City News Issue 23

City News Issue 23

VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

HELLO Hello and welcome to this edition of City News.

At the time of writing, news headlines were dominated by the issue of migration, with reporting on events where thousands of people are risking their lives in an attempt to reach Europe by any means possible.

While the political debate continues between EU partners as to whose responsibility it is, little seems to be changing on the ground. In our feature on page 8, three City academics working in the field of migration share their findings and suggest possible solutions to a difficult problem.

Insights as to why so many people are keen to migrate to Europe might be found in the results of the European Social Survey (ESS), which is conducted from City. With data from more than 350,000 individuals in 36 countries, it is one of the largest and most reliable sources of information on attitudes and behaviour across the continent. The findings from Round 6 of the survey were published recently and some of the highlights are revealed on page 6.

Over the last few months, more than 750 people have engaged in discussions about City’s Vision and Strategy for 2026. On page 12 we learn more about the discussions and the themes which are beginning to emerge.

Reaching the goals set out in the next Vision and Strategy will require careful management of City’s financial position. On page 10 we talk to the man responsible, Chief Financial Officer Stephen Avery about some of the challenges ahead.

And finally, as you travelled to work today, you might have stopped to buy a coffee en route. A simple enough task, unless you are one of the 367,000 people in the UK living with aphasia, a condition which, following a stroke, affects the brain and leads to problems using language. However, help is at hand thanks to an award-winning project led by colleagues in the Division of Speech and Language Communication and the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction Design. They have created a virtual world where those suffering from aphasia can receive support and practise social conversations in a variety of locations, to help gain confidence in the real world. Read more about this literally life-changing research on page 14.

Simon Watts Head of Communications and Events

CONTENTS

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Yammering on Make It Count Educating sustainably European Social Survey The European dream?

A word with Stephen Avery Vision and Strategy 2026 How technology can help those lost for words Meet the Learning Success team Why Apple Music is set to take over the streaming business The genetic code of ethics City University of London

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IT’S YOUR MAGAZINE Comments and feedback are always welcome, as are suggestions for future editions such as research outputs or an exciting new project. Please contact the Editor.

Marketing & Communications reserves the right to edit submissions.

About City News City News is published six times a year by Marketing & Communications for all staff.

Back issues: blogs.city.ac.uk/staff-news/city-news Editor: Demetri Petrou Tel: 020 7040 8783 Email: demetri.petrou.1@city.ac.uk THANK YOU... ...to all of this issue’s contributors: Jonathan Appleyard, Stephen Avery, Dr Sarah Butt, Jason Clarke, Dr Madeline Cruice, Professor Paul Curran, Dr Graham Daborn, Sophie Gost, Edward Grover, Andrea Kenneally, Dr Marius Luedicke, Professor Jane Marshall, Dr Alice Mesnard, Dr Lorna Ryan, Dr Karen Shaw, Stef Smith, Elizabeth Starling, Dean Stokes, Professor Jennifer Temkin, Lindsey Venden, Dawn White, George Wigmore, Professor Dan Wilshire, Dr Celia Woolf, Afua Yeboa-Henaku.

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Yammering ON

W H AT E L SE C A N I D O?

In 2012, Yammer, the enterprise social networking service, was acquired by Microsoft Office, making it available to all users who are subscribed to Office 365.

The network allows you to connect to colleagues, share information across teams, organise projects and a great deal more. Only co-workers can join, so communications on Yammer are secure and visible only to people within the organisation.

With City subscribing to all Office 365 products, every staff member has access to Yammer. City News takes a closer look at how it can help with work or just help get to know your colleagues better.

GET TING STARTED To get started, the first thing to do is to create your account. Yammer is linked to your computer login, so you just need to log in and you are ready to start defining your profile. You can start filling in your details (as far as you feel comfortable). Personal details, photographs, professional interests and hobbies are all useful.

The more complete your profile, the easier it is to match with people and groups of interest.

FOLLOWING PEOPLE

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW ON YAMMER:

When you follow someone on Yammer it means you want to see messages from them in your feed.

You can search for people by name using the search box, or you can scroll through the All Company feed and follow someone who is posting about things that interest you.

GROUPS

Afua YeboaHenaku Sustainable Behaviour Assistant

Christine Kemp Enterprise Partnerships Coordinator

Professor Richard Verrall Pro ViceChancellor (Strategy & Planning)

Groups are a great way to get work done with a team or to stay informed about a topic. The All Company Group is the default group to which everyone posts: you are automatically part of it.

You can join any public group, but will need to be invited to a private group.

When you create a new group you can choose to make it public or private.

Click the Groups link to find groups you want to join or to create a new group.

FIND OUT MORE ITTRAINING@CITY.AC.UK

Post a message: a question, an update on your current project, an interesting article that others might want to read. Don’t be afraid to share content from anywhere.

Read what your colleagues post: skimming your feed will give you a pulse of what’s happening at City.

It will help you discover what your teammates are working on and discover what’s happening across the organisation.

Like something: if you like a message on Yammer, let your coworkers know! If you ‘like’ a message, the colleague who posted it will receive a notification, a great way to let someone know you agree.

Reply to messages: take a step beyond a ‘like’ and share your thoughts on your colleague’s post.

This helps individual thoughts become conversations, connects individuals and content and answers questions.

View profiles: get to know your coworkers by viewing their profiles and maybe you’ll learn something new about them. If everyone fills out a profile, it helps people connect. Fill out yours, then check out others to start connecting with people throughout the University.

Create a group: start a public or private group for your team, department, a project or a common interest. Don’t be afraid to be creative to rally co-workers behind a cause and stimulate discussions.

Search for information: find what you are looking for using search.

Scan results for people, previous conversations, pages and files. Before you post your question on Yammer or dive into a new project, do a search.

The information you need may be on Yammer.

Install the desktop and mobile apps: access Yammer from your desktop in real-time. Download the mobile and desktop apps to stay connected wherever you are.

That should be more than enough to get people started on Yammer, but if you would still like to find out a little more, email IT Training on ittraining@city.ac.uk who will be pleased to arrange training sessions or demonstrations for groups of staff or individuals.

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REF2020: DON’T M ISS OUT USE THE CRO TO E NSURE YOU’RE INCLUDED

Dr Karen Shaw Director of Research and Enterprise

FIND OUT MORE PUBLICATIONS@CITY.AC.UK

In 2013, academic and Professional Services staff worked together to submit to the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014). This is an exercise used by the Higher Education Funding Councils to assess the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Since the results for REF2014 were announced, the Higher Education Funding Councils have introduced some changes to future exercises, beginning with a requirement that all eligible research outputs generated by academics need to be publicly discoverable and accessible through a repository.

To raise awareness of this new requirement, the Research and Enterprise team led by their Director Dr Karen Shaw, has launched a campaign to ensure that all staff are made aware of this mandatory requirement for future submissions.

“What we’re hoping to achieve is two-fold: firstly, that our academic colleagues get the recognition they deserve for the research they undertake and secondly, we want to ensure that the University receives an appropriate funding allocation to reflect the excellent research being conducted here and the progress we are making year on year,” says Dr Shaw, who took up her new role in June. ‘Make it count’ will aim to get all academics and students conducting research to be aware of this change and to ensure they are able to use the City repository (‘City Research Online’).

In March 2014, HEFCE published their ‘Policy for Open Access in the post-2014 REF’. It is mandatory for this policy to be implemented by those organisations that will be making a submission to REF 2020. Staff who have not complied with the policy will have their outputs excluded from submission to REF 2020.

For academics, students or administrative staff who want to find out more about the system or to be trained on how to use it, contact the CRO team in the library via publications@city.ac.uk.

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Educating sustainably “As an organisation with over 2,000 members of staff and 19,500 students, we have been very active in reducing our carbon footprint, which might be expected of such a large organisation,” says Jason Clarke, Head of Sustainability in the newlyrebranded Sustainability Team at City.

