City Magazine 2012

The magazine for friends of City University London 2012 ISSUE

City University London Northampton Square London EC1V 0HB Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 5060 Email: enquiries@city.ac.uk Website: www.city.ac.uk City UNIVERSITY LONDON Alumni Relations Team Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 5557 Email: alumni@city.ac.uk Cass BUSINESS SCHOOL Alumni Relations Team Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 8373 Email: cass-alumni@city.ac.uk

A new direction Design/Production: Hudson Fuggle Cover Photograph: David Oxberry

How investing in excellence is preparing City for the future

Š City University London 2012.

Business success for City alumni

City academics shape global debate on the safety of journalists

Creative thinking: using technology to enhance learning

A sense of place: upgrading the University campus

City University London in numbers

2011/12

City University London is in the top of universities in the world and in the top 30 in the UK (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012; Times Higher Education Table of Tables 2011)

City University London is ranked 12th in the UK for the starting salaries of its graduates (The Sunday Times University Guide 2012)

6,969

new alumni in 2011/12 academic year

130,000 alumni across 188 countries 7 interdisciplinary centres 112 academic staff appointed to date

1,842

staff from 70 countries

welcome

I

Contents 04 : A University to be proud of Professor Richard Verrall on City’s ambitious plans for the next four years

08 : Dispatches 2012 News from across the University

12 : Alumni events and enterprise Roundup of alumni activities in 2011 and a spotlight on the business success of two former students

14 : Five to watch Five City graduates forging diverse paths

16 : Defending journalists’ right to report The Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism is shaping how policymakers tackle the dangers that journalists face in their work

18 : Mirror, Mirror…

Reflective learning at work Academics at City’s Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice are developing a new framework for work-based learning and problem-solving

20 : Alumni benefits and services Find out what the City Alumni Network can offer you and how you can give something back

23 : Cass news A roundup of the latest news from Cass Business School

24 : Prepared to compete Professor David Bolton and Amish Patel reflect on a year of profound change in higher education

28: International City Our international alumni network means City is always close at hand

30: Obituaries Dr George Daniels; Professor Ludwik Finkelstein; Professor Sir Roger Jowell

31: Development 32: City Future Fund

write this foreword at a very interesting time for City and everyone associated with this great University of ours. At the end of March 2012, our Council approved the Strategic Plan we have spent the last eighteen months preparing.

Successful implementation of the Plan will see us realise our 2016 Vision, to be a leading global University committed to academic excellence, focused on business and the professions and located in the heart of London; proud of the quality of our education, research and enterprise and ranked within the top two per cent of universities in the world.

The Strategic Plan responds directly to the challenges we identified when we formulated our Vision. They are to develop and strengthen (i) the quality of our education, research and enterprise and the physical environment in which we deliver them; (ii) the academic performance and satisfaction of our students and staff; (iii) institutional as well as student-centred internationalisation and (iv) our academically-led organisational processes and information systems.

To make this response requires a significant injection of funding and we now have approval from our Council to invest over £35M on recruiting researchexcellent academic staff; over £35M on our information systems and services and, subject to individual business cases, between £80 and £130M on our property and facilities.

Exactly how we will achieve our transformation will vary by School and Professional Service. However, at the level of the University there will be ten major changes.

We will: • More than double the proportion of our staff who are producing research that is world-leading or internationally-excellent.

• Increase by 70% our annual core research grant from the Government.

3

• More than double our other annual research grants and contracts income.

• Increase our average undergraduate entry tariff by at least 35 to be consistently in excess of 400 (an A grade ‘A’ level equates to 120).

• Re-balance undergraduate student numbers from Health to Business and Law in line with changes in NHS contracts and HEFCE student number controls.

• Improve the satisfaction of our undergraduate students so that we move from the lowest 20% to the top 40% of UK universities.

• Increase the proportion of our graduates entering graduate level jobs so that we move from the top 30% to the top 10% of UK universities.

• Increase our student numbers by between 10% and 15% overall and our postgraduate research students by more than 80%.

• Maintain and consolidate our position as the leading University for postgraduate masters programmes in the subjects we offer.

• Increase significantly our investment in property and facilities.

Much of our work over the last months has been to prepare for this pivotal moment in our history. This edition of City Magazine covers in some depth the changes in the higher education landscape which give context to our Strategic Plan.

I hope you enjoy it.

Professor Paul Curran Vice-Chancellor

A University to be proud of With City’s Strategic Plan now in place, we caught up with the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Strategy & Planning), Professor Richard Verrall, for an insight into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Professor Richard Verrall Pro Vice-Chancellor (Strategy & Planning)

4

Our 2016 Vision for City: We are a leading global University committed to academic excellence, focused on business and the professions and located in the heart of London.

We are proud of the quality of our education, research and enterprise and are ranked within the top 2% of universities in the world.

Improving performance

An holistic approach

H

igher education is in a state of flux. Having built an enviable reputation for equipping its graduates with the knowledge and skills attractive to business and the professions, City now finds itself in a battle to attract the most able staff and students in a climate characterised by uncertainty.

For Professor Richard Verrall, however, some things are only too clear. “As both the developed and the developing world recognise the value of higher education and invest heavily in it, the global environment in which we operate is becoming much more competitive,” he observes. “Previously, we could focus on business and the professions without having to put as much emphasis on academic performance.

That is no longer the case.”

The outlook is far from disheartening, however.

Although successive governments have struggled to grasp that employability and academic excellence are inextricably linked, prompting some institutions to choose between competing on quality or cost, Professor Verrall and his colleagues see opportunities to establish a closer relationship between City’s traditional strengths and its need for a competitive edge. “With a strategic focus on academic excellence, the intellectual reputation of the University will match its record for professional education, enabling it to offer a more complete, competitive proposition for prospective students,” he explains. “In simple terms, we are talking about an academic offering on a par with the 1994 Group (the coalition of smaller, research-intensive institutions established in response to the founding of the Russell Group), but with the essential added dimension of a long-standing commitment to addressing the needs of business and the professions. We don’t think there’s a university in London that can compete with us on that basis and in this new competitive world we will have the edge we need for success.”

Read the Strategic Plan or watch the accompanying video, both of which are available at www.city.ac.uk/strategicplan and you will be left in no doubt that the theme underpinning the next four years is a sense of pride. The Plan describes a future where the recruitment of exceptional academics leads to a greater proportion of world-leading research and the nurturing of a reputation that satisfies student aspirations while meeting the ever-changing demands of the international business community.

It is a theme with depth and longevity, as Professor Verrall explains: “Our aim is to foster a sense of pride in the University. We want students to look beyond their qualifications and regard their time at City as an essential feature of their personal ‘brand’ as they build their careers. The academic reputation of the University is a vital part of that pride, of course, but the brand is also connected to a sense of place and of being part of a prestigious community that stays with you, long after you have graduated.”

This means supporting the academic agenda with a series of initiatives designed to improve the City experience as a whole. The result is a plan that encompasses academic excellence, an ambitious strategy for the estate, improved facilities and what Professor Verrall describes as “an urban presence”.

5

A university’s academic reputation is built mainly on the quality of its research and at the heart of the Strategic Plan lies a commitment to more than double by 2016 the proportion of City staff who are producing research of world-leading or internationallyexcellent quality. That means recruiting the best in the world and, as the panel on page 7 demonstrates, this process has already begun.

A serious investment in academic talent requires an equally substantial increase in income and the University intends to increase significantly its annual research funding from government and its research grants and contracts. The University will also be looking to those who feel warmly about City to consider how they might be able to contribute in philanthropic terms; this type of support will become increasingly important in the future. It will increase the undergraduate entry tariff, while increasing student numbers and building on an already strong reputation for graduate employability and postgraduate study. With quality attracting quality, the aim is to emulate the virtuous cycle that propels the most successful academic institutions.

As Professor Verrall makes clear, this approach is not simply desirable, it is essential. “We’re facing a situation in which prospective students with grades of AAB and above will have complete freedom of choice and universities will be able to compete for them without a limit on numbers,” he explains. “Their decisions will be strongly influenced by what they perceive to be the all-round value of their qualifications in the future. This is partly about course content and how useful it is to them, but it’s also about the reputation of the University. This is where the notion of taking pride in your place of study

provide for our students, we appreciate that for many people the library is still a physical space. We will be listening to the student body and looking to improve our provision in ways that reflect the library’s changing role. These days, that means a physical collection, access to digital resources and spaces for students to work and relax, meet with friends, study quietly, collaborate and so on.”

A sense of place

comes into its own. If you can’t attract the most able students, you will get pushed into competing on price. That means you can put fewer resources into research, which is what underpins your academic reputation and you’re looking at a downward spiral”. In other words, investing in academic excellence is much more than an inspiring ambition.

It is a survival technique.

Investing in the estate The reasons students and staff take pride in their university extend beyond academic performance into the physical fabric of the place. Indeed, for investing The University in excellence to be a viable strategy, will measure its it must touch every facet of City’s performance proposition. When discussing this using four key aspect of an holistic approach to performance indicators (KPIs): transforming the University, Professor Verrall identifies several key areas in • Its international standing, measured need of attention. “It is vital that we by its position in create an environment in which a the Times Higher vibrant community can thrive,” he Education World says. “City has to be more than just a University Rankings place where you attend – or deliver – • I ts national lectures and then leave. We need standing, measured to create spaces for students and staff by its position in to meet, debate and socialise. That the Times Good community includes visiting academics University Guide and returning alumni, of course.”

• Its financial sustainability, In real terms, this involves taking a measured by its resourceful approach to improving key financial surplus features of the University. As Professor • Its environmental Verrall explains, City faces unique performance, challenges arising from its origins and measured by its its recent growth: “A lot of the work classification by People and Planet we’ve done over the years has been Green League to cope with an increase in student

Measuring progress

numbers and we haven’t been able to give sufficient thought to the integrity of the experience. The Strategic Plan signals our intention to create more effective communal areas and bring people together within City’s signature spaces, while also modernising the parts of the University in need of attention. Here in central London, we don’t have the opportunity to build anew on an empty site, but we can be resourceful with the spaces we have.”

Other priorities include the University’s library and IT infrastructure, both of which are pivotal to the achievement of excellence. Professor Verrall’s approach is realistic: “With IT, we want to make sure that essential services are delivered smoothly without anybody noticing. There’s also a need to provide technology that adds value to academic life. Technology is moving quickly and, for both research and education, we will invest in methods of interacting more effectively and in being able to achieve more online.”

As for the library, there will be inevitable debate about the merits of creating a physical space full of learning resources in a world where people are spending more and more time on the internet. Professor Verrall is aware that City’s diverse constituencies require a balanced approach. “From a research perspective, we are seeing a greater emphasis on providing remote access to digital resources,“ he observes. “At the same time, although the world is changing rapidly and we have to be fleet-footed about the services we

6

So, what of City’s “urban presence”?

