From left to right, Councillor Ashmore, Tom West, Anusha Adhikari, Anna Potter, Ellie Rymer, David Emmett. Student Maria Lal was not able to make the presentation, but her work was shared with the panel

The students worked on the campaign as part of their Press and Public Relations module

29 June 2023

3 min read

Students from the School of Film, Media and Communication have been putting skills to the test helping real clients with their Public Relations.

The students from Journalism courses and Creative Writing worked for Portsmouth City Council on a campaign to reduce contamination in recycling, as part of their Press and Public Relations module. They were asked to come up with a three-month low to no-cost campaign to spread the message that contamination costs, and recycling needs to be clean and sorted carefully. 

Once the assessment was completed, module co-ordinator Claire Perry sent a selection to the council, who then asked three students to attend and present their ideas. Thomas West, Anusha Adhikari and Maria Lal were invited to present to Councillor Dave Ashmore, Anna Potter, Communications Lead for Recycling, Ellie Rymer, Council Communications Manager, and David Emmett, Head of Waste at Portsmouth City Council.

Claire said: "It is such a great opportunity for the students to see assessment work come to life. The panel were so impressed with their ideas and hopefully we will see some of these ideas implemented in the city."

As well as the council project, students also pitched ideas to Fix My Crown, a new Portsmouth-based company offering wigs and other services to those with hair loss. The pitch project aims to help small firms or charities in the city who may normally not think about PR and how it could help them.