Alumni
Events
You have access to a range of exclusive events arranged by the University of Leicester and your fellow alumni. Events are open to all alumni: groups and individuals, those who graduated many years ago or recently; you are all welcome at any one of our events.
As an alum you are invited to attend our events all year round. We aim to make any alumni visiting campus feel comfortable and are aware that the site may look different to the last time you visited. Our interactive map (flash) of the University of Leicester enables you to see each building on campus. Detailed information about the accessibility of each building can be found on the Disabled Go website.
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Upcoming alumni events
Festival of Change
Since launching the Festival of Change in October 2020, over 1,300 alumni from 28 countries have joined us for a Festival of Change event. With 91% of alumni saying that they would recommend the event to a friend, we want to let you know about our programme of exciting events we have coming up. Details subject to change.
To hear about when bookings open, ensure you are on our mailing list.
Festival of Change | Gestational diabetes and maternal health: building a healthier future
This event has taken place.
Gestational diabetes, a condition that first appears during pregnancy and disappears after giving birth, is associated with an increased risk of physical and mental health related complications. In this talk, Dr Elpida Vounzoulaki will discuss how a diagnosis of gestational diabetes can be used as an opportunity to improve future health, based on the findings of her PhD research.
About the speaker
Dr Elpida Vounzoulaki is a Postdoctoral Epidemiologist at the Leicester Real World Evidence Unit, Diabetes Research Centre, University of Leicester. She has a solid background in clinical practice and research, having graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Nursing, an MSc in Medical Research, and a PhD in Diabetes Epidemiology. Her primary interests include cardiometabolic complications, women’s health conditions and real-world epidemiology.
Festival of Change | Fires, webs, and water cycle: researching the emotions of social justice work in the heritage sector
- This event has been postponed.
- Please sign up to our mailing list to ensure you are updated with the latest information about this event.
This is a free event open to University of Leicester alumni.
Take a deep dive into how socially engaged professionals negotiate emotions and values in heritage institutions with Dr Holly Bee. Based on her PhD findings, Dr Bee will discuss the emotional experience of workplace change-making, recommendations for building empowering organisational cultures and creative research methods for exploring emotion with participants and ourselves.
About the speaker
Dr Holly Bee (she/her) is a feminist PhD researcher in the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, and former co-editor-in-chief of Museological Review. She is interested in the intersections of identity, emotion, labour, and change-making and in using research to create a more just and compassionate society.
Festival of Change | From industry to academia: understanding gender in popular culture
This event has taken place. A recording of this event will be available soon.
This talk will be about Dr Shirley Yang’s career journey from the creative industry to the University of Leicester for her PhD. She will share her transition from being a creator of mediated gender roles to exploring mediated gender roles as a researcher.
About the speaker
Shirley Yang holds a PhD in Media and Communication from the University of Leicester. Her research focuses on the studies of celebrity, feminism, intersectionality and digital activism. Prior to pursuing her Master’s degree in the UK (at the University of Leicester), she worked as a senior copywriter for a world-leading advertising agency in Shanghai, China.
Festival of Change | Becoming Ipswich: Urban emergence in Britain's oldest town with Dr Brandon Fathy
Date: Thursday 7 August 2025
Time: 6.00pm – 7.00pm (UK time)
Location: Microsoft Teams
This is a free event open to University of Leicester alumni.
Early medieval urban development in Britain has proven a vexing question, with oversimplified narratives often dominating discussions. Existing research has considered the competing roles of kings and artisans in urban emergence. This talk examines Ipswich (AD 600-900), arguably England's oldest continuously inhabited town, to challenge top-down, mono-causal models of town formation. In contrast to previous research, it investigates interactions between human and non-human actors, focussing on Buttermarket and Franciscan Way as detailed case studies. Findings suggest that urban development is not a singular event but a continuous, evolving process shaped by kings, commoners, craftspeople, and the environment. Dr Fathy's research offers a nuanced framework for understanding towns as complex systems of interactions and material practices, advancing our comprehension of the dynamic development of early medieval urban landscapes.