“We are in a unique position as we can both change what we do to improve our own habits and influence the next generation of thinkers to go out and make a tangible difference to the world. This is why sustainable development is so important.”

The Sustainability Team recently changed its name from the Energy and Environment Team. The name change reflects the move within the sector away from traditional environmental management towards an approach which includes the wider aspects of sustainability. The decision to update the Sustainability Vision Statement in response to the change was approved by the University’s Executive Committee, one of several decisions taken by ExCo to ensure City has a positive impact on the environment.

Sustainability and the Environment has also been earmarked as one of six

key ‘pillars’ in the emerging Vision and Strategy 2026.

City already has ‘first class’ status with People & Planet and is ranked the fifth greenest university in the country and the greenest in London. However, there is always room for improvement.

The step to becoming an even greener university is three-pronged. The plans comprise the ‘campus curriculum’ which consists of on campus campaigns like recycling, carbon reduction and power saving; the ‘informal curriculum’, initiatives that invite students and staff to come up with innovative ideas and projects to make the University more sustainable; and the ‘formal curriculum’ including sustainability featuring in research and course content. This all falls under the scope of Education for Sustainable Development.

Jason goes on to speak about sustainable development and its importance. “Education for sustainable development is the process of equipping students with the knowledge and understanding, skills and attributes needed to work and live in ways that safeguard environmental, social and economic wellbeing, both in

the present and for future generations.

This can be provided through formal and informal means, in education and curriculum design.”

A study carried out by the Sustainability Team identified at least 129 courses at City with links to the key pillars of sustainability (Economy, Environment and Social) and 40 modules with specified sustainability content.

It seems to be working. Over the last two years, City students and staff have been helped and funded to launch several green initiatives as part of the Students’ Union Green Dragons programme. They include ‘Waste no more’, a project to ensure that items left behind by students are reused instead of being thrown away; ‘Foodshift’, which takes food that is going to be thrown away at City and donates it to local charities and shelters; and ‘Hydrovillage’, which designs hydroponic systems (a system that uses water and doesn’t require soil to grow plants and vegetables) and sends them to people in areas of the world affected by soil infertility.

Projects like these that give staff and students a chance to participate in

There are over 20,000 known species of bee, found on every continent except Antarctica.

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existing University sustainability initiatives and the opportunity to start their own, will be under the new ‘Sustainable City’ brand, which will be launched during the new academic year. With students paving the way, it’s also important that City’s academics lead by example and they are making a difference through their research. Earlier this year, the Sustainability Team commissioned a report to identify current and recent City research relating to the themes of sustainable development. It found that over 10 per cent of the research being conducted at City had sustainable elements.

One example was research conducted by a team of academics that included City’s Professor Tim Lang.

Professor Lang and his colleagues released a report called Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Foundation of Food Security through Sustainable Food Systems. The report examines how the world can avoid famines and the steps countries can take to avoid becoming overdependent on current food supplies. Research in Engineering by Professor Keith Pullen has considered making hybrid cars more efficient: The Mechanical Hybrid Vehicle: an Investigation of a Flywheelbased Vehicular Regenerative Energy Capture System. In Management, Dr Amanda Goodall calls for her colleague academics to do more to plan for Climate Change: Why Have the Leading Journals in Management (and Other Social Sciences) Failed to Respond to Climate Change?. These are three of the many pieces of research where City academics are seeking to make a sustainable difference.

With so much encouraging sustainability work already being done at City, it would be easy to be complacent. “This will not be the case,” says Jason. “There are still many more ideas emerging from the Sustainability Team and even more we would like to achieve in the longterm. All I can say for now is ‘watch this space’.”

PRINTING GREEN

T H E L AT EST B U Z Z AT CI T Y One of the first projects on Sustainable City’s agenda is the new beehive installed on top of the Innovation Centre on Whiskin Street.

Bees are a vital part of biodiversity.

They are credited with pollenating one-third of the food produced in the UK and a decade ago, their numbers in the UK were diminishing. Thanks to projects like City’s, the UK’s bee population has seen a resurgence over the last few years. In London alone, urban bee keeping has led to a 200 per cent increase of bees since 2012.

“It’s important that we do what we can to try to repair our ecosystem,” says Dawn White, Sustainability Officer at City. “As well as being our small contribution to encouraging the ecosystem, it should also provide staff and students with a chance to try something new and to become involved in green projects”. The hive has been installed and the colony is being cultivated by author of Keeping Bees in Towns and Cities, Luke Dixon from Urban Bee Keeping. It is hoped that the hive will produce up to 20kg of honey when it matures next year.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/SUSTAINABILITY

The University has embarked on an ambitious project to reduce City’s carbon footprint, to improve efficiency and to improve the effectiveness of the University’s print related services. Each year, the University prints 18 million pages, the equivalent of 170,000 kg (around 2,000 trees) costing over £2 million. The new service involves a single supplier providing all of the University’s print services. Staff and students now benefit from secure and wireless printing as well as managed replenishment and efficient printer locations meaning that the number of personal printers has been reduced drastically. The service was rolled out in July with benefits being realised almost immediately.

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EUROPEAN SOCIAL SURVEY SHEDS LIGHT ON OUR WELLBEING

With data from more than 350,000 individuals in 36 countries, the European Social Survey (ESS) is one of the largest and most reliable sources of information on attitudes and behaviour across the continent.

Now, fresh insights from the survey have emerged on the critical area of wellbeing and expert analysis has been published on a new microsite.

Studies into data from the first six rounds of the ESS, which has its headquarters at City, have shed new light on happiness and life satisfaction, while revealing important trends on issues such as the link between gender inequality and depression and the ways migration affects wellbeing.

The data also show regional variation in these trends and highlight the variety of experiences reported by people in different countries.

Like all ESS data and publications, the new resource is freely available to the public. And the ESS hopes that by showcasing the power and scope of the survey, more academics, students and policy makers will make use of its rich data. The new analyses on wellbeing, one of many topics covered by the ESS, are also available in an accompanying print publication.

In addition, the fifth booklet in the ESS Topline Results Series has been published, focusing on the latest findings from the survey. The publication explores the research area of personal and social wellbeing, the first time a booklet in the series has focused on the topic.

The new microsite, www.esswellbeingmatters.org, examines the definition, drivers and distribution of subjective wellbeing. Here, City News explores some of the key drivers.

GENDER EQUALIT Y AND DEPRESSION ESS data suggest that more genderequal societies have lower rates of depression among both men and women.

ESS found that gender equality has a particularly beneficial effect on women’s mental health and significantly reduces the gender gap in depression commonly found across Europe. According to previous studies, women are around twice as likely as men to report depressive symptoms and major depression, although this gap is not observed in all countries.

The researchers say that, for policy makers, the conclusions have important implications for tackling mental health issues, with the findings suggesting the importance of policies to promote gender equality in different spheres, including education, employment and politics.

M I G R AT I O N Analysis of intra-European migration using ESS data suggests that migrants may not always experience greater happiness after moving to a wealthier country and on some occasions may even be less happy than those who remain in central or eastern Europe.

The researchers say that while the findings do not suggest any policy action needs to be taken, they do reinforce the notion that migration is not always the best solution to the problems people face.

Current discourse on the subject, whether from a ‘pro’ or ‘anti’ point of view, carries the assumption that migration is beneficial to migrants.

However, the researchers say that “at best” migration is beneficial to individuals only “sometimes”, adding that a higher income may not compensate for a lower relative position in society.

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RORY FITZGERALD, DIRECTOR OF THE ESS “Wellbeing and how to improve it occupy a prominent place on the agendas of European governments and their citizens.

