Research work which helps reduce anxiety among children having MRIs in hospital has been selected as a case study by the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH). The Glowing Stars study, led by Leeds Beckett University, uses participatory, arts-led, digital technology to help prepare young patients (4-11 age group) for MRIs Professor Persephone Sextou from Leeds Beckett University and director of the Creative Arts and Health Research Lab (CAHREL) has led the study collaborating with partners from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, industry partner Xploro, Edge Hill University and the University of Plymouth. The study has led to them feeling less anxious and even smiling as they headed in for their scans. Results The study shows that the app significantly improved childrens understanding of the procedure and had a meaningful impact on their emotional regulation and wellbeing. Glowing Stars study addresses disadvantages the children may experience because of perioperative anxiety and proposes the innovative use of non-pharmaceutical, digital educational solutions. The studys success also increased clinical staff awareness of the benefits of participatory digital preparation for MRI scans and fostered support for future clinical trials to further improve paediatric MRI services. NCCH CreaTech event Now, Professor Sextou has been invited to participate to the in-person audience for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Creative Health roundtable on Digital Health and CreaTech. The event will be in House of Lords on Monday 20th April. The roundtable will explore how creative health can support the NHS to deliver its digital ambitions as outlined in the governments 10 year health plan. Glowing Stars Publication Sextou P, Loizou M, Bray L, Fabri M (2026), "GLOWING STARS: improving the NHS hospital experience of children (aged 411) having an MRI scan using a digital app with augmented reality/avatar, and gamification". Journal of Enabling Technologies, Vol. 20 No. 1 pp. 5671, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-10-2025-0074 Further information CAHREL: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/research/larc/creative-arts-and-health-laboratory/
The certification places Leeds Beckett among a small group of UK universities to hold full certification for an undergraduate cyber security degree, recognising the quality and rigour of the universitys teaching, curriculum and student outcomes. Delivered within the universitys School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing and led by Course Director Dr Pip Trevorrow, the degree underwent a detailed assessment process carried out by an independent panel of experts from academia, government and industry. To achieve certification, the university demonstrated that the programme meets the NCSCs standards across the full design and delivery of the course. This included mapping the curriculum against the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK), evidencing staff expertise, providing assessment materials and student work for review, and demonstrating strong student outcomes and satisfaction. The NCSC Certified Degrees programme aims to help students make informed decisions when choosing cyber security courses and to raise standards of cyber security education across UK higher education. Dr Pip Trevorrow said: This is a fantastic achievement for the team and reflects the quality, rigour and real-world relevance of what we deliver to our students every day. Having the course fully certified by the National Cyber Security Centre is a mark of genuine excellence, and Im immensely proud of everyone who has contributed to reaching this milestone. NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth, Chris Ensor said: The certification of the Leeds Beckett Universitys BSc (Hons) Cyber Security degree by the NCSC demonstrates our shared commitment to responsibly developing the cyber security talent pipeline. Offering a NCSC-certified degree helps prospective students make better informed choices about the quality of courses available, and employers can be assured that graduates will have studied relevant material, be well-taught and have valued industry skills. Practical cyber learning through Hacktivity A key feature of the course is Hacktivity, a cyber security teaching platform developed at Leeds Beckett by Dr Z. Cliffe Schreuders. The platform provides hands-on cyber security learning through practical labs and capture-the-flag style challenges used across modules on the degree. The activities are aligned with the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) framework, supporting the programmes alignment with the standards used in the certification process. Hacktivity has been developed through sustained research and innovation funding, including CyBOK grants and CyberASAP (Innovate UK) commercialisation funding. The platform is also available as an online subscription service used by other UK higher education institutions and individual learners. At the CYBERUK 2025 conference, Ollie Whitehouse, Chief Technology Officer at the National Cyber Security Centre, described Hacktivity as, a truly innovative education platform, which has come out of UK academia. Research and industry connections The BSc (Hons) Cyber Security programme is part of Leeds Becketts wider cyber security activity, including the universitys Cybercrime and Security Innovation Centre, which brings together research expertise, industry collaboration and real-world operational insight. Students on the course can also undertake industry placements, attend professional conferences and complete a major final-year project, often working with employers and partners across the region.
