Edward Crossley (BEng Mechanical Engineering, 2025)
Crossley Motorsport was founded to inspire the next generation to get involved in historic motorsport and classic cars. Our mission is to teach hands on practical skills- skills that are becoming increasingly rare-and to provide real engineering experience of the kind you simply won’t find in a lecture theatre. These are exactly the qualities employers look for, while also helping young people keep the passion for classic vehicles alive.
The team offers students and alumni the chance to take part in the restoration and racing of historic cars, both from a practical, hands on perspective and from an operational and planning standpoint. Every member is, or has been, part of UBRacing, the University of Birmingham’s Formula Student team.
One of our current flagship projects is the restoration of a 1960 Aston Martin DB4. The entire process is being filmed for a documentary series on YouTube as well as for Bangers and Cash. The project was also recently the focus of a BBC Online article.
All episodes are available on the Crossley Motorsport YouTube channel. Bringing the Bangers & Cash Aston Martin DB4 Barn Find Back to Life | Ep1.
We are currently looking to get more people involved. More information is available on Instagram, or by emailing Crossley Motorsport.
Picture: Alumnus Edward Crossley (right) and current Birmingham student Sam Wilson are working to restore the 1960 Aston Martin.
Lisa Reynolds (PG Diploma, Mandatory Qualification for Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairments, 2024)
Last year I was successful in applying for the English Speaking Union’s Walter Page Hines Scholarship, a prestigious award designed to promote transatlantic learning and cultural understanding between the UK and America.
Only two scholarships are awarded in the UK each year, with recipients able to travel to America to research a communication project of their choosing.
My research proposal was entitled ‘Education in the Information Age: Enhancing Communication via Non-Visual Assistive Technology Access for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment’. I flew to California and researched how programmes for visually impaired people are designed and delivered at institutions including California School for the Blind; Lighthouse for the Blind, in San Francisco; and San Francisco State University. I was also able to attend the Getting in Touch with Literacy Conference in Alabama.
I work at SenCom VI Service, a regional team supporting five local authorities across South East Wales, who were also very supportive in allowing me the time to attend. Technology plays a vital role in how we empower Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CYPVI) to access learning and communicate alongside their sighted peers, and seeing the models used in the United States to support and train CYPVI and teachers was incredibly inspiring. I returned with a wealth of ideas on how to embed this good practice into my own work.
I also created a blog of my trip which can be accessed online.
Helen Wilby (MRes English Literature, 2024)
A local family celebrated a special full-circle moment when Heather Wilby (MRes Health Service Management, 1998) watched her daughter graduate, in the same hall that she graduated in whilst pregnant with her.
The first in her family to attend university, Heather juggled a full-time job in the NHS, a young family and a masters degree by research in 1998. 26 years later, the baby she was carrying would walk across the stage (for a second time!) to collect the exact same degree.
Becca Horley (LLB Law with Criminology, 2018)
I am a specialist medical negligence solicitor, representing individuals and bereaved families who have suffered life-changing injuries through no fault of their own. I am passionate about improving patient safety across public and private healthcare.
After four years of studying in Birmingham, I loved the city so much I stayed - it’s now been over 10 years! I still enjoy running through the University campus or along the nearby canals as part of marathon training.
Through my course I met one of my very best friends Beth and we are still close to this day!
I’m recognised by the Legal 500 as a key lawyer for claimant clinical negligence work and last year I won the Birmingham Law Society Solicitor of the Year and Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year.
I love bold and colourful fashion and encouraging confidence through personal style. It’s all about dressing for the career you want!
I mentor aspiring solicitors. I am passionate about improving social mobility and access to the legal profession. You can find out more about me and my work on the following podcasts: Legally Speaking, I’m Working Late, Young Professionals & Wit+Grit. You can also follow me on TikTok.
Alexander Bell (BA Classical Literature and Civilisation, 2014; MA Classics, 2016)
I absolutely adored my time spent at Birmingham and had an incredible time learning about ancient history and mythology with the fantastic staff there, including Dr Elena Theodorakopoulos, Dr Andrew Bayliss, and the wonderful Dr Niall Livingstone who I sorely miss. I look back on those years so fondly and owe a huge amount to the university and the Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology. I’m very happy to say that I’m continuing to use the degree as part of my professional life! I’ve worked in museums for six years now, having recently left Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery as I moved up to Scotland. I am presently working as a Gallery Assistant at the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre where Glasgow Life stores its collections not currently on display. This year I hosted my first Specialist Tour as part of LGBTQ+ History Month: ‘The Queer Divine’.
