Comment 180

| 3 First Honorary Degree conferred | 4 Profile: Joe May | 8 Raising energy awareness | 9 Putting King’s on the map

Comment Issue no 180 | March 2008

The College newsletter

£1.5 million for the arts Academics in the School of

Humanities have received more than £1.5 million of funding in the latest round of awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Research Grants Scheme.

The AHRC Research Grants Scheme is intended to support well-defined research projects enabling individual researchers to collaborate with, and bring benefits to, other individuals and organisations through the conduct of research.

Lynsey flies the flag for King’s at the South Pole

‘AHRC has recognized the quality of research at King’s’ Dr Jan Palmowski, Head of the School of Humanities comments: ‘I am delighted that the AHRC has again recognised the quality of the research conducted at King’s. The awards acknowledge the innovative research undertaken by the award holders. They also reflect the interdisciplinary research culture in the School of Humanities, reflected in the link each of the projects maintains with our unique Centre for Computing in the Humanities.’

More than 250 academics in the fields of arts and humanities applied for research funding as part of this scheme. In total, 43 researchers across the UK continued on page 2

Medical student Lynsey Gawn arrives at the South Pole. See full story on page 8.

News

Minister attends seminar Principal’s Column greg funnell

greg funnell

From left: Victoria Morrisroe, ESRC, Margaret Hodge MP, Professor Rick Trainor, Principal, and Katharine Bond, King’s Business Development Manager.

Margaret Hodge MP, Minister

of State for Culture, Media and Sport, visited King’s in January to address a half-day Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) seminar.

Who’s shaping the future for the creative industries?, which was organised by King’s Business and the ESRC, was chaired by Mark Lawson, journalist, broadcaster and author, and attended by more than 60 delegates.

Delegates discussed questions such as ‘The creative industries are the success story of London’s

economy but how do we sustain its position as a creative capital?’, and a number of presentations were made.

During the seminar, two new funding streams were announced

by Kevin Moore, the ESRC’s Deputy Head of Knowledge Transfer, who said: ‘The creative industries are very important to us and one of the main reasons for this seminar is to identify the need to establish a new social and economic model to engage with the sector.’ See www.kcl.ac.uk/news for the full story.

£1.5 million for the arts continued from page 1

were successful in getting funding after a process of rigorous peer review. At King’s, the awards will be used to fund the following projects: Spanish and Spanish American Theatres in Translation: A Virtual Environment for Research and Practice – Professor Catherine Boyle, Department of Spanish & Spanish-American Studies, was awarded £765,439 for this project, which will create a virtual research environment and will function as a creative and productive meeting place for academic investigators and theatre practitioners.

Between Magna Carta and the Parliamentary State: The Fine Rolls of King Henry III 1216-1272 | Comment | March 2008

– Professor David Carpenter, Department of History, received £625,000 to fund the third stage of his Fine Rolls project. This work is a collaboration between King’s History department, the Centre for Computing in the Humanities and Canterbury Christ Church University.

Christianity, urban politics and pursuit of the common good through broad-based coaltions: the case of the Citizens Organizing Foundation – Dr Luke Bretherton, Department of Education & Professional Studies, received £165,783 which will be used to research the role and significance of religious groups in deliberations about public policy.

Dear Colleagues As some of you may know, the College envisages forming an Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) with our partners Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts. The South London and Maudsley Trust has also joined the discussions.

The term Academic Health Sciences Centre may seem unfamiliar but the concept is common in other parts of the world, where the term Academic Medical Centre (AMC) is also used. These centres bring together the very best in health care delivery, research and teaching. In our case, such a centre would embrace the Health Schools and our partner hospitals.

The AHSC involves moving beyond liaison to integration, having regard for the integrity of the branding, governance and management of the College, much of which would not be directly involved in the AHSC. As our discussions about forming an AHSC continue, the landscape around us is already rapidly changing, with a number of AHSCs emerging. As well as the plans to align Imperial

College London with Hammersmith, Charing Cross and St Mary’s Hospitals, others in London and elsewhere are now rapidly moving in this direction, which has been recommended by the Government’s Darzi Report on the NHS in London.

Our decision to explore actively the benefits of creating an AHSC at this time has been supported by the College Council’s Chairman’s Committee and by the Board of Directors at both NHS Trusts.

Our joint work in cancer and our success locally in securing all three types of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre provide a strong platform for the development of an AHSC. We recognise that the close integration of scientific and academic staff and health professional colleagues lies at the heart of many important medical and scientific breakthroughs – the sort of innovation for which we are already famous and which are widely associated with successful AHSCs elsewhere.

It is envisaged that an AHSC would make it easier to achieve the aim of the current comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre – moving rapidly from research into new treatments as quickly and safely for patients.

I will keep you informed of how discussions progress on this major new initiative, which is being monitored by the Principal’s Central Team and the Chairman’s Committee of the Council.

Rick Trainor

DNA anniversary event This April marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Rosalind Franklin, whose pioneering work at King’s was key to the discovery of the structure of DNA. The photographic image, ‘Photo 51’, that she captured in 1952 with Ray Gosling was the clearest ever of DNA and can lay claim to being the most important photograph ever taken.

King’s is hosting an event to celebrate Rosalind Franklin at the Strand Campus on 14 April, 18.00 at the Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre. Professor Noreen Murray, Professor Ray Gosling and Professor Ellen Solomon will be speaking at the event. Everybody is welcome. For more information see ‘What’s on’.

News

PM endorses palliative care institute greg funnell

The Cicely Saunders Institute

of Palliative Care, Denmark Hill Campus, was officially launched on 5 February by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP. He was greeted by the Chairman of Council, Lord Douro and the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor.

The Institute will be the first of its kind in the world to focus on palliative care research, dissemination and teaching linked to clinical care.

Professor Irene Higginson, Head of the Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, commented: ‘Currently there is no organization in the world that is solely dedicated to the research and improvement of services in palliative care. As the population lives longer, due to reductions in acute disease, many more people will need palliative care and support to help them live as well as possible until they die. To improve this situation, research is urgently needed.’

The work of the Institute will advance understanding in palliative care and treatment for

Gordon Brown greets Frederick Larkin, one of the guests at the opening of the Cicely Saunders Institute.

patients, as well as improving interaction between patients and healthcare professionals.

The Institute will provide undergraduate, masters

and postgraduate teaching in palliative care for students and healthcare professionals from around the world.

Key research strands will

include: breathlessness, fatigue, and pain, and disease areas will cover cancer, neurological diseases, kidney disease, HIV and beyond.

First Honorary Degree conferred clive hassell photography south africa

Helen Suzman DBE, one of the 20th

century’s leading public figures, who for many years represented the only real opposition to apartheid within the all-white Parliament of South Africa, was awarded the first King’s Honorary Degree on 6 February.

At this historic ceremony, held at the Brenthurst Library in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Chairman of Council, Lord Douro, conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws on Helen Suzman in front of an audience of distinguished guests, alumni and friends of the College.

Among those present at the ceremony were Mrs Brigid Oppenheimer, Mr and Mrs Nicky Oppenheimer, the Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, Professor L Nongxa,

and Nadine Gordimer.

Lord Douro said: ‘On this very special occasion I would like to congratulate our new honorary graduate and to welcome her into the King’s community and to what we hope will be a long and rewarding association with wthe College.’

The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, commented: ‘It is highly appropriate that King’s, with its commitment to service to society, and its internationalism, should confer its first Honorary Degree on one of the world’s most distinguished humanitarians, Helen Suzman.’

The College gained degree awarding powers from the Privy Council in 2006 and from this year King’s will be starting to award its own degrees.

From left: Veena Lady Williams, member of College Council, Helen Suzman, Nicky Oppenheimer, and Lord Douro, Chairman of Council.

Honorary Degrees are awarded to individuals of conspicuous merit as demonstrated by

their outstanding academic or intellectual contribution to their field.

March 2008 | Comment |

Profile

Joe May

greg funnell

Joe May FKC, Deputy Site Services Manager at the Strand Campus, joined King’s in 1979. His dedication, commitment and loyalty to the College led to his being elected a Fellow of the College in 2003. These qualities, together with his kindness, diplomacy and unfailing good humour, have made him one of the College’s most popular members of staff. On the eve of his retirement he talks to Comment.

How did you start at King’s?

When I first began I was put on duty as one of the front gate porters at the Strand, on the early shift. After about a year I was moved to the main desk, next to the statues of Sancte and Sapienter. Then I was made Deputy Head Porter in 1983 and Head Porter in 1986.

What does your role entail?

Every day is different and I find it’s best to come in each morning prepared for anything! But of course there are routine duties we have to carry out. My team is responsible for the whole range of services that support the campus, including portering, cleaning, security, the post-room, and organising rooms for anything from exams to lectures, dinners and weddings.

These are all key tasks and, working with my excellent team, we make sure we provide good customer service for King’s people, staff and students alike, and visitors, and that the site runs smoothly and properly. We work closely with KCLSU and help with enquiries, lost property and ID cards.

It’s vital that we establish positive relationships with all the departments in the College. People must feel they can approach us for help with anything – from a major conference or cleaning problems. I always like people to leave a meeting feeling comfortable and happy with the situation.

The high-profile events that take place in the College are an important part of my job. These include visits from members of the royal family, prime ministers and high-profile lectures and conferences. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work on these occasions.

Tell us about the famous people you’ve met.

It was a great day when the Queen and Prince Philip came to open the Maughan Library in 2002, and I’ve been presented twice to The Princess Royal during her visits as Chancellor of the University of London. I’ve had the privilege of meeting some very interesting people including politicians, writers, actors, and senior military personnel.

I once spent an hour in conversation with Shirley Williams MP while she was waiting for her driver; Denis Healey was one of the funniest | Comment | March 2008

people I’ve met, and talked to him when his car had broken down after an event; and Norman Tebbitt, despite how he’s portrayed, was very charming.

It was also great to meet Archbishop Tutu, Max Hastings, Yehudi Menuhin, Lynda Lee Potter, Julie Christie, Charlotte Rampling and Jean Michelle Jarre. Actors including Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Bob Hoskins and Tom Sellick I met when the Campus was being used as a film location.

One of my most interesting working weekends was when the International Crime Writers Conference was held at King’s. It was attended by authors from all over the world, and I looked after them, including PD James.

Can you describe some of the more unusual things you’ve had to do?

We do get some very strange requests: years ago we were asked to look after a dog for a few hours by a visitor to the College while his owner went off to a meeting. Another time the Clerk of Works asked me and a colleague to clear the snow off the Strand Building roof as it was going into the fan light into the Library. We nearly became stranded on the roof as the window we went through to get there froze shut! Also I like to think I played some part in rescuing the original Reggie the Lion mascot from a skip when he was abandoned. He resided temporarily on the Terrace before being restored.

What have been the highlights for you?

I love the ‘thank yous’ I receive when we have events, small or large. We’ve received some fabulous letters, and it reflects well on the whole team. I really enjoy seeing students when they return to the College and come and find me and introduce me to their parents.

One couple who were being married in the Chapel were so happy with how we’d helped them that they invited me and my staff to it!

And one family holding a bar mitzvah in the Great Hall were so pleased with us they insisted on laying up a table for us in the Entrance Hall and we were waited on and had a four-course meal with silver service.

I’m particularly proud of my 20 years’ experience with the Lord Mayor’s show on

Fact file Book on my bedside table

Old London Bridge by Patricia Pierce. It’s a wonderful book, covering the history of the bridge and the area around it.

Favourite holiday destination

I love the Lake District and the South of France, both of which I hope to visit this year.

Proudest work moment

Definitely being made a Fellow of the College. But also the people I’ve met and the team I’ve worked with over the years.

behalf of the College. Each year it grows and we are able to help and accommodate some of the participants on this special day for London.

I have worked closely with the Lord Mayor’s Office and they have been happy with how we are able to look after them on the day.

What do you do when you’re not at work?

I enjoy walking at the weekends, especially along canals and disused railway lines, I recently did the Kennet Avon Canal Pathway from Reading to the Bristol Channel. Music has always played large part in my life, particularly jazz and light music. Also I’m a member of the Cinema and Theatre Association, looking at old buildings around the country, which were previously cinemas or theatres and are now, for example, supermarkets or pubs. We’re allowed to climb all over them and onto the roof in some cases, for example at the Electric Theatre in Harwich. The history of the First and Second World Wars is also a great passion of mine.

What are your future plans?

I’m looking forward to doing more of the above and keeping up with friends.

News

Wellcome Trust Chair delivers speech greg funnell

ChAIRMAn of The WellCoMe

Trust, Sir William Castell FKC, presented his ideas on the key issues affecting biomedical research at the Biomedical Forum in a talk entitled ‘The Challenges and Opportunities Confronting UK Biomedical Research’, last month.

‘A hugely influential figure in the funding of biomedical science.’

Sir William examined the best ways for research funders, industry and academia to collaborate, highlighting the new initiatives that the Wellcome Trust are funding to translate the best

from left: Professor Robert lechler, vice-Principal (health), Ron Kerr, Ceo gSTT, sir William Castell and Professor Graham lord.

basic and clinical research ideas into new products and approaches to the treatment of disease.

Ensuring recognition InfoRMATIon seRVICes & sysTeMs

(ISS) have produced a paper on citations entitled .

The paper, which was presented recently at meetings of the Principal’s Central Team (PCT) and College Committee, reports on how much coverage King’s citations receive in the databases of Thomson Scientific and Elsevier (the two main suppliers of bibliographic data).

Research into citations was prompted by the 2004 preparatory work for the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008, which revealed that searches on the phrase ‘King’s College London’ in commercial databases resulted in an unexpectedly low volume of citations. It was clear that a significant amount of King’s publication output was not being retrieved and attributed appropriately to King’s College London and its staff.

As a result, the College issued its first College Citation Policy, and ISS established a partnership with Thomson Scientific to attempt to tackle the College’s address indexing problems with its

products. The ISS paper illustrates that the results of these efforts are significant.

‘The impact to date is illustrated by a rise in the number of citations retrieved in clinical medicine from 75,595 to 117,849 and from 12,255 to 49,651 in Psychiatry/ Psychology,’ Lead investigator, Mary Davies, Deputy Director of ISS, said.

With over four fifths of the College’s ‘highest quality’ research output published in peer-reviewed journals, it is essential that King’s research output is appropriately attributed to the College. As a result, the paper also outlines ISS’s future plans and proposals, which include: strengthening the College’s partnership with Thomson Scientific; the hosting of a jointly-sponsored seminar in late April 2008 entitled ‘Beyond the RAE 2008: Bibliometrics, League Tables and the REF’; approaching Elsevier concerning improving the indexing of King’s College London’s publications in Scopus; and potentially participating in the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s pilot on bibliometrics.

He also explored the next generation of large-scale genetic studies, and programmes to

translate scientific discoveries into new treatments strengthening research capacity abroad.

Graham Lord, Professor of Medicine and Deputy Director of the NIHR Biomedical Centre commented: ‘We were very fortunate that Sir William Castell agreed to speak to us. As Chairman of the Wellcome Trust and a hugely influential figure in the funding of biomedical science in the UK, Sir William is a champion for medical research.

‘During his presentation Sir William explained that sustainability and translation is at the heart of improving research skills and that the translational work going on at King’s confirms the College’s place as one of the top 25 universities in the world.’

Saudi visit to the College

on 23 January the Principal (second right) welcomed a senior delegation from Saudi Arabia to the Strand Campus. his excellency dr Khalid Mohammed A Al Angary (second left) has been the Minister for higher education in Saudi Arabia since 1991, during which time the number of Saudi students studying in the uK has risen steadily to nearly 3,000 (mostly graduates). The College is a founding participant of the new King Abdullah Scholarship Programme which is likely to encourage more student mobility. The delegation also included representatives from five Saudi universities, who met with Professors Keith Hoggart, Mike yianneskis, vaughan robinson and nairn Wilson. The Minister and Principal are pictured with two of the College’s student ambassadors: final year Biochemistry student Mohammed Mohammed and 5th year Dentistry student esraa Al-timimi.

Profile 2008 The new edition of Profile is enclosed with this issue of Comment. Profile is a short guide to the College’s history, structure and developments over the last year. It is also available at College receptions and by emailing pr@kcl.ac.uk March 2008 | Comment | 5

News

Ensuring the highest quality at King’s The College has begun its

preparations for the next audit by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) which will take place in Autumn 2009. The QAA help to safeguard and improve the academic standards and quality of higher education, see www.qaa.ac.uk The audit preparations are being led by Professor Tom Pitt-Ford, Director of Institutional Audit and Chief Academic Auditor, and Hilary Placito, Deputy Registrar (Quality Assurance).

The first stage in these preparations has been the establishment of a Quality Assurance Review Group which is reviewing current processes to identify opportunities for improvement.

Hilary Placito explains: ‘The Group is consulting with Schools

and has visited a number of other Russell Group institutions to benchmark College practice against others in the sector. The second stage of the preparations will be the production of a Briefing Document early in 2009 in which the College will outline its approach to quality assurance and assess the effectiveness of that approach.

The Briefing Document is then submitted to the QAA about two months before the audit.’

Students are important and active partners in quality assurance and there is KCLSU membership on the Quality Assurance Review Group. In addition, KCLSU are conducting their own surveys of student opinion which will inform the Student Written Submission to the QAA that accompanies the College’s Briefing Document.

The QAA ensures high standards of education are maintained at King’s.

When they visit in Autumn 2009, the audit team will be assessing the effectiveness of the College’s quality assurance

structures. They will do this by meeting staff and students and reading a range of key documents.

Hybrid embryo research approved by HFEA The Human Fertilisation and

Embryology Authority (HFEA) has accepted an application by King’s scientists to begin work on creating Britain’s first hybrid animal embryos. This will enable scientists to fuse human cells with animal eggs.

The HFEA said: ‘An HFEA licence committee has considered applications from King’s College London and Newcastle University, to carry out research

The new licence will allow research to fuse human cells with animal eggs.

using human-animal cytoplasmic hybrid embryos. The HFEA licence committee determined

that the two applications satisfied all the requirements of the law and has now offered one-year research licences.’

Dr Stephen Minger, Director of the King’s Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, along with colleagues Chris Shaw, Professor in Neurology and Neurogenetics, and Clive Ballard, Professor of Biomolecular Sciences, will now be able to carry out research into some of the most debilitating and

untreatable neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Dr Minger says: ‘I am pleased that the HFEA has finally realised the importance of the work that we undertake and I am grateful to the scientific community, patient organisations and disease charities for all the support we have received over the past 18 months. Their backing has been invaluable.’

Withdrawal of HEFCE ‘T’ funding for ELQs The Government and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) have introduced a policy to withdraw ‘T’ (teaching) funding for institutions in respect of funded places for students wishing to study for equivalent or lower qualifications (ELQs) than those they already have.

In future King’s will not receive ‘T’ funding for such

| Comment | March 2008

students. In addition, the funded places occupied by such students at King’s in 2005-6 will be lost.

The £100 million saved across the sector will be used to fund additional student numbers for first-time learners in new Government priority categories.

There are a number of exemptions to the new policy such as nursing, dentistry and medicine but additional

exemptions which were requested

by King’s, such as pharmacy and clinical psychology, have been refused for at least one year.

‘The policy means a loss of around £2.4 million per year, plus associated tuition fees, for King’s based on our 2005-6 ELQ numbers. We should do everything possible to recover this money, for example, by looking at ways to benefit from the

additional student numbers that will be available even though the majority of the new numbers will be for foundation degrees and joint employer-funded degrees.

Schools, particularly those most affected (Biomedical & Health Sciences, IoP, Law and Social Science & Public Policy), will be looking at generating proposals to recover the funding,’ said Principal Professor Rick Trainor.

Focus

Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies Medievalism – understood both as the academic study of the Middle Ages and as the continued artistic legacy of that period – has been at the core of the humanities at King’s since the College’s foundation.

‘N

ot only has King’s been

home to some of this country’s leading medievalists, but at the heart of the original campus lies Sir Gilbert Scott’s chapel, completed in 1864, and a monumental Victorian tribute to the spiritual and artistic power of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages’, points out Professor Julian Weiss, current Director of the Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies. ‘When the Humanities Research Centres were set up in 1988, it was inevitable, given its strengths and traditions, that Medieval Studies would have a key role to play in promoting interdisciplinary research in the humanities. Indeed, the range of subject interests and the chronological span covered by the Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies make CLAMS unique in Britain.’

No parallel The Centre’s enviable position is further enhanced by close collaboration with another major research group, the Centre for Hellenic Studies; this combination of Eastern and Western Medieval Studies is without obvious parallel in the major universities of the world.

Although a research centre, CLAMS also promotes Medieval Studies through highquality and innovative teaching, by sponsoring an interdisciplinary MA in Medieval Studies.

‘Today, the Centre includes experts in a rich array of fields’, explains Julian Weiss. ‘Our intellectual vitality stems not just from the variety of disciplines we cover, such as history, literature, philosophy, palaeography, theology, and so forth, but also from the diversity of our theoretical and methodological approaches.

Sparks often fly when historians and literary scholars, for example, debate ways of reading the past. This critical energy is what attracted so many medievalists of international calibre to King’s in the first place.’

‘King’s clearly valued the role that medievalists had to play in the humanities’, says Simon Gaunt, Professor of French and an internationally renowned scholar of medieval French, who moved here 10 years ago from Cambridge. ‘I was impressed not only by its past achievements, but in particular by the College’s commitment to build on its successes.’

Interdisciplinary community His views are echoed by Serena Ferente

Lecturer in Medieval History, and current Secretary of CLAMS, who explains: ‘I did my graduate work in Italy and joined King’s in 2006. But before my involvement in CLAMS, I had never been part of a true interdisciplinary community. The Centre transcends our departmental affiliations. It’s a natural reference point for our graduate students, for King’s alumni (who are the fastest growing group in our email list), for medievalists outside King’s, and for some Londoners with an interest, often a passion, for the Middle Ages.’

But what of the achievements and activities of CLAMS over the past 20 years? One the founding members, Martin Jones (Senior Lecturer in German), highlights the thriving publications series, King’s College London Medieval Studies: ‘Twenty one volumes in 20 years is good going’, he says, adding that the impressive range and quality of the books provide an international showcase for the Centre. The series, under the general editorship of Professor Weiss (Spanish & Spanish-American Studies), offers a wonderful opportunity to publish in a venue that is rigorously peer reviewed, widely disseminated, and can produce volumes much more quickly – and cheaply – than most commercial ventures.

Collaboration King’s medievalists, such as Dame Jinty Nelson (Emeritus Professor of Medieval History) and Professor Judith Herrin (Professor of Late Antique & Byzantine Studies), have been at the forefront of research on Medieval Europe and Byzantium. In recent years, numerous innovative projects have exploited new electronic technologies, developed by the College’s internationally-recognised Centre for Computing in the Humanities.

One these is the Henry III Fine Rolls project, whose funding has just been extended with a major grant of £625,000 from the AHRC. This project, co-directed by David Carpenter (Professor of Medieval History), in collaboration with colleagues from Canterbury Christ Church University, is one of the many research partnerships CLAMS members have established with other institutions (see Comment 175 and 177 and this issue’s lead story).

In October 2007 Professor Carpenter collaborated with Westminster Abbey to celebrate the founding of the Cathedral by

Illuminated initial from: Hartmann Schedel. Liber chronicarum.

Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493. Foyle Special Collections Library [Rare Books Collection OVERSIZE D17. N91]. The ‘Liber chronicarum’ is also called the ‘Nuremberg chronicle’.

Henry III, and in May 2008, Clare Lees (Professor of Medieval English Language & Literature) will host ‘Anglo-Saxon Futures 2’, an international workshop with Anglo-Saxonists from Columbia University, New York University, Rutgers and Princeton.

Within CLAMS, the critical exchange of ideas across disciplines ranges from informal reading groups for staff and graduates to the more formal annual lecture series that constitutes the central core of the Centre’s activities. This year, under the title Temporalities: the Middle Ages across Time, the theme is the chronological span of medieval cultures and their continuing relevance today.

‘The Middle Ages and its legacy surround us’, notes Martin Jones, ‘and the period persists imaginatively in many different cultural forms, fostering in a very graphic way a sense of history, in its continuities and discontinuities.’

Or, as Julian Weiss puts it, ‘studying the Middle Ages puts the present into perspective by forcing us to confront the limitations as well as the strengths of our own critical vocabularies and practices’. This is one reason why, as Director, he believes that CLAMS will continue to be a privileged workshop for the Humanities at large. www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/hrc/clams/

March 2008 | Comment |

News

Lynsey flies the flag for King’s second year medical student

Lynsey Gawn has safely and successfully completed her remarkable expedition to the South Pole, making her the second youngest British person to ski to the Pole. She marked her extraordinary achievement by ‘raising’ a King’s flag.

‘A wilderness of beauty and peace’ Lynsey, now 24, reached the South Pole on 22 January where temperatures were -44.3ºC. The team of nine spent 20 nights in Antarctica, one of which was in an igloo built whilst storm bound.

Lynsey comments: ‘It was truly the most spectacular place I have ever seen, a wilderness of beauty and peace. It is the least polluted

place on the planet, and with no inhabitants it was a privilege to be able to ski in such a remote, untouched place. This year only 29 people have skied any distance to the pole, making it quite a unique adventure.’

To survive the harsh environment, the team had to consume in excess of 4,000 calories a day, most of which they ate in the morning and evening.

Whilst on the ice, they could only stop for a maximum of 10 minutes at a time, and then eat as many peanuts and bits of chocolate as they could, and drink isotonic fluid.

Professor Phil Whitfield, VicePrincipal (Students) comments: ‘Before Lynsey left for Antarctica she came to speak to me about her staggeringly adventurous plans. I was amazed at her determination, planning skills and sheer bravery

Raising energy awareness

‘A beautiful but harsh environment’: the team had to endure temperatures of -44 degrees.

in attempting to do something on such an epic scale. Now that she has succeeded so magnificently, I add the College’s congratulations to all the others she must have received. Everyone in the College is very proud of her!’

Now resuming her course, Lynsey says: ‘Coming back from

a trip like this makes you think without limits. You realise that with determination and passion you can achieve anything you set your mind to. I was fortunate enough to meet some incredible people whose mind set was so inspiring. I am definitely planning to go back to Antarctica, hopefully to do a much bigger trip.’

£180k for diabetes research

greg funnell

The Principal holding a mouse mat made of recycled CDs and recycled plastics.

The Principal, Professor Rick

Trainor, has launched King’s Energy Awareness Campaign as part of the College’s commitment to sustainability. Professor Trainor held the launch before the start of the London Leaders’ conference ‘Achieving sustainable air quality’ in January.

The campaign, which is being run by the Estates & Facilities Department, is part of the College’s Strategic Plan and aims | Comment | March 2008

to reduce the College’s energy use by two per cent – a saving of £57,800 and a reduction of 726 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions – by 2012.

King’s is one of the first universities in the country to have 100 per cent of its electricity sourced from renewable large scale hydro-generation, and has also received a ‘Green Gown’ Award for sustainable construction methods used in the refurbishment

Researchers at King’s were recently awarded two Innovation Acceleration Awards (total £180,000) to fund research examining new approaches to diagnosing the complications of diabetes. The projects will focus on diabetic nephropathy (damage to the kidneys), led by Dr Afshan Malik, and diabetic retinopathy (damage to the eyes) led by Dr Asif Butt, both based in the School of Biomedical & Health Sciences.