Using Facebook Messengers chatbot technology, the innovative Leeds Beckett bot, allows prospective students to have an online conversation to assess their suitability for undergraduate courses that are available during university Clearing. The chatbot, available both on desktop and mobile, uses a series of menus or keywords to guide students through the Clearing process and is available 24 hours a day. The bot uses keywords that the prospective students type in the chat line to assess which courses they are interested in studying, then requests details of their qualifications and exam results, before making them a provisional offer. A chatbot is a computer programme that holds natural language conversations, mimics human conversation and reacts to spoken or written prompts. Speaking about the bot, Dougal Scaife, Head of Digital at Leeds Beckett, said: We know that our prospective students already use lots of messaging software for communicating with their friends such as Snapchat, WhatsApp as well as texting, so developing a chatbot was a natural evolution in order to engage with our prospective students in a medium thats ubiquitous, familiar, and comfortable for them. Chris Watts, Director of University Recruitment at Leeds Beckett, added: We know that prospective students are undertaking more research prior to results day and are far more clear about both their course and their prospective career path. Unsurprisingly the majority of this research takes place online, with social media forming a key part of the relationship prospective students are building with institutions prior to accepting a place. At Leeds Beckett we continue to be at the forefront of employing new technologies in meeting the needs of our prospective and current students and the launch of this chatbot to make offers to prospective students is a response to this. The bot hasnt replaced more traditional methods of communication, its merely an addition to the already excellent service we seek to provide to all prospective students. Ourphone lines will continue to be open throughout the clearing process. For more information about courses available at Leeds Beckett during Clearing please visit www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/clearing
Current students Calum Wilkinson and Gemma Bridge will be competing alongside Alumni Tom Bosworth and Laura Weightman. Olympian Laura Weightman will kick off her campaign this evening. A 1,500m runner, Laura has been training hard at Leeds Beckett University and in particular with the Universitys Head of Athletics, Andrew Henderson, for the past seven years. Ive been looking after Laura for as long as shes been in Leeds, Andrew said She has come a very long way and Im hoping she can push on after her experience from the last World Championships and perform well this year. I hope that she goes all the way in making it to the final! Rabat 💎 League 4th 4:03.07@Diamond_League #RabatDL Next 1500m .... @London2017 😄🏃🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/ufDgWEg5RU Laura Weightman (@LauraWeightman) July 17, 2017 Meanwhile, Leeds Beckett will be heavily represented in the Race Walking events with three Race Walkers competing on the final day of the Championships, Sunday 14 August. 🚶♀️🚶The Festival of Race Walks take place in the most glorious setting in London.Enjoy this 🕊 over of the Mall #BeTheNext pic.twitter.com/l9XuRyfPlN IAAF World Champs (@IAAFWorldChamps) August 3, 2017 Olympian Tom Bosworth has had a brilliant qualifying campaign having beaten the World Mile Record last month in the Muller Anniversary Games. Toms record breaking walk comes off the back of a very successful 2016 Olympic Games, where he finished 6t h, and he will be looking to improve again in the World Championships. Tom will line-up alongside current Leeds Beckett students Callum Wilkinson and Gemma Bridge. Callum and Gemma will be competing in their first ever World Championships and have taken unique routes to reach the big stage. Callum will be looking to make a name for himself at the World Championships as the current Junior Race Walking World Champion. Meanwhile, Gemma switched from long distance running to race walking 12 months ago and has not looked back since, having qualified for the Championships in spectacular fashion. Good luck to @TomBosworth @CWilko97 @LauraWeightman @glbridge1 all are competing at the @IAAFWorldChamps starting this Friday #TeamBeckett pic.twitter.com/uamnYuVfBa Carnegie Sport (@carnegiesport) July 31, 2017 Gemma won the British and English Race Walking Titles at the British Trials last month, an achievement Andrew Henderson says shouldnt be taken lightly. Gemma has come from Running to Race Walking, this has been her first full year of competing in Race Walking and it just shows how far shes come, Andrew said Shes never competed at this level before so for her to go to the World Championships in her first year is absolutely massive. All three have benefited from the expertise and coaching of Andi Drake. Andi is currently with the athletes in London and is playing a crucial role in their final preparations. Andi deserves a lot of credit for the work that has been done, he has built the Race Walking programme from scratch along with the team into a World Class programme. Mick Hill, Senior Coach (High performance Enterprise) at Leeds Beckett said. All four athletes will be heading into the Championships with high hopes but for Head of Athletics Andrew Henderson, he hopes that all will be happy with their performances, regardless of the result. The dream would certainly be for one of our four athletes to get a medal in this World Championships. That would be fantastic, Andrew said But I just want them all to finish their events and be happy with what theyve achieved and hopefully go on and compete in more Championships in the future. Good luck to all four of our athletes for the World Championships!
Rhodri Thomas, Professor of Tourism and Events Policy at Leeds Beckett and Dean of the School of Events, Tourism Hospitality Management, will speak at the Contemporary Trends in Tourism and Hospitality conference (CTTH 2017), held in Novi Sad in Serbia on 1 and 2 September. Rhodris keynote presentation is entitled New spaces in cultural tourism: a role for universities in innovation? and will explore aspects of the conference theme from the prospective contribution of universities to innovation in local or regional cultural tourism. Rhodri will begin by reviewing what is understood about the dynamics of innovation and the role external knowledge plays in commercial, non-commercial and policy innovation processes in tourism. He will then consider knowledge production undertaken by universities and examine the contribution institutions might make to innovation in cultural tourism, events and festivals. In the presentation he will also consider how the challenges to collaboration might be overcome. CTTH 2017 is an international conference exploring research in tourism, leisure, hotel management, hunting tourism, gastronomy and multidisciplinary studies such are events and meeting industry, entrepreneurship in hospitality and the creative industries. The main aim of the conference is to put emphasis on the importance of cultural and event tourism as important factors for improvement of tourism and general economic image of certain country or region. This year the working title of the conference is New Spaces in Cultural Tourism and the conference is merged with one of the most exciting festival in Novi Sad The Street Musicians Festival. Rhodri Thomas is Professor of Tourism and Events Policy and Dean of the School of Events, Tourism Hospitality Management. Originally trained as an economist, Rhodri now engages in multidisciplinary research in the context of tourism and the events sector. His particular research interests are: (a) public policy studies, especially in relation to small firms, and (b) innovation and knowledge exchange. Rhodri has acted as a 'specialist expert' on policy issues for the OECD, the European Commission and for government departments and other agencies in the UK and elsewhere. He has completed several Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant and non-grant funded projects and is a member of their Peer Review College. His Chair was, uniquely, supported by the Institute of Travel and Tourism (ITT) for five years.
