City News Issue 21

City News Issue 21

digital guardians

NEWS

updates

RESEARCH

meet the team

more...

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

This month’s cover feature looks at the risks to our critical infrastructure from cyberjacking. It’s easy to take for granted the everyday systems on which we all rely. In preparing for work this morning, you probably switched on the electricity or gas to heat your shower and power the lights. You took the train or tube or drove through countless traffic lights. You used the internet for a travel and weather update, or simply to check social media. Now imagine a world where one or all of those systems is under the control of cyber criminals and how quickly this would impact our lives. It’s not a huge leap to imagine a swift descent into chaos. These scenarios are being explored by colleagues at City’s Centre for Software Reliability (CSR) who have been awarded a £400,000 grant to investigate such cyber threats and consider how the UK’s national cyber strategy can mitigate against the risks posed by a new generation of hackers.

The ‘high tech’ computing theme continues on page 19 with news of a new High Performance Computer (HPC) recently purchased by Information Services and which is available for research and education. We find out from one postgraduate student how Solon (as the HPC is known) is helping her research.

On page 16 we meet the team from the Students’ Union and find out why they are the first port of call for students at the University. We also take a look at the new CityBar which opened recently. Although it has been subject to a short delay, the result is a splendid new space for City students and the Unions’ clubs and societies. It’s just one of many recent redevelopments that are improving the spaces in which we work. See page 10 for more details of the facilities being transformed across the estate.

The end of this term brings the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF). On page 14 we profile some of the research that is making a difference in the world. Maximising the impact and relevance of our research in ways that are useful to the wider economy, to cultural life, to public services and to policy-making is a big part of what we do at City.

And finally, thank you for the feedback on CityWire, our fortnightly e-bulletin, which is proving to be useful for spreading the word about what’s happening at City. Contributions from colleagues are at such a level that we will be increasing the frequency of CityWire to weekly, early in the New Year.

Simon Watts Head of Communications and Events

Contents 2 Prices announced for CitySport 3 Green City Week 4 Cooking up a storm 6 The eyes have it 8 Digital guardians 10 Building for the future 12 A word with Captain Tilmann Gabriel 14 Academic impact

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Improving detention law Reporters under fire

16 Meet the team: Students’ Union 18 The Conversation More women on FTSE 100 boards, but still not enough

19 High powered computing aiding research 20 City welcomes the new Chancellor at

the Lord Mayor’s Show 16

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: Rima Amin, Sophie Austin, Jonathan Appleyard, Miles Battye, Professor Peter Bishop, Professor Robin Bloomfield, Sophie Cubbin, Professor Paul Curran, Dr Graham Daborn, Lee Davis, Sophia Dixon, Professor Ron Douglas, Captain Tilmann Gabriel, Yemi Gbajobi, Louise Gordon, Sophie Gost, Helen Merrills, Erin Rooney, Jo Pentecost, Mark Perry, Dr Peter Popov, Alan Sallis, Dr Ruth Sealy, Matt Shipton, Elizabeth Starling, John Stevenson, Professor David Stupples, Bill Thompson, Professor Howard Tumber, Lindsey Venden, Dawn White, George Wigmore, Professor Daniel Wilsher and Veronika Witzke.

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prices announced for

citysport

The University’s new sports and fitness centre, CitySport on Goswell Road, is now in the final stages of development. It will open its doors on Monday 2nd February and will mark a new era in City’s sporting provision and performance.

Unlike other gyms in the area, there is no joining fee and the prices for staff membership starts from £32 per month and student membership from £22.50 per month.

These include access to the gym and classes.

Find out more www.citysport.org.uk

More information can be found at www.citysport.org.uk. The site also includes a virtual tour where you will see that CitySport is equipped with the latest and most sophisticated equipment available and offers a truly interactive fitness experience. As well as the gym, CitySport is also home to the new Saddlers Sports Hall, a vast space with world class courts for sports such as badminton, volleyball and basketball.

Green C i t y Week

This October, City turned Green to celebrate the sixth annual Green City Week. The series of events, run by the Sustainability Team, aims to encourage staff and students to live more sustainably, both at home and at the University.

For those who weren’t able to attend, here’s a roundup of what happened: The Square Meal Debate: “Why we need a new recipe for food, health, farming, animal welfare and wildlife”.

Chaired by Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, the debate brought together representatives from the Square Meal collaboration, a collective of ten organisations who have published a report calling for the UK government to ”fix our broken food system”. Representatives from five of the organisations, RSPB, Friends of the Earth, the Soil Association, Eating Better and the Food Research Collaboration (based at City) were joined by other leading experts in public health and sustainability to discuss the report and the issues it seeks to address. Over 170 people attended the event.

Cycle cinema ( Wayne’s World)

Anyone who came to watch the cult classic Wayne’s World had to cycle for their supper with the cinema powered entirely by pedal bikes. Members of the audience took turns to ride the bikes powering the cinema’s screen and sound. A unique combination of exercise and cinema, moviegoers enjoyed an experience made even more authentic by the popcorn and candyfloss.

Careers in Energy & Sustainability

A variety of speakers and experts from throughout the energy industry advised students on career options which will have a positive impact on the planet.

G r e e n D r a g o n s C e l e b r at i o n

The project which aims to take advantage of the expertise and ingenuity of City’s staff and students to make the University and the wider community more sustainable, has begun its second year. The programme kicked off with a celebration event with a canapé and wine reception to showcase some of the existing projects and to hear student ideas for new sustainability projects.

Charit y produce stall

The charity market stall run by Sodexo managed to raise £80 for the Stop Hunger charity by selling students fresh and healthy fruit and vegetables and offering culinary advice on how best to use them.

