talk unpacks how algorithms prioritise content, why certain posts go viral, and what happens in our brains during endless scrolling. The session encourages critical thinking about online habits and strategies for managing screen time/attention are also discussed.

 

AI and You: The Future of Technology in Everyday Life

This talk introduces artificial intelligence (AI) in a way that connects directly to everyday experiences, such as how YouTube recommends videos or TikTok curates "For You" pages. It explains the basics of AI, including the difference between rule-based systems and machine learning, and explores the more recent generative AI technologies like ChatGPT and image creation tools. The talk highlights the opportunities AI brings to entertainment, education, and work, while also addressing challenges like algorithmic bias and the spread of misinformation. By linking these ideas to familiar examples, it offers a clear understanding of AI's role in shaping the digital world.

 

To book in a session, please contact Dr Kim Hardcastle: kimberley.hardcastle@northumbria.ac.uk

Music / History / Wellbeing Workshops for Years 7-13

Workshops inspired by Tudor rounds and catches, tailored for different year groups, abilities, and aims:

• Singing in Harmony
• Singing History: Renaissance / Tudors / Reformation
• Singing for Wellbeing / Belonging
• Singing and Creating (new words for old tunes)
• Composing Rounds and Canons (some musical literacy required)

For more information please contact Katherine Butler: katherine.butler@northumbria.ac.uk and to see more please click here.

 

Date and time

NUSTEM Week takes place from 24th-28th February 2025.

Description

Every February half term, the NUSTEM team coordinates an “Experience Week” for a limited number of Year 12 students from local schools. We deliberately run this week in February as our own University students are on campus and our participants can have a better experience of what life at university is really like. Attending this week-long event is a unique experience which is a stand-out on UCAS applications when applying for STEM subjects.

• During a typical Experience Week, participants will:
• Attend a first year university lecture of undergraduate programmes
• Interview an Academic researcher or postgraduate student
• Create and showcase a research poster
• Visit laboratories, specialist facilities and get a guided tour of our campus
• Experience student life at university 

Description

Our NUSTEM team delivered six engaging lectures aimed at Y11 to Y13 students and their teachers. Each lecture wa focused on a different topic, and aimed to show how Physical Sciences and Mathematics matter and where they can lead. The lectures were mainly presented by staff at Northumbria University with some external guest speakers from industry.

To re-watch these lectures please click here for the recorded videos.

For any questions, please contact Antonio Portas via email:antonio.portas@northumbria.ac.uk 

Description

Around 100 students visited the University and had the opportunity to experience an advocacy session and taster lecture during the day, as well as a campus tour and look round the facilities. This was a popular event which has received great feedback.

Description

We hosted our 3rd Psychology Taster Day within the last year due to the popularity of this event. Over 70 students took part in lectures which were based around real-life research, led by our expert Academics about psychology in arson and anxiety. Students were also introduced to a new Real-Research session and took part in actual research student carry-out at Northumbria.

Description

Students visited Northumbria to experience Applied Sciences courses including Chemistry, and Food Science and Nutrition. They wore white lab coats and took part in a real life experiment to understand what it would be like to study these courses at university.

Description

Two Business Taster Days were hosted where 100 students visited Northumbria and chose a range of different Business courses to experience. This included Marketing, Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Business Analytics and many more. This is an annual event and received great feedback once again.

Description

Our Annual Health Alive event returned for its sixth year due to popular demand. Students were able to understand a range of Health courses including Adult and Child Nursing, Midwifery, Operating Department Practice and more. This hands-on Taster Day was a fantastic opportunity to experience our industry-standard facilities which equips students to working in the Healthcare industry.

Description

The Geography Taster Day allowed students to experience Human, Physical or an Environmental Science Taster Session here at Northumbria. Students received a practical session and activity in their chosen subject within their introduction to Geography at university, and took part in engaging experiments that they'd encounter during their studies.

During the 2023/24 academic year, we held over a dozen taster events. These events allowed the students to gain an insight into what it would be like to be a Northumbria student, as well as the opportunity to experience our world-class facilities.

2023/24 Taster Days

Maths

Business x2

Midwifery, Nursing & Health courses

Humanities x2

Psychology x2

Maths, Physics & Chemistry Week (NU STEM week)

School specific Taster Days x3

Date and time

The lecture takes place from 18:30-19:30 on 3rd October.

Description

Babel Lecture 2024: 'Original Pronunciation - The sound of Shakespeare' 

What did Shakespeare's accent - and that of his actors and audience - sound like? What can we learn from hearing and speaking his works in that accent? And with no recordings or transcriptions available to us, how do we know?