In and Around Leeds
Leeds
The conference will be held at Devonshire Hall, University of Leeds. With more than 33,000 students from 142 countries, the University is one of the largest and most diverse in the country. The University is a member of the Russell Group of research universities, and its main campus is located in the city centre of Leeds.
Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of West Yorkshire. It is the only English city outside London with its own repertory theatre, opera house and ballet companies. Leeds Art Gallery has one of the UK's best collections of contemporary British art (The Times) and the city is home to the Royal Armouries, the national collection of arms and armour. There are more listed buildings in Leeds than in any English city outside London, with highlights including the Victoria Quarter, Leeds Corn Exchange and Harewood House, home of the Queen's cousin.
The Rough Guide to Britain named shopping in Leeds as one of the top thirty things to do in the UK, and with five miles of shopping streets and one of the country's largest pedestrianised zones it's easy to see why. Leeds also has an excellent nightlife scene, with numerous restaurants and independent bars, and is one of the UK's best cities for dining out. A great sporting heritage is built around world-famous stadiums like Headingley and Elland Road, and there's plenty to get involved in yourself too, from world-class golf to some of the country's best mountain biking.
Yorkshire and Beyond
In addition, Leeds is the ideal gateway to some of the UK's most spectacular scenery - the Yorkshire Dales National Park is just 20 miles away, and features some of the country's most beautiful landscapes; the North York Moors National Park, located to the Northeast, is a beautiful landscape of stunning moorland, spectacular coast, ancient woodland and historic sites, to the Northwest, the Lake District National Park is famous for its lakes and its mountains (or fells), and its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets, and finally, the Peak District National Park, the oldest national park in the British Isles, is thought to be the second most-visited national park in the world.
In fact, the Lonely Planet named Yorkshire as the world's third best place to visit in 2014, thereby comfortably beating regions such as Victoria Falls (number 6), Mallorca (7), or Lancashire (not on the list...).
All images (c) University of Leeds/ Ralf Barkemeyer
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