Comment 044 March 1990

King's College London newsletter

HRH THE PRI E OF LE IT P RKI DJ E E OCI TY RE E R H LABOR TORIE

0'

H R H The Prince of Wale, who recently became Patron of the Parkin on' Disease So lely, visiled the Sociely' research laboratorie al King's on Thur day 15 February lO .. e for her 'cif omc of the trenuou efforLS being made lO find the clu ive cau e and cure of lhi di abling condition. Parkin on' Disease afOiclS more than 100,000 'ufrercr' in Britain alone.

I

The Princes saw her vi il as an opporLunity LO increase her under tanding of the nalure of Parkin 'on' Di e e and what the Parkin on' Di ease Sociely i doing to give hope and help to tho. e who uffer from thi di tre ing afOicLion. The concern of the Princess ha given encouragemenlto the re earcher as well as the ufferer and their carer .

I

Profe ..or Pl:ler Jenner, Direclor of the Re earch team at Manresa Road, took the Prin'cs through the variou laboratorie working on Parkin on' Di ea e and later, togelher v.llh per. onnel from the Parkin on' Di ea e ociely, gave the Prince ome more Informal background on the hi lory and origin of both the di ea e ilSelf and the Society c 'wbllshed lO find a cure.

The Royal visil coincided with the beginning of a year of celebration marking the 21st anniver ary of the founding of the Parkin on' Disease Sociely in 1969.

HRHTHE PRI E TO ITKI G'

RO

L

On Tuesday 20 March, the College will be welcoming HRH The Prince Royal, Chancellor of the University of London, to the Strand campu . She has gmciou Iy accepted an invitation to open the exhibition celebrating 150 year of pioneering work from King's College Ho pilal.

Entitled Leeche to La er , the exhibition trace a century and a half of medical hi LOry. The Chancellor will be arriving atlhe College at 6.30 pm and will receive a guided tour of the exhibilion and laler attend a reception where she will be introduced to those who have been clo ely involved in ilS organisation.

De igned by the Design Council, this spectacular exhibition will comprise of 7 elS, connected by a 'Time Tunnel' , which are brought to life by pictures, illustrations and 'talking heads', all of which combine lO depict the major social and medical change which have taken place over the last 150 years. At key point in King' hi tory, the visitor will be able to step out of the 'Tunnel' and inLO a module which foeu es on one of the main medical breakthroughs of the time.

Examples of what can be seen include a 19th century operating theatre complete with live leeches! This is where Li ter (a King' man) revolutionai ed surgical treatment with his work into anti-sepsis.

The exhibition will be open from noon 21 March at the Strand until 30 March and everyone is invited to go along to the Great Hall and cc King's medical history on display. If you miss il while it is here, there will be another opportunity to cc il when it is at the Medical School, from 9 April to 1 May.

STAFF NEWS

PPOI T E SAD PRO OTIO S King' i pleased to announce the following promotions and new appointments, effective from 1 January 1990, unless otherwi e stated.

Appointments to Chairs Richard Griffiths has been newly appointed to the Chair of French Language and Literature and as Head of the Department of French.

David Papineau has been appointed to the Chair of Philo ophyof alural Science and al 0 as Head of the Department of Hi tory and Philosophy of Science. He will join King's from the University of Cambridge in September 1990.

Promotion to Personal Professorships Margaret Brown has been promoted from Reader to Professor of Mathematics Education.

Richard Cammack has been promoted from Reader to Professor of Plant Biochemistry from October 1989.

Alexander MacLeod has been promoted from Reader to Professor of Food Chemi try.

Appointments to Readerships Dianne ewham has been appointed Reader in Physiotherapy joining King's from University College London, in September 1989.

Reinhard trohm has been appointed Reader in Historical Musicology. He joined King's from Yale University.

Promotion to Readerships The following appointments were effective from 1 October 1989.

Joan Bliss has been promoted from Lecturer to Reader in Education in the Centre for Educational Studies.

2

John Butt has been promoted from Senior Lecturer to Reader in Hispanic Studies in the Department of Spanish and Spani h/American Studie .

Frank Hibbert has been promoted from Lecturer to Reader in Chemi try in the Department of Chemistry.

Paul Howe ha been promoted from Lecturer to Reader in Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematic .

Alan Michette has been promoted from Lecturer to Reader in Physics in the Department of Physics.

Educated at Merton College, Oxford, (BA 1958, MA 1962) Profe or Ru sell began his distingui hed teaching career a a Lecturer in Hi tory at Bedford College, Univer ity of London (1960 - 1974) and then as a Reader (1974 - 1979). He became Profes or of Hi tory at Yale 'Univer ity in 1979 until 1984, when he returned to Britain to take up his post at Univer ity College London.

