Following their attendance at the 'One Year On' employability conference at the University of Huddersfield in early June, TAP has won a Yorkshire Universities Audience Impact Award. Delegates voted for their favourite case study, and TAP came joint first! Read the case study, which has been published online as part of Yorkshire Universities case study repository.
As part of the team presentation, Lydia, who completed TAP in 2020/21 and is an English Literature graduate, shared her experience of and views on 'employability' with over 100 delegates. In her speech, Lydia explored the themes of employability, widening participation and inclusion with typical critical and emotional intelligence, arguing that 'environments and the feeling of unconditional belonging are so rare in everyday student life' and that opportunities like TAP provide 'an opportunity for me to be myself and know that is enough.'
As evidenced by the many delegates who came to complement her and share their own stories afterwards, Lydia's story made a deep connection with the audience. Read Lydia's full presentation on the TAP blog.
TAP is an Arts and Humanities led, co-curricular student knowledge exchange programme that seeks to empower widening participation students to draw on both their subject-specific knowledge and the richness of their lived experience to contribute to placemaking projects in the city and region.
Past TAP interns have worked on everything from co-designing online photography exhibitions that explore beautiful everyday places, to researching potential legal personhood for the River Don in Sheffield to collecting and analysing data from businesses in Hillsborough to help develop the high street.
TAP afforded me with the skills and toolset to be a changemaker- it benefits people greatly who seek to learn and to pass on knowledge to others.
TAP student
Co-production is fundamental to TAP. Each year, a team of TAP students returns to the programme in the role of ambassadors, mentors and consultants to play a significant role in designing and delivering the project. TAP students thus develop numerous employability skills and gain valuable experience in their roles as both interns and ambassadors - communication, teamwork, interpersonal, digital, event management and audience development, for example - but also are fully supported to speak up for their values and exchange their sought-after knowledge in order to make a positive impact on places and communities.