KEELE ACHIEVES CARBON TRUST STANDARD

Keele has been officially certified with the Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change by reducing its carbon footprint by 3%.

The Carbon Trust Standard is the world's only initiative that requires an organisation to take action themselves by reducing their own carbon emissions year-on-year.

Martyn Wilde, Energy Manager, Commercial and Facilities Management Directorate, Estates, said: "We're delighted to have the Carbon Trust Standard symbol. It is a great way of showing that we have taken action on climate change and communicating our environmental credentials. Cutting carbon is a priority for us and we have cut our carbon emissions by 3% as part of the initiative. It shows that we are at the forefront when it comes to tackling climate change and have taken action ourselves by reducing the carbon emissions that we are directly responsible for."

Initiatives included a major boiler and control replacement programme, improvements to building fabric, upgrading of lighting in a number of areas across campus, considerable replacement of aged water mains, disciplined approach to maintaining energy related control equipment, staff awareness campaign to reduce end user electricity consumption, piloting solar hot water generation in halls of residence and regimented approach with utility management, which have helped to achieve this reduction.

Tom Delay, CEO of the Carbon Trust said: "We congratulate Keele University in achieving the Carbon Trust Standard and challenge other organisations to follow their example and prove that they too are taking tangible steps to fight climate change."

The Carbon Trust Standard was launched in June 2008 with the support of Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and Dragon's Den entrepreneur Deborah Meaden.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT CONFERENCE IN KOREA

Dr Lydia Martens, Director of Postgraduate Training in the Social Sciences and Senior Lecturer in Sociology, attended the 25th anniversary conference of the Seoul Association for Public Administration, in Gong Ju, Republic of Korea.

She was invited to talk about qualitative research in the United Kingdom and during her keynote address to the conference she spoke about the innovative and traditionalising forces that affect qualitative research practice in the UK. She also spoke about the ESRC and the specific areas the council has supported in terms of qualitative research innovation in the last 15 years.

In addition to her keynote address, Dr Martens presented on her own research, discussing the methodological innovations taken here, and she treated delegates to an illustration of the NVivo 8 software. The ESRC has stimulated a climate for rethinking capacity building amongst UK Social Scientists. It is clear that if Korean social scientists are keen to move towards greater utilisation of qualitative approaches in their research, they and their funding councils will need to think hard about how they will build capacity in this area in the future, at different levels of research practice and training. Dr Martens is looking forward to maintaining communications with the Koreans about this in the future. Her sociological reflections about her visit to Korea may be found on the Sociology blogspot site at http://system.newzapp.co.uk/GLink.asp?LID=MTY0MTIxOSw5.

SHAPING RAVEL – INAUGURAL LECTURE

Professor Barbara Kelly, Music, this week gave the second lecture in Keele's programme of Inaugural Lectures for 2008/2009. The title of the lecture was "Shaping Ravel:  identities and legacies in French music".

The lecture focused on Ravel's emerging identities in fin-de-siècle and post-WW1 France.  It examined ideas of French musical identity in Third Republic France and the emergence of Debussy as a symbol of national qualities.   The lecture considered the role of Ravel's apologists and first biographers in articulating and reshaping how the composer should be heard and understood. Ravel is noted for his artificiality, his craftsmanship and his attraction to exotic subjects far removed from his own experience.  It concluded by considering the role of biographers and critics in forming how we understand and value music today.

The other lectures in the series are: Tuesday, 18 November, Professor Pat Bailey, Natural Sciences, "Fireworks, rainbows and magic bullet medicines"; Tuesday, 9 December 2008, Professor Jan Wenzelburger, Economics, "Hog cycles and the dynamics of markets";   Wednesday, 14 January 2009, Professor Danielle van der Windt, Primary Care Epidemiology, "The epidemiology of pain: a tale of two countries"; Tuesday, 17 February 2009, Professor Marilyn Andrews, Health and Rehabilitation, "Innovation in healthcare education: a model for the future"; Wednesday, 18 March 2009, Professor Tony Bradney, Law, "Should the Law Respect Religion?"; Wednesday, 13 May 2009 Professor Mihaela Kelemen, Management,  "Management, uncertainty, pragmatism: the new triumvirate".

