A FORMER Bromsgrove firefighter proved she was the perfect role model after helping young people who were victims of crime and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Sophie Newnes was recognised at a special ceremony at Worcesters Guildhall last week, receiving a Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) award.

As part of the services Positive Role Model (PRIME) scheme in North Worcestershire, Sophie was successful in helping vulnerable young people with a diverse range of issues with their personal development.

The youths had been referred to the service for one-to-one support.

As part of the project the young people confided in Sophie about the ongoing criminality they were falling victim to and she was able to bring the matter to the attention of the police, providing details on those committing the crime.

She also liaised between the police and the young people to make the process of giving evidence statements easier for them and she helped the victims communicate what had happened to their parents and guardians.

HWFRS Group Commander Rob Allen who introduced the award said it was thanks to Sophie the criminals faced justice for what they had done.

The perpetrators were brought to trial at Crown Court and received significant custodial sentences.

Sophies contribution was integral to this process and also brought great comfort to the victims and their families, he added.

Sophie now works for Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Firefighter Sophie finally gets to rescue cat in her last run of Bromsgrove shifts

Continued here:
Award for former Bromsgrove firefighter Sophie for being 'perfect role model' for young people - Bromsgrove Standard

The Reserve Bank of Indias decision to reduce risk weight on consumer loans is credit negative as it will encourage banks to increase their exposure to this loan segment at a time when credit risks are already increasing amid a slowdown in the economy, Moodys Investors Service said on Wednesday.

To reduce the cost of loans and boost demand, the banking regulator last week reduced risk weight on consumer loans such as personal loans to 100% from 125%. However, credit card receivables were excluded from the relaxation.

Personal loans have been reporting strong growth in India over the last few years. The segment's compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 22% over fiscal 2013-2019 far exceeded that of 11% in overall banking system loans over this period. Personal loan growth has been particularly strong among large private sector banks, Moodys said.

The ratings agency said the strong growth of personal loans in recent years was supported by the yields offered by these unsecured loans, which were among the highest within retail lending. A benign credit environment, characterized by relatively low credit costs across all key retail loan segments, was a key driver of this growth as it prompted banks to focus on personal loans for their higher yields," it said.

The banking regulators latest decision will lower banks capital requirements and thus the loss absorbing buffer on these loans. It will also encourage banks to further increase their exposure to this cyclical segment at a time when the macroeconomy is slowing, Moodys said.

Indian economy grew at its slowest pace in six years at 5% during the quarter ended June, amid sluggish demand, slowdown in private investment, stress in the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), downturn in the automobile, and job losses.

This raises the risk that asset risk on unseasoned personal loans will rise as a result of potential deterioration in household financial conditions," Moodys said.

Within rated banks, HDFC Bank Limited (Baa2 stable, baa2) has a higher exposure to the personal loans segment and are thus more vulnerable to the potential rise in asset risk as a result of this development," it said.

Continued here:
Moodys says RBIs decision to cut risk weight on consumer loans credit negative - Livemint

Culture Night

Theres a fantastic line-up of events at a number of its locations throughout Ireland for Culture Night, September 20.

In Dublin, the GPO Witness History Museum located in the heart of OConnell Street will be opening its doors free of charge.

Evening tour guides at Newbridge House and Farm, Donabate will take you through three centuries of Irish history as you enjoy some of the finest examples of Georgian period Irish architecture.

At Malahide Castle & Gardens a unique taster tour experience has been created especially for Culture Night. This is not just a tour of the castle: this is a trip through time that will give visitors an extraordinary glimpse into life and times during the 800 years that the Talbot family resided there - right up until 1975.

For more information on these and other events, visit http://www.culturenight.ie

Hardy Annuals Charity Walk

The Hardy Annuals Charity Challenge Walk takes place in Glendalough on Thursday, September 26. The walk is being held to raise money for a fantastic charity, Partnership America Latina, (PAL) and at the same time to provide a challenge for those who have reached retirement age or thereabouts. There are four great hikes to choose from ranging in length from 10km to 22km. Registration for the hikes starts in the Brocagh Centre in Laragh at 9.30am with the actual walks starting at 10am. To register, email Tom Milligan at hardyannuals@gmail.com or phone Fergus Roche on 085-1402480.