His academic career, most notable for hi work on parliaments in the early 17th century, has recently been combined with active membersrup of the House of Lord .

In 1971 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Leonee Ormond has been promoted from Senior Lecturer to Reader in English in the Department of English Language and English Literature .

Professor A C Davies has joined the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering as Professor of Information Engineering, transferring from City University on 1 January 1990.

He was at Southampton University, graduating with 1st Class Honours in 1961. He obtained his PhD from City University in 1970 for research in linear processing of binary sequences.

Tony Davies has been a professor at City University since 1982 and was Director of the Centre for Information Engineering until taking up a Royal Society Industrial Fellowship at British Aerospace in 1987.

He is the author of many papers in circuit theory, microprocessor engineering and more recently digital signal processing.

His current interests include various aspects of software engineering. Tony is a Fellow of the IEE and is also Vice Chairman of the UKRI Section of IEEE.

Student Services are pleased to announce that Ms usan Mead has joined King's as Welfare and Information Officer replacing Lisa Payne, who left at Christmas.

Professor Conrad Russell has recently been appointed to the Chair of British History. Hejoins King's from Unjversity College London, where he was Astor Professor of British History.

Professor Conrad RusseLl

AWARDS The University of Pisa has bestowed its highest award for merit in research, the 'Campano d'oro', to Professor Guiseppe Giangrande, from the Department of Classics, for achievements attained by his Classics Resear:ch Centre.

IOBITUARY Professor A A Parker Alexander Augustine (' Alec' for us, 'Alex' for our American colleagues) Parker, Cervantes Professor of Spanish and Head of the Department of Spanish at King's from 1953 to 1963, died on November 23, 1989, aged 81. o one, not even Professor Edward Wilson whom he succeeded, did more to

."i

I

I

I

e the Kin Spani h D panment the intcmauonal reputation it has enjoyed in e ~/orld \ 'ar 11. The Spam h govemm~nt a orded him"" hile in London the rare honour or non-native of Command r of the Order of I abella Cat6lica.

HI 6O-or- 0 publications ha e been a 'idly read and reverentially deployed by holar ,tea her and literati in Europe and th USA for a generation. So on'in 109 and cohe ive ere hi ritical prin .ple that 'the Parker approa h' came to be a label tu k on to an alleged 'London S hool of Hi pani m', a label "" hI h (almo Lneedless to say) the aried band of hi London colleague looked upon with a mixture of ati faction or exa peration. Hi nse of team piriL in !tfe and culture made him a naLural fed raJi tin the - e en then - delicate framework of London Uni er iLy. VCL helped to show the recognition of thi by making him laLer an Honorary Re earch Fellow, But London 10SL him in 1963 to EdlOburgh and then to America partly becau'e he felt - wrongly, many of us LhoughL at the time - a lack of genuine, academic fellow hip.

Alec made hi mark nm only as a scholar bUL as a Leacher and as a person. Hi tudents adored him: hi commitment, percepLion and per uasive cogency were uch that (a a former student ha put it to me) every cIa offered nOL only a peneLrating liLerary analy i but a po itive way of life; and he always found time to listen amI give ympathetic but realistic advice LO anyone in need. His staff too held him in as much affecLion as in eSLeem. He was one of those pcople who broughL out the be Lin everyone: loyalty and decency cea ed to be old-fa hioned nOLions and eemed perfecLly natural when you served under Alec Parker. It wa taken for granted, for example, that no one would dream of selling off for lunch in the refectory until Alec was ready and we could all go down Logether. 'ainlly per on he certainly was - but nOL one with his head in the cloud . He proved to be a prudent and astute manager ju Lwhen those qualitie were coming to be indispensable in a ucce sful head of department. lie was astonishingly observant even of thing that were not to his taste. 1had occasion LO nOLe, for instance, how often it was that he (and his secretary Jean Bi hop) came OUL on top in identifying advertisements in the quizze

whi h his family' 10 ed to organt

for u .

'or did he quite al ay let hi head rule hi heart. He had a pas ionate love of all thing beautiful; he pent many affectionate hour gardening and collecting buuerflie . Hi mu icaJ taste also reflected the man: he was engro sed by the Beethoven quartets because he found them deeply moving as well as intelligently ordered, and he cheerfully got up at the cra k of dawn to join tho rollicking ti ket queues at the Royal Opera House whenever there wa a promise of good performance of Donizeui, Verdi or

our admini trati e fun tion . fter a detailed as ment of eral computerised payroll sy tern, e decided to purchase the PA YSOL E y tem which ha been used ucces fully in a wide number of locations, in luding universitie and polytechnic ,during the last ten years.

