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Events for Schools and Colleges

Taster Week

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The Essex Taster Week 2022

5-8 July 2022

Every year we host a series of exciting taster days for students in years 10-13, as well as mature students. These events provide an opportunity to explore academic subjects at undergraduate level, in addition to providing a unique experience of a day in the life of a university student.

Make a Group Booking Make an Individual Booking

We are looking forward to returning to an in-person Taster Week in this academic year 5-8 July 2022, and we would love for you to join us. The event will run across four days, with three days at our Colchester campus, one day for each of our faculties and then the fourth day at our Southend campus.

Tuesday 5 July: Science and Health, Colchester Campus - View session summaries (.pdf)
Wednesday 6 July: Social Sciences, Colchester Campus - View session summaries (.pdf)
Thursday 7 July: Arts and Humanities, Colchester Campus - View session summaries (.pdf)
Friday 8 July: Essex Business School and Health and Social Care, Southend Campus - View session summaries (.pdf)

We are pleased to offer a travel bursary of up to £150 per school bringing 10 students or more to the event.

The schedule for each day will look as follows, with more details on taster sessions on offer available soon:

Time	Activity
09:45	Arrivals
10:00 - 10:30	Welcome Talk and Introduction to the day
10:30 - 11:15	Campus Tour or Essex Student Panel
11:15 - 12:15	Taster Session 1
12:15 - 13:00	Lunch Please ensure students bring a packed lunch with them as there will be limited time to purchase food on campus.
13:00 - 14:00	Taster Session 2
14:00 - 14:30	Campus Tour or Essex Student Panel
14:30	Departures

*Please note this schedule may be adjusted slightly for those interested in Life Sciences tasters, to allow for a laboratory session.

Last year was a little different so we ran our annual Taster Week a little differently too. Taster Week 2021 ran virtually so students could get a flavour of what Essex has to offer from the comfort of their own home or classroom. You can access some examples of last years content below.

2021 Sessions

Humanities

Subject area	Description
History Watch this session	Pandemics: Lessons From History Jeremy Krikler will sketch some of the ideas that inspire the Department of History’s teaching on pandemics, one of the modules offered at Essex that is in keeping with the Department’s exciting ethos of linking teaching with contemporary concerns and experience.
Human Rights Watch this session	Human Rights: More Trouble than they're worth? Human rights are a vital part of the world in which we all live. Some people love them, and some people appear to hate them. For some people, human rights enable us to identify how we should seek to resolve challenges and conflict in a difficult world. Others argue that appeals to human rights only cause more trouble and strife. What do you think? Do you even care? This brief session will address these all-important questions, while also introducing the audience to the work of our Human Rights Centre.
Literature, Film and Theatre Studies Watch this session	Journalism and The Power of Storytelling How can journalists use the power of narrative form to counter its misuse by political and commercial interests? Three top tips and one practical exercise with our director of journalism, Tim Fenton.
History Watch this session	The First World War and Contemporary Britain Professor Lucy Noakes is leading a major research project into how British society relates to and commemorates the First World War. Her talk will give you a taste of the kind of research undertaken at Essex and how this expertise benefits students, not least in the kinds of undergraduate research projects that are supervised by staff.

Science and Health

Subject area	Description
Sports Therapy Watch this session	Injury risk factors and acute management of common musculoskeletal injuries This session will first introduce students to the risk factors associated with sports injuries, understanding these are vital to help inform injury prevention strategies. Students will also learn about the acute management strategies that are used to treat common sports injuries such as cryotherapy and electro therapy modalities.
Occupational Therapy Watch this session	What is Occupational Therapy? Occupational therapy (OT) is a science based degree, health and social care profession, regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Occupational therapy takes a “whole-person approach” to both mental and physical health and wellbeing and aims to enable individuals to achieve their full potential. This taster session will introduce Occupational Therapy to student, who OT’s work with, where OT’s work and will also include an activity for students to get involved with.
Sports Performance and Coaching Watch this session	Competitive Engineering: approaches to enhance the coaching environment Research has found that children overwhelmingly state that enjoyment, fun, and positive experiences are the primary reasons to participate in sport. Competitive Engineering (CE) is a structurally-based competitive climate process designed to create a more positive experience in youth sport. CE encompasses changes to league structures, equipment, pitch-size, and game rules. For example, rule changes that stipulate greater involvement (e.g. playing time) or action (e.g. increasing scoring opportunities) are designed to improve engagement. We will look at some interesting approaches to modify sport for player benefit.
Psychology Watch this session	The role of facial feedback for emotion recognition How do we perceive other people’s emotions? Dr Sebastian Korb will discuss the behavioral and neural evidence regarding the hypothesis that feedback from our own facial muscle activity can influence the way we feel and perceive others’ emotions.
Social Work Watch this session	Where can social work take me? This session will be a taster of a first year lecture, focused on understanding the scope of social work practice, and challenging common assumptions about who social workers are and what they do. This will be an opportunity to explore the breadth of social work, but also to speak to our approach within the Division and our broader vision within a rights and justice framework.
Nursing Watch this session	Fluid Balance and Fluid Resuscitation This taster session will cover fluid balance monitoring in hospital, signs of dehydration and fluid loss and fluid replacement therapy.

Students under the age of 16, attending as individuals, will need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

If you would like to access our Faith Centre while on campus, please let the event organiser know.

Taster Week team

Email: schools-link@essex.ac.uk

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