City News for staff July 2011

July 2011 | issue 01 Welcome to the first issue of the newlook City News.

Read about the University’s Times Higher Education Award win; research that is helping young Londoners to communicate effectively and one of our student journalists’ campaigning work on behalf of Polish zoo animals.

You can catch up with the news from around the University too.

CIT Y NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEF New overseas appointments for Senior Lecturer

City funds the refurbishment of the Northampton Square Bandstand

Neil Thurman, a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Erasmus Mundus Masters programme in the Department of Journalism, has been appointed as a Visiting Professor at the IE University in Segovia, Spain.

The front cover shows the bandstand in the middle of Northampton square. On 9 July 2011 this historic structure was formally re-opened by our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Curran and The Worshipful the Mayor of Islington, Councillor Phil Kelly.

He has also been appointed a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Communication and Media Research at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich. ***

Bringing innovators together A Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice event recently attracted more than 130 researchers and practitioners.

The day explored the latest thinking in innovation, creativity and leadership across education and business.

The bandstand had been in need of some tender loving care for quite some time before the University agreed to fund its refurbishment, working in partnership with Islington Council.

Back in 1930 the then Finsbury Borough Council created this public shelter for ‘those people who mainly for health reasons must have fresh air all year round’ and to allow musical performances.

Today it is London’s last remaining historic bandstand located in a residential square. u

How can citizenship be tested?

A unique book focuses on citizenship tests

From Migrant to Citizen: Testing Culture, Testing Language is the first book of its kind to focus on academic, political, philosophical and legal perspectives of citizenship tests.

Christie comments: "As citizenship tests become increasingly popular it is important to interrogate their real effectiveness and meaning."

***

Erasmus Mundus success City’s Erasmus Mundus journalism programme has just been selected by the European Commission for funding in the region of €3M over five years. It will be split between City and our partners, the Universities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, Aarhus and Swansea.

Our consortium was one of only 30 selected for this funding, although 177 consortia applied.

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At the end of June, the Australian High Commissioner to the UK and other high-profile guests attended the launch of a new book co-edited by Professor Christie Slade, Dean of the Conjoint Schools of Arts and Social Sciences.

It is co-edited by Professor Slade and Professor Martina Mollering from Macquarie University in Australia.

Many colleagues will be aware that Professor Christie Slade will be leaving City later this year to take up her new post as Vice-Chancellor at Bath Spa University. u 5Professor Paul Curran, Professor Christina Slade, Professor Martina Mollering and His Excellency Mr John Dauth, Australian High Commissioner to the UK

City researcher reveals lifesaving MyCare Card

Judge pays tribute to winning City law students Two students from The City Law School have been crowned champions in the Oxford University Press and BPP University College National Mooting Competition ahead of Russell Group rivals.

Rory Clarke and Mark Humphreys saw off fellow finalists from the universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Strathclyde to land the prestigious accolade last month, collecting a trophy and £750 each for their achievement.

Both students have just completed the Graduate Diploma in Law at City, with the contest taking place just days after they had completed their final examinations.

Professor Panicos Kyriacou, Director of City’s Biomedical Engineering Research Group, has revealed the MyCare Card – a prototype, credit card-sized device that stores personal medical data.

The technology was developed in collaboration with Coventry University and with £260k funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It plugs into a computer’s USB port and can store information such as a patient’s existing medical conditions and allergies and any medication they are taking.

Panicos commented: “When dealing with a medical emergency, patients may be unconscious or unable to communicate with paramedics. Our device makes potentially life-saving data easily accessible.” u

In his summing up, His Honour Judge Gratwicke, of Chelmsford Crown Court, said: “I spend all my time listening to advocates and I can tell you that I would be very, very happy to have any of you standing up in front of me in court.” u Rory Clarke and Mark Humphreys together with His Honour Judge Gratwicke 6

NEWS IN BRIEF City Journalism views sought on ’phone-hacking City Journalism academics have been in high demand to provide commentary on the ’phone-hacking scandal.

