Student celebrated with partnership award

Shivani Kumar, from Southampton, received the Southampton Solent University Partnership Award 2026 as she graduated with a First-Class BA (Hons) Graphic Design degree on Wednesday 8 July.

Created through Solent's partnership with Unity 101 Community Radio, the award has been redesigned to support a graduate from the School of Creative Industries who has achieved academic success. It aims to serve as a vital professional springboard from which to break into the competitive creative sector.

The final decision was made by a panel comprising of Dr Allan Taylor, Dean of Creative Industries, Stuart Joy, Course Leader for Film and Television, Unity 101 Station Manager Ram "Kelly" Kalyan, and Richard Thomas, Solent's Outreach and Recruitment Manager.

Alongside achieving consistently high grades throughout her degree, Shivani served as Course Representative for all three years of study at Solent. Her First-Class Final Major Project, Hinduism Sacred Symbols, combined research, typography and animation to increase understanding of Hinduism and promote diversity and inclusion.

The panel were also impressed with her voluntary work in the local community, including a project with refugee charity Clear Refugee, where she interviewed members of the community and designed a series of posters to share their stories.

On receiving the award, Shivani said, "It's an incredible honour and something I'm really proud of. Receiving recognition for my Final Major Project, Hinduism Sacred Symbols, makes all the research and effort that went into it feel incredibly worthwhile, and it's a wonderful way to celebrate graduating with a First-Class degree."

Speaking about her time at Solent, she said, "What I've loved most is the freedom to explore subjects I'm genuinely interested in while being challenged by a wide variety of creative briefs. It's encouraged me to experiment across different areas of graphic design, develop new skills and push my ideas further with every project."

Ellie Kilburn, Course Leader for Visual Communications at Solent University, said:

"Shivani has been a dedicated student since the second she started with us. She has worked extremely hard to develop her graphic design practice and has listened to and applied feedback while retaining her own voice throughout her projects.

"She's been a course rep for all three years and has produced an absolutely stunning Final Major Project on sharing Hinduism with a wider audience. We're really excited to see what she does next."

The award strengthens a long-standing partnership between Southampton Solent University and Unity 101 Community Radio, a Southampton station that serves diverse communities through multilingual broadcasting, education and entertainment.

After graduation, Shivani will continue her studies with a master’s degree in graphic design while continuing to develop her portfolio and pursue a career in the creative industries.