Sunderland University

WANNABE star Rob Barker fought back his nerves to perform his first gig as part of his manufactured pop project. The 23-year-old Sunderland University student is aiming to be a pop star in one month, despite having no musical training or talent, as part of his dissertation into the fickle nature of the pop music [...]

Amy Melody is hoping to cycle her way to raising £1,600 to support a visit to Africa. The first year criminology/journalism student, at Sunderland University, will set off from Whitehaven, in Cumbria, for the 132-mile coast-to-coast bike ride next week. The 20-year-old is taking on the challenge to help raise money for a voluntary mission [...]

The University of Sunderland has taken gold in the contest to become the training base of choice for Grenada’s Olympic team in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. The successful selection comes just three months after a delegation from the Grenadian National Olympics Committee (GNOC) spent a day touring the university’s [...]

Congratulations to BA Media Production students Samantha France and Anthony Dugdale, who won the prize for Best Student Fiction Production at the annual Royal Television Society Awards. Sunderland students also received a ‘highly commended’ in Best Student Factual Production. Fred Marden, Head of Radio at the University, was at the ceremony with Samantha and Anthony. [...]

After an intense and brilliant day of sport, Sunderland University were declared winners of Tees Wear Varsity 2011. The 11th annual competition between the universities of Sunderland and Teesside will go down in history as one of the classic varsity contests with the final result being debated long after all the events had finished. Teesside [...]

An exciting new project has launched in Sunderland which uses the power of sport to help people back into the workplace. The inaugural Street League Academy is an eight week course in which the participants have the chance to gain qualifications, volunteer opportunities and most importantly, rediscover the confidence and self-esteem to make a return [...]

As the music industry becomes increasingly monopolized by a handful of billion-dollar corporations it is becoming more and more difficult for emerging artists to reach a wider audience. Now a new project run by a young North East entrepreneur aims to buck this trend and get new artists’ work to the people who really matter [...]

Erin Dickson, 23, has entered a glass sculpture in a prestigious competition which could see her artwork jetting off to the US. The Saatchi Showdown gives artists the opportunity to showcase their artwork in the Scope Art Fair in New York, as well as winning $500 (more than £300). Erin, from South Shields, who is [...]

A student is over the moon after landing a prestigious art prize. The iconic image of man’s first landing on the moon proved the inspiration behind Alex Hedworth’s illustration. Sunderland University’s Alex beat hundreds of entries from across the UK to win first prize in this year’s AVA Academia creativity competition. Based on the theme [...]

Laura Zielinski has it all – brains, beauty and a modelling contract with one of the UK’s largest retailers, Marks & Spencer. Since winning the store’s national DD+ lingerie competition last year, Hartlepool-born Laura, 20, has gone from studying law at Sunderland University and working in Primark to attending castings and fronting glamorous photo shoots. [...]