World Wellness Weekend

On Saturday, September 21 and Sunday 22, spas and fitness centres around the world are celebrating World Wellness Weekend by offering fitness, health and wellness services to the wider community. Gym Plus Ballsbridge will hold a special Yoga class on Saturday at 10am as well as a Pilates class on Sunday at 10am for 30 minutes.

Gym Plus Rathfarnham will be running additional classes including a Pilates class on the Saturday from 1pm.

It will be a mixed level class and will be available free to members. In addition, they are delighted to be including a free Tai-Chi class on Sunday at 1.30pm.

For more information visit http://www.gymplus.ie

Educating Rita

This well-loved comedy by Willy Russell was made famous by the popular 1983 film starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. It explores universal themes of social class, education, personal development and authenticity.

It runs until Saturday, September 21 at 8pm in dlr Mill Theatre Dundrum, Dundrum Town Centre. Tickets: 18 / 16. Box Office: http://www.milltheatre.ie / Tel: 01 2969340

The First Pegeen

She was a stage-struck 19-year-old, he was a director of the Abbey Theatre approaching middle age. She was a caution, he was just cautious. She was a city girl, he liked country roads best. Theirs was an unlikely love from the start.

And yet this cockeyed Romeo and Juliet were so enraptured by each other that the affair between JM Synge and Molly Allgood remains one of the Irish theatres most endearing and enduring stories.

It opens at Bewleys Caf Theatre on September 24 and runs until October 12. Booking: 086-8784001, http://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com

Joxer Daly Esq

Joxer Daly Esq will be staged at the Sean OCasey Theatre, East Wall on Saturday, September 21 at 8pm.

Sean O'Casey's playful scrounger from the classic, Juno and the Paycock, takes centre stage in this intriguing play from the pen of Eddie Naughton.

Brilliantly portrayed by veteran comic actor, Phelim Drew, Joxer's love of language, humour, literature and song, together with a drinker's purple recollection, make this a performance like no other.

Tickets, which cost 10, are available at http://www.eventbrite.ie

European Games Festival

The European Games Festival will bring together over 15,000 guests to Croke Park on September 21 & 22. The festival celebrates everything gaming from across the world, whether youre new to gaming or a veteran. One of the main highlights will be Irelands Largest esports event consisting of four of the top games in the world being played over the two days.

Happy Days Beer & Food Festival

Theres a cracking festival taking place at Rascals HQ taproom & pizza restaurant Inchicore, on Saturday, September 21 from midday until 10pm. Irish and international breweries will be pouring their finest beers for visitors to enjoy and therell be food trucks serving up a variety of dishes on the day. Theres also free brewery tours, food and beer pairing sessions and a blindfold beer tasting challenge.

Excerpt from:
HAPPENINGS: - Dublin People

Advice to Her Younger Self features female leaders who are harnessing the power of technology to drive changeand want to help the next generation do the same. These experts are using tech to build better communities and a better world as active members of the new field called Public Interest Technology, and theyre opening up to us about what theyve learned along the way. This series is produced in partnership with the Ford Foundation.

What unites the educational and career stops on Mitchell Bakers oddball path, as she puts it, to becoming the head of Mozilla may not be completely obvious to outsiders.

To the California native, though, the theme is crystalline: A very deep interest in organizational dynamics and social dynamics, she declares. How do communities form? How do people work together, why do they work together, what motivates people?

Such questions have propelled Baker since her undergraduate days at the University of California in Berkeley, where she focused on Asian Studies. One of a tiny group of students then interested in China, she wanted to understand exactly how a culture so unlike her own operated. What rules and conventions did people abide by to make sure that their society was functional, intact and enduring?

It is an inquiry that can be applied to a seemingly endless number of contextsand, in fact, fueled Baker through the rigors of law school and beyond.

At Berkeleys Boalt Hall she examined those questions by way of contracts, which she says fascinated her because they create a unique partnership in which private citizens make private agreements that are enforceable by the state rule of law.

That is the thing that caused me to become a lawyer, she says. I wasnt actually sure I would ever work as a lawyer, but I certainly wanted to understand that. This kind of private-public collaboration allows a huge variety of activities, she explains. It allows a kind of confidence and trust, and allows both risk taking and new ideas, and it allows us to describe beforehand how were going to share risk and share benefit.