EXLen ive te Ling of the y tern has already been carried out in the Payroll Section and parallel running with the MISD payroll has been ucce fully achieved.

MOzarL Alec Parker was an exceptional scholar and tea her and also a character of the ort one like to think was much more in evidence in hi day than now. A colourful character indeed, not because he flaunted it but beeause the depth, breadth, commitment, intellectual harpne , passion and charity of the man hone oUL from it.

Profe or J Wage Department of pani hand pani h merican tudie

A Service of Thanksgiving for Professor Parker will be held in the Chapel on Friday 16 March 1990.

It is hoped that the only difference which will be apparent to members of staff when the new system is implemented i a change in the design of the payslip they will receive. At pre ent, in PA YSOLVE, payslip description are limited to eight characters which means that we will have to abbreviate ome of the de cription currently used on the MISD payslip .

Some example are shown below:

Current De cription

ew De cription

BASIC PAY LO .ALLOW CE LNCOMETAX AT. I SUR CE

BASIC LO ,ALLW TAX AT.! S

It is felt that all the new descriptions will be as readily understandable as those li ted above but we will be preparing a guide to payslip description which which will be circulated prior to the implementaLion of the new system.

EW PA YROLL SYSTEM Following a policy agreed between the University Court Department and the major colleges of the Univer ity, King's has been as uming respon ibility for admini trative computing functions formerly undertaken by the Management Information Services Division (MISD) at Senate Hou e.

To date, the College has installed and is operating in-house systems to deal with financial accounting and student records and from April we intend to assume responsibility for producing our own payroll. This will complete the migration from MISD and will mean that we will no longer be dependent on MISD for any of

DO Ball Director of Finance and Staff

10

VIEW

TECH ICAL TAFF 1990 PAY CLAIM A D APPRAISAL Last week Manufacturing, Science and Finance (MSF) ubmitted a 30% salary claim for technical staff, LO the CVCP, based on an Independent Pay Study (which began as part of our 1986 pay award!) and the movement in the cost of

3

living.

In the period since 1986, our claim for comparable rate of pay with other technicians has been rejected by central government, who will only accept the recruitment, retention and motivation of taff a criteria for salary increases above inDation.

Excluding last year's settlement, it is ten year ince technicians had a pay increase approaching the level of inDation. The gap between university technicians and our counterparts i ever widening. The final offer last year of 6% on basic pay plus a similation increases as ociated with a new salary tructure hardly began to clo e thi gap, since salary award generally have been higher than our in the period since last April. Technicians have become frustrated and disillusioned by this state of affairs, and motivation is at an all time low. The reduction of King's staffing levels since the merger has also been a contributory factor causing low morale (a reduction from 500+ technicians ju t prior to the merger to less than 300 now).

Skilled staff are still leaving in worrying numbers, and the only cure that the universities nationally can find is 1% of our pay bill to be targeted to a minute number of staff, plus an appraisal scheme to increase motivation! This coupled with the total lack of investment in both science and education does little to fire the enthusiasm of a skilled and qualified workforce who are working to the best of their abilities, with greatly increased productivity, against considerable difficultie .

Since last year, the government have tied ome of its own employees (Inland Revenue and Scientific & Speciali t Staff, not to mention Members of Parliament!) into long term pay comparability agreements with regular up-dates and adjustments to accommodate movements in private ector pay. MSF feels that this year's negotiations should include a formula for u to achieve a permanent comparability arrangement to prevent further drift in our salaries.

Another component of this year's claim involve the abolition of 1% discretionary awards that were awarded last year. The pa t 12 months have shown these to be

4

both divi ive and inefficient. We are claiming that the di cretionary points hould be included in the incremental cale , the progres ion through which hould remain automatic in annual tep.

MSF will not accept any system of appraisal that is linked directly to payl management discretion. This is not just pique, but moreover a realisation of the best method to reward technicians. Thi is through job-evaluation (our 'BlueBook). Whil t MSF accept that appraisal can be a useful aid to improving performance, identifying training needs and assisting career progression, there are dangers in linking this with pay. To quote the Institute of Personnel Management: 'The most common difficulty arises from the impossibility of marrying up a system which is primarily aimed at providing information for salary review with a sy tem which is intended to improve current performance. The problem is an obvious one: an appraisee will try to deny a failing or insist that it is of no consequence if thi is likely to have a direct effect on salary. If the main purpose of the discussion is to identify weak areas and look for ways that these may be improved, with there being no relation to pay, the assessee is much more likely to participate openly and honestly... The Institute of Personnel Management, along with many reputable con ultants, advises strongly against a direct relationship between pay and performance appraisal.'

