Our Year in Review

2023/2024

An introduction

It’s been a year of change at Royal Holloway, with exciting developments across the university including the launch of our new strategy, RH2030s. In a testing higher education landscape, we continue to innovate with our students firmly in focus.

There is a lot to celebrate and we’d like to share some of our many achievements as a community.

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“At Royal Holloway, we will continue to empower our students as current and future leaders, to instil a sense of belonging and ensure their voices are being heard, particularly in an unstable global and political environment.”

Julie Sanders
Vice-Chancellor and Principal

OUR YEAR IN NUMBERS

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

CoSTAR National Lab

Royal Holloway leads CoSTAR National Lab, a £75.6m initiative advancing UK creative technology, uniting industry and academia to pioneer immersive storytelling and future computing innovations with partners like Pinewood Studios and BT.

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Omnidrome

This year, we boosted engagement through Omnidrome, our hub for drone and robotics innovation. The inaugural event brought together academics, industry leaders, and researchers, fostering collaboration and receiving excellent feedback.

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person holding light bulb

Social Science Impact Accelerator

SSIA funds collaborative projects that apply social science expertise globally, supporting partnerships, public engagement, and training. Initiatives include AI awareness, midwifery research, and charitable giving psychology, benefiting communities and early-career researchers.

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selective focus photography of wheat

Sustainable Engineering and Food Security

SEFS fosters partnerships to advance innovative research in sustainable food production. Projects include enhancing carotenoid-rich crops to combat Vitamin A deficiency, a critical health issue causing thousands of child deaths annually.

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Global Engagement and Partnerships

University of London Federation Member

We have a long-standing relationship with the University of London (UoL), delivering distance learning undergraduate and postgraduate degrees through the UoL platform and Coursera. Our BSc Business Administration is taught at over 20 recognized teaching centres worldwide, with academic direction from Royal Holloway, offering an engaging and interdisciplinary learning experience. In 2023/24, we expanded this program to teaching centres in Bahrain, Dubai, and Pakistan, with more institutions set to join. Currently, 1,069 students are enrolled in the BSc at UoL centres, alongside many independent learners pursuing Royal Holloway’s online distance learning degrees.

Study Group

Study Group, our collaborative partner for over 13 years, has continued to deliver high-quality international solutions that drive success for our partners and students. These range from outstanding teaching of the pathway programmes at Royal Holloway International Study Centre (ISC) on the Egham campus to innovative approaches to international recruitment and student support.

In 2023/24, the ISC educated 295 students from 63 different nationalities – the most diverse cohort since the Study Group partnership began. This diversity within the ISC cohort contributes to Royal Holloway’s degree diversity, particularly at the undergraduate level. The ISC team also worked hard to reduce the attrition rate to 9%, down from 22% the previous year.

Turing Scheme

The UK government-funded Turing Scheme supports Global Britain by enabling institutions from across the UK educational sectors to provide their students, learners and pupils with lifechanging experiences to study or work abroad.

Thanks to the scheme, we have been able to offer our students over 200 additional work and study placements abroad each year through volunteering opportunities and summer schools in countries including Cambodia, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Thailand and the USA. The scheme also supports longer duration visits for students on degrees with an integrated year abroad or those who choose to apply for a year out.

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Local Community

We are proud to have engaged extensively with local communities through partnerships, research initiatives and civic activities in Surrey and west London. Our relationship with our wider community is extremely important to us.

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Our Alumni

Men's Lives in Stories

Daniel Bird (BA Drama and Theatre, 2005) has published Sorry Men, a darkly comic collection of short stories exploring earnestness, desperation, fate, farce, hilarity, and hopelessness. In one story, a father tattoos his daughter’s crayon drawings all over his body to keep them in sight. In another, two astronauts search the solar system for a new home for humanity while longing for their exes.

Prison Sounds

Criminologist Kate Herrity (BSc Criminology and Sociology, 2014) spent a year at a men's prison studying the social meaning of its constant soundscape and what it reveals about prison life. Her book, Sound, Order and Survival in Prison, challenges current views on power and the lasting impact of incarceration. It is dedicated to her tutor and supervisor, Dr Richard Smith.

Film Premiere

Award-winning film director and writer Shamim Sarif (BA English, 1990) recently released Polarized, a feature film about two women from different backgrounds in a small Canadian town. The film premiered to rave reviews at BFI Flare, Europe’s largest queer film festival. Shamim also directed an episode of YOU on Netflix and is now writing a pilot for a potential TV adaptation of her latest books.

A Royal Honour

Simon Lindley (BMus Music, 2015), a musician in the British Army, had the honour of taking part both in the funeral procession for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III’s Coronation procession – as well as performing at the FA Cup Final and events around the world.

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Celebrating 175 years of education at Bedford College

2024 marked the 175th anniversary of the founding of Bedford College with festivities at three places of significance for Bedford alumni.

The year’s celebrations began with an ‘Afternoon at Bedford Square’ on 20 April. On 6 July, at Bedford College’s former site in Regent’s Park, there was a ‘First Principles’ talk which focused on the founding principles of social purpose, global education and social transformation – principles that remain at the forefront of our strategy today.

The culmination of the year’s celebrations took place at the University’s annual Heritage Open Day at Egham campus on 15 September.

Environmental Sustainability

Since declaring a climate emergency in 2019, we’ve strengthened our sustainability efforts, launching our first strategy in 2022 and appointing Mark Berry as Head of Sustainability in 2023. Key initiatives include a new Environmental Policy, integrating sustainability into operations, teaching, and research, and establishing an Environmental Footprint Database.

Learn more about our work.

Our Road to Net Zero

We continue to power our campus with zero-carbon electricity, supported by solar panels, electric vehicles, and fossil fuel-free investments. To meet Net Zero commitments, we’ve converted two buildings to heat pumps, developed a Decarbonisation Planning Tool, and initiated a Green Travel Plan. We’ve also joined the Climate Action Barometer Founders Group to drive emissions reductions across education.

OUR RH2030s STRATEGY

Becoming a values-led organisation is one of the key aims of our new strategy. This year we undertook an ambitious pan-University project to identify what our institution stands for, forming the values which will guide every aspect of our decision making and day-to-day work as we move forward.

These values will sit alongside our four strategic ambitions – inclusive education and research, skills for choice and opportunity, partnerships and collaboration, and civic-minded, globally-engaged.

EXPLORE OUR STRATEGY
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