Ec o G a m e s

Students enjoyed playing eco-friendly games and learned a thing or two about water saving and energy efficiency.

U p c ycl i n g

wo r ksh o p

Michelle Reader, the artist who created City’s “Lady Muck” sculpture at last year’s Green City Week, was on hand to show participants how to create jewellery and wallets from recycled materials.

Barclay’s Cycle Hire road show

The folks from Cycle Hire were here to show staff and students how to use the scheme and to give the bikes a try. Discount memberships were offered to students.

M e a t

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M o n d a y s

The new refectory has taken on the concept of Meat Free Mondays introduced as part of last year’s Green Dragons. It is hoped Meat Free Mondays will continue beyond Green City Week and will take place in the Refectory once a month. Reducing the nation’s meat consumption by even one day will have a substantial effect on reducing water usage, greenhouse gases and fuel dependence.

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This August, after a competitive tendering process, the University awarded its catering contract for the Northampton Square campus to Sodexo. The company provides specialist catering, and facilities management to sectors including education, healthcare and business. City News went behind the scenes to see what was cooking with the new catering providers.

Cooking

up a storm

Find out more www.facebook.com/eatc1ty

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A lot has happened since the handover to Sodexo. The refectory has been refurbished, CityBar has reopened its doors and new chefs have been brought in to improve the food served to students, staff and at events hosted at the University. A busy time to say the least.

One of the drivers of change has been the appointment of Alan Sallis as the new Executive Chef. Alan arrived at City from his previous post as HSBC’s Executive Chef in Canary Wharf.

“It’s a very different culture from the corporate world of HSBC, but City presents a great and interesting challenge for us. We have the opportunity to put together excellent food and because of the broad range of clientele, we can be really creative,” Alan says.

The new menu will be offering all the student favourites such as freshly made pizzas in the new £10,000 pizza oven, secret recipe fried chicken at Yardbird, stuffed jacket potatoes and fresh sandwiches and salads.

There will also be a fortnightly guest menu. So far, students and staff have already been treated to the delectable flavours of Swanky

Frank’s Gourmet Hot Dogs, Boom Boom Patty Shack and La La Falafel.

“There are some fantastic food options in this part of London, so we have a real task to meet the high standards our staff and students expect. We have to give everyone options for food and drink. We also need to take into account the diverse nature of our population. We try to include cuisine from all over the world. There is a strong push to get fresher produce with as short a time as possible from farm to fork, in addition to using halal meat for our dishes,” Alan continues.

With these new developments, it is quite reassuring to know that all of this is being done under the watchful eye of head chef Lee Davis who has been at City for over 30 years.

“The catering is pretty unrecognisable from back when I started at City. When I came here, we had catered halls and the cuisine was more pies and sandwiches rather than the vast amount of choice we have today,” Lee says. In the decades that he has been at City, he has seen a plethora of changes, including several fellow chefs who have come and gone. “I think I’ve worked

under more than 10 different managers since I’ve been here. It sounds a lot but I think it has really helped to learn from different people. Each person has their own style and flavour palette and I think that has really helped develop my skills – all benefitting the people at City.”

Alongside the obvious changes to the food in restaurants and coffee shops, there have also been changes to the hospitality menu.

City hosts hundreds of meetings and events each year, many of which are catered. “We’re looking forward to working through the new menu at our events,” says Louise Gordon, Academic Events Manager in the Marketing & Communications Department. “Hospitality is so important for guests and can really complement the experience of an event.

Sodexo has been very flexible and offered us custom menus when required. The new online ordering system has been useful too and I look forward to seeing more of what they can do.” With all of the exciting food options available for everyone at City, the future is looking very tasty.

Chef Tony Clarke

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the eyes have it Recently returned from a trip around Africa to study the visual systems of deep sea fish, Professor Ron Douglas spoke to City News about fish eyes, their evolution and how they could one day be of therapeutic value for human ocular disease.

“This is one of the few professions in the world where you can still claim to do exploration,” says Professor Ron Douglas. “In reality, we are just irrelevant in terms of the total number, biomass and importance on Earth. Everything is deep sea. The rest is a little decoration on the surface.”

There is still very little known about our oceans. It is estimated that 95 per cent of this underwater world remains unexplored despite the fact that the oceans make up 71 per cent of the surface area of the Earth.

Searching the deep As Chair of Visual Science at City, Ron gets to investigate the optical systems of many wonderful things.

“To me deep sea fish are fascinating because the deep sea is such an extreme environment. So what these fish are looking at and how they see it is a really interesting question.”

The deep sea can be a dark and gloomy place, as even in clear water sunlight reaches no further than 1,000 metres below the surface. To compensate for this, deep sea fish have evolved some interesting solutions.

“Almost all have very sophisticated visual systems with big and fully functional eyes.

Most animals in the deep sea bioluminesce (they make their own light) so it’s the relationship between the bioluminescence and the visual system that is important.”

However studying these fish (and establishing what they see and how they see it) is no simple task, with the ships needed for such expeditions extremely expensive. “The techniques are also quite crude so it’s not always easy to catch what you’re after,” he adds.

Typically Ron uses two methods when trying to observe and catch the fish he is looking to study. The first involves using a net with a mouth the size of a football goal and

Find out more www.city.ac.uk/the-eyes-have-it

the second uses submersibles. To fish at 4,000m the net requires 15 km of wire and is towed behind the boat at a speed of just under 2 knots an hour. The problem is that with a small net and a low speed the catch isn’t always representative of what’s present that far below.

The issues are also comparable when using submersibles. Once locked inside with bolts from the outside, the ’subs’ (which are normally either a sphere or a long tube) are lowered into the sea and released enabling Ron to explore the depths for a day or so.

