What The Papers Say February 2010
General university news
(Individual campus news follows below)
Greenwich
Masthead (The monthly newsletter of the South East London Chamber of Commerce) reported on the award of Nobel Prize for Physics to Woolwich Polytechnic graduate Charles Kao.
According to University Caterer Greenwich is among those who opted for the PURE Water System which replaces expensive and environmentally harmful supplies of bottled water. The system takes mains water, puts it through a carbon filter and UV filter, chills it and carbonates it if required. Re-useable glass bottles are also used to reduce the environmental impact.
Greenwich Admirals Rugby League Club use the University of Greenwich athletics ground in Kidbrooke Lane according to the Rugby Leaguer & League Express.
According to the Groundsman Greenwich is accrediting training run by Xperiology in Stadium Management.
A profile in the Society supplement of the Guardian Sir Robert Naylor said that he was a Greenwich graduate and had recently received an honorary degree from the university.
Greenwich validate a degree course in Dance & Performance Theatre at Bird College according to a letter in the Leicester Mercury.
The Sri Lankan Sunday Times referred to the UK Sunday Times referring to Greenwich as having the ‘highest student satisfaction rate in London’.
Greenwich is among those taking part in the Train to Teach exhibition at the Science Museum according to the Evening Standard.
People Management reported comments by Russell Brockett, Director of Personnel, on lower funding from the Higher Education Funding Council. He said that Greenwich ‘won’t be forced to make swingeing staff cuts’. He said that this funding only accounts for 40 per cent of funding and that there were opportunities to raise money in the remaining portion of funding.
According to Kent on Sunday firms in Medway and Kent are now better placed in the race for contracts linked to the 2012 Olympics and public sector generally after the launch of the Business Innovation Group (BIG) networking events.
Business
James Kennell appeared on BBC1 Politics Show South East debating the Centre for Cities report with an external director of the South East of England Development Agency.
Tim Barry, Head of Systems Management & Strategy is giving a lecture in Nigeria sponsored by Skye Bank and the British Council according to Nigerian based Guardian News, Daily Independent and Vanguard website.
Steve Thomas, Professor of Energy Studies, argues that the Olkiluoto reactor in Finland had become an example of all that can go wrong in economic terms with new nuclear reactors according to Arabian Business.
Insight magazine (produced by London Higher) gave the example of Brazilian student Weiky Ferreira Filho who is studying for an MA in International Tourism Management, and praised London as a place to study tourism.
Nature and Softpedia reported that Steve Thomas, Professor of Energy Studies, said that runaway costs and technical problems had doomed the development of the pebble-bed nuclear reactor in South Africa.
Corporate Governance reported that Colin Coulson-Thomas gave a talk at a corporate governance summit in Bangalore and was a member of the judging panel.
In South East Business Professor Stephen Thomas argued that nuclear power is a too expensive option for power generation despite the government’s advocacy of it.
There was widespread media coverage in Kuwait on television and in print during Colin Coulson-Thomas’s visit there last month including Al Qabas and Al Rai Media together with Al Watan TV. He gave lectures at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and launched the Kuwait Knowledge Partnership.
Computing & Mathematical Sciences
Mail on Sunday in Your Real In-Flight survival reported Greenwich research showed the ideal seating location is an aisle seat within five rows of an emergency exit.
The work of Chris Bailey and his team to produce a computer model of the Cutty Sark appeared during a programme about the ship on the History Channel.
According to Waltham Forest Guardian, Newham Recorder, and Waltham Forest Independent Guardian Greenwich is among the institutions taking part in the European Union funded Pandora project to develop three dimensional simulations of national emergencies.
Tony Mann reviewed a book titled Grace Hopper and the invention of the information age in Times Higher Education.
Humanities & Social Sciences
According to the Wharf, Peninsula, Greenwich Mercury and Bexley Times Greenwich student, Tara Webb has been named Student of the Year and Law Student of the Year at a national awards ceremony. As well as studying for her degree Miss Webb is setting up a domestic violence referral system called Friends with Time, which will be available to students and staff at the university.
Borehamwood & Elstree Times and Hendon & Finchley Times reported that Law graduate Arjun Solanki has published a collection of poems called Twisted Karma.
Greenwich Mercury publicised an appeal for people to take part in a community history project gathering memories of the Second World War.
Greenwich Maritime Institute
According to Fishing News GMI is undertaking a project funded by the European Fisheries Fund and DEFRA inviting women to play a greater role in the fishing industry.
General campus news
The £30 million loan that Greenwich took out when moving to the Old Royal Naval College was mentioned in Credit. The University of Cambridge may be raising one for £300 million.
The Guide publicised the Collage Exhibition in the Stephen Lawrence Gallery.
Avery Hill
Architecture & Construction
Nigel Enever, Professor of Real Estate Management, has had a book published titled The Valuation of Property Investments according to RICS Business.
Lecturers and students at Greenwich have helped 13 year old Robert Stanley, who has designed a fishing lake and eco-friendly café for Avery Hill Park and has been nominated as Green Guardian Young Environmentalist according to the News Shopper.
James Logan, Estate Management graduate, has been appointed head of Caxton Chartered Surveyors Commercial agency in Canterbury according to Kent on Sunday.
Education & Training
Professor Patrick Ainley argued for the wholesale reform of the youth labour market in an article in Guardian Education.
