Business leaders share their insight and experience in this series of events organised by UWE Bristol.

Bristol Distinguished Address Series Podcasts

In this episode of the Bristol Distinguished Address Series, you can listen back to an inspirational conversation with Levi Roots, Chef, musician and entrepreneur and Sherrie Eugene-Hart, an Award-Winning Broadcaster, as Levi shares his story of finding success against the odds.
 
Levi Roots is a chef, musician and entrepreneur who shot to fame in 2007 launching his Reggae Reggae sauce on Dragons’ Den, where he secured a £50k investment from Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh.
 
Since then, Levi has gone from strength to strength with over 50 different products on the brand, writing cookbooks, appearing on TV shows and much more. Levi spends most of his time these days attending schools, colleges and prisons sharing his positive outlook on life and trying to inspire our next generations. Levi is a regular attendee at DofE Gold Award celebration events.
 
Levi is also an accomplished musician, having performed with James Brown and Maxi Priest, and was nominated for a Best Reggae Act MOBO Award. Most excitingly, Levi is having a feature film made about his life story!
 
Levi has strong links to Bristol, from selling Reggae Reggae Sauce at St Pauls Carnival to becoming Chair of the board.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

Levi Roots, chef, musician and entrepreneur | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

Join us for the latest exciting event in our Bristol Distinguished Address Series, recorded live at the Watershed in Bristol. A conversation with Camilla Rigby and Rachel Mostyn, Co-Founders and CEOs of Bristol-based business the Women's Work Lab, as they explain how and why they are doing well by doing good.

Since launching, Women’s Work Lab has supported over 300 women – mostly single parents, many with experience of domestic abuse, children with SEN and their own health conditions – on their journey into work. Camilla and Rachel's shared vision is to become the UK’s biggest employability support for unemployed Mums.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

Rachel Mostyn & Camilla Rigby, The Women's Work Lab | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

In this first Bristol Distinguished Address Series event of Spring 2025, Nick Hounsfield (Founder of The Wave) and Host, Maggy Blagrove (Founder of Open Minds Active) explored all things Blue Health. Nick shared his personal journey and vision for The Wave, the first inland surfing destination in the UK, a 26-million litre artificial wave pool powered by solar energy. Together with Maggy and guest adaptive surfer Stephen Lightbown, the three Speakers shared their fascinating insights about the positive effects that spending time in water can bring – and how more of us can (and should) access the benefits of Blue Health. 
 
Nick is the founder of The Wave - a 'slice of the ocean' in a field in Bristol, where anyone and everyone can surf all year round. It brings the physical and mental health benefits of water, waves and nature to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities - from a child stepping on a board for the first time, to a professional training for the Olympics.  
 
The project was 10 years in the making and Nick’s journey from osteopath with £500 and a vision, to making it a £35 million reality, is an inspiring tale of grit and resilience. Nick is on the board of Surfing England and has been particularly involved in supporting and growing the profile of the para-surfing community. This resulted in the English team winning a record number of medals at the World Adaptive Surf Championships and The Wave hosting the English Adaptive Surfing Open competition. Nick was also part of the prestigious UK Sport International Leadership Programme. 
 
Maggy is the director and founder of Open Minds Active CIC, a Bristol-based social impact organisation dedicated to making swim-based activities accessible across Bristol. The organisation helps people connect with nature in blue spaces to enhance mental wellbeing and reduce social isolation. 
 
Maggy holds a Master’s in International Development and has over 20 years of experience in sport and community development. Throughout her career she has led numerous sport-for-social-change initiatives across the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Ireland and the UK, using physical activity to engage disadvantaged youth and marginalised communities in post-conflict settings. An experienced open water swimmer and coach, Maggy is passionate about tackling health inequalities and enabling more people to access and enjoy the outdoors. 
 