The Confederation of British Industry also states 'there is no consistent research evidence that performance related pay systems actually influence performance standards... ' To summarise the situation facing technicians, the government and employers would like private sector conditions and work practises for public sector rates of pay whilst MSF seek comparability with other workers undertaking similar duties.

Hopefully, this will dispel the myth that we are totally opposed to appraisal per se, but remain concerned that any appraisal system introduced should truly represent the needs of universities in the 1990s.

Alan Howard ecretary, King's College London Branch, MSF

HEALTH A D SAFETY

IDEO

There will be a video presentation of an episode of 'Dangerous Lives' on the ubject of chemical expo ure on Monday 19 March in Room 2C, Strand campus, between 1.15 - 2.00 pm. It will be repeated on Monday 26 March in M20 in the Atkins Building, Kensington campu between 1.00 - 2.00 pm.

All are welcome to attend. For any further details contact S2624.

Marion Murphy MSF Health and Safety Officer.

I TRA

I G COLUM

KIT Course News Micro oft Word for Secretarial taff.

12 March.

This course for advanced topics in IBM MS Word has already been oversubscribed. We will however be able to meet demand on repeat courses arranged on 4, 24 and 27 April. I will be pleased to receive applications from anyone wishing to join the training course list.

Apple Mac users will not be left out. will be sending out a list of all Mac operators to Mac user secretaries, thus creating a 'Mac-information-network', in the hope that it will enable Applemac WP operators to exchange information and help each other. If there is sufficient demand for an agreed Macprogramme of training, I will arrange a Mac cour e(s).

Supervisory Skills Course 28,29, 30 March and 4, 5 & 6 April This 6 day course will be shared with Imperial College and is aimed at staff who wish to achieve greater effectiveness and confidence in their supervisory roles.

A commitment to attend all six days is essential from all participants.

Selection Skills 3 April This one day event concentrates on the preparation procedures which come before the selection interview. It will enable participants to prepare job descrip-

lion and person specifications (the type of per on required for the job), understand and pra u e th legal obligation of Equal Opportunity legi !ation, plan and cono-ol an intervie~ and u a tru tured a ment y t m for taff el tion from job appli ants. The course, hich ill take place at the Ken ington carnpu , IS likely to be pular. Plea apply as soon as po ·Ible.

Preparation for Retirement 4 April

There are till place left on thi course for people who are within two years of retiring. Any member of staff who feel that they need some guidance on how to adapt to thi important tage in their life should apply now or telephone ext S2 03.

The cour e will be shared with and take place at, Imperial College.

tarf Induction Cour e 23 April Thi event i now a regular feature on the King's Calender and allows participants to get to know people from variou departments a well a learn about the College from Senior Officers, including the Principal. The aim of the cour e will be to provide a relaxed atmosphere in order to welcome our new staff into the College Community. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. Details of this course have been sent to all Heads of Department and Service Units. This note hould be treated as an invitation for new staff to book a place.

technical methods of minimising security, fire and flood ris Care and aintenance of pH and 0 ygen lectrode 16Ma Thi morning wor hop is part of the su essful 'Seminars for Technician' cries and ill be led by my If and Gary StrickIand. Participants ill be encouraged to bring along items to be tested. ederal Cour 27 April, 4, 11 1 May; kill for Job Training and In tructioo; a four day cour e on the principles and methods of instru lion.

17 & 18 May; A De elopmeot Course for ecretaries; a two day wor hop for senior secretarie in administrative departments.

2 July; Reading Efficiency Cour e; for secretarial, technical and junior administrative taff.

Details about all training events are sent to head of department and/or supervisor.

Ken Bromlield on-Academic taff Training Officer

GTO

EW TELEPHO E Y TEM AT KE

From 2 April 1990 the new telephone system at the Kensington campus will be in service. When dialling from the Strand and 552 King's Road, there will be no need to dial 75 before the exten ion number of the per on you wish to contact, just the 4 digit exten ion number.

From Manre a Road and other College sites direct line access codes will still be required.

A temporary telephone directory listing per onnel and their new extension numbers will be distributed throughout the College shortly.

Bob Redmond General Services Manager

ilver ervice Course 10 May The purpo e of this work hop i to upgrade the food service skills of College catering staff and open wider opportunities and a greater variety of work to them.

Peter Hoffman, the College Catering Officer and Marjory McCallum, Deputy Catering Manager at Chelsea, will lead the course which will take place at the Strand. The Training Office will accept applications.

Cour e for Security Staff 10 May This course, designed for staff with ecurity and reception duties, will take place at the Strand. It will deal with public relations, organisational and

Cardinal Basil flulme. (centre) arriving at King's on 13 February to give a talk on 'Prayer' to the King's Christian Forum. fie is pictured here being greeted by the Dean and the Chaplin of King's.

