City News Issue 24

City News Issue 24

THE TIDES OF CHANGE IN GENDER EQUALIT Y

HELLO Hello and welcome to the latest edition of City News.

Our striking cover image is inspired by The Great Wave off Kanagawa, by the Japanese artist Hokusai. Published in the early 1830s, it is his most famous work and one of the best recognised pieces of Japanese art in the world. The changing flow of the tide serves as an illustration of the ongoing work at City around gender equality. Numerous events were held to mark International Women’s Day on March 8th and on page 14 we talk to Professor Giulia Iori who is leading the newly invigorated Gender Equality Working Group, spearheading City’s submission to join the Athena SWAN charter. We also meet some of the staff participating in a new “I am also…” campaign, revealing some of their roles and activities outside of the University.

In the digital age, the way we consume music, news, art and culture has completely transformed. Singles rule the album and they are streamed not bought. Photographs are taken for Instagram validation, not for preserving memories; and self-worth is judged in Facebook likes.

But in our rush to post, scroll and comment, are we at risk of losing touch with our cultural heritage? When life has ‘gone digital’ and can be deleted at the touch of a button, how do we preserve our traditions for future generations to enjoy? It’s an issue that academics in the Departments of Music and Computer Science are working to address. Dr Alexander Lingas is both preserving Byzantine traditions (the origins of which date back to 330 AD) and bringing them to a wider audience, through his academic research and via his ensemble group, Cappella Romana. The group has played all over the world and he is also probably the only City academic who can claim to have topped the Amazon Classical Music charts. The research of Alexander’s colleague Dr Miguel Mera, Deputy Head of the Department of Music, considers the dialect and culture of the Galician region in Spain. As a second generation Galician emigrant, he considers how Galician culture can be kept alive through the use of music, video and live performance.

Meanwhile, Dr Tillman Weyde from the Department of Computer Science is working with colleagues in Music to explore the relationship between music and technology. They have formed a Music Informatics group which has been developing musical ‘learning algorithms’, allowing musical scores to be created from digital files, so that any piece of music can be played exactly as intended and enjoyed well into the future. You can read more about their research on page 2.

Elsewhere in this issue we talk to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Paul Curran, about his career and the moment the letter from Downing Street arrived with news of his Knighthood. We also meet James Bryan, City’s Head of Organisational Development, and discuss a programme of work launched recently to consider how we can improve the staff experience through a range of activities.

It’s been several months since Professor Marianne Lewis took on the role of Dean of Cass and on page 8 we learn about her first impressions and plans for the future. We also meet some City academics working in unexpected locations, who have taken their research out of the laboratory and into the field – in this case from 1,000 metres under the sea to war zones in the Middle East.

Simon Watts Head of Communications and Events

CONTENTS

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2 Keeping music alive 4 Organisational development 6 A word with Professor Marianne Lewis 8 Funding the health of the nation 10 A Knighthood for our Vice-Chancellor 12 Research without borders 14 The tides of change in gender equality 16 Meet the Chaplaincy and Faith T H E T I D E S Advisory O F Team GENDER EQUALITY How oil and gas companies are C H A N18 6 G E dealing with low prices 19 Defending to the death 20 Graduations

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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 by the Marketing & Communications department at City University London.

Back issues: https://issuu.com/cityuniversitylondon Editor: Demetri Petrou Tel: 020 7040 8783 Email: demetri.petrou.1@city.ac.uk THANK YOU... ...to all of this issue’s contributors: Reverend David Allen, Sheikh Musa Admani, Dr Paolo Aversa, Reverend Andrew Baughen, Dr Jon Bird, Rabbi Gavin Broder, James Bryan, Professor Paul Burstow, Sophie Cubbin, Professor Sir Paul Curran, Dr Graham Daborn, Professor Ronald Douglas, Dr Amanda Goodall, Sophie Gost, Ed Grover, Professor Giulia Iori, Dr Mauro Laudicella, Professor Marianne Lewis, Dr Alexander Lingas, Dr Mara Malagodi, Fiona Mansford, Dr Miguel Mera, Jennifer Mills, Nicola Ranson, Dr Liza Schuster, Dr Valeriya Vitkova, Nikki Walsh, Father Gregory Wellington, Dr Tillman Weyde, George Wigmore, Reverend Ian Worsfold.

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Still from the production of Morri単a

KEEPING

MUSIC ALIVE

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It has been a year to remember for City’s Department of Music which has had one of its most eventful 12 months since it was launched in 1975. The Department recently celebrated its best ever results in the National Student Survey with the BMus degree rated among the best in the country. In addition, the Department achieved some of the leading results within City in the Research Excellence Framework (the system which assesses the quality of research submitted

by Higher Education Institutions in the UK).

87 per cent of the research being carried out by the Department was rated world-leading or internationally excellent. All of this while celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Department’s launch.

Music has come a long way since the Department was established. Back in 1975, Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ had just been released and the Sex Pistols had played their first gig. In an age in which music is so fleetingly consumed and streaming is the norm, how do we ensure that the culture and history of music is not lost to the ages?

One person who has dedicated his career to ensuring this doesn’t happen is Dr Alexander Lingas, Reader in Music, who focuses his research on Byzantine chants that have been unheard for almost a century.

“The ancient Eastern Orthodox chants, originating in Greece, Turkey and Russia, could easily have been lost due to the lack of translation for western cultures. Even now Byzantine musical tradition remains largely unstudied and unknown,” Alexander says.

Alexander, along with the USbased ensemble he founded in 1991, Cappella Romana, bring these eastern religious songs back to life by introducing them to new generations and a broader spectrum of people around the world. This painstaking process involves tracking down the ancient music that has been long hidden in libraries across Europe and translating it into English from ancient languages.

To ensure the authenticity of the sounds, Alexander and Cappella Romana are working on a project with Stanford University, in which they have electronically recreated the acoustics of the Hagia Sophia cathedral, a place where many of these sounds would have been heard nearly 1,500 years ago.