KUSU CELEBRATES DIWALI IN STYLE

A Diwali party was the second successful event in KUSU's calendar of International Culture Events (ICE) for 2008/9, an initiative that gives students from every country the opportunity to celebrate and showcase their own cultures here at Keele. 

Last Saturday saw students celebrating Diwali with traditional food, decorations, music and dancing.  A team of students worked closely with Students' Union staff to select the menu, appoint a DJ, decorate the venue and lead the dancing.  They also took the opportunity to stage an entertaining impromptu history lesson and explain some of the traditions of Diwali and the Festival of Light to non Indian party-goers. 

The event was lively and colourful with a real sense of occasion. Dr Anand Pandyan, Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Rehabilitation, said: "It was great to see Keele start to celebrate multiculturalism and it was a fantastic evening - I only hope more staff will support such events!"

For more information on the ICE events go to http://system.newzapp.co.uk/GLink.asp?LID=MTY0MTIyMCw5 or contact http://system.newzapp.co.uk/GLink.asp?LID=MTY0MTIyMSw5.

STUDY ABROAD FAIR SUCCESS

The Centre for International Exchange and Development this week hosted the annual Study Abroad Fair in the Chancellor's Building Exhibition Suite. It was an extremely successful day, with excellent attendance from first years and plenty of enthusiasm from returnee exchange students and international students. Thanks to everyone involved for helping make the fair such a grand success. Special thanks go to Jamie Winters, CIEL intern from Lesley University, Boston, and the CIED Peer Advisers for helping to organise the event.

Promotional events include two talks on Studying in the USA, given be Jamie Winters, on Tuesday 4 November, 1-2pm (CBA1.103) and Monday 17 November, 1-2pm (CBA1.102). Jackie Taylor, from Deakin University, Melbourne Australia, one of Keele's Partner Schools, will give a talk about studying in Australia on Wednesday 19 November, 2-3pm (WMO.11 in the Walter Moberly Building).

WORLD CANCER RESEARCH FUND GRANT FOR KEELE TEAM

A multidisciplinary team in the Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine (iSTM) has been awarded a grant of £148,000 for a three year study from the World Cancer Research Fund.

Their research combines expertise in Bioinformatics (Dr Richard Emes), Epigenetics (Professor Bill Farrell), Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics (Professor Tony Fryer), Obstetrics (Dr Khaled Ismail), Medical Statistics (Professor Peter Jones) and Paediatrics (Dr Will Carroll [affiliate member of iSTM]).

The project, submitted on behalf of the study group by Professor Bill Farrell, will examine the effects of supplementation with the vitamin folic acid during pregnancy on fetal DNA. The beneficial effects of folic acid supplementation are well known, particularly with respect to the reduction in the incidence of spina bifida and other birth defects.

The research team aim to further refine the dose and timing of folic acid
supplementation in women and examine the longer term consequences of folic acid on genes using state-of-the-art approaches.

RESEARCH GRANT

The Royal Geographical Society has awarded a postgraduate research grant to Dr Richard Waller's (Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics) PhD student, Aidan Parkes.

Aidan is currently in the final year of his research project that is examining the origin and glacial significance of the Woore moraine, a major glacial landform located to the west of Keele.

He was awarded £2,000, which will pay for both the excavation of a series of trenches to examine the internal structure of the moraine and, hopefully, the acquisition of a series of luminescence dates to try to identify the date the moraine was formed.

KEELE LAUNCHES NEW WEDDING FAYRE

Keele Hall and Comus were open to the public last Sunday for the newest wedding fayre in the area.  Keele Conferences already host one in February but, due to popular demand, decided to hold an autumn fayre. 

Both venues were set out as if ready for a wedding party to arrive and Keele Hall was packed with exhibitors, from Burton Menswear to Theo Georgio Hairdressers to Heritage Wedding Cars.

MYSTERY BUYER SURVEY SUCCESS FOR KEELE CONFERENCES

The Conferences Sales team came second in a mystery buyer survey beating 78 academic organisations, which are all members of the Venuemasters marketing consortium. 

With a total of 74% Keele also scored higher than most of the hotels and conference centres surveyed.  Improving inquiry service to customers has been the focus for many years and the team continues to increase its rating in these annual surveys. 

They have also introduced mystery shoppers into the various areas of the campus, including the Leisure Centre, catering outlets and Keele Management Centre as part of their commitment to improving the customers' experience.