City News Issue 27

Issue 27

BREAKING

NEWS

HEADLINES IT SEEMS • NOT EVERYTHING ONLINE IS AS IT SEEMS

•

NOT EVERYTHING

HELLO

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of City News. It seems there is no such thing as a slow news day any more. Brexit, Trump and the elections have all dominated the headlines recently, but it’s been a tough time for journalists. With the relatively new term ‘fake news’ being thrown at them, they are having to work twice as hard to restore credibility to the profession.

On page 8, we speak to Professor Jane Singer about how much influence fake news has had on the profession and what the industry is doing to fight back.

Health stories have been prominent in the news recently and this edition brings you two health-related research stories. On page 6 is Professor in Software Engineering, Professor George Spanoudakis’ research into hearing aids. Around 6.7 million people need hearing aids in the UK, yet according to the NHS, only around 1.4 million have them and of those, many don’t use them. George’s project aims to create a platform which can process data to find out what the problems are and how they can be addressed. On page 10 we speak to Senior Lecturer in Health Management, Dr Charitini Stavropoulou, about her research into the effect of the financial climate on our health, which considers one of the worst hit areas in the Eurozone, Greece.

Closer to home, over the last year, a team of dedicated staff has worked diligently to ensure City achieved the Bronze Athena SWAN Award which was confirmed earlier this year. Congratulations to all involved. On page 14, we explore what the achievement will mean for City staff.

Congratulations are something of a theme in this edition and on page 16, we include details on the winners of The President’s Awards. There were more nominations than ever so thank you to all who took the time.

For our more regular features, in ‘Meet the team’ we welcome the newlyformed Health & Safety Office and in our ‘A word with…’ segment, Susannah Marsden tells us all about Modernising Administration for Students.

As always, we hope you enjoy this issue and welcome your ideas and contributions for future editions of both City News and CityWire.

Simon Watts Head of Communications and Events

CONTENTS 4

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2

Campus life

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Mill-ing around

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Hearing the benefit of big data

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Fake news • Fake news • Fake news • Fake news •

10

Your money or your life: the impact of the financial crisis on health

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A word with… Susannah Marsden

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Diverse-City: City’s Athena SWAN Award

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The President’s Awards 2017

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Meet the Safety Office team

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Research focus: Fairness and the internet

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The Conversation article: Andy Warhol’s £6m selfie and how we can all now be famous for 15 minutes

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Looking after our neighbours

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The Bessemer exhibition

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IT’S YOUR MAGAZINE Comments and feedback are always welcome, as are suggestions for future editions such as exciting new research outputs or a 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 of London.

Back issues: https://issuu.com/cityuniversitylondon Editor: Demetri Petrou Deputy Editor: Jennifer Mills Tel: 020 7040 8783 Email: demetri.petrou.1@city.ac.uk THANK YOU... ...to all of this issue’s contributors: Paul H. Bessemer, Antonia Clarke, Professor Sir Paul Curran, Dr Graham Daborn, David Gilchrist, Daniel Harrison, Nicholas Hatzis, Professor Gianvito Lanzolla, Susannah Marsden, Morris Pamplin, Sandra Partington, Nicola Ranson, Abi Roper, Roshni Samra, Lorna Saunder, Professor Jane Singer, Dr Charitini Stavropoulou, Professor George Spanoudakis, Bijel Thakrar, Dr Tom van Laer and George Wigmore.

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CAMPUS LIFE

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LEARNING AT CITY CONFERENCE

CITY ACHIEVES ATHENA SWAN BRONZE AWARD City has been recognised for its commitment to gender equality by achieving the Bronze Award as part of the Athena SWAN Charter.

City submitted its Bronze Award application to the Equality Challenge Unit last November. The SelfAssessment Team and Gender Equality Working Group led the development of the submission under the new Athena SWAN scheme and received news of the outcome in April.

The Award will enable wider changes to the City working culture for the benefit of all.

Read more about the Athena SWAN Award on page 14.

DON’T MISS ON YAMMER SUSTAINABLE CITY

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate this year’s Sustainable City Challenge at our awards event.

Massive CONGRATULATIONS to all of the winners!

Overall winner Library Services Team participation Development and Alumni Relations Manager of the Year Matthew Such Most Improved Team Student and Academic Services Extra Mile Project of the Year Community Gardening (Marketing and Communications & Student and Academic Services)

TEF RESULTS The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) announced that City has received a Silver award in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

The TEF is a new government initiative designed to encourage further the enhancement of quality in teaching and learning in Higher Education.

The ninth annual Learning at City Conference took place on Wednesday 21st June and saw over 150 attendees, both internal and external.

The Conference gave participants an opportunity to exchange ideas; and celebrate, promote and disseminate good practice in learning and teaching in higher education.

MADE@CITY Made@City, the annual showcase of the best student final-year enterprise projects, was held on Tuesday 20th June.

Students from all five Schools presented projects that included virtual reality games, robots and food made from insects. Attendees on the night voted for their favourite and the winner City Law student Hannan Hashmi (LLB Law) received the £1,000 prize for his project Codify Law, which is an artificial intelligence powered contract analytics platform which halves the time needed for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and high street law firms to complete the contract review process.

Academic excellence for business and the professions

CELEBRATING THE THINKERS, TINKERERS & INNOVATORS. Explore the annual, end of year exhibition showcasing City’s best final year and postgraduate student project work involving innovation, creativity, technology and design.

Tuesday 20th June 2017, 17:00 – 20:00 CityBar, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB Free entry www.city.ac.uk

Find out more, visit www.city.ac.uk/made-at-city

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CASE STUDY CIT Y CAREERS City Careers was aware that the way students are consuming information is changing, as Careers Consultant Antonia Clarke explains: “Society is just so much more visual now, on any website, myself included, we just go straight to the video clips. For that reason we wanted to look at ways of engaging with students and capturing their attention.”

After contacting The MILL, Antonia started working on screencasts which allowed presentations with a voice-over to be broken down into sections to make it easier for students to digest the information.

Another way in which City Careers has utilised the equipment and expertise of The MILL is by making daily Career Consultant sessions available as online webinars. This means students don’t have to be present and can join the session from home.

The technology also helped David Gilchrist, Careers Consultant, in partnership with Development & Alumni Relations, Outreach and The MILL, in delivering three webinars to recent alumni who are based all over the world, but can still access support and advice and remain engaged with the City community through webinars.

Antonia says, “You feel you are creating something for students to which they respond really positively.”

MILL-ING AROUND In recent years technology has become an intrinsic part of everyday life. We now consume our news, catch up with friends and do our shopping online. This is especially true for the younger generations. Many of the students heading to university this year were born at the time e-commerce became mainstream, MP3 players became widely available and the millennium bug threatened to cause digital chaos.

