A Major Success for our Hospitality Research Poster Exhibition - University of Brighton, School of Sport and Service Management

Hospitality Research Expo 2018.

After weeks of preparation, research and practise the final year students of  BA(hons) International Hospitality Management delivered a day of excitement and innovation for our module of Contemporary Issues in Hospitality Management (HH600).  Following feedback from students and visitors of past years, the event was tweaked to enable students to better focus and showcase both their creativity and academic prowess.

This resulted in a research poster expo which enabled visitors to vote for the best poster and thus deliver bonuses to the top 3 groups.  Dr Ioannis  S. Pantelidis, module leader said 'We have been running the annual hospitality management expo for as long as I remember but as successful as the expo was our module team still felt that we did not fully showcase our student's research skills. Some groups were focusing more on the showmanship and less on researching and validating the core elements of their concept.  The feedback from students and other stakeholders about the expo has always been so positive that for years we were reluctant to change the format afraid that we may diminish the learning experience. This year we decided to take the leap forward, at first we were a little apprehensive as we did not want our students to miss out on the excitement and creative innovation of past years, but at the same time we wanted to push our students  more so that they can showcase a number of transferable skills including research skills that perhaps in past expos were not as easily facilitated. This new format together with an enhanced Dragons Den formative preparation enabled us to achieve more than what we hoped we could.'

The module team received numerous emails and feedback from students and visitors. One of those emails read 'Dear Ioannis... I hold you guys responsible for my outburst of tears of joy and emotion. ...We all had a really good time, considering where our group came from and how many times we changed our concept.  I feel we are a perfect case study to come speak to your students next year!....The HH600 module results have affirmed my beliefs, that the choice I made to get my full degree and continue with a Masters will happen. The comments have given me such a boost... I just wanted to thank yourself and Connor, for making this module a great experience, its made me believe in myself. We are taking the concept further and I look forward to discussing it with you shortly".

At least three out of the eleven concepts hope to push forward with bringing their concept to the market and the School of Sport and Service Management (SaSM) hopes to create an Incubator space to facilitate such enterprises. Dr Pantelidis working in partnership with BeePurple will reinforce the existing entrepreneurial network opportunities within the University of Brighton.  He hopes that the SaSM Imaginarium (an incubator named so after the Hospitality Imagineering postgraduate module) will be a beacon of inspiration for students wishing to take their concepts seriously and continue their careers as captains of their own future.

The module team really enjoyed running this new format which proved to be a great success amongst students, visitors and academic assessors alike. Dr Conor Sheehan said: 'The Hospitality Research Expo 2018 showed us what our students were made of. Innovative hospitality concepts showcased with conviction, energy and enthusiasm by the elite of tomorrow’s hospitality workforce. Surpassing all expectations to make a teacher truly proud of his students’ exceptional  achievements.'

Gillian Parfitt is course leader for the  BA(hons) International Hospitality Management and International Student liaison tutor.   She also leads the team at the Culinary arts studio who facilitated a wonderful goodbye evening meal for our students and colleagues.  Upon reflecting on the day she said:  'What a fantastic day!  The Hospitality Expo 2018 exceeded all expectations this year and has provided a wonderful opportunity for the students to show just how creative and innovative they can be. I am so proud of all of them and the Hospitality Industry will be so lucky to have such excellent graduates across the world when they finish their course in July.  I am going to miss them all a lot!

We also were lucky to have the students currently studying at the International College visiting us for the day and they were able to visit the Expo to really experience University life and a really different style of assessment.  Following the Expo, we all met up in the Culinary Arts Studio for a little celebration of such a great day - tinged with a little sadness that the students on our European Batchelor of Arts programme are now returning to France and Holland to complete their studies.

Thank you to the module tutors Ioannis and Conor and I can't wait to see what new ideas and concepts Expo 2019 brings!'

For a 360 degree video of the pre-opening of the expo see this:

 (click and drag, or use arrows at top left of video to change point of view)

And for a video with highlights from the expo see this: