Comment 057 December 1991

King's College London newsletter

Concert celebrates launch of new Music Centre The establishment of the new Centre for Advanced Performance Studies of King's and the Royal Academy of Music was celebrated on 29 ovember with a concert in the Great Hall given by the Royal Academy Sinfonia.

The College's Academic Board has approved a corporate plan which is to form the basis of strategic proposals to be put to the College Council on Tuesday December 17 and, if approved there to be submitted to the Universities Funding Council. The plan as approved by the Board on 4 December presents an outline framework for the College's future academic and financial viability.

Comment will carry full details of the plan as soon as it has been finalised.

The Centre was formally launched at a reception before the concert where Principals Dr John Beynon of King's and Sir David Lumsden of the Royal Academy signed and exchanged the agreement document in ummit-meeting style. The Great Ilall was full to hear the Sinfonia, conducted by Christopher Warren-Green, play Rossini's Overture: The Barber of Seville, ielsen's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra and Beethoven's Symphony 07.

Advent Carols recording praised The recording of King's College Singers' Carols in Advent has received high praise from reviewers in Gramophone and Classic CD. Gordon Reynolds in Classic CD describes the recording as being 'as near perfect as any student body could be expected to reach' and praises the choir under Ernie Warrell for its 'reverent fervour'. He suggests that 'as a memorial of confident, caring, dignified liturgical procedure, it should be made a compulsory item in the pilgrim scrip of every ordinand'. The reviewer in Gramophone draw attention to the readings as well as to the singing, and concludes: 'There is a beneficent sense here of things being in place: rest for the body and refreshment for the souL' Copies of the recording, on CD (ÂŁ8.50) and cassette (ÂŁ4.50) are available from the Alumnus Office, Room MBIO Cornwall House, exts 3052/3.

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DES visits CES A party from the Department of Education and ience, including Michael Fallon MP, (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the 0 ES, with special responsibility for teacher training), visited the Centre for Educational Studies at Cornwall House on 25 ovember 1991. During his visit to King's he was introduced to the PGCE student committee, and observed two PGCE classes in progress: the Modern Languages group in a CALL workshop, and the English group in their session entitled 'Pre-Twentieth Century Literature'.

Michael Falion MP in discussion with students from the Modern Languages PGCE group, during a recent visit to King's

PLANNING RESEARCH: THE OPTIONS AHEAD In the last is ue of Comment I discussed research planning in the context of the balance between research and teaching. In this article I address the issue of the creation and maintenance of an internationally competitive reseach base within the Sciences at King's. As the academic planning process move ahead everyone is well aware of the need to improve our UFC ratings. Implicit in the concept of Graduate and Undergraduate Schools is the assumption that UFC ratings will only be sought for the former; non-research-based areas of the College would not require research-based finance. It is also crucial for the balance of finance between all the Schools of the College that the two Science-based Schools pull in a lot of eternal grant support and maintain high UFC ratings. Given this background, how do we best achieve these aims in research? A good starting point is ask how our pay masters make their judgements in the UFC ratings exercise.

Prof Graeme Davies reminds us of the es entia I criteria in his recent letter as Chairman of the UFC: Rating point 3. Research quality that equates to attainable levels of national excellence in a majority of the sub-areas of activity, or to international level in some.

Rating point 4. Research quality that equates to attainable levels of national excellence in virtually all sub-areas of activity, possibly showing some evidence of

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international excellence, or to international level in some and at least national level in a majority.

Rating point 5. Research quality that equates to attainable levels of international excellence in some sub-areas of activity and to attainable levels of national excellence in virtually all others.

One way which will help to achieve these aims is to reorganise, where appropriate, groups of active scientists into research cen tres which have clearly defined aims and a secure and competitive funding base. Such centres will foster cross-fertilisation of ideas and exchange of the technologies necessary to compete in many areas of research with the often more aggressively inclined and better funded laboratories of the USA, Japan and Germany.

This is not to say that individuallaboratories are not to be encouraged: on the contrary, excellence in research must be supported wherever it lies, and working in groups does not suit every topic or every person. It is also.the case that research centres must be generated from the bottom up: false associations will create more trouble than they are worth. The plea, therefore, is that the College moves rapidly to a structure that has maximum flexibility in research management; that we invest in capital costs if necessary and that we do not allow traditional thought and historical arrangements to stand in the way of new developments. Let me give you an example of this approach.

The Developmental Biology Research Centre Recently, two Life Science Divisions (Biomolecular and Biomedical) co-operated to establish a single site interdisciplinary research centre with a research focus in the area of developmental biology. The centre builds on existing strengths, pulling together 10 members of staff formally located on three separate sites. Relying on College capital costs for refurbishment of old and battered laboratory space at Drury Lane, the centre will be complete by the new year, less than 18 months since it was first conceived. There has been no change of teaching responsiblilty or affiliation, yet the day to day interactions necessary to generate an exciting and focussed research environment have been guaranteed by single site operation. Much of the work of the component laboratories involves modern molecular biological and genetic techniques, the success of which relies on day to day haring of expertise and equipment. The succes of the venture can, to some extent, be measured by grant income, and the DBRC has won over ÂŁ1 million in competetive grants since February 1991. At the time of writing the centre is supported by over ÂŁ3 million worth of grants which funds some 45 soft money positions.

Our future success in research will depend largely on effective management of this kind which which will need some hard thinking and some hard decisions. igel Holder

RESEARCH NEWS I

Central Research Fund The Central Research Fund has been instituted for the purpo e of making grants to members of the Universit (other than pre ent undergraduate students and those re i tered for a taught aster's degree) en aged on specific projects of research, to as ist with the provision of special materials, apparatu and travel cOSts. Applications are con idered each term and the next closing date for applications is 22 March 1992.

Forms of application and further particulars may be obtained from the Central Research Fund Section, Senate House, Room 21 a, Malet Street, London WC1 E 7HU. Tel; 071-636 8000 ext 3147.

Anglo-Danish Academic Research Collaboration Programme The British Council and the Danish Rectors College have agreed to co-operate in a programme to help universities, polytechnics and public sector research institutes in Britain and Denmark to set up joint research projects.

The programme welcomes applications from all research areas and offers two kinds of grant, with limited funds of up to £490 for preparatory visits and up to £2000 for research visits. The closing date for applications is 31 January 199::. Please contact Briarl Salter, Academic Registrar, for more information.

King's College Business Ethics Research Centre After organi ing the highly successful Fourth Annual Conference of the European Business Ethics etwork in London in September on Business Ethics In a new Europe, the Centre is currently engaged in producing several publications. These include a collection of the papers delivered at the conference and a volume of lunchtime lectures which Professor Jack Maboney (Director of the Business Ethics Centre, and Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Commerce at Gresham College in the City) has delivered on ethics in business over the past four years.

However, the major activity of the Centre in recent months has been preparations to launch a new quarterly periodical, Business Ethics: A European Re'lJiew, with the first issue appearing in January. Aimed as a practical resource to enhance the level of deci ion-making at all levels of business in Europe, the Re'View's opening number includes an interview with CBI's DirectorGeneral, John Banham, on top executive salaries in UK privatised companies, an article by IBM's chief executive on business ethics in IBM and an article on the social and ethical problems facing business in the new Poland.

Please contact Jack Mahoney or Anne Burrows for more information, ext 2578.

Success in L & D Blond Awards The L & D Blond Trust awards grants for proposals of scientific work of outstanding merit and benefit to the UK. This year the research field was biosensors in medicine.

Two of the three successful applications this year were from King's, and have received a total of £8,800. The winning proposals were; 'Biosensors for detection and assaying virulence of Legionella and Listeria species' Dr M A Halablab (Biosphere Sciences Division) and Dr H P Bennetto (Chemistry Department); and 'Kinetometry techniques for exercise in humans' Dr I C H Smith (Biomedical Sciences Division).

Research funding: correction In the O'Uember edllion of Comment the Principal wrote to allay anxieties about rumours of the establishment of a possible 'super League' system whIch would categorize uni'Versities according to their O'Uerall research Slrengths. He poinled out that Higher Education Minister, Alan Howarth, had recently emphasised that the Go'Vernment had no intention ofcreating such a League, and that the UFC's approach was to assess the quality of research in indi'Vidual uni'Versity departments, not whole unwersitles.

Unfortunately there was a typographical error in the last paragraph of the Principal's item, which confused the sense. The paragraph should ha'Ve read: 'There is therefore going to be no critical number of departments at which King's as an institution is going to be classified as R or X; what is vital - because it will so much affect our income, and hence our room for manoeuvre - is that we have as many departments as possible rated 4 and preferably 5.'

Mobile Radio Course Seventeen people, fourteen of them from industry, attended the recent two-day course on Personal and Mobile Radio Communication Systems run by the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering's Communications Research Group with support from the Continuing Education Unit.

Presentations were given by Dr Hamid Aghvami, Head of the Research Group, Dr Peter Ramsdale of Unitel, Dr Sultan Mohamed of BT, as well as Mr John Doble, a leading consultant in the field. Further courses on topical areas in communication are planned.

Why Overseas Scholarships?

It costs an overseas science student £12,000 per annum to study at King's: £7,000 for the tuition fee and £5,000 for living costs.

An arts-based student saves £1,500 on fees.

Most of us could not even begin to contemplate expenditure of this magnitude for our children's education. Yet in 1990-91, 1,082 high-fee students were enrolled at King's, contributing £6.5 million in fee income. Just as importantly, they contribute towards making King's an institution with an international outlook, and they enhance the experiences of our home students who benefit from contact with them.

Overseas recruitment has not become any easier as British universities, polytechnics and foreign institutions come to realize the benefits which high fee students bring. In Hong Kong we are competing with New Zealand for fourth position ( we used to be Number Two) behind the United States, Canada and Australia as the favourite destination for study abroad. Recruitment will become even more difficult as Hong Kong doubles its own provision for tertiary education over the next three years. The story elsewhere in the Far East is not dissimilar.

King's has not done badly in this field.

Since the International Students Office was set up in 1986 our high fee numbers have grown by 36%, compared to 6% for UCL, 2% for QMW and 4% for LSE. Only Imperial came near with 32%. And this was achieved with scrupulous concern for the reputation of the College as a centre of high standards with a tradition of care. An important part of our strategy was to involve our own students, both past and present, in our recruitment exercises abroad. Successful alumni make good advertisements and are willing participants in proclaiming the merits of a King's education. Present undergraduates in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong arrange orientation pre-departure tea parties for freshers and their anxious parents, as well as attending recruitment missions to talk to prospective applicants.

King's is almost unique in being able to award a significant number of overseas scholarships, and this facility has been invaluable in promoting the image of quality which we have striven to do. It is disarming to a cynical and sceptical school principal to be able to say that we have come to award a scholarship to his brilliant student, rather than to recruit her for her

high fee dowry. There are 39 students here now under our scholarship scheme, almost all of whom would not be in the UK without this sort of help.

And it costs us next to nothing! These scholarships are donated by alumni or are supported by alumni inspired schemes.

After all, many of our former students are trustees of foundations, or in senior management. In 1983-84, when the Overseas Scholarship Fund started, we raised £18,278. For this year, 1991-92, we have already received £177,128. Money received in these intervening nine years now totals £852,023.

Bearing in mind that there is a gearing factor involved, and that each pound of scholarship awarded brings in two or three pounds of tuition fees, it is not difficult to guess the value to the College of such a scheme. Other universities are beginning to feel that they too should adopt our strategy.

Dr Abraham S.-T. Lue Assistant Principal

CHRISTMAS COMPETITION in aid of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association organised by King's College Social Club There are nine photographs taken on various King's sites, all are in public areas. Use your skill and judgment to guess the location of each picture. Fill out the form and send it with a donation of at least one pound to Glyn Baker, Guide Dogs' competition, F3 East Wing, Strand Campus (please make cheques out to King's College Social Club and mark the back GUIDE DOGS).

The winner will have the entry with the most correct answers. We don't expect anyone to get them all right, so have a go! There are only two rules: 1. The judges' decision is final (and always right!)

2. In the event of a tie, a run off competition will be organised.

If you would like to see the pictures in glorious technicolor why not pop in to the Strand or Kensington social clubs where they will be displayed and extra forms may be obtained.

The Macallan was highly recommended by the late Professor R J S McDowall in his book The Whiskies ofScotland. For non-drinkers, or those poor souls who don't appreciate whisky, an alternative liquid prize may be arranged.

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Name!---------- DeptL-- - - - - - - - T e l - - - - - - - - - - - 1 I

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Send to Glyn Baker, Guide Dogs Competition, Strand Campus and enclose a donation of at least ÂŁ1.00 Closing Date for receipt of entries 15.1.92

STAFF NEWS

University of London and BT MSc course underway

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CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION Organisational Changes e 'eral mana erial changes in the central admini tration of the College have taken place. They re ult from a detailed review by the Principa~ the Dean of the School of 1edicine and Dentistry and the senior officers involved. The new arrangements are a follow : Deputy S cretary (Medicine and Dentistry) and ecretary of the School of Medicine and Dentistry - Mr HT Musselwhite Mr Musselwhite will concentrate on i sues facing the School of Medicine and Denti try, including the formal discussions about the coming together of the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals and the College; the development of the Denmark Hill site for both the I lospital and the Medical chool; and the po sibility of the College being the educational provider for the Regional [ [ealth Authority.

A a result of the above, it will be necessary for 1r Musselwhite to be based at Denmark I lill and to relinquish his responsibilities as head of the Legal and Planning Division of the Central Administration. He will remain a member of the central, senior management team and continue to play a full part in policy determination for the College as a whole.

Deputy Secretary (planning and Resources) - Mr DO Ball Mr Ball will assume responsibility for the

Planning unction in addition to hi current responsibilitie for directin the Finance and Staff functions.

Arrangements are in hand for Mr Ball to move his office from the orfolk Building to Room I B, immediately adjacent to the Secretariat on B Corridor of the am Building. Mr Mary Jamieson will move with him Research Support Officer - Mr S P Harrow r Harrow will relinqui h his responsibilities as Planning Officer to concentrate for the next ix month or so on the management of the Research Support Office and on organising the College's input to the Re earch Selectivity Exercise now under way. Ms Brid cDaid will provide secretarial and clerical support.

As you know, Stephen has been unwell for some months and it was especially pleasing to welcome his return to College in ovember.

College Solicitor - Mr Upton Arrangements arc in hand for Mr Upron to move his office from 552 King's Road to Room 2B on the B Corridor of the Main Building at the Strand where Mrs Ali on Rodney will provide secretarial upport.

His duties will remain unchanged.

W CSlade College Secretary

Dr Tom Rowbotham, BT Director 0 . 째e 'or Technolo y welcomed tu er,ts and alltm'olved to the openin lecture 0 the new. 1 in Telecommunications bein held at BT Laboratorie in 1artle ham.

This joint venture between BT and the Univer ity 0 London is the fir t industrially -ba cd tailored modular cour e in this country, and the first of its kind in telecommunications. (See Comment is ue 51, February 91) Dr Rowbotham de cribed the cour e as 'an ideal transition between a first degree in science and engineering and an in-depth study of more specific topics....which are of prime importance to the understanding of BT' networks'; and later he said 'I am delighted that the University of London is our partner in this venture because of the world-wide reputation for research it enjoys and the high standard of Degree it awards.'

Forty eight students have enrolled for this three year cour e, and it is encouraging to learn that BT Martlesham is already receIving enquiries about next year's enrolment.

Alan Kent Departmen t of Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Congratulations to Professor Baum Professor Harold Baum was nominated as a member of the Accademia azionale delle Scienze of the Repubblica di San Marino on 19 Ocrober 1991.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS Lecture

Research Seminar

Concert

28 January 1992, 13.00-14.00 The British Institute of Human Rights The Protection ofSocial Rights in Europe: The Experience of the 1961 European Social Charter, Professor DJ Harris, Professor of Public International Law, ottingham Univerity, ew Theatre, Strand

Department of Geography Tuesday 17 December 1991, 17.00 Coca, development and the environment in Bolivia Dr Colin Sage, Environment Section, Wye College Room 102, orfolk Building

Tue day 17 December 1991,13.05 King's College Recorder Consort Music by Holborne Aichinger, Hindemith., Staeps, and Stiles Room GOI, admission free

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British Heart Foundation Award Dr TAB Sanders has been awarded 5: 199, 136 from the British Heart Foundation to tudy the effects of varying dietary fat composition on heart disease; specifically, procoagulant platelet function and fibrinolytic activity and the inter-relationship with plasma lipoproteins.

The result of this study should show whether modification of dietary fat composition influences risk of thrombosis.

This has massive implications for the prevention of coronary heart disease and strokes. It should also help our understanding of the relationship between lipoproteins and the haemostatic system.

SMALL ADS

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Christmas cheer donations Hopefully by now you will have noticed the Christmas tree on the staircase in the Main Entrance Hall at the Strand. Staff and students are invited to leave gifts (nonperishable food stuffs and small items of clothing, such as socks) under it for St Martins in the Fields social care unit, who will be working with the homeless over Christmas.

Alternatively, there is a collection box in the Porters' Lodge if you prefer to make a monetary donation.

King's Books The following are among books published recently by staff at King'S. Patrick Chabal (Department of Portuguese), Power in Africa: An Essay in Political Illlerpretation, Macmillan Academic and Professional, £40.

Raimond Gaita (School of Law), Good and Evil: A n Absolute Conception, (Swansea Studies in Philosophy), Macmillan Academic and Professiona~ £40, £9.99 pbk.

Andrew Grubb (ed), (School of Law), Challenges in Medical Care, Wiley, £25.

Plants Soft-hearted Gardener seeks homes for large numbers of seedlings: oaks, foxgloves, Michaelmas daisies, foxgloves, forgetmenots, honesty, Chinese lanterns, foxgloves ...

Available free, charitable donations if desired to Oxfam or KCL. Smallish numbers of plants to be collected from Strand site, large ones preferably claimed from garden in Hertfordshire. Please ring Secretary, Music Department, Strand on ext 2029

David Hayton (School of Law), European SucceSSIOn, Chancery, 22 Eastcastle Street, London WI 7PA, £150.

Donation to Guide Dogs Association

David Hayton (School of Law), Hayton and Marshall: Cases and Commentary on the Law of Trusts, 9th edition Stevens, £30 pbk.

King's College Social Club 33 Surrey Street is pleased to announce that during December the club will donate IOp to the Guide Dogs for th~ Blind Association for every pint of guest real ales sold.

John Porter (Department of English), Air Space, Tern Press, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 IJ ,£27.

Jane M 0 Sharp (Department of War tudies), History, Analysis, and Evaluation of the CFE egotiation, OUP, £22.50.

Geoffrey Till (ed), (Department of War tud ies), , Coastal Forces (Sea Power 11), Bra sey's: Pergamon Press, £22, £10.95 pbk.