It’s been such a treat to open my old books from when I was studying at Birmingham as part of my research for this tour. Seeing my annotations and notes attached to them filled me with nostalgia so I felt compelled to share and say a big thank you for what my degree has given me!
Renka Gaddu (BSc Mathematics, 2016)
After graduating I was quite unsure what I wanted to do next. I’ve worked in multiple industries and jobs and found that my attention to detail is one of my best transferrable skills from my degree in mathematics. I now work as Chapter Lead in Quality Engineering for Admiral Group Plc, where I help ensure the quality of our web application is high for our customers.
I’ve been shortlisted for Role Model of the Year and won Rising Star of the Year at the Women in Tech Excellence Awards. It was genuinely inspiring to hear stories from the other nominees and winners and I’m truly grateful to be part of a community where I still find role models of my own. I play a central role in shaping Admiral’s Women in Tech community, giving aspiring women a platform to be heard, grow, and progress through targeted initiatives, mentoring, and visible advocacy.
My favourite memory of being at Birmingham? Working in Starbucks sipping Terrys hot chocolate before Christmas and working on my Mathematics assignment. The campus had a cosy vibe throughout the whole year and it was lovely to walk around throughout any season.
Matthew Harrison (MEd Education, 2014)
I completed an exchange from the University of Melbourne to the University of Birmingham in 2013, studying with the autism research group as part of my Master of Education degree.
While I was at Birmingham I threw my hat into the ring for an entrepreneurship competition run by the University at that time, called Plan B. I actually ended up winning (which was a surprise because my background was in teaching, not business). When I returned to Melbourne I completed my PhD and my experiences and the confidence I gained through the Plan B programme helped me to co-found the first neurodivergent-led social enterprise to spin out of the University of Melbourne, Next Level Collaboration.
Next Level Collaboration runs team-based gaming groups for neurodivergent children to help them to develop confidence, collaboration skills and friendships. We employ and train neurodivergent young adults as part of this programme. It goes to show how big things can grow from the opportunities that the University of Birmingham offers.
Image: Matt Harrison with Next Level Collaboration co-founder, Jess Rowlings
Shenshou Zhang (MSc Development Management, 2014)
It was extremely fortunate to me that I gained the chance to study at the University of Birmingham in 2013. Although my master's degree programme was only for one year, it has played a significant role in promoting my personal growth and progress. For example, I am in the process of applying the research from my master's dissertation (Mutuality Principle as A Means of Promoting Sustainable Social Mobility in China) into practice.
I established Shanghai YZL Foundation, which was officially approved by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau on 16 March 2023. To date, the Foundation has gained the support of more than 1,000 social leaders and over 80 leading enterprises. We have supported more than 6,000 university students whose parents are unable to care for them due to death, serious illness or disability, or imprisonment. We have also assisted more than 340 university volunteer teaching groups to support over 32,000 left-behind children from rural areas and help more than 2,600 particularly vulnerable children fulfil their wishes. As a result I was awarded the 2023–24 Study UK Outstanding Alumni Award for Social Impact by the British Council and the UK Embassy.
Kristien Turner (BSc International Business with Language, 2010)
If someone had told me, back in my International Business with Spanish lectures at Birmingham University, that my career would take me across six countries, two hemispheres, and into the heart of global leadership teams, I would never have believed it.
But that’s the beauty of an education from Birmingham, it doesn’t just expand your knowledge, it expands your sense of possibility. My University years were transformative, but one experience stands out above all: my study abroad year at ICADE University in Madrid. It was the first time I truly understood what it meant to build a life across cultures to learn in one language, think in another, and belong to both. That year ignited something that has shaped every chapter of my life since.
Since then, my career has taken me through Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, New York, Miami and has also included big projects in India, China, and Poland. For 18 years at HSBC, I worked at the intersection of international marketing, talent, and culture, leading thousands of hires and building global service centres across continents.
And then Mexico changed my life again, this time in the most personal way. After a long, emotional adoption journey, my partner and I became parents to two beautiful children. Mexico stopped being an assignment and became home.
Launching TK Talent
After two decades shaping employer brands worldwide, I realised something simple and powerful: Precision hiring requires magnetic branding. Most companies lead with what they want. The best talent cares about what’s true, what’s human, and what’s possible inside the company.
That’s why I founded TK Talent to help organisations attract and grow talent through clarity, storytelling, data, and leadership behaviour not slogans.