“It is essential that the results of rich, cross-national surveys, such as the ESS, are fully explored by academics and policy makers to provide them with the most accurate, up-to-date information possible.

PARENTHOOD Analysis shows that having children does not always mean higher wellbeing for mothers. Fathers are always happier than non-fathers, regardless of where they live. However, for mothers, wellbeing depends on having the right employment and welfare regimes in place to support the combination of childcare and paid work.

This observation may help to explain the variation in fertility rates across the continent, as rates are lower in countries where institutional and societal arrangements are less supportive of women, such as those in southern and eastern Europe.

The researchers suggest that policy makers who are trying to address falling fertility rates, one of the factors contributing to Europe's ageing population, should consider how to make motherhood and work more compatible.

The European Social Survey has been conducted every two years since 2001. Findings from the first six rounds are currently available at www.europeansocialsurvey. org. The first release of data from Round 7 is due in October 2015.

The ESS gained European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) status in 2013.

It is one of just three research infrastructures with the status.

“The new website showcases the wide-ranging scope of the ESS and highlights its power to reveal patterns in complex research areas, such as wellbeing.

“The new analyses offer insights on some of the most critical issues affecting people across Europe, including migration, the environment and gender equality.”

DEMOCRACY AIR QUALITY The ESS results suggest air quality and its effect on public health and welfare should be important concerns for policy makers. The new analysis provides further evidence of the link between air pollution and individuals’ wellbeing, demonstrating that lower air quality can have a significantly negative effect on people’s satisfaction with life.

The researchers argue their findings demonstrate that this link may be stronger than previously observed at national levels and therefore highlight the importance of policy makers remaining vigilant in monitoring air quality and enforcing standards.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.ESSWELLBEINGMATTERS.ORG

Countries where the quality of democracy is high also tend to have citizens who are generally more satisfied with their lives, suggesting democracy has a positive effect on wellbeing. People are also more satisfied with life if they perceive their democracy to be legitimate, or if they believe that democracy is performing as it should.

The ESS researchers conclude that governments across Europe should do everything they can to improve democratic performance in line with citizens’ expectations. They argue that the findings highlight the importance of democratic legitimacy for ensuring the continuation of democratic regimes and the wellbeing of the population.

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T H E

E U R O P E A N

D R E A M ?

This year has seen an unprecedented amount of media coverage dedicated to the issue of immigration, both legal and illegal. The topic has headlined newspapers, was made the subject of several documentaries and was a contentious and arguably decisive issue in the General Election. City News looks at why it has gained so much media attention and what academics at City are doing about the issue.

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igration to Europe is not a new occurrence. The last official statistics available from Eurostat showed that a total of 3.4 million people immigrated to one of the EU-28 Member States during 2013, while at least 2.8 million emigrants were reported to have left an EU Member State.

These figures do not represent the migration flows to and from the EU as a whole, since they also include flows between different EU Member States. Among the immigrants, there were an estimated 1.4 million citizens of nonmember countries.

The issue that has captured people’s attention is the sudden increase of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers into Europe.

According to Frontex (European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union) and the International Organisation For Migration (IOM) over 350,000 migrants have crossed into Europe this year, compared with 280,000 for the whole of 2014. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ latest statistics show that between January and May this year, 105,000 of these migrants took the treacherous journey into Europe by sea. The number during the same period last year was 49,500. Statistics up until May, show over 1,850 had died making the journey this year with the shipwreck off Italy's Lampedusa Island on 19th April taking an estimated 800 lives. The number for the whole of last year was 3,279 (Frontex / IOM).

These photos were taken by City student Anna Pantelia for her photojournalism report ‘The Jungle’. In 2014 Anna was nominated by The Guardian as the Student Photographer of the Year and In 2015 she was named as one of the best 30 emerging documentary photographers under 30 at The Photography Show in Birmingham.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.ANNAPANTELIA.COM

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WHY THE SUDDEN RISE? The largest migrant group by nationality in 2015 is Syria. More than 34% of all migrants have fled a civil war which has triggered a huge exodus. Immigrants from Eritrea and Somalia (both 12%), Afghanistan, Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries have also fled poverty and human rights abuses (UN Refugee Agency). The irony of the situation is that according to a report in the Guardian (May 2015), many of the smugglers have ties with Libyan militias, jihadi groups and Islamic State affiliates giving the very groups they are trying to flee, the money to buy more arms. Smugglers take advantage of the large number of migrants willing to take risks in search of better lives when they cannot access legal channels of migration. Their safety and even their lives are put at risk of suffocating in containers, perishing in deserts or drowning at sea while being smuggled by profitseeking criminals who treat them as goods.

Smuggled migrants are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation even after they reach their ‘desired’ destination. The international Labour Office (ILO) estimates that the ’industry’ is worth over $32 billion.

A D E L I C AT E S U B J ECT “The theme of immigration tears people down the middle,” says Dr Marius Luedicke, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Cass Business School. “On the one hand, we look at these haunting images we see on TV or in the papers and would like to help. On the other hand, with an influx of immigrants into an indigenous community, the natural reaction for most is apprehension”. Marius’ research considers how immigrants integrate into societies and how their presence affects the local market.

His research studied a small town in rural Austria, located somewhere between the iconic ski resorts Sölden, St. Anton, and GarmischPartenkirchen. The aim was to examine how locals responded when the Turkish guest workers who arrived in the 1960s became Austrian citizens and began to consume local brands, shop in local supermarkets and settle in local neighbourhoods. He interviewed local and immigrant consumers, observed their interactions and collected relevant media reports. By analysing these materials he formed an understanding of how and why locals have struggled to reconfigure their relationship with Turkish immigrants, from the 1960s to present day.

He found that as Europeans, the Austrian locals firmly stood by the humanist ideals of equality, freedom and democracy, which have contributed to the peace and affluence of their

country after World War II. But these ideals also require that locals and immigrants are treated as equals, without any special privileges afforded to either group on the basis of their ethnicity. Locals believed that immigrants need to earn their place at the table and prove their loyalty to the local community.

“It’s not always a black and white case of racism,” Marius said. “The main thing that comes up is the fear of losing control and an outside group making changes that affect your life,” he continued. Marius’ research also considered how to combat this initial hostility and how to have different communities working together. “Respect is an important part of the process. If we believe that immigrants will be monsters, we will find a way to place them into that box, whether deserved or otherwise.

The important thing is to find the best ways for people to integrate into the community. With impact from local governments, immigrants can be bedded into local communities in ways that allow both groups to preserve and express their cultures, while also joining together as citizens of one local community.

I M M I G R AT I O N D E T E N T I O N One person who agrees with this is Professor Dan Wilsher from the City Law School. Dan has spent much of his career considering the detention of immigrants. Immigration detention is a widespread practice in the UK and beyond and thousands of vulnerable individuals are held for long periods without trial or proper access to adequate legal representation. Throughout his career, Dan has produced a series of academic articles and a book, Immigration Detention: Law, History, Politics. Dan’s research has been used by governments, both British and further afield, NGOs and has been cited by the UK Supreme Court in a landmark decision which led the UK Government to repeal part of the Antiterrorism, Crime and Security Act. “In the UK we sometimes keep immigrants in detention for longer than they have to be there,” Dan explains. “The UK has the power to hold immigrants indefinitely, which is unlike the law in the rest of Europe which allows a maximum of 18 months. In many European countries the maximum is in fact less than 6 months. Upon being convicted of a crime and serving their sentences, immigrants in the UK can wait years to be deported back to their home countries. This doesn’t help with the notion of a person being treated according to the rule of law and only being punished for crime, rather than detained on an arbitrary basis.”

This is precisely what Dan’s research investigates. His aim is to inform policy

makers and key actors in the field to improve the balance between migration control and fundamental rights. Specifically, he argues for the importance of judicial review, time limits on detention and the elimination of detention of vulnerable groups such as children.