For over a century, the site held the record for the largest enclosed space on earth, making it acoustically a unique performance environment. Hagia Sophia was inaugurated as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in 360 AD in Constantinople, now Istanbul. The cathedral was later turned into a mosque and is now a museum. The combination of the Byzantine chant and the acoustics of the Hagia Sophia is one which has not been heard for centuries.

Alexander has had significant impact with his research and there is clearly an appetite to keep these sounds alive.

Cappella Romana have reached the top of the Amazon Classical Music charts, have been streamed over 100,000 times on Spotify and performed to audiences worldwide, which Alexander says has “nourished the global dissemination, understanding and enjoyment of these music traditions”.

That begs the question as to why people feel the desire to listen to music that was produced centuries ago. One of the people who can shed some light on that is the Head of the Department of Music, Dr Miguel Mera.

Miguel uses his personal background as inspiration for some of his research. As a second generation Galician emigrant, his research looks at how culture can be kept alive through music. Miguel’s composition, Morriña (meaning the despondency caused by the nostalgic longing for one’s lost

Cappella Romana

homeland) explores the cultural impact of waves of emigration from the Galician area of Spain.

“Galicia is well known for its language and distinctive culture, but also a great deal of rural poverty,” Miguel says. “In search of a more comfortable life, many Galicians started to emigrate all over the world from the middle of the 19th century.

With such huge migratory patterns, music was one of the most successful ways to keep the Galician cultural identity alive,” he continues.

To create this piece, Miguel collaborated with choreographer Tony Thatcher, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and filmmaker Bruno Mathez to create an audio visual experience that conveys emigrants’ longing for their Galician homeland. This FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/MUSIC

incorporated manipulated sounds of the traditional Galician bagpipes, known as the Gaita and aspects of Galician folk dance in the choreography. A live performance was first given at Trinity Laban and then at the Deal Festival of Music and the Arts. The film was premiered at City and featured in the Venice Experimental Film Festival, giving people today the chance to experience centuries old traditions.

Having found ways in which to recreate sounds, music and traditions from past generations, City academics have also been working on ways to ensure they can be heard by future generations.

In other areas of the University, research is exploring how we can preserve and identify music. Dr Tillman Weyde, Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering, has been working alongside the Department of Music with research focusing on the relationship between music and technology, where a Music Informatics group has been considering developing musical learning algorithms.

The group has been working with Goldsmiths and Oxford Universities to uncover tens of thousands of lute manuscripts in European libraries that have not been transcribed. His technology has recently been commercialised by a Swedish company specialising in interactive music software.

One of the projects the group is considering is the recreation of original lute music using voice separation technology. Such note separation allows the subtle nuances, so important in music, to be retained.

By building algorithms to detect note recognition, Tillman’s research also allows musicians to create music scores from digital files and digital composition, meaning any musician can read a musical score from any song. The research will help improve interactions with music in the future. For example, musicians who compose music, but may not be able to write it in score, will be able to produce the written music using Tillman’s algorithms, which can then be played by generations to come.

“If I was truly honest, I’m not confident that digital files will be able to stand the test of time and in 50 years for example, I don’t think we’ll be playing our mp3 players in the same way that we play vinyl records,” Tillman says. “What I’ve been trying to achieve with my research is that the algorithms we have produced will give the ability for any piece of music to be played in the exact way it was intended and enjoyed well into the future.”

ORGAN BUZZ-TERM OR PLATFORM FORDEV 4

IMPROVEMENT? It has long been accepted that staff who enjoy going to work deliver better output. Research published by Dr Amanda Goodall, Senior Lecturer in Management at Cass Business School, discussed this using a recent study conducted among 35,000 staff from the UK and the US. “There is mounting evidence that happy workers are more productive workers. And companies that are great places to work deliver higher stock market returns,” she said.

This principle also applies to universities such as City. The happier staff are, the better their output is; and in City’s case the more students and research will benefit.

In December 2013, City conducted the biennial Staff Survey and its results showed that some work was needed to improve the staff experience. James Bryan joined City as Head of Organisational Development in January 2014. James came to City with a wealth of experience, having previously worked with the Metropolitan Police, the NHS and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, as well as having several years of consultancy experience.

He was handed the broad remit of introducing Organisational Development at City. An unenviable task in an organisation of 2,000 staff across 21 buildings, five different Schools and about twice as many

Professional Services, all with their own cultures and identities.

Organisational Development is about organisations achieving success through their people. Its roots are in behavioural science and it tackles problems at a global systems level. Using the Staff Survey results and a variety of other inputs, the Organisational Development Framework (ODF) took shape over the following year.

“Organisational change is by no means an easy thing to achieve,” said James. “Trying to change even the most basic things in a large organisation that is steeped in history, such as City, is at the very least a slow process.”

The Framework is a handy repository for projects which positively influence the staff experience at City and comprises three main parts, known as pillars. The first is Leadership, which tackles how institutional leaders engage with their colleagues. It also incorporates the University’s structure and how the staff are developed into better leaders.

The second is Communications, which considers how the University engages with staff, how knowledge and information are shared and how to build a sense of community. The third is the Staff Experience, the most comprehensive part of the plan, which considers aspects including reward

and recognition, staff performance, progression and several important issues like staff training and equality and diversity.

The ODF is a three year programme of activity, details of which can be found on the staff intranet. The Framework is co-ordinated by the OD Unit which replaced the Leadership & Staff Development Unit as part of the changes introduced by the Professional Services Review.

Although many of the training courses delivered by the LSDU are still available, the new focus on internal consultancy leads to more relevant, effective and timely interventions during periods of change.

“It’s easy to go into an organisation and point out problems and things that might be addressed, but all of that is fairly pointless if you can’t develop a programme of solutions,” explains James. “The approach with the ODF is to create a series of smaller projects where we can start chipping away at each larger issue. We also want to empower staff to address their own issues and overcome them. An organisation is defined by its staff and City is already a great organisation. The ODF projects are just helping make the whole thing work even better.”

