£5.7 MILLION BOOST FOR KEELE FROM HEFCE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT FUND

Keele University has received from the Higher Education Funding Council for England a major grant of £5.7 million. The funding will help achieve the University's ambitions to be the Ultimate Campus University for the 21st Century and a model for other campus universities in the future.

The success means that the University can now progress in a number of vital areas:

1. Environment and Sustainability: Developing our unique range of resources on campus to create a Sustainability Hub for teaching and research, as well as generating some 50% of our own energy use within five years.

2. Business: creation of new programmes and continuing professional development courses, with a focus on employers' needs.

3. Health: Developing existing intellectual property and innovative learning and teaching techniques associated with 'Virtual Patient'; bespoke software to train medical and other students in communication and diagnostic skills.  This will be developed for wider application for other academic disciplines.  In partnership with Manchester University and the two PCTs, Keele plans to also develop programmes in oral therapy and dental hygiene.

4. Active Ageing: Developing our traditional strengths in Gerontology and Primary Care, to act as an exemplar on how universities can contribute to 'active ageing' as the national demography changes.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Rama Thirunamachandran, said "The University, like many others, has been significantly affected by the recession.  This is an exciting opportunity and a major boost for the whole University and means we can press ahead with the next phase of development, which is vital to secure our academic and financial future."

SWAN AWARDS FOR KEELE SCHOOLS

Keele's School of Life Sciences this week received the prestigious silver Athena SWAN award for excellence in recruiting and progressing women in science, engineering and technology (SET).

The award was presented at a celebratory lunch at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, where the presenter and keynote speaker was Keele's Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Janet Finch. Dr Anne Loweth, Head of the School of Life Sciences, who was accompanied by the School's Athena SWAN champion, Dr Srabasti Chakravorty, accepted the Silver award.

Elaine McFarlane and Janet Drewery, Faculty of Natural Sciences, attended the ceremony to collect the University's renewed bronze award, originally awarded to the School of Physical and Geographical Sciences in 2007.

There were 80 guests from 20 different Universities also collecting bronze and/or silver awards.

RESCUE DIG AT STOKE GRAVEYARD

Staff and students from the School of Physical Sciences and Geography/ Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics, have been helping Stoke-on-Trent Council archaeologists on an emergency rescue dig at a graveyard in the north of the city this week.

Developers are building a community hall on part of an old graveyard, with initial groundwork revealing several unmarked graves and burial vaults. Near-surface geophysical surveys, led by Dr Jamie Pringle, were undertaken to help the archaeologists locate and recover the burials. Undergraduate forensic science and postgraduate earth science students are also gaining invaluable experience on a forensic case.

STEM CELL-BASED THERAPIES FOR DEAFNESS     

Members of the Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine gathered to hear visiting speaker Dr Marcelo Rivolta from Sheffield University describe the latest research on developing stem cell-based therapy for deafness. This is an area in which Keele has long-standing expertise and collaborations with, among others, Sheffield and Bristol universities.

Dr Rivolta was hosted by Dr David Furness of Keele's neuroscience research group, pictured above left, and his talk attracted many questions on the strategies used to isolate and characterise human auditory stem cells. The current state-of-the art models of the cells grown from the human inner ear could prove highly useful for drug testing and design, and more importantly should facilitate the development of stem cell-based therapies for deafness.

The visit was part of ISTM's regular seminar series, the next of which takes place takes place on Monday 26 October when Keele welcomes back Professor Noel Morgan, former Head of Keele's School of Biological Sciences and now Professor of Endocrine Pharmacology at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth.

KEELE CONTRIBUTES TO NEW AHRC FUNDED PhD TRAINING PROGRAMME

From 2009 to 2011, Dr Alannah Tomkins (History) and Professor David Amigoni (English), of the Research Institute for Humanities, will be involved in an innovative, new, AHRC funded doctoral training programme, teaching PhD students 'Theories and Methods: Literature, Science and Medicine'. In collaboration with eleven other partners: the Universities of Salford, Leicester, Manchester, King's College London, the London Consortium, the Science Museum, National Maritime Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, Royal College of Surgeons, Royal Institution of Great Britain and the Wellcome Library, students will be taught by experts with different approaches to disciplinary boundaries and will be equipped with the skills needed to utilise manuscript sources, rare books, material objects, philosophy, literature, film and visual arts in their study. Over the next two years each partner will host one event and contribute teaching to the whole programme. There will be twenty funded places per event for PhD students in this field to attend events, and during 2011 the website, created and hosted by the University of Salford, will offer training resources in this important new subject.