This, too, takes the theme of pride and turns it into a tangible asset. “We are in a great part of London,” says Professor Verrall. “We are not tucked away in a self-contained campus; we are right in the middle of an attractive, culturally diverse quarter of the capital, but it feels as though we don’t take full advantage of that fact. So the plan is to identify ways in which we can relate better to our surroundings. We have to ask ourselves what sort of impression we are creating when prospective students visit the University for the first time. We want them to see that City has a rich heritage, but also that it is a vibrant place to be. And we want their families and friends to see a really sound institution: the ideal place to study. At the moment, it’s difficult for people who haven’t been here before even to find the way in!”

Perhaps this sums up the paradox addressed by the Strategic Plan.

Its objective is to establish City among the best in the world while simultaneously making the University more accessible and more attractive to the many constituencies it serves.

In reality, this is no contradiction.

A determination to turn excellence into a self-perpetuating force that will underpin City’s burgeoning self-esteem and a willingness to regard the fabric of the University as a source of creative energy point to a Plan that connects City’s historic strengths with the future realities of higher education.

Leading lights Academic excellence is at the heart of City’s 2016 Vision. Meet some of the City academics who are leading the way in their field.

Dr Grietje Baars

Professor Alessandro Beber

Dr Baars joined The City Law School as a Lecturer in September 2011. She has advised on human rights and the law of armed conflict in the Middle East. Her academic interests lie in critical and Marxist theories of law, the political economy of international law and notions of global class in global governance. She is currently establishing an interdisciplinary research group focusing on ‘Critical perspectives on the Corporation’ with Professor Spicer at Cass Business School.

Professor Beber has been a Professor in Finance at Cass Business School since July 2011. Prior to joining Cass, he held academic positions at several universities, including Amsterdam Business School, Faculté des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) Lausanne, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and the London Business School.

Professor Beber conducts empirical and theoretical research in Finance. His current work focuses on liquidity and asset pricing, risk management, currency and fixed income markets and financial econometrics.

Dr Jan Gutowski Professor Martin Conway Professor Conway joined City in April 2012 as Professor of Psychology. He was previously Head of the Departments of Psychology at the Universities of Bristol, Durham and Leeds. He is a world-leading cognitive psychologist and his current research focuses on autobiographical memory; impairments of memory following brain injury; disruptions of memory in psychiatric illness; changes in memory across the lifespan; the self and memory; motivation and memory; emotion and memory and expert legal testimony on memory.

Dr Katy Tapper Dr Tapper joins City as a Senior Lecturer in Psychology. Her research interests span health behaviours and behavioural change.

Current themes include attitudes to food, why people overeat and how and why people make decisions about lifestyle changes in relation to food and health.

Dr Tapper’s development and evaluation of the efficacy of health interventions is influencing government health policy.

Professor Jason Chuah Professor Chuah joined City as Head of Academic Law in September 2011. He has held scholarships from Barclays Bank and the UK Overseas Development Authority at St John’s College, Cambridge. He has won the Clive Schmitthoff Commercial Law prize and the Sweet & Maxwell book prize. He is Executive Director of the London Universities Maritime Law and Policy Group and has been nominated three times for the Oxford University Press Award for Best Law Teacher of the Year.

Dr Gutowski will join City in autumn 2012 as Lecturer in Mathematics. A graduate of the Mathematical Institute at The University of Oxford, Dr Gutowski held a Lectureship at The University of Cambridge in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics before joining King’s College and being awarded a prestigious Advanced Fellowship from the Science and Technology Facilities Council in 2011.

Dr Gutowski’s research will complement the work of Dr Yang-Hui and Dr Bogdan Stefanski, both of whom have joined City within the last three years. Dr Gutowski will be the lead academic on the properties of black hole solutions of supergravity theories.

Professor Andre Spicer Prior to joining Cass Business School as Professor of Organisational Behaviour in October 2011, Professor Spicer was a Professor of Organisation Studies at the University of Warwick. He was Visiting Professor at the University of Innsbruck, the University of Paris Dauphine, Lund University, the Central European University, the University of St Gallen, Hanken School of Economics and the University of Sydney. as Professor of Organisational Behaviour in October 2011.

Professor Michael Bromley

Dr Antony Evans Dr Evans will join City in autumn 2012 as Lecturer in Air Transport Management. He joins the University from the NASA Ames Research Center in California. City has an outstanding international reputation for its Masters programme in Air Transport Management, led by Professor Roger Wootton and Dr Steve Bond. Dr Evans’ academic expertise, coupled with his industrial experience, will strengthen further City’s reputation in aerospace research.

Dr Yannis Pappas Dr Pappas joined the School of Health Sciences at City in March 2012 as Director of Postgraduate Programmes in Health Services Research. Prior to joining City, he was Deputy Director of the Research Design Service at Imperial College London and Head of Education for the Hammersmith and Fulham Primary Care Trust. His research expertise is in patient care and public health and his work contributes to the delivery of more accessible and responsive care for patients in the UK and internationally.

7

Professor Bromley joins City as Professor of International Journalism from the University of Queensland where he was Head of the School of Journalism and Communication.

He has educated students in journalism at universities in the UK, Australia and the USA, where he was the prestigious Howard R Marsh Visiting Professor of Journalism at the University of Michigan. His research interests include journalism practices, investigative journalism, journalism education, citizen journalism and the socio-cultural uses of journalism.

Dr Gregory Slabaugh Dr Slabaugh joined City in January 2012 as Senior Lecturer in Computer Science.

His most recent appointment was as Head of Research and Development at Medicsight plc, prior to which he was a Research Scientist and Project Manager at Siemens Corporate Research, Princeton, New Jersey.

His research specialism is medical imaging and his skills will support education on Masters programmes in Health Informatics and Biomedical Instrumentation.

2 0 1 2

In this issue: ESTATES ST RATEGY, COASTAL SENSORS, SHALE GAS AND ECONOMIC CRISES

Investing in infrastructure As City Magazine goes to press, several University departments are preparing to move to their new home at 1 Myddelton Street, a building acquired by the University from the National Public Records Office in 2011.

The latest addition to the University estate, 1 Myddelton Street will house much of the School of Health Sciences and many of the University’s Professional Services teams, including Properties and Facilities, IT Services, Finance and Human Resources.

For the School of Health Sciences, the move to Myddelton Street marks the beginning of a new chapter in a history that dates back to the founding of the St Bartholomew’s College of Nursing in 1877. The School’s students, academics and professional staff have been dispersed across the University for many years, with those based in Whitechapel and West Smithfield particularly isolated from the life of the University around Northampton Square.

A move to Myddelton Street will enable the School’s students – who number over 5,000 – to take fuller advantage of the facilities and learning spaces around the Square, which have been significantly expanded in preparation for

8

their arrival. For students and staff alike, the new building will be at the heart of a more closely integrated community, within the School of Health Sciences, City and Islington.

The Myddelton Street project offers an exciting glimpse into the broader Estates Strategy that was approved by the University Council on 26th March 2012. A key part of the University Strategic Plan discussed on the previous pages, the next four years will see between £80M and £130M invested in the provision of new high-quality academic spaces and the creation of a deeper sense of community and place within City’s campus.

Look out for more detail on the Estates Strategy in the next edition of City Magazine!

C ITY U NIVERSITY L ONDON

The power of e-rostering With some 1.5 million employees and a budget that is never far from the spotlight, the NHS is perhaps better equipped than many organisations to deal with complex human resource issues. But City academics have developed a powerful and innovative new method for organising staff rosters that has the potential to improve significantly the work-life balance and productivity of nurses and junior doctors, whilst reducing stress, tiredness and the use of agency staff. Staff rosters are typically drawn up manually by senior nursing staff, who must take into account the wellbeing and needs of doctors

and nurses as well as employment laws and costs. The e-rostering method developed by academics at Cass Business School uses sophisticated mathematical algorithms to tackle several of the most persistent staffing problems in the sector. It was tested in a four-month trial at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire and rosters were successful in accommodating a majority of holiday requests, while fairly distributing hours, weekends and bank holidays.

The carbon steel bars used to reinforce submerged concrete in tidal zone areas are at particular risk of corrosion from the sea, but traditional optical corrosion sensors can withstand the harsh environment for only short periods of time. The new sensors developed at City, however, can be embedded within a concrete structure for several years and send readings to a computer. As Professor Tong Sun of the School of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences notes, the detailed information that the sensors can provide will “make remedial work simpler, cheaper and more effective, as work will be carried out at an early stage, rather than waiting until there is visible damage.” The team, together with their collaborators at Queen’s University Belfast, have now secured a grant to explore the sensors’ commercial opportunities.

Resilient new sensors developed at City will make the monitoring of concrete structures such as bridges and coastal defences much more effective.

A concrete development for coastal structures

9

What price culture?

In an economic climate characterised by cuts in public spending, the recipients of government funding find themselves under particular pressure to demonstrate their value to taxpayers and decision makers. But how does one measure the value of culture? In a report to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Dr Dave O’Brien of the School of Arts set out to answer that question, arguing that the cultural sector can no longer see itself as a ‘special case’: an intangible good impossible to define.

Cultural organisations, whether international and commercial or local and not-for-profit, should be able to adopt techniques for capturing economic value that feed into the framework for decision making used in local and national government. Dr O’Brien’s research is now informing debate across the sector.

Literature prizes for City academic Lucy Caldwell, Senior Lecturer in City University London’s MA in Creative Writing, rounded off a year of accolades in November 2011 by receiving the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize for her novel, The Meeting Point. Tracing the history of a relationship that develops between an Irish woman and a troubled teenager in Bahrain and set against the background of war in Iraq, The Meeting Point was described by Professor Peter Stead, the founder of the Dylan Thomas Prize, as “yet another significant step in what will undoubtedly be a striking career”.

In October, Lucy was also awarded the Rooney Prize for Literature, which recognises Irish writers under forty years of age whose work shows exceptional promise.

Multitasking: the key to successful technology entrepreneurship?

Managers are often told that the key to productivity is to close down their email account, take their phone off the hook, shut the door and concentrate on the job in hand: in other words, to take a monochronic approach to their work. However, a recent article in the prestigious Harvard Business Review based on research from Cass Business School, suggests that this advice may well be misguided. Questionnaires and interviews with almost 200 executive teams in new technology ventures found that many of the most financially successful companies of those studied reported a highly polychronic work culture in their firms: a tendency to tackle multiple tasks at the same time. For Professor Vangelis Souitaris, who led the study, multitasking executives are able to act as superior information brokers, absorbing and disseminating information more quickly. This in turn leads to faster strategic decisions, which are ideally suited to the rapidly changing world of technology entrepreneurship.