NISATIONAL VELOPMENT 5

LEADERSHIP

COM M U N I C AT I O N S

STAFF EXPERIENCE

EXAMPLE: UNCONSCIOUS BIAS TRAINING

EXAMPLE: INTRANET REDEVELOPMENT

EXAMPLE: MENTORING FOR FEMALE STAFF

Unconsciously, we tend to like people who look like us, think like us and come from backgrounds similar to ours. Everyone likes to think he or she is open-minded and objective, but research has shown that the beliefs and values gained from family, culture and a lifetime of experiences heavily influence how we view and evaluate both others and ourselves.

Acknowledging that unconscious bias can take place in the everyday working lives of City staff, most notably in the recruitment of new staff, the ODF has embarked on a programme to train managers and other staff at City in the recognition of unconscious bias and how it can be overcome. Starting in April, over 300 managers at City will receive training from the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion, the UK's leading employer network, covering all aspects of equality and inclusion issues in the workplace.

In many organisations, the intranet is the go-to hub for staff. It should be a place to help staff complete work-related tasks quickly and efficiently and to provide a platform for staff to share knowledge and culture. City’s intranet has been hampered over recent years by its implementation in a system way past its prime, making it difficult for staff to use and update. Over the last year, a programme of work has been underway to move the ‘back-end’ of the intranet over to a new software platform. The move will make it a great deal more interactive, making it easier for staff to access, find and share information, helping to make jobs easier while also creating a hub for staff to find out what is happening at City, both professionally and socially.

Over the last year, CityUniWomen has gone from strength to strength.

It is a network for female academic and professional staff at City that aims to offer learning opportunities and give women opportunities to develop their skills and networks in order to help raise their profiles. With the support of the ODF, the network will be offering opportunities to women for early career development, by launching a mentoring scheme for female members of staff. The scheme will allow members of staff to network with and learn from experienced colleagues, with the hope that this will enable women who work at City to reach their full potential.

Right: The Organisational Development team led by James Bryan (seated centre)

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A word with Professor Marianne Lewis In November 2015, Professor Marianne Lewis began her tenure as Dean of Cass Business School. Marianne was Professor of Management and Associate Dean at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati and has over 20 years’ experience in international business research and education.

City News caught up with Marianne to find out about her plans for Cass.

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CN: What attracted you to Cass? also have to have fantastic experiences – the students need to learn but they also need to enjoy higher education so it does change the model somewhat because it becomes about their careers afterwards, their experiences during their courses and the emphasis on learning, which has always been there.

It’s also important to start building the community from day one. In the US you start talking to students about the alumni network before they even start their first term – they know this is a relationship for a lifetime. I think some schools in Europe are already doing this quite well but I think we need to leapfrog them and do it better.

ML: I had a wonderful mini-conference around my research at Cass when I was in London on a Fulbright Scholarship. It was an incredible day the energy, the vibrancy of it and I thought ‘something special is going on at Cass’. I could feel it. It was serendipity that a couple of weeks later I was approached to see if I would think about applying for the role of Dean - it was an easy yes because clearly both the people and place have great momentum.

CN: What were your first impressions of your new colleagues?

ML: That there are so many great things going on here – more than I would ever have known. Obviously, as an academic, I noticed the faculty who are clearly very impressive individuals but it’s the whole staff, our outreach activities, our alumni and of course, our students, that make Cass an extraordinary business school.

CN: You’re active in research, where does this fit in?

ML: I did wonder how I was going to manage it but I have made friends with a few Deans who manage to juggle it.

Because I have just completed the Fulbright and was on sabbatical before joining Cass, I had actually ramped up the research so I have two books in process and several articles due to be published by the Harvard Business Review. In my perfect world, a leader practises what he or she preaches, which is research, education, enterprise and outreach. It’s just at a slightly different level as Dean so I’ve got to keep doing it and it allows me to have good discussions with the faculty on the research side that I might not have if I stopped. Just like I’m going to keep teaching, because I have to keep having conversations with the students – I don’t want to lose touch with them. So I’m very excited that I have been able to get back in to the classroom to teach a module on the MSc course in Leadership and Change, which is my area of research.

CN: US v Europe?

ML: For good or bad, the UK is now experiencing what happened in the US many, many years ago, which is that the public money went away. As tuition fees rise, so do expectations and that means we have a lot more to do. Academic excellence and firstclass education remain crucial but we

Right: Marianne speaking at her first set of Cass graduations

CN: Vision for the future of Cass?

ML: My charge with Cass is fuelling the momentum and ensuring sustainability. In terms of 2016, it’s strengthening the foundations. We do very good things across all our endeavour – education, knowledge and community. I feel we have to build them in to virtuous cycles that feed each other and that work together.

CN: What would you say have been the highlights of your career?

ML: On the education side, I’ve built some programmes and enabled some change in others that I’m very proud of and with a great team around me.

They made huge differences in the lives of the people and the partners we were working with and there were big jumps in their rankings because we got everything working well together, from enrolment and retention to employability and student satisfaction.

On the research side, I’ve won awards and had big publications which I appreciate but what I find most fulfilling is the community building that happens because of those recognitions. It’s great to see your name in print but what is really fulfilling is the conversations that happen because someone contacts you to say they have read your work.

Or, if it is in relation to the research I do on organisational paradoxes, I will often get messages from people saying they have observed them too. From these interactions, I’ve developed a really effective global network of people. Being part of building that community around organisational paradoxes is something I’m particularly proud of.

CN: How are you settling in to London?

ML: I just love London – it’s fun, it’s vibrant, it’s very international – it actually feels a lot like Cass. I think because it is so international, it’s just very welcoming. I love walking my dogs on the Heath and getting out and just exploring London. To be honest, I have so many events that I don’t have a huge amount of free time but I always leave the event thinking – ‘that was fantastic. I really learned something’. And I think that is the greatest job in the world, to be able to learn something every day.

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FUNDING THE HEAL With an annual budget of £116 billion, employing 1.7 million workers and dealing with over one million patients every 36 hours, the NHS has one of the five largest global workforces, more than the Indian railways, for example; and one of the most complex.

But as demand for the NHS increases and with stresses on the system from increasing debt and the rise of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, the health service faces more scrutiny than ever.

