1.4 MILLION EURO ERC STARTING GRANT FOR KEELE ACADEMIC
 Dr Raphael Hirschi, Astrophysics group, iEPSAM, has secured a prestigious 1.4 million Euro starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC) - the first awarded to a Keele academic. This builds on his European funding profile as scientist in charge for a Marie Curie IIF and associate partner for the EUROCORE Eurogenesis programme.
The ERC starting grant will fund a 5-year multi-disciplinary project entitled SHYNE (Stellar HYdrodynamics, Nucleosynthesis and Evolution), which starts this month. The grant will enable Dr Hirschi to build a team of two post-doctoral researchers and two PhD students, all based at Keele, and to acquire a dedicated computer cluster comprising 1000+ CPU cores. The computer cluster will have 288 cores virtually sharing memory through the innovative hardware developed by the Norwegian company Numascale. The SHYNE team will collaborate with Numascale in order to determine the best balance between shared and distributed memory architectures, adding an inter-sectoral component to the project.
The SHYNE project will develop an innovative software suite that draws upon numerical techniques from several disciplines, with the goal of extending them in their application to produce state of the art theoretical models of stars. This software suite will produce comprehensive datasets of stellar evolution models that will provide a theoretical framework of analysis for astronomical observing facilities (ESO VLT, E-ELT & ESA GAIA). This project will also use stellar models as a virtual nuclear physics laboratory to guide and boost the return on investments in large nuclear physics experiments (e.g. FAIR at GSI, D).
This project will tackle many challenging questions and unsolved problems: How are the elements we are made of created? What are the properties of the most massive stars and what is their fate? Do electron-capture supernovae exist? What are the most important nuclear reaction rates and what precision in nuclear physics experiments is desirable for astrophysics applications? How does one improve 1-dimensional models using modern computers and multi-dimensional simulations? What is the best computer platform for medium- and large-scale simulations? The SHYNE project will thus have a wide ranging impact on the various disciplines involved and also build a promising bridge with a high-tech company. |
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SOCIAL SCIENCES ROADSHOW AT KEELE
 The Vice Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, welcomed the Campaign for the Social Sciences to Keele when it held a successful Roadshow in the Claus Moser Building.
The campaign is an initiative of the Academy of Social Science, which represents over 87,000 social scientists through its member learned societies and Academicians. The purpose of the campaign is to raise the profile of social science in the public, media and Parliament, with a view both to safeguarding and increasing the resources allocated to social science, and to increasing the influence of social scientific research on public policy.
Speakers at the Roadshow included Professor Sir Howard Newby AcSS, Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University and President of the Academy of Social Science; Stephen Anderson AcSS, Chief Executive of the Academy of Social Science and Ceridwen Roberts, AcSS, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford University. The event was chaired by Professor Fiona Cownie (Law), who is also an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences. The aim of the Roadshow was not only to publicise the work of the campaign, but also to invite colleagues to become involved in its activities, such as the high-profile 'Making the Case' booklets, used to showcase social science research which has been influential in changing Government policy in a wide range of areas. |
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INVESTMENT IN NEW NEUROSCIENCE EQUIPMENT
 The purchase of a new stereomicroscope with imaging equipment by Keele's neuroscience researchers in the Research Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine has enabled them to replace facilities which have served them well for the last 40 years.
Investment of £17,000 came from the Higher Education Funding Council capital fund and will benefit several current, well-established neuroscience projects. These include work on neural stem/precursor cell transplantation therapies to promote repair in central nervous system disease and injury, such as spinal cord injury, demyelinating injury (as occurs in diseases such as multiple sclerosis); Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, stroke, as well as deafness caused by degeneration of the cochlea.
Newer areas to benefit from the new equipment include modelling of neurodegeneration, and several novel biomedical and tissue engineering strategies such as magnetic nanoparticle mediated gene delivery, and implantation of nanofabricated polymer scaffolds to promote neurological regeneration.
The competitive bid for the HEFCE capital funds was led by Dr Divya Chari on behalf of eight project leaders in the neuroscience field, who tested stereomicroscopes from a variety of manufacturers prior to purchase and installation."