After graduation, Baker sought work that would take her back to China, and found it with a law firm that represented Palo Alto tech companies. Her brief was software licensing, but it was the early days, still, of the tech era, and she wanted and needed a granular understanding of her subject matter in order to perform her job well.

She started, then, by asking more questions: What is this piece of technology, where does it fit with others, how exactly does it connect, how are you going to sell it? From there, she hopscotched her way up the tech laddermoving first to the now defunct and for-profit Sun Microsystems to Netscape and then, finally, to Mozilla. In that path, she moved from the private world to the public, and to the revolutionary act of creating and supporting now ubiquitous and global free internet softwarethe very foundation of public interest technology.

Baker realized early on that open source software offered yet another apparatus through which to answer the question that had long guided her: Why do people voluntarily contribute to a shared workflow and a shared asset at the end of it, which is what open source is?

Creating open source software required meeting the same challenges put before any nascent society or communal system.How do we organize ourselves and open source communities? she asks. There are a few core open source licenses, and when they were written and debated, people really thought of them as what is the constitution of the community that I am joining, and how does this software development work, and what are my rights, and what are my obligations?

Forged in part by her desire to examine these questions, Bakers path was, as she says, sui generis because of its unpredictability. But it was also unique because of her comfort with making her own way, and because she was a woman working in an industry dominated by men.

Baker didnt really understand the importance of mentors when she was coming up, and simply barreled ahead professionallybut she urges younger people, particularly women, to cultivate beneficial relationships with more experienced colleagues. If youre lucky, some set of people actually go out of their way to really help you, she says. I think thats harder for women. Research shows that people go out of their way to draw in people who are like them.

Gender disparities also played themselves out in more insidious ways in Bakers experience. One colleague from AOL, for example, disliked her self-confidence. The words he usedI was too aggressive, blah blah blah, she recounts. Ten years later we start to see research about how sometimes its a no win setting for women; if youre not aggressive youre passed over, but if you actually are as assertive as the mostly men around you, youre too aggressive and youre unpleasant and all that stuff. All of that language, almost verbatim, is what he said about me.

Baker didnt lose her nerve, her job or the support of her other colleagues. And that proved powerful.The fact that Mozilla exists as an independent organization, a non-profit organization, is because there were other people, she says, and they had to be men, around who were willing to bridge that gap between me as the leader of Mozilla and this man who refused to talk to a woman who knew what her organization needed and was determined to get.

The persistence of sexism aside, Baker is now preoccupied by two pressing concerns. One is the shifting balance between the state and the individual in traditional democracies, such that rights of content makers are being privileged over the rights of the individual. The other is a subsequent question: How can people retain free will in an age when every platform seems to mine and exploit personal data?

What really causes you to buy something? What really causes you to be angry? Or what causes you enough to be angry to get up and do something? These are things that data will tell you, she says. The predictive power of machine learning is very strong. And will increasingly be so.how do individual human beings, you and I, continue to have, Ill call it agency, but understanding and influence/control over how were acting?

Baker does not know the answer, but wants very much for people studying tech and STEM to do so with an eye toward ethics and the humanities, disciplines that will undoubtedly help us engage this question. She wants university curricula to weave these issues into their pedagogy so that the learning process includes its impact on humanity.

Theres a range of things about how technology impacts people, she says, like neuroscience, right? And research into manipulation.What the curriculum looks likewe need to develop it. And it needs to start very young, because technology starts very young.

See the article here:
Mozilla Co-Founder Mitchell Baker's Advice to Her Younger Self - Ms. Magazine

Following the success of the business programme last year, Tamworth Borough Council and Lichfield District Council have linked with Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerces (GBCC) young professional division, Future Faces, and sponsored 12 places across the two authorities.

These free places are aimed at young professionals within local businesses, offering the opportunity to network, develop and be recognised for their talent across Greater Birmingham.

Future Faces is a multi-sector programme and aims to develop future leaders. The one-year membership includes the opportunity to attend a minimum of two events per month.

The first is a relaxed social networking meeting at a Birmingham venue, providing members a chance to talk to other like-minded professionals from a mix of sectors and expand ideas, business contacts and support, as well as making new friends.