Gesture recognition in aphasia therapy: an update In the last issue of City Magazine, we highlighted research into how computer gaming technology might aid the rehabilitation of people with aphasia, a language impairment commonly caused by a stroke. The multi-disciplinary research team behind that work, comprising

academics from the Division of Language and Communication Science and the Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design, has now created GeST. This is a computer therapy tool to help stroke survivors learn to communicate through gestures. People with aphasia were involved as consultants in the development of GeST and the tool has now been piloted with a larger group, all of whom had severe aphasia. Users’ responses were overwhelmingly positive. The team is now analysing its results to see if gesturing skills are changed through exposure to GeST.

Coming up roses

We have access to more photographs on the internet than ever before, with image banks and For creative professionals, searching for search engines providing options just the right image online can be both tailored to every aesthetic and a blessing and a curse. budget. But the traditional Google-style interface used to present image search results – which works so well for text-based results – can be frustrating for designers and picture editors: very few images appear on the screen and they are ordered according to the highly subjective verbal ‘tags’ that others have placed on them. A team from the School of Informatics, led by Dr Ayse Göker, has been working with creative professionals to develop a high-density image retrieval interface, which helps users to gain an instant impression of the images available under a particular search term. The team has now secured funding for a study from the Technology Strategy Board. It will consider how informatics can improve the process of developing creative briefs and categorising images.

10

C ITY U NIVERSITY L ONDON

Improving financial forecasting

The unconventional gas revolution Over the last ten years, an energy revolution has taken place in the United States. Shale gas, which is extracted from rock formations deep under the earth’s surface using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, has become a key fuel, helping to ensure that the US now rivals Russia as the world’s largest gas producer.

Could a similar transformation take place in Europe, where there are also large shale gas reserves? Professor Alan Riley of The City Law School, one of a small number of European experts in shale gas, is helping decisionmakers in the UK and further afield navigate the environmental, regulatory, economic and geo-strategic implications of unconventional (shale) gas in Europe. In a continent where gas has traditionally been viewed as a fuel with significant economic, logistic and security liabilities, Professor Riley argues that shale gas has the potential to be a ‘game-changer’, bringing with it lower carbon emissions, lower energy imports and cheaper fuel for consumers.

Through its work with two major European research consortia, a team of City academics is helping to ensure that the next crisis does not surprise us in the same way. Professor Giulia Iori of the Department of Economics, who is the Principal Investigator for the two For economists and the general public, projects, explores how financial markets one of the most troubling aspects of work. In her work on the interbank market, the global financial crisis that began part of the ‘Forecasting Financial Crises’ in 2008 was that very few people saw project (FOCII), she is conducting an empirical it coming. analysis of how banks lent and borrowed from each other during the crisis, to understand better interbank relationships and by extension the banking system as a whole.

Interbank relationships, which have received little attention until recently, could be the key to identifying indicators of systemic risk in the banking sector. In her work with the Complex Research Initiatives for Systemic Instabilities (CRISIS) project, Professor Iori is creating an artificial inter-bank market (an agent-based model) using computer coding, to gain a deeper understanding of how banks relate with each other and the wider effect these relationships have on the global economy.

11

a l u m ni e v e nts

June

2011 highlights The Alumni Office at City organises and hosts a calendar of events and activities each year, where alumni can socialise, network and hear from a range of expert speakers. Here are some of the highlights from 2011:

Optometry Class of 1949 reunion The Optometry Class of 1949 has been meeting regularly for the past 60 years and maintains the strong bonds that were forged at City. The group enjoys reminiscing about life in 1940s London and memories include nights dancing at the Lyceum (and strict landladies awaiting the women on their return); the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh and the postwar reconstruction of the City during their time as students.

September

June: Husband and wife Peter and Ann Wieland (centre and right) of the Optometry Class of 1949 met during their time at the University

September: Journalism Department celebrates its 35th anniversary

December: Department of Creative Practice and Enterprise Alumni Reception

Journalism Department celebrates its 35th anniversary Over 300 guests attended the Glazier’s Hall to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Journalism at City. Among them were Dermot Murnaghan (Journalism 1984), Sky News presenter; Faisal Islam (Newspaper Journalism 2004), Economics Editor at Channel 4 News; and Tom Welsh, the first director of Journalism Studies at City.

Speaking at the event, Professor George Brock, Head of the Department, highlighted the growth and success of City’s journalism portfolio: “While our courses continue to adapt to the times, our reputation for providing the best journalism degrees in the heart of London, built over the last 35 years, is consistent. However, when it comes down to it, our most powerful marketing asset is our alumni and the influential jobs they hold in the media.”

November

City Law Alumnae Network (CLAN) event The City Law Alumnae Network, comprised of female graduates from The City Law School, provides the opportunity for alumnae to meet with other solicitors, barristers and law graduates from across the UK. At their November meeting, Judge Sebha Storey (LLM Criminal Litigation 2008) led a discussion on whether the legal profession should control entry to practice by limiting places on professional courses. Judge Storey is Principal Judge, Asylum Support at the Ministry of Justice.

Employability and Networking Masterclass A masterclass for recent City graduates looking for full-time employment was organised by the Alumni Office and the Careers and Skills Development Service. The event included a series of presentations on graduate employment and alumna Joanna Rogers (LLB 2002) described her career trajectory and how it led to her establishing her law firm.

Joanna now volunteers as a professional mentor providing career support to current City students.

For more information about supporting current students by volunteering at City, see page 22.

December

Department of Creative Practice and Enterprise Alumni Reception The Department of Creative Practice and Enterprise held its inaugural reception Keep in touch for Music (BMus) and If you are interested in organising a reunion, please Creative Industries contact the Alumni Office, which can help in many (BACI) alumni at the ways, including booking venues and sending end of 2011. The event invitations. Email alumni@city.ac.uk or call was an opportunity +44 (0) 20 7040 5557 for alumni from these programmes to catch For details of events being hosted at City over the year up with old friends ahead, or to find out more about past events, visit and meet other www.city.ac.uk/events professionals working in the cultural sector.

12

a l u m ni e nt e rpris e

In good company It is no secret that universities offer much more than an education: the personal relationships that shape our lives, from friendships to business relationships, are often formed in this unique environment. City is no exception and the alumni-led companies featured in this year’s Magazine demonstrate how time spent at City can sow the seeds for business success.

Sarah Buckley Therapies My decision to establish my therapy company in June 2010 was motivated by a desire to expand the amount and variety of therapy I could offer to children with special educational needs. After graduating from City in 2000, I worked in the NHS before becoming an independent speech and language therapist in 2004, offering models of intervention that differed from those provided by statutory healthcare providers. In that same year, I returned to City as a Visiting Clinical Tutor and my contact with student speech and language therapists at the University helped me build the current team at Sarah Buckley Therapies.

Our team now works with clients in their homes, nurseries and schools from our base in South East London. Our focus is on providing tailor-made intervention programmes for children with speech and language disorders, which can range from autism and dyspraxia-related disorders to stammering and language delay. We often work in collaboration with NHS speech and language therapy services and we also provide training to educators working with children with special educational needs. Our close links with City help us to ground the services we offer in the latest clinical research: Hannah is currently studying for her MSc at the University, and our other therapists have similar plans for the near future.

Back (from left to right): Danielle Bahgat, Sarah Buckley, Shelley Parkin; Front (left to right) Hannah Southon, Laura Gardner.

Fly-Foot Fly-Foot is the first company that gives football fans in the Arab world the opportunity to watch live international matches From left to right: in Europe. All a fan needs Rayan Ismail (Economics MSc 2007) to do is pick the game he or with business partner she wants to see and pack a Georges El Batrouni bag. We take care of the rest (Economics MSc 2007) by booking travel and game tickets, even hotels.

I started Fly-Foot in 2011. My business partner, Georges El Batrouni, is also a City alumnus and the strong network of friends and professional contacts we made at Northampton Square has been vital to our success. It is through those contacts that we have been able to expand Fly-Foot and move into European countries such as Spain, Italy and Germany. The education we received at City and the international reputation of the University have been invaluable as we’ve worked to establish the company.

To find out more about Fly-Foot, visit www.fly-foot.com.

As well as running Fly-Foot, Rayan is also City’s Alumni Group Coordinator for Lebanon, helping to organise local activities and events. To find out how you could become a Coordinator for your region, please see page 30.

City is a leading academic institution. We pride ourselves on our distinctive focus on business and the professions and our graduates are well regarded by recruiters.

To find out more about Sarah Buckley Therapies, visit www.sarahbuckleytherapies.co.uk

For more information on how we can help your company to access a talented pool of students and recent graduates, please visit www.city.ac.uk/careers/recruiters or call +44 (0) 20 7040 8425

13

5 T O

Emily Allbon

Information Science 2001

W A T C H

Over the last few years, City Magazine’s ‘Five to Watch’ series has featured alumni forging successful paths in diverse careers ranging from international peacekeeping to opera direction and from filmmaking to market trading. This year is no exception, as we gain a glimpse into the lives of another five of City’s alumni to watch.

Esha Massand Psychology 2007

Esha joined City as an undergraduate Psychology student in 2004 and finished her PhD in the Department’s Autism Research Group in April 2011. In December 2010, she was offered a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA and she has been working in its National Institute of Health-funded Autism Center of Excellence Project using electrophysiological measures to investigate the broader autism phenotype in relatives of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As Professor Dermot Bowler, Director of the PhD Programme in Psychology, notes of Esha’s achievement, “these centres of excellence represent the pinnacle of world autism research.

To gain a post-doctoral position in one of them is a major achievement.

To do this by invitation is indeed exceptional.”

Emily has been Law Librarian at City University London since 2000.

She is a Chartered Librarian (MCLIP), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), a Council Member for the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) and often speaks at conferences and writes articles for professional journals. She is also currently studying for a Masters in Academic Practice at City.

In 2005, Emily was named Best Legal Information Professional in an Academic Environment at the BIALL/LexisNexis Awards for Excellence.

Last year she won a City Student Voice award, voted for by law students.

This year Emily won one of City’s staff awards, the Robert Kitchin Award. It was sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Saddlers and was given in recognition for her work on Lawbore, which she created in 2003 and was recommended by The Times in 2009. Lawbore is a national portal for law students incorporating many forms of technology – including gateway, wiki, blog, Twitter, video and talking slide show formats – designed to aid student learning and engagement.

If you are an alumnus of The City Law School and you are interested in contributing to the Lawbore blog, Emily would love to hear from you.

