At BCU, we pride ourselves not just on education but on embedding positive change, innovation and community impact into our work. Here are five exciting initiatives and projects where we are making a real difference.
1. The power of plants with Birmingham Botanical Gardens
BCU is partnered with Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Together, we are exploring how plants can become tools for wellbeing, sustainability and urban regeneration. Through the partnership, staff and students gain access to the Gardens, aiming to support mental health, and giving people the chance to have a closer connection with nature.
The collaboration also enables interdisciplinary research and student projects exploring how plant systems and green spaces can help address urban challenges, including air quality, biodiversity, restorative landscapes and sustainable urban design.
In particular, biomedical science students are already using the Gardens to study medicinal plants to understand how botanical research can intersect with human health.
2. Eastside Projects
BCU is closely linked with Eastside Projects, an artist-run gallery and creative research hub based in Digbeth. Eastside Projects is supported via a creative consortium with BCU and funded by Arts Council England.
Eastside Projects commissions artists, hosts exhibitions, runs public programmes, supports artist-curators and acts as a site for experimental crossovers between art, design and technology.
A notable initiative of the Eastside Projects x BCU collaboration is a mobile art wall gallery system, which has been placed in Midland Metropolitan University Hospital with the aim to promote well-being and recovery through art.
3. School of Music
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire does more than train musicians. It also acts as a bridge between the university and the city, creating positive social, educational and cultural effects.
Amongst other standout work, RBC runs the Primary School of Music project, aimed at embedding a music curriculum in schools by training teachers, delivering workshops and performances and nurture young talent.
The school, St Benedict’s Primary in Small Heath, has been designated as one of four lead schools for music in Birmingham, meaning it plays a central role in coordinating and delivering professional development and music education support across the city.
4. Technology for accessibility
We believe making technology inclusive is a priority, especially in the domain of research on assistive tech and accessible interfaces.
Within the Human–Computer Interaction research area, one project focuses on vibrotactile feedback for the accessibility of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) for blind and visually impaired music creators. This work explores how haptic feedback can make music software more usable to people with sensory impairments.
Experts in Computing at BCU are also working on developing inclusive technology for disabled individuals who want to pursue a career in the gaming industry. With the assistance of an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games, the University has created software that aims to help people with physical impairments launch and progress careers in the sector.
BCU also integrates accessibility principles into its research ethos under sustainability and human-centred design, making sure technologies don’t exclude but empower users with diverse needs.
5. Fashioning Futures
Sustainability in fashion is another area where we’re making meaningful contributions. The aim is to shift the fashion system toward circular models by designing out waste, extending product lifecycles and rethinking how we consume.
The Growth Garden is an initiative within the School of Fashion and Textiles, as part of a move towards more nature-based solutions. The project aims to create more meaningful connections between people, design and ecology, where natural dyes offer low impact plant-based colour palettes.
BCU scholars also published a major review on the circular economy in textiles and fashion, exploring stakeholder collaboration, business models, waste management, sustainable materials and the systemic challenges of circular fashion.
Our fashion and textile courses encourage zero-waste pattern cutting techniques, reuse of fabric waste, upcycling and creative problem-solving. Students are encouraged to use leftover fabric, adopt efficient cutting methods and design with waste in mind.