The second event is a professional development workshop, designed to help members develop their leadership and professional skills.

We are really pleased to have been able to collaborate with the councils in this project, and hope to continue to work with them and more young professionals in Lichfield and Tamworth.

Sessions are led by influential business leaders from across a mix of sectors, all offering an insight to improving individual business potential, access to a personal development mentor and the opportunity to be on the Future Faces executive committee.

Members of the programme will also have access to feature their business news on the Future Faces page in Chamberlink Magazine or the weekly e-newsletter.

In addition, the programme also invites all members to their flagship event the Future Faces Annual Dinner and Awards which recognises the talent of all young professionals in the area.

Successful applicants are from a variety of business sectors including catering, finance, marketing, photography, music education and accountancy.

Laura Sutton, a business owner for The Cake Spa in Lichfield, describes how she feels being successfully accepted for Future Faces: As a business owner in my first year of trade, I am really excited to part of the Future Faces membership. The programme offers free events and great networking opportunities, plus support for training and knowledge sharing. I cant wait to get involved; it can only benefit my new business.

Alex Perry, a Business Development and Marketing Manager for The Training Initiative in Tamworth, said: I feel extremely lucky to be part of the Future Faces programme. Im looking forward to attending the different events, learning things that will benefit my career in the short and long-term; and also increasing my confidence.

Being from a small town like Tamworth, I have found it hard to connect with likeminded, career focussed individuals, so this programme is amazing for that. Another benefit is getting discounts and free tickets to events, the first being tickets to the ballet at Birmingham Hippodrome.

More information regarding Future Faces is available at: http://www.greaterbirminghamchambers.com/our-group/future-faces/

James Blackman, president of the Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber of Commerce, said: We are really pleased to have been able to collaborate with the councils in this project, and hope to continue to work with them and more young professionals in Lichfield and Tamworth.

TheLichfield and Tamworth Chamber are committed to endorsing and supporting young professionals, helping them to connect, collaborate and grow.

Cllr Jeremy Oates, Tamworth Borough Council Cabinet member for Heritage and Growth, said: Future Faces is an excellent opportunity for diverse, talented, young professionals to expand their skills and knowledge within a programme that offers professional support and a strong network of business contacts.

Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce have created this annual membership to help network, develop and recognise young professionals across all sectors. Congratulations to all 12 successful applicants, I hope they will take full advantage of this rewarding membership and investment opportunity.

Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Councils Cabinet member for Investment, Growth and Tourism said: I am really pleased for all the winners of the Future Faces competition. This will give them a competitive advantage and could really help shape their careers. Its wonderful to see so much talent coming forward and to hear about their business ventures. I wish them all the best and hope they get a lot out of the Future Faces initiative.

READ MORE: Staffordshire PCC engages Chamber to step up the battle against Modern Day Slavery

See more here:
Young professionals receive a free 12-month business programme - Tamworth Informed

Simon and Hilary Vallely are passionate about dairying.

They encourage those with a similar enthusiasm to enter the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards' Southland/Otago regional competition. Entries open on October 1.

The couple, who won the 2018 Southland/Otago regional Share Farmers of the Year competition, are 50/50 sharemilkers near Gore with 490 cows and have a 210,000kgMS target. They also have bought land to raise beef animals as an investment.

The Vallelys recently became the new regional managers for the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, taking over the role from Darren Stenning.

They oversee the organising committee, which includes last year's regional winners: share farmers of the year Cameron and Nicola Van Dorsten; dairy manager of the year James Matheson, and dairy trainee of the year Caycee Cormack.

All four are section team leaders and are working hard to generate interest in the competition.

"We are in the early stages but Caycee Cormack and James Matheson have been out talking to Young Farmers' clubs," Mr Vallely said.

"They talk about how it [the competition] can help careers.

"It pushes you outside your comfort zone."

There are also entrants' and sponsor evenings planned.

He and Mrs Vallely went to the national competition and for him, one of the highlights was making friends with people from other regions.

"We still keep in contact with them."

It was good for professional development and it enhanced their business operations, as well as adding to their profile for further opportunities in the dairy industry.

There were 11 share farmers entered last year in the region and they hoped to do as well this year for numbers.