. ..::::::::

.• <:' .'::.:'.

:~:::

.•.. ....

LIBRARY NEWS o

LI lE I FORMATIO

RETRIEVAL

Finding references to relevant books and journal articles in bibliographies and indexes can take a great deal of time and effort Some of this valuable time could be saved by requesting an online literature search, as many bibliographies, abstracting and indexing service are available online, ie as a database held on computer. Other advantages include pin-pointing relevant references by searching for several index terms lOgether or by excluding specific aspects of a subject, and the fact that on line files are more up-todate than the printed versions. It is also po sible to get access to many more abstracting and indexing services than King's or indeed any local library subscribes to.

REQ E TI G A SEARCH The first thing to do is to decide on how best to describe the topic of your search, using words and phrases by which the relevant literature might be indexed. When you have decided on your search term ,ask at the Library Issue Desk for an online earch application form. List a many search terms as you can. It can often be helpful to bring along details of an article you already know of, which you feel is central to the topic.

Library staff will then discuss with you how to achieve the best results, by choice of daLabase, search strategy, etc. If you are a student (undergraduate or postgraduate), you will be asked to have your tutor/supervisor ign the form - this is again a way of benefiting from other researchers' experience. Searches can be performed in your absence but it is helpful if you are there to make sure relevant references are retrieved. Those relevant references may be printed off there and then, or more usually when large numbers are involved, they are ordered and posted to you.

booked for such purposes (other than those including students) at any time outside normal hour of u e. In effect this means that the room may be booked at any time of day other than in the lunch hour (ie 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm). The only exception to this rule are booking by the King's College Ladie ' Club (as agreed at the Annual General Meeting on 22 February 1990) since their meetings are for the purpose of arranging functions including the membership of the Common Room.

The Committee would be grateful if members of the College would remember and adhere to this rule when considering booking the Blackwell Room for any purpose whatsoever.

M M Brown Hon Secretary

PFUE 'THE YEAR IN INDUSTRY' COMES TO KI G'S

CHARGES The Library has set aside funds to cover the cost of searches for members of staff and authorised students, but you will be asked to pay for references displayed or printed in excess of 30.

Fuller details of the search service offered and application forms are available from all Issue Desks of the Library, or from Information Services, The Library, Strand campus ext S2186.

The above information may look familiar to some readers of Comment, and we hope it will be u efulto many more. The range of dalabases available and the search facilities they offer improves almost daily, recent example being Beilstein, Micro Software Dictionary, Arts and Humanities Search and Nursing and Allied Health, to name but a few.

The range of 'end-user' searchable dalabases on offer, ie the CD-ROM dalabases available for do-it-yourself searching is also on the increase. Information on this is also available from any Issue Desk or from Information Services, as above. As well as Science Citation Index at Kensington, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae at Embankment, Strand and ERIC at Coleridge, Silverplatter's CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) was on trial at Coleridge Library during February. Response was enthusiastic and several users managed to construct useful bibliographies u ing its resources.

SENIOR COMMON ROOM - Booking of the Blackwell Room There seem to be ome confusion regarding the rules governing the booking by members of the College of the Blackwell Room for meetings etc. This room may be

The School of Engineering is providing the base for the London Region of a national scheme to encourage school leavers intending to read engineering and applied science at university to gain industrial experience.

The scheme, known as PFUE - The Year in Industry, arranges for students to be placed in industry for one year prior to entering university without further commitment on either side. The London Office is staffed on a part-time basis by David Bamett, Director, formerly with BP, and Douglas Maclean, Deputy Director, formerly with Cossor Electronics, who is also a part-time Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

They would be very pleased to hear from anyone wishing to find out more about PFUE (pre-formation of Undergraduate Engineers) which is funded by the Training Agency, particularly those involved in recruitment, schools liaison and industrial placements.