Lymington Times and New Milton Advertiser reported that former teacher Sheila Fitch died just before her 90th birthday. She had trained at Avery Hill College.
Health & Social Care
Carl Parsons, Visiting Professor of Social Inclusion Studies, argued that we do not follow-up truants strongly enough and set case workers on them in an interview about the increasing numbers of truants in Kent on an Inside Out programme on BBC1 South East.
Hannah Kaye, Nutritional Therapy graduate, wrote about Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Natural Medicine, South African journal of natural medicine.
Val Thurtle was the co-author of an article in the Nursing Times titled Using general nurses to fill health visitor gaps puts children at risk.
Practice Nurse reported that nearly 2,000 nurses have taken part in the RCN distance-learning skills course.
Psychology student Vicki Peek is conducting research into whether comedians are more neurotic than everybody else according to Chortle website.
General campus news
Luxurious loos open doors to the public reported Greenwich Mercury, the Wharf and the Bexley Times.
Canterbury Times publicised a Valentine's Day concert by the University of Greenwich Big Band in aid of the Stella Rogers appeal at the campus. News Shopper and Greenwich Mercury said that the concert raised more than £1,700 towards the appeal.
Medway
School of Engineering
Students from Leigh Technology Academy who are building electric racing cars for the national schools Greenpower competition are receiving sponsorship and advice from the School of Engineering according to Gravesend Reporter, Dartford & Swanley Times and OnlyKent website.
Eureka reported that a team at BAE Systems have been working with staff at the campus to create a system for retaining knowledge within the organisation held by older engineers working on legacy equipment.
The services of the development and prototyping Renishaw Centre are available for the occupants of Medway’s new Innovation Centre according to Estates Review.
School of Science
Dr Andrew Haggart wrote about climate change in the regular Greenwich column in Kent Profile
Kent Profile and Kent Director reported that Colin Hills and Paula Carey were guests of the Prime Minister who praised them for their ground-breaking green invention which captures carbon dioxide and turns it into rock. It simultaneously converts contaminated soil and industrial waste into harmless pebbles which can be recycled as a construction material.
Dr Bruce Alexander who has been developing innovative ways of generating clean fuel UK carbon emissions has been invited to join a knowledge transfer partnership mission to Germany and Switzerland according to Medway Messenger, Kent on Saturday and OnlyKent website.
Medway Messenger publicised a Chemical Society lecture titled Impact of AI Vogel: Elements of the man, his research and globally influential practical chemistry texts.
John Nicolson, Professor of Biomaterials Chemistry reviewed a book titled Structural Ceramics in Materials World.
Science Daily reported that Dr Simon Richardson and team had made a major step towards the goal of finding a vehicle that can carry drugs not just to a specific cell but a specific organ within that cell.
The Society of Chemical Industry is looking to run events at the Medway campus, currently it runs a lot at University College London according to Chemistry & Industry.
One of the lead characters in the BBC Drama Survivors said that he had studied Geology at the University of Greenwich.
Natural Resources Institute
Medway Messenger and Times Higher Education reported that Professor Andrew Westby has been appointed as Director of the Natural Resources Institute.
Sussex Life reported that Cred Jewellery commissioned a report from Greenwich on the jewellery supply chain.
OnlyKent website, Medway News and Your Medway publicised the Inaugural Professorial Lecture by Jerry Cross titled To Spray or not to Spray that is the Question.
NRI was among a number of organisations that have discovered millions of insects use a sophisticated in-built compass to navigate a 2000 km journey from Africa to England according to the Yorkshire Post, York Press and Western Morning News.
NRI has played a major role in a parliamentary enquiry and report into global food security produced by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development according to Kent on Sunday.
Raise reported that NRI research showed that fair trade is having a positive impact for producers.
Steve Belmain said that there are few opportunities to study incidences of major rat population explosions which can occur in the bamboo forests of Bangladesh, North East India and Myanmar in a special issue on food security in Science.
Fruit Grower and Only Kent reported that NRI and East Malling Research are developing new pheromone technology to manage capsid pests on blackcurrant and other pests.
Fresh Produce Journal reported that NRI, East Malling Research and others have launched a ‘sustainable combat initiative’ against aphids, brown rot, plum fruit moth and light brown apple moth to enable more UK stonefruit to be grown and sold locally.
General campus news
Maritime Messenger reported that the University of Greenwich commemorated the aerial bombing of the Drill Hall in 1917. At the ceremony member of staff Neil Saunders read his poem, The Clock Just Froze.
According to Kent News the campus was one of the locations for new comedy film about a group of travelling Gillingham FC supporters.
Profile magazine reported that members of the Prospect Union raised money for Haiti by organising two book sales.
According to the Sri Lankan Sunday Times the Medway campus ‘can boast of one of the largest libraries in the whole of Europe’.
South East Business reported that Greenwich was among those taking part in a private online car sharing scheme.
Medway Messenger publicised the Medway Futures Roadshow and the campus open day.
Further information
More details on many of these stories and others can be seen on the PR website at:
University of Greenwich press releases are now available via Really Simple Syndication (RSS).
http://www.gre.ac.uk/pr/rss.htm
Access to some online newspapers may require a brief registration process.
Some websites only have stories online for a limited period before they are removed or replaced.
The text of some of the articles contained may be accessed by university staff and students via the university portal using the Information & Library Services Lexis Nexis electronic database.