While the sights can be incredible there are major issues when it comes to exploring the ocean this way.

“The truth is that our ability to study the deep sea is severely limited as we can fish and use submersibles but many of the things that are there we never see as boat lights and engines scare most animals away,” says Ron.

“Everything is deep sea. The rest is a little decoration on the surface” African adventures

enables them to illuminate prey without the prey knowing they’re being observed.”

Flying from London via Johannesburg to Walvis Bay, a small ‘plane containing Ron and his colleagues landed on a tiny strip of desert on Namibia’s skeleton coast.

Following previous trips, the main aim of this expedition was to investigate two different fish, both of which display remarkable traits which have yet to be fully explained. The first concerned a family of fish known as dragon fish and the second a group of species known as spookfish, both of which have fascinating visual systems.

But Ron suspects that having their own ‘private wavelength’ may also have further benefits.

“When it comes to mating, a lot of fish flash light at each other to attract mates using bioluminescence. By doing that with blue light you may find a mate but you may also get eaten as other fish down there can see the light. But if you can make and see red light, only your mates can see you so you can reproduce as you like while remaining invisible to predators.”

Finding fish at the bottom of the ocean

But how do they detect the red light? The answer was something that no one was expecting, as Ron and his colleagues found that the fish see red light by using chlorophyll, a compound normally used by plants and bacteria in the process that turns light to energy.

If you were to dive down 100 meters and be unfortunate enough to cut yourself while swimming, you would bleed green instead of red as red light cannot travel that far in water.

Light is comprised of different wavelengths.

The longer wavelengths of light, such as red, are absorbed by the sea leaving the shorter wavelengths, such as blue and green, to travel more easily through the ocean. This is also why the oceans appear blue, but this phenomenon also has repercussions for deep sea vision.

“In the deep sea you really see only blue light, so all the animals down there have eyes that see blue only, except for one family of dragonfish which have special organs called photophores producing light. Some emit blue light but others strangely produce red light, so they are making light that nobody can see. So we looked at the eyes and found that they are incredibly sensitive to red light, so they have a private wavelength at the bottom of the sea. This

“Nobody believed me when I first suggested this,” said Ron. “In their eyes, the chlorophyll absorbs the red light, activating indirectly the other visual pigments which normally detect light. We think they may get the chlorophyll from colonies of bacteria living in their eyes and we were trying to get more evidence for it on this trip. If true, this would be a very big discovery.”

Since Ron first published his research in Nature in 1998, academics have taken chlorophyll and inserted it into the eyes of cows and other animals, subsequently improving their sensitivity to red light. When the researchers considered the reasons for this it was found that chlorophyll stabilises one of the eye’s visual pigments, known as rhodopsin. The degradation and destabilisation of rhodopsin is the basis of several retinal diseases so there is hope that chlorophyll could be used to stabilise rhodopsin in such human conditions and

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potentially provide a therapy for some forms of blindness.

The spookfish also have an unusual visual system. Instead of possessing one type of eye which uses a lens to focus light onto photosensitive receptor cells, the spookfish augment this visual system with another which is almost completely unknown in vertebrates.

Separated from the main eye is a visual system which works not unlike a radio telescope, using reflective guanine crystals, one of the constituent bases of DNA, to reflect light towards another set of photoreceptor cells independent to the main eye. This split structure allows the fish to see up and down at the same time. But the mystery of how such an incredible structure could evolve remains obscure.

Once back on land, Ron will continue to explore the visual systems of these creatures, using molecular biology, microscopy and computer modelling to try and establish how such wonderful eyes work. By sequencing their genes he will also gain an insight into their evolutionary history.

But while the implications are wide ranging, as one day such fish eyes could provide the keys to understanding common eye diseases and even provide the basis for cures for some sight-threatening diseases, there is still much work to be done. This is in many ways fitting as the deep sea continues to cling on to many of its secrets due to the difficulties associated with exploring it.

As a result, it will take Ron and other deep sea explorers many more years to uncover all the mysteries. As Ron says, “every time you go in a submersible you see something that hardly anyone has ever seen before and every third dive you see something nobody has seen before”. There is still much to discover.

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digital guardians Dr Peter Popov

In a space that could easily house a creative agency just off Exmouth Market, we find the office of Adelard LLP, the private company of City academics Professor Robin Bloomfield, Dr Peter Popov and Professor Peter Bishop.

Professor Peter Bishop

Professor Robin Bloomfield

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You wouldn’t necessarily know it from the outside, but this collective of unassuming academics is helping to protect the UK against cyber attacks: a world far removed from the advertising and marketing work being done in the surrounding offices.

Robin and his colleagues at City’s Centre for Software Reliability (CSR) have been awarded a £400,000 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant to assist with a project titled ‘Communicating and Evaluating Cyber Risk and Dependencies (CEDRICS)’. The CSR’s Professor of Software and System Dependability, Professor Robin Bloomfield, is the principal investigator, supported by co-investigators Professor Peter Bishop and Dr Peter Popov.

“It is fantastic and it sounds like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a fraction of the cost it will take to make a significant impact in the battle against cyber attacks,” says Robin about the grant.

The research project will look at the UK’s national cyber strategy and the need to protect against cyber threats to the UK’s critical national infrastructure which encompasses services such as public health, transportation and energy systems. It will assist in understanding and mitigating vulnerabilities from hackers or malware infiltrating vital systems.

Dr Popov explains the need for the research: “Hackers are getting better, more ‘high tech’ and more ambitious. It’s a tough task to stay ahead of the curve. We understand that you need to try and defend networks and infrastructure against a myriad of problems, be that deliberate attacks or accidental issues. Imagine it as a huge imaginary wall. On the other side of that wall, all someone who is trying to hack their way in needs to do is expose any kind of weakness and pick at it until they are in a position to do some damage.”

Professor Bishop noted: “The tools at hackers’ disposal are becoming more sophisticated. Due to the multi-purpose nature of the majority of software, it’s difficult to make such tools illegal. Even search engines are able to expose network vulnerabilities leaving the pathway open for hackers.”

The prevalence of hacking in modern society has become increasingly highlighted by high profile hacks like Stuxnet, which was allegedly used to sabotage the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran and Shellshock, which has been used for DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. These flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system and overload the connections, meaning new connections

can no longer be accepted. Shellshock and similar bugs have been used to attack Yahoo! and the United States Department of Defense in recent months.

When such systems are attacked in a major way, one of the main defences is for them to shut down to protect themselves. The loss of services can be extremely costly, both financially and in terms of impact.

The other big issue facing infrastructure is that the need to save time and resources has led to commoditisation and more data and resources being based in the ‘cloud’ and not in physical locations. Although this means that different infrastructures can interact more efficiently and in many ways is a positive, with more being online, the risk is far greater.

“That’s a big part of our research” says Robin. “We take into account embedded systems in critical infrastructure and the complex relationship between them. We will be building models to see where potential attacks will come from.”

“The other side of the research is the communication of risk. Once we have a better idea of where the threats lie, we need to deliver this message to Government and companies to make sure they protect themselves adequately. Safety will cost resources, but not to protect vulnerable systems, could prove a great deal more costly.”

With cyber threats being such an issue, the CSR team is not the only City team undertaking research in this area. Professor David Stupples from the School of Mathematics, Engineering & Computer Science, specialises in the research and development of networked electronic and radio systems. For much of the last year he examined the disappearance of flight MH370 and the potential to hijack a plane remotely.

In September he gave a talk on the issue at the 2014 Science and Information Conference.

His findings were worrying. “Are you able to cyberjack modern aeroplanes? In my opinion, yes. Although it would be difficult, it is very much possible using a cyber-bomb.

We need to work a great deal on making it more difficult for hackers to do this.”

Professor Stupples’ work doesn’t limit itself to the cyberjacking of planes, it has also examined other forms of transport, most recently trains and cars. Earlier this year, Professor Stupples looked at the security frailties of BMW cars, displaying how it was possible to hack in and steal the vehicles.

One of the most interesting things about the cyber threat is where it is coming from.

Hackers can be ‘terrorists’ or ‘criminals’ out to cause damage or to extort or steal money from

companies, but somewhat worryingly, it is often done as a sport or for fun. According to research taken at the Black Hat hacker conference by security firm Thycotic, over half of the surveyed hackers (51 per cent) hack everything they lay an eye on ‘just for fun or the thrill’, whereas a relatively low proportion of respondents (18 per cent) pursue material benefit.

Back at the Adelard offices however, there is a growing buzz of excitement about the research.

When asked what the most positive aspect of the grant is, Professor Bloomfield, who is distinctly modest about his achievements, is stirred into action. “I think the prospect of influencing government policy is particularly interesting to me.

Internationally recognised research with real world impact is really exciting,” he says.

This is just the most recent in a long line of achievements for Professor Bloomfield. He was recently elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, he is an independent member of the UK Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (NUSAC) and was the UK member of a NATO Research Task on dual use technologies. Recently he has been a member of the UK Treasury Engineering Infrastructure and Interdependencies Expert Group that supported the revised UK Infrastructure Plans.

Dr Popov also lights up at the benefits this will bring to City. “Next year we will be immediately implementing our findings in our Professional Masters Course in Cyber Security. This is a course for professionals already in the industry who can relate to the problems we are trying to overcome.”

“On top of the student development element, it also highlights us as one of the best centres in the country. It allows us to attract the very best students as they want to learn from a centre that is influential in the field,” he continues.

The department’s popularity has been reinforced with the news that City’s MSc in Data Science led by Course Director Dr Artur Garcez, which was launched in September, is one of the most popular new Masters courses in the country.

For an outsider, the future seems fairly bleak in the world of cyber security, although with a group of dedicated people like Professor Bloomfield, Dr Popov and their colleagues cultivating the next generation of digital guardians, the UK’s infrastructure and security may be in with a fighting chance.

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Over the last year, the physical landscape of the University has changed drastically. There have been new buildings, refurbishment to current buildings and new facilities. It has been a busy time for the University’s Property & Facilities team.

City News has constructed a guide to help us keep abreast of the changes.

Inside the new CityBar

Find out more www.city.ac.uk/building-the-vision

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Abacus House

Information Services staff are now settling into their new home at Abacus House on Whiskin Street, another new addition to our estate. The move will see the Myddelton Street Building dedicated to the School of Health Sciences.

This level of progress required construction work throughout the year and this approach will continue into 2015 when the University will break ground on yet more projects: not least the new clinics for the School of Health Sciences in Tait and the hugely important main entrance project.

Drysdale Building

Extensive work has been completed this year to provide high quality academic space and to support School plans. Anyone who has been to the new suite of lecture spaces in the Drysdale Building basement will immediately notice how light and airy rooms have been created from formerly dark and underused parts of the estate. This area will be all the more impressive when an adjoining area, complete with new light-wells and a striking new ‘lantern’, will be opened next year.

Tait and northampton Building

For the first time since Tait was constructed, University activity will be visible from street level, allowing a sense of interaction with our neighbours. The new lecture spaces on levels two and three will also improve the

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experiences for those attending lectures or seminars in the new facilities. The University has also seen the opening of the new student social space and CityBar. The second phase of the project will include a new area for clubs and societies on the first floor of Tait, further strengthening it as a student hub.

