Celebrating 25 years of UKCEM – Supporting Our Alumni

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on each of us personally and professionally. The events industry will continue to face significant challenges for the foreseeable future. In light of this, the UKCEM offered 25 free places to our alumni on our online Post Graduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Events Management course, starting in January 2021.  We asked two of our returning students to share their professional experience and reasons for joining the PGCert.

Laura Lindley

BA (Hons) Events Management, 2011 - 2015

Event and Hospitality Manager, Cardiff City Football Club

Laura usually works for Cardiff City FC full time as their Events and Hospitality Manager, but due to the pandemic, has been working four days a week for the club and two days at the onsite test centre to help with Covid Testing.

Speaking about her reasons for applying to study the PG Cert in Events Management Laura commented,

“I have always wanted to setup my own events business and be my own boss. I felt that by taking part in this course after working in the sector for six years following graduation I would be able to better understand and relate to the research that I was reading. I will definitely be taking learnings from this course to assist with my future aspirations and goals, as well as applying them to my current role at Cardiff City FC.”

On what it means to be a member of our UKCEM Alumni in our 25th year, Laura stated, “It is a huge milestone for the university and it means a lot to be included as there are many lecturers, students and alumni that I look up to and aspire to follow in relation to their careers within events.”

Sam Glenister-Batey

BA (Hons) Events Management, 2005-2009

Head of Events & Venue Hire - Royal College of Music, London

Sam’s career has seen him working in some unique and sometimes challenging venues in London, including the Science Museum, Tower of London and Chiswick House and Gardens, managing events ranging from meetings for 20 people to food and music festivals for up to 30,000.

Sam is currently Head of Events and Venue Hire at the Royal College of Music, located in South Kensington, London. It’s a position he draws a lot of satisfaction from and is “an exciting role that involves promoting and delivering events for external organisations looking for a venue to host their concert, performance, award ceremony, dinner, conference or product launches.”

So why did Sam make the decision to sign up for the PG Cert?

“After a 12-year gap from formal education and with some industry experience under my belt, I had been considering returning to studying for some time as I take the next steps in my career in more senior roles with greater strategic responsibility. Therefore, I was excited to see the opportunity offered by the UKCEM as part of their 25th anniversary celebrations. After one module, I am already seeing significant benefits and am applying my learning to real-life situations. I look forward to the upcoming modules to build on my practical and strategic knowledge to develop and grow as an individual and apply that knowledge in my current and future roles within the industry.”

Sam concluded, “This opportunity means a great deal to me and will allow me to pursue my educational dreams, while also supporting my career ambitions. It is an honour and an absolute joy to be back at Leeds Beckett University and a member of the UKCEM alumni in its 25th year”.

Further Information

We continuously support our alumni through Beckett Connect and our UK Centre for Events Management (UKCEM) Alumni group on LinkedIn. 

For further information about the courses we offer please visit our events management subject page.