Get in touch by email: e.allbon@city.ac.uk

Christopher Scott Addison MBA 2010

While studying for an MBA at Cass, Scott received the Worshipful Company of Marketors scholarship for his contribution to the marketing sector and his intention to continue a decade-long career in marketing. Scott’s Business Mastery Project (BMP), Anti-Social? An Exploration of Social Media Effectiveness in Professional Services Marketing, was and remains extremely topical. He presented the project at a Worshipful Company of Marketors dinner and the findings were also picked up by a number of industry bloggers.

In 2011, Scott was a finalist for the Tallow Chandlers Prize, which recognises the top three MBA research projects each year across the Cass MBA programmes. During his MBA, Scott was President of the Cass Marketing Society, organising and hosting events for students at the School. He also spoke at the School’s annual donor event. Scott now works as Account Director at Spada, a professional services PR consultancy, where he manages a large team and several major professional service clients.

Shaunak Upadhya

Air Transport Studies 2008

Billy Kenber

Investigative Journalism 2010 Billy, along with five other City Journalism alumni, was named among a group of ‘30 to Watch in 2012’ by MHP, a leading global communications consultancy which recognises the most talented young journalists and identifies the stars of the future. Billy, who works at The Times, was acknowledged for his outstanding reporting on the 2011 London riots and his superb use of social media. He was also given a Gold Award for having progressed so rapidly in his career.

In 2011, Billy won the prestigious Hugh Cudlipp award in recognition of his 5,000-word piece on the mistreatment of failed asylum seekers. This was originally written for his MA project at City and was subsequently published as a special investigation in The Independent in July 2010.

14

Shaunak co-founded The Private Jet Service, in 2010. The firm arranges private jet and helicopter flights globally for high net worth individuals. With access to over 10,000 certified private aircraft ranging from small helicopters to large business jets based in locations around the world, The Private Jet Service has built a reputation for reliably, efficiently and safely taking its clients wherever they need to go.

Shaunak has recently been supporting current Air Transport Operations and Management students at City through guest lectures and work experience in his company. Two to three students from the Air Transport course will have the opportunity to join him this summer as an aircraft broker, with placements in various areas from sales and operations to marketing and business development.

If you are interested in speaking to current students or offering work-shadowing placements, please see page 22.

T O

W A T C H

15

COLL A B O R A T I VE THINKING

Defending journalists’ right to report Since its foundation in 2009, the Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism has cultivated collaborative thinking, informed public policy and shaped discourse across a range of critical topics. Now, Dr Carmen Draghici of The City Law School and Professor Howard Tumber of the Department of Journalism are leading a global debate on the dangers routinely faced by journalists reporting at home and abroad.

Professor Howard Tumber Co-director of the Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism

Dr Carmen Draghici The City Law School

16

Fact

according to United Nations figures,

62 journalists were killed

in 2011

T

he February 2012 death of Marie Colvin, a Sunday Times journalist reporting from Syria, provided a stark reminder of the dangers that media professionals face in carrying out their work. The number of such crimes has been rising for several years although, perhaps surprisingly, most deaths do not take place in zones of conflict. In 2011, according to United Nations figures, 62 journalists were killed. Most were reporting on politics, crime or corruption and working in their own countries: journalists from Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Somalia and Azerbaijan amongst others. The perpetrators were varied, but included police and security personnel, militia and organised crime groups. What binds together these and other incidents of violence against media workers? In the majority of cases, whether during war or peacetime, those responsible for the deaths of journalists remain unpunished.

The rising dangers that journalists face, the impunity of those that attack them and the limitations on freedom of expression that such a climate creates have been “In the struggle against the subjects of debate for inter-governmental apartheid, journalists organisations including the United Nations; willing to report the national governments; sectors of civil society truth were among our and media representatives. In framing and most important allies, informing that debate, the work of City’s Centre and we knew that for Law, Justice and Journalism (CLJJ), in they often took great personal risks to do so. collaboration with the University of Sheffield’s The right of journalists Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM), has to report freely is of been crucial. The Initiative on Impunity and vital importance to the Rule of Law, a global project led by the two people in all parts of Centres, started in 2010 with the twin aims of the world, and those who… try and intimidate assessing the effectiveness of existing legal, journalists must be held political and institutional safeguards against accountable for their violence directed at journalists and presenting actions.” the case for more effective international mechanisms against such crimes and their Archbishop Desmond impunity. A landmark conference hosted by City Tutu, in a message to the ‘Safety and Protection of last year represented a crucial step in a process that has culminated in the drafting of a UN plan Journalists’ Conference delegates, June 2011 of action on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity, published in March 2012.

17

Held in June 2011, the ‘Safety and Protection of Journalists: A Responsibility for the World’ conference was attended by officials from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Council of Europe, the British Foreign Office and experts from academia and non-governmental sectors. It marked the culmination of an intense period of research at the CLJJ, led by Professor Howard Tumber of the Department of Journalism and Professor Lorna Woods of The City Law School, together with William Horsley, Director of CFOM and currently a Visiting Fellow at City. At the conference Dr Carmen Draghici, a member of the Initiative’s research team, identified the existing legal instruments that target violence and impunity, while a session led by William Horsley explored the political environment that gives rise to a cycle of violence and the suppression of free opinion and expression.

Governmental and inter“In a climate where governmental bodies are often journalists are safe, criticised for their levels of citizens find it easier to access quality bureaucracy and consequent information and many glacial pace of change. But since objectives become the June 2011 conference at City, possible as a result: multiple agencies within the democratic governance United Nations have worked and poverty reduction; together to draw up concrete gender equality and the empowerment of proposals for securing the safety women; justice and a of journalists and tackling culture of human rights, impunity. In September, to name a few.” representatives of United Nations UN Plan of Action on the agencies and programmes, safety of journalists and together with non-governmental the issue of impunity, organisations and professional March 2012 associations, attended an Inter-Agency meeting hosted

by UNESCO to draft a Plan of Action. The research and conclusions presented at the City conference, together with the results of a consultation with UN Member States, played a key part in the development of the Plan, which was subsequently approved by the International Programme for the Development of Communication in March 2012. The Plan’s recommendations include a strengthening of existing UN mechanisms, with greater powers for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; a focus on securing Member State compliance with existing international rules and principles and the development of emergency response mechanisms for media organisations that harness available UN resources and missions.

As the UN begins to implement its Plan of Action, the Initiative on Impunity and the Rule of Law will continue to construct a wider international platform of academic and legal expertise, in collaboration with governmental and non-governmental bodies.

COLL A B O R A T I VE THINKING

Professor Neil Maiden Co-founder of the Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice

18

T

here are probably few among us who have not wished at some giving professionals the tools to capture their own experiences as point that we had handled a professional situation differently. they work and reflect on them either collaboratively or individually Whether we rehearse what we should have said long after the at a time they choose. moment has passed or we spend days rectifying problems resulting Working within City’s Centre for Creativity in Professional from a decision we should not have made, the process of reflection Practice, Professor Neil Maiden and Dr Sarah Jones of the School is innate, necessary and sometimes painful. of Informatics, together with Dr Konstantinos Zachos and Kristine But in a busy and stressful Karlsen, have developed one of working environment and a world the most innovative applications characterised by the constant of the Mirror project. The Carer distractions of mobile technology, App is designed for use by how can we harness that care home staff working with reflection to help us think more sufferers of dementia. Using creatively about the problems we a care home environment face at work? A team of City as a testing ground for the academics from the interMirror project is particularly disciplinary Centre for Creativity appropriate, given the project’s in Professional Practice is focus on continuous reflective tackling that question. learning: the work of carers can According to academics based in The Mirror project began in vary enormously depending on the University’s Centre for Creativity in 2010 and brought together a the needs of individual patients Professional Practice, it’s time to rethink the diverse consortium of academics, and carers must be able to make way we learn from our experiences. Led by researchers and industry partners quick, informed decisions about from across Europe. Alongside their patients’ care. The App Professor Neil Maiden, they are harnessing academics at City, partners allows carers to note details of the power of digital communication to including BT, the German challenging situations and their encourage creativity and reflection in e-learning provider IMC and the responses on their smartphones Norwegian University of Science or tablet computers as they the workplace. and Technology are working to work. An algorithm interprets create a technology-enhanced the natural language entered by learning model, suitable for use the carer and uses key terms to in highly dynamic work environments and centred on critical identify relevant short case studies (prepared by the Social Care thinking, creative problem solving and innovation. Of course, the Institute for Excellence) that illustrate best practice. The App also Mirror consortium is not the first to explore how technology can facilitates collaborative reflection within the workplace: carers can enrich learning: the interaction and personalisation that digital log how they have dealt with a particular patient, for example and libraries, e-textbooks and virtual learning environments can share their experience with their colleagues to encourage improved provide have been transforming education for over a decade. But patient care and more creative problem solving.

Mirror is unique in several respects. Its approach is built around a As City Magazine goes to press, Professor Maiden and his team series of real-time apps that can be used on laptops, tablet are preparing to begin a two-month trial of the Carer App at a care computers or smartphones; there are no teachers, the apps can be home for dementia patients in Warwickshire. The results of their adapted to a wide range of roles and they will not come with a study will inform the further development of the application and the hefty price tag for employers. This flexibility reflects the emphasis Mirror project more widely. Perhaps in the not too distant future, we on ‘holistic continuous learning’ that underpins the project. will all benefit from the technology that is being developed by the Traditional approaches to e-learning place emphasis on the Mirror partners. Until then, however, there is much to be said for provision of information or training packages, but the Mirror Apps adopting the holistic, creative and reflective principles that underpin facilitate implicit learning, tacit reflection and creativity in their work. the workplace,

Mirror Mirror…

Reflective learning at work

19

b e n e f its and services

Career and Employment Services Whether you are a recent graduate looking for employment or an employer needing access to a pool of talented students and alumni, our Career and Skills Development Service can help.

For more information visit www.city.ac.uk/careers or call +44 (0) 20 7040 8093

Library access

Alumni benefits and services It’s nothing new but, thanks to the internet and social media, we’re reminded daily that our professional and personal wellbeing is inextricably tied to our ability to share knowledge and build relationships. Keeping in touch with your alma mater is an easy way to stay connected and expand your network and City alumni are encouraged to do so through a range of free benefits and services offered by the Alumni Network.

City alumni are entitled to an 80% discount on the annual rates charged to external visitors for borrowing privileges at the University Library. £30 per year allows you to take five loans at a time and reference-only facilities are free.

The Library Service is continuing to improve the study environment, in line with the recentlyapproved University Strategic Plan.

The study spaces and shelving on level 5 were transformed in summer 2011 and level 4 will be similarly improved in summer 2012.

In January 2013, a new Law Library will open in the Innovation Centre.

To access the Library, please request an Alumni Network Card from us. You will need this to prove your status as an alumnus when visiting the library for the first time.

