INTRODUCING KEELE'S NEW VICE-CHANCELLOR

Professor Nick Foskett, a Professor of Education with an international research profile in Higher Education Policy, has taken up his position as Keele's new Vice-Chancellor.

Formerly Dean of the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Southampton, Professor Foskett was born in Stoke-on-Trent and read Geography at Keble College, University of Oxford.

Following a successful early career in secondary education and a brief period in University administration, he has forged a successful academic and managerial career at the University of Southampton.  He went there as a lecturer in Education in 1989 and was promoted to Professor of Education in 2000.

He held senior leadership roles as Head of Initial Teacher Training, then Head of the School of Education at Southampton before becoming Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences in 2005.  This post at Pro Vice-Chancellor level also carried University-wide responsibilities for internationalisation, regional partnerships, environmental sustainability and diversity.

Professor Foskett said: "I am excited by the opportunity to lead Keele University through the next few years. Keele has an excellent reputation as one of the UK's leading campus universities, and despite the inevitable challenges the sector will face, the University is well positioned to further establish itself strongly within both the national and international higher education arenas. Keele also has a strong regional commitment, and I look forward to the University continuing to play a full part in the economic and cultural life of its home region."

WRITERSTAKE OVER THE OLD LIBRARY

Fourteen writers from around the country could be seen last week in Keele Hall, spread about the Old Library and Great Hall, working on their novels and poetry. They were all participants on the inaugural Keele Writing Retreat, a summer school for writers organised by James Sheard and Joe Stretch, lecturers in Creative Writing here at Keele.
 
Participants spent five days under the mentorship of Jim and Joe, assisted by poet Jacob Polley and novelist Gwendoline Riley. The feedback was universally enthusiastic, with all participants feeling inspired by the surroundings and the workshop sessions, and all reported feeling that they had acquired new understanding of their own writing, and a fresh impetus to develop their work after the Retreat.  Plans are already being made for next summer's Retreat.

DENNIS GETS ON HIS BIKE FOR CHARITY

Dennis Bourne, the duty manager at Keele Sports Centre, recently took part in a mammoth cycle ride from Brussels to London to raise money for the charity Right To Play.

The first day was Brussels to Bruges, with an overnight stop before the second day of Bruges to Calais. An early morning ferry crossing started the third day's journey from Dover to Greenwich Park in London, completing the official route.

Unfortunately Dennis then faced an extra trek across London the next day as bikes were not allowed on the train from Greenwich to Euston, much to his despair.

Dennis has so far raised £900 towards the Right To Play total of almost £150,000. He would like to thank all those from the University who have sponsored him, and looks forward to his next challenge.

GERONTOLOGY EVENTS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

Professor Peter Crome was an invited guest lecturer at two conferences held in South East Asia. At Universiti Putri Malaysia he delivered a series of nine master classes on various aspects of geriatric medicine at their Institute of Gerontology in Serdang, Selangor.

He then went on to Singapore to deliver six lectures at the 11th ASEAN Gerontology Course organised by the International  Association on Ageing and the Singapore Action Group of Elders which was attended by delegates from across the Region.

Professor Crome said: "The rise in the number of older people over the next two or three decades in SE Asia is going to be even more dramatic than in the UK. Hopefully participation in these events will lead to closer collaboration between Keele and gerontologists in SE Asia."

COLLABORATION HOLDS INTERNATIONAL MEETING AT KEELE

The Nucleosynthesis Grid (NuGrid) collaboration held its third annual meeting at Keele, organised by Dr Raphael Hirschi, Astrophysics group, with the financial help of the EPSAM and JINA institutes. Members of the collaboration came from Italy, Canada and the United States to take part in a friendly and very productive week.

An open day was organised as part of the meeting and scientists from Edinburgh, York, Manchester and Hertfordshire Universities came to find out more about the collaboration. Five members of the NuGrid collaboration then went off to Heidelberg in Germany for the XIth Nuclei in the Cosmos conference where they presented their work via one talk and six posters.

KEELE SCIENTIST AT SCIENCE FOO CAMP 2010

Dr Graeme Jones, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, attended the fifth Science Foo Camp, also known as SciFoo, at the Googleplex campus in Mountain View, California.  This conference is organised by the Nature publishing group together with Google and O'Reilly Media who, in their words, "invite 200 leading scientists, technologists, writers and other thought-leaders to gather at the Googleplex for a weekend of discussion, demonstration and debate". There is no predefined agenda; instead attendees collaboratively create one during the first evening, having shared ideas in advance through a wiki.  

COLLOQUIUM IN COLORADO 

Dr Stefan Krause, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, presented an invited keynote at the CUAHSI (Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrological Science) Biennial Colloquium in Boulder, Colorado. As one of three European scientists invited by the NSF long-term initiative of more than 100 US universities, he presented on recent advances in the application of fibre-optical heat sensing technology for the identification of reactivity hot spots in streambed environments.

FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR VACATION CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

The past six weeks have seen the Conference and Events team welcome an ever increasing number of events and conferences to the campus.

Keele University has welcomed approximately 5,000 delegates during June and July, using the range of facilities that the campus has to offer such as the Chancellor's Complex, Keele Hall and the Sports Centre.
Conferences such as the Association of Charity Shops, the British Universities & Colleges Institute of Mechanical Engineers and Gender Work & Organisation have returned to Keele along with new conferences such as BACHE and the Design & Technology Association.

The latest sports event, the Keele International cup attracted football teams from around the world and in one week 6,000 breakfasts were served.

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT 

The following academic appointment has commenced in post:

School of Pharmacy

Zaynab Nejadhamzeeigilani, lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, previously a pharmacist with Boots the Chemist in Exeter

FROM THE ARCHIVES 

2 August 2002

More than 180 young people from all parts of the country converged on Keele for the biggest Higher Education Summer School in the country. The students, aged between 14 and 16, experienced a taste of university life, helping them make their post 16 choices. They attended a series of sessions in most academic disciplines, tried an army-style training course and experienced exercises in team building.