BBC RADIO 4's 'ANY QUESTIONS?' LIVE FROM KEELE - TONIGHT

BBC Radio 4's 'Any Questions?', chaired by highly acclaimed journalist and broadcaster, Jonathan Dimbleby, will be held in the Westminster Theatre at Keele tonight - all tickets for the show have been allocated.

Prior to the broadcast, which will attract some 1.5 million listeners, members of the audience will have the opportunity to submit questions which may be selected to be put to the panel.

The panel will include the Secretary of State for Transport, The Rt. Hon. Patrick McLoughlin MP, commentator Christine Hamilton, Independent columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg MP.

KEELE ACADEMICS JOIN EUROPEAN INNOVATION PARTNERSHIP ON ACTIVE AND HEALTHY AGEING

Professor Michael Murray and Professor Clare Holdsworth have been invited by the European Commission to join its European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.

Professor Murray will represent the wealth of expertise developed at Keele in promoting age friendly communities through the arts, in the Action Group on Age Friendly Buildings, Cities and Environments. Professor Murray was recently appointed lead of the University's research theme on ageing.

In the Action Group on Frailty and Functional Decline, Professor Holdsworth will provide new insight from her ESRC-funded research into alcohol consumption, life course transitions and health in later life in later life.

This European Partnership is a major, strategic forum for responding to the common issues of our ageing society. The Professors will travel to Brussels in May and July for the first Action Group meetings.

Further information on the Partnership is available at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/eipaha/.

GERONTOLOGISTS IN THE ARCTIC

Dr Mo Ray and Professor Miriam Bernard from Keele's Centre for Social Gerontology were invited participants at a four day international research meeting on 'Families in Later Life' funded by the University of Lapland. The meeting, organised by Marjaana Seppänen, Professor of Gerontological Social Work in the Faculty of Social Sciences, was held in Rovaniemi and Keropirtti in Northern Finland.

Invited participants came from the University of Lapland, Keele University, Brunel University, the National University of Ireland, Galway and the University of Alberta.

The meeting builds on the Erasmus teaching exchange established between Dr Ray and Professor Seppänen in 2010 and its purpose was to begin to develop a joint programme of research and writing. Participants mapped out two initial projects: one scoping the recent literature on obligations to care, and the other based on data from the Finnish GOAL study (Good Ageing in Lahti Region).

The scoping review is being led by Dr Ray and will chart the extent and diversity of obligations of family members and friends to provide care to older adults. The analyses of the GOAL study (a longitudinal study on ageing and well-being which has been running since 2002) will be led by Professor Seppänen and will focus on the structure, function and perceived quality of family life of study participants.

This will in turn be set within Finland's unique historical context of war and family separation, and the post-war development of its welfare state. Future meetings and exchanges are planned for 2014 and these projects will become part of a larger initiative on families and ageing under the Global Social Initiative on Ageing (GSIA) – a core activity of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (see: http://www.wun.ac.uk/research/global-social-initiative-ageing).

Photograph of members of the research workshop (from left to right): Miriam Bernard, Shahnaj Begum, Hanna Bradter, Eeva Rossi, Mary Pat Sullivan, Thomas Scharf, Marjaana Seppänen, Mo Ray, Norah Keating, Arja Kilpeläinen.

SPRINGWATCH PRESENTER OPENS THE ROACHES

BBC Springwatch presenter, Simon King, cut the ribbon at an official Roaches opening ceremony to mark the start of a 125 year lease to the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (SWT). The 975-acre site is amazing in terms of both its wildlife value and geological importance.

The event was attended by Sarah Taylor and Peter Thomas of Keele. Peter has been a SWT trustee for 27 years. Sarah represented GeoConservation Staffordshire in her capacity as education officer. SWT consulted with GeoConservation Staffordshire on their Roaches bid, and there are plans to establish a geotrail on the Roaches.

For further information about these two organisations please see:
http://gcstaffs.org.uk; http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/page/home.

Simon King is pictured with Sarah Taylor at the new Staffordshire Wildlife gateway marker to the Roaches

KS2 LEARNING JOURNEY DAYS

More than 350 primary school students visited Keele to take part in KS2 Learning Journey Outreach events which saw the new education bungalow in use for the first time.

The former post-room bungalow has been transformed into a fully equipped teaching space, which is a key part of the Primary Initial Teacher Education programmes being offered at Keele.

Two primary school events, organised by the Recruitment, Outreach and Access team, and supported by Diane Swift, Director of Keele's Primary PGCE programme, have taken place. Diane arranged for award winning children's author, Julia Jarman, to come to speak to students and inspire them to read. Learners also had the opportunity to explore the universe in the Stardome and 'Build a University out of Lego' sessions delivered by Student Ambassadors.