He would also like to see more dairy trainees and farm managers enter as the experience was invaluable and the prizes "exceptional".

"People should give it a go," he said.

He said judges would look at the business's financials, pasture, land, staff and animal management. The entrants' community involvement and personal development were also assessed, with work and life balances considered important areas by the judges

"Dairy farming is not a sprint. It's a marathon," he said.

Judging for the first round will take place in February, with the finals round in early March.

The regional awards dinner is on March 21 at the Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill.

Go here to read the rest:
Award winners encourage entrants - Otago Daily Times

Photo by Victoria Valle

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CAROLINA FLORES

College is a socially tumultuous time as some students struggle to live on their own for the first time, enter their first romantic relationships or simply grapple with the question of what they are to do with their lives. Thankfully, at St. Marys students have access to low-cost counseling services that may aid them through any personal struggles.

There is a common misconception thattherapy is for people who have reached a lowpoint in their life. A student may seek therapyto work out interpersonal issues or becausethey wish to gain self-knowledge. Thereshould be no stigma attached to counselingas it shows high emotional intelligencein knowing where there are aspects in apersons life that could be improved. Theresalso a stigma that perhaps going to therapymeans one is crazy but many people whohave undiagnosed disorders attend therapy.

Seeking counseling also does not meanthat a person has few coping resourcesor that they do not have people in theirlife to help them through rough times.However, it is important to rememberthat friends are not therapists, nor shouldthey be. Sometimes therapy can help bringobjectivity to a situation. For instance, thereare things called cognitive distortionsirrational thought patterns common inthose with depression and anxietythatonly a trained professional may detect.Therapists may point out cues such as usingabsolutes in a persons speech, that a friendis not trained to do. Seeking wise counselamongst trusted adults including professors,religious affiliated brothers, or other facultymembers on campus can help provide betterresources and advice for students.

Therapy is also more effective thanpsychoactive medication such as

antidepressants or anxiety medication.While medication can help the mind toimmediately adapt, the goal of therapy isto seek long-term solutions to negativethought patterns. However, psychiatricservices are also availablenote that theydiffer from counseling serviceswhere astudent may request to be evaluated by amedical professional at little cost and alsopossibly receive prescribed medication.If any student seeks a diagnosis forsomething such as ADHD, they can book anappointment with the student psychologicalcenter to be evaluated. Dr. Thomas Matthewsis the trusted psychiatrist at St. Marys,

he is an associate of University of TexasHealth Science Center at San Antonio. Heoffers psychiatric evaluation and diagnosisthat can help students be more aware oftheir mental health and possible ways toovercome any mental disabilities or traumasuch as stress. Relationship counseling isalso available on campus; only one partnermust be a St. Marys student. Poor mentalhealth can be as academically detrimentalas a chronic physical illness. Students shouldknow that going to therapy shows an activedesire to get better; if they suffer froma psychological condition, scheduling atherapy appointment is the first step towardrecovery. If any student requires emergencyhelp, a counselor on duty may be accessedby calling the 24-hour crisis response at 210-825-3622.

While academics should be a priorityfor students, mental health should alwayscome first. College is a time for personalgrowth and self-awareness. The best way todo so is through reflection and counseling.Therapy can offer students counselingfrom a professional to help organize onesthoughts and bring inner peace that canbe lasting throughout a students life evenafter graduation.

Go here to see the original:
MENTAL MOMENTS: ThTherapy is beneficial for students - The Rattler

The Department of Education is investigating more than 50 cases in which schools are alleged to be misusing special needs teachers by using them to teach mainstream classes.

Under official rules, resource teachers and special needs assistants should be used only for supporting vulnerable pupils with additional needs.

Parents and special needs campaigners, however, say they are aware of many cases where resource teachers assigned to help their children have ended up being used to plug gaps in the classroom.

This, they say, is depriving vulnerable children of vital supports in the classroom.

Adam Harris, chief executive of the autism support group AsIAm, said: Its concerning to see so many cases where it appears additional teaching time is being misused. These are only the cases documented by the department. Were aware of many more allegations.

He said the issue was all the more concerning given the number of special needs children on reduced hours timetables or being suspended, often on the basis that schools lacked expertise to support these children.

Some school teachers and principals, however, say that a combination of teacher shortages and underfunding means they are sometimes left with little other option.