The funds were awarded by a unique partnership that was established to accelerate diabetes research, formed by OrthoClinical Diagnostics, and the Johnson & Johnson Corporate

Office of Science & Technology, together with the South East of England Development Agency, the South-East Health Technology Alliance, and Finance South East.

The £500,000 fund, launched in August 2007, aims to accelerate discovery and translational research into the diagnosis, monitoring and management of pre-diabetes, diabetes and diabetes-related illnesses.

Dr Malik worked closely with King’s Business in developing the commercialisation strategy for the technology at the core of her diagnostic for diabetic kidney disease.

of the Strand’s Main Building, but there is still limited knowledge about energy conservation within the College. As part of the Campaign, a series of roadshows will be held across the campuses to raise awareness among staff, students and stakeholders.

Energy Manager, Keith McIntyre, said: ‘Since the adoption of the College’s Carbon Management Strategy, King’s has reduced its annual carbon dioxide emissions from its 2003-4 baselines of 50,833 tonnes to 38,044 tonnes in 2006-7’.

International

Students hold UN simulation at King’s alynn saripuddin

King’s played host to the London

International Model United Nations (LIMUN) last month, for the first time in the conference’s nine-year history. The conference was held at the Franklin-Wilkins Building and was planned and managed from students from London universities.

‘LIMUN develops the skills of leadership’ The conference, the largest of its kind in Europe, attracted more than 800 students from 80 universities, spanning 25 countries.

Student-formed committees discussed items such as the implications of climate change,

Students voting at the United Nation simulation event.

peacekeeping in Darfur, the effects of counter-terrorism activities and the human rights situation in Myanmar.

Jasper Pandza, Secretary-

King’s at Indian Moot

Samuel Shepherd (LLM student-Coach); Vinay Kothari (LLM student-Researcher/Coach); Professor Satvinder Juss; Feni Ajumogobia (3rd Year LLB-Speaker); Asad Ladha (3rd Year LLB-Speaker).

Law students from King’s were

one of only three UK teams that took part in the 2008 D M Harish Memorial Government Law College International Moot Court Competition in February.

The competition, which was held in Mumbai, saw the students competing against 28 other teams from prestigious universities across India and around the world.

The King’s team, which reached the quarter finals, comprised Asad Ladha and

Feni Ajumogobia, both in their final year of the LLB programme and Vinay Kothari, an LLM student. They were coached and mentored by Samuel Shepherd also an LLM student. The team was accompanied by Professor Satvinder Juss, Director of the MA in International Peace & Security in the School of Law. The competition was jointly organised by the Government Law College in Mumbai and the DM Harish Foundation.

General of LIMUN, and Department of Physics undergraduate commented: ‘LIMUN develops the skills of leadership, expertise in

public speaking, negotiating and consensus building. By participating, delegates will cease thinking from their personal viewpoints and open themselves to new ideas, entering a world of international diplomacy and multilateral negotiations.’

There was a keynote speech from Dr David Nabarro, UN System Senior Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza.

The address, The International Community and Crisis Response: A Personal Reflection, focused on the billion people who live on less than one dollar a day as well as conflict ridden parts of the world.

He also spoke about the bombing of the UN Head Quarters in Iraq in August 2003 as an ‘extraordinary transition time for the United Nations’.

Putting King’s on the map A key aim in the Strategic Plan is to increase overseas student numbers and links with overseas organisations. The Principal’s Central Team has agreed on a number of new initiatives to help strengthen the College’s position as a world-class institute.

Principal Professor Rick Trainor comments: ‘Among other improvements, the new initiatives will help to increase the number of overseas students through enhanced international market development, and by raising the College’s international profile through advertising and via the Web.’ For several years, leading universities in other countries have had internationalisation as a key theme, and in order for King’s to compete globally the College will be accelerating work in this area.

Internationalisation is the process of integrating an international or intercultural dimension into teaching, research and service functions. It includes internationalising the curriculum, providing new courses

with international themes, supporting an appropriate mix of international and home students, holding intercultural campus events, providing foreign language study for home and overseas students and supporting staff and student mobility.

There are a number of advantages