KEELE SCIENTIST AWARDED £239,000 RESEARCH GRANT BY EPSRC

Professor Steve Allin, Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics, has been awarded £239,063 by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for a 30 months project titled "New strategies for the construction of linear-fused carbon ring systems".

With the support of this EPSRC grant Professor Allin's team will be investigating new ways of making an interesting class of chemical compound that share a similar structural feature. The type of compound they are interested in making all contain linearly-fused carbon ring systems and are widely found as molecular cores in many areas of natural product and pharmaceutical chemistry.

Targets of interest in this research include the tetracycline antibiotics. These valuable compounds have been widely used for more than half a century but alternative and efficient routes are now needed for their preparation, and also to help in the search for new antibiotics to overcome issues such as resistance.

Professor Allin said: "Other interesting systems that may emerge as targets for our work include some naturally occurring compounds that show a wide range of biological activities, including anti-bacterial and anti-cancer activity. Naturally occurring compounds with medicinal properties are good starting points for the discovery of new medicines, but often we need to develop ways of making them efficiently in the laboratory, as the natural source is not sustainable. Our research also extends into the field of functional materials, with some target compounds having potential to act as organic light emitting diodes or have applications in new solar cells and semi-conductors - so our studies here at Keele may have wide applications."

ELECTED TO ESRC VIRTUAL COLLEGE
 
Professor Pnina Werbner, Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice, has been elected to the Virtual College Board of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The ESRC 'virtual' college, with about 100 members, covers all disciplines and areas of the social sciences.

The college has three main purposes:

• To be a forum for interactive discussion of the development of ESRC policy
• To provide a channel for information and advice into ESRC from the academic social science communities
• To assist with ESRC decision making, particularly on Small Grant applications.            

She has also been invited by the French Government to be a professorial visiting fellow at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), sponsored by the Institut d'études de l'Islam et des Sociétés du Monde Musulman (IISMM-EHESS) for a month. She will give four public lectures on Transnational Sufi orders in comparative perspective and on the Muslim diaspora in Britain, post 9/11.

KUSU CELEBRATES A CHINESE NEW YEAR TO REMEMBER!

KUSU welcomed more than 250 students to celebrate Chinese New Year last weekend, as part of the International Culture Events programme.  Both Keele and Staffordshire Universities' Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSA) collaborated with KUSU to stage an impressive event with a traditional banquet, live stage performances and a disco; the highlights of which included a wonderful Theremin performance and traditional Chinese dumplings to welcome in the year of the Ox! 

Students from both universities had a great night, as did other party-goers, including both British and international students, keen to sample an authentic Chinese New Year celebration.

Joy Jiang, President of Keele CSSA, said: "This is the first time that the CSSA has held an event with the Students' Union.  This event has opened a window to experience the truly original way that Chinese people celebrate New Year; our purpose was to hold an international evening of culture, which we did!  I look forward to next year!"

RESEARCH GRANTS

Dr Roger Beech , Research Institute for Life Course Studies, has been awarded £28,504 by the Central and Eastern Cheshire NHS PCT for a 12 months project titled "Academic leadership to the R&D Capacity-building Project".

Professor Charlotte Williams, Research Institute for Life Course Studies, has been awarded £2,933 by the Welsh Office of Research and Development for a nine months project titled "Wales Equality and Diversity in Health and Social Care".

Dr Stefan Krause, Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics, has been awarded £300 by Advantage West Midlands for a one month project titled "Groundwater Process-based research for integrated sustainable management".

NATIONAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

Widening Participation this week hosted a Children's Conference, attended by 240 Year 9 and 10 pupils from across four counties, to mark National Holocaust Memorial Day.

As well as inspiring talks from Keele academics, Dr. Christoph Dieckmann, Dr. Kathleen Cushing and Jane Krishnadas, there was an hour and a half talk, and question and answer session, from Auschwitz survivor, Susan Pollock. Many of the attending students commented on how moved, yet inspired, they were by the day.

Widening Participation has also hosted a number of other campus-based events. More than 300 Year 10 students took part in a series of CSI Forensics and Shakespeare events over five days.

Three CSI Forensics days included fingerprinting and a CSI lecture, conducted by Amy Cowles and Vicki Hill. Two Shakespeare days included an in-depth, interactive look at Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It. These sessions were supported by a number of student mentors, as well as Dr. Lucy Munro, Dr. Catherine Bates and Dr Roger Pooley.