WINTER GRADUATION CEREMONIES

Degrees, diplomas and certificates were awarded to more than 800 students at graduation ceremonies in the University Chapel yesterday.

Graduands and those receiving awards, and their guests, attended four ceremonies at which postgraduate degrees and diplomas, undergraduate degrees and postgraduate certificate awards were presented by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Rama Thirunamachandran.

MEDICAL SCHOOL ACADEMIC GENERAL PRACTITIONERS APPOINTED FELLOWS

Doctors Sheena Gibson, Janet Lefroy and newly appointed Dr Joanne Protheroe, School of Medicine, have been appointed Fellows of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

The award is the highest category of membership of the College and can only be obtained with the support of their peers. A Fellow of the College exemplifies its motto 'cum scientia caritas', and is an ambassador for the College's standards and values in whom the College is happy to signal its pride. Fellowship is an exceptional honour, denoting the esteem in which a Member of the College is held by his or her peers.
 
The photograph shows the three Fellows being congratulated by the head of School, Professor Val Wass, at the award ceremony in London.

NEW SIGNS RECOGNISE LINKS BETWEEN TOWN AND GOWN

The first of a series of new signs promoting Newcastle as a university borough has been unveiled. There are 11 large signs at points around the borough welcoming people to the town. Now they will feature the words "home of Keele University" to recognise the important links between town and gown.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, met with the Council's cabinet to discuss the the signs and  told councillors he was keen to highlight the economic benefits of closer links between the Council and the University.

He said: "While Keele is a recognised name, people do not know where it is. These signs will reinforce Keele's place as an important part of the borough, as a major employer and major contributor to the local economy."

The picture show the Vice-Chancellor with council leader,  Stephen Sweeney, and deputy leader, Robin Studd, centre, at the first of the new gateway signs in George Street.

KEELE ASTRONOMERS WIN TIME ON TELESCOPES IN SPACE AND ON THE GROUND

Keele astronomer Dr Joana Oliveira, left, has won 38.8 hr of observing time in the highest-priority category on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory, a telescope in space that detects long-infrared and short-radio waves.

Dr Oliveira leads an international team studying ice and gas chemistry in star-forming regions under primitive conditions that resemble those found in the early Universe. This award generated approximately $92,000 of funding for her collaborators in the USA.

Dr Oliveira, Keele astronomer Dr Jacco van Loon, PhD student Masha Lakicevic and astronomer Dr James Reeves, are co-investigators on a further eight successful Herschel proposals in this latest round, totalling 117.7 hr.

Professor Rob Jeffries, right, has been awarded 13 hours of time on another ESA satellite, XMM-Newton, in order to study X-ray emission from very fast-rotating stars that are analogues of the young Sun. The aim is to determine how coronal X-ray generation in these stars is influenced by the extreme centrifugal forces experienced by the 10-million degree plasma trapped in their strong magnetic fields.

For the purposes of the next REF exercise, the above Keele-led awards on ESA telescopes have a notional value of about £200k.

Keele research associate David Anderson, with Keele astronomers Dr Alexis Smith and Dr Barry Smalley, have been awarded 2.7 nights on the 3.6-m Canada France Hawai'i Telescope on Hawai'i, externally funded through OPTICON. They plan to measure the thermal emission of three exoplanets by observing as they are occulted by their host stars. This will enable them to determine if the planet atmospheres have temperature inversions (stratospheres).

DISCOVERING JOLIVET

Professor Barbara Kelly was invited to officiate at a workshop devoted to the French composer André Jolivet at the University of Cardiff.
 
She led discussions about Jolivet's music and conducted an interview with the composer's daughter, Christine Jolivet-Erlih, during an afternoon that included performances of Jolivet's chamber music.
 
She was then recorded by BBC Radio 3, in conversation with Mme Jolivet, in front of an audience before a BBC Wales concert devoted to Jolivet's symphonic work.  The concert will be broadcast on Radio 3.  The day was organised by Dr Caroline Rae (University of Cardiff) in collaboration with BBC NOW.