“The NHS faces multiple challenges today,” says Paul Burstow, former Minister for Care Services from 2010 to 2012 and a Professor at City. “Overall we have a 20th century health system trying to respond to 21st century health needs.”

Created in 1948, it fell to Clement Attlee’s Labour government - and in particular Aneurin Bevan, the newly appointed Minister of Health - to introduce the new NHS conceived in the wartime coalition government’s Beveridge Report.

Since its creation 68 years ago, the model has not changed fundamentally. But while the NHS

has long occupied an untouchable status in British society, some are starting to question whether the system needs to be adapted to the times and the changing landscape of health and disease.

When it was first created, the biggest strain on the system came from single episodes of infectious diseases. However, the stresses placed on the NHS today are very different, with an ageing population and long-term chronic health conditions putting already stretched resources under pressure.

“The rise of non-communicable diseases is the biggest call on NHS resources; and the rise in frailty amongst a growing older population challenge an episodic hospital-based model of healthcare delivery,” says Professor Burstow.

In the Division of Health Services Research and Management, health economist Dr Mauro Laudicella focuses on the English National Health System and health reforms. “The key issue with the NHS will be whether it is able to satisfy an ever increasing demand for health services within

BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACING NHS

ANNUAL BUDGET

£116

BILLION

the allocated government budget.

NHS hospital trusts, for instance, have agreed to deliver an ambitious programme of efficiency savings and to reinvest savings into delivery of more services to patients,” says Dr Laudicella.

“Over the last couple of years NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts have been clocking up deficits. There has been a loss of financial control,” says Professor Burstow. “The 2015 Spending Review settlement for the NHS includes some clear requirements to return to financial balance during 2016/17. This will be tough and will have to be achieved at the same time as setting in place the longer term changes to the way care is delivered to meet the main drivers of demand for healthcare.”

So how can the NHS be better run?

Dr Laudicella thinks it needs to build a reliable system of pricing in order to make rational decisions about the organisation of its services which is shared widely between trusts. He argues that better sharing of best practice could help local providers replicate efficient models adopted by

SINGLE AN AGEING POPULATION EPISODES OF INFECTIOUS NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES DISEASES INCEPTION

O N E M I L L I O N PAT I E N T S E V E R Y 3 6 H O U R S

PRESENT = 2 , 0 0 0 PAT I E N T S

36 All statistics courtesy of: www.nhsconfed.org/resources/key-statistics-on-the-nhs

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LTH OF THE NATION their neighbours and also learn from the experience of other countries in delivering similar services to the population.

“To date, cost information on the delivery of very common services such as an elective cataract operation, a hip or knee replacement are unknown by a large majority of healthcare providers,” says Dr Laudicella. “Having access to this type of information is key to achieving an efficient allocation and organisation of services within a smaller financial budget. There is also a lot to learn from healthcare providers who deliver best value for money and if I was running the NHS I would fund research studies to learn from their experiences and disseminate them to other healthcare providers.”

To help people visualise the importance of this, Dr Laudicella has helped develop a game called ‘My Health, My Choice’ as part of the Astellas Innovation Debate. The game puts you in control of the number of beds, nurses, GPs and specialists in your country and calculates the impact that they will have on cost and patient waiting times.

FIVE LARGEST GLOBAL WORKFORCES

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significant difference to outcomes and NHS productivity.”

So what is the future of the NHS? Can it possibly remain as an entirely taxpayer-funded service in the long term? According to Dr Laudicella the future of the NHS is to learn how to deliver the same standard of service, with fewer financial resources. “If it fails, then we will be likely to see the creation of a new NHS with some health services no longer free of charge at the point of use for all people in England,” he says.

However, Professor Burstow is more optimistic. “The NHS remains the fairest way to deliver affordable healthcare on a mass scale,” he says.

“However, the challenge for the NHS will be to change what it does and where it does it to meet the real, rather than the perceived, health needs of the population. The NHS is not an island.

Much that determines ill-health is beyond the direct control of the NHS. This population health perspective will be key to the future. To succeed it requires a spirit of collaboration within the NHS and beyond into public health, housing and social care.”

(Primary Care Trusts, Strategic Health Authorities, NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts)

1,845

150,273

NHS BODIES E N D - O F -Y E A R F I N A N C I A L R E S U LT S

1,945

NHS EMPLOYS...

“The NHS faces challenges concerning how to provide the same level of services but spend less money,” says Dr Laudicella, “I haven’t seen anything like this game that looks so boldly at the little known cost implications of the care that we receive from our healthcare systems.”

Emerging findings from another research study, funded by Macmillan and led by Dr Laudicella and colleagues, show that the NHS is spending more than £500 million a year on emergency in-patient care for people diagnosed with one of the top four cancers within the past five years.

While costs continue to increase, Professor Burstow argues that a focus on mental health rather than wholesale structural change is needed. “The last thing the NHS needs is major structural change. However, there is a need for the ambition for greater integration both within the NHS and between the NHS and social care to be progressed.

Financially, I strongly believe that investment in mental health, especially at the boundary between mental and physical health, could make a

QUALIFIED NURSING STAFF

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QUALIFIED SCIENTIFIC, THERAPEUTIC AND TECHNICAL STAFF

U N I T E D STAT ES D E PA RT M E N T OF DEFENSE P EO P L E’S L I B E R AT I O N A R MY WALMART MCDONALD’S NHS

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A KNIGHTHOOD FOR OUR VICE-CHANCELLOR IN THE NEW YEAR HONOURS, DISTINGUISHED ACADEMIC GEOGRAPHER, FORMER NASA SCIENTIST AND ADVISER TO THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, PRESIDENT OF THE REMOTE SENSING & PHOTOGRAMMETRY SOCIETY, CHAIR OF THE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES EMPLOYERS’ ASSOCIATION AND THE CONVERSATION UK AND OUR VICE-CHANCELLOR, PROFESSOR PAUL CURRAN ADDED KNIGHT BACHELOR TO HIS ARRAY OF PRESTIGIOUS TITLES. CITY NEWS EXPLORES SOME OF SIR PAUL’S CAREER HIGHPOINTS FROM PIONEERING RESEARCH INTO HOW OUR PLANET WORKS, TO HIS INVOLVEMENT IN NHS REFORM AND WHAT LED TO THE LETTER FROM THE CABINET OFFICE INFORMING HIM OF THE KNIGHTHOOD.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.COM

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ir Paul discovered he had been recommended to the Queen for a Knighthood in late November. “My wife Helen called me one afternoon to tell me I’d received an official-looking letter from the Cabinet Office,” he said. “My daughter opened the envelope and told me the news but I had an afternoon of meetings, so I couldn’t celebrate straight away.” It wasn’t until a few weeks later when ‘the list’ was published in the London Gazette that it began to sink in.