For more information, email alumni@city.ac.uk or call +44 (0) 20 7040 5557

Events City hosts a range of public lectures, conferences, concerts and workshops throughout the year which all alumni are warmly invited to attend. In addition, the Alumni Network hosts tailored events aimed especially at graduates, the flagship event being the annual London reunion.

In June 2011, nearly 300 alumni from across five decades of City’s

20

history and all seven of its Schools joined together for the annual alumni reunion, held at the magnificent Saddlers Hall.

The next Alumni Reunion will be held on Thursday 12th July 2012, in the Great Hall.

Visit www.city.ac.uk/alumni or call +44 (0) 20 7040 5557 to reserve your place.

News Keep up to date with the latest news from your department, wherever you are in the world, with our blog and bi-monthly e-bulletin. Share your views on the City stories that interest you the most at www.city.ac.uk/blogs/ city-alumni.

If you haven’t received our e-bulletin for a while, it may mean that the contact information we have for you, including your email address, is out of date.

To update your details, head to www.city.ac.uk/alumni or call +44 (0) 20 7040 5557

City’s institutional repository: City Research Online City Research Online contains bibliographic details of research produced by the University’s staff and research students, including journal articles, conference papers, books and doctoral theses, with links to the full text of items where available.

Use the search tool to find items of interest by subject, author or title.

Where a full text paper is available, the search results will provide a link enabling the paper to be downloaded.

For more information, go to openaccess.city.ac.uk/616.

For full details of all benefits and services currently on offer to City alumni, head to www.city.ac.uk/alumni/benefits-and-services or call +44 (0) 20 7040 5557

Keeping in touch via Social Media Facebook We recently moved our Facebook page to the new timeline format and we have been adding key milestones in City’s history. If you have any stories, photographs, videos or scanned documents (for example, old copies of the student newspaper), we would love to hear from you! Find us at www.facebook.com/CityAlumni.

LinkedIn The City Alumni Group on LinkedIn now has nearly 4,500 members, making it our fastestgrowing social network. Each School has its own active sub-group for targeted networking amongst experienced professionals from the same industry or background.

LinkedIn also has several new features that you might find useful, including:

Twitter Follow @cityalumni to connect with the Alumni Team and over 1,500 City alumni, academics and departments.

City on iTunesU iTunesU provides free access to some of the world’s best thinking. Through our collection of audio and video podcasts, we are pleased to present a selection of lectures by our academics.

The aim is to deliver inspiring content in new ways to audiences worldwide. To subscribe to your favourite topics at City and around the world of Higher Education, visit www.city.ac.uk/itunesu.

•Y our College Alumni You can now identify fellow alumni within your company or other organisations you deal with, providing a valuable opportunity to connect and network.

•L inkedIn Classmates Find out more about your fellow alumni (their companies, industries and locations) using LinkedIn’s new alumni tool: www.linkedin.com/alumni.

• Volunteer

Experience and Causes Add your voluntary work experience to LinkedIn to give your profile a boost. For information on the volunteering opportunities available at City, please see Page 22.

To join our group on LinkedIn, go to tinyurl.com/87jof74.

21

v o l unt e e ring

Work-Shadowing Scheme 2012 Support a final year student and raise your organisation’s profile

Put yourself forward, give something back City is ranked 12th in the UK for the starting salaries of its graduates and prides itself on preparing students for employment. Alumni play a key role in supporting the career progression of our students. We have several innovative schemes and initiatives designed to help you share your experiences with current students and inspire them to follow in your footsteps.

Ask Alumni A new name in online mentoring Careers Network Online has been renamed Ask Alumni. This online mentoring tool enables alumni to share their experiences of breaking into a particular industry or profession, or suggest ways a student can develop his or her career. Each mentor has an entry in a password-protected database, which includes searchable information on their education at City and subsequent career experience.

For more information or to become an Ask Alumni volunteer, visit www.city.ac.uk/ alumni/get-involved/ask-alumni

City’s Work-Shadowing Scheme enables enthusiastic penultimate and final year students to shadow professionals working in the profession or industry they are hoping to enter. Typically, students will be assigned to a particular individual, department or business area, with the experience lasting a full day. During the day, the student will observe the responsibilities and tasks associated with that individual or team and have the opportunity to ask questions about the knowledge, skills, talents and level of education required.

We are currently looking for professionals from different sectors and careers to take part in the scheme. To find out more about Work-Shadowing, please contact the Employer Liaison Team on +44 (0) 20 7040 8425 or by email at workshadowing@city.ac.uk

Industry Insight Panel Events Inspirational speakers needed The Careers and Skills Development Service regularly hosts panel events giving students the opportunity to investigate the career options available to them. Each event consists of a series of talks followed by a networking reception. As a contributor you would provide unique support to the next generation of City students, gain valuable voluntary experience, have the opportunity to practise your presentation skills and meet other alumni working in your field.

To give a 15-minute presentation to a group of around 100 undergraduate and postgraduate students about your career path and industry or organisation, please contact the Employer Liaison Team on +44 (0) 20 7040 8425 or by email at vin@city.ac.uk

22

We are looking for alumni who can help us to promote our outstanding reputation to prospective students at recruitment events, both in the UK and abroad. For more information, email alumni@city.ac.uk or call +44 (0) 20 7040 5557

Professional Mentoring Scheme 2012/13 Help a student to maximise their potential The Professional Mentoring Scheme matches secondand third-year undergraduates with professionals who can help them develop the skills and confidence needed to compete in today’s job market. Being a mentor involves building a relationship that provides your mentee with the support and encouragement he or she needs to maximise their potential and manage their learning.

The scheme will run from November 2012 to April 2013, during which time mentors will be encouraged to meet with their mentees a minimum of six times. Where possible, mentors hold the majority of meetings at their place of work so that the students can experience a working environment. Training will be available in October to help mentors understand the role. This is also an opportunity to network with other mentors and meet the University co-ordinators who will be on hand to support you throughout.

The next round of the Professional Mentoring Scheme opens in September 2012. To register your interest, please contact the Widening Participation Team on +44 (0)20 7040 4242 or email wpteam@city.ac.uk The Professional Mentoring Scheme is funded by the City Future Fund. To find out more, see page 32.

c ass

Cass news

Class Gift Fundraising initiative gets off to a flying start

European alumni reunion in Monaco Cass alumni from across Europe gather for a reception hosted

by EasyJet entrepreneur and Cass alumnus Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou

M

ore than 130 alumni and guests headed to the French Riviera in September 2011 for an evening reception hosted at the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, which supports education, entrepreneurship and the environment.

Speaking to a packed audience, Sir Stelios, who studied for an MSc in Shipping, Trade and Finance at Cass, said: “Cass represents a significant part of my philanthropic activities – the Stelios Scholarships awarded at Cass every year help to ensure that these exceptional scholars have a chance to make a difference themselves.”

During the evening, Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Curran spoke about the University’s 2016 Vision. He was followed by the Deputy Dean of Cass, Professor Steve Haberman, who said: “We are grateful to Sir Stelios and everyone at the foundation for hosting the event. As one of our most famous alumni, he is a wonderful ambassador for the School and an inspiration to our students. I am delighted to see so many of our European alumni in Monaco and hope they find it a useful opportunity to meet old friends and form new links.”

Cass Alumni Relations are hoping to make this European gathering an annual affair and are looking forward to welcoming alumni to a busy calendar of events during 2012.

If you would like to learn more about the Cass alumni network, please contact the Cass alumni office on +44 (0) 20 7040 8373, or visit www.cass.city.ac.uk/alumni

Class Gift is a collective donation raised by student and alumni year groups to support School projects of their choice. From raising funds for student bursaries and scholarships to improving facilities on campus, Class Giving provides opportunities for current and former Cass students to make an impact by supporting their alma mater.

Currently, seven classes have signed up and are making a difference for future students. The first alumni Class Gift group, from MBA 2008, has paved the way by hosting several fundraising events.

Class Giving is a great way to reconnect and resume your relationships with colleagues and strengthen your bond with Cass. To learn more or to become involved, contact Namita Sharma on +44 (0) 20 7040 8674, or email namita.sharma.2@city.ac.uk.

Corporate connections BNY Mellon, Czarnikow, Threadneedle and Santander renew partnerships with Cass In 2011 BNY Mellon renewed its corporate partnership with Cass for a fifth consecutive year; it is a relationship which continues to go from strength to strength. Czarnikow also renewed as a corporate partner for a second year and will award a prize to the student who gained the highest marks for examination and course work in the Shipping, Trade and Finance MSc programme (2010/11).

Most recently, Threadneedle has renewed its corporate partnership with Cass for a second year and Santander continues its support of Cass Business School as a founding corporate partner. We are delighted to be continuing our partnerships with these world-class organisations.

Cass Fund Securing much-need resources for current and future students The Cass Fund enables alumni to play an integral part in providing talented students with a high-quality education, excellent facilities and opportunities to gain the most from their Cass experience. It is a pool of money donated by alumni to the School on a monthly or annual basis to fund needs and projects that enhance learning opportunities for students. Donations to the Fund have made it possible to launch several projects such as improving careers services for students.

Generous Cass alumni donated more than £45,000 during this year’s annual Telephone Campaign. Hardworking Cass students took part in a ‘telethon’, which attracted a further £22,000 in pledges. However, more funds are needed to support projects that will further enhance the learning facilities at Cass and help the School remain competitive amongst its peer institutions. In addition, giving to Cass is a tremendous vote of confidence for the School as it demonstrates to other donors, such as foundations and corporations, that alumni and friends really believe in the School.

If you would like to learn more about the Cass Fund, please contact the Development Office on +44 (0) 20 7040 5231 or visit www.cass.city.ac.uk/cassfund. You can also make an online donation to the fund via the “Donate now” link located on the same page.

23

THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Prepared to compete According to Heraclitus “nothing endures but change” and higher education is no exception to this rule. Having begun to act on the recommendations of the 2010 Browne Review by increasing undergraduate tuition fees, the Government appears committed to transforming the funding of education at university level.

To find out how these changes are already affecting City and for a glimpse of what lies ahead, we spoke to Professor David Bolton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University and Amish Patel, Students’ Union Vice-President for Education.

Professor David Bolton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Amish Patel, Students’ Union Vice-President for Education

24

First, a little context: the 2012/13 academic year will see the Government raising the cap on UK and EU undergraduate tuition fees to £9,000 and cutting most direct public funding for tuition. It is also changing loan repayment terms by increasing the repayment threshold to £21,000, charging a real rate of interest on loans for those making repayments, extending the maximum duration of loans from 25 to 30 years and making fee loans available to part-time students.