The introduction of the government’s

To keep such students engaged, education needs to keep up with their digital expectations. Many academics are beginning to move away from the traditional lecture format, through which students are expected to listen and absorb information. Many are also experimenting with the ‘flipped learning’ approach whereby students digest the information in their own time prior to a lecture, so that the teaching time can be used to explore the topic in more detail and discuss

“Generation Z, the demographic cohort after the Millennials, has grown up with technology and it is central to learning” Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) recognises and rewards excellent learning and teaching, reflecting the need for innovation and digitisation within education and giving a clear signal that the quality of teaching is as important as the quality of research for universities.

Generation Z, the demographic cohort after the Millennials, has grown up with technology and it is central to learning. A white paper by SAGE Publishing noted that around 80 per cent of students voluntarily watch online videos to enhance their understanding of a topic.

finer points.

This is especially useful for international students for whom English is a second language as they can go through the learning material, whether it be a video or a podcast, at their own pace and repeat it as many times as necessary.

One way of achieving this is the new glass writing screen in the Digital Production Studio which is available for staff to use through Learning Enhancement & Development (LEaD).

A sample video created by Professor John Carlton, Professor of Maritime Engineering, shows the innovative ways the screen can be used to engage

CASE STUDIES

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USE OF VIDEO AT CITY 2013

410,796 MEGABYTES UPLOADED

students with topics prior to scheduled teaching times.

This is one of several facilities available to staff through The Media and Innovation Learning Lab (The MILL) which was launched in 2011 to enable the creation of high quality and visually striking learning materials.

Through The MILL, staff have access to a wide range of equipment and technologies including a soundproofed digital production studio with two HD cameras, autocue, green screen and a control booth; two multimedia production booths with an iMac and professional microphone; camera kits comprising an HD video camera, tripod and wireless microphone; iPads; audio recorders; GoPRO action cameras; high-spec laptops; and lighting kits.

The available equipment, the expertise of staff in the Educational Technology team and one-to-one consultation enable staff to produce and use videos, podcasts, video editing, screen-casting and webconferencing to enhance their teaching and create more engagement with their students.

13HRS 54MINS 30SECS WATCHED

2016

1,608,310 MEGABYTES UPLOADED

102HRS 54MINS 0SECS WATCHED

CIT YSCAPE (CIT Y SIMULATED COMMUNIT Y AND PRACTICE ENVIRONMENT ) Lorna Saunder, Lecturer in Mental Health and Social Care, was looking for an interactive, engaging and realistic way of teaching earlystage healthcare professionals, particularly nursing students, about working with people with learning disabilities.

In collaboration with The MILL and with expert guidance and advice from Sandra Partington, Senior Educational Technologist, Lorna started planning the concept and content of the learning resource which uses video, branched video (a process in which linked videos change depending on viewers’ choices), audio interviews and interactive quizzes in a blended learning format which allows students to learn from making decisions in real-world scenarios.

They then have the opportunity in the classroom to discuss and clarify points that may have been raised during the scenarios.

The learning platform was built in Moodle and allows remote collaboration between Lorna and The MILL. Using Moodle also made it easy to distribute the interactive content through relevant courses and academics.

CitySCaPE, a multimedia simulated reality learning package targeted at improving healthcare for people with learning disabilities, won the Health Education North Central and East London (HENCEL) Quality Awards 2015 for innovation in healthcare education and training.

Lorna explains, “Ideally I would love CitySCaPE to be rolled out across every university in the country as I think there is value in it for all student entering the healthcare profession.”

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/THE-MILL

ABI ROPER, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, DIVISION OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION SCIENCE Speech and Language Therapist Abi Roper is based in the Division of Language and Communication Science (LCS) and the Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design at City.

Working with other members of the City aphasia research team in LCS, Abi has created a video library of colleagues discussing their research projects on aphasia.

Aphasia is a language difficulty which affects around a third of people who have suffered strokes.

It causes difficulties in producing speech, understanding speech and in reading and writing. Videos provide a helpful way to support understanding when a person has problems with reading and complicated language. The videos created by Abi and colleagues consist of a simple talking head with text support to communicate a clear summary of each research project. Abi also created video case studies of people with aphasia talking about themselves and how they have supported the research at City.

You can see her work online at: www.vimeo.com/aphasiatech and www.bit.ly/2sbIjDG. To create the videos, Abi borrowed high quality equipment from The MILL, including video cameras, lapel microphones, tripods and lights. She started by working closely with staff at The MILL, learning how to use the filming equipment and editing software: “Over time and with some training on the video cameras I gained confidence and skills in making the videos. The MILL has changed from a source of teaching to a source of advice over the time I have been using the equipment.

“My advice for others is to get to know The MILL. The staff are really friendly and supportive and there’s a wealth of equipment and resources available. Let your imagination run wild. I’ve learned how important and useful video can be to introduce a new audience to your work.”

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Hearing the benefit of big data According to national charity Action on Hearing Loss, one in six people in the UK, approximately 11 million people, have some form of hearing loss. Around 6.7 million people could benefit from hearing aids yet according to the NHS, only around 1.4 million have them. Of those, many don’t use them.

The statistics beg the question, if there is help available, why do people choose not to receive it? This is one of the questions asked by Professor George Spanoudakis, Professor in Software Engineering, who leads a research and innovation project called Evotion which means ‘good ear’ in Greek. Evotion is a European consortium of large hospitals, including Guys’ and St Thomas’ and the UCL hospitals; public health authorities and policy experts; leading hearing aid manufacturers; and academic institutions including City.

“As an academic, I want to have as much data as possible.

If there is a problem, I want to find the solution,” George explains. “We know that people have a problem with hearing aids and as it stands, there are not enough data to identify the underlying issues. The aim of the project is to collect dynamic information on users and address the issues.”

HEARING AIDS Hearing aids consist of three basic parts: microphone, amplifier and speaker. While there are many different types of hearing aids, even the most basic have several settings and programmes which need to be adjusted depending on different listening situations.

“We can use the collected information to improve the user experience. For example, if the settings aren’t being changed often enough, then we know they aren’t being used properly, meaning the user isn’t gaining the best experience. With hearing issues, which are commonly associated with age, it is important to make the mechanisms as easy to use as possible. Wrong settings can be incredibly uncomfortable for the wearer.”

The ethics for the study have now been approved and soon, a sample group of test users will receive new stateof-the-art hearing aids, which will collect data on their usage and send it to the team to be interpreted.

P R O CESSI N G T H E DATA What makes the nearly €550,000 EU-funded project even more interesting is the development of the platform which will be used to process the data. The data collection is relatively straightforward. The challenge is to create a platform in which people can process the complex data and have a finished set of information which will help them develop solutions.

“There are many goals from the research,” explains George. “If we are able to help progress current hearing aid technology, for example to make them auto adjust, that could be potentially life changing.”

“Eventually, the aim is not just to help individual patients but to use the data to inform policy and help thousands if not millions who have hearing problems,” he concludes.

Hearing loss is the result of sound signals not reaching the brain. There are two main types of hearing loss, depending on where the problem lies.

Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by damage to the sensitive hair cells inside the inner ear or damage to the auditory nerve.

This occurs naturally with age or as a result of injury.

Conductive hearing loss happens when sounds are unable to pass from your outer ear to your inner ear, often because of a blockage such as earwax or glue ear.

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

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FAKE NEWS On 4th December 2016, a man entered a pizzeria, Comet Ping Pong, in Washington DC with a gun and opened fire. He had read an online conspiracy theory that the restaurant was purported to be the headquarters of a child sex ring run by Hillary Clinton. The ‘Pizzagate’ story, which originated on message boards such as 4chan and Reddit, had subscribers convinced by the apparent ‘code’ within the hacked emails of John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chair and the fact the restaurant has the same initials as ‘child pornography’.

The story was carried by fake news sites like ‘infowars’, which receives 36 million views a month and several other right wing websites known for publishing fake news. An online poll of 1,224 registered voters in late September found that 14 per cent of Trump supporters believed the story to be true. A significant 32 per cent of respondents were ‘not sure’, just like the 25-year-old gunman who, though not convinced of the theory, felt there were sufficient grounds to pay a visit to the restaurant to ‘self-investigate’.

Fortunately, nobody was injured in the incident, but this was one of the first high-profile, real-world incidents of the fake news era.

NO SURPRISE Stories like this do not surprise Professor Jane Singer, Professor of Journalism Innovation. “It is understandable that ‘fake news’ is a bigger issue than ever given our social media news diet. Much of this ‘news’ is coming from people whom we know and trust, so we don’t respond critically as we would with more established news sources. We increasingly find ourselves in a phenomenon known as a ‘filter bubble’ where we play into things we want to believe.”

As technology becomes smarter, personalised searches through search engines develop algorithms that guess selectively what information users would like to see based on information about them (such as location, pastclick behaviour and search history).

FACTS

As a result, users become separated from information that disagrees with their viewpoints, effectively isolating them in their own cultural or ideological bubbles. Social media magnifies this experience as that information has further reinforcement.

According to last year’s Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, based on a YouGov survey of over 50,000 online news consumers in 26 countries, half of the sample (51 per cent) say they use social media as a source of news each week. Around one in ten (12 per cent) say it is their main source. More than a quarter (28 per cent) of 18 to 24 year olds said that social media is their main source of news, more than television (24 per cent).

BAD JOURNALISM

ikipedia says...

One of the earliest instances of fake news was the Great Moon Hoax of 1835. The New York Sun published articles about a real-life astronomer and a made-up colleague who, according to the hoax, had observed bizarre life on the moon. The fictionalized articles successfully attracted new subscribers, and the penny paper suffered very little backlash after it admitted the series had been a hoax the next month.

A ‘MAN-BAT’ FROM THE MOON

“While the rise of social media must take some of the blame, journalism also needs to share some of the responsibility. While there is a substantial difference between bad journalism and fake news, it is with the discrediting of mainstream journalism that alternative news sources become more sought” Jane adds.

There have been several high-profile stories that have gone on to discredit the profession. It was a news article that was later found to be false which was used as a basis for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. On 7th September 2002, Judith Miller, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist for the New York Times wrote an article with fellow reporter Michael R. Gordon reporting the interception of ‘metal tubes’ bound for Iraq. Her front-page story quoted unnamed ‘American officials’ and ‘American intelligence experts’ who said the tubes were intended to be used to enrich nuclear material and cited unnamed ‘Bush administration officials’ who claimed that, in recent months, Iraq had “stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and had embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb”.

Shortly after, the article was cited

by Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell

“It is understandable that ‘fake news’ is a bigger issue than ever given our social me

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and Donald Rumsfeld as part of a justification to go to war. On 20th March 2003, the war in Iraq began, an action in which the consequences are still felt today, nearly 15 years later.

THE LAW

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Filter bubbles result from personalised searches when a website algorithm selectively guesses what information a user would like to see based on information about the user (such as location, past click-behavior and search history). As a result, users become separated from information that disagrees with their viewpoints, effectively isolating them in their own cultural or ideological bubbles.

“Unfortunately, there is no overall legal obligation for general news to be truthful,” explains Nicholas Hatzis, Senior Lecturer in The City Law School who specialises in media law and freedom of speech.

“The law deals with details and while there are specific obligations to be truthful on specific matters, for example tax returns or testimony to the police and courts, there isn’t a legal obligation for things that are in the general public forum, i.e. political views. Free speech exists and while it is vital to society that we have it, there are also some negative consequences. To take legal action, you must be able to prove specific harm, which in the case of media is very difficult to determine. It would also be problematic to flood the courts with cases every time someone didn’t agree with a news column.”

With little legal recourse, we have to rely on the strength of journalism to set things straight. “We are seeing some fight back from journalists to restore the public’s faith,” Jane concurs.

Since the publicity of fake news, as a potential attempt to self-police the industry there has been a rise in factchecking resources to disprove false information. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is launching a crowd-funded news service to help combat fake news. The entrepreneur has created Wikitribune, a news initiative which says it will see professional journalists and community contributors produce fact-checked, global news stories.

“As academic journalists, our responsibility is greater than ever. We must educate new journalists to do their best to report accurately what’s verifiably true and to own up to any mistakes they might make and to fix them promptly,” Jane concludes.

edia news diet. Much of this ‘news’ is coming from people whom we know and trust”

YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE: THE IMPACT OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS ON HEALTH

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In 2007 the bubble burst on the sub-prime mortgage market in the US. This developed into a full-blown international banking crisis with the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Massive bailouts of financial institutions and other palliative monetary and fiscal policies were employed to prevent a possible collapse of the world’s financial system. Despite the measure, the crisis was followed by a global economic downturn. The effect spread and soon Europe was in the midst of its own debt crisis affecting the Eurozone banking system.

This backdrop led one City academic to ask the question: ‘what happens to people’s health during a financial downturn?’ Two years ago, Senior Lecturer in Health Management, Dr Charitini Stavropoulou, began research into how public health is affected by financial crises. “We began

by conducting a systematic review of any evidence already available. 41 studies met the inclusion criteria and focused on suicide, mental health, self-rated health, mortality and other health outcomes.

“Most published studies on the impact of financial crisis on health in Europe had a substantial risk of bias so the results were cautiously interpreted.

Overall, the financial crisis in Europe seemed to have had varied effects on health outcomes according to the research which was published in the British Medical Journal. The most consistent evidence was for suicides and mental health in which there was a distinct rise. Although there were differences across countries and groups, there was some indication that suicides increased during the financial crisis, particularly among men. Studies looking at mental health problems found similar increases, but these results were more mixed.

Women seemed to be more affected by mental health problems than men.”

More data needed While the research was valuable, it also highlighted a need for better empirical studies, especially those focused on identifying mechanisms that can mitigate the adverse effects of the crisis.