W H AT CO U L D B E D O N E TO I M P R OV E T H E SI T UAT I O N? There is a very complex collection of issues that has led to the current often tragic situation.

But what action can be taken to bring a stop to the high levels of illegal human smuggling?

One City academic has investigated a new policy which could eradicate the illegal smuggling ring. “Human smuggling is booming and has become an urgent concern for governments and civil societies across the world,” explained Dr Alice Mesnard, Reader in Economics at City. “The death toll from trafficking is increasing rapidly and estimates suggest criminals are making billions of dollars a year from the practice.”

Applications for legal resettlement can take 18 months to complete. Even then, only a small minority of applications are successful, since European countries like Britain are accepting so few migrants because of national politics. As a result legal resettlement seems unattainable to most refugees, forcing them to seek alternate means of reaching Europe.

Alice’s research looks at the potential of charging for visas, setting a carefully worked out price point. The idea behind her research is that the price is set low enough to ensure that smugglers are unable to compete, but high enough to raise funding to increase of the repression of illegal immigration. This could include better policing and sanctions against employers of illegal migrants, improved border control and more deportations, making it less desirable for immigrants to come here illegally.

“If the aim is to control migration flows and eliminate the smugglers, a better idea is to combine policies of repression with visa sales at prices that push smugglers out of the market” Alice explains. “Smugglers will respond by decreasing their prices and compete with authorities. On the other end, additional repressive measures will force smugglers’ operating costs to increase, leaving them with no other option but to be forced out of the market,” Alice concluded.

As the current scenes at both sides of the Channel have shown recently, with more immigrants dying using risky methods to get into the UK from Calais, there are no easy solutions to what is becoming a humanitarian, political and financial issue. Perhaps it is with the kind of bold thinking demonstrated by Alice, where a solution may be found.

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A word with Stephen Avery Stephen Avery is City’s Chief Financial Officer.

City News sat down with him to hear how he balances the books.

CN: Talk us through the University’s current financial position SA: In the financial year 2014/15 we will report City’s first surplus for seven years.

This is a fantastic achievement. I think we all know how hard it has been to achieve. In a planned way, over the Strategic Plan period to date, we have drawn down reserves and this has given rise to increased deficits in the income and expenditure account. One thing that is important to note is that City is unusual in that it has no long-term debt or borrowing. That is a tremendous strength, but we also need to move the University’s finances towards a position where we generate recurring surpluses, as is the norm across the sector. This is essential to ensure financial sustainability and to enable further investment.

CN: Why is it a problem not to be operating with a surplus?

SA: It’s just like with your personal finances. If you overspend what you’ve earned in one

month, that might be okay because you can say to yourself “well, I’ll use my overdraft or put it on my credit card and pay it off the following month”. But if you keep doing that, or use up any savings that you have, you’re putting yourself in an unsustainable position.

The same applies with the University’s finances. While during the Strategic Plan period it was appropriate for us to be investing significantly while operating in deficit, what you have to do is ensure that you come out at the other end with an ability to generate continuing surpluses where income is greater than expenditure.

There are a lot of external factors which make this challenging: the funding and market environment for HE have changed quite considerably since the start of the Plan period.

All these factors – the economic environment, the reduction in government funding, the increase in national insurance and pension costs, the pressures on student recruitment – all mean our financial position as we look forward isn’t as strong in some respects as we anticipated it would be back in 2010. The

original Financial Plan was moderated to ensure we protected the cash reserves. This has meant slowing down some capital expenditure on new building developments, to make sure we didn’t over-commit the University.

CN: Can we not just use the cash reserves to pay off the deficit – why can’t we take it from one pot of money and put it into another?

SA: City does have cash reserves – in the region of £25 million this year and that is a lot of money in absolute terms. Yet if you think of it in the context of City’s turnover of over £200 million, then that really only represents about 45 days of operating expenditure. By comparison, the sector average for this year is closer to 114 days.

To a certain extent you can use your cash reserves to pay off debt in the very short-term (but certainly not a deficit – there are parallels here with the national debate around the country’s finances) but if you are doing that you need to be very confident you can turn out

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a significant surplus at the end of that short-term and I don’t think we’ve reached that position yet. In a sense, it demonstrates that the approach we’ve taken to manage the finances, which has been prudent but not restrictive, has been the right one. It’s a very uncertain time for all universities from a financial planning perspective.

Further cuts to HE funding are certain now the general election is behind us.

The Government has announced funding cuts which were detailed in the second Budget on 8th July, but further cuts should be expected in the Comprehensive Spending Review in the next month or so. It is of course difficult to anticipate the detail and quantum of the cuts: we have to expect that we will need to take further action to improve the University’s financial position.

CN: Do you think staff are sufficiently engaged and understand the challenge?

SA: It is not an easy message to convey.

On the one hand, we have to invest as we operate in a very competitive market, particularly here in London.

The investment in terms of academic staffing, estate development, IT infrastructure and Library Services is genuinely transformational. On the other hand, the position of our University is that as we look forward we see significant financial challenges.

In a sense it’s incumbent upon us all to respond to each of the challenges we face. If we are not performing strongly in some areas, then we have a responsibility to the University to change things. The institution has been around since 1894 and will survive longer than any of us as ‘temporary custodians’. I think it’s our individual and collective responsibility to provide the best that we can for City – for staff, students and the society that we serve – both now and in the future.

CN: How do we address the issues?

SA: The rational response to the financial challenge is to get our income and expenditure into a better balance, so that consistently we earn more each year as income than we spend as expenditure. That’s really the process we are preoccupied with right now

and the most attractive thing is to grow revenue while doing a few value added things.

What’s observable across our five Schools is that the scope to grow is reasonably significant but to do that we have to invest further to provide the required facilities, physical capacity and staff to ensure we deliver an excellent student experience and attract research and enterprise funding.

CN: Will there need to be further ‘belt tightening’ and if so, in which areas?

SA: In some ways ‘belt-tightening’ has to be seen as the norm – and something we do continuously to create the capacity to invest. However, we have also to address issues of financial sustainability which vary considerably by School. So it is very much not a ‘one size fits all’ solution.

Some of the issues we have in parts of the University have existed for some years, so we may need to ask more fundamental questions of them to ensure they are as market-focused and market-fit as they can be. That might sound like management jargon, but it’s not intended to be – it’s inevitable that a University that is multidisciplinary, operating in very different markets with different competitors, has parts performing better academically and financially than others. Those that are performing least strongly need more support – you would expect this in any sort of organisation.

It’s important we are clear on our priorities, do not try to do too many things simultaneously and make sure that the things we do prioritise are appropriately resourced.

CN: How would you do that?

SA: We need to ensure that across the University there is a recognition of the imperative to move the institution as a whole to making long-term sustainable surpluses and creating a firm foundation for City’s future.

Getting to know our CFO CAREER HISTORY Stephen’s career started with Price Waterhouse where he spent ten years working on the assurance and consultancy side of the firm.

He spent three years at the BBC when John Birt was Director General before he moved to the CBI in the mid-90s, working alongside Lord Adair Turner. He spent time at the Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority) before moving to Higher Education in several interim roles. In his time at the University of Cumbria he was asked by HEFCE to produce a report on its financial problems, then stayed for two and half years to implement his report’s recommendations. City is his fifth university.

WHAT’S THE HARDEST THING ABOUT YOUR JOB? I think the hardest thing about being CFO in a university is striking the balance: we are a ‘not for profit’ organisation where finance is an essential enabler for academic endeavour. I think one of the challenges where we are starting to make progress is to increase the transparency of the University finances and to encourage senior leadership at University, School and Professional Services level to allocate resources most effectively to deliver the outcomes we are seeking to achieve.