Institutions charging annual fees of over £6,000 will have to spend some of their income on widening participation and, with the average tuition fee currently expected to be just over £8,000, England will have the highest average fees of any ‘public’ university system in the world.

25

Should this give us cause for concern? With more reforms on the way, is it possible to plan ahead with any degree of confidence? Might liberalisation, in fact, offer opportunities for students and universities to compete with their peers more effectively? The latest package of reforms is expected to result in a more progressive distribution of repayments, with the highest earning graduates repaying considerably more and the lowest somewhat less. Can we rely on this prediction and what are the implications for institutions confronted with a funding structure that offers only two options: to compete on quality or cost?

where are we now?

Professor David Bolton The reforms are obviously having a direct impact on students, but they also affect how universities are funded. One way to think of it is that the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has switched to funding students rather than institutions.

More than ever, as our income will be determined by the market, future success depends on our ability to attract students to our courses and most institutions will be looking hard at their course portfolio.

Not everything is changing, however. The way research is funded (Government funding based on a rating of research quality and through bids for grants and contracts) remains the same. So, from a strategic perspective, if you can recruit academic staff capable of improving the University’s research rating, they are likely to attract research and enterprise grants and contracts and, as a result of a reputation for academic excellence, the most able undergraduate and postgraduate students. That’s the plan at City.

One immediate effect of the reforms seems to be greater volatility within and between subjects in terms of UCAS applications. There’s a suspicion that this has to do with the increased fees and student concerns about greater debt. The depressed employment market is another factor, of course. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as universities that can demonstrate value for money through academic excellence, great facilities and a proven record for employability are well placed to prosper in this climate. At City, we see this as a cause for cautious optimism.

Amish Patel We are definitely seeing changes in the way students think about their education. They are already obliged to make judgments based on cost and how much debt they are willing to sustain as graduates and this is only going to become more pronounced in the future.

Asking graduates to pay more puts pressure on universities to offer more in return and it is inevitable that this will have an effect on higher education, whether in terms of quality, cost or accessibility.

After three years, we anticipate that students will leave university with about £43,000 of debt, though this varies from location to location.

Higher fees will deter some from even applying and this is borne out by the reduction in UCAS applications that we have already seen.

We are also seeing a shift in the desirability of certain subjects. As increased employability and upwards social mobility seem to be the main reasons for entering higher education, I think we will see more students applying for professions such as medicine, the law and business.

Even though the Government claims to be keen to empower students as partners in higher education, which is a strong endorsement of autonomous Students’ Unions as advocates of student interests, it remains to be seen how this will play out. We are watching developments with interest and are acutely aware of the need to provide our members with up-to-date information as the reforms unfold.

what does the future hold?

Professor David Bolton Faced with funding changes and fluctuations in student demand, universities are already making more rapid decisions about the composition of their course portfolio. We’re seeing tactical rather than strategic thinking, with institutions encouraged to focus on the immediate future, rather than the longer term.

There are some areas in which change is inevitable but it is difficult to predict exactly what will happen. Access is one such area. The Government has said that it wants universities to widen access and improve the retention of students from low participation sections of society. At the same time, we are seeing a liberalisation of the system because, for this year at least, there is no cap on students with AAB A-level grades or better. This creates a degree of tension, with all universities charging more than £6,000 a year in fees having made commitments to widening participation targets, while also competing to attract the students with the highest grades.

Another grey area is the Government’s apparent eagerness to liberalise the higher education system in relation to private providers.

This could signal major changes in the landscape, although the details are still uncertain. We can’t address the issue directly until we know more, but it seems likely that the introduction of private providers will have more impact on universities that have chosen to compete on price, rather than on quality.

26

Amish Patel I think the government intends to force students to act as consumers, buying education as a transient good from an institution acting as a supplier. But, in my opinion, an education is far too complex to be constrained by market theory. The reforms may even one day challenge the concept of higher education as a social good, redefining the relationship between students and universities.

The Government seems likely to open the education system to private providers. Fees paid by graduates who have attended public institutions remain within the university system and are reinvested in education for the public benefit, whereas private providers remove this revenue from the public education sector. Furthermore, a state-funded education system allows academic communities to develop within institutions and ‘compete’ with each other. By making funding sources insecure, institutions will be focused primarily on securing funding, not nurturing excellence.

Even though the Government has emphasised the need for wider participation, it is by no means certain that this will happen across the spectrum of higher education. With black and minority ethnic students, young or single parents, mature and disabled students often performing less well at A-level when compared to other groups (and in the case of mature students often not having taken A-levels at all), they may be pushed away from an emerging top tier of institutions.

how will city be affected?

Professor David Bolton Last year, we published our Vision for the University. In March, our Strategic Plan was launched and it lays out how we intend to achieve the Vision by 2016. Our Plan focuses on academic excellence and the quality of our education and research: the recent changes to government policy on funding simply provided more reasons to pursue this approach. They also make it even more important that we move quickly to a position where we are recognised internationally for our academic excellence, our reputation for employability and our strong connections with business and the professions. This is a powerful proposition and one that makes us both distinctive and highly attractive.

Similarly, we were prepared for policies that would lead to a focusing of research funding on a smaller number of institutions and had resolved quickly to join this elite group. While the AAB policy made imperative a move to higher entry grades, our commitment to be among the world’s leading institutions meant that we had already begun to raise entry standards.

Implementing our Strategic Plan will enable us to achieve excellence across a range of essential criteria and ensure that we are not a middle-ranking institution, squeezed by price competition from below and quality competition from above. We won’t escape competition, of course, but we will compete on the quality of our education and research, not our price. Our destiny will be in our own hands.

In that respect, it’s very exciting.

Amish Patel City was among the institutions consulted during the Browne Review. As president of the Students’ Union at the time, I was one of several members of the executive team involved and this proximity to the decision-making process gave us an invaluable insight into how things were likely to pan out.

On a local level, the Union’s focus has shifted towards increasing academic quality, moving students onto decision-making bodies and working with the University to improve their overall experience. We want our members to have the same opportunities as other students around the country and there is a greater emphasis on student welfare. Unsurprisingly, there has been a lively debate around value for money (“What will I be getting if I am going to be paying more?”) and this will remain a priority.

Looking further ahead, I think that the focus on promoting academic excellence can only be a good thing. We are already seeing quality issues arising across several departments, some of which are being dealt with quickly. Fundamentally, this seems to be about students doing everything they can to get the best grades and enhance their employability.

We are ideally placed to remain closely engaged with the higher education reforms as they unfold, representing our members’ views, lobbying for change and providing timely advice.

27

I N T E R N AT I O N A L CITY

Italy

Canada In June 2011, Robert Grant (Internal Auditing and Management 1994) hosted four alumni lunches – two in Toronto and one each in Vancouver and Victoria. Guests included Denys Volkov (Business Studies 2003), Assistant to the Mayor of Winnipeg.

In November 2011, recent graduate Aleeza Khan (Magazine Journalism 2011) tweeted that she would like to meet other alumni based in Vancouver. Of course, we were very keen to help. We put Aleeza in touch with several alumni and, a couple of months later, she met up with Jane Kokan (International Journalism 1990), an award-winning director, camerawoman and journalist. Aleeza said, “it was interesting to hear about someone else’s experiences in journalism. It was encouraging to know that the City network spans far and wide and is still very helpful, even in places as far away as Vancouver.”

For more information about the Alumni Network in Canada and to get involved in future activities, email grantrmr@yahoo.com

In August we were thrilled to welcome one of our Alumni Group Coordinators back to City.

Simone De Battisti (School of Social Sciences 1998) was visiting London for a few days on business from Milan so it was a great opportunity for us to show him the Social Sciences building and find out what we can do to support alumni in Italy.

Please contact Simone at simone.debattisti@ gmail.com if you would like to be involved in alumni activity in Italy.

Ghana Over the summer, we welcomed back Robert Kyei-Gyau (International Journalism 2006), our Alumni Group Coordinator for Ghana. We were very pleased to hear that it was warmer in London than in Robert’s hometown of Kumasi! We showed Robert around the Journalism Department and spoke to him about his plans for the Alumni Network in Ghana, which include a forthcoming event.

If you would like to be involved in alumni activity in Ghana, you can contact Robert at kyeigy@aol.com

A global network City is one of the most popular universities in the UK for international students. Over 25% of our alumni live outside the UK and our global Alumni Network ensures that former students, no matter where they are in the world, can maintain their connection with the University. Since the last edition of City Magazine, alumni receptions have been held in Madrid, Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong and the Alumni Relations Team has worked closely with alumni in every corner of the globe.

28

we have already established alumni groups in:

Indonesia

argentina

lebanon

australia

luxemburg

austria

malaysia

azerbaijan

malta

bangladesh

mauritius

bahrain

mexico

belgium

new zealand

brazil

nigeria

canada

norway

china

pakistan

colombia

poland

croatia

qatar

cyprus

romania

czech republic

russia

egypt

saudi arabia

ethiopia

singapore

finland

south africa

france

spain

germany

sweden

ghana

switzerland

greece

taiwan

hong kong

tanzania

hungary

thailand

india

turkey

iran

uganda

ireland

ukraine

israel

united arab emirates

italy

united kingdom

japan kazakhstan

In September we met Darmawan Handaya (Mechanical Engineering 1976). Darmawan was taking a tour of Europe with his wife and two daughters, with London as one of their stopovers. Darmawan was keen to show his family where he had studied, so we were only too pleased to take them on a tour of the Engineering department.

kenya

uruguay usa

latvia

World Cities World Class Network City is London’s premier international University for professional policy, practice and applied research and it is dedicated to preparing students for global careers.

At the heart of City’s internationalisation strategy is the establishment and co-ordination of the World Cities World Class (WC2) University network. The WC2 network was founded by City and eleven partner institutions who share the goal of bringing together prestigious universities located in the heart of major world cities to address cultural, environmental and political issues of common interest.

By promoting closer interaction between universities, local government and business communities, WC2 is creating a unique forum where universities can respond more effectively to the needs of their stakeholders.

The founding member institutions (in addition to City University London) are: • Seoul National University, South Korea • Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong • St Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Russia

Keep in touch For more information about our international groups, visit www.city.ac.uk/alumni/international-groups. If there isn’t a Group Coordinator for your area and you would like to volunteer for the role, please contact the Alumni Relations team on +44 (0) 20 7040 5551 or by emailing alumni@city.ac.uk

• University of Sao Paulo, Brazil • Technische Universität Berlin, Germany • Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico • Politecnico di Milano, Italy • University of Delhi, India

You can also contact the Alumni team using the details above if you have moved from your home country and would like to establish links with other local alumni.

• City University New York, United States

If you are based outside the UK and planning a trip to London, don’t forget to contact us on +44 (0) 20 7040 5557 or alumni@city.ac.uk. We can help make arrangements for you to visit your department and other old haunts across the University.