This led to a second piece of research focusing on mortality rates before and during an economic crisis. Given the scope of the project, the team decided to focus on a particular region, Greece.

Greece was one of the countries most affected by the economic crisis. In 2008, it became the first EU country to require an Economic Adjustment Programme, otherwise known as a bailout package from the European Commission on behalf of the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In exchange for European

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Medical impacts With this being a more focused study, she was able to note more specific trends. “One of the biggest things

111,000 Greek companies went bankrupt in 2011

funding, Greece was forced to impose strict fiscal austerity. In 2011, the share of the population living ‘at risk of poverty or social exclusion’ rose sharply above 33 per cent, with the EU27-average being 23.4 per cent.

In the same year, its GDP had its worst decline dropping by 6.9 per cent. 111,000 Greek companies went bankrupt (27 per cent higher than in 2010). Unemployment also grew from 7.5 per cent in September 2008 to a record high of 25.1 per cent in July 2012, with youth unemployment as high as 55 per cent. These conditions provided a perfect case study for Charitini’s research. “There is a clear correlation between financial crisis and the decrease in certain health outcomes,” she confirms.

we noticed was a definite impact on medical errors which rose sharply in Greece post-2008, which would be consistent with expectations following such substantial financial cuts. There were also some positive trends as a result of the crisis, similar to what previous literature has shown. The number of deaths due to road traffic accidents had decreased, likely caused by fewer people being able to afford the running costs associated with having a car.” Despite this, the study, which was published in The Lancet Public Health, found that the crisis in Greece resulted in an extra 242 deaths per month, with deaths from diseases of the nervous system such as Alzheimer’s also increasing. “In general, we found that the over 65s were the most affected.

This is fairly logical as they tend to be the biggest users of the health service.

They also saw their pensions cut so had a tangibly diminishing quality of life.”

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/HEALTH-SERVICESRESEARCH-AND-MANAGEMENT

Next steps Not resting on her laurels, the next piece of Charitini’s research is already in the planning phase. “The next step is to explore the relationship between mortality and employment status, using individual data. Hopefully this will give us a more complete picture on the theme and will help us explore the causal relationship between financial conditions and mortality.”

Back on home soil, healthcare has been a hot topic. The NHS seems to be at capacity and with funding being cut, could the UK expect to see the same kind of repercussions as Greece?

“While the context is different, the pattern is similar. While the situation is difficult and more is expected with less resource, it is important to protect what we have. If anything deserves to be ring-fenced, it should be health and social care,” Charitini concludes.

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A word with Susannah Marsden Susannah Marsden is Director of Student & Academic Services (S&AS) at City, but that tells only half her story. Susannah has one of the most rounded views of City having been a student and junior member of staff, working her way to Director. City News speaks to Susannah to discuss the changes she has seen and the latest activity she is overseeing, ‘Modernising Administration for Students’, a portfolio of projects designed to improve the experiences of both staff and students.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/ABOUT/EDUCATION/ ACADEMIC-SERVICES

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CN: How long have you been at City?

SM: : I’ve been here for a very long time! I did my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees here so I have made the journey both as a student and a member of staff. I finished my degree on the Friday and began working for City on the Monday, so it’s fair to say City is in the blood. My first role was as an Administrator in the Music Department. My undergraduate degree was in Music so working in the Department managed to feed my desire to be in and around music while taking advantage of my administrative skills. Over the years, as my role has evolved and been less about the creative industries, I have managed to keep in touch with that passion outside the work I do at City. I have external roles at creative organisations such as Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama and the National Centre for Circus Arts, where I was on the Board of Trustees for nine years. I am now in my eighth role at City and I oversee 125 staff across five divisions.

CN: How has City changed in that time?

SM: I have seen five Vice-Chancellors and a President in my time at City, so have observed many differences in styles and priorities in that time. But the most obvious I’d say is the estate.

Kevin Gibbons and the Property & Facilities team have done a wonderful job over the last few years. Our site is a great blend of the traditional and the contemporary and our facilities are far superior to a lot of our competitors. Some of our projects have been ambitious but have reflected our goals as an organisation.

CN: What are the biggest challenges you face and what do you enjoy the most?

SM: I think the biggest challenge is the volume of change Student & Academic Services is leading or coordinating for City. Our remit has increased significantly during the past couple of years and most recently we have been coordinating City’s response to government initiatives such as the Teaching Excellence Framework, the Competition and Markets Authority and Prevent. In addition, we are also constantly evolving to meet changing students’ needs and City’s new Vision & Strategy 2026.

All of this means we have to change the way in which we do things which has required us to adapt our resources to suit a constantly moving environment. Keeping S&AS staff engaged and supported though this is my top priority and that requires significant time. In terms of

successes, there are a great deal, but the thing I enjoy the most is seeing the successes within the Service. This could be a colleague succeeding in a challenge they felt they could not overcome, through to the sector-leading work we do in student mentoring. It gives me a great sense of pride to see staff excelling.

everything at their fingertips. Emails, social media, videos and anything else you can fit on a smartphone or laptop. Technology has evolved immeasurably in the last decade and we need to try to keep up and supply students with information in the way that they receive it outside. Hopefully, by the end of this work, we will be able to address as many needs as CN: City’s President recently announced the possible. In terms of staff, they are expected to launch of the Modernising Administration for do a lot more with the same level of resourcing, Students (MAfS) portfolio to staff. What does so it is important for us to make their jobs as that entail? easy as possible, especially by moving away from manual processes. Engaging colleagues SM: While a great deal of what we do at City is in the change process as much as possible also sector-leading, some of our underpinning offers opportunities to get involved, which is systems and processes that support the particularly valuable for professional staff and day-to-day student journey are behind our their professional development. competitors. This ranges from basics such as how we best use the student record through to CN: Did you always want to work how we communicate with our students. in education?

There are universities that have all-singing, all-dancing fully-integrated technological SM: My original plan was to work in arts platforms that deliver services to students education but career paths can often take more effectively, but to do this well they have unanticipated twists and turns! I’m very happy had to revisit their underpinning processes with the portfolio of experience I have gained behind the scenes. MAfS is a three-year through my roles in higher education and the initiative designed to address some of these arts-related opportunities and I reckon I’ve issues, led by Melanie Sanderson and her ended up (and partly through design!) with the team in collaboration with staff across City. right balance for me.

An extensive scoping exercise took place with staff and students to identify our needs and CN: What do you do in your City’s Executive Committee takes the final spare time? decision on prioritisation. Top priority is work that supports aspects of student progression SM: Family and friends dominate much of my because of City’s strategic priority to improve. spare time. As we’ve probably established, the We are also doing extensive preliminary work creative industries, in particular music, are a on management information and student big part of my life. I play the piano and like to communications to assess what staff and play as often as I can. I have had some mild students need. The solution to all this work success playing in a few bands over the years. isn’t just a matter of spending money on a Some years ago, I appeared on the Jools piece of software. It is about Academic and Holland Show with a band called the Professional Services staff working together to Tindersticks and on a John Peel Session with review our processes, integrate our systems another band. I have also been a part of a band and work collaboratively for the benefit of called the Free French. We put out a few CDs students and staff. The MAfS Board has but I won’t be giving up the day job at any point representation from every School, the SU and soon! several of the Professional Services. That collective input and expertise is invaluable to CN: Any recommendations for inform the direction of the work. new staff?