Research work which helps reduce anxiety among children having MRIs in hospital has been selected as a case study by the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH). The Glowing Stars study, led by Leeds Beckett University, uses participatory, arts-led, digital technology to help prepare young patients (4-11 age group) for MRIs Professor Persephone Sextou from Leeds Beckett University and director of the Creative Arts and Health Research Lab (CAHREL) has led the study collaborating with partners from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, industry partner Xploro, Edge Hill University and the University of Plymouth. The study has led to them feeling less anxious and even smiling as they headed in for their scans. Results The study shows that the app significantly improved childrens understanding of the procedure and had a meaningful impact on their emotional regulation and wellbeing. Glowing Stars study addresses disadvantages the children may experience because of perioperative anxiety and proposes the innovative use of non-pharmaceutical, digital educational solutions. The studys success also increased clinical staff awareness of the benefits of participatory digital preparation for MRI scans and fostered support for future clinical trials to further improve paediatric MRI services. NCCH CreaTech event Now, Professor Sextou has been invited to participate to the in-person audience for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Creative Health roundtable on Digital Health and CreaTech. The event will be in House of Lords on Monday 20th April. The roundtable will explore how creative health can support the NHS to deliver its digital ambitions as outlined in the governments 10 year health plan. Glowing Stars Publication Sextou P, Loizou M, Bray L, Fabri M (2026), "GLOWING STARS: improving the NHS hospital experience of children (aged 411) having an MRI scan using a digital app with augmented reality/avatar, and gamification". Journal of Enabling Technologies, Vol. 20 No. 1 pp. 5671, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-10-2025-0074 Further information CAHREL: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/research/larc/creative-arts-and-health-laboratory/
The certification places Leeds Beckett among a small group of UK universities to hold full certification for an undergraduate cyber security degree, recognising the quality and rigour of the universitys teaching, curriculum and student outcomes. Delivered within the universitys School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing and led by Course Director Dr Pip Trevorrow, the degree underwent a detailed assessment process carried out by an independent panel of experts from academia, government and industry. To achieve certification, the university demonstrated that the programme meets the NCSCs standards across the full design and delivery of the course. This included mapping the curriculum against the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK), evidencing staff expertise, providing assessment materials and student work for review, and demonstrating strong student outcomes and satisfaction. The NCSC Certified Degrees programme aims to help students make informed decisions when choosing cyber security courses and to raise standards of cyber security education across UK higher education. Dr Pip Trevorrow said: This is a fantastic achievement for the team and reflects the quality, rigour and real-world relevance of what we deliver to our students every day. Having the course fully certified by the National Cyber Security Centre is a mark of genuine excellence, and Im immensely proud of everyone who has contributed to reaching this milestone. NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth, Chris Ensor said: The certification of the Leeds Beckett Universitys BSc (Hons) Cyber Security degree by the NCSC demonstrates our shared commitment to responsibly developing the cyber security talent pipeline. Offering a NCSC-certified degree helps prospective students make better informed choices about the quality of courses available, and employers can be assured that graduates will have studied relevant material, be well-taught and have valued industry skills. Practical cyber learning through Hacktivity A key feature of the course is Hacktivity, a cyber security teaching platform developed at Leeds Beckett by Dr Z. Cliffe Schreuders. The platform provides hands-on cyber security learning through practical labs and capture-the-flag style challenges used across modules on the degree. The activities are aligned with the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) framework, supporting the programmes alignment with the standards used in the certification process. Hacktivity has been developed through sustained research and innovation funding, including CyBOK grants and CyberASAP (Innovate UK) commercialisation funding. The platform is also available as an online subscription service used by other UK higher education institutions and individual learners. At the CYBERUK 2025 conference, Ollie Whitehouse, Chief Technology Officer at the National Cyber Security Centre, described Hacktivity as, a truly innovative education platform, which has come out of UK academia. Research and industry connections The BSc (Hons) Cyber Security programme is part of Leeds Becketts wider cyber security activity, including the universitys Cybercrime and Security Innovation Centre, which brings together research expertise, industry collaboration and real-world operational insight. Students on the course can also undertake industry placements, attend professional conferences and complete a major final-year project, often working with employers and partners across the region.