PROMOTIONS TO PERSONAL CHAIRS

The Professorial and Readerships Promotions Committee has made the following promotions which are, as always, subject to the formal ratification of Senate and Council.

The following have been appointed as professors:

Gordon Hamilton (Life Sciences)

Gordon Hamilton joined the Medical Entomology Group as a lecturer at Keele in 1995, although he'd held a Wellcome Trust Advanced Training Fellowship with the Chemical Ecology Group since 1993. He originally trained as a zoologist/chemist, studying for BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Cardiff, before going to Virginia in the United States for his PhD. His work has focused on understanding the biology and chemical communication systems of insects that transmit human and animal diseases; it has been published in over 80 peer reviewed publications and has attracted over £6M of funding.

His success was recognised through promotion to senior lecturer in 2005, and to reader in 2008. Most recently, he has made huge progress in using pheromones to control the sand fly vector of leishmaniasis, a disease caused by a protist parasite second only to malaria in its global impact.  Leishmaniasis causes disfigurement in some forms or can be fatal in others and affects people (predominantly children under five-years-old) in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. His most recent grant from the Wellcome Trust is for £2.6M, to carry out a major study in Brazil to evaluate his pheromone approach to controlling this disease.

Andy Hassell (Medicine)

Andy Hassell has made a very valuable scholarly contribution to the development of the School of Medicine at Keele since its establishment.  Andy has had a strong local clinical profile as a consultant in Rheumatology at the Haywood Hospital and University Hospital North Staffordshire for 15 years.  He has made a major contribution to the development of the new curriculum, joining the development group in 2003 and taking full responsibility in his role as Director of the Undergraduate Programme in 2007.  In addition to his clinical and educational commitments, he has made significant contributions over the years to clinical research into musculoskeletal disorders, to the national programme for specialist training in rheumatology and increasingly, to the educational scholarship required to develop an innovative Keele medical curriculum which reflects change in modern health care. 

Khaled Ismail (Medicine)

Khaled Ismail qualified in 1990 and completed his clinical training as a clinical tutor in obstetrics and gynaecology at Ain Shams University in Cairo. Khaled joined Keele University and the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in 2001 as a clinical lecturer and was promoted to senior lecturer and consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology in 2003. In 2007 he won the Stoke and North Staffordshire Citizens of the year award for Innovation in Medical Technology for his conception and development of obstetric forceps, a product that has recently won several national and international design awards.  His research is aimed at improving pregnancy related maternal and fetal outcomes.  His current programmes focus on the prediction, recognition and management of perineal trauma and on the interaction of maternal nutrition, fetal epigenetics and susceptibility to disease in later life.  Khaled combines his research and educational roles with a busy clinical practice as Clinical Lead for Obstetrics at UHNS.

Robert Ladrech (European Politics)

Appointed to a Lectureship in Politics at Keele in 1995, and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2000, during his time at Keele Robert Ladrech has contributed to major advances to the discipline of political science as well as proving highly influential in academic and policy debates across Europe. In particular, he has been a pivotal figure in establishing a research focus around policy and institutional change in European Union (EU) member states, codified in his extensively-cited development of the term 'Europeanization'. His international reputation is reflected in a number of major visiting and external appointments (e.g. as Distinguished Foreign Researcher at the University of Ljubljana in 2006), and in his selection through a competitive process to direct a workshop at the European Consortium for Political Research in 2010. It is most obviously reflected in his impressive range of scholarly writing and research. He has produced a major body of work exploring a number of themes relating to European politics and society, including one co-authored and two single-authored books. The most recent of these, The Europeanization of National Politics (2010), represents the first significant attempt to provide a comparative perspective on a broad range of domestic policies and practices, and is already being recognised as a definitive contribution.

Anand Pandyan (Health and Rehabilitation)

Dr Anand Pandyan is a bioengineer by background.  He joined the University in 2002 as a Lecturer in the School of Health & Rehabilitation and was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007. Anand has made a major contribution to the internationalisation both within SHAR and more broadly at Keele through establishing overseas links and supporting the recruitment and retention of international students. His research within ISTM is focused on stroke, with interests that span acute management to long term rehabilitation.  He has attracted grant funding of £2.4M since his last promotiojn, including a major NIHR award.  Anand's work is increasingly recognised with invitations as a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and memberships of several key committees, including the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Stroke Research Network and Society for Research into Rehabilitation.  In addition to research he is a passionate teacher and a mentor for students.

George Peat (Clinical  Epidemiology)

George Peat has developed an internationally renowned programme of work investigating the clinical epidemiology of osteoarthritis.  He has led the clinical epidemiology group in Primary Care's ARUK National R&D Centre investigating symptoms and illnesses in populations, their frequency and natural history, and how these relate to underlying disease.  His proposals for long-term studies of how symptoms and disease measures in osteoarthritis interact and progress over time was recognised and supported with an Arthritis Research UK programme grant in 2008, an outstanding achievement in a highly competitive field.   George has worked closely with local clinicians to develop research clinics based at the Haywood Hospital in order to follow up large samples of older people from his population studies.  He has developed strong external collaborations with leading UK epidemiologists, rheumatologists, general practitioners and colleagues from the Netherlands.  He has secured considerable external grant income, published over 60 original articles in high ranking journals, and supervised seven PhD students.

