LOCAL PEOPLE WITH ARTHRITIS TO TAKE PART IN MAJOR NEW £0.8MILLION KEELE STUDY

A team of researchers at Keele are hoping to improve the care and treatment of painful osteoarthritis offered by GPs in a major project involving almost 2,000 local patients. The study is being funded by a five-year grant of more than £788,000 from the Arthritis Research Campaign.

Although osteoarthritis affects millions of older people in the UK, and is a major source of pain and disability, it is not considered a health priority by the NHS.

Dr George Peat, senior lecturer in clinical epidemiology at the Arthritis Research Campaign National Primary Care Centre at Keele, who is leading the research project, said: "Our recent research has shown that almost half of people registered with GPs in North Staffordshire who have severe joint pain don't appear to go to their GP in the course of a year. We want to find out what is stopping these problems being raised in the consultation and to provide some of the information needed to support better assessment, diagnosis and prognosis."

The multi-disciplinary Keele team of more than 20 researchers - including research nurses, GPs, epidemiologists, rheumatologists, physiotherapists and scientists - will work in close partnership with local NHS organisations and with patients to build up a picture of the long-term "natural history" of joint pain and osteoarthritis, and also patients' experiences in general practice.

• The Arthritis Research Campaign recently awarded £2.5m to support its new National Primary Care Centre at Keele.

PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF LEGAL SCHOLARS IN CENTENARY YEAR

Professor Fiona Cownie has taken up the Presidency of the Society of Legal Scholars in its centenary year. She is one of only five women appointed to the post – all in the last 10 years.

The Society of Legal Scholars, which is the largest and oldest association of academic lawyers in the U.K., was founded as a learned society for those who teach law in universities or who are otherwise engaged in legal scholarship. During her year in office Professor Cownie wants to engage with the media to debate the importance of legal scholarship. As part of the celebrations of the centenary a history of the Society has been commissioned, which is being written by Professor Cownie and Professor Ray Cocks, both members of the Law School at Keele.

Professor Cownie's research ranges from legal anthropology to studies of legal academics, covering topics from Quakers and dispute resolution to the clothes legal academics choose to wear to work. She is an expert in legal education, particularly in teaching legal skills, and was appointed to a Chair at Keele in September 2006.

BIRTHDAY PRESENTATION FOR JOHN ROGERS

John Rogers, Professor of the History of Philosophy Emeritus, was presented with a Festschrift to mark his 70th birthday at a reception in Stewart House, Institute of Philosophy, Russell Square, London University.  The book is titled Studies on Locke: Sources, Contemporaries, and Legacy, edited by Sarah Hutton and Paul Schuurman.  Ex-students and colleagues came from Japan, the United States, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as from all over the UK, to be present at the event that followed a conference, which honoured John's achievements.  His wife, Jo, who was secretary of the Keele Society for many years, was also present.  John is the Founder-Editor of The British Journal for the History of Philosophy, which is still published from Keele, and is now in its sixteenth year. Many of his publications relate to John Locke and other seventeenth-century philosophers.

DIVERSITY, COMMONALITY AND THE NATION

Outspoken journalist, author and social commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown this week gave the first of Keele's 2008/2009 series of public lectures. She spoke on "Diversity, Commonality and the Nation: Reconfigurations for the 21st Century".

A regular columnist for The Independent and Evening Standard, Ms Alibhai-Brown has also written for The Guardian, Observer, The New York Times, Time Magazine and Newsweek, as well as publishing a number of books about the state of the nation, multiculturalism and globalisation.

In 2001 she was appointed an MBE for services to journalism but returned the honour in 2003 as a protest against the war in Iraq. She was voted the 10th most influential black/Asian woman in the country in a poll in 2005 and in another she was among the most powerful Asian media professionals in the UK.

The next speaker in Keele's Public Lecture series is Professor John Harris who will lecture on "Synthetic Sunshine and Synthetic Biology - The Future of Humanity" on November 17.

