Our outstanding alumni
Meet our outstanding alumni and share your success stories with us.
From a bare-knuckle boxing world champion to a space exploration scientist, our alumni do amazing things. Hear about their journey to the job they love, and the challenges they’ve overcome.
How to be a...
Bare-knuckle boxer
Meet Nicola Barke, also known as the Burmese Python, and the first female ever to compete in Burmese bare-knuckle boxing. She’s now ranked number two in the world. Nicola also works for HSBC and mentors women leaders.
Nicola studied BSc(Hons) Biomedical Sciences, 2014.
How to be a...
Space exploration scientist
Meet Nicol Caplin, an astrobiologist working for the European Space Agency. Her biology experiments are destined for the International Space Station, lunar orbit and the lunar surface.
Nicol studied BSc(Hons) Environmental Science, 2014, and a PhD in Plant Radioecology, 2019.
Read Ravi's story"When I was a student I could only dream about winning such an award. It is a testament to the forward thinking education I received at UWE Bristol."
Ravi Naik LLB(Hons), Human Rights Lawyer of the Year 2018
Ravi is Legal Director of AWO, a digital rights firm.
Ravi studied LLB(Hons) at UWE Bristol, graduating in 2006. He is best known for his work on cases that protect individuals' data rights, representing clients in some of the world’s most high profile and controversial cases. Notably, Ravi acts for the claimants in the lead claims against Cambridge Analytica for political profiling, as well as numerous other precedent setting data rights cases.
Read Neha's story"It seems unbelievable that I made something which could really help people, even if it is to a small extent. It's a great feeling for me - and the patients are so happy somebody is thinking of them."
Neha Chaudhry MSc Marketing and BSc(Hons) Product Design Technology, founder of Walk to Beat, a ‘smart’ walking stick for people with Parkinson’s disease.
Neha studied MSc Marketing and BSc(Hons) Product Design Technology.
Neha Chaudhry is the founder of Walk to Beat, a ‘smart’ walking stick for people with Parkinson’s disease. Neha was inspired to help people after witnessing her late grandad struggle with the condition.
The stick uses circuitry concealed in its handle to monitor walking patterns and provides vibrations that help overcome the freezing and falls commonly experienced by people living with Parkinson's. It has attracted the attention of the NHS and Parkinson’s UK charity.
Neha first researched the stick during her final year degree project. She was awarded a grant to develop the idea from the UWE Bristol Fund (which raises money through donations from alumni, staff and students). This cash boost, along with other investments and partnerships, has enabled her to take the idea from concept to reality.
Read Nathan's story"I feel a great pride in being a qualified nurse, and consider my time at UWE Bristol to have been a defining period in my life. I have many happy memories from my time there."
Nathan Filer BSc(Hons) Mental Health Nursing, Costa Book prize-winning Author
Nathan studied BSc(Hons) Mental Health Nursing.
Nathan is a writer, university lecturer and broadcaster with a special interest in mental health.
He studied Mental Health Nursing at UWE Bristol. His debut novel The Shock of the Fall (2013) was written whilst Nathan was working as a staff nurse on an acute psychiatric ward at Southmead Hospital and in mental health research.
The book was an extraordinary success. An intimate portrait of a man’s descent into mental illness, the book won multiple awards, was a Sunday Times bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages.
Nathan has since published The Heartland: Finding and Losing Schizophrenia, also published as This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health (2019), which was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. The charity Rethink Mental Illness named it as one of their best books of the decade.
Alongside academic and research roles, he writes widely on mental health. This includes essays and articles for Guardian and New York Times, a podcast series, a radio documentary and he’s a regular speaker on radio including BBC Radio 2 Book Club, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking and BBC Radio 4’s Open Book, Front Row, All in the Mind.
In 2015, UWE Bristol awarded Nathan with an Honorary Master of Letters in recognition of his role in raising awareness through literature and his commitment to mental healthcare.
UWE Bristol Alumni – share your success story with us. We’d love to hear about your career journey, whether it was a straight path, or with ups and downs or turnarounds. Help us inspire our staff, students and fellow alumni.
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