Following the announcement of the Knighthood, which he describes as a “profoundly humbling surprise”, Sir Paul offered gratitude to his many colleagues for their encouragement and the support of his wife and daughter, who “have been with me every step of the way.”

One of the best things about receiving the good news, Sir Paul says, is the heart-warming array of congratulatory messages he has received from friends, family and colleagues from across the world. “It’s been a real joy receiving so many letters, cards and emails from people” he said. “Some have been really touching. For example, one of my former

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exciting and a different world” he said. “Few of my peers and none of my family had this extraordinary opportunity and I soon felt that with a little hard work, anything was possible.

That’s why although we have improved the academic standing of City, it’s a great personal pleasure to me that we have done so while recruiting almost half of our undergraduates from lower income households and non-traditional backgrounds.”

Citing other influential figures in his life, Sir Paul names his childhood English teacher Mrs Newton who introduced him and his peers to cultural experiences like theatre, broadsheet newspapers and French cheeses.

He also mentions his parents. “They worked extremely hard to make a better life for us. As an academic I’ve always worked long hours but that has been by choice. I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve been doing and I’ve been in control of my activities for most of the time. This is nowhere near as hard as clocking in and out of a physically demanding job in a factory.”

Throughout his career, Sir Paul’s research has focused on ecological Earth observation, starting with his PhD in remote sensing at the

satellite. This paved the way for Sentinel-2, the satellite launched by the European Space Agency last year.”

In terms of climate change, the impact of the technology is significant. “To know the amount of carbon drawn down from the atmosphere and stored on the Earth’s surface is important. It determines how much carbon is in the atmosphere and therefore how much warming will occur. For example, the warmer the Earth, the more stormy the weather.”

Chlorophyll-content maps have many other applications including the estimation of crop growth; the amount of Agent Orange left in the soil of Vietnam and the condition of flooded areas following the tsunami in south-east Asia.

In addition to serving as Vice-Chancellor, Sir Paul has flown the flag for City as a previous member of the Quality Assurance Agency and Natural Environment Research Council. As Chair of the Pay Review Body for Doctors and Dentists, he advises the Prime Minister, in February each year, on their pay levels. Very recently, the Review Body made recommendations to the Government on hospital doctors’ contracts in support of a

An early (June 2015) image from the Multi-Spectral Instrument on Sentinal-2. The false colour shows vegetation as red and is derived from data recorded in visible and near-infrared wavelengths.

PhD students, who is now an academic, said it was ‘surreal and profound’ which I thought captured it well.”

Sir Paul received the honour in recognition of his services to higher education to which he has dedicated his life as an academic and academic leader, including as VC of Bournemouth University, Head of Winchester School of Art and Dean and later DVC at the University of Southampton. Since joining City in 2010, Sir Paul has led a significant programme of change, with City set to join the University of London later this year.

Sir Paul was motivated to go to university by an inspirational childhood Geography teacher Mr Painter and a curiosity to find out more about the world. “Mr Painter made us constantly question our environment,” he says. “This included the roads, the rain, the rivers and everything we read or heard. He encouraged us to keep Kipling’s ‘six honest serving-men’ in our minds at all times, the ‘What and Why and When and How and Where and Who’.”

Sir Paul read for a BSc in Geography at the University of Sheffield and the experience was life-changing. “It was intellectually

University of Bristol. The research involved the use of sensors that monitor the environment.

“When you view the Earth from space, the first thing you want to know is what you are looking at, is it wheat, barley or woodland? Next you want to know how much woodland you are looking at and that’s more difficult. Even more complex is determining the condition it’s in.

To do that you need to find out how productive the vegetation is, how fast is it growing? These are some of the questions I sought to answer in my research.”

As a Senior Researcher at NASA, Sir Paul worked on a technique to map and monitor the chlorophyll content and therefore the productivity and carbon absorption of vegetation globally. Based on the method used to identify chemicals present in blood samples, the technique involves measuring the depth of absorption features in reflectance spectra recorded using a scanning spectral sensor. The science, technology and algorithms took many years to develop and the sensors were placed initially on aircraft, moving to satellites as they matured. “The big one I was involved with for many years was a sensor called MERIS on board Envisat, Europe’s biggest environmental

move to a ‘seven-day’ NHS. “Of all the things I have done in my career, this work may well have the greatest effect on the largest number of people” he said.

“It’s politically very sensitive and there is a lot of misinformation in the media. But the good thing for me is that the likely outcome will be within the bounds of the Review Body recommendations.”

Outside City, Sir Paul enjoys spending time with his family, middle distance running, being at home in Dorset and making the most of living in London with its “magnificent buildings and great history”. He also enjoys listening to music, with an eclectic collection ranging from Led Zeppelin to Ed Sheeran.

2016 is set to be a memorable year for City and the Vice-Chancellor is looking forward to working closely with colleagues to build on our recent success. “Of course, 2016 will be a special year in our history. We will launch our ambitious Vision & Strategy 2026, celebrate the anniversary of gaining our Royal Charter and joining the University of London and now this Knighthood. The annual Chancellor’s Dinner at Mansion House is set to be spectacular.”