MAKING LANGUAGES WORK

Under the auspices of the Language Learning Unit and the Staffordshire Languages Group a Languages Taster Day for 90 Year 8 pupils from 7 Staffordshire and Stoke schools took place at Keele. The event was part of a HEFCE-funded project, Routes into Languages, to reverse the national decline in the study of Modern Foreign Languages.

The pupils attended, in small groups, German, Spanish or Italian classes – number and colour games were some of the treats in store for them, and the children much enjoyed these sessions, which were led by Associate Teachers from the ML-PGCE course at Keele.

The rest of the day was filled with more linguistic delights: students from Coventry University, all native speakers, introduced their languages to the pupils – there were sessions in Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Lithuanian, Arabic and Dutch. Everyone took part in four different sessions, with the emphasis on the fun and interactive aspect of language learning through songs, games, dancing and lively presentations by enthusiastic native speakers.

The pupils acquired basic language skills and an idea of the culture of the different countries, and during their lunch hour they had the extra bonus of a campus tour, led by Student Ambassadors, who gave the pupils an idea of student life at Keele.

WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT

Two Keele students are attempting a world record attempt for the longest chess marathon. Matthew Carr and Fraser Greenroyd will attempt to beat the record of 40 hours 20 minutes set in Germany. They will be performing the attempt in the University Library next week. Providing technical support is Glenn Harding, whose back-up will allow the attempt to be published and shown live over the internet.

The games will played on DGT liveboards and be published to the internet and will be podcasted to the internet live. This will allow the public to watch the progress of the record attempt and to see how the players are getting on. The attempt will be played from Monday 13 May starting at 12 noon (UK time) to Thursday 16 May.The website to view the attempt is: http://www.chess.dw4n.com/.

ASSISTING GOVERNMENT INQUIRY INTO DETENTION CENTRE RIOTS

Professor Anne Worrall, School of Sociology and Criminology, has returned from Western Australia where she has been assisting the Custodial Inspector in a government inquiry into a riot at a Youth Detention Centre that holds both boys and girls.

Following the riot in January, the boys have been moved temporarily to an adult prison, which has caused national and international concern and has led to the resignation of the Commissioner for Corrective Services in WA.

Professor Worrall has been focusing on the implications of the riot for the girls, who have remained at the Centre. She is co-authoring the inspection report, which will be published later in the year.

PIPEDREAMS

Professor Bulent Gokay, the Head of SPIRE, gave a keynote speech at a conference on Pipedreams: Geopolitics of Pipelines and New Regional Energy Frontiers organised by Middlesex University in Hendon Town Hall, London.

Professor Gokay's speech, titled "the Global Shift, Global Faultlines, and Energy Security", focused on the current major shift in the global balances of power from the US /  Western-centred regime of financial and economic management, to the emergence of a multipolar, world-centred model in the Global South/ East.

FT LETTER

Dr Gabriella Legrenzi, Economics, Keele Management School, was joint author of a letter published in the Financial Times this week, contributing to the debate surrounding the Reinhart and Rogoff research on sovereign debt thresholds.

In "A Varying Threshold Linked to debt history and crisis fear", they argued that estimated debt thresholds should not be fixed, but include time- and state- varying parameters, to capture the past history of debt and the incidence of financial crises.

SPECTACLE – MCC FINAL YEAR SHOW

The Media Communications and Culture final year show 'Spectacle' in the Media Building this week was an innovative mixture of photography, moving image and installations.

The various works explored gender difference, the environment, documentary and narrative film, the future of Africa and the impact of new technologies.

NEW ACADEMIC STARTER

School of Public Policy and Professional Practice

Professor Steven Shardlow has been appointed Professor in Social Work and previously held a Chair in Social Work are the University of Salford

WHAT'S ON

INAUGURAL LECTURE –
Tuesday, 14 May 2013, 6pm. Westminster Theatre, Chancellor's Building
Professor Patricia Black, "From Pupil to Professor - Reflections on a Journey in Pharmacy Education and Professional Development".

This lecture is an open event and free to attend.

STROSS - 
PREVIEW: Wednesday 15 May, 6-8pm, Keele University Gallery, Chancellor's Building.

An exhibition of art donated by Sir Barnett Stross to Keele University in 1962, with a special live performance of music created by Keele students for the documentary 'Lidice: A Light Across the Sea'.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Thirty-four years ago …

Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough backed a £3,000 appeal by Keele Students' Union with a £50 gift to their South African Scholarship Fund.

First launched in 1963, the fund gives educationally disadvantaged South African students the opportunity of taking a degree course at Keele. 16 May 1979.