Stephen Lightbown is a Bristol-based poet, children’s author; yoga teacher and adaptive surfer. Stephen uses his poems to give a voice to his disability and is the author of three poetry collections; and in 2026 his first children’s picture book will be published. When he is not writing Stephen can be found surfing and is a passionate advocate for the power of blue health. He has represented England twice at the ISA World Para Surf Championships in California and helped Team England to a fourth-place finish at the 2023 World Championships.     
 
 
Links:    
Watch more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series:   Picture 2, Picture, Picture • The Bristol Distinguished Address Series     
Listen to the Bristol Distinguished Address Series podcast: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address  
Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-distinguished-address-series   
The Wave: https://www.thewave.com/ 
Open Minds Active: https://www.openmindsactive.org/ 
Stephen Lightbown: www.stephenlightbown.com 
Independent Bristol Bookseller, Arnolfini Bookshop: https://bookshop.arnolfini.org.uk/ 
Arnolfini, Bristol: https://arnolfini.org.uk/

Nick Hounsfield, Founder of The Wave, Bristol Distinguished Address Series

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Two seemingly unrelated organisations are finding innovative ways to support youth in vulnerable situations, and promote community safety. Watch and listen again to this very pertinent BDAS event, where we heard from a youth boxing therapy charity from Bristol and an office for violence prevention from Edmonton, Canada – both working to reduce violence an ocean away.

Empire Fighting Chance uses a powerful combination of non-contact boxing and intensive personal support to challenge and inspire young people aged 8 to 25 to realise their unique potential.

REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities is a non-profit agency that acts as a hub for coordination, action, and focus on community safety and well-being. (Think of them as the ‘glue’ that brings and holds collaborative partnerships together.) They’ve been touted internationally for their work as an office for violence prevention, which is an entity whose central mandate is to prevent different forms of violence.

After meeting at an urban peace conference in Columbia, the two organisations are bringing international lessons to improve support for youth in their respective cities. Now, Bristol is on the brink of creating its own office for violence prevention inspired by REACH. And in Edmonton, local not-for-profits are banding together to build a youth boxing program modeled after Empire Fighting Chance.

The panel was led by Alex Beresford, TV presenter and Empire Fighting Chance Ambassador, and included: Martin Bisp (Co-Founder & CEO, Empire-Fighting Chance); Jan Fox (Executive Director, REACH Edmonton); Dr Craig Johnston (Senior Lecturer in Criminology, UWE Bristol); and Mariella Miller-Davies (Fundraising Assistant and Youth Voice Ambassador, Empire Fighting Chance).

About the organisations

Empire Fighting Chance delivers four psychologically informed non-contact boxing programmes that help young people get back into education, exit gangs, and reduce youth violence. They also share the impact and methodology of their programmes to a network of boxing clubs, mental health services, and community based organisations across the UK and the world. And, they fight alongside their network for political and policy change to reduce social inequality and amplify the impact and success of early intervention sport based programmes.

REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities is a highly-trusted organisation in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that brings together community, service agencies and government to get things done, with the ultimate aim of preventing violence to create safer communities. REACH plays a convening role, leading or supporting more than 30+ community partnerships in areas that have an upstream effect on community safety and well-being such as child, youth and family well-being; and mitigating addiction and mental health problems.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-distinguished-address-series

Useful links: 

Martin Bisp, Empire Fighting Chance: bit.ly/4kn9Glb
Empire Fighting Chance Team: https://empirefightingchance.org/who-we-are/our-people/
Jan Fox: https://reachedmonton.ca/staff-board/jan-fox/
REACH, Edmonton: https://reachedmonton.ca/
Dr Craig Johnston, UWE Bristol: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/CJohnston
Watershed: https://www.watershed.co.uk/

Empire Fighting Chance & REACH Edmonton | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

In this special collaboration with Bristol’s 2025 Festival of Nature on the theme of ‘Water’, we heard from an expert panel about rivers as the ancient ‘gut health’ of our planet. They explored the crucial role of rivers in the carbon cycle and our ecosystem, the research work and citizen science that is being carried out to learn more about them, the campaigns to keep our waters clean - and what we can be doing to nurture and enjoy rivers in our cities and beyond.