Manilla Envelopes (Size 4

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Available in the Library Office at £6 for a box of 1000, or 60p per 100. Please contact Linda Oxley, Library Office, Strand, ext 3512.

US Flat to let Berkeley, California: studio with kitchen and private bathroom. One mile University of California, and Bay Bridge to San Francisco. Short rents S250 per week, or exchange for a place in London (or Oxford, Cambridge or Paris). Write to Alta's B&B, Box 5540, Berkeley, CA 94705, USA.

Flat to let Pleasant two-bedroomed flat in Streatham let from mid-February 1992. icely furnished, central heating, washing machine.

Close to public transport and the shops, restaurants and cinemas of Streatham High Street. Only £450 per calendar month.

Minimum let one year. Please contact Deanne, External Liaison Office, Cornwall House, ext 3049. to

Typist Needed To type the biographical memoirs of the late Sir Ben Lockpeiser, KCB, FRS. The memoirs have been commissioned by the Council of The Royal Society and will be written by Mr Tony Edwards, a Fellow of the College and a past-president of KCLA.

If interested please call Mr Edwards next term, before 31 January 1992 on 071-221 5987.

Correction Computing centre Discounts There are two amendments to make to the prices of computer software, featured in the last issue of Comment.

Minitab Statistical package, PC & Mac, £55 including manual; Fortran programming package, PC, £40 including manual. Please contact Jean Davey on ext 4260 for more information.

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Last minute Christmas cards If you have not worked through your Chri tmas card list ye don't for et that the College has three design of Christma card on sale thi year. Canaletto's VieW from Somerset House Gardens (as shown below) and Quinten 1assy' The Madcnna Slandmg 1.Imh Chrld and arlgels, are priced at £3 for 5; the Colle e cre t cards at £3 for 1

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They are available from the following outlets: trand Ken ington Cornwall House Chelsea (, anresa Road)

ain Entrance, Porters' De k Philomena D'Souza, L6, ain Building Porters' Desk and Alumnus Office (Room 181 John Wornham, Security and Domestic Services

Hurry before term ends!

KING'S VISUAL IDENTITY - UPDATE The Pres and Publication 0 fice i currently underta . ng a survey 0 all external publicity material produ cd wIthin rin •. We would be grateful if department could send us any samples of such materia~ for example, cour e leaflet, new letter, poster or other publicity material that they have produced. We need to take account of the diver ity of application of King's 'house style' as part of our review of the visual identity.

Please note that we aim to introduce the new vi ual identity for King's on 1 September 1992, so it is worth bearing this in mind when re-ordering stocks of publication or stationery. If you need any further advice on this issue please contact the Press and Publications Office on ext 3202.

Did you see?

BBC2's reccnt classic drama serial Clarissa, adapted from Samuel Richardson's novel, was writtcn by Dr David okes, Reader in English Litcrature at King's and Janet Barron, an English Department graduate.

Thc novel, one of the longest in English, originally published in 1748-9, charts the seduction of a virtuous middle-class heroine, Clarissa, by an aristocratic rake, Lovelace. The BBC version starred Saskia Wickham in the title role, with Sean Bean as Lovelace. The series received excellent revIews.

Comment is the College's regular staff newsletter, issued by the Press and Publications Office (telephone S3202) three times a

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term, with special editions if required.

Contributions are welcomed from any member of staff of the College. These may take the form of, for example, news of events or people, views on College matters, photos, items for sale. Please note, the Editor reserves the right to amend items as necessary. If possible, please send your piece on an Applc Macintosh 3.5" Micro Floppydisk, using Microsoft Word programme or by E-mail under the alias Comment. Contributions for the next edition of Comment should be received by mid-day on 17 January.

Christmas Carol Service The Collcgc's Christmas service will be on Tuesday 17 December at 17.30 in the Chapel. Traditional carols by candelight, with mulled wine and mince pies to follow.

There arc no tickets for this scrvice, but do come and help make this a college 'family' occasIOn. The Revd Philip Chester