• Tongji University, China

29

• Northeastern University, United States

For more information about WC2, please see www.city.ac.uk/wc2 or call +44 (0) 20 7040 0113

OBITUARIES

A lasting legacy We pay tribute to three outstanding individuals who died in 2011 and whose contribution to the success of the University will long be appreciated.

Dr George Daniels George Daniels became fascinated by watches as a child of five when he found a cheap wristwatch in the street. His rise to become one of Britain’s most renowned horologists was meteoric: working by day in a mattress factory, he attended evening classes in horology at the Northampton Institute (now City University London) and established his business as a watch cleaner and repairer. A chance meeting in 1960 with Sam Clutton, a founder member of the Antiquarian Horological Society and Vintage Sports Car Club in Britain, introduced him to upmarket and antique horology.

In 1969 he produced his first mechanical watch. He sold it to Clutton, who showed it to other collectors and Daniels embarked on his career as a specialist watchmaker. Each watch typically involved 2,500 hours of work over a year or more. He was appointed MBE in 1981 and CBE in 2010 and is the only watchmaker to receive the honour of Master Watchmaker, for services to horology. Dr Daniels passed away in October, aged 85.

Dr Daniels’ will included a bequest for a charity to be established in his memory, The George Daniels Educational Trust. Its aim is to further the higher education of pupils studying horology, engineering, medicine, building or construction. Fifty per cent of the money in the trust annually will be available for City University London to nominate students for awards to further their education.

Professor Ludwik Finkelstein As one of the longest-serving members of City’s academic staff, Professor Ludwik Finkelstein played a vital role in the development of both the University and the individuals associated with it. His personal kindness towards colleagues and students has been credited as the spark that sent countless young engineers on to distinguished careers.

Ludwik Finkelstein was born in Lvov, Poland and was deported to the Ukraine by the Soviets in 1941.

He came with his family to the UK after the war and, having worked in the electronics and mining industries, joined City’s predecessor, the Northampton College of Advanced Technology, in 1959.

He went on to become Dean of the School of Engineering and establish the institution’s pioneering Measurement and Instrumentation Centre, which still exists to this day. As City gained University status in 1966, Professor Finkelstein was pivotal to its growth, serving as Pro Vice-Chancellor.

Although he retired from full-time employment in 1993, Professor Finkelstein maintained strong links with the University and continued to engage in research. To celebrate his 80th birthday and 50 years of service, City named a new electrical engineering laboratory and bursary fund in Professor Finkelstein’s honour in December 2009. It supports exceptional Engineering and Mathematical Sciences students experiencing financial hardship. Professor Finkelstein passed away in August, aged 81.

Professor Sir Roger Jowell Professor Sir Roger Jowell, founder and Director of the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys at City from 2003, was a leader in his field and made an exceptional contribution to social sciences in the UK and across the world.

As well as being a leading social statistician and expert on electoral behaviour, Roger will be remembered as a down-to-earth, witty, fun-loving colleague and a great friend. He was also an exceptional mentor and inspiration to aspiring social researchers.

Born in South Africa in 1942, Roger moved to London after studying politics at the University of Cape Town. In 1969, he co-founded Social & Community Planning Research, now known as the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and Britain’s largest independent research institute.

Roger led NatCen from 1969 until 2001, during which time its work revolutionised social research in Britain.

He was renowned for work that provided new insights into political attitudes and beliefs across Britain, while ensuring his research remained ethical and independent. Retiring as Director of NatCen in 2001, Roger turned to comparative research and co-founded and directed the European Social Survey (ESS), which he led until his death in December. In 2003 he moved with ESS to City, where he became Professor and Founder Director of the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys. He was appointed CBE in 2001 and knighted in 2008 for services to social science. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues and students alike.

For more information about The George Daniels Educational Trust, leaving a legacy to City in your will or making a donation to the Ludwik Finkelstein Bursary Fund, please contact the Development Office on +44 (0) 20 7040 5559 or at development.1@city.ac.uk.

30

D EVELO P ME N T

how you can help

City is committed to attracting high calibre students and providing an outstanding academic experience measured in terms of education, employability and research. The University’s strong links with the City of London place us in an unrivalled position to achieve this, but the help and support of alumni remain as crucial as ever.

F

ormer students can help by volunteering, mentoring and providing careers advice, placements and employment opportunities for future students.

Page 22 provides more details about how you can give your time, experience and enthusiasm to the City students who are following in your footsteps.

Alumni can also support the University and future students by making a donation to the City Future Fund, a major initiative that supports students, world-class research and community outreach projects. Find out more over the page.

Opportunities to support your University do not end there, however.

In recent years alumni donations in the areas of capital developments, outstanding teaching projects and scholarships have made a real difference. The transformation of the University Estate that was approved

by Council at the end of March includes plans for a new building, which is likely to house state-of-the-art lecture theatres, student spaces and research facilities. Look out for more information on this building in future alumni communications.

A growing number of alumni and friends of the University fund named scholarships for either undergraduate or postgraduate students. Supporting a student in this way can cost as little as £1,000 per year but can make an enormous difference to the lives of students. Donors who support named scholarships and prizes are invited to an annual event where they can meet the recipients of their awards.

For more information about how you can support students in this way, please contact the Development office on + 44 (0) 20 7040 5562 or development.1@city.ac.uk

The Olive Tree Programme Established in 2004, The Olive Tree Programme is a unique initiative for young people from Israel and Palestine whose lives have been framed by conflict and whose talents and leadership potential single them out as candidates for three years of academic study, reflection, exploration and “Three years studying in debate in London. Those selected London, on a par with receive a full scholarship to study for all the other students an undergraduate degree, with the at City, transforms goal of helping them become skilled, the thinking and confident and effective leaders with an appreciation of the viewpoint the prospects of the of those from the other side of scholars. They go on the conflict. Through a speciallyto make a positive designed parallel programme difference to the lives of creative, intellectual and of others, too.” cross-cultural activities, the scholars Rosemary Hollis, Director, are encouraged to engage in dialogue across the lines of Olive Tree Programme confrontation and distrust that frame their relations in the Middle East.

The Olive Tree Programme helps build a greater awareness and understanding of the roles of politics, economics, history, identity and religion in sustaining and resolving conflict and to encourage respect and support for the human rights of all the people of the region. It is also designed to enable students to grapple with the difficult issues that directly affect them, their families and their future prospects in an educational and multicultural setting that is supportive, conducive to intellectual growth and geared to career development.

For more information, please visit www.city.ac.uk/olivetree.

If, like many other former students, you would like to support The Olive Tree Programme or help fund a scholarship, you can either donate to a general fund from which scholarships are awarded or give money to support an individual student. For more information, please contact the Development office on + 44 (0) 20 7040 5562 or development.1@city.ac.uk

31

City Futur e f und

City Future Fund The City Future Fund is a charitable part of the University which provides support for students and raises money through personal donations from alumni, staff and friends involved with City University London.

WITHOUT YOU, we can’t fill the gaps for students who struggle at City...

WITHOUT YOU, the City Future Fund would not be there to help students who are in desperate need of support.

Svapna Patel a first year Optometry student received a City Future Fund Scholarship in February 2012:

Students can encounter financial difficulties or have severe circumstances that the City Future Fund can help with.

“ I applied for the City Future Fund Scholarship because my maintenance loan didn’t cover the cost of my student accommodation, travel and textbooks so I needed some help. Our textbooks are around £100 so when you are buying a few each term it really adds up. I’d like to thank everyone who supported the City Future Fund for their generosity; I am truly grateful and feel honoured to have received this award from alumni donations. It means I no longer have the worry of educational expenses and can focus solely on my studies and be successful.”

“ The Hardship Fund saved my University career and allowed me financial breathing space to be able to continue my final year of studies. I can live as a normal person instead of eating beans on toast rations everyday and wearing my woolly hat and gloves indoors because the heating is too expensive. I cannot put into words how grateful I am for this help. Thank you very much!”

Student Support Scholarships, Hardship Fund, Professional Mentoring Scheme

BSc Informatics student

WITH YOUR HELP, we can create a better future for all City students...

With the help of his mentor Peter (BSc Management and Systems 1988) through City’s Professional Mentoring Scheme, Dulal Rahman (BSc Management 2010), secured a sought-after internship at Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses. “ I have managed to carve a career in something that I am passionate about and gone further than I thought I could, because someone else thought I could. The lessons I have learnt will hopefully one day become beneficial when I can mentor someone.”

Dulal has since been promoted at Thompson Reuters and is still in contact with his mentor.

Community Outreach

City Future Fund helps students across the University in several ways:

Student Led Volunteering, Community Outreach

World Class Research Travel Bursaries

Please donate now to the City Future Fund Online: www.city.ac.uk/donate-to-city Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7040 3098 City University London Registered Charity Number: X1134

32

Thank You We would like to thank everyone who has donated to the City Future Fund. Donors since 1 August 2011 are listed below. We also would like to thank those donors who wish to remain anonymous. All donations are crucial and go directly towards helping students across City University London.

Munier Abdalla Richard Addy Abimbola Adetoye Esther Adeyemo Glenn Adli Ariff Vaseem Ahmed Suki Ahsam Helena Akiwumi Suzanne Akuffo Maamoun Albakry Maha Aldera Robert Alexander Fahmeeda Amir Philippa Anderson Spiro Andreadakis Aline Angeli Antony Ansell Cyril Anyanwu Christopher Armstrong Richard Arnold Siddika Asaria Jubril Awoyera Amanda Ayee David Ayris Nabeel Baig Peter Baigent Douglas Bain Alasdair Baker Anjali Bakrania Abayomi Balogun Alan Barker Julian Barratt James Barrie Irene Bartholomew Bethany Bartlett Thomas Bartlett Tara Basdeo Mehmet Baybars John Bayliss Richard Beard Rodney Bell Anthony Bello Ian Bennett Keith Bennett Colette Bewley Jitendra Bhavsar Mohammad Bhunnoo David Bird David Bisbrown-Lee Timothy Bishop Leo Bjorkegren Dr Graham Bleakley Doris Bluie Jasmina Bojic Aderemi Bola Roberta Botchway Richard Boxall Andrew Brown Lynn Bryan Robin Bryant Steve Bryson Emily Buchanan

