Lancaster University: LUMS celebrates successful undergraduate industry placements
The achievements of Lancaster University Management School’s undergraduate (UG) placement students were celebrated at a special event yesterday in recognition of their dedication to their year in industry – despite the challenges of the pandemic.
The ‘LUMS Placement Student of the Year’ event is an annual celebration for LUMS UG placement students who spend their 3rd year of a four year degree working in industry. During this year’s event, held in the West Pavillion yesterday, colleagues and students from across the university gathered to hear the inspirational and impressive stories of placements undertaken throughout Covid – 2020-2021.
During the event, hosted by the LUMS Careers Placements and Internships team, six student finalists from across LUMS spoke of their challenges and of overcoming adversity; their impact and legacy; how they engaged with additional projects and initiatives outside their primary placement role and shared tips and advice to placement students of the future.
All did exceptionally well but one student was declared Placement Student of the Year 2022 – Monib Firoozpoor BSc Marketing Management 2018-2022 – who completed his placement at Sony as a Marketing Analyst in the semiconductor division.
Other finalists included Olivia Clark at The Walt Disney Company, Catrin Harrison at Deloitte, Cara McKenna at Warner Brothers, Danyelle Shobanjo at Fitch Ratings and Nilay Patel at Deloitte.
Juliet Huntington, LUMS Placements and Internships Manager said: “Yesterday’s event was a celebration of all students who completed placements in the 2020-2021 and we recognise and applaud them all! Everyone was bowled over by the passion, commitment, resilience and sheer excellence of our finalists, which presented our judging panel with an extremely difficult task to decide the winner. Amongst the triumph and joy they all shared, there were real challenges – but their successes are testament to their ability and true determination.”
The event judges included two Leaders in Residence – Richard Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of Switch2 Energy and Jo Telfer, Head of Behavioural Insight at Sellafield Ltd – who joined Rory Daly, Head of Careers in LUMS, Nuala Lewis Employer Engagement Manager in Lancaster University Central Careers team and LaVerne Handfield, Employability and Events Coordinator in LUMS Careers on the panel.
Monib said in his presentation, when referring to his academic learning: “The theory doesn’t tell you what to do, instead it tells you how to think. There is no limit to how you can think and solve a problem.”
While judges deliberated, the crowd also heard from Claire Louise Chapman, Director of the Shared Value Business – who demonstrated how social value impacts on communities and the role our students, leaders of the future, have to play starting with questioning work place practices.
Juliet Huntington added: “Our undergraduate students working in industry with companies big and small are our best ambassadors and shine a light on Lancaster University as a hub of student talent. We are very proud of their achievements and are impressed by their tenacity and resilience – they are the ones to watch for the future!”