CN: How will this change the student experience and will it benefit staff?

SM: Given our new Vision & Strategy 2026 and the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework and its link to increasing student fees, student satisfaction and success are more paramount than ever. We want to make things as easy as possible for students to be able to dedicate their time to studying and graduating from City. In their personal lives, people have

SM: Given the area we’re in, I’d encourage all new staff to explore local cultural opportunities.

Saddlers Wells and the Barbican are a stone’s throw away. There are also many smaller theatres and music venues which warrant a visit. While I have a personal interest in it, I recommend the National Centre for Circus Arts Degree Shows in Hoxton which are always a great spectacle.

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DIVERSE-CITY:

City’s Athena SWAN Award According to the UN, in 2017, of the 196 countries in the world, only 10 women are serving as Head of State and 9 are serving as Head of Government. Only 22.8 per cent of all national parliamentarians were women in June 2016.

In the 810 active companies on the Fortune 1,000, women hold 19.7 per cent of board seats. Of the companies that are no longer on the index, over 55 per cent had only one or no women on their boards.

In 2015, only half of the world’s working-age women were in the workforce, compared to 77 per cent of working-age men. Women with full-time jobs still earn only about 77 per cent of their male counterparts’ earnings. In higher education (HE), as stated by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in the UK, only around 24 per cent of university professors are female despite the fact that women make up 45 per cent of the academic workforce.

It’s for reasons like these that the Equality Challenge Unit, an organisation which works to further and support equality and diversity for staff and students in HE across the UK, was established. More specifically the Athena SWAN programme was first established in 2005 to advance the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) employment in HE and research.

In May 2015 that Charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business, law, in professional and support roles and for

trans staff and students. The Charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, not just barriers to progression that affect women.

ATHENA SWAN AND CIT Y

City became a member of the Athena SWAN Charter in February 2014. It supports institutions to raise their Equality and Diversity profiles, both internally and externally and provides a framework on which to build on current good practice.

Over the last year, the Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team (SAT) led by Professor in Economics, Professor Giulia Iori and City’s Vice-President (Strategy & Planning) Professor Richard Verrall and joined by staff from across the institution, worked diligently to submit an application and demonstrate City’s commitment to addressing gender equality issues.

This group was supported by the wider Gender Equality Working Group which comprised around 50 City staff with an interest in the area.

In April 2017 this hard work was rewarded when City was successful in obtaining the Athena SWAN Bronze Award which recognised a solid foundation for eliminating gender bias and developing an inclusive culture that values all staff.

According to Giulia, “Achieving the Athena SWAN Bronze Award is a significant achievement for City. The Gender Equality Project is committed to making long-term changes which

embed positive cultures and behaviour across the institution. Implementation of the Athena SWAN Action Plan is one way in which we will continue to do this.”

Part of the process is embracing the principles of the Charter in addressing barriers to gender equality which can prevail in the HE sector. These include taking action at institution and department levels and monitoring progress towards an organisational culture where everyone can thrive, are equally valued and experience equality of opportunity for career progression.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR STAFF AND STUDENTS?

To receive the Award, City agreed to an Action Plan which covered five themes and work has already begun to implement the Plan.

Institutional Strategy and Governance: Equality & Diversity is now part of the Executive Committee’s ‘Big Six’, so will receive as much attention at a strategic level as issues like Student Satisfaction, Financial Sustainability and Research Inputs & Outputs. To ensure that this is led from the top, a Vice-President role to lead on Equality & Diversity has been designated and the recruitment process is underway.

The theme has also taken prime focus in City’s Vision & Strategy 2026.

Policy, Procedures and Practice To ensure that equality is embedded into the future of City, policies will be amended to take this into account.

These will include policies on

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/ATHENA-SWAN

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remuneration, academic promotions and training, in addition to ensuring they are more ‘family-friendly’.

Recruitment, Retention and Development There is now an active target to increase the representation of women in senior roles. There is an objective of 30 per cent female Professors and 50 per cent Grade 9 Professional Services staff by 2021. There is also an aim to increase the representation of women on senior committees with a target of a minimum of 30 per cent female representation.

Raising the Profile of Gender Equality E

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It is important that gender representation is overtly obvious to everyone within and outside City, not just something that happens behind the scenes. Marketing &

Communications have guidance in place to ensure that where possible, staff are equally represented in all external publications and events.

Internally, an Athena SWAN Award for Equality & Diversity is a category in The President’s Awards, rewarding those that go above and beyond in the name of Equality & Diversity. All Schools have committed to apply for further Athena SWAN Awards by November 2018.

Monitoring and Reporting To ensure that agreed actions are implemented, City has appointed an Athena SWAN Manager to monitor progress of the Action Plan and provide coordination and support for School applications. Some Schools have also identified Athena SWAN leads and Equality & Diversity leads in Schools and Professional Services will liaise with the Equality Committee. It is

important that plans are continuously reviewed, monitored and reported on.

While it was in place before City joined the Athena SWAN programme, many female staff have also benefitted from the Aurora leadership programme, a women-only leadership development programme which provides an opportunity for women to develop leadership skills and build influence within their institutions. Since City joined the programme in 2014, over 40 women have taken part. Due to its popularity last year cohort, places have been increased this year. For staff who are interested in finding out more about the programme or would like to know more about training for women at City, contact the Organisational Development team.

While these are great strides forward, parity is still a goal that City is working towards achieving. Of the challenge that lies ahead, City’s President, Professor Sir Paul Curran, said: “I do not underestimate the challenge but remain confident that with the energy of colleagues across City and the sustained commitment of the senior team we will succeed in achieving significant change.”

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FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/ THE-PRESIDENTS-AWARDS

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The annual President’s Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution of staff in establishing City as a leading global university. The Awards have been designed to reward individuals and teams going above and beyond their roles to support the Vision & Strategy 2026 through their dedication, passion and commitment.

This year’s Awards have been no exception with staff nominating more of their colleagues than ever. At a ceremony held in a packed Oliver Thompson Lecture Theatre on Friday 9th June, Vice-President (Strategy & Planning), Professor Richard Verrall, presided over another ceremony celebrating staff success.

Winners received the appreciative cheers of their colleagues, with tears being shared at points in the ceremony, which was followed by a staff barbecue.

Congratulations go to all the winners with special thanks to the nominees and members of staff who took the time to nominate their colleagues.

