THE University of Bradford will celebrate its diverse student body with a week long festival later this month.

The first Diversity Festival will celebrate differences, with events highlighting the different ethnic backgrounds of the university's students as well as events looking at disability, gender and sexuality and religion.

It begins on Monday, April 18, with a ceremony featuring live entertainment and music, and ends on Friday 22 with a comedy evening.

Although the university has held diversity themed events in the past, it was decided to expand these to a week long festival this year - the university's 50th anniversary.

Among the events planned are a visit and talk from Holocaust survivor Marc Schatzberger, presentations on how to deal with trans people, and a tour of Bradford's religious history.

There will also be an attempted Guinness World Record for the furthest distance cycled on a static hand bike over a 24-hour period.

And the university will be marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of pioneering female author Charlotte Bronte by re-releasing her classic Jane Ayre as an e-book.

Able-bodied students will be invited to experience the difficulties faced by wheelchair users with a wheelchair push from the university's Faculty of Management and Law campus on Emm Lane in Manningham to the city centre campus that will require them to navigate the city's not always disabled friendly streets.

An Audience with Naz Shah will see the Bradford West MP discuss her life in politics as a female Muslim.

Lectures held through the week will look at "lad culture" and cultural sensitivity and during the week there will be arts in the University's Gallery II and music in the Tasmin Little Music Centre.

Professor Udy Archibong, director of the university's Centre for Inclusion and Diversity, organised the event, and said: "This is the first time we've had a programme of events like this run over a week. We've decided to do this this year as it is our 50th anniversary and we wanted to do an extended version of the diversity events we run every year.

"This is about all diversity, including diversity of thought.

"We'll be having proper discussions about things like equality, and as part of the celebration will be marking 200 years since the birth of Charlotte Bronte.

"There will also be an event looking at the experiences of Holocaust survivors.

"We have around 150 nationalities represented at the University, so it is a very diverse place. We are very proud of the work we do around diversity."

For more information on the festival, visit http://www.bradford.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/diversity-festival/programme/