Photo: The new stereomicroscope in use in the Huxley Building laboratories. |
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NEW ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
School of Computing and Mathematics
Professor Julius Kaplunov, Professor of Applied Mathematics, previously Professor in Applied Mathematics - Brunel University.
School of Medicine
Dr Menandros Lagopoulos, Director of Anatomy, previously Senior Lecturer, Head of Anatomy - St George's University of Nicosia Medical School.
School of Nursing & Midwifery
Dr Heather Wilkins, Lead Midwife for Education/Quality Lead, previously Clinical Governance and Risk Management Co-ordinator/Supervisor of Midwives - Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust.
School of Pharmacy
Professor Nigel Ratcliffe, Professor of Pharmacy, previously Chairman, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent NHS Partnership Trust. |
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DIGNITY AND WELLBEING WEEK
 A week of events and activities dedicated to raising awareness about wellbeing and dignity issues starts on Monday. The week is open to staff, students and local community groups.
Ian Williamson, Head Occupational Health and Safety, said: "Throughout the week you may want to take up the six-week weight loss challenge, have your BMI or blood pressure checked or even unwind with the daily Relaxation Road Show. Alternatively for those wanting to be more physically active there will be an arboretum walk, a myths and legends campus tour and fitness classes. We have even organised an origami workshop at the Hub!"
There are also talks covering various wellbeing and dignity matters.
Next Thursday Dr Claire Fox, Psychology, will present akey note address in the Westminster Theatre, "From Bullying in Schools to Bullying among University Students: How should these issues be addressed?". A number of wellbeing information stalls and demonstrations will also be on display next Thursday in the Chancellor's Building Foyer.
A full programme of activities can be found by following the link on the Keele Unity webpage - http://www.keele.ac.uk/keeleunity/.
As part of Dignity and Wellbeing Week, the KPA is hosting a fundraising event for Keele Nightline on Monday, 5 November from 7pm. The evening will include a raffle, a "Wellbeing Quiz", hosted by Ally Bird and Alex Clifford, nibbles and cakes. |
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OXFORD UNION DEBATE
Dr Phil Catney (SPIRE) participated in a debate organised by the Oxford Union's Environment and Ethics group on mitigating climate change.
Following a short talk on the role of social science in addressing climate change, he was part of a panel that included scientists and representatives from industry, which fielded questions from an audience of students and academics on a range of climate issues. |
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MICROWAVES BOOST MATERIALS CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
Dr Vladimir Zholobenko, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, has acquired a CEM microwave reaction system MARS-6.
This system will be utilised at Keele to enhance research in the area of nano-structured catalytic materials, which should provide a new insight in the formation mechanism of nano-materials and a better understanding of their structure and functionality.
The instrumentation can also be used for the digestion and analysis of a wide range of solid samples for environmental and biomedical applications.
The funding for this equipment, £14,000, came from his long-standing collaboration with industrial partners.
KEYNOTE LECTURE
Pnina Werbner, Professor Emerita of Social Anthropology, gave the opening keynote lecture on 'Sufi Networks, Ethic of Hospitality and Vernacular Cosmopolitanism' at the Autumn School of NISIS, the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies, which was held at the University of Leiden.
The topic of the Autumn School 2012 was 'Centres and Peripheries: Networks Connecting Muslim Societies in the Past and Present'.
Professor Werbner also introduced readings from her work and discussed student presentations.
CEC TALKS
Professor Kader Parahoo, visited the School of Nursing and Midwifery where he presented two sessions at the CEC: 'Exploring qualitative research approaches to health'and a Cochrane review on ' The effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for men with prostate cancer'.
Professor Parahoo, obtained a PhD from Keele, and has worked at the School of Nursing, University of Ulster since 1986. He was the Director of the Institute of Nursing and Health Research from 2005 to 2010.
Apart from publishing extensively in nursing and other journals, he is the author of "Nursing Research: Principles, process and issues". Professor Parahoo's research work focuses on psychosocial aspects of health and illness in particular in cancer, stroke, sexual and mental health.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Forty-five years ago -
As a protest against the number of societies, clubs and organised activities at the University, students are forming an Apathy Society.
The aim is to organise evenings when students can do nothing. November 1967. |
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