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Vincent Obia

Media PhD

After completing his Bachelors and Masters in Lagos - Nigeria, Vincent took the plunge and made the move to Birmingham to study a PhD in Media. Vincent transitioned to his next level of study with ease as he was always pro-active and had fantastic support from his tutors. 

"I was always passionate about getting a PhD as part of my career objectives and to also extend the frontiers of research in my field of new media regulation. I decided to do a PhD back in 2017 when I was doing my master's. It had always being in my plans, given that I am on a research track.

In my experience being a PG student at BCU, I have found it interesting as I gained accessed to valuable mentorship and resources for research and development. I believe there is a community of staff and students here, which I have become a part of. Within ADM, I am part of the PGR Studio, which is a supportive community of PhD students. I also served as PGR rep at some point. In the wider School of Media, I was part of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, where I became embedded in the research community.

The biggest challenge that I faced changing my PhD research from broadcasting regulation to social media regulation early on in my research. I overcame the challenge by coordinating with my supervisors and my funders to demonstrate why the change was needed. I didn't have much difficulty adapting from UG to PG, as I had had an active research life before; I did however have to learn the high-level skills required for PhD research.

The university has been supportive and has funded some of my conferences and research trips. I have also had valuable mentorship from my supervisors. And the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research helped me with peer review for an article that I later published in a top journal. I also served as Co-Editor of the Makings Journal in the Creative Industries research cluster of BCMCR. All these provided support for me.

In addition to the opportunities above, I had the opportunity to serve as a PhD tutor for the Brilliant Club. I have also taken part in funded research projects at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. I was also research assistant for a funded project on media literacy hosted at LSE. I also served as Lead Communication Officer for the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association in the UK. All these provided opportunities and support for me.

Over the time I have spent at BCU, I am most proud of the two awards that I won: Top Student Paper at the International Communication Association 2022 Conference (Communication Law and Policy Division), and Best Student Paper at the Association of Internet Researchers 2022 Conference.

I simply had a plan for my research and I stuck to it. There was not much separation between work/life/study. I allocated specific tasks to specific times depending on the deadlines that I had, although Saturdays were for always for rest!

In the future, I hope to continue with my research career and to make an unforgettable mark in my field of study: new media regulation. I would advise anyone wanting to undertake a PhD to be ready for changes that will come with your research and be willing to go with flow trusting that all will go well in the end.

To me, I AM BCU means being a part of a culture of excellence; not only in Birmingham, but globally."

Hannifa Best

Management and Marketing - MSc

Being thousands of miles away from home and entering a new environment and culture didn’t stop international student Hannifa finding a part-time job relevant to her Master’s degree.  By building a good relationship with her employer, she’s managed to maintain her work life balance and find time to relax too, as well as gaining crucial experience for her career in marketing.

Nour Albaarini

Big Data Analytics - MSc

In 2011, halfway through his Computer Engineering studies, Nour left Syria with this family and fled to Jordan. After four years he was relocated to the UK through a resettlement programme. It had always been his dream to study in the UK. But with a language barrier and no entitlement to a student loan to cover his tuition fees, Nour began to lose hope. But despite the challenges he secured a place at BCU and went onto achieve a first-class degree. 

Laura Gee

Psychology PhD

Laura thought that the rest of her life was set out in front of her; with a wife, a child and her own hairdressing business. However, a health scare made her reassess what she wanted in life and decided to take a leap of faith and go to university. Now studying for her PhD, she has already started teaching other students at BCU alongside her research.