The department confirmed to The Irish Times that it has received 88 reports of potentially inappropriate use of special education teaching resource across both primary and secondary schools since September 2017. The majority of these reports arose from school inspections.

It said it had written to all the schools 71 primary, 17 secondary to request they review their provision and confirm the school is utilising its allocation in accordance with guidelines, and provide copies of timetables.

Of the 88 schools, it said 34 schools had confirmed they were now utilising their allocation in accordance with the guidelines.

Of the 50-plus remaining cases, a further 29 schools had replied and their responses were being reviewed, while replies are awaited from 20 schools.

The department said it was continuing to engage with five schools which had not yet been in a position to demonstrate compliance.

Further follow-up action may then take place with schools, including an inspection visit, if necessary, the department said in a statement.

Some of the initial inspection reports indicate that some schools have been using resource teachers for mainstream class teaching, or reducing the pupil-teacher ratio in mainstream classes.

There have also been reports of using special needs staff to provide additional subjects for pupils who do not have special educational needs.

A new model for allocating special education teachers to schools was introduced in September 2017.

The department said, in advance of this, that a circular was sent to schools stating that schools should ensure that additional special needs teaching supports should be used in their entirety to support pupils identified with special educational needs, learning support needs, and additional literacy needs such as English as an additional language.

It said the criteria under which special needs assistants (SNAs) were allocated to schools to provide for the additional care needs of children was also set down in a circular sent to all schools.

This notes that SNAs are recruited specifically to assist in the care needs of pupils with disabilities in an educational context.

SNAs, therefore, do not have a teaching-pedagogical role and it would not be appropriate for pupils with special needs to be taught by an SNA, it said in a statement.

The department added that the Education Act (1998) outlined the primacy of the teacher in the education and personal development of students in schools.

Many children with significant special educational needs also receive additional teaching support from a special education teacher, who supports the classroom teacher.

When a pupil with significant and complex care needs has access to support from an SNA, the classroom teacher and the special education teacher will work closely with the SNA.

However, the class teacher continues to have primary responsibility for teaching and learning, and for the social and emotional development and progress of the pupil, the department said.

Mr Harris, meanwhile, called for increased inspections to ensure misuse of resources is spotted.

He also said that plans to develop an alternative model of support to replace the current SNA scheme should be paused until there is confidence that the current system is being appropriately managed.

View original post here:
Schools misusing special needs teachers, say parents - The Irish Times

Every tech festival has a huge list of speakers and panellists, impressive and interesting in their own right. But honestly, we all want to know who the biggest names are. In other words, who's headlining?

Here's a quick introduction to our host and our three headliners for the Women in Tech Festival, plus why you won't want to miss a minute of their talks.

The Women in Tech Festival 2019 will be hosted by the brilliant Viv Groskop, comedian and author of How to Own the Room, plus host of the popular podcast of the same name.

She'll be giving an interactive presentation about how inspirational women get the world to sit up, pay attention and really hear what they're saying. She'll cover everyone from Virginia Woolf to Michelle Obama via Joan River, pointing out their signature techniques and explaining how you can use them for your own benefit.

Viv has spent years coaching senior executive women, as well as hosting book tours for the likes of Jo Brand, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. She's been taking one-woman shows to the Edinburgh Fringe for half a decade, and has written books including The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature, and of course How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking. Right now, she's working on the next one, called Au Revoir, Tristesse: Lessons in Happiness from French Literature.

You might also have seen her on The Week on BBC 1, and presenting Front Row and Saturday Review on BBC Radio 4. Her talk will begin at 9.20am.

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE is the Co-Founder of Stemettes, which -in the unlikely event you haven't heard the name - is a multi-award-winning social enterprise that encourages girls into careers in STEM (science, tech, engineering and maths).

Dr Imafidon earned her Masters' degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford at the age of just 20, and went on to win the Barclays UK Woman of the Year' award among many others. She's frequently listed in compilations of the brightest and most influential tech stars in the world, and received her MBE in the 2017 New Year's Honours for services to young women and STEM sectors.

Anne-Marie's keynote speech will take you through the journey from the bottom to the top of tech, working for companies including Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard and Deutsche Bank on the way. She's given brilliant talks at huge festivals including SXSW and Founders Forum, and now brings her inspiring brand of tech activism to the Women in Tech Festival.

