KEELE GROUP SEARCHES FOR APEDALE DRIFT NO. 7 MINE SHAFT

Members of the Applied and Engineering Geophysics Group, within the School of Physical Sciences and Geography, have been working with the local Apedale drift coal-mine Heritage Museum and Rocester-based JCB to locate a filled-in entrance to a still-existing mine-shaft that may pose a structural hazard to the museum building itself.

Old plans suggest the no. 7 access shaft, which was sealed up nearly 10 years ago, lies only 20 m below the surface. The mines at Apedale are drift mines, which means that the coal strata was originally exposed at the surface; miners  extracted the coal, then followed the rich seams down to more than a mile below the ground surface. Two access shafts remain for members of the public to be given guided tours by volunteer ex-miners.

AEG staff members and students (in particular Dr Jamie Pringle and Steve Banham, a 4th year M. Geoscience student who was using this study for his final year independent research project) used a variety of near-surface geophysical techniques, including gravity, resistivity and GPR, to try and detect where the No. 7 shaft was located. An extra 2-4m of top soil had been tipped onto the old working surface which made things even more difficult.

Locating the mine shaft on various 2D geophysical profiles made it possible to trace the suspected entrance down to a small area. JCB has kindly donated a digger for three days to locate and excavate it. It should then be possible to inspect both the existing shaft and determine if it poses a subsidence risk to the overlying museum building or not. There are also plans to extract more coal, if workings are in a good condition, for local steam train enthusiasts.

LUNG FIBROSIS STUDY WINS OVERSEAS STUDENT FUNDS

The Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine has received a fourth Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award from Research Councils UK. Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards bring outstanding overseas students from India, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and the developing world to come and study for PhDs in top-rated UK research facilities.

The latest award is for £45,000 from the Medical Research Council to Dr Nicholas Forsyth and Professor Monica Spiteri, to study progenitor cell regeneration methods for the repair of lung fibrosis. It is matched by £45,000 from the University Hospital of North Staffordshire Chest Fund and the student starts at the Guy Hilton Research Centre in October.

EUROPEAN FLUID DYNAMICS CONFERENCE

The second European Postgraduate Fluid Dynamics Conference has taken place in Keele Hall.  It was organised by a team of three postgraduates from the School of Computing and Mathematics (Steven Metcalfe, Simon Pearce and William Townsend) and was considered a great success.

It was attended by 47 postgraduates from six countries, who between them gave 30 presentations and nine posters. There were prizes given by Springer-Verlag for the best presentation and poster, awarded respectively to Margrit Klitz (Bonn) and Igor Chernyavsky (Nottingham).

The three plenary lectures were given by: Professor H. Huppert (Cambridge) on Fluid Modelling of Carbon Dioxide Sequestration; Professor P. Huerre (École Polytechnique) on Flow Amplifiers and Flow Oscillators: A Bird's Eye View of the Fundamental Notions and Professor O. Jensen (Nottingham) on Airway Reopening.

THE KLUB HOUSE HOLIDAY CLUB

The first ever Klub House Holiday club will come to an end today after a six week programme of events for children aged between four and sixteen years.

Over sixty children have taken advantage of the action packed club following its move from the nursery site to the Leisure Centre.  Activities such as orienteering, tennis, football and cricket, trampolining, dance classes, Gymbobs, cooking and haunted walks have all kept the children entertained over the school holiday.

KEELE SCIENTIST JOINS NUCLEAR DECOMMISSIONING AGENCY PANEL

Professor Peter Styles, Director of the Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics and Professor of Applied and Environmental Geophysics in the Applied and Environmental Geophysics Research Group, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, has been invited to join the Geosphere Characterisation Panel of the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency.

This is a high level panel overseeing all aspects of the geological aspects of underground disposal of radioactive waste.

Professor Styles has also been invited to join a Royal Society Panel which is replying to the NDA consultation on disposal of Plutonium waste.

Earlier this month Professor Styles was one of three UK delegates to the International Union of Geological Sciences in Norway.

RESEARCH GRANTS

Dr David Furness, Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, has been awarded £38,474 by Deafness Research UK for a 12 month project titled "Role of fibrocyte degeneration in age-related hearing loss and exploration of a replacement/ stem cell strategy for its prevention."

Professor Nye Evans, Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics (iEPSAM) has been awarded £1,400 by the Nuffield Foundation for a project titled "Novae in the SuperWASP database."

Professor Mark Ormerod, iEPSAM, has been awarded £1,000 by the Institute of Physics, through its Public Engagement Grant Scheme 2008, for a project titled "Inspiring Physics through renewable technology: Building a solar powered vehicle."

NURSING AND MIDWIFERY OPEN EVENT

The School of Nursing and Midwifery held an open day for prospective applicants for nursing, midwifery and operating department practice programmes at the Clinical Education Centre, City General Hospital. The event was very well attended by 82 prospective applicants and their families. The event featured talks with programme tutors and tours of the facilities. The event was very successful, with many prospective applicants expressing intentions to make applications to the School's programmes and undertake their studies at Keele.