Franklin Building

The University is approaching the final fit out stage for the new home of CitySport at the former Finsbury Halls site on Goswell Road.

This facility is part of a wider development, the Franklin Building, which will house education facilities and office space, expanding capacity and strengthening the University’s presence around EC1V. The opening of this facility is a landmark for the University.

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A word with Captain Tilmann Gabriel

After several successful years in the aviation industry with international airlines such as Lufthansa and Qatar Airways both as pilot and executive, Captain Tilmann Gabriel joined City in September. With him comes a wealth of expertise, which will be passed on to our students as Captain Gabriel is the new Director of City’s aviation management postgraduate programmes.

City News sat down with Captain Gabriel to discuss his reasons for joining City and what he has in store for the programmes.

Find out more www.city.ac.uk/air-transport-management

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CN: How did you first get involved with the aviation industry?

TG: I’d always wanted to become a pilot, but when I applied to Lufthansa in the 1970s I was considered too tall. In those days, 6’ 2” was the limit and, as I’m 6’4”, I was ruled out. So, I gave up my flying dream and instead waited for a place to train as a doctor.

However, while I was waiting I met people who were my height and who were flying for Lufthansa. So I reapplied and was delighted to be accepted into Lufthansa’s pilot training programme.

After I started flying I took part in an exchange programme to the US which is where I met my wife. It is also where I was introduced to American football. While playing, I incurred a severe knee injury and was bed-ridden for five months. Even though I eventually returned to flying, the injury prompted me to study business administration and in the mid-1980s I became a fleet and training manager for Lufthansa pilots launching new fleets for the airline. I was the launch project leader for the airline’s first ever Bombardier regional jet service (short to medium-range turbofan powered airliners) and managed other exciting projects. New projects included developing technologies with Rockwell Collins to fly the regional jet with a head up guidance system, the original regional jet had no automatically controlled engines – it all had to be done manually. I subsequently became a training manager and CEO of several companies. This background is of immense value in my current role as so many programmes here are geared around training needs.

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

TG: My career has encompassed a wealth of exciting opportunities and I am so grateful for those I have had including working with great mentors. One of those experiences was in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down. With the fall of the wall, I became the first Lufthansa pilot to land in West Berlin. This was particularly poignant for me as Berlin is my home city. Later on, in 2008, I helped to launch Safi Airways, the first internationally compliant airline in Afghanistan. I led it for two years to a point of profitability.

Another highlight was when I was involved in the CHC Europe helicopter business. CHC was acquired by a New York-based investment company. They took me on to organise the European branch of CHC with six different AOCs (Aeronautical Operational Controls) in five different countries around the North Sea. All of the companies had their unique cultures.

I have been in the Middle East since 2003, where I have managed three different airlines. I established the business aviation subsidiary of Qatar Airways, Qatar Executive. In this role, I was able to enhance my knowledge about these three big airlines – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways. Those three form an aviation powerhouse not only in the Middle East, but in the global airline industry.

CN: What are the challenges of moving from industry consultancy into academia? What attracted you to City?

TG: The transition comes with challenges. The team running the aviation masters programmes is hardworking and does a great job and I need to be up to speed with the role very quickly. For example, I already evaluated vivas as part of student assessments for their final degrees. Obviously this is all new to me and while I have undertaken the University of Singapore MBA (specialising in global economics and supply chains) this is a new world and I ask for patience. However, I have throughout my career taken on roles which I had little or no previous knowledge about and done well in them, so I am convinced that I shall do well here.

I was drawn to the City aviation masters programmes because they are primarily industry-focussed. Other UK postgraduate aviation programmes are full-time and quite technical in nature.

The three MSc programmes – Air Safety Management, Air Transport Management and Aircraft Maintenance Management equip students with the skills they need to be successful in the industry.

My City academic colleagues have reminded me that in spite of my background I will need to bring non-commercial considerations to my reading of MSc dissertations (laughs). However, we are here to help our students become successful on the programme and we are working hard to build a network that will help to attract funding for research grants. We will be looking to grow and engage with our alumni network: establishing a blog for them is one of the first things we will do.

CN: What is your vision for City’s postgraduate aviation programmes?

TG: I am still in the process of getting my feet wet with many things to learn about City’s programmes. Professor Wootton has done an excellent job of building a very sophisticated and well respected set of programmes at City with over 400 students enrolled. Obviously they are geared to the fully employed aviation industry professional. The programmes are delivered in London, Frankfurt, Dubai and Bahrain. Alongside Dr Ivan Sikora and Cengiz Turkoglu and our administrative team, we are seeking to build a good organisation that is well-acquainted with hosting 400 students on a rotational basis at any given time period in a year. Our programmes run for a year and can start at any time. Once I have a full understanding of the programmes and my various responsibilities as Director here at City, I would like to expand the PhD research offering and gain access to more research funding; the aviation industry needs to benefit from greater research and our newly merged School is well placed to take exploit research opportunities in aviation. With my professional expertise and connections in the airline, business aviation and helicopter service industry, I see the potential in developing courses for these specific areas.

CN: Where do you see research potential?

TG: I have just read two City MSc dissertations which focus on helicopter operations in the oil and gas industry. The oil industry is of course very interested in safe helicopter transportation to oil platforms in the North Sea. The rapid changes within the airline industry emerging from the Middle East, Europe and the rest of the world, give rise to opportunities for our aviation programmes.

CN: What do you think the future holds for the students at City?