Academics including Professor George Brock, Professor Roy Greenslade, Professor Stuart Purvis and Professor Ivor Gaber featured across a range of national and international media outlets, such as BBC News Channel, BBC World Service, Sky TV, ITV News, ABC TV Australia and The New York Times. ***

Changes to room bookings The 2011/2012 online room booking facility will be available from Monday 1 August.

Colleagues can access the online booking forms via the Property and Facilities web pages. ***

City hosts third London Design Jam The School of Informatics has hosted Design Jam London for the third time.

These global collaborative events look at computer user experience and are supported by Mozilla Labs. Attendees worked together to design a service that allows people to play, listen and contribute to the music in public spaces and situations.

www.city.ac.uk/staff

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NEWS IN BRIEF Red Letter Day prize

Alison Jacobs, Senior Student Adviser was presented with a £250 voucher for winning the Staff Wellbeing Day quiz.

Professor Paul Curran presented Alison with the prize earlier this month. * * *

Students praise Law tutors Snigdha Nag, Evelyn Pollock and Emily Allbon of The City Law School have won accolades in the University’s annual Student Voice Awards.

Professor Susan Nash, Dean of the School, said: “This is a wonderful achievement and reflects the quality of our professional programmes.” ***

First in Europe to join the Cloud computing consortium The Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design has become the first European institution to join the Cloud Services Measurement Initiative Consortium.

It will now develop standards to help businesses adopt this emerging technology.

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Sir Martin Sorrell's top ten business themes

Academics share global health research day

Speaking at the Building Business Relationships Conference at Cass Business School on 29 June, Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP, discussed the top ten factors influencing businesses today.

He started with geography and the shifting of balance of power from West to the East and South East, before moving on to overcapacity in the manufacturing sector coupled with a shortage of human capital.

Other themes included the web, retail power, internal communications and the tension between global, regional and local.

Too much power in the hands of finance and procurement, healthcare, Government as both investor and client and Corporate Social Responsibility completed the list. u

On Thursday 23 June, a range of City academics gathered for a University Research half-day to share expertise and research on the topic of global health.

There were presentations on a plethora of issues including peer support for people with mental health problems in ethnically diverse communities, teaching children about hygiene and antibiotic resistance with online games and the potential of using Twitter for early warning and outbreak detection.

Abstracts and slides from the day are available on the staff intranet under the research link.

The next planned research event is on ‘Risk’ and the call for papers will be sent out towards the end of the summer. u

NEWS IN BRIEF

Enterprise at City

City patent is set to ‘revolutionise the energy sector’

Tackling IT skills

Company unveils new technology based on City intellectual property Start-up company Heliex Power Ltd has unveiled new technology based on City intellectual property. It promises to improve the efficiency of power generation and manufacturing processes and make green, geothermal energy production more feasible.

Heliex was formed with support from technology transfer specialists within the Research and Enterprise Team, with BP Alternative Energy Ventures among its financial backers.

The Company’s energy recovery systems use steam screw expander technology developed and patented by City’s worldrenowned Centre for Positive Displacement Compressors. They extract energy that would otherwise be wasted by generating electricity from ‘wet steam’ – steam that arises in many industrial settings but is of too low a temperature and pressure to power traditional turbines.

A rival to wind turbines Heliex’s market research has indicated that the energy recoverable by the systems in Europe and North America alone could rival that generated by wind turbines globally.

Dan Wright, Heliex’s Founder and Chief Executive, said: “Our system promises a rare combination of radical advances in industrial energy efficiency with low-risk because it is based on tried-and-tested technology.

“It will lighten the growing burden for industry created by escalating energy costs.”

