The Destinations Conference took place on 13 April 2021 as a one-day event designed for students from Black backgrounds to experience what the University of Bristol (UoB) has to offer. The conference was delivered online as a collaboration between the Widening Participation (WP) team and the University’s African and Caribbean Society (ACS). This event was the second Destinations Conference, the first conference having been in October 2019 as part of Black History Month. The online format of the event offered exciting possibilities, for example of expanding the cohort to students from all over the country, whom we were delighted to welcome!
The day kicked off with a talk from the ACS and a keynote address from Lawrence Hoo, Bristol-based poet and co-creator of the CARGO creative organisation. Hoo told students about his creative process, his engagement with the local community, and his role as an educator. He also shared some of his work, reading from his poetry and sharing some of CARGO’s film content. Feedback from the event suggests that the keynote talk was inspiring for the students, as it demonstrated how to use creativity and vision to make a difference to the community and advance social justice.
We had over 100 students signed up across five subject streams: Arts and Humanities; Business and Finance; Health Sciences; Social Sciences; and STEM. In the morning, students received an academic session on their chosen stream, delivered by one of the expert academics working at UoB. Topics ranged from the Black Humanities to the social inequalities highlighted by Covid-19, which led to interesting discussions between students and academics.
In the afternoon, the students took part in Q&A sessions about student life that were hosted by members of the ACS. The student Q&A panels were well-received by students, who found them helpful in understanding the experiences of Black students at the University of Bristol. Finally, the WP team delivered an information session on choosing a course and a university, including advice on applying to competitive universities.
All in all, it was a real pleasure to run the event and it was great to see so many engaged students – given that the sun which was shining outside on the date of the event the high level of attendance showed excellent commitment! It was good to hear in the event feedback that students enjoyed the event, and we are looking forward to running similar events in the future.