=== apologies for cross posting, some BU staff may be interested====

Undergraduate Awards (for those of you who might not have come across it, a Dublin-based awards programme celebrating creativity, excellence, and innovative thinking among undergraduate students; it started off, a decade ago, as an Ireland-only programme, but it has since gone global, and become one of the world’s leading programmes of its kind – see http://www.undergraduateawards.com/about-us/) is seeking academics who might consider joining this year’s team of judges. The duties of the role would involve reading, over the next few months, a number of undergraduate essays, and selecting, from each batch of submissions you would receive during each of the three stages of the competition, those which in your view are the best. There will be no need to allocate marks or, until the last stage, to provide written commentary – and even at the last stage, all that will be needed will be just a couple of bullet points on some three or four top submissions (that is how it tends to work in my own area of Literature, anyway). In return, you will have an opportunity to familiarise yourself with some of the best student work from across the world, and in this way to get an insight into how your discipline is developing. There is obviously a time commitment, but it is worth it – I am speaking from experience, having served on the Literature panel for a number of years, including a two-year stint as the panel Chair a few years ago.

Expressions of interest are sought, in particular, for the following panels:

Architecture and Design

Art History and Theory

History

Law

Linguistics

Literature

Philosophy

Politics and International Relations

Psychology

Social Sciences: Anthropology and Cultural Studies

Social Sciences: Sociology and Social Policy

For further information, and/or to express an interest in becoming a UA judge this year, please visit http://www.undergraduateawards.com/get-involved/judges/.

Hoping to work with some of you on the programme this year,

With best wishes,

Jan