LECTURES MEETINGS AND SEMINARS

II

AUGURAL LECTURE

SCHOOL OF LA W Wednesday 14 March EQUITABLE AND INEQUITABLE REMEDIES JiIJ Martin, Professor of Law 5.30 pm, Room 2808, Strand campus

4.30 pm, Room 5.208, 552 King'S Road, Chelsea campus

CENTRE FOR LATIN AMERICAN CULTURAL STUDIES Tuesday 8 May THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF TRANSGRESSIO ,ITHACA, CORNELL,I986 Peter Stallybrass and Allon White 5.30 pm, Room 314, Department of Spanish, Strand campus

I PUBLIC LECTURE

DEPARTMENT OF PALAEOGRAPHY Thursday 15 March AUTOGRAPH AND WORKING COPIES OF MEDIEVAL LATIN CHRONICLES Dr Patrick McGurk, Emeritus Reader in Medieval History, Birkbeck College 5.30 pm, Room 1822, Strand campus

DEPARTMENT OF PORTUGUESE AND BRAZILIAN STUDIES Monday 19 March VOICES FROM AN EMPIRE: AN OVERVIEW OF MOZAMBICAN LITERATURE BEFORE INDEPENDENCE D Eugcnio Lisboa 5.30 pm, Room 2C, Strand campus

!SEMINARS

CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL STUDIES Monday 19 March RESEARCH STUDENTS' FORUM Research students talking about their research 5.30 pm, Room 3.020, King'S Road, Chelsea campus Wednesday 21 March ASSESSMENT DISCUSSIO

AGE CONCERN INSTITUTE OF GERONTOLOGY Monday 14 May THE HEALTH STATUS OF ELDERLY PEOPLE IN BANGKOK Professor Shah Ebrahim, Professor of Geriatric Medicine, The London Hospital, Mile End Tuesday 15 May RESEARCH ON NURSING CARE OF ELDERLY PEOPLE Dr Sally Redfem, Director of Nursing Education Research Unit, KCL 4.00 pm- 5.00 pm, Room 2-109 Clark Building, 552 King's Road, Chelsea campus

I COURSES COMPUTING CENTRE Thurs 22, Fri 23, Mon 26, Tues 27 & Wed 28 March PROGRAMMING IN ISO PASCAL Strand campus 10.00 am to 1.00 pm & 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm Further details available from Advisory, Room 23A8 ext S2505

CENTRE FOR PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES Friday 18 to Saturday 19 May\ Two day conference PERCEPTION AND PERCEPTIJAL CONTENT

Council Room, Strand campus All enquiries to Or Tim Crane, Department of Philosophy, Strand campu

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS Monday 2 to Friday 6 April DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING For further information please contact Or J F 80yce, Department of Physics, King's College, Strand campus

I COLLOQUIA INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED MUSICALSTUDIES Wednesday 21 March HEINRICH SCHENKER'S CONCEPT OF SONATA FORM Stephen Hinton, Lecturer,Technical University of Berlin 5.00 pm, Room GOl, Strand campus

ROYAL SOCIETY THE MEDAWAR LECTURE Thursday 5 April THE NEW TRANSNATIONAL STRUCTURE OF BASIC SCIENCE: PROSPECTS AND APPREHENSIONS Professor L Thomas Wednesday 25 April EMBRYO MANIPULATION AND TRANSGENESIS IN ANIMALS Professor E J C Polge Thursday 26 April HOW MANY SPECIES ON EARTH TODAY? AND TOMORROW Professor R M May 5.30 pm, 6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y SAG Wednesday 2 & Thursday 3 May Discussion Meeting TRACE ANALYSIS Organised by Professor W J Albery, Professor D T Burns, Professor J N Miller and Professor A Townshend For further information please contact the Scientific Meetings Secretary at the above address or telephone 01 839 5561.

RE E RCH

I tudy of variation 1

.c

PL

I GAD RE E RCH PPORT OFFICE

The Planning and Research Support Office (PRSO) has recently been e tablished within the Planning and Legal Di i ion of the Secretariat. Under the direction of the Deputy College Secretary, Harry Mu elwhite, the Di ision is re pon ible for the development, organisation and maintenance of an integrated planning y tem for the College, in collaboration with the other major areas of the administration - academic, financial and estates. The PRSO is in the overall charge of the Planning Officer, Stephen Harrow; and will work clo ely with KCL Research Enterprises with the aim of encouraging maximum external financial upport from non-UFC sources for College-based research. ow that the development of detailed local planning is underway in the Schools, the fir t and major task of the PRSO, already well in hand, is to pursue the vital enterprise of building a dedicated research and expertise database, into which will be channeJled all the existing consolidated sources of information about research activity in the College (such as that deriving from the College's research reporting procedures) and any subsequent information. Aided by the database facility, the Office will eventually be able to offer a comprehensive intelligence service to support and monitor patterns of local research endeavour academically determined at School level.

Such an 'intelligence service' will naturally embrace a number of complementary and inter-locking responsibilities, eg - Ensuring the receipt and dissemination of information for all sources of research funding and keeping up-to-date records of those opportunites; - in conjunction with Finance and Staff acting as a centre for advice on research funding and grant applications; - encouraging the germination of interdepartmental and inter-disciplinary

8

1

collaborations.