Professor Ian Smith, Director of the Centre for Positive Displacement Compressors at City, added: “We’ve been developing the technology behind Heliex for the last 20 years, so it’s incredibly rewarding to see our work form the basis of a venture that has the ability to revolutionise the energy sector and create significant efficiency and cost savings the world over.” u

Ian Smith and Dan Wright with a prototype steam screw expander 6

The Centre for Information Leadership hosted an event for academics and IT professionals in June, discussing how to tackle the skills shortage in the sector – from encouraging more young people into technology careers to ensuring continued professional development. ***

Climate change standard Visiting Professor Martin Fry led the British Standards Institution (BSI) input into the new international Energy Management Systems Standard, ISO 50001, which will help organisations improve profitability, cut carbon dioxide emissions and meet climate change targets. ***

MSc in IT Consultancy The School of Informatics has launched a new Masters to accelerate the midcareer development of IT consultants.

Starting in September, it will be an intensive, demanding course for those who want to excel in senior positions.

www.city.ac.uk/staff

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By Sarah Birdsall

“

This is a very proud day for all my colleagues in City’s Services for Students. It is their hard work and dedication to supporting our students that have won this award for the University.

“

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Winning the Times Higher Education award – and how we did it

A grand hotel in London’s Park Lane is not often the scene of whooping and cheering but it was last month at the Times Higher Education Leadership & Management Awards when City won in the category of Outstanding Student Services Team.

Director of Services for Students John Tibble was joined on stage to receive the award by Student Adviser Agata Lambrechts, Senior Student Adviser Alison Jacobs, International Student Adviser Alan Gelfer and Head of Student Centre Operations Michelle Preston. When he got back to the table, John said: “This is a very proud day for all my colleagues in City’s Services for Students. It is their hard work and dedication to supporting our students that have won this award for the University.

“City students initially come to the Student Centre with a wide range of queries and problems, ranging from issues with finance, visas, timetabling or exams to requiring advice about central London accommodation, academic support, disability support or a more personal issue. Our highly qualified Student Advisors are able to help them directly or pass them on to a specialist to achieve a satisfactory outcome.”

When making its decision, the high-profile panel of judges focused on City’s achievement last year of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) ServiceMark award.

NEWS IN BRIEF Two years later, City joined the ICS to provide a framework for continuous measurement, assessment and benchmarking against service provision in all UK sectors, not just higher education; opportunities for staff to undertake professional awards in customer service provision and so that some of City’s key service areas could work towards a nationally recognised quality mark. In 2009/10 those Student Advisers gained the professional accreditation and, following another 12 months of intense work, the Centre achieved the ServiceMark.

Former City student’s toxic documentary wins prize

Within the higher education sector, City’s Student Centre has the reputation of being one of the best in the UK.

The documentary, titled Toxic Europe, focuses on the illegal trafficking of hazardous waste.

The University has hosted visits from many other universities including University College London, Imperial College, University of the Arts and University of Hull. Their representatives came to find out about our approach to the organisation, management, delivery and evaluation of services for students.

Recognition of esteem

John Tibble

City is the UK’s first education institution – school, college or university – to achieve the ServiceMark. The judges described it as ‘a clear example of innovation’.

All of City’s Student Advisers, who are based in the Student Centre in Northampton Square, have achieved professional accreditation through the ICS for their personal customer service abilities.

Our Student Centre was established in September 2007 and at that time £4M was invested in premises, technology and people to bring together a comprehensive range of support activities in one central location. A team of dedicated Student Advisers was recruited from customer service backgrounds and trained in all aspects of the University’s activities.

The Times Higher Education Leadership & Management Award for Outstanding Student Services Team is recognition of the esteem in which this service is held within British universities.

As one of the judges, Dr Andrew West, head of student services at the University of Sheffield and chair of AMOSSHE, the Student Services Organisation, said: “The judges were particularly struck by the strategic way in which the Student Centre initiative had been delivered, incorporating capital investment, service development and a strong team ethos.”