CONFERENCE IN MEMORY OF LESLIE FISHMAN

A conference was held at the Keele Management Centre this week in memory of Professor Les Fishman, Professor of Economics at Keele from 1969 to1987. More than thirty friends and members of the Fishman family, former and current colleagues in the School of Economics, former and current students, including some from overseas, attended the event.
 
Professor Peter Lawrence, Head of the School of Economic and Management Studies, welcomed the delegates who enjoyed lectures and discussions on a range of themes that Professor Fishman would have found stimulating. Discussions were chaired by Dr Shirley Dex (Institute of Education, London), Professor Lawrence and Professor Iraj Hashi (Staffordshire University). The current turbulent economic and financial crisis stimulated a vigorous topical debate.

The conference was followed by a reception attended by members of the Fishman family to inaugurate the Leslie and Eleanor Fishman Bursary. This bursary will be awarded annually to the best first year Economics student who originates from the Potteries.

POETRY LIVE! AT KEELE

The third series of Keele's Poetry Live! events was very successfully launched this week with an impressive performance by Polly Clark.  With an attentive audience of over 50 students, staff and members of the public, Polly read from her first two books and some new work that will be published early in 2009. She was introduced by Jim Sheard, who commented on her ability to write on a wide range subjects using a variety of styles. The reading ended with a book-signing.
 
Polly Clark started her career as a keeper in Edinburgh Zoo and has moved on to working on poetry translation projects and as an Arvon tutor.  She is currently a Royal Literary Society Fellow at Edinburgh University.
 
The next reading in the series is by Lavinia Greenlaw on Tuesday, 4 November.

Editor-in-Chief of NHS Map of Medicine

Professor Shaughn O'Brien has been appointed Editor-in-Chief (Obstetrics and Gynaecology) of the NHS's Map of Medicine.

This is considered by the Department of Health to be the core clinical component of the NHS computer. "The Map" is a web-based visual representation of evidence-based patient care journeys covering 28 medical specialties and 390 pathways.

As healthcare provision becomes much more specialised the need to plan and then benchmark clinical practice against national standards whilst incorporating local intricacies is key.

The evidence and standards bring together all those from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the Royal Colleges and the specialist societies. Professor O'Brien had previously led the web-based 18 week wait commissioning pathways and feels that specialist input into their development was the key to their quality success. It is hoped that bringing similar expertise together with regular updating will maintain the utility of the MAP for the foreseeable future.

Research grants

A multidisciplinary team led by Professor Alison Blenkinsopp (Research Institute for Primary Care and Health Services) and Dr Patricia Black, from the School of Pharmacy, have been successful in a project tender, worth £61,500, issued by West Midlands Strategic Health Authority for a study that has involved surveys and interviews with staff in Primary Care Trusts and GPwSIs in a range of specialist areas to map PwSIs in the West Midlands and to benchmark progress in PCTs and identify notable practice that can be shared more widely.

Practitioners with a Special Interest or PwSI include GPs and pharmacists working in specialist services in primary care. Primary Care Trusts are required, by March 2009, to have full accreditation and quality assurance systems in place for PwSIs.

The project culminates in a stakeholder event and the production of a compendium of resources to be used by PCTs and clinicians.

Professor Shaughn O'Brien, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology and a member of the Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, has received a grant of £15,000 from Bayer Schering Pharma for his team's continued scientific work on the quantification of Disorders of the Menstrual Cycle.

Graduate film maker inspired next generation

A Keele graduate returned to the University this week to speak about his successful career as an independent film-maker.

Jon Rosling, who graduated from Keele in 1995 in History and Philosophy, is the founder of South Yorkshire-based Eye Independent Films.

He spoke about his career in film and media, the experiences of setting up his film company, the problems encountered finding funding and his recent films, as part of the Media, Communications and Culture Alumni Speaker Series.