Working at City is very enjoyable and I get immense satisfaction from my role. We have a strong Finance Directorate and a great group of colleagues across the institution.

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR FREE TIME? By trying to stay fit! I get a Boris Bike from Waterloo on my commute to and from Surrey and I do a bit of running at the weekend. I’ve done lots of half marathons and three marathons, but I’ve nothing planned for this year.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A PROFESSIONAL MENTOR I saw the programme being advertised here: I hadn’t come across it at other universities and I thought it was a good thing to support. As CFO you can feel somewhat remote from students and I thought it would be an interesting thing to do. It has proven to be just that. I have two daughters in their early twenties who have been through university and are in the early stages of their careers –one in marketing and one in nutrition – and I thought I might learn something too about helping them. I think the mentor team was extremely kind by giving me an extraordinarily talented student from Cass and it’s been a hugely enjoyable experience. It’s a fantastic programme and I take my hat off to the team. It reminds you of the things that are important to students – they have huge enthusiasm – but you also realise that there is a very tough employment market out there. So it’s been quite an eye opener on many levels.

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VISION AND ST

WHAT WILL THE WORLD BE LIKE IN 2026? WHAT WILL LONDON, HIGHER EDUCATION AND CITY, AS PART OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON BE LIKE THEN?

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T R AT EGY 2 0 2 6 Predictions for the future range from electric planes, quantum teleportation and cures to diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer. The world population will have surpassed eight billion. People will live and work for longer and it’s likely they’ll move job more, trying out different careers and industries.

Higher Education will inevitably see changes during this time, with the world no doubt demanding a diverse range of new and additional skills from its graduates.

How City positions itself in the global picture within London is currently the subject of discussion

among staff and students across the University. Through reflecting on what City has already achieved, discussing remaining ambitions and considering the challenges ahead in the Higher Education sector, the Vision and Strategy for the institution over the next 10 years is starting to take shape.

BUILDING ON THE SUCCESS OF THE VISION FOR 2016 In the years since the beginning of the implementation of the Strategic Plan in 2012, the quality of City’s research and offering to students

has improved considerably. The proportion of staff producing worldleading or internationally excellent research has doubled and significant investment in both IT and facilities (including libraries and the estate) has led to increased student satisfaction over the period. City has also maintained its position as a leading university for postgraduate Masters programmes and has successfully rebalanced undergraduate numbers, particularly in Health, Business and Law to reflect changes in the NHS and general demand.

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However, the sector nationally and internationally has become more competitive and external factors such as the global employment market and government policy have had impact. The lifting of the cap on undergraduate student numbers has provided City with some opportunities and average entry tariffs have fluctuated both at City and across the sector. Despite improved graduate prospects for City students in many subjects, the proportion of students entering graduate level jobs was impacted by the global financial crisis and the increased number of people graduating from universities across the world.

“Although the world will undoubtedly change a lot over the next 10 years, setting out a clear direction and a place we want to get to is important,” says Dean Stokes, Director of Strategic Planning & Performance, who is leading the development of the Vision and Strategy 2026. “It’s crucial

for us to remain aware of changes and improvements in the Higher Education sector and of the external factors that might affect us, to make sure our plans and ambitions reflect this and are flexible enough to adjust to circumstances. Uncertainties include changes to government funding, immigration policy and economic factors in the UK, the rest of the EU and globally. The outcome of the EU referendum planned for October 2016 is just one of the unknowns over the next few years.”

It is important to make sure staff, students and stakeholders are consulted early in the process, says Dean. “In the new Vision and Strategy we also think it’s important to focus on a few main goals that really matter to the institution.”

tapping into the knowledge, ideas and insights of staff and students to generate open and creative conversation. As the custodians of an institution with a history dating back to 1894, those currently at City will play a crucial role in shaping the University for future generations. The Vision and Strategy 2026 aims to set out a path to ensure City continues to deliver internationally excellent academic research, to provide worldleading education to students and to make a positive contribution to society. Views and ideas have been gathered during a series of events, debates and workshops and they are being considered and developed alongside the more analytical aspects of the work.

CR E AT I N G T H E V I SI O N

STAFF VIEWS AND EMERGING THEMES

Throughout the process of developing the new Vision and Strategy, there has been a focus on

Among the themes from staff is the need to have a strong set of distinctive principles lived day-to-day, that

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cement the University’s identity and culture. Many people have commented that the curriculum of tomorrow needs to be innovative and responsive to the needs of employers and staff have discussed how to make the most of technology, providing opportunities for remote and flexible learning. City is already embracing technology like Lecture Capture and strategic plans underpinning the Vision and Strategy will need to address such challenges.

A key focus will be to make sure students are engaged and supported to enjoy their experiences at City, to enable graduates to stand out in a competitive marketplace and allow them to progress academically and professionally after their studies.

As part of the conversation, staff and students have discussed what employability will mean in the future and the desirability or otherwise, of treating students as customers.

Recruiting, retaining, motivating and developing people at City will be critical to the success of any Vision and Strategy.

Building on City’s reputation will remain a key ambition for the future and becoming part of the University of London in 2016 will provide a powerful signal that can be built upon over the years to come. The discussions among

The official identifier for Vision & Strategy 2026

staff and students have explored how City should differentiate itself and accentuate the unique characteristics that set it apart from other Higher Education institutions in the capital at the same time as bringing our heritage and relationship with the City of London to the University of London federation. This includes City’s strong reputation as the University for business and professions, with degrees renowned for helping students to develop the theoretical and practical skills employers value.

Many people also commented that City should provide an inclusive and diverse workplace that acknowledges the different needs of individuals while, for example, helping more women develop to take on senior roles.

Dean adds: “City has some significant advantages and unique aspects through its location, its highly international staff and student bodies and as a place that offers academic excellence alongside a focus on business and the professions.”

Reputation can be enhanced in several ways and developed through building and maintaining high quality partnerships across the world, with students, staff, alumni, businesses and the community. Currently students receive support that allows

them to develop both professional and entrepreneurial skills. City also offers businesses the opportunity to collaborate and make investments in the development of technology and research, allowing them to accelerate their growth and expand their services.

Things are looking up for City financially but there are many challenges ahead, especially for 2016/17 and beyond. In 2014/15 the University, for the first time in seven years, has delivered an annual operating surplus. The Vision and Strategy will focus on making sure City remains financially sustainable in order to fund investment in people, facilities and technology.

The key is making best use of scarce resources. In the past three years, City has made a greater improvement in research quality, per Funding Council research pound, than any other UK university.

Continuing to produce world-leading internationally-excellent research and making notable contributions to a wide range of fields will remain priorities.

People come from all over the world to study and work at City, making it a truly international university, as diverse as London itself. This will no doubt continue in the years ahead.

The world will be very different in 2026 and so will City. During discussions, people have frequently commented on City as a strong global University which produces world-leading research and high quality education to shape the next generation of leaders, creators and industry experts. The Vision and Strategy, informed collaboratively by hundreds of staff and students at the University today, will shape the institution City wants to be by 2026.

MO R E I N F O R M AT I O N A draft Vision and Strategy will be developed and shared with staff early in the academic year to set out the strategic choices that are to be made.

Further information will be published on the City website and intranet, alongside updates in CityWire and on Yammer.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/VISION-2026

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LOST FOR WORDS: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP Research collaborations between the School of Health Sciences and the School of Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering are transforming the way technology is used in speech therapy, specifically, in the treatment of the condition aphasia.

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“Imagine being unable to talk to your family, or even to tell the waiter you want coffee. That’s the daily frustration faced by 367,000 people in the UK living with aphasia,” says Professor Jane Marshall, Divisional Lead of Language and Communication Science at City University London.