At the end of the awards ceremony, the writer politely gave her excuses and left, but we hear that the representatives of the Student Services Team danced the night away at the Grosvenor House Hotel, pausing a few times to catch their breath and make sure the gleaming trophy was still in their possession. u

A documentary made by former City journalism student Cecilia Anesi is the winner of the Best International Organised Crime Report (BIOCR) Award 2011, a Prize awarded by Flare Network, Premio Ilaria Alpi and Novaya Gazeta.

***

Third ‘Learning at City’ conference is a success The 3rd annual Learning at City conference on Thursday 23 June was a great success, with an interesting plenary from Aaron Porter, President of the National Union of Students, and several sessions about how learning can be enhanced.

Further information about the day is on the Learning Development Centre website and blog. ***

Sign up to cycle to work Employees are once again able to sign up to the Cycle to Work scheme to obtain bicycles and safety equipment.

Orders have to be placed by Friday 12 August.

For further details please contact dawn.white.1@.city.ac.uk

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Research at City

Helping young Londoners communicate effectively Young people who live with language and communication difficulties in two London boroughs have improved both their communication skills and their academic attainments due to City’s Enhancing Language and Communication in Secondary Schools (ELCISS) research project.

Led by Dr Victoria Joffe, a Reader in Developmental Speech, Language and Communication Difficulties in the School of Community and Health Sciences, the research outcome was to provide information on effective ways of supporting secondary school students with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). This was identified as a significant gap in service provision by the Rt Hon John Bercow in his 2008 Review of Services for Children and Young people with Speech, Language and Communication Needs.

The young people commented on how much they had enjoyed the programme

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The research consisted of a randomised control trial investigating the effectiveness of two intervention programmes in enhancing the language and communications skills of secondary school students living with SLCN. Two different intervention programmes: vocabulary enrichment and narrative, were delivered to a group of 357 12-year-olds

across 21 secondary schools in the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham.

Teaching assistants at the schools carried out the programmes with the support of the research team. They were given a fourday training programme around speech, language and communication, as well as the two intervention programmes which were written in sufficient detail to allow the teaching assistants to carry out the sessions independently. The research team visited the teaching assistants and observed some of the sessions to ensure treatment fidelity. Questions were answered and support given on a discussion forum on the ELCISS website – www.elciss.com

Goodbye to Richard The results were exciting and extremely encouraging, showing differential effects in both vocabulary and narrative performance.

Students who received the narrative intervention improved in their understanding of the nature of stories and storytelling; how to tell stories and also told better and more exciting stories than their peers in the control group.

This same improvement was not seen in the vocabulary group but this group demonstrated significant improvement in word knowledge and idiomatic understanding compared to the control group. This same improvement was not seen in the narrative group. The schools involved also reported marked

improvement in the academic performance of the young people, as well as in their general school behaviour and wellbeing.

The young people also commented on how much they had enjoyed the programme and identified it as being novel and important in terms of their opportunity to work in small groups, focus on what is important to their school and home life and develop their own aims and targets and independent learning skills and strategies. They appreciated being able to express themselves in a safe environment, learn skills that help them interact with others and start thinking about career choices.

Significant improvement As well as training the teaching assistants – whose knowledge, skills and awareness of speech, language and communication were shown to improve significantly as a result of their involvement – the City team also delivered In Service Education and Training (INSET) to each of the schools. The research findings were disseminated, awareness of SLCN was raised and teaching staff were given advice on ways of modifying their own language, the classroom and the lesson in order to enhance the learning of all students, whatever their needs.

The research team has now extended this training to secondary schools across the UK where the ELCISS programmes are being incorporated, as well as to primary care trusts and local authorities across the country.

City’s recent Lost for Words: Lost for Life conference was opened by the Rt Hon John Bercow MP and attended by 400 delegates.