You'll come away with tactics and strategies you can use to climb the ladder in tech, ways to lay a path to your dream career and insights from the stumbles Dr Imafidon made along the way. This will undoubtedly be one of the most popular talks of the day, so make sure you're comfortably seated for the kickoff at 9.50am.

Software engineer and co-chair of Financial Times Women UK, Angelique specialises in publishing software and content management systems for newsrooms. This focus has put her at the heart of the news industry for the past decade.

Having moved over from the art world, Angelique was surprised to find how few women there are in tech when she transitioned into software development at the Financial Times. As a result, she founded FT Women UK, which she still co-chairs, and has spearheaded several other initiatives aimed at getting more women to join and stay in the industry.

Angelique's headline speech is titled Entering the tech industry, and covers how to identify transferable skills from other roles to help you make the move into tech. She'll also discuss how we get women into a wider range of tech roles, how we can improve education around the jobs available in tech now and in the future and how to choose which qualifications to take when the future is ever-changing. Her talk starts at 4pm.

Head of Technology at Sky, Natasha's talk will be happening at the same time as Angelique Vu's - so you'll need to choose between them. Tough call!

Natasha heads up technology for Sky's huge Digital Service sector, but she's also the founder of Leeds' Ladies Of Code group as well as being on the Industrial Advisory Board for the University of Leeds' School of Computing. If that wasn't enough prestige, she's been named one of the top 100 women in tech for founding the national Empowering Women With Tech initiative, which has welcomed more than 1,000 people to its educational events and mentoring scheme.

Meanwhile, The Times'named Sky as one of the top 50 employers for women.

Natasha's talk will discuss why human or 'soft' skills are every bit as important as the 'hard' skills, aka the technical stuff. The title - Anything but FLUFFY - refers to the fact that while they might be called 'soft,' human skills aren't some woolly nice-to-have attributes. They're actually vital, especially considering the skills shortage in tech right now.

Natasha will also cover personal development, especially outside work, and how we improve inclusivity in tech.

Decided which talks you most want to see? Grab your tickets for the Women in Tech Festival UK 2019 here.

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Who's heading today's Women in Tech Festival? - http://www.channelweb.co.uk

DUBAI, 17th September, 2019 (WAM) -- The Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, MBRU, welcomed its fourth batch of students for the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, MBBS, programmes.

The university celebrated the arrival of new students at the 4th MBRU White Coat Ceremony in the presence of Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences.

MBRU welcomed 62 students of 18 nationalities, taking the total number of MBBS undergraduates to more than 200, in line with its mission to advance health in the UAE and the region through an innovative and integrated academic health system.

This years ceremony expanded its reach to welcome students from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malawi and Dominica, representing an important step for the students, as they took the Hippocratic Oath and wore their medical white coats for the first time.

In her keynote speech, Al Amiri said, "Students pursuing a career in medicine are well aware of their future role as doctors and the intrinsic ethical, national and humane responsibilities associated with this role in saving peoples lives and preserving their health."

She added that medicine is largely and essentially dependent on advanced sciences and future technologies, which makes it imperative for doctors and medical students to pursue continuous learning and acquire high-end skills to further develop the medical sector in the UAE.

The minister hailed the role of the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences in nurturing specialised medical staff.

Professor Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, Dean of the College of Medicine, said, "Through a transformative learning experience, access to research opportunities and global connectivity, our students are the embodiment of our mission to advance health in the UAE and the region, while embracing respect, integrity and excellence, which are the qualities of a complete physician."

Dr Laila Alsuwaidi, Assistant Dean of Student Happiness and Wellbeing at the College of Medicine, added, "In addition to interactive learning and clinical exposure, the students will have access to a range of facilities and activities to enhance their experience and personal development during their time at the MBRU."

The 4th White Coat Ceremony also recognised the key supporters of the students at the MBRU, including the Dubai Ruler's Court, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, the Dubai Health Authority, the Al Jalila Foundation, the Al Jalila Children's Speciality Hospital, Mediclinic Middle East, Queens University Belfast, and the Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai.

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Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine holds 4th White Coat Ceremony - WAM EN