Our ability to speak is so integral to our everyday lives that when it is taken away it can make normal tasks increasingly difficult. One of the conditions which can cause this loss of speech is known as aphasia and is the focus of a stream of work in the Division of Speech and Language Communication (LCS) in the School of Health Sciences and Centre for HumanComputer Interaction Design (HCID) in School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering at City.

Aphasia is a condition that affects the brain and leads to problems using language correctly. Most commonly caused by a stroke and often affecting older people, aphasia can result in difficulty remembering words and losing the ability to speak, read, or write.

One of the projects at City that is working to help people is Eva Park, a multi-user virtual world designed in collaboration between LCS, HCID and five people with the condition. Funded by the Stroke Association, it won an award at the Tech4Good Awards, which celebrate innovation in technology that makes the world a better place.

For an hour a day over five weeks this year the project has provided a space where people with the condition can receive supported conversation from support workers, most of whom were speech and language therapists, in a variety of different locations enabling them to practise social conversation and gain confidence.

Examples included everyday things that many of us take for granted but with which many with aphasia struggle, ranging from ordering food at a restaurant or a coffee in café, to calling the police in an emergency.

The project has been a great success for the 20 people involved.

One particular participant, John, ordered a cup of tea in a restaurant for the first time since his stroke following his last day in Eva Park. The project was praised by many users, saying the experience was fantastic and helped improve not only their speech but also their confidence when going to places such as the bank. Others said that “I just really enjoy it. I wish my daughter would come and see.”

Another project has focused on delivering therapy remotely via commonly accessible programmes

Some of the images from within Eva Park

such as Skype and FaceTime, enabling treatment to be delivered to those who cannot receive support in their local areas.

Speech therapy improves the ability to speak and produce words, but many people with aphasia receive insufficient treatment because health services are overstretched. This is a major problem since aphasia can lead to unemployment, depression and social isolation. Also, many patients can’t easily attend appointments because of physical disabilities or distance and there aren’t enough therapists to visit everyone at home.

Involving 21 participants with aphasia following stroke, the remote therapy project team conducted a feasibility trial comparing face-to-face and remotely delivered word-finding therapy. The participants found the technology easy to use and the study found that using such applications achieved the same outcomes as traditional therapy.

“The study shows that speech therapy need not be restricted to faceto-face meetings. Video chat apps such as Skype can enable effective therapy to be delivered remotely and help people regain the ability to speak, which is so fundamental to our lives,” says Dr Celia Woolf, Director of the City Aphasia Research Clinic. “This finding could expand the delivery of therapy and make treatment available to individuals who were previously excluded from help.”

Other initiatives such as the CommuniCATE project are also focusing on different strands of aphasia research and aim to deliver technology-enhanced therapies. This includes using text-to-speech software and e-readers to help participants resume reading activities, including reading websites, correspondence and novels. In addition a community computer course run by staff and

students called SPLIT (SPeech and Language Information Technology) also helped people who have developed aphasia following a stroke to improve their IT skills and gain access to much of the technology society takes for granted.

Led by Dr Madeline Cruice, Tess Lancashire and Sukhpreet Aujla, during the SPLIT course 18 people with aphasia from the local community worked one-on-one with City speech and language therapy students for up to two hours a week on how to engage with technology. People learned basic IT skills such as using Word, writing emails, browsing the web, watching videos on YouTube, exploring Facebook and talking to relatives on Skype. The team also ran drop-in sessions over the 10-week course to trouble-shoot and provide more learning time.

“The project was a tremendous success as it enabled us to get to know a lot of people with aphasia in the local community. It also highlighted the importance of a good quality of life and the services that universities can provide,” says Dr Madeline Cruice, Senior Lecturer in Language and Communication Science at City.

“Many of the participants had never used computers or mobile technology before and as IT is now such an important part of everyday life, it was great to be able to provide a platform for learning at City that could benefit the community and people with aphasia.”

Gareth Jones, one of the people with aphasia who took part in SPLIT, found the project really useful. “As the project is run by people with aphasia for people with aphasia, we avoided a lot of explanation and they already know where you're coming from as they've been there themselves,” he said.

As a result, technology can clearly play a large role in the future of therapy, adjusting it to reach far more people and academics across City are making significant strides towards developing tools for the hundreds of thousands with aphasia in the UK. “The potential of technology for delivering therapy to people who have aphasia is huge,” said Stephanie Wilson, a Reader in Human-Computer Interaction at City. “The increase in the use of applications in recent years can enable far more people to have access to therapy than was previously possible. As a result, our multidisciplinary approach could help improve outcomes for those affected by aphasia following a stroke.”

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MEET THE LEARNING SUCCESS TEAM The Learning Success Team, within Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD), supports more than 750 students ever year, with many more attending workshops and accessing online support.

Head of Learning Success, Andrea Kenneally said: “The aim of our team is to ensure that all students fulfil their potential while studying at City. We provide tailored support sessions for students with disabilities and learning differences, as well as academic skills development activities, which are available to all students.”

Within the umbrella of Learning Success lie three distinct services: Dyslexia Support, Disability Support and Academic Learning Support. The multidisciplinary team shares the overall aim of supporting students to achieve academic success.

ACADEMIC LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICE The team, consisting of an Academic Learning Support Coordinator and three Academic Learning Support Tutors, helps students developing their study skills to learn more effectively.

Team members work with all students, from undergraduate to postgraduate and from full-time to those on distance learning programmes. Their goal is to help students increase the effectiveness of their studies to achieve the best possible results.

The team helps students to develop a personal study plan tailored to suit individual learning styles.

They offer one-to-one support and an extensive programme of group workshops alongside an online Moodle module. The support covers anything from revision techniques and critical thinking to helping students prepare presentations and develop their writing skills. The

Back row left to right: Richard Knott, Melanie Johnson, Neil Goldwasser, David Cowen, Dan Sansome

team also offers advice and guidance on time management and helps students to understand assignment feedback and their learning styles.

The professional staff in the Service have links with Schools and can tailor workshops to meet specific curriculum requirements.

DYSLEXIA SUPPORT The team consists of four Dyslexia Support Tutors and a Dyslexia Support Coordinator who offer advice and support to students with specific learning differences including Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia and Attention Deficit Disorder.

The team undertakes screenings and refers students for diagnostic assessments which are carried out at the University by a team of independent assessors and educational psychologists. Once a student is registered with the Service, the team provides them with tailored

The Learning Success Team help over 750 students a year.

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support and encourages them to develop strategies that compensate for their learning differences and enhance effective, independent learning. Team members also make recommendations to academic and professional staff about any adjustments students may need to make to facilitate learning.

Andrea Kenneally said: “As well as tailored individual support sessions, colleagues in Schools and Professional Services work with us, for example, to provide special examination arrangements, allowing the recording of lectures or extended loans on library books.”

In addition the team offers one-toone sessions, online support, group workshops and a range of awarenessraising activities to help increase staff understanding, so that they are better equipped to recognise possible signs of undiagnosed dyslexia and refer students for screening. This, in turn, encourages the development of an inclusive learning environment, which can enhance the experience of all students.

DISABILIT Y SUPPORT The team, consisting of a Disability Coordinator and a Disability Advisor, begins to work with disabled students before they start at City, discussing the adjustments necessary to enable them

Front row left to right: David Shah, Andrea Kenneally, Sally Thorpe, Daniel ShannonHughes, Emma Allsopp, Rebecca Lewis

to participate fully in their studies.

As well as working with students who have physical and sensory disabilities, medical conditions and autistic spectrum disorders, the team also supports those who experience difficulties as a result of an accident or ill health and who require temporary support and adjustments to be made.

During a one-to-one consultation, the team member discusses how the disability is affecting the student’s studies and university experience and how adjustments could be made to improve this. They then liaise widely with staff across the University, from academic staff leading lectures to Property & Facilities staff and the managers of halls of residence to make the necessary adjustments.