A few lessons have become my north star:
- Top talent wants evidence, not adjectives.
- One shared story across HR, Marketing & Leadership changes everything.
- Behaviour is the brand. Leaders either amplify or break it.
- Global brands succeed when local teams add soul.
- Employer Brand isn’t a campaign, it’s a leadership strategy. From Siemens’ digital reinvention to Airbnb’s lifecycle redesign and Heineken’s EVP transformation, the best brands win because they align what they say with how they behave.
Standing again in a Birmingham lecture room last year, this time beside Achilleas Boukis to give a guest lecture, brought my journey full circle. I’ve been able to encourage students to embrace international experiences, trust their story, and see culture and belonging as superpowers in their careers.
TK Talent Group is my most exciting chapter yet. And it all started at Birmingham University where the world first opened up for me.
Main photo: Kristien Turner (r) with husband Steven Cruz and children, William and Penelope Above: Kristien with his friend Jacky Blanga (BSc International Business, 2010)
Wayne George (BSc Public and Social Policy Management, 2002; MSc Urban and Regional Studies, 2005; MSc Urban and Regional Planning, 2009)
I was awarded 2025 Project Professional of the Year by the Association for Project Management, APM. The award recognised my work on a project commissioned by the Department for Transport and Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.
The judges’ citation recognised ‘exceptional skill leading the Connected and Automated Mobility Data Discovery project.’ As a Project Director for Local Partnerships LLP (owned by HM Treasury, Local Government Association and the Welsh Government) I was delighted to work on this project and to be recognised by APM for work that combines technical expertise with practical impact.
Ehsan S. Sarafraz-Yazdi (MSc Applied Genetics, 2005)
It was an incredible joy to come back “home” to the University of Birmingham after 20 years!
This is where it all began for me — born on this very campus at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, later studying genetics here, and experiencing one of the most pivotal moments of my life: discovering the inspiration and determination to dedicate my career to cancer research in memory of my beloved mom, who passed far too soon at just 48.
Walking back through these halls felt both nostalgic and deeply meaningful — a powerful reminder of how our roots shape our purpose.
I was blown away by how the University of Birmingham continues to be a powerhouse of research and innovation — from groundbreaking cancer and molecular biosciences studies to discoveries that are shaping medicine and improving lives far beyond the campus.
And to wrap all that up, a new life sciences incubator/accelerator has just opened on campus — translating all of this cutting-edge research into real-world impact.
Image: Ehsan S. Sarafraz-Yazdi (left) with University of Birmingham International Philanthropy Manager Adele Diviney and Professor Liam Cox, Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer in the University's School of Chemistry.
Lucy Evans (BA Geography, 2004)
Although I studied Geography, many of my most valuable lessons were learned on the sports field. As a sports scholar, I embraced opportunities that stretched far beyond the classroom, taking part in an exchange with American Ivy League universities in 2004 and proudly representing both the University of Birmingham in national competitions and the British Universities team at international matches.
After graduation, my journey in track and field continued. In 2014, I competed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow; in 2015, having being inspired by my trip to the US with the university team, I returned to the USA, basing my training at Olympic Champion Michael Johnson’s Performance Centre in Dallas. Finally, in 2018, I closed a 20-year career by winning gold for Great Britain in both the 100m and 200m at the World Masters Championships. I retired from competition in 2019, honoured with Lifetime Membership of my athletics club.
Determined to give back to the sport that shaped me, I managed the women’s sprint team at my club in the National Athletics League from 2020 to 2024, navigating the challenges of a cancelled 2020 season due to the pandemic. By 2025, I recognised that years of competing and coaching had equipped me with powerful insights into resilience, motivation, and performance. That realisation inspired me to launch a side career as a keynote speaker, sharing those lessons with others to help them unlock their best.
My time at Birmingham taught me that learning happens everywhere: in the classroom, on the track, and within a team. It instilled in me a deep appreciation for collaboration, perseverance, and the value of passing knowledge forward. For that, I remain profoundly grateful.
Thank you so much to the University of Birmingham.
Charles Joynson (MBA International Business, 1994)
The MBA programme at Birmingham served and still serves as a launch pad and knowledge resource (I still think about net present value when calculating future costs!). It has allowed me and my team to work with the pharmaceutical industry across the world.
I set up my company, WaveData, in 2000, and over the last 25 years have been able to become part of a very small number of well-known pharmaceutical data suppliers.
The early days were tough, but by developing a good, resilient and knowledgeable team, and becoming a trusted partner to pharmaceutical companies we grew from zero to 180 customers worldwide.