TG: There will be a need for around 500,000 pilots in the next 20 years worldwide. Boeing and Airbus plan to build and sell 30 to 40 thousand aircraft in the next three decades. It’s a big challenge. We not only have a new generation that has grown up with all kinds of electronic gadgets but we are challenged to motivate them to become pilots in an automated cockpit. Automation will also be a factor. We can expect to fly in a fully automated (pilotless) aircraft in the next five decades. There are opportunities here; it has been technically possible for many years though there is a need for emotional buy-in from passengers. This will provide plenty of dissertations for students here at City!

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By 2011, around 27,000 people were being subjected to immigration detention each year in the UK, at a cost of £130 million.

Immigration detention is a widespread practice in the UK and beyond. Thousands of vulnerable individuals are held for long periods without trial or proper access to adequate legal representation. Research undertaken at City has contributed to improvements in the treatment of detainees by influencing the legal framework and practices that govern detention. The work has led to courts and governments respecting better the fundamental rights of detainees.

Understanding detention

By 2011, around 27,000 people were being subjected to immigration detention each year in the UK, at a cost of £130 million. In the same year the USA detained 429,000 immigrants under such powers, at a cost of $1.7 billion.

Globally, the practice of detaining immigrants is increasing and because it is largely unregulated, government officials have great power to decide whom to detain and whom to release. Abuses of power are widespread.

Professor Daniel Wilsher, a Senior Lecturer at the City Law School, undertook research with the aim of developing legal and ethical standards to regulate immigration detention.

He produced a series of academic articles and a

book, ‘Immigration detention: law, history, politics’.

This was the first book-length study to take a global and historical approach to the topic of detention: it analysed extensively the historical practices and legal framework surrounding the global expansion of immigration detention.

The work highlighted how vulnerable migrants can be and showed that legal systems had found great difficulty in providing appropriate safeguards for immigrants.

Professor Wilsher proposed standards to inform policy-makers and other key figures to improve the balance between migration control and fundamental rights. Specifically, he argued for the importance of judicial review, time limits on detention and the elimination of detention of vulnerable groups such as children.

Making a difference

The UK Supreme Court cited Professor Wilsher’s work in a landmark decision which led the UK Government to repeal part of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act and rethink its counter-terrorism strategy. The case has been cited by judges in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and India on over 150 occasions when courts have had to decide

upon the appropriate limits for immigration detention.

A joint report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration drew extensively on Professor Wilsher’s work. He also worked as an expert consultant to the Turkish Ministry of the Interior to assist in drafting its rule-book for immigration detention facilities.

Professor Wilsher worked with Bail for Immigration Detainees, the leading UK charity dedicated to policy reform in the field of detention and the Global Detention Project (GDP) a research and campaigning body which aims to monitor detention globally. He helped GDP to design a framework for assessing and comparing detention centres across countries by reference to legal standards, which will help academics and NGOs worldwide to influence detention policy.

Professor Wilsher’s work to understand how the law is applied to detained immigrants has made him a global expert in the field. By working with governments and NGOs employed to improve detainees’ conditions, his research has the potential to improve the lives of vulnerable people around the world.

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reporters under fire City academics are helping protect journalists around the world whose lives are threatened as a result of their job: to report on matters of public interest.

In recent years journalists have become the target of a disturbingly high number of physical assaults including murders; and many forms of intimidation including judicial harassment by state authorities and wrongful imprisonment.

In a disproportionately large number of cases where journalists are the victims of attacks or murder, the offenders are not identified and the crimes go unpunished.

In a disproportionately large number of cases where journalists are the victims of attacks or murder, the offenders are not identified and the crimes go unpunished.

The Initiative on Journalists in Danger: Impunity and the Rule of Law was established in 2010 as a joint project between City’s Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism (CLJJ) and the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM).

The project was established to provide an independent platform to assess the effectiveness of existing legal, political and institutional safeguards against violence directed at journalists; and to present the case for more effective international mechanisms to counter such crimes of violence and to end impunity.

The Initiative is directed by Professor Howard Tumber from City and Professor Lorna Woods (formerly from City and now at The University of Essex) in addition to William Horsley and Professor Jackie Harrison from the University of Sheffield.

It has had a major impact on policy and influenced international legislation and NGO practices concerning human rights, freedom of information and protection of journalists. Its ground-breaking work and that of other campaign groups has contributed to the adoption of the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists, the Issue of

Impunity in 2010 and Implementation Strategy 2013-2014.

The root of the problem

In another strand of research, Professor Woods and Dr Carmen Draghici produced a study called Safety and Protection of Journalists: A Responsibility for the World, which aimed to identify the root of the phenomenon of impunity for violations of journalists’ rights and to suggest possible courses of action.

Dr Cecilia Dinardi has also produced a comprehensive database detailing key organisations in the protection of human rights, freedom of information and safety of journalists and proposed ways to enforce journalists’ rights and to protect them even in states where judiciaries are weak.

Public engagement: a game-changing conference

In June 2011 the academics staged the ‘Working Conference of the Initiative on Impunity and the Rule of Law’. The event, which was held at City, was attended by many stakeholders including senior members of

international and intergovernmental organisations such as UNESCO, journalists’ federations and expert NGOs including Amnesty, Reporters without Borders and the Red Cross. The conference also had the support of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a long-time advocate for the worldwide protection of journalists’ rights.

The Initiative has had a major impact on policy and influenced international legislation and NGO practices concerning human rights, freedom of information and protection of journalists.

The conclusions drawn from the meeting were presented at the UN Inter-Agency Meeting in Paris and the Initiative made recommendations which contributed to the UN’s decision to establish an inter-agency mechanism to monitor progress and assist countries in the development of legislation favouring freedom of expression.