PLEASE TURN OVER FOR THE RESULTS

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THE WINNERS OF THE 2017 PRESIDENT’S AWARDS ARE: Outstanding Research Engagement and Media and Outreach Winner: Professor Ben Rickayzen, Professor Les Mayhew and Dr David Smith Nominated: Dr Amanda Goodall Professor Christoph Bruecker Dr Paolo Aversa

Best Collaborative Project between a School and a Professional Service Winner: Henry Bessemer project Nominated: Aurore Hochard Ian Daniels (Cass) and Amy Townsend and Rashida Ahmad (Careers)

Athena SWAN Award for Equality & Diversity Winner: Professor Giulia Iori and the Athena SWAN SAT Nominated: Angela Jackman

Outstanding Personal Achievement

Sophie Battams

Winner: Jonathan Appleyard

Social Enterprise Festival team

Nominated: Chris Barnes Louise Doolan Professor Rosalind Gill

Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community Winner: International Collaboration of the Year

Nicola Ranson Nominated:

Winner:

London Open House (Tim Longden)

Nikki Walsh, Hannah Bush, Stuart Lindsay and Simone Start

Rosa Benato

Nominated:

The Social Enterprise Festival

Team of the Year Winner: Events team

Dr Beatriz Calvo-Merino and Dr Sebastian Gaigg

Nominated:

Dr Elaine Fahey

The Careers Service

Marketing & Communications

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Professional Services Project of the Year

Outstanding Service in Support of Students

Teaching Excellence (The City Law School)

Winner:

Winner:

Winner:

Investor Presentation Team

Sam Kearsley (Posthumous)

Dr Tawhida Ahmed and Dr Elaine Fahey

Nominated:

Nominated:

Nominated:

Clearing Core team

Multidisciplinary team of Student Counselling & Mental Health Service, Learning Success and Student Health Centre

Dr Luke McDonagh

Property and Facilities Projects team

Dr David Seymour and Sarwan Singh

Helen Fitch

Excellence in Learning and Teaching (School of Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering)

Research Project of the Year Winner: Professor Lis Howell Nominated:

Teaching Excellence (Cass Business School)

Professor Lucy Henry

Winner:

Professor Panicos Kyriacou and Dr Iasonas Triantis

Nominated:

Dr Sonia Falconieri Dr Hans Frankort

Winner: Professor Ahmed Kovacevic Nominated: Dr Cagatay Turkay Professional Liaison Unit

Dr Danielle Lyssimachou

Outstanding Engagement with Business and the Professions Winner:

Excellence in Learning and Teaching (School of Arts & Social Sciences)

The Social Enterprise Festival

Excellence in Learning and Teaching (School of Health Sciences)

Nominated:

Winner:

Industry Insight

Dr Justin Needle

City WinC

Nominated: Dr Caroline McGraw Dr Rachael-Anne Knight

Winner: Dr Miguel Mera Nominated: Sally Webb Dr Lauren Knott

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MEET THE SAFETY OFFICE TEAM According to statistics from The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the government body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare in Great Britain, 1.3 million workers suffer from work-related illness in the UK, around 500,000 suffer from workrelated musculoskeletal disorders and another 500,000 suffer from workrelated stress, depression or anxiety.

In comparison to the national average, City fares well in protecting staff from these conditions thanks in large part to the Safety Office.

The Office aims to ensure that City provides a safe environment which enables staff and students to work and learn in a safe manner. The Office has have five main duties:

To assess health and safety risks and provide support and training to manage them.

To monitor and review health and safety policies, procedures and arrangements.

To investigate any health and safety concerns raised by students and staff.

To ensure fire safety and emergency arrangements are in place and remain effective.

To ensure that City is legally compliant and follows best practice.

The Office is led by Daniel Harrison who arrived at City in November 2016 bringing with him a wealth of experience in HE institutions, including Westminster and Bristol Universities. Since arriving he has brought in new staff to fulfil various roles following a restructure shortly before his arrival and to ensure that all health and safety issues are being overseen. Daniel also leads on Safety Policy and Procedures, ensuring that

City achieves the highest standards of occupational health and safety for students and staff and providing a work environment which supports the strategic goals. Daniel also the main health and safety contact for Research & Enterprise, Learning Enhancement & Development and The Dubai Centre.

FIRE SAFET Y In 2001, College Building was badly damaged by fire. Fortunately, nobody was injured but fire safety is something taken very seriously at City. This responsibility falls to Fire and Safety Advisor, RenĂŠe Rajkumar.

RenĂŠe oversees and implements the University Fire Safety Procedure and monitoring of the fire safety management system. She also manages over 200 fire wardens, evac chair operators and first aiders while making sure City carries out regular fire drills and is prepared for

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/SAFETY-OFFICE

The Office is led by Daniel Harrison who arrived at City in November 2016

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From left to right: Robin Kerrigan, Renee Rajkumar, Daniel Harrison, Priscila Tear and Philippa Ryland

other emergencies. She is the main point of contact in the Safety Office for Marketing & Communications, Libraries and Property & Facilities.

TRAINING With policy and best practice constantly evolving and with hundreds of fire wardens, evac chair operators and first aiders, training staff in new safety measures is vital.

This important function is overseen

by Health and Safety Advisor, Priscila Tear. In addition to training, Priscila is the point of contact for any enquiries from Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology and the School of Health Sciences.

INSPECTIONS As an institution and employer, City has to adhere to many codes and pieces of legislation. City is subject to inspections and the responsibility to

YOUR OWN SAFETY manage them, as often as once every 13 months, falls to Health and Safety Advisor, Robin Kerrigan. Robin also manages the first aid provision for the University and is the point of contact for Cass Business School, the School of Arts & Social Sciences, the City Law School and Student & Academic Services.

K E E P I N G DATA To assist with training and to conduct assessments, the team uses the Cardinus online portal. This system is maintained by Health and Safety Administrator Philippa Ryland who also manages databases of safety information. Philippa also collates and follows up on accident and incident reports to generate statistics and monitor trends which are submitted to the HSE.

In addition to these, one of the responsibilities the whole team is tasked with is empowering staff to look after their own health and safety and that of others affected by activities.

They mainly encourage staff to report any shortcomings in health and safety arrangements to the Departmental Safety Liaison Officer, Safety Liaison Officer or the Safety Office; and students to tutors or supervisors.

They also encourage staff to not misuse or interfere with anything that City has provided for health and safety reasons.

You can find out more about the work undertaken by the Safety Office on the Staff Hub. If you have enquiries, you can contact the Office at SafetyOffice@city.ac.uk.

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FAIRNESS AND THE INTERNET RESEARCH FOCUS:

City has a very close connection to the business world. Successful entrepreneurs such as EasyJet founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou; property developer, Ian Livingstone; and Jet Republic founder, Jonathan Breeze have all walked through the halls as students. City also has a strong track record of supporting student startups. Last year alone, City’s graduate companies created over 300 jobs, raised £4.5 million in investment and had annual turnover of nearly £7 million.