Most of our data is sourced through original research with pharmacies and GPs, analysed and processed using AI and then either added to websites or fed directly to manufacturers and wholesalers.
Justice Michael Dinkel (BA Law, 1987)
Back in 1984, when I walked across campus past the Chamberlain Clock Tower (known to all as Old Joe) and into the original location for the red brick Law School (now called The Harding Building), I was shocked to find that I was the first Canadian to have attended there to study Law. There were students from all over the world in our class, but I was the lone Canadian, past or present, by all accounts. This status made me somewhat of an anomaly, and it was a great talking point when meeting new people around the university. I have been advised that there are now 200 Canadians studying Law at Birmingham. It was an honour being the first!
Chris McGuigan (BSc Chemistry, 1979; PhD Chemistry, 1982)
March 2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of Professor Chris McGuigan, who after graduating from the University with a first class honours degree and PhD in Chemistry became one of the UK’s leading scientists in the field of anti-cancer drug discoveries.
I first met Chris at the Fresher’s weekend in September 1976. We were both Chemistry students and soon became good friends. He was the first Yorkshireman that I’d met and he introduced me to the delights of putting gravy on my chips! As undergraduates we would usually go to the Mermaid Bar in the Union at lunchtimes – being from Birmingham I’d have a glass of mild ale while Chris would have a coke. We went on to share a flat with three other students at Griffin Close (University accommodation) in Northfield.
It soon became apparent to me that by anyone’s standards Chris was an extremely gifted student. Combined with his very strong work ethic he was always destined to be an exceptional scientist. I can see now that for his age he was a very clear, focused thinker as well. One thing that Chris didn’t like was to fail (which didn’t happen very often!) and when as partners in a Physics subsidiary practical we obtained a low mark it took a while for him to accept.
Such was his reputation Chris could have gained his PhD with any group at the University, but he chose to work in the Nucleic Acids Group led by Professor Stan Jones.
In 1982 while I remained at Birmingham to work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Chris went abroad before returning to the UK to work at Exeter and Southampton Universities before settling at his final academic home in Cardiff. Over the years we gradually lost touch although we did plan to meet when Chris was at Southampton and I was living in Portsmouth, but my work commitments at the time scuppered that! However I did try to keep abreast of what he was doing and remember him being interviewed on BBC Radio 4 around the time of the millennium.
I learned of Chris’s premature passing 10 years ago with a heavy heart. As well as the tragic loss for his family, colleagues and friends in the scientific community had lost a true pioneer in the world of drug design.
It was a fitting tribute to him that Cardiff University initiated the Chris McGuigan Drug Discovery Awards to celebrate his scientific legacy, which includes 225 scientific papers and 100 patent applications, while four of his compounds advanced to the human trials stage.
I have a lot of happy memories of nearly 10 years at Birmingham University and Chris was responsible for many of those. Many thanks to Justine Jenkins at Cardiff University for her help with this article.
RIP Chris.
Roger Drew (BSc Chemistry, 1979; PhD Chemistry, 1983)
Heather Fletcher (BA Law, 1981)
I thoroughly enjoyed all my time at the University of Birmingham. I worked for a total of 33 years in the legal profession, firstly as a family law Solicitor and subsequently as a Law Costs Draftsman running my own business for 15 years.
Unfortunately, due to government policies in relation to legal aid and legal costings, I was unable to continue in the career I enjoyed so much as a Law Costs Draftsman.
I wasn't sure what other job I could do after so many years in the legal profession! A good friend suggested that I entered local politics. At first I was dubious about doing that, however I changed my mind and was elected to Salford City Council in 2016.
I have made the most of things in this different occupation and this year I reached the pinnacle of my career when I was installed as Mayor of Salford.
My friends from University, Sandra Polden (née Kemsley) and Richard Polden, both joined me at the installation ceremony, while my nephew Max was consort.
David Wells (BCom Industrial Economics & Business Studies, 1978)
We are proud University of Birmingham students from 1975-1978. A group of us organised a 50th reunion at the University last autumn. Most of us met initially in Mason Hall and studied Psychology, Sociology, Engineering Production or Commerce.
For our reunion, we met at the clock tower, toured the Library, Great Hall building, Student Guild and had lunch at Bramall Music Building Refectory. By chance, we happened to meet there another group of students who also were residents in Mason Hall. In fact one, we discovered, had had the same bedroom, NLG 34, as one of our group, but 20 years apart! The other (much younger!) group was just as pleased as we were to be going round all the old haunts. It brought back so many happy memories.