Funded by the Nuffield Foundation with top-up funding provided from the Communication Trust as well as the relevant local education authorities in Redbridge and Barking & Dagenham, the ELCISS vocabulary and narrative programmes are being published by Speechmark Publishing and will be available from August 2011. u 3 Dr Victoria Joffe

Colleagues from across the University gathered in Ten Squared on 12 July to wish Human Resources Director Richard Farmer all the very best for his retirement.

Before presenting Richard with a magnificent glass vase, ViceChancellor Professor Paul Curran outlined his achievements at City.

Richard joined Cass Business School as Head of HR in 2003 and moved to head up all of City’s HR in 2009. In that short time he led a complete overhaul of the HR service which, as well as delivering significant internal benefits, caught the eye of external commentators.

The most recent of several awards was won by the HR team in May this year. Richard and his team picked up the Exceptional HR Achievement award from the Universities Human Resources organisation.

www.city.ac.uk/staff

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By Camilla Mills, who is about to begin her second year reading BA Journalism

A bear in Bialystok She paces the length of her 70 sq metre cage as she looks out onto the acres of forest that lie just beyond her iron bars.

The bear has lived in solitary confinement for 23 years in a concrete box; her fur matted with her own faeces as she waits for nothing more than death.

She has been subjected to a life of squalor in Bialystok Zoo, Poland, as the residents of the city turn a blind eye to her obvious suffering. They say they find the sight of her depressing and upsetting so they don’t visit the Zoo. If they don’t see the animals then they can all too easily forget their existence.

The Zoo was built in the 1960s as a temporary storage location for animals; however it is still standing with its tiny grassless pens. All the animals are tired and bedraggled and the Zoo can’t possibly deliver any education to its visitors.

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landmarks that they were either proud or ashamed of. The poll created a distinctive tourist experience unlike many others, as we were able to see parts of the Poland that we may never have visited.

I was in Bialystok as one of 21 students selected from City University London by Poland’s national newspaper, Gazeta.

The trip was titled Misja21, Mission 21, as we were each assigned a city to visit, and blog about, as we gauged whether or not Poland is ready to co-host the 2012 European Football Championships.

Bialystok is a beautiful city and I fell in love with it, despite the stark discovery of the bear. However, I blogged about the Zoo and what followed was a great deal of media attention.

My piece was also in the national edition of the paper, on the front page of the local edition and on the 6 o’clock news.

Shamed into reacting, the Mayor of Bialystok who is responsible for the Zoo has pledged that it will be transformed within the year.

It was a unique opportunity not only to visit Poland but to submerge oneself in the culture and experience all aspects of our allocated city. The residents of the cities voted through Gazeta for the five best and worst places to visit, the areas and

In response I have said that I will return to Bialystok next year to make sure that the bear and, of course, the other animals have been given a slice of the expanse of land that taunts them from behind the wire and metal that surrounds them. u

Meet your colleagues

A day in the life

Name and job title Dr Tim Meldrum, Manager of Enterprise Education in the Enterprise Office.

We know what your job title is, but what does this find you doing at City day to day?

I suppose my daily activities can be broken down into several categories: • Managing our own enterprise education programmes and the team that delivers them: the CityZone business plan competition, in-curriculum teaching at both City and Queen Mary’s University of London, non-curriculum programmes to PhD students and early-career researchers and our training programme for the postgraduate interns in the London City Incubator (virtually ‘housed’ at the Enterprise Office) • Collaborating with other parts of City’s Professional Services to deliver programmes in the enterprise and employability subject areas, including the Careers and Skills Development Centre (Employability Masterclasses) and Widening Participation team, including the Enterprise Mentor scheme which will be launched in September • Assisting other parts of City to deliver their knowledge exchange goals, for example working with the City eHealth Research Centre to promote the international eHealth Conference to industry • Developing stronger knowledge exchange networks for the Enterprise Office and the University generally such as working with City Zone’s network of small and mediumsized enterprises and alternative investment market-listed directors and entrepreneurs to raise the profile of City’s innovative research.

What is the biggest challenge of your job and how do you achieve it?