City’s business ties do not start and end with our students and graduates.

Much of the research conducted

by Cass Business School is directly related to helping businesses be more successful. An example is the research conducted by Professor Gianvito Lanzolla, Professor of Strategy and Director of the Digital Leadership Research Centre (DLRC).

Gianvito’s latest piece of research, which was published in the Academy of Management Journal, considers how fair the internet is as a market place.

Gianvito explains: “We view the internet as a very open, very fair

market place, where businesses from all over the world can compete. But in reality, this isn’t necessarily the case.

As consumers, we still hold the similar prejudices as we do with physical shop locations.”

Gianvito’s research considers competitive dynamics, strategy and performance in business. He specialises in examining how different strategies such as being a pioneer, an early adopter or using pioneering strategies can benefit a business.

“If 700 companies sell a laptop and they are all the same price, why do we choose one over the other?” Gianvito queries. “My research confirms that there are certain criteria which consumers use to prioritise who they purchase from: Distance – how far you are away from the product; Reputation – is it a well-known company; and Brand – is the website and corporate look and feel of a good standard?”

In business-to-business (B2B), these factors are even more magnified as websites don’t always have an obvious price for potential consumers to compare. This is where there is a strong legacy with the offline world

and factors such as location garner more trust from consumers.

“A London location, for example, is a very powerful factor. A tech company based around Silicon Roundabout will fare better online than one based outside London.

Being in any kind of physical cluster is beneficial to businesses. It’s also vital that the brand position is set from the early stages of the company,” Gianvito explains.

“The other thing we found is that biases work up and down the spectrum. For example, luxury brands will tend to deal only with other companies of a similar perceived standard. Or if they do purchase from a ‘lower end’ brand, they will take that into account and use their enhanced status as a negotiation tool. Likewise a company that brands itself as a budget brand, will not do business with a luxury brand, or will expect to pay a premium if they do.”

He concludes: “Here at City, we are very fortunate. We are geographically close to many clusters. The technology hub in Old Street and King’s Cross; the financial district in The City of London; the legal district in Temple and Holborn; and the creative and design cluster in Clerkenwell and Old Street.

Our students have opportunities to become entrepreneurs, but they need to be aware that the decisions they make even at an early stage, even if they are based online, will have an impact on their long-term success.”

In 2016, total retail sales across the globe will reach $22.049 trillion Estimated sales will top $27 trillion in 2020 Over £130bn was spent online in 2016 UK households spent the equivalent of $5,900 (£4,611) using payment cards online in 2015.

This was higher than Norway ($5,400), the US ($4,500) and Australia ($4,000) More than one in five of the world’s population shopped online in the past 30 days.

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THE CONVERSATION

Andy Warhol’s £6m selfie and how we can all now be famous for 15 minutes W I T H D R TOM VA N L A E R, SE N I O R L ECT U R E R I N M A R K E T I N G

One day in 1963, Andy Warhol walked into a New York photobooth and took what have become the world’s most famous selfies. One of these trailblazing self-portraits has just been sold at a Sotheby’s auction for just over £6m.

These selfies perfectly suited Warhol’s vision of the pop art era of the late 1950s and 1960s – they are quintessentially all-American, democratic and mechanical. Though photobooth pictures could not go viral like social media pictures can now, the use of a photobooth to make art was, in 1963, fiercely innovative and added to the aura of technical invention that surrounded Warhol, just like it surrounds selfies and social media now.

Selfies are the holy grail of social media: self-portraying photographs that are posted on a social networking site and tell stories that aim to engage large numbers of people. Our latest research has revealed three things that can help you to take pictures that are worth – if not millions of pounds – at least a thousand words, and without you having to risk your life for them.

Our team conducted three experiments online with workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk which crowdsources expertise in a range of fields, one with students on computers in our university laboratory, and one corpus analysis – a method of looking at a body of evidence collectively – with independent coders. To determine exactly what people engage with when they look at pictures online, we showed participants different images. They rated these pictures on a number of photographic elements: point of view, content, ‘artsiness’ and the like. They also indicated how likely they were to comment on the pictures if they saw them on social media.

These studies made it possible to isolate the things that cause people to stop caring about an online image – and to find pictures that engage them.

Not only that, but they also helped to determine the sort of pictures on which people are most likely to comment. So here are three things that enthusiastic selfie-portrait artists need to know.

something else, too – he appears to adjust his tie. Conversely, as Warhol does that, he necessarily reveals who he is: an icon of the golden era of pop art and the ultimate arbiter of celebrity glamour. By his action, other people come to know him better. They can like or dislike, react or respond to his picture. But he has captured their attention.

1. People prefer you in front of the camera Point of view (POV) in photography is a question of who it is people ‘see’ taking the picture. The simple distinction is that of ‘person’ – of which there are two principle kinds: third person (Warhol taking a picture of Marilyn Monroe, for example) and first person (Warhol’s selfie). In Warhol’s time, most photographs were taken from a third person point of view.

But this has changed – our research does not find much enthusiasm for third person pictures in the social media age.

Point of view contributes richly to how people feel and think as they look at a picture. Just as the point of view can be from someone within or outside of the picture, so people pick up different feelings and thoughts.

Warhol plays a greater part in the pictured story of his selfie than in his famous picture of Marilyn Monroe.

Just as Warhol is more involved in the story he is telling with his selfie, so are other people statistically more likely to engage with the content of selfies.

3. Realistic pictures put people off

“In the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.”

2. People get bored of just you Ever since the portrait was first invented, painters and photographers have tended to give priority of importance to person or action.

Most people’s selfies are all about themselves – but our research suggests this is a poor strategy for attracting attention, as people are 15.14% more likely to comment on selfies of people doing something meaningful than on ‘just’ selfies.

Selfie-takers have agency beyond just being the subject of their own pictures: they do things such as eating a bread roll, drinking from a bottle, waving their free hand. Warhol does FIND OUT MORE HTTPS://THECONVERSATION.COM/UK/ PARTNERS/CITY-UNIVERSITY-LONDON

Warhol’s selfie was designed not to portray or expose truth, but instead to acknowledge the artifice and deception inherent to any form of representation. If the creative leeway between reality and picture was wide in Warhol’s photograph, it is enormous since photography entered social media. This is necessarily the case. Photographers who complain that selfies are poor representations of reality, miss the fact that taking selfies is not representation in anything but the loosest sense. In fact, our research shows that not altering pictures can wind up in failure.

An adaptation can be serious or silly, amateurish or professional, and so on.

Contemporary photographers should deploy the full power of techniques, such as emojis, filters, lenses – and tools such as ‘selfie sticks’ to turn the original into something artful.

Those selfies are superior in terms of engagement. We found that people are 11.86% more likely to comment on adapted selfies.

As people become increasingly sophisticated in their choice of pictures, it pays to become more people-centric and to think harder about the value a picture offers the audience rather than just yourself. The result will be a transformed selfie of you doing something – a picture that is worth a thousand words. Warhol wrote in 1968 that, “In the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.” That future is now.