Carole Thornley (Employment and Public Policy)

Appointed to a Lectureship in Industrial Relations at Keele in 1992, and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2000, during her time at Keele Carole Thornley has contributed major advances to the discipline of industrial relations as well as proving highly influential on the national and international policy stage. She has established an outstanding international reputation for research in the area of employment and public policy, developing particular expertise on issues concerning equality and problems relating to low pay, with a remarkable record assisting with official enquiries on equality and income-related issues, especially in the Health Service and Local Government. She has an excellent record of research leadership in the international labour-relations community, built upon numerous peer-reviewed papers, research monographs and books – most recently Globalization and Varieties of Capitalism: New Labour, Economic Policy and the Abject State (2009, jointly with Dan Coffey), and Globalization and Precarious Forms of Production and Employment (2010, with Steve Jefferys and Beatrice Appay). Carole Thornley has been a key figure working on behalf of postgraduate research students, both as Director of Postgraduate Research and in moving into her latest role as Director of Postgraduate Research for the Research Institute for the Social Sciences.

SEMINAR ON BONE IMAGING

Keele's 3ME Initiative, welcomed Professor Ralph Müller, Professor of Biomechanics and Director of the Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, pictured, last week to give a seminar on bone imaging. Over 50 members of the 3ME Initiative, drawn from two Keele Research Institutes, ISTM and EPSAM, as well as NHS consultants and nurses, heard the seminar, which was held at the Guy Hilton Research Centre.

Professor Müller's research employs state-of-the-art biomechanical testing and simulation techniques as well as novel bio-imaging and visualization strategies for biological tissues. His approaches are now often used for precise phenotypic characterization of tissue response in mammalian genetics, stem cell-based tissue engineering and mechanobiology.
For further details on the 3ME Initiative, please visit the 3ME Website by clicking on to the following link http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/istm/ or contact Mrs Maria Kyriacou on 01782 554605 or m.kyriacou@istm.keele.ac.uk.

KEELE FOR JAPAN SOLIDARITY

Students studying Japanese at the University have founded 'Keele for Japan' as an act of solidarity with the Japanese disaster victims.

The group, which now has 377 members, started fundraising for the Red Cross Tsunami Appeal this week, selling cupcakes and onigiri rice balls. Students and staff contributed generously, raising over £400. Acts of solidarity include origami crane folding, with a view to making 1,000 cranes, a symbolical wish-making for peace and happiness, and writing or recording solidarity messages.

Mitzi Lakandula was interviewed by BBC Radio Stoke on Wednesday and the group were meeting with the Sentinel today. They will continue their activities in front of the Chapel between 11-2 until Friday, 1 April.

One of the organisers, Alexander Mushore, said:  "We really wanted to start doing something as Keele students to help Japan. The response has been amazing."

For more information see here.

GUEST LECTURE ON THE KING JAMES' BIBLE

Dr Roger Pooley, School of Humanities, gave a guest lecture, The Prose of the King James' Version and its literary influence, in Lichfield Cathedral last week as part of their celebration of the 1611 King James' version of the bible.

2011 sees the 400th anniversary of the first publication of the King James "authorised" version and cathedrals and museums up and down the country will be marking the anniversary with a variety of events.

YALE SCHOLAR WRITES ABOUT KEELE EXPERIENCE

Kristel Carrington, a Yale scholar who recently spent a semester at Keele doing research for her medical degree, has written about her experiences.

The American Student National Medical Association newsletter, which goes nationwide, featured a piece in which she says "This [exchange] program is excellent in that it allows me to explore a global problem from the perspective of both countries; there are few programs that provide such a multifaceted experience."

Kristel was mentored by Roger Worthington (lecturer at Keele and an assistant professor at Yale); besides working as a teaching assistant she did a clinical elective at UHNS with Mr Rob Kirby and visited London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, interviewing clinical and policy specialists about the use of surgical intervention for treating obesity in children.

WOMAN'S HOUR TALK

Dr Rachel Hurdley, who was The Sociological Review Fellow in 2009-10, was recently on Woman's Hour talking about her study of the history and meaning of mantelpiece displays.

Decisions about what photos to put there, the 'right' invitations and cards, pine cones or year-long Christmas decorations are not 'pure' aesthetics, but ways of constructing identity, family, home and memory. The book, drafted during her time at Keele, will be published later this year by Palgrave Macmillan.

KEELE CYCLISTS

A 45-minute accompanied cycle ride was organised for staff and students by Keele Cyclists this week and led by local cyclist, Mike Barr. The five mile ride was at a leisurely pace, aimed at those who don't cycle regularly and who want support in enjoying cycling.

Cyclists enjoyed the downhill start into Silverdale, before following a green lane away from the traffic and then making the most of the cycle path to walk back up Keele Bank! Keele cyclists hope to organise another ride after Easter. For more information, or to join the mailing list, please see the web page: www.keele.ac.uk/kc

COMIC RELIEF

Joanne Fowler, Student Lettings, raised £235 for Comic Relief last Friday by coming to work in her pyjamas.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Fifty-five years ago -

The Earl of Harrowby, first president of the University College of North Staffordshire, and popularly known as "the Grand Old Man of Staffordshire", died on 30 March 1956, just three days after the death of his wife.

Born in 1864, Lord Harrowby played a prominent part in the social, philanthropic and administrative life of the county.