KEELE'S SCIENCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY ENERGY WEEK

As part of their public engagement and educational outreach activities, Keele's Science for Sustainability Environmental Education Officer, Lucy Gallagher last week delivered an Energy Week at St.John's Catholic Primary School in Bridgnorth, Shropshire.  The event was designed to educate both pupils and staff about the importance of conserving energy, through workshops involving all year groups.  Activities included 'Special Energy Detectives' investigations and a 'Solar Power Scrapheap Challenge', allowing a fun, practical and interesting approach to learning about contemporary science issues and the positive steps required to making the school more sustainable, at both an institutional and individual level.  The week was a huge success with great feedback from children and staff.

Since the project began in 2006, the Science for Sustainability team (Professor Mark Ormerod, Dr Zoe Robinson and Lucy Gallagher, Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics) have established links with a large number of primary and secondary schools within the West Midlands and North West regions, reaching an audience of over 6,500 school pupils and students aged 4 - 18.

MAKING RESEARCH COUNT

Keele Making Research Count continued to promote research mindedness among social care and social workers with two successful events over the summer.

Professor Sian Maslin-Prothero, Dean of the Graduate School, gave a presentation on 'Inter-professional Practice' in which she addressed the interface between health and social services in the context of Intermediate Care and services for older people.  Another event,   'End of Life Care', featured two speakers: Dr Sue Read and Dr Kate Lillie, both from the School of Nursing and Midwifery.  Dr Read focused on the meaning of death and dying from the perspective of people with an intellectual disability, while Dr Lillie reported her research on genetic predisposition to cancer and its impact on the care needs of palliative care patients.
 
Both events were well attended by delegates from partner agencies in Staffordshire, Stoke, Shropshire and Cheshire.

CONFERENCE ADDRESS ON DEVELOPING LINE MANAGERS

Rachel Cairns, CFM Head of HR and Training addressed senior learning and development professionals at the prestigious "World of Learning" two day conference at the NEC.

Rachel, who was introduced by Bill Turnbull the presenter of BBC Breakfast, was asked to share her experiences of "Building the role of the line manager in delivering successful learning solutions".

Her presentation was based on the case study of developing line managers within CFM to facilitate equality and diversity workshops for all staff and included DVD footage of Sue Parkin, Housekeeper, and Ian Couzens, Senior Supervisor from Keele Hall, talking about their experiences of delivering training.

Rachel said "it was fantastic to be identified as a best practice organisation alongside some big names such as Sony, BT and Lloyds TSB. So many people were interested in our story and it is a credit to our line managers that they rose to the challenge of delivering training, which is not an easy thing to do well."

FIRST ERASMUS EXCHANGE STUDENT FROM ANKARA UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

Student Nurse Melike Ayca Ay from the University of Ankara, Turkey, has recently completed three months at the School of Nursing and Midwifery. During her exchange she spent time meeting School staff and students and was allocated to a variety of clinical placements at local hospitals and in community settings. Ayca is the first Erasmus exchange student to visit the School of Nursing and Midwifery. All the clinical mentors were impressed with her professionalism and application to nursing and she was an excellent ambassador for Ankara University.  The School's International Strategy is to build upon the teaching exchanges which have been in place for the last two years and to develop further student exchanges. Keele Student Nurse Fiona Reale will be returning from Ankara the end of October and will be doing a presentation to staff and students. There are plans to develop joint teaching/research projects between the two Universities.

WELCOME TO BRITAIN PARTY

More than 300 International students from all over the world were welcomed to Keele by the Students' Union last week.

This most British of receptions offered all the old favourite comfort foods, such as shepherd's pie, fish and chips and scones with cups of tea! 

Students enjoyed table service in the ballroom, followed by a social in the Lounge.