The PRSO is also to be responsible for compiling the Research Review and Research Publications, on an annual and biennial basis respectively.

Further detail may be obtained from Rama S Thirunamachandran (pRSO, Secretariat) on extension S2708.

RESEARCH EXPLOIT TIO It is important for the College and the individual researcher that we should regularly assess the opportunitie for raising additional income from the commercial development and exploitation of research.

Many members of the academic taff have established beneficial links with companies through co-operative research programme sponsored studentships and consultancies. These company links can also provide a foundation for more effective grant applications to the Research Councils and the EC. Ken Groves, Director of KCL Research Enterprises (ext K394) is available to assist members of staff to strengthen their company relationships and to advise on the necessity of protecting intellectual property developed through research.

Guidance is given on patenting procedures, contract conditions and licensing arrangements. Opportunities exist for launching spin-off companies where this is viable but the important task is to achieve that route to exploitation which maximises the revenue against a practical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal. Any discussions can take place within the confines of a confidentiality agreement. Do not hesitate to contact KCL Enterprises with any questions you may have.

in computer use in primary school, and the effectiven of inservice training. Schools may own computer hardware, but it doe not necessarily follow that compUler ha e been adopted and implemented ucce sfully by teachers. Cia sroom use varie , despite a Government initiative in the early 1980 to introduce at least one microcomputer into each British primary school, accompanied by a widespread inservice training. The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Inner London Education Authority and Research Machines Ltd. The findings of the Research Study have been illustrated by a video which hows example of inexperienced and experienced teachers describing how they use computer in the classroom. An accompanying booklet also provides additional infonnation. This resource pack which will help develop the effective use of computers in the classroom is available from The Information Officer, Education and Computing Unit, Centre for Educational Studies, King's College London, Strand London WC2R 2LS.

LI GUISTICS AT KI G'S The central aims of studying Linguistics at King's are to explain what it is to know a language; how that knowledge is acquired; and how to put it into use.

The course units in Linguistics at King's begin by describing the data of language: how utterances are formed and how they have meaning.

Later the course focuses on explaining how language is interpreted and acquired by the human mind. Through attention to the inadequacies of data for natural learning, and to the errors which result from processing by the learner, parameters are e tablished to indicate the structure of the mind.

MICROS A D PRIMARY SCHOOLS

If any further information is required please contact me at the following addre s, Lingui tics Course, 9a SWB, Strand campus (53545).

Margaret Cox and Valerie Rhodes at the Education Computing Unit at King's have recently completed a four year research

Dr William Rennett Department of French

NEWS ROUND UP A BIG THA K YO Stephen Harrow, Planning Officer (Secretariat), writes to say a heart-felt 'thank you' to all those very kind colleagues who sent him good wishes and 'get well' greetings during his recent extended stay in St Thomas' Hospital, Westminster. After a post-operative period for recuperation, Stephen has now returned to work full-time and claims to be enjoying being back at King's! Po sibly the effects of the anaesthetic are taking even longer to wear off than usual.

While in St Thomas', Stephen used his camera to good purpose, taking shots of the superb Thameside vistas to be seen from the upper floors of the Hospital. The shot reproduced (below) shows Somerset House and the College in a quite unique perspective. Can anyone identify the building in the foreground? Answer on pagelO (see *).

this approach had on the deportment of the young man and the improved selfimage that resulted from it. It seemed to me that the Alexander method wa somehow able not only to develop physical movement, but also to develop an ability to take greater control of one's 'physicality' .

The purpose of my writing is to ask Dr Cecily Partridge, if she could possibly consider this aspect of physiotherapy and incorporate the Alexander method in her research.

In my opinion mental handicap and physiotherapy is a neglected area, and has enormous scope. I wish Dr Partridge every success with the project.

Fanny Griffin Accommodation Office, Strand campus

STAFF CRICKET CLUB

Technical note: The definition has suffered a bit because, Stephen says, he had difficulty, one week after a fairly serious operation, in holding the camera sufficiently still: 200mm lens at maximum focal length; 1/125 at f5.8; ASA 64.

PHYSIO FEEDBACK Research Grant for Physiotherapy I was pleased to read of the research project being undertaken by Dr Cecily Partridge, (February issue of Comment no 43), in physiotherapy and mental handicap.