About the speaker
Dr Brandon Fathy is a lecturer in later medieval archaeology at the University of Reading. His research is motivated by the question, “what are the origins of towns and cities”. Brandon is also interested in post humanist archaeology, thinking about how the vibrant and active capacities of matter and materials impact on processes like urban emergence. His doctoral research explored the origins of early medieval Ipswich using spatial and statistical analysis among other tools. He has also published on horse tack and the Portable Antiquities Scheme. He completed his PhD in Archaeology at the University of Leicester in 2022 and was previously been awarded funding from the Medieval Academy of America (Schallek Award) and the Economic History Society.
Festival of Change | Journey to becoming a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Dr Gez Williams
Date: Thursday 9 October 2025
Time: 6.00pm – 7.00pm (UK time)
Location: Microsoft Teams
This is a free event open to University of Leicester alumni.
In this talk, Dr Gez Williams will share her story of how she became a researcher in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Leicester. Dr Williams was placed into the care of the state at 14 years old and she faced many barriers along the way. She has since achieved a BSc (Hons) from De Montfort University, a PhD from the University of Leicester and is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate.
Dr Williams' research focuses on cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for over 17.9 million deaths annually and the healthcare costs in England relating to CVD are estimated at £7.4 billion, with an annual cost to the wider economy of £15.8 billion. In this talk, she will discuss how she has validated a biomarker to help stratify patients at risk from different cardiovascular diseases.
About the speaker
Dr Gez Williams graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science from De Montfort University, then worked as a research assistant for a year in toxicology. Dr Williams subsequently obtained her PhD in Cardiovascular Science from the University of Leicester and this where she continues her research.
Alumni Awards Dinner
The Alumni Awards Dinner is an annual opportunity for alumni to come together and celebrate University and alumni achievements, recognise our Alumni Award winners, and thank alumni for their valued contributions to business, research and society.
Our 2025 Alumni Awards Dinner has already taken place and you can find out more about our Alumni Awards Dinner 2025 and our award winners on our website.
Annual Alumni Meeting
At the Annual Alumni Meeting, the Alumni Association Committee will report back to alumni on activities during the last 12 months, an update on philanthropic funds managed jointly by the University and Alumni Association Committee will be given, and alumni will be invited to vote on members of the Committee who are standing for re-election.
Outside of the formal agenda of the Annual Alumni Meeting, the meeting is a great opportunity to pose any questions they have to the Alumni Committee and/or Alumni Engagement Team.
We invite you to watch the previous Annual Alumni Meetings.
Our next Annual Alumni Meeting will be in Autumn 2025. For details or keep in the loop by ensuring you are on our mailing list.
Botanic Garden Festival
Date: Sunday 31 August 2025
Time: 11.00am - 4.00pm
Join us at this year’s Botanic Garden Festival on Sunday 31 August 2025, from 11.00am onwards, to celebrate the start of autumn at our free community festival, set against the backdrop of our beautiful Botanic Garden.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is highly recommended to ensure access to the festival and will open on Monday 2 June 2025 – please register yourself and any guests online. Please contact the University’s Events Team at events@le.ac.uk if you have any issues with registration.
The Alumni Relations Team will be facilitating an exclusive Alumni and Supporter Lounge and also be hosting a range of Change Maker talks for our alumni to learn more about key research taking place across the University.
Leicester Festive Celebrations
At the end of every year, the Alumni Relations Team host an online event for our global community to get together and celebrate the festive period, reflecting on the year just gone and looking ahead to new year.
Make sure you're signed up to our mailing list to be the first to hear when this event is announced.
Solo visitor scheme
Are you attending an event alone? We want to ensure that our events are welcoming and accessible to all attendees and with this in mind, are launching a new solo visitor scheme. If you wish to attend an event as a solo visitor and would like to see a friendly face when you arrive, drop us an email in advance to alumni.relations@leicester.ac.uk and let us know you are attending. One of our friendly staff members will introduce themselves to you via email beforehand and be present at the event to greet you.