The 'Welcome to Britain Party' marks the start of the 2009/10 series of International Culture Events; these events celebrate multiculturalism here at Keele, with students from all countries encouraged to showcase their own cultures and traditions. 

Alumni members of the Keele Society Advisory Committee also gave a special welcome to newly-arrived international students. Twenty-seven students from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America enjoyed a tour of Keele Hall, a presentation given by alumni about Keele's unique heritage and ethos and why they keep in touch with Keele.

NATIONAL TEACHING FELLOWSHIP AWARDED

Dr Jonathan Parker, a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Keele, was among fifty of the best lecturers and learning support staff in higher education in England and Northern Ireland who were recognised for their excellence at an awards ceremony at Middle Temple Hall, London.

The 2009 National Teaching Fellowships, awarded by the Higher Education Academy, were presented by Dr John Selby, Director (Education and Participation) HEFCE, and Professor Shirley Pearce, Chair of the advisory panel for the awards.

The 50 award winners for 2009, chosen from 203 nominations submitted by higher education institutions, will each receive awards of £10,000 to support learning and teaching activities.

The new Fellows come from universities, HE colleges and conservatoires throughout England and Northern Ireland.

PROJECT GREEN PLANTS FIRST GRADUATES

Keele's ground-breaking placement initiative Project Green, managed by Research and Enterprise Services and run via the School of Physical and Geographical Sciences and Keele Management School, has planted its first 35 graduates into West Midlands based companies.

Graduates from various universities (17 in total) and degree backgrounds embarked on a fully funded 'Greening Business' module, with most starting their environmentally-focused placements this week. 

Each receives a £200 per week bursary, courtesy of the Economic Challenge Investment Fund bid which Keele were successful in securing earlier this year with the support of a number of local partners.

The placements range from research on renewable energy to more technical data collection and reporting projects.

GLOBAL WORKSHOP AT WHO HQ

Professor Michael Rigby, Emeritus Professor of Health Information Strategy, Research Institute for Public Policy and Management and School of Public Policy and Professional Practice, was recently invited to attend a global workshop at WHO Headquarters on actions towards reductions in inter-personal violence. 

Professor Rigby attended in his capacity as task group leader for child violence in an EU project on Public Health Actions for a Safer Europe. 

The meeting will help frame the content of the next WHO action programme on this important issue.

POSTER PRIZE FOR KEELE POSTGRADUATE STUDENT

PhD student Natalie Zadurian recently attended the Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference in Birmingham to present a poster from her PhD work. It was called 'An investigation of cognitive and behavioural coping amongst primary care low back pain patients'.

She was very successful, got lots of questions from experienced psychologists and beat many other researchers to receive the Division of Health Psychology Conference 2009 'Poster Prize for outstanding content and presentation'.

This was a great achievement for Natalie, who received a certificate, a book and a year's subscription to the journal 'Psychology & Health'.

RUN FOR CANCER RESEARCH

Jenny Tucker, Director of Commercial and Facilities Management, and Caroline Mairs, Head of Science Park, raised more than £500 for Cancer Research by taking part in a 10k race.

They took part in the run at Tatton Park, Knutsford, over a challenging course. Caroline managed a time of 1hr 15 minutes and Jenny completed the course in 53 minutes.

LONG STANDING CUSTOMER TAKES FULL ADVANTAGE OF KEELE HALL

Adullum Homes a specialist Housing Association providing good quality residential accommodation and support for vulnerable people in the Midlands, Merseyside and the North West took full advantage of the facilities offered at Keele Hall this week for their 'Friends Together' luncheon. 113 members used the new ballroom, which was partitioned to provide two areas; one for their displays and the other for a lunch.

CAREERS ADVISORS UPDATE

The Faculty of Health Schools and College Liaison team recently held a Careers Advisor update at the Clinical Education Centre, University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust.

The event, which was well attended by 20 representatives from local Schools and Colleges and Careers Organisations, comprised talks and admissions advice for applications to pre-registration programmes, tours of the Clinical Education Centre and opportunities for informal discussion.

The event was positively evaluated and careers advisors reported that it would be of enormous benefit to help them in giving careers advice for pupils in schools and colleges.