Our panel was led by Professor Darren Reynolds, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research & Knowledge Exchange, UWE Bristol, and included guests, Emma Brisdion, Communications & Campaigns Manager, The Rivers Trust and UWE Bristol Alum; Dr Eva Perrin, Research Fellow in River Pollution, University of Plymouth and UWE Bristol Alum; Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments; and Mehbooba Ferdoush, a cold water swimmer. We also had a special screening of the trailer for the Bristol-made documentary film, ‘Rave On For The Avon’, courtesy of EightySita.

The post-even drinks included a special rivers-themed exhibition by Devon-based photographer and artist, William Templeton, curated watery texts from Bristol independent bookseller, Bookhaus, and stalls from ‘Rave On For The Avon’ and water-testing organisation, MolEndoTech, who demo’d their rapid water quality analysis device with the audience.

Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series 

Useful links:

Festival of Nature 2025: https://www.bnhc.org.uk/festival-of-nature/
Professor Darren Reynolds, UWE Bristol: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/DarrenReynolds
Emma Brisdion, The Rivers Trust: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-brisdion/?originalSubdomain=uk
The Rivers Trust: https://theriverstrust.org/
Dr Eva Perrin, University of Plymouth: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/eva-perrin
Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedvig-lyche-4a433710/
Additive Catchments: https://additivecatchments.com/
Rave On For The Avon: https://www.eightysita.com/raveonfortheavondocumentary
Photographer William Templeton: https://williamjoshuatempleton.com/
Bookhaus: https://www.bookhausbristol.com/
MolEndoTech: https://molendotech.com/
Watershed: https://www.watershed.co.uk/

Festival of Nature | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

In this episode of the Bristol Distinguished Address Series, an expert-led panel discussion explored how the South West could become a leader in innovation, sustainability, and economic growth through space-enabled technologies, bringing together perspectives from academia, industry, and regional initiatives to highlighted opportunities for collaboration and future development.

Hosted by Rebecca Huffee (Space West / NCC), the panel featured Ross Hulbert (Spaceport Cornwall), Dr. Chris Toomer (UWE Bristol), and Simon Wheeler (reOrbit).
 
Rebecca Huffee is Cluster Manager for Space West which covers the geographies of Swindon and Wiltshire, Bristol and Bath and Gloucestershire having taken up the post based at the National Composites Centre in 2023. She works collaboratively with her Space Cluster colleagues from across the UK to accelerate innovation and grow the space sector in the UK. Prior to the this she was a programme manager for Space and Net Zero at the University of Bristol, engaging with industry and policymakers to support the university’s academic community to understand industrial and policy challenges to help deliver innovation for real world problems.


Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T  
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series

From Ground to Orbit | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

In this special BDAS episode we explored leadership, identity, and lived experience within the health and care sectors through the lens of the panel’s extensive expertise. It brought together voices from creative practice, policy, community leadership, and lived experience. Looking into how they intersect to shape more inclusive and equitable systems of care.
Host Corine Walker, a Bristol-based writer, director, creative producer, and performer, spoke with Sophie Chester-Glyn, Managing Director of a local care organisation and Director of Coproduce Care, and Councillor Lorraine Francis, a Green Party Councillor, social worker, and therapist.
This discussion explored how co-production, representation, and storytelling can challenge inequality and inspire structural change. It highlighted the evolving role of leadership – from community-led action to policy influence – and how authenticity and resilience can drive meaningful transformation.
 
About UWE Equity https://www.uwe.ac.uk/study/career-development/equity 
 
UWE Equity a positive action coaching programme for Global Majority students providing personal and professional development opportunities with targeted initiatives for Global majority students in the form of insight sessions, webinars, mentoring and coaching/skills sessions .As part of the programme there are speaker events linked to our Bristol Distinguished Address Series – last year’s event was Crossing Generations with Dr. Edson Burton & Guests.
Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr…2D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series 

Levi Roots, chef, musician and entrepreneur | Bristol Distinguished Address Series

UWE Bristol

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