ADVICE ON FUNDING Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA) are available to all eligible disabled home students on fulltime undergraduate or postgraduate courses and some part-time students.

The Learning Success team advises on eligibility and helps students to manage the application process.

Team members liaise with funding bodies and discuss with students how the University can best implement the recommendations made during the assessment process.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/LEARNING-SUPPORT

Underpinning the work of the three services are three administrators. They undertake administrative tasks such as organising non-medical helpers and dyslexia assessments, offering advice about DSAs and ensuring that students are offered appropriate appointments as quickly as possible.

They also staff the reception, acting as a first point of contact to the Service and offering advice, guidance and signposting to colleagues in other Professional Services.

Andrea said: “The most rewarding aspect of work for colleagues in Learning Success is we feel we are able to make a real difference to students’ time at City and have an impact on their future prospects.”

“We do our best to create a learning environment where students with learning differences or disabilities are fully included in University life and have an equal chance of success.

Our remit is much broader than this however and our team can offer help, support and advice to all students at City. Some of the most important things students learn while at University will be the ability to study, improve their critical thinking and evaluation, manage their time effectively and become truly independent learners.”

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WHY APPLE MUSIC IS SET TO TAKE OVER THE STREAMING BUSINESS

BY DR ELENA NOVELLI, LECTURER IN MANAGEMENT AT CASS BUSINESS SCHOOL

After much anticipation Apple has launched its new music streaming service, Apple Music. It’s the latest addition to Apple’s burgeoning product ecosystem which includes devices, software, online digital payment systems and digital media stores. The launch of Apple Music also poses a substantial threat for existing companies that deliver on-demand music streaming services – most notably Spotify, the subscriptionbased music streaming provider that has achieved an impressive customer base of 75 million (with 20 million paying for the service) since 2008.

Competition between innovative companies is nothing new but in the hyper-connected digital world everything happens faster. The competitive advantage that a single product or service can give is much shorter-lived. The launch of a product or service on the market is immediately observed by millions of companies, globally. And the companies that have the right resources and technology to build on a good idea and possibly make more out of it are the ones that thrive. Enter Apple to the music streaming business.

MAKING MORE OUT OF AN IDEA Having a good idea that creates value for customers is only the very beginning of a business' journey – this is something colleagues and I reflected on recently in a paper published in the Academy of Management Review. Coming up with one way to make money out of it is a good start, but stopping there does not lead to success, certainly not in the longer term.

An idea is really a seed. A seed that can grow in many directions and generate other successful new ideas.

Developing follow-up ideas can be the key to long-term success. Apple is an example of a company that does this extremely well.

In 2001 Apple developed the core idea of combining design, portability and connectivity. The first way it conceived to make money from

this was the launch of a product for the music industry. The result was the iPod, a smoothly designed, ultra-portable device that enabled connection with other devices and access to content. The iPod was a huge success, but Apple did not stop there.

Building on the same basic concept and combining new telecommunication and computing functions it introduced the iPhone and the iPad. Today, continuing along the same trajectory the company is expanding in wearable technology with the recently-launched Apple Watch and now in music streaming with Apple Music. Electric car systems are the next objective. Each of these products is – in Apple CEO Tim Cook’s own words – “a very key branch of the tree”, originating from the same seed that led to the iPod in 2001.

G E N E R AT I N G M O R E In our article we call this a ‘generative’ strategy.

Successful companies think about what else could be done with the same basic concept. They apply it to other contexts, develop complementary products to enhance their success and target new customer bases.

Uber is another example of this.

It is building on the core idea at the basis of its car sharing service and is entering logistics with Ubercargo (a moving service) and Uberrush (a package delivery service).

Being generative makes sense for a variety of reasons. First, not all early applications of a given idea are successful. In its path to success Apple launched products that did not work, such as the tablet Newton and iTunes Ping.

Developing a portfolio of variations on the same idea makes a company less dependent on the success of each one of them. For instance, maximising the profitability of its music streaming service is less crucial for Apple than it is for Spotify because Apple Music is only one of many services the company provides.

Developing a system of interconnected products and FIND OUT MORE THECONVERSATION.COM/INSTITUTIONS/ CITY-UNIVERSITY-LONDON

services also has the benefit of locking customers into them, which competitors that focus on one idea will struggle to replicate. So developing a customer base for its new music service is going to be much easier for Apple than it has been for Spotify because Apple benefits from the millions of users (and registered credit cards) already tied to its iTunes accounts.

E X P LO I T I N G P OT E N T I A L Being generative does not necessarily mean pushing multiple ideas. Rather, it means exploiting the full potential of each idea.

Coming up with a large number of varying inventions is more likely to be detrimental for a firm, spreading its attention too thinly. Xerox Parc in the 1970s, for example, generated an incredible number of new ideas but didn’t succeed in exploiting their full potential. Some similar ideas did find commercial success though such as the first Macintosh computer.

In our research, we emphasise that organisational choices that foster creativity but also create pressure to deliver outcomes are an important way for exploiting existing ideas in new, profitable ways. These can include things like companies having challenging goals on invention and time sensitive creative processes that create a sense of urgency and provide rhythm to the inventive process – think Apple’s annual developer conference as a key deadline for the launch of new products. Developing a knowledge base that draws on a diverse range of experiences can also contribute to this goal.

Even after a successful invention, failing to recognise a product or service’s full potential might lead someone else to do it. If a company does not consciously try to further develop its ideas in all the feasible directions, it might end up leaving a lot of money on the table. And Apple is a company that is sufficiently wellendowed to swoop in and clean it up.

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In 1987, Colin Pitchfork became the first criminal convicted for murder based on DNA evidence. Since 1995, the genetic information from DNA samples taken by police across the UK has been added to a database, which has grown to contain the profiles of 5.7 million people (though some profiles are duplicates).

The database also holds 450,000 DNA profiles from crime scenes. The Home Office, which runs the database on behalf of the police, says that over 13 years (until March 2014), it produced 471,000 matches between suspects and crimes.

With so much evidence at hand about how important DNA evidence is in legal prosecutions, how ethical is the matter of DNA profiling and where is the line between what is ethical and what isn’t?

One person at City with an active role in this discussion is Professor Jennifer Temkin, Director of City Law School's Forensic Science and the Legal Process course, who has been appointed to the National DNA Database Ethics Group (NDDEG).

The NDDEG was established to provide independent advice to Home Office ministers and the National DNA Database Strategy Board on ethical issues concerning the operations of the National DNA Database.

As a member of the NDDEG, Professor Temkin will be investigating and commenting upon the expanding uses of DNA and other forensic tools from an ethical point of view, balancing the right to privacy with considerations such as crime control and public safety.

“My membership of the NDDEG will be of great value to me as an educator and to my students on the Forensic Science and Legal Process course which I introduced here in 2013. It will be especially helpful on issues concerning DNA and other identification tools such as fingerprinting and facial mapping

which are used by the criminal justice system,” Jennifer said on her appointment.

The issue of ethical DNA testing has become even more prevalent recently following a new law passed in Kuwait requiring all citizens and residents to provide DNA samples.

The requirement was introduced

by Kuwait’s National Assembly as part of a new counterterrorism law earlier this month, making Kuwait the only country to require nationwide compulsory DNA testing. The law will affect all 1.3 million Kuwaiti citizens and 2.9 million foreign residents. It will impose a penalty of one year in prison and up to $33,000 in fines for anyone who refuses to provide DNA samples. Under the law, anyone found providing fake DNA samples can face up to seven years in prison.

Professor Temkin recently did an interview with news broadcaster Al Jazeera about the new law where she said: “It’s a controversial suggestion that had been made in England and Wales, but swiftly rejected for several reasons.