In addition to the conference, the Initiative has created an international platform of academic and legal expertise comprising governmental and non-governmental representatives from organisations including International Bar Associations, the UK House of Lords, the UN, Media Legal Defence Initiative and International News Safety Institute to seek acceptance for fighting violence against journalists and the right of citizens to be informed.

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Meet the team: Students’ Union

Donna Niccolls

Miles Battye

Natalie Rajapakse

At universities up and down the country, one of the first ports of call for students is their Students’ Union: to find out about events, receive academic advice or buy the obligatory university hoodie.

City University London Students’ Union (CULSU) is no different. All full-time and parttime City students (including those on City validated courses) are automatically members of the Union and are eligible to use its services. CULSU’s services also extend to alumni with an alumni association membership card and staff who may join Clubs and Societies. City News spoke to the team to find out what they offer.

The day-to-day leadership of the Students’ Union lies with three full-time officers, who are supported by ten part-time student officers.

They are collectively known as the Executive Committee and are elected by the student membership every year. They approve and oversee all of the Union’s non-administrative policy and campaigns. These officers are:

Rima Amin – President

The Students’ Union President represents the views of students at the highest level within the University. Rima is responsible for taking the lead on campaigns that students are passionate about and is also the public face of the Union.

Issy Cooke Vice President Education

Alongside her team of Programme Representatives, Issy’s job is to make sure that the student educational experience is satisfactory. This can involve issues with programmes, assessments and feedback which are taken to Academic and Professional Services staff who attempt to resolve them.

Natalia Rajapakse Vice President Activities & Development

Natalia’s role is to ensure students receive the full University experience while they attend City, managing their involvement with societies, raising or giving money to charity or being part of a sports or media team.

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Max Grieve

Yemi Gbajobi

Rima Amin

Louis Cecile

In addition to the elected members of the Students’ Union team, many of the day-to-day student issues are managed by a several full-time members of staff.

Student Advocacy and Representation

Craig Stewart and David Quinn act as watchdogs, identifying barriers that may impact adversely on the student experience, while offering a confidential and impartial student advice service. It is also a place to connect students with appropriate campus and community resources.

Activities and Engagement

Miles Battye, who joined the team recently, oversees student activities projects supported

by the Students’ Union. This involves advising and supporting student society organisers and event planners. He plans Students’ Union social events and oversees provision for student community organisers through CULSU Societies, green sustainability projects and the City Students’ Union Media Team.

Representation & Democracy

Much of what the union does revolves around the concept of democracy. The day-to-day aspects of this work are facilitated by Max Grieve who covers election preparation and minutes the student meetings and committees that decide how the Union goes about its business. He provides the first line support of a training and support network for the database of Programme Representatives.

With over eight years’ experience looking after the interests of students, Yemi Gbajobi is well-equipped to take on the newly formed role of Chief Executive of City University London Students’ Union. Yemi joined City in November and will work on the development of a long term strategy for CULSU. Her goals are to place the Union at the heart of the student experience at City, ensuring students are well represented and that the Union is supporting them to develop their skills. Responsible to the Board of Trustees for the operational leadership and management of the Union, Yemi will keep track of its strategic delivery, financial performance and legal compliance. Before joining City, Yemi worked for several high profile institutions such as National Union of Students and London South Bank University Students’ Union.

Green Dragons

The Union manages the project which aims to help City people cultivate their ideas about improving sustainability at the University or in the local community. The scheme, which is led by Maria Xypaki, is open to students and staff who have identified opportunities to make a difference. Projects can benefit from funding and students are trained in the best way to turn their ideas into reality.

Student Union shop

The shop sells a variety of clothing and memorabilia giving students the chance to wear their alma mater’s insignia with pride.

The shop also sells tickets to events and classes organised by the union.

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The Conversation

More women on FTSE 100 boards, but still not enough

By Dr Ruth Sealy from the School of Arts & Social Sciences

The number of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies has reached 22.8% and 17.4% for FTSE 250 companies according to the latest Women on Boards Interim Report. This is significant progress for gender equality/diversity at the top level of business, marking an 82% increase in the number of women on FTSE 100 boards and a 124% increase for FTSE 250 companies.

The progress report was launched by Nicky Morgan and Jo Swinson, MPs and compiled by myself and my colleagues at the Cranfield School of Management. It monitors how the UK’s largest companies are complying with the Financial Reporting Council’s updated Corporate Governance Code.

Introduced in October 2012, changes to the code mean companies are now required to now include levels of diversity in their annual reports. Companies now need to report on their boardroom diversity policy, any measurable objectives set and progress against these objectives.

Diversity was also to feature as part of the board evaluation process.

Business strategy

From measuring the reality of the statistics on women in leadership and board positions across the top FTSE 350 companies, we aimed to comment on the extent to which gender diversity is becoming an integrated part of corporate strategy.

In March 2011, the Davies Report into women on boards identified a number of actions required to redress the significant gender imbalance in organisations’ leadership. This is still a major problem when there are women obtaining better qualifications than men, but not being

rewarded for their work commensurately.

In some professions this has been the case for more than 20 years.

Lord Davies set what was considered a stretch target of 25% women on boards by 2015, as the figure had plateaued at around 12% for a few years. His report cites a number of the many business case arguments for a better gender balance in company leadership teams. The strongest one for me is that of optimising how talent is managed and ensuring that the UK’s largest listed companies really are being run by the most talented individuals.

Significant progress

It is undoubtedly clear that significant progress has been made in the past three and a half years on increasing the overall proportion of female-held directorships in FTSE 350 companies. It was only in June this year that the last all-male board in the FTSE 100 finally appointed its first woman director and now only 28 out of the FTSE 250 boards remain all male.