In my limited experience of dealing with mental handicap, I have observed that quite often physical movements can be performed quite adequately in isolation. The problem starts when these isolated movements have to be strung together into a meaningful and / or purposeful function or expression. Regular specific exercises, although very often enjoyed when performed, do not always benefit the person as a whole. It was therefore with ome trepidation that I approached an 'Alexander method' expert to see what effect her method would have on a mentally handicapped teenager. The sessions were again much enjoyed, but after only a few weeks, I was amazed to see the overall effect

Call for new members Although the King's staff cricket club formally merged last season with our old rivals, Queen Elizabeth College, the perennial problem of rmding eleven good men and true to represent the College, persists. Some of the present team, although willing are long past their 'sell by date'. Young blood and even middle aged blood is urgently needed. If you have ever played and still remember how, please contact one of the following. You can be assured of a convivial welcome at either our superb new ground at New MaIden or at one of the equally attractive oppo ition venues. If anyone is interested please contact any of the following: Strand site John Nicholas Chemistry Bill Sherman Physics Chris Chunilall Physics Neill Spencer Biochemistry

S2752

Kensington site Phil Cunningham Computer Centre Richard Bepat Biosphere

K239

Sl180

S3738 S2734

K342.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

HIP HO !

For tho of you who don't 'arf fan y nipping off on a relaxing cruise next term, here i a prospect whi h will gladden your oul: the goodship Pinafore sets sail from the College' ew Theatre on Wednesday 9 May for a three day trip, and aB member of the College staff are heartily Invited to come and sail the ocean blue, for what promi es to be a memorable journey. With the decks scrubbed and the bras work polished, it'll be anchors away when the King' College Gilbert and Sullivan Society take up their po ition on the quarter-deck of HMS Pinafore.

Formed in 19 7 by a fe dedicated mortals ho couldn't wait to get dressed up in illy clothe and pran e around the College board inging joyou Iy, the Society, 'ith mitial funding from the D'Oyly Carte Charitable Tru t, i no e tabli hed as on of the premier performing societie of thi College. The hallowed timber of HMS Pmafore i launched upon the ocean wave thi year thanks to the generou upport of Pizza Express Ltd., the Gilbert and SuUivan bar (Covent Garden) and KCLSU.

PO OR 'EEDED FOR AR TH R ER ZJ:>e Gaffen from the Department of Pharma ology 1 to run the London 1arathan on 22 April 1990 and i looking for sponsor. All donations will go to The Spons Aid Foundation, Action for Resear h into ultiple Sclero i and pecifically for a si tan e for 1ar Bailey a fonner member of staff. Please contact her through the Department of Pharmacology.

SMALL ADS With boarding card available from 25 April, why not come and sail the waves with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society this May? With passion and us pense, laughter and tears, morality and wit, it's a trip for all the family. And I promise you, me hearties, not even a glimpse of Cap'n Birdseye.

ROO

TO LET

Female only. Single room in a 2 bedroomed Bloomsbury Oat. Available from end of February to end of June (po sible extension to end of September). £75.00 per week + bills.

Contact (01) 388 1427 after 8.00 pm.

RE TED PROPERTY Spacious 4 bcdroomed detached house in secluded location in Wimbledon, elegantly fumi hed with TV, video, microwave etc £ 1250.00 per month. Available from I April till the end of the year.

Tel (01) 946 7333

* For all those who couldn't quite work it out, the mystery building is the County Hall.

Infull voice andfancy dress! A scene/rom lolanthe.last years production by the Society.

W

GILBERT

W S Gilbert (1836-1911) never actually hone during his time at King's. Admitted to the faculty of General Literature and Science in 1853, the well-appointed College archive keep a brief record of Gilbert's academic progress at this time.

At English Literature he is rated 'Good', but at Divinity and Mathematics he was less succe ful: 'rather indifferent', 'progres m6'derate,. French seems to have been an altogether unhappy experience: 'more application required', 'Frequently absent. Inallentive'. We can but guess what Britain's favourite libretti t was doing during his frequent absences from College. His only claim to notoriety at King's was that he turned the Physics

10

.::::..

Society into a Shake pearean reading club. eedless to say it reverted back after his graduation in 1857.

ociety

L

CHTIME RECITAL

The Department of Music is to present a lunchtime recital of J S Bach's mu ic on Monday 19 March. The programme starts at 1.05 pm in St Mary-Ie-Strand and includes the Brandenburg Concerto 0 3 BWV 1048, the Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord B WV 1021 and the Cantata 'Jauchzet GOll in alien Landen' BWV 51.

Everyone is welcome, admission is free.

Comment is the College's regular staff newsletter, is ued by the Information Office «ext 2179» three times a term, with special editions if required. Contributions are warmly welcomed from any member of the College. For example profiles of people or areas of interest, new of events, views on College matters, photos, cartoons, items of sale, puzzles or quizzes. Comment is sent to all staff and made freely available through the Student Union. Copy dates and and publication dates are published at the end of each issue. The copy dale for the next issue is 27 April 1990 for publication in the week beginning 7 May 1990.