There are obvious human rights and civil liberties issues at play. There is also the reliability of the system. Although the science underpinning DNA is very reliable, there is a very human aspect which can and does lead to mistakes meaning it isn’t infallible. There is the risk when taking everyone’s DNA you will get people identified as criminals that may be totally innocent. Not only is this a human rights issue, but if you get the wrong people, you are no longer protecting a country from criminal problems.”

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It was announced in July that City is to join the University of London (UOL). This marks a significant new chapter in City’s history. The University will retain its historic strengths, professional credibility and deep-rooted City of London heritage, while gaining a strengthened international profile and expanded research and education capabilities. City will continue to set its entrance criteria and examinations, award its own degrees and offer independent services to students. It will remain a chartered institution, autonomous and selfgoverning, with its own Council, Senate, Students’ Union and other bodies, as at present.

The move will see City become one of the federation’s self-governing Colleges, joining institutions such as King’s College London, The London

School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Royal Holloway, University of London and University College London (UCL).

The University of London was founded by Royal Charter in 1836 and is one of the oldest, largest and most diverse universities in the UK. It is a collegiate university currently comprising 17 self-governing Colleges and 10 other smaller specialist research institutes.

As a significant development for City, staff, students and friends of the University will no doubt have questions about the changes and what effect they will have. City News has compiled some of the most common Q&As that might be able to help.

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W H AT A R E T H E B E N E F I TS OF CITY JOINING UOL?

HOW WILL MEMBERSHIP AFFECT CIT Y’S STAFF?

City joining the UOL is certainly not a ‘merger’. City remains an autonomous institution as are the current members of the UOL federation.

The potential benefits of City’s membership of the UOL are: • A strong signal of City’s academic reputation and strengthening the City brand in the UK and internationally • Improvements to the student experience through opportunities for greater social interaction, extension of the student community, access to additional library and sports facilities and accommodation options • Greater potential for collaboration in education, research and enterprise between City academics and research students and their colleagues in the UOL, for example opportunities to participate in doctoral training centres and distance learning programmes.

City will remain the employer of its staff on the same terms as now.

The UOL will have no role in relation to staff employed by City. The case for joining rests on the benefits membership brings to City’s academic reputation, potential for research collaboration and for enhancing the student experience. Staff will become members of the UOL. Membership confers no legal rights but does offer several benefits. They include access to the Federal Library resources which include the Senate House Libraries (SHL) education and research collections in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

There are currently no significant plans to change how City delivers student services. During 2015/16 discussions will take place with the UOL regarding the potential for benefits for City students from appropriate alignment of certain services offered to students for example, through access to careers and accommodation databases.

HOW WILL MEMBERSHIP AFFECT CIT Y’S GOVERNANCE AND THE STUDENTS’ UNION? City will remain a chartered institution, autonomous and selfgoverning, with its own Council, Senate, Students’ Union and other bodies as at present.

City will continue to award honorary professorships and honorary doctorates and to exercise its traditional institutional freedoms.

City’s Charter and Statutes will need to be amended, with the permission of the Privy Council.

City will play a role in the governance of the UOL through the Head (currently titled the ’ViceChancellor’) being a member of the UOL's Collegiate Council.

HOW WILL MEMBERSHIP AFFECT CIT Y’S STUDENTS? City will continue to recruit, register and be responsible for its students.

Students of City will also become members of the UoL. Membership does not confer any legal rights but does offer several benefits. Students will benefit from access to UoL library resources and will be entitled to membership of ‘Student Central’ (the former University of London Union).

During 2015/16 City will discuss with UOL, access to UOL’s accommodation services.

We anticipate that UOL accommodation services will, in time, provide wider options to City students. For example,

we expect that after joining the UOL, City will receive a modest allocation of rooms, increasing over time, in the UOL Intercollegiate Halls of Residence.

WILL MEMBERSHIP L E A D TO G R E AT E R CO L L A B O R AT I O N I N RESEARCH? Research collaboration already takes place between City academics and academics from Colleges of the UOL. Membership of UOL will make involvement in such ventures easier by providing a focal point for networking and knowledge sharing.

W H AT I S T H E COST O F JOINING UOL? The costs of joining UOL are considered appropriate for the benefits that will be realised and represent value for money. The costs comprise: A premium for membership services of £0.9 million to recognise the University of London’s past investment in assets which will enhance the students’ experience An annual subscription fee which will be around £145,000 to pay for core services and activities Annual charges for services e.g., Senate House Libraries that are based on student and staff usage One-off costs to become a college of the UOL including legal fees, updating the signage on the estate and the City website.

To put this in context, at steady state the annual subscription fee represents around 0.1 per cent of turnover.

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LEADING IN LEARNING SPACES “City has delivered on a wide range of inspiring and innovative new learning spaces” says Stef Smith, a senior educational technologist in the Learning Enhancement and Development Department (LEaD) “These have been designed to be inclusive and responsive to the changing needs of our staff and students.”

Neal Sumner, a Senior Lecturer in LEaD noted that: “One of the exciting things about this recent investment is the level of importance the University is putting on learning for students. The new styles of flexible learning space enable staff to easily reconfigure the rooms to support a variety of different group work scenarios. Together with the provision of a range of educational technologies, these innovative spaces allow for different teaching strategies and serve to effectively promote active student learning”

In the past few years, the University has invested in a variety of new teaching spaces, most recently in the Drysdale Building and the new Franklin Building on Goswell Road. Many of them have been specifically designed for flexibility and to support collaborative and active learning, and are the result of collective work undertaken by the Learning Spaces Group, made up of academic school representatives, staff from LEaD, Property and Facilities and Information Services and the Students’ Union. Some of the new spaces have recently been shortlisted for an Architecture Journal award.

Staff and student feedback has been positive with some students describing these rooms as motivating, modern and fresh.

To find out more about booking these rooms, visit the timetabling page on the intranet. For ideas and support on how to make best use of the new learning spaces and educational technologies please visit bit.ly/activelearn14 or get in touch with your school educational technology team via ServiceNow.

The innovations that these spaces bring to the University include: • Moveable furniture, allowing for quick changes to the room layout to enable a variety of different teaching activities • Sofa or swivel seating lecture theatres which give students the opportunity to pair up and for group work to occur more easily • Increased in-room power sockets for students to charge their devices • Flexible computer rooms, where PCs can be stored within tables to facilitate other activities • Multiple writing surfaces around the room • New in-room technologies like lecture capture to record teaching sessions and an online polling tool called Poll Everywhere.

LEaD LEaD is made up of an Academic Team, Educational Technologists, Learning Success and the Student Counselling and Mental Health Service.

FIND OUT MORE ITTRAINING@CITY.AC.UK

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OUR ACTION THANK YOU Results from the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS), show that City is now the top university in London for student satisfaction (for the average of questions 1-21). Over the last three years, it has had the largest increase in student satisfaction of any UK university.

The overall satisfaction rating for City is 87%, the highest score the University has achieved since the results of the first survey were published in 2005 and a 4% increase on last year’s result. The national average for

overall satisfaction in 2015 was 86% and amongst London universities was 84%.

Commenting on the results, ViceChancellor Professor Paul Curran said: “This is a tremendous result for City and a welcome reward for the hard work and dedication of our academic and Professional Services staff.”

Over 4,000 students took part in Survey Season this year, giving City the highest response rates ever received. Over 1,000 free hot drinks were given out by Sodexo and response rates raised £1,000 to give to local

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/FEEDBACK

primary schools to help improve literacy.

Thanks to all the staff that helped to make the ‘Your Voice, Our Action’ campaign a success - from course officers to lecturers, members of Marketing and Communications and the Students’ Union. Several staff thank you events were held for specific programmes and services, as well as a University-wide event at the end of September.

If you would more information on surveys or the ‘Your Voice, Our Action’ campaign contact Shereen.sally.1@city.ac.uk.

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