Saying ‘no’ to interesting projects. Enterprise and entrepreneurship are vibrant and popular subject areas today and pretty high on governmental and national higher education agendas, so there are always interesting things to do and too little time to do them in!

If you didn’t do the job you do, what job would you have done?

In previous lives I have been both an actor and historian, but escaped from the grip of both those careers. If I weren’t here at City, I’d probably still be shuffling through late 17th century vellum at the London Metropolitan Archive for clues to the lives of early modern Londoners.

What do you do in your spare time and to relax?

Take very amateurish photographs and play taxi driver to my seven-year-old daughter.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Aretha Franklin, James Ellroy, Tolstoy, Grainne O’Malley and Barbara Castle, with Brian Clough as sommelier.

Favourite place in London Greenwich Park.

Favourite film Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Favourite book Last year I read Tolstoy’s War & Peace in Anthony Brigg’s new translation and was completely absorbed.

Favourite song/music Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love from their second album. u

www.city.ac.uk/staff

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Dates for your diary

Undergraduate Open Day

Staff Training and Development

10:00 – 15:00 Saturday 10 September, Northampton Square

Leadership and Staff Development Unit Courses

This provides an opportunity for prospective students and visitors to find out more about the University.

Monday 17 August

School of Social Sciences

Outstanding Leadership: Leading Change Seminar

Monday 17 August

14:00 Monday 25 July

16:00 – 19:00 Tuesday 13 September, Cass Business School

Appraisee Workshop – Academic and Research Staff

Summer Graduation ceremonies at the Barbican Cass Business School 10:00 Monday 25 July

School of Arts and School of Informatics 10:00 Tuesday 26 July School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences 14:00 Tuesday 26 July School of Community and Health Sciences 10:00 Wednesday 27 July School of Health Sciences and The City Law School 14:00 Wednesday 27 July ***

Creative Problem Solving in an Age of Complexity 17:45 – 19:30 Wednesday 27 July, Birley Lecture Theatre The Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice offers a flavour of studying its Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership, with a guest lecture by Brian Dorval, the co-author of Creative Approaches to Problem Solving: A Framework for Innovation and Change.

International conference on compressors and their systems Monday 5 September and Tuesday 6 September, Northampton Square Developments in air, gas and refrigeration compressors, vacuum pumps, expander components will be presented for discussion.

This workshop will look at the emotional responses to change and what leadership can do to use the opportunities presented to grow and develop the people and the organisation.

Short Courses Open Evening 17:30 – 20:30 Tuesday 20 September, The Pool, College Building Meet programme managers, course tutors and find out more about the short courses available at City.

Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism Annual Lecture by Baroness Buscombe 18:30 – 19:30 Wednesday 12 October, Northampton Square Baroness Buscombe, Chair of the Press Complaints Commission, will explore the relationship between the law and the media and look at recent developments in legislation.

Outstanding Leadership: Innovation and Risk Seminar 16:00 – 19:00 Thursday 13 October, Cass Business School This event will introduce participants to simple yet extremely effective and creative techniques to develop new thinking patterns for outstanding leadership. ***

Appraiser Workshop – Academic and Research Staff

Appraiser Workshop – Professional Staff

Tuesday 18 August Appraisee Workshop – Professional Staff Wednesday 24 August Effective Use of Email Tuesday 23 August, Wednesday 28 September, Thursday 27 October For more information about the upcoming staff training courses, please visit the staff intranet or email evan.bates.1@city.ac.uk

IT Training Courses For more information about the upcoming IT training courses, please visit the staff intranet or email Lisa Bates at l.k.baker@city.ac.uk

I did that course!

One of the courses scheduled for September is Effective Use of Email which aims to increase awareness of how to make email work more appropriately and more effectively.

A recent delegate was Agata Lambrechts, from the Student Centre. She commented: “It was a fantastic use of time and one which I would recommend to colleagues.”