URN

With occupations taking place in more than 950 cities across the world, we wanted to investigate the protests happening right on our doorstep - in market square.

Emma spoke to one of the occupiers to see what life is like in camp.

She also spoke to a representative from the council to see how they were dealing with the occupation.

And finally, we wanted to learn more about why the occupations were taking place. One of the occupiers, Salvo, told us big changes need to be made to society.

For some background information, Alice chatted to an Economics lecturer. We wanted to find out how the 2008 recession could have triggered this movement.

Are the occupiers a problem or do you think setting up camp will get some much needed attention? That's what Misha asked students and locals around Nottingham

So let us know what you think? Are the occupiers getting their point heard? Do you understand why they are there? Is this method of protest effective? We want to hear YOUR thoughts.

Today, the SU announced that Nottingham Council has passed 'Article 4 Direction' which will affect the number of students allowed to live in a rented house in Lenton and Dunkirk.

We spoke to the Accommodation and Community Officer Julia Seal, here's what she said about the ruling.

Grace asked her if she felt the SU campaign had been effective.

Here's the official SU response:

“It is not surprising that the Executive Board have voted in this way but it is certainly disappointing. We must now continue to pressure the Council in the implementation of Article Four direction to ensure that the City Council are not enforcing student quotas, directly or indirectly, across the City. We also want the Council to engage with us on our concerns in the Local Plan, which plans to divert students away from popular areas in the city into purpose built accommodation, which is likely to be further away and more expensive. We do not think the City Council should be adopting this as policy.”

Remember to let us know what YOU think - is this isolating students from the local population or can students be problematic for local residents?

To find out more, check out this vlog from the SU:

We'll be posting updates here as we get more information.

Cascade

As part of the Impact campaign, Nottingham University has launched Cascade, to support student projects across the world.

Cascade is funded by donations from the University’s alumni, students, parents and staff, and gives up to £25,000 to help Nottingham students and their projects.

We spoke to Sarah from Cascade to find out more and how you could get involved.

One of the projects that has already benefited from Cascade funding is Malaysia Making a Difference. They spoke to us to explain how their trip was made possible by Cascade.

Global Medical Brigades is another Nottingham student-led project which has been helped by Cascade. They explain what it takes to get funding and get involved.

For more information on how you could donate or get involved, visit Cascade at http://url.urn1350.net/cascade

Impact, a campaign to raise £150m for a wide range of development projects has been officially launched here at Nottingham University.

The campaign will span five years. It aims to help a huge variety of different causes. This will be split into five key sections: The Nottingham Experience, Health and Well-Being, Nurturing Talent, Ingenuity and Sustainable Futures. Yesterday, we spoke to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Greenaway to find out more about these five areas of interest.

With such an mix of projects being helped by the Impact campaign, we asked how the team went about deciding which causes to support.

The money is to be raised with a combination of charitable donations from alumni and various fundraising activities. But we wanted to find out how you can get involved. We sent Pulse reporter Genie out to find out how aware students are of the campaign.

So remember, if you have any ideas for the campaign or want to get involved in some way, contact simon.buttenshaw@nottingham.ac.uk.

For more information on all the campaigns, or to make a donation yourself, check out the Impact Website

Breaking news just in! Chase & Status will not be appearing at The Summer Party this year, only forty-eight hours before they should be appearing at our very own university!

Speaking to Gemma Chance, Events and Advertising Manager for the SU, she confirmed to URN that Chase and Status called her this morning and pulled out of the gig here on campus! The good news is that we can confirm that Pendulum will be performing in their place!

Don't forget to tune into The Summer Party coverage on URN from midday on Saturday, and the Aftershow from 12pm Sunday.

Let us know what you think - post in the comments below!

URN - Your number one source for Summer Party!