Brian Buckman Karen Burchett David Burder Brian Burgess Marilyn Burn Kenneth Burrows Cathrin Burton Usman Butt David Cardus Daloni Carlisle Terence Carter Ian Cartwright Martyn Caswell Chung-Yuen Chan Andrea Chan Paul Chaplin Husein Chasmawala Sameer Chaudhary Georgios Chic Saira Choonka Tracey Chung Rachel Church Cetin Ciltas Graham Clark Peter Clark Dr Timothy Clarke Alexander Clelland Rodney Clench Arnold Coe Donna Condon Dennis Conner Desmond Connolly Antonios Constantinou Stephen Cook Andrew Coombe Lucy Coomber Chris Couldrey Barry Crow Nicola Cruickshank Paul Cullen Charles Cunningham Michael Cutting Deonne D'Souza Angel Dahouk Kenneth Dale Sarah Daniels David Davies Stephen Dawson Raymonde De La Salle Ricardo De Sousa Helen Dearn Christos Demetriades David Deriaz Joseph Dewar Sarah Dickinson Peter Donnachie Joanne Edwards Gerri Ellis Stephen England Eduardo Escorial Esosa Evbonaye Jonathan Faragher

Nadine Field Alan Fisher Robert Fleming Kenneth Flemons Geoffrey Fowler Alan Foxon Robert Freer Alasdair Friend Nigel Frost Stewart Fyfe Lucy Gabe Peter Gannon William Garrett Federico Gatti Oliver Gent Nigel Gethin Fabrice Ghiotto Stuart Gibbs Ian Gow Ian Graham John Greenwood Abhijit Gupta Shelley Gurney Nigel Hale Dr Steve Halfyard Habibatu Halidu Jeremy Hall Stephen Hall Kenneth Hallsworth Ralph Hanley Paul Harding Philip Harper Belinda Harris Keith Harrison Tracey Harrison Dr H Harrison Amina Hassan Margaret Hawkins Bernard Hawkins Anis Hebibovic Bowen Hendy Dr Pamela Hibbs CBE Thomas Hill Vidar Hjardeng Kathryn Hobbs Philip Hodgson Peter Holden Theresa Holdgate Stephen Holloway William Holman Stephen Hounslow The Rt Hon The Lord Howe of Aberavon CH, PC, QC Dr Christopher Howick Captain Beat Hubmann Widmer Ken Hulbert David Hulme David Hulton David Humphreys Ian Hunt

William Hywell Farhana Islam Rory Isserow Richard Jackson Jennifer Jackson Asim Jalali Sameer Jamal Farah Jamaldin Huw James Dr Ross Janes Karim Jaufeerally Peter Jay Peter Jefferis Nathaniel Johnson Richard Johnson Anthony Jones Harry Jones Michael Jordanou Sushila Joseph Owen Joseph Nicolas Kallis Gautam Kapoor Captain Periklis Karavasilis Nikolaos Kareklas Michael Kay Dr Stuart Kingsley Timothy Kinvig Eleni Kioumi Catherine Kirk Alexander Knott Jakov Kolesnik Phivos Kyriacou Susan Lagara-Lohan Harold Lane Mariola Lang Paul Lathwell Stephen Lau Zena Lawrence Jia Li Robert Lightfoot Robert Linsky Colin Liversidge Michael Lloyd Valerie Lock Joan Low Yoke Low Gary Lucas John Lucas Phillip Luck Philip MacIver Graham MacKenzie Neil MacLeod Federica Maiorano Salman Malik Mary Mallory Amit Mandora Mario Manikas Peter Marshall David Marshall Joanne Mason Peter Matthews

33

Claire McElholm Peter McFadden Neil McIntyre Melanie Mehta Aldrena Mejia David Merrington Anthony Middleton Catherine Miller Jonathan Miller Rivaz Mohamed Haniffa Goldie Momen-Putrym Anjum Moon Gillian Moonman Manuel Morais Keith Morphett Katherine Morris Matthieu Moss Angeliki Mpravou Dr John Mudge Susan Mulvaney Gordon Murdoch Gerard Murray Vivian Mycielski Luc Naidoo Dr Elizabeth Nelson Katherine Nex Dr William Ng Tapiwa Ngwena Hatfield Nicolls Keith Noble Lisa O'Kelly Marion O'Loughlin Michael O'Sullivan Caroline Oakshett Rosemary Obeng Henri Obstfeld Olufunke Omomowo Gregory Osedumme Gloria Owusu Erman Ozen Dhamseth Pallawela Jennifer Palmer Laura Palmer Dr Edith Parker Sir Edward Parkes Bijal Patel Pramit Patel Hamendra Patel Mahesh Patel Bernard Patrick William Pattison Janet Peck Stephen Peel Farzanah Peeroo Claire Pemberton Trevor Pennell Dr Peter Penny James Perry Gerald Pettit Isel Pizarro Rudolf Plaut Michael Pollock

Mark Pooley Jonathan Poolman Anthony Pope Peter Porter Somasundaram Pragash Alison Price Frederick Probyn David Procter Raheel Qamar Saema Rangrez Uma Devi Rasapalan Anwar Rashad Gillian Redrup Sue Rees Allison Richards Louise Richardson David Riley Kim Robbins-Hallam Jane Roberts Ian Robertson Phil Robins John Roscoe Marsha Rosenberg Isobel Rothbart Honey Rouhani Grahame Rudkins Malcolm Rush Sanjay Sachdeva Garry Savage Dr Ian Saville Leo Schefer Victoria Scott John Selby Joseph Sen Hawah Sesay Ayesha Shahabudeen Peter Shaw Valerie Sheehan Faisal Sheikh Mohammed Sheikh Estelle Shirbon Helen Short Alexander Silva Simon Skelton Timothy Skinner Michael Smart Anthony Smith Peter Smyth Achmad Soepanto Captain Ibinabo Solomon Chandresh Somani Robert Spackman Emma Spofforth Peter Stanton Trevor Stapleton Henry Steane Neil Steeden Duncan Stewart David Stewart E. J. Stocks

David Street Richard Suggitt Suresh Suriyagoda Richard Swain Balint Szlanko Mohammed Tahzeem Dib Tamang Elisabeth Tapini David Taylor Professor David Teager Innocent Temba Lorna Templeton Suzan Thabet Guillaume Thomas David Thomas Nigel Thomas Charles Thomson Konstadinos Tibas Caroline Tod Eric Tolentino Colin Towler Richard Tully Yvonne Turkistanli Katerina Urbankova Brigitte Valin Aikaterini Vavitsa Arlindo Villaschi Malcolm Vincent Philip Waddilove Christopher Walker Christopher Walters Jenny Warren Nicholas Warren Martin Watts Robert Watts Robin Webb Donald Webber Edward Webber Verlaine Weekes Margaret Weekes Avril Wheeler Lynda Wight Gary Wilde Dr Peter Wilding Thomas Williams Ida Williams Gregory Williams Jason Williams James Williams Paul Wilmshurst Geoffrey Wilson Peter Wink Dr Janet Wolf Lelia Wong Brian Woodward Nicholas Woollcombe Benjamin Wright Joseph Wrigley Dorian Xhixho Hulusi Yurttas

A l u m ni A w ards

City students without limits Each year, five outstanding City University London students are recognised by the Alumni Association for the contribution they make to the life of the University, its reputation and the local Islington community. These students are nominated by their peers and chosen by a panel of City staff.

In 2011, the calibre of the Alumni Award recipients was as high as ever and the generosity of City Future Fund donors meant that we were able to award each winner £500. The achievements of these students demonstrates the innovation and ingenuity that make City such a special place to study.

Nico Wilson

Jennifer Blair

Nico launched the Our Story: Islington project, in collaboration with Islington Museum. The project is an online audio archive of family stories from members of the Islington community. The archive has served to re-awaken traditions of story-telling, strengthen family relationships and build community ties.

Jennifer established the Big Voice London youth empowerment programme. The programme, supported by the UK Supreme Court, works with teenagers to explore issues relating to legal identity and the democratic legitimacy of the legal system. There is a focus on empowering young people and participants have the chance to meet with legal experts, engage in team research and take part in workshops.

Clare Hammond

Giulio Folino

Minas Panayi

(BSc Business Computing Systems)

(BSc Banking & International Finance)

Clare founded and organised the Performing Musicology conference, which provides a forum for research students, performers and academics to explore how musicology (the scholarly study of music) and performance can be more closely entwined. Held at City in June 2011, the conference welcomed performers, students and academics from around the world.

Guilio, who was elected as President of the Students’ Union for 2012/13 in March, has played a key part in developing student activities and societies at City.

During 2011 he led the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) society at the University, which was shortlisted for an award at the National Union of Students (NUS) LGBT conference.

Minas has been exceptionally active in many student societies and he was the 2010/11 President of the Volunteering Society. In this role he organised fundraising events for several causes, including the Oxfam Sri Lanka Floods Appeal and the Japan earthquake appeal.

(MA Human Rights)

(Doctorate of Musical Arts)

(Bar Professional Training Course)

“ I used the Alumni Award to help smooth the transition from student life to life as a freelance musician. I am now working as a concert pianist and have had a very busy season since I finished studying at City. The most exciting event was a recital of Ravel, Satie and Albeniz at the Wigmore Hall in April, which was broadcast live by BBC Radio 3 and chosen as one of their classical highlights.”

34

“ I was very happy to learn that I was selected as a recipient of the Alumni Award. I am passionate about improving access to higher education and with the money I was awarded I plan to establish an online mentoring database for teenagers in the UK, to help them make the crucial decision to attend university.”

S h o rt c o urs e s

Get ahead In the heart of your City Career-enhancing part-time evening and weekend courses at City University London From film editing to finance, website development to writing, City has the short course that will help you take the next step in your career. We offer over 100 subjects from introductory to advanced levels and our students benefit from City’s unique combination of academic excellence and a focus on business and the professions.

Are you ready to return to your City? To learn how short courses at City University London can help you further your career call +44 (0)20 7040 8268 or visit: www.city.ac.uk/shortcourses

“ Interesting, informative, challenging. I thoroughly enjoyed the course” Tamara van Cuflenburg Applied MS Excel for Business student

“ Taking the course was one of the best decisions I have made and I owe the tutors a tremendous amount in developing my career as a writer” Kirstan Hawkins Author of Doña Nicanora’s Hat Shop (Hutchinson and Windmill, 2010)

The magazine for friends of City University London 2012 ISSUE

City University London Northampton Square London EC1V 0HB Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 5060 Email: enquiries@city.ac.uk Website: www.city.ac.uk City UNIVERSITY LONDON Alumni Relations Team Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 5557 Email: alumni@city.ac.uk Cass BUSINESS SCHOOL Alumni Relations Team Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 8373 Email: cass-alumni@city.ac.uk

A new direction Design/Production: Hudson Fuggle Cover Photograph: David Oxberry

How investing in excellence is preparing City for the future

Š City University London 2012.

Business success for City alumni

City academics shape global debate on the safety of journalists

Creative thinking: using technology to enhance learning

A sense of place: upgrading the University campus