David Hutchins (MSc Quality and Reliability Engineering, 1976)
David Hutchins (MSc Quality and Reliability Engineering, 1976) I achieved my Masters degree in the Production Engineering Department at the University of Birmingham in 1976 and have spent much of my career working in quality management and leadership development, including founding the David Hutchins International Quality College in 2010.
In November 2025, I was awarded the Deming Distinguished Practice Award 2025 by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers. In my field of work this is internationally recognised to be the highest award globally. It is rarely ever awarded to foreigners and I am the first European to have achieved it.
In my award speech I mentioned the University being part of my foundation and I hope this success proves inspiring to current and future students.
Bjørn Sjetnan (BSc Civil Engineering, 1973)
I am proud of achieving my degree at the University of Birmingham and having stayed faithful to my engineering background through 45 years in large scale civil engineering projects.
My roles have included many years as construction manager, engineering manager and project manager for the design, construction and installation of three large offshore concrete structures (oil platforms) in the North Sea.
It is from this specific experience I developed the idea of utilising the durable concrete structures to generate renewable energy from oscillating wave columns. I was granted a Norwegian Patent for this invention.
My work was used as the basis for a research project at the University of Trondheim in Norway, the results of which were recently published in Ocean Engineering.
Image: News clipping showing Bjørn in 1986, as Construction Manager for the Gullfaks B Gravity Base Platform
Dave Neville (BSc, Mechanical Engineering, 1968)
I was one of the first residents of Lake Hall in 1965 and stayed there for two years. The kitchens and dining rooms were shared with the near identical Wyddrington Hall for women (with excellent planning they put shaving sockets in Wyddrington but none in Lake).
There was a heavy wooden sliding partition in the dining room separating us from the women. Our first successful campaign was to get this rolled back so that we could sit together.
There was rivalry between us and High Hall. High Hall had an excellent High Hall Hop and we aimed to outdo them with the Lake Hall Do. We booked a well-known pop group, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. However, they split up and the agent told us we were only getting the backing group. The High Hall lot thought that very amusing but the Tremeloes became stars in their own right and when the event took place, they were no. 3 in the charts with "Here Comes My Baby". We had the last laugh!
Images from Dave's time at University:
A group of Lake/Wyddrington Halls friends sitting in somebody's car (main photo)
Dave and Fellow student Kathy van der Linden
Sitting in an old car with friend Jenny Pacey
Dave 'under attack' in his student room
Dave with friend Rex Hinton during carnival week
Cynthia Marks (BA English Language and Literature, 1950; PG Cert Education, 1951)
I am a former Guild Vice President, in office the year of the University’s Golden Anniversary, 1949-1950.
Last September I turned 96. I came up to Birmingham in 1947 to read English Language and Literature under Professors Allardyce Nicoll and Alan Ross. Anthony Eden was the Chancellor and Sir Raymond Priestley the Vice-Chancellor. He was a geologist who in his younger days had been on Polar expeditions with Scott and Shackleton.
I was elected a Freshers' Representative to Guild Council, as it was called then. I served on Council in my second year, was elected Vice President in my third year and remained the following year as a past officer when I was working for my PGCE.
The majority of male students were older than usual as it was soon after the war and men who had served in the armed forces were returning to complete their education. Those few who were straight from school had to do two years’ National Service after graduating. My President, Reg Galer, had served in the Royal Navy and was married with a small son. A sabbatical year for those holding office was not possible. It was being discussed and introduced a year or two later. Both Reg and I graduated at the end of our year in office.
I remember the special events held to mark the Golden Jubilee. These centred on an additional Degree Congregation in May when Honorary Degrees were conferred on a number of celebrities: HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone; Mr Lewis Douglas, the American Ambassador; Sir Barry Jackson from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre; and the writer Francis Brett Young were among those honoured.
There was a lunch afterwards in the Debating Hall of the Students Union and later in the week a dinner for over 400 people, including representatives from about 100 Universities at the Grand Hotel in the city. I was privileged to be at both these and other functions.
The University’s 125 celebrations have brought memories of the years spent in Birmingham flooding back. I lived in University House for three years (Winterbourne for the first one) and the friends I made there have lasted all my life; sadly, there are now only three of us left.
Following university I taught for almost 40 years and was deputy head of a girls’ grammar school, continuing in the role after the school became a co-educational comprehensive in 1974. My Birmingham days were an important time in my life and I am grateful. Happy 125th birthday!