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RESEARCH WITHOUT BO I T 'S W E L L K N OW N T H AT CI T Y H A S E XCE L L E N T RESEARCH UNDERWAY BUT DO WE EVER STOP TO THINK HOW THE RESEARCH IS DONE? YOU MAY BE PICTURING ACADEMICS LOCKED AWAY I N L A B O R ATO R I ES F O R MO N T H S O N E N D, O R BURYING THEIR HEADS IN A PILE OF BOOKS. WHILE THIS MAY BE TRUE FOR SOME, MANY OF OUR RESEARCHERS ARE DOTTED ACROSS THE GLOBE, ANYWHERE FROM 1,000 METRES UNDER T H E SE A , TO WA R ZO N ES I N T H E M I D D L E E A ST.

PROFESSOR RONALD DOUGLAS, S C H O O L O F H E A LT H S C I E N C E S Specialising in Optometry and Visual Sciences, Ron researches how the eyes of vertebrates and more specifically, fish, adapt to their surroundings. This research has seen Ron plunge to depths of over 1,000 metres in a one metre-wide submersible throughout the world’s oceans to discover how the eyes of deep sea fish actually work. In this image, Ron is about to take to the waters in the submersible near Bermuda.

DR LIZA SCHUSTER, READER IN S O C I O L O G Y, S C H O O L O F A R T S & SOCIAL SCIENCES Liza’s area of research covers European asylum policy and the consequences of deportation and migrations from Afghanistan. Liza has just returned from three years working in the field in Afghanistan, where she stayed in Kabul and learnt how to speak Dari, in order to interview young men who had been deported and their families. Liza also lived with a family in northern Afghanistan, where, she explains, she was just as much a subject of study for them as they were for her.

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ORDERS

DR PAOLO AVERSA, LECTURER I N S T R A T E G Y, C A S S B U S I N E S S SCHOOL After receiving a toy racing car at the age of two, Paolo became fascinated by Formula 1 racing and now focuses on racing strategy for his research. While teaching strategy on the Cass MBA, Paolo uses his research as a real-life example of how different strategies can have various effects on overall performance. This research takes Paolo to racetracks across the world and he has even driven around the circuit at Silverstone.

DR JON BIRD, LECTURER IN PERVASIVE COMPUTING, SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS, COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING Jon is the co-creator of the MIVA mobile phone application which permits field workers to visit the relatives of people who have died to create ‘verbal autopsies’ and record data about their deaths. This has proven to be useful in African countries such as Malawi where access to hospitals may be challenging.

Jon spent time in the remote communities of Malawi while conducting his research.

DR MARA MALAGODI, LECTURER I N L AW, T H E C I T Y L AW S C H O O L Mara is a comparative constitutional lawyer with expertise in South Asian legal history and culture. She is completing a project on the involvement of noted British constitutional scholar Sir Ivor Jennings in the constitution making processes of the former Asian colonies of the British Empire after independence. In December 2015, Mara was at the Lunuganga Estate in Sri Lanka where she presented her research papers and met several of Sri Lanka’s constitutional lawyers.

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

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THE TIDES OF CHANGE I n 2014, City made an application to join the Equality Challenge Unit’s Athena SWAN Charter. The Charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research. Over the years, the scope of the programme has developed and in May 2015 the Charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business, law and those in professional and support roles. It also widened the purview to include trans staff and students.

The Charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly and not just barriers to progression that affect women. City’s application for a Bronze award was unsuccessful and the University took a more focused approach to considering issues of gender equality and how they can be addressed.

A year after the original application, a newly invigorated Gender Equality Working Group (GEWG) was established. Led by Professor Giulia Iori, Professor of Economics in the School of Arts & Social Sciences, the group has been tasked to reapply for a Bronze award.

“It’s not simply about the award,” says Giulia, “the award is just an external acknowledgment that we are on the right path in developing our equality and inclusion agenda; and

that equality is an institutional target City is committed to achieve. It’s more about making long-term changes to embedded cultures and behaviour across the University. The Athena SWAN programme is very beneficial, as it gives us a framework on which we can continue to build, being inspired by other organisations to see how they overcame issues.”

One of the first tasks was to evaluate the current feeling among staff members towards equality and in December 2015, the GEWG sent staff an Equality and Organisational Culture Survey. 44% of academic and professional staff completed the survey – a response rate suggesting

that the equality agenda is a key priority for staff.

“The survey results help us establish what staff think about equality at City and understand where we need to make improvements in our working practices and working environment.

Only by aligning cultural, structural and institutional efforts will we be able to improve things. Along with the evidence and data already collected, the survey results will be analysed to provide a self-assessment of the University and to form actions in which we will make real changes,” Giulia continues. “This will be a long road, but we’re confident we can start closing the gap and turn City into a leader in equality.”

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/GENDER-EQUALITY

Professor Giulia Iori

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IN GENDER EQUALITY Professor Giulia Iori

As part of its commitment to improving gender equality, City launched a campaign to celebrate female staff as part of International Women’s Day, held on Tuesday 8th March. ‘I am also…’ highlighted the achievements of City staff outside their daily jobs. Some of the examples include Sabrina Francis, Social Media Officer at City and an elected councillor for Camden Council (right); Remi Ray, MSc Course Officer at Cass and founder of a niche fashion platform and ready-to-wear plus-size clothing brand (bottom left); and Shereen Sally, Deputy Head of Student Experience and Trustee and Director for ‘The Loss Foundation’ charity.

‘I am also…’ was one of several highly visible campaigns seen throughout the University. A permanent display featuring City Women who have made significant contributions has also been installed in College Building. There were also several events and training sessions for both staff and students.

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From left to right: Fiona Mansford, Father Gregory Wellington, Sheikh Musa Admani, Reverend Ian Worsfold, Reverend Andrew Baughen, Reverend David Allen, Rabbi Gavin Broder

MEET THE CHAPLAINCY AND FAITH ADVISORY TEAM Going to university is a time for many people to find out who they are, what they believe in and where they fit in the world. It’s also a time of big changes and a time that can be stressful and unsettling, sometimes with no clear idea of who can offer support. City’s multi-faith Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team exists to help people explore these issues and to offer support for those of all faiths and none.

Confidential and caring, the Chaplaincy has an open door policy and welcomes students and staff to drop in, or to arrange to meet at a mutually convenient time.

The very nature of the team embodies City’s student diversity, where people of all religions, beliefs, cultures and countries can come together harmoniously to study, work and socialise.

Alongside offering advice and support for students, the team supports faith societies, celebrates success at graduation and can provide information on local places of worship. Members of the team also have strong networks within the local faith community and are able to provide details of other faiths.

Chaplaincy Co-ordinator, Reverend Ian Worsfold, is a Methodist minister and represents the interests of the Free Churches. The team’s role, he says, is to provide a spiritual dimension to the life of the University. “We provide a safe space for those of all faiths and none within the institution, through compassionate, intelligent, empathetic and informed support of the spiritual lives and journeys of staff and students. We also promote the discussion of faith, facilitating dialogue between faith groups and

listening to people who are facing issues of faith and life.”

Common misconceptions about the Chaplaincy, Ian says, are that they are interested only in people of faith, or ‘converting people’ to their particular faith. “People also think the Chaplaincy is just Christian in nature or that you have to be religious to talk to us. Often people who come to us have little idea of what Chaplaincy is and so we take the opportunity to tell them about how we can support them.”

During a typical week on campus, the team will spend time with staff and students to talk about what’s on their minds, to ask questions about faith issues and find opportunities to meet others who share their beliefs.

They also organise and attend multifaith activities and events such as Table Talk, Bible Study meetings and

The Chaplaincy has an open door policy and welcomes students and staff to drop in

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Jummah (Friday prayers). The team recently took part in a discussion forum following the Paris attacks. Ian says: “It was fascinating for me to hear things from the perspective of some of our Muslim students and for Christian, Hindu and Muslim students to discuss these important topics together.”

Alongside this, team members attend committees such as the Equality and Diversity Committee and the Staff LGBT+ Network, where their voices provide a different perspective.

The multi-faith Chaplaincy team consists of eight people: University Imam, Sheikh Musa Admani’s role is to assist Muslim students’ personal development and spiritual needs. He also helps to address private and sensitive issues that may distract students from taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by the University.

The very nature of the team embodies City’s student diversity, where people of all religions, beliefs, cultures and countries can come together harmoniously to study, work and socialise.

HONORARY CHAPLAINS Reverend Andrew Baughen is an Anglican Chaplain and the Vicar of St James Clerkenwell, a local Anglican church. Andrew enables students and staff to chat through questions of faith or learn more about applying faith to daily life. He also provides information about local social events and cultural visits organised by local churches.

Reverend David Allen (also an Anglican Chaplain) is the Vicar of St Clement’s, another local Anglican Church. With life-long experience of supporting people of all ages and backgrounds, David is happy to talk about any matter of faith or spirituality.

Popularly known as Rav Gav, Rabbi Gavin Broder has been the London Region’s Jewish Student Chaplain for over 14 years. Rabbi Broder works

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/CN-CHAPLAINCY

closely with the Jewish Society and is regularly found giving ‘Lunch & Learns’ on campus. He represents Jewish causes within the University and is available for consultation where needed with Jewish students of all backgrounds and affiliations.

Father Gregory Wellington is Assistant Priest at St Katharine’s Greek Orthodox Church (Ecumenical Patriarchate) in Friern Barnet. He is a contact point for Eastern Orthodox Christians based at the University and is available to answer questions from people of faith and none about the Greek Orthodox Church.

Fiona Mansford is a member of the Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team as the Roman Catholic representative.

Previously, she worked with a missionary organisation in countries including Albania, Colombia and Zambia.

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HOW OIL AND GAS COMPANIES ARE DEALING WITH LOW PRICES WITH DR VALERIYA VITKOVA, RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE M&A RESEARCH CENTRE, CASS BUSINESS SCHOOL, CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON Oil prices have tumbled to new lows in 2016. Slowing demand and a glut of supply has made the oil market incredibly bearish. But while prices have halved over the past year, the number of mergers and acquisitions has most definitely not. And a surge in deal making can be expected over the coming year.

Already there is a US$60 billion deal between energy giants Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group, with a proposed merger of the second and third largest global oil services firms, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, also on the cards.

Meanwhile, numerous smaller deals are taking place: two Canadian companies, Suncor Energy and Canadian Oil Sands, recently merged to form the biggest player in one of Alberta’s main oil sands operations.

Unlike other industries – where M&A activity tends to follow the economic activity of the broader market – the oil industry is doing the opposite in reaction to falling prices.

In a recent paper colleagues and I examined M&A activity in the oil industry worldwide over the last 12 years. We found that the greatest number of deals took place during a rapid recovery of the oil price to US$70-75 a barrel.

But the current climate of low prices also lends itself to a large amount of deal making – it is a necessity for survival and oil company profitability.

Recoverable reserves are growing but in ever more inaccessible places – both geographically and politically.

Merging is needed simply to maintain production levels and break even through cost sharing.

This means that companies should be prepared to deal with approaches from potential bidders – but not rush into anything.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD The companies in the best position are those with strong balance sheets, which are able to acquire either distressed assets or those sold following other mergers, as a result of anti-trust issues. The oil companies that made big transactions before or during the oil price fall are the ones to watch for balance sheet stress.

A number of companies are laden with debt, which has increased substantially across the sector over the last ten years. For example, Spanish energy company Repsol increased its net debt levels significantly up until 2011 and was therefore eager to sell non-core assets. It has just sold a portion of its piped gas business to EDP Group for $150m, which follows a similar sale of assets to Gas Natural Distribución and Redexis for $700m in September 2015.

Shell has also announced $30 billion of asset disposals in the next two to three years. The sales are needed to balance the company’s books, to reduce the debt after recent acquisitions.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM/UK/ PARTNERS/CITY-UNIVERSITY-LONDON

But debt fears linked to the recent commodity price rout are bound to limit the number and appetite of bidders. So, while this deal-making is helping a number of companies survive the low prices, there will be blood – and bankruptcies of overleveraged companies can be expected.

Plus, it’s worth remembering that the weakness in the oil price has implications not just for companies, but for states, too. Saudi Arabia, the world’s second largest oil producer has felt the squeeze of falling prices, which have led to its consideration of listing its national oil company, Saudi Aramco to raise capital. It is an example of something we found in our research – that sales are often driven by necessity and it analogous to forced sales by indebted companies.

In 1965, the Death Penalty was suspended in the UK but there are still 22 countries around the world that actively use capital punishment. In 2014, over 600 people were executed around the world for crimes ranging from rape, murder and drug-related offences to blasphemy, corruption and witchcraft. At last count, there were nearly 20,000 people around the world sentenced to death and awaiting execution.

In 2014, Professor Samuel Gross of the University of Michigan wrote a paper with leading legal academics which stated that at least four per cent (a deliberately conservative figure according to the report) of all people sentenced to death in the US are falsely convicted.

In December 2014 Pakistan lifted a seven-year moratorium on executions in response to a deadly Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar. Since then more than 300 people have been put to death. The vast majority were not convicted of terror offences. According to Reprieve, a not-forprofit organisation which provides legal support for those facing the death penalty or held in secret prisons around the world, around 8,000 await execution on Pakistan’s Death Row giving it the largest number of death row inmates in the world.

In an effort to give Bar students based in London the opportunity to provide vital legal support to defence attorneys in both Pakistan and the US, The City Law School has launched an international death row pro bono project.

The project is being led by Nikki Walsh, a solicitor and Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). Nikki volunteered with death row attorneys in the US state of Louisiana in the 1990s when she was a law student. This experience inspired the start of her career in human rights law that has taken her to war crimes tribunals in The Hague, Sierra Leone and more recently, to South Africa’s judicial inquiry into the massacre at Marikana. She has now founded the pro bono project to enable up and coming lawyers to build experience in international human rights work, while studying for the Bar course at City.

Nikki told City News “the time I spent with death row lawyers in Louisiana was when executions in the USA’s southern states were at their peak. Today, Pakistan has one of the world’s largest death rows. Since the Government lifted the moratorium on executions in December 2014, over 200 inmates have been executed, including those sentenced to death as juveniles. Our project provides legal research to assist the death row lawyers in Pakistan who are working flat out to save their clients’ lives. This is

DEFENDING TO THE DEATH

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At last count, there were nearly 20,000 people around the world sentenced to death and awaiting execution.

a fantastic opportunity for English Bar students to contribute to the work of lawyers in another jurisdiction.”

According to Nikki, the project may be unique; “at City we offer excellent domestic pro bono opportunities for students to undertake, such as the Free Representation Unit (FRU), but usually the only way students can undertake international pro bono work is to wait until the end of the course and do internships abroad over the summer, something which we also offer our students the chance to do. But, now, students are able to make a significant contribution in the death penalty arena while undertaking their studies in London.”

City BPTC students Alex Bennie, Tom Beaumont and Zara McClone were selected for the project in September 2015. All three hope to practise as human rights barristers. The young lawyers received immediate exposure to the inevitable time pressures involved in death penalty work when they were required to provide their first report in less than two months. According to Alex Bennie, “this project has challenged me to move outside my legal comfort zone and rapidly develop research skills.

For any young lawyer in training, the chance to participate in projects like this is essential. It offers the chance of collaboration with like-minded people, which is often crucial to foster a sense of one’s intended direction of legal practice.” The team produced its first report in December 2015, but, as this research may be included in pending challenges in Pakistan’s appeal courts, the details cannot currently be released.

As to what next? The team already has two further projects to start, but at this stage all that can be confirmed is that the first will be focusing on torture.

In addition to the Pakistan brief, Zara McClone, who starts criminal pupillage in London this autumn, is collaborating with death row attorneys in Texas on the update of a vital capital trial manual.

It is intended to be a key reference work that assists US defence lawyers in effectively seeking acquittals, or sentences of life without parole rather than death sentences, in capital cases.

According to Nikki, “Alex, Zara and Tom are all intensely bright Oxbridge graduates who could go off and make lots of money doing commercial law. By being part of this project, they are already thinking about putting their talents and commitment into careers that may not reward financially, but will reward in many other ways. My own journey started in Louisiana and I am looking forward to seeing how this next generation of lawyers takes things forward.”

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GRADUATIONS

In January, The Barbican Centre transformed into a sea of red and gold silks and mortar boards as more than 5,000 students graduated from City. In three days of ceremonies, friends and families joined the elated graduates for the occasion.

All the ceremonies were streamed live on the City website, with over 2,300 people tuning in on the Wednesday from all over the world and feeding back on City’s social media channels.

Along with the City students receiving their degrees were four honorary graduates.

Each year, City proudly awards honorary doctorates to individuals who have achieved high academic or professional distinction in their fields. The honorary graduates were Sarah Wood, co-CEO of Unruly, one of the world’s most successful adtech companies; Professor George Loewenstein, a founder of behavioural economics who has made a major contribution with his seminal research on the application of psychology to economics; Her Honour Judge Barbara Mensah, the first Circuit Judge of African origin who has also made contributions to legal education; and Alderman the Lord Mountevans, Lord

Mayor of London. Since 1966, City has had the privilege of welcoming the Lord Mayor of London each year as its Chancellor. Alderman The Lord Mountevans is the 688th Lord Mayor of London and his contributions to the City of London were recognised with his installation as the Chancellor of the University.

Professor Sir Paul Curran, who led the ceremonies, said “graduation is one of the proudest times in the University calendar. It is a great privilege to attend and recognise the outstanding achievements of our latest cohort of graduates. It is also a pleasure to award honorary degrees to four such esteemed and wellrespected individuals and to welcome them as members of City”.

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

Academic excellence for business and the professions

City University London and Cass Business School Monopoly sets

Want to own the University? Now you can with these special editions of the classic board game Monopoly!

The limited edition games celebrate our world class facilities and our location in the heart of London. Invest in areas ranging from the Drysdale Garden to College Building or purchase streets or landmarks in our local area, including Angel and Exmouth Market. Build your property empire and watch the rent come pouring in!

Only a limited number of these special Monopoly games have been produced, purchase your City or Cass set from the Students’ Union merchandise stand or online.

Find out more, visit http://estore.city.ac.uk

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