Jolivet was a contemporary of Messiaen and they belonged to the group Jeune France, which sought to counter the prevalent neoclassicism of Stravinsky and infuse music with spiritual and human values.  Professor Kelly is currently collaborating with Dr Rae on the first book-length study of the composer in English.

THESIS WINS HIGHEST HONOUR

A thesis by student, Juliana Lopoukhine, who has been co-supervised by Professor Scott McCracken (English, Keele) and Professor Chantal Delourme (Université Paris Ouest, Nanterre), won the highest honour, 'honorable avec félicitations', after an examination  for her PhD at Nanterre, under the French system of a jury de thèse.

The jury consisted of six members, three English and three French; Scott McCracken, Chantal Delourme, Professor Rachel Bowlby, la Présidente du jury (University College London), Professor Catherine Lanone (Université Paris 3), Dr Ceri Morgan (Keele) and Professor Richard Pedot (Nanterre). When the thesis, English women modernist writers in the interwar period, is confirmed by the graduate committees at Keele and Nanterre, Juliana will receive a doctorate from both institutions.

This kind of co-supervision between two European universities is relatively new, but is likely to become more common and Keele is pleased to have had a pioneering role.

The picture shows Chantal Delourme, left, Juliana and Scott.

HE INFORMATION DAY FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

The Outreach and Widening Participation Section welcomed 85 KS5 learners onto campus this week for a HE Information day. 

The young people, from three schools from the wider area, got to grips with the new fees and payback system with Head of Student Financial Support , Helen Johnson; found out how to choose a university, with Dr Jonathan Parker, and developed their   skills in How to Survive a Lecture and Contribute to a Seminar,  with Andreas Steffensen. The day was rounded off with a tour of campus by student ambassadors. The information intensive day was very well received by a cohort that will be the first to experience the new HE arrangements in 2012 – 2013.

CELEBRATING TURKEY

A 'Celebrate Turkey Day' was held at Keele this week, with the Turkish Society organising an afternoon of activities in the Chancellor's Building, showcasing the best of Turkey.

This was followed by the Turkish Ambassador to the United Kingdom, His Excellency, Unal Cevikoz, left, giving a speech at the World Affairs Series last night on the foreign policy of Turkey  since 1932. He split his talk into three phase: the passive phase from 1932 to 1947, the reactive phase from 1947 to 1991 and the proactive phase from then onwards.

Before questions and answers, which were very wide-ranging, there was a draw for two tickets from Turkish Airlines, the sponors of the evening.

Keele currently has 35 Turkish students, mainly studying at the postgraduate and doctoral level, links to a variety of universities in Turkey, and an active ERASMUS programme for both staff and students.

ASTROPHYSICS FOR TEACHERS

The Science Learning Centre last weekend welcomed teachers to Keele for an astrophysics course, 'Bringing Cutting Edge Science into the Classroom: Astrophysics'.

Dr Jacco van Loon, pictured, introduced 12 teachers to the facilities and telescopes at the Keele Earth and Space Observatory and explained the work undertaken by the University's astrophysicists. Dr Raphael Hirschi then looked at  Stars and Planets, which included making cereal box spectrographs; David Martin, a teacher of Astronomy and author of online EdExcel and OCR GCSE Astronomy textbooks, gave examples of practical work concerning the Moon and craters, and Dr James Reeves had everyone observing the Universe.

ACELEADER VISIT TO KEELE

Keele played host this week to Jenny Han, Director of one of Keele's partners, Aceleader Education Group in Beijing.

During her visit Jenny met with staff from Keele International, Keele Management School and Professor Malcolm Crook (pictured alongside Jenny, Steve French and Matthew Brannan).

More than 40 new students began their studies at Keele in September through Aceleader, which has seen a year on year rise in the total of applications received.

INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS ACCREDITATION

Keele Physics and Astrophysics Major and Dual Honours degree programmes have received Institute of Physics accreditation for a further period of five years.

A team from the Institute visited the Lennard-Jones laboratories as part of a thorough review of the Physics and Astrophysics undergraduate courses, including interviews with staff and students.

The review focused on the curriculum, student experience, teaching methods and resources.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE
 
Dr Bill Dixon, Centre for Social Policy in the Research Institute for Social Sciences, gave a paper entitled, 'Understanding 'Pointy Face': What is criminology for?' at the 2nd International Conference on 'National and International Perspectives on Crime Reduction and Criminal Justice', in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

The conference was organised by the Institute for Security Studies and Dr Dixon's paper was delivered to a plenary session immediately after the keynote address given by South Africa's Minister of Police, the Honourable, Nathi Mthethwa, MP.

THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF AGEING – INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

Professor David Amigoni, English / Research Institute for Humanities, was an invited speaker at the international symposium, 'The Cultural Politics of Ageing in the Nineteenth Century: Interdisciplinary Perspectives', at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

The symposium brought together a multi-disciplinary range of scholars from Europe and the United States, to present research on the emergence of ageing as a particular demographic and representational concern during the nineteenth century.

Professor Amigoni presented a paper on Arnold Bennett's post-Victorian novel, 'The Old Wives' Tale' (1908), and its adaptation by the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent (1971), as part of the research work undertaken on the 'Ages and Stages' NDA-funded project (in partnership with the Vic Theatre). 

KEELE RESEARCH IN TV DOCUMENTARY

Forensic geophysics research by Dr  Jamie Pringle, School of Physical Sciences and Geography / EPSAM, was featured in a BBC 4 'Science of Decay' documentary on Tuesday. 

The documentary concentrated on the processes and reasons why decay after death is so important for life. 

Jamie's work on searching for unmarked burials in graveyards was briefly covered, together with research being undertaken by collaborative colleagues at UCLAN.

You can watch it on iplayer here.

KEELE OBSERVATORY ON LOCAL RADIO

Rebecca Wood from BBC Radio Stoke did a live feature at Keele Observatory this week as part of their "advent calendar" series.

Dr Jacco van Loon, Astrophysics, was able to open the dome and show her the 1874, 31 cm refracting telescope.

Earlier he had shown her the Sun, just rising above the tree line, through a solar telescope.

The live interviews are at a different "surprise" location each day and part of the discussion at Keele was about the Star of Bethlehem.

HEALTH AND SAFETY FOR FARMERS

A safety and health awareness day for 200 local farmers took place at Keele's Sports Centre this week. 

The event was organised by the Health and Safety Executive in collaboration with CBE, Estates and the Department of Health and Safety.

Practical demonstrations focused on the safe handling of chemicals, manual handling, working at height and the safe use and maintenance of farm vehicles and machinery.

Ian Williamson, Head of Occupational Health and Safety at Keele, welcomed delegates to the event .

He said:  "Agriculture is the most dangerous industry to be in, with an average of 35 persons killed unnecessarily every year in the UK.

"This event will hopefully help to reduce this sad and alarming figure".

NEXT WEEK

Tuesday, 13 December - THREE COUNTIES OPEN ART EXHIBITION .... final day of the exhibition.

Wednesday, 14 December, 16:00 – 17:00: UNIVERSITY CHAPEL CAROL SERVICE: Celebrate Christmas with carols and readings. There will be performances from choirs, groups and St.John's Keele Primary School.

The service will be followed by wine and mince pies and there will be a collection for Barnardos.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Thirty-three years ago –

A plaque and a clock were presented to the Students' Union in memory of Mr John Harris, President of the Students' Union from 1966 to 1967 and Chairman of the Midlands University Council.

The presentations were made by the Pro-Chancellor, Lord Rochester and were followed by a reception. 8 December 1978.