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Looking after our neighbours O U R E Y ES A N D T H E WAY W E V I E W T H E WO R L D A R E F U N DA M E N TA L A SP ECTS O F W H AT M A K ES U S H U M A N. F O R OV E R 100 Y E A R S T H E D I V I SI O N O F O PTOM E T R Y A N D V I S UA L S CI E N CE AT CI T Y H A S B E E N ST R I V I N G TO F I N D O U T MO R E A B O U T O U R I N CR E D I B L E O PT I C A L SYST E M A N D E D U C AT I N G T H E N E X T G E N E R AT I O N O F O PTOM E T R I STS I N T H E H I G H EST L E V E L O F O PT I C A L C A R E, B E N E F I T T I N G H U N D R E DS OF THOUSANDS OF MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC. Founded as part of the Northampton Institute with the objective of promoting ‘the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes’, the Division of Optometry and Visual Science at City has gained the reputation as the capital’s leading institution for optometry teaching and was ranked first in London in the 2017 Guardian League Table.

The Division of Optometry and Visual Science still has a strong focus, through the City Sight clinic, on providing exceptional optical care to the local community. Since opening its doors to the public in October 2015, City Sight has offered free eye tests to staff and students at City and the wider community in and around Islington. In the last six months alone over 3,000 individuals have been treated.

Eye tests are conducted in the 23 clinic rooms and four diagnostic rooms.

They screen for conditions such as glaucoma, diabetes and age-related macular degeneration; and conduct comprehensive eye examinations during which a third-year optometry student will carry out the test overseen by qualified optometrists.

Turning into a paediatric clinic every Thursday, City Sight caters for children ranging in age from six months to seven years. The children are referred by Camden Health Visitors for contact lenses, binocular vision problems, specific learning difficulties, visual impairment and colour vision defects. City Sight is also working with the London Fire Brigade to offer occupational eye tests for all

firefighters. Where necessary, bifocal or varifocal lenses are fitted into their masks, improving both the speed at which they can get into uniform and their sight performance while on duty.

“City Sight has now been open for almost two years and has become a key part of the local community,” explains Roshni Samra, City Sight Clinic Manager. “Not only are we supporting councils and providing the best possible eye care for the local community, we are also pioneering

“City Sight has now been open for almost two years and has become a key part of the local community” solutions for London’s emergency services, impacting the tremendous work that they do every day. There are also plans for clinic staff to get out into the community, for example by attending children’s reading groups at local libraries, including the Barbican, to raise awareness of the importance of eye tests at a young age.”

Training in new technologies and techniques is also on offer to practising optometrists. To mark the

introduction of specialised clinics in dry eye management and myopia research, staff from the Division of Optometry and Visual Science launched City’s first two-day training event for professionals, offering contact lens workshops aimed at helping practitioners improve their investigative skills and develop specialisms in complex contact lens fittings and dry eye assessment and management.

Research conducted by the Division of Optometry and Visual Science is also impacting and improving techniques used in optometry. The Advanced Vision and Optometric Tests (AVOT) have emerged from research conducted over several years, led by Professor John Barbour, with support from research councils and government departments.

The tests include camouflage, rapid flicker and motion sensitivity and also the Colour Assessment and Diagnosis (CAD) test which was developed with support from aviation authorities and Transport for London, making it the most researched and documented AVOT test.

The CAD test has become the ‘gold standard’ for detection of congenital and acquired deficiencies and for establishing the severity of colour vision loss and is used in many opticians across the UK.

FIND OUT MORE WWW.CITY.AC.UK/CITY-SIGHT

BE S SEM ER

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The Bessemer exhibition NORTHAMPTON SQUARE HAS A RICH HISTORY OF DWELLING CRAFTSMEN INCLUDING CLOCKMAKERS, J E W E L L E R S , P R I N T E R S A N D S I LV E R S M I T H S , B U T I T W A S R E C E N T LY D I S C O V E R E D T H A T A V I C T O R I A N I N N OVATO R A N D E N T R E P R E N E U R CR E D I T E D W I T H A I D I N G T H E I N D U ST R I A L R E VO LU T I O N, A L S O RESIDED IN NORTHAMPTON SQUARE.

From 1833 Sir Henry Bessemer lived in Islington at 15 Northampton Square, on the site where City’s Main Entrance is located.

Bessemer was an English engineer and inventor, famous for the Bessemer process for the mass manufacture of steel. His work is claimed to be the single most important contribution to the Industrial Revolution, allowing cheaper materials to be used in the construction of buildings, bridges and railways across the globe.

But the Bessemer process was not the only achievement of the Northampton Square resident. Throughout his life, Bessemer registered no fewer than 117 patents. His work was broad and varied, ranging from a portable steam engine to extract juices from sugar cane to methods of manufacturing pencil leads and glass to continuous brakes for railway carriages and the quick firing gun.

His early fortune was made through his closely guarded process for creating decorative gold paint. At the time there was a huge demand for ornate objects and decoration and the only gold paint available was imported from Germany. Bessemer developed a machine that created an inexpensive bronze dust that could be added to paint to create a gold lustre.

The profits from this venture were considerable and funded many other

innovations, including the Bessemer process for steel.

Bessemer received many distinctions and honours throughout his life. He became a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1861 and a Member of its Council from 1871 to 1878. From 1871 to 1873 he was President of the Iron and Steel Institute which he co-founded with the Duke of Devonshire; in 1877 he became a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and an honorary Member in 1889; and in 1879 he received a Knighthood and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Bessemer was also honoured with the Freedom of the City of London in recognition of his valuable discoveries which benefited the iron industries of the country.

City has erected a plaque at the new Main Entrance to mark the achievements of Sir Henry Bessemer. It was unveiled by the Mayor of Islington at an event attended by many of Bessemer’s descendants from across the globe. The plaque is accompanied by an exhibition focusing on the history of Northampton Square, Sir Henry’s life and his invention of the revolutionary Bessemer process. The exhibition will be on display in the Pavilion over the summer.

Paul H Bessemer, Sir Henry’s great, great grandson, explained:

“It is a great honour that City is remembering Sir Henry Bessemer with a plaque.”

“The area was special to Sir Henry as in addition to living in Northampton Square, in 1832, the family moved to 8 Meredith Street and his father, mother and sister are buried a few hundred yards away from City in the graveyard of the Priory Church in St John Street.

“It is wonderful that City is keeping the memory of Sir Henry alive on the site where he lived at the beginning of his career and the start of his journey when he was the same age and time of life as most City students. The wise words of advice Sir Henry gave to his grandson, Henry William Bessemer, when preparing for his exams may be an inspiration to current and future students at City:

“…everything is possible to those who energetically follow up the opportunities which are presented to them in life; I say this from experience and can now feel how entirely I owe my present position to a determination in my young days to do something and become somebody.”

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