Two University of Cumbria health initiatives are in the running for prestigious education awards. A dementia symposium and the university’s Festival of Mental Health are finalists in the Educate North 2020 Awards. The initiatives aim to strengthen students’ knowledge and expertise as well as improve standards and effectiveness of patient care. They are organised by academics and staff within the nursing team of the university’s Institute of Health.

A World record breaker who together with her husband became only the second ever married couple to conquer Everest is setting out to show how positive mindset works in the face of extreme adversity. As part of University Mental Health Day on March 5, Lakes-based adventurers Pauline and Phil Sanderson will be sharing a journey starting at the Dead Sea, cycling 5,000 miles across eight countries before reaching Tibet to climb Everest.

University of Cumbria Vice Chancellor Professor Julie Mennell said: ‘Our student, staff and communities are at the heart of our university and particularly during times of challenge it is important we stand as one to help and support each other.’

One of the country’s best known and loved literary and broadcasting luminaries is set to captivate when he reveals the impact of Cumbria on his widely acclaimed books. Labour Peer Lord Melvyn Bragg will be speaking at a public gathering at University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus on March 8, where MA literature students are studying his novel The Maid of Buttermere.

Students from across Cumbria are exploring future options thanks to impartial support and activities from a higher education and skills partnership led by University of Cumbria. The Cumbria Collaborative Outreach Programme is the partnership of universities, further education and skills providers across the North West region led by the University of Cumbria. CCOP is part of the national Uni Connect Programme which was officially launched recently.

A new relationship between University of Cumbria and Multicultural Cumbria is forging closer links between the county’s diverse communities and the institution’s staff and students across its campuses. Together they are hosting an event for school pupils ahead of the 10th anniversary of Carlisle Culture Bazaar 2020, a weekend which is expected to attract 5,000 visitors. Students from the university's London campus are also taking part, some of whom will be visiting Carlisle for the first time.

University of Cumbria wants people to ‘Look Beyond’ and discover there’s more to apprenticeships than meets the eye. Those close to completing their Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship at University of Cumbria, have this week – during National Apprenticeship Week 2020 - met with long-serving Chief Superintendent Andy Towler from Cumbria Constabulary.

A student volunteer force has its sights set high in a bid to uphold the Lake District’s reputation as a world leading rock climbing destination. Since W. P. Haskett-Smith scaled Napes Needle in 1886 - said to be the UK’s birthplace of modern rock climbing - the area’s renowned crags have become a mecca for enthusiasts.

Focusing world attention on the most threatened group of primates on the African subcontinent, University of Cumbria has spearheaded groundbreaking actions in The Gambia. With numbers down to as few as 2,500 globally, critically endangered Temminck’s Red Colobus (TRC) monkeys have been thrown a potential lifeline in an ambitious three-year community-based project.