Last Tuesday evening, staff, students, and invited guests came together to celebrate the achievements of this year’s Project Vodcast 2025 at a special awards event.
This semester, students have been working in interdisciplinary teams to develop video-podcast (vodcast) channels designed to support international students considering studying at a UK university. This extracurricular project challenged each team to identify and produce content that would be informative, engaging, and relevant to a global audience.
As part of the process, students conducted live market research through a videoconference with the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance. They also received training in market research, video production, cultural awareness, and ethical use of social media, delivered by Bangor staff and invited professionals. Guest speakers included Matt Robinson, BU graduate and Vice President of Global Marketing at Autone, who led a session on creating compelling content, and Shoned Owen, Founder and CEO of Tanya Whitebits, who offered valuable advice on optimising social media engagement.
The student teams officially launched their vodcast channels on 8th April and promoted their content for the final award event.
At the final event, students presented their work to a panel of marketing professionals. A big thank you to our jury members: Tracey Roberts, Tim McCann, Shoned Owen, and Sion Owen (M-SParc). The judges considered visual appeal, channel identity, and audience engagement in selecting the winning team.
Congratulations to Jasmine Cochrane and Suzuka Mori of GLOBTROTTERSBANGOR, winners of Project Vodcast 2025! You can view their channels here: 📱 TikTok and 📸 Instagram.
As part of their prize, Jasmine and Suzuka have been awarded internships at BU. They had this to say about their experience on the project:
“Our experience doing Vodcasts was very fulfilling. We met new people and learned new skills that we can use in our marketing careers. It was a pleasure to work with people from different countries and specialities. We’re excited to start our internships next year—we’ve worked hard for this opportunity. Our mentors were friendly, helpful, and amazing to work with!”
The Audience Choice Award went to Esthera Amegashie and Miki Nishikawa of Team ME (UKnighted). Check out their channel here: 📸 Instagram
Esthera and Miki shared their thoughts on taking part:
“Working on this project was an incredible experience. We had the opportunity to connect with amazing people, and the lessons we learned were truly invaluable. We gained a wealth of knowledge and experience that will undoubtedly help shape our future.”
All the student-created channels have been incredibly successful in delivering authentic, student-led content. We extend our congratulations to every team for their hard work, creativity, and professionalism throughout the project.
The Project Vodcast 2025 team are Dr Lindsay Jones, Dr Steffan Thomas, Dr Eben Muse, Gwen Glyn, Carol Jones, Dafydd Pattinson, Stephanie Steventon, and Rhian Thomas.