With little more than a year left to reach the 25% target set by the government, the number of women now on FTSE 100 (22.8%) and FTSE 250 boards (17.4%) marks good progress after years of inertia. The momentum that has gathered is a testament to the many people involved in making this happen, but there is still some way to go.

What is also encouraging to see is the substantial number of companies reporting thoughtfully and in detail on various aspects of their diversity strategies. Some of the best examples of managing the talent pipeline cited in the report come from those companies in traditionally

male sectors, such as engineering, mining and resources. In the FTSE 100, the numbers of companies complying with some aspects of the amended Code have increased substantially in the past year.

The emphasis on clear and transparent reporting of gender metrics, measurable objectives and best practice across the boardrooms and senior management teams of our largest organisations is beginning to have an effect. This demonstrates that gender diversity is becoming an integral part of corporate strategy, which is only a good thing for businesses.

However, many fall far short of the code’s new guidelines and those companies with less than 25% of women on their boards need to take action now. They can learn from the number of their peers who have developed policies to prevent bias in recruitment and promotion and make an effort to increase the number of women executives.

We strongly recommend that all premiumlisted FTSE companies continue appointing one in three new directorships to a female candidate. All companies should also aim for 25% or more of their board directors to be women. They should continue to measure, monitor and report on gender diversity at all levels of the organisation and ensure it is promoted as part of an integrated talent management strategy.

Gender diversity at all levels of businesses is crucial if we want to see businesses reflect their customers and clients, and ultimately prosper. The data from female FTSE reports shows that ignoring the status quo or believing things will get better in time is not the answer – a targeted approach is needed.

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High powered computing aiding research As part of the University’s plan to produce world leading or internationally excellent research, Information Services has installed a High Performance Computer (HPC) called Solon. The HPC has a wealth of uses and is open for research and education purposes.

A HPC operates at a significantly more advanced level than a standard PC. Solon works by networking 160 processor cores through a high speed network called infiniband. To compare, the average desktop PC will have between one and four processor cores.

The advantage of having such a large number of processor cores is the HPC is able to run several programs at the same time through parallel execution. This is considerably faster than an average PC and allows the HPC to finish in hours jobs that would otherwise have taken weeks.

The scope of the HPC is vast. It has been used for financial modelling, ‘big data’ projects and computational fluid dynamics. Several applications have already been installed, including Matlab, Ansys, Starccm+ and Python.

One of the first people to take advantage of the new hardware is postgraduate

research student Veronika Witzke, who told us about some of her research.

Veronika’s work is in fluid dynamics, specifically the shear flows of the sun. This involves calculating the way in which a liquid or gas flows within given parameters. The research involves establishing flow variables with different conditions and observing if the differences affect flow. The simulation processes all of the information simultaneously by taking full advantage of the processor cores. Veronica uses a processor core for each simulation and is able to complete simulations within a couple of hours instead of the full day it would take on a normal PC. The HPC can also be used for a large number of small, similar jobs. Users can write programs that instruct the HPC to carry out such small jobs simultaneously, saving a great deal of time.

If you are interested in making use of the resource, or would like to learn more about High Performance Computing, please visit solon.city.ac.uk or email hpc@city.ac.uk

Find out more solon.city.ac.uk

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City welcomes the new Chancellor at the Lord Mayor’s Show On Friday 7th November, Alderman Alan Yarrow began his tenure as the 687th Lord Mayor of London. A specialist in investment banking, Alderman Yarrow is Chairman of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and the new Chancellor of City University London.

To welcome The Lord Mayor, large crowds gathered on Saturday 8th November to witness a tradition that has spanned nearly 800 years.

The Lord Mayor’s Show is one of the longestestablished and best-known annual events in London dating back to the time of King John, who issued the Royal Charter providing for a Mayor. The City of London’s copy of the Magna Carta from 1297 travelled through the capital during this year’s Lord Mayor’s Show.

THE FACTS 1215

the year King John, keen to win the support of the City, made the Mayor of London one of the first elected offices in the world.

254

the number of years the Lord Mayor’s gold State Coach has been in operation. It spends most of the year glittering impressively in the window at the Museum of London

500,000

the number of people who lined the streets of the City of London to watch the procession.

3,500

2

800th

the number of manholes along the route that were searched and sealed by security teams before the crowds arrived. plagues, plus a great fire, two world wars and a riot. None of which have managed to halt the procession.

The Lord Mayor’s Show will celebrate its 800th anniversary in 2015.

Forming at London Wall, the procession made its way through The City of London to The Royal Courts of Justice, before returning along the Victoria Embankment to Guildhall.

City was represented at the event by a vintage Routemaster bus carrying students and members of staff in academic dress.

Music was provided by City’s ‘Rhythms of the City’. The band, comprising City music students, academics and alumni, filled the streets with Samba.

Alderman Yarrow will be installed as Chancellor of City University London in December. Professor Paul Curran, ViceChancellor of the University commented: “City University London is the University of the City of London and we are proud

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

to have the Lord Mayor of London as our Chancellor. We look forward to installing Alderman Alan Yarrow as Chancellor and to working with him during the coming year.”

Alderman Yarrow is a member of the Policy & Resources and Establishment Committees and an Almoner of Christ’s Hospital. He is a Liveryman of the Fishmongers’ Company, the Glaziers’ Company and of the International Bankers’ Company and an honorary Liveryman of the Launderers’ Company, the Security Professional’s Company and the Scientific Instrument Makers’ Company. He served as Sheriff of the City of London from September 2011 until September 2012.

From the archive

After meeting Captain Tilmann Gabriel, City News continues the aeronautical theme with the latest image from the archive. This photo is of an early version of a City wind tunnel. There is very little information available about this photo, so if you know who this is and when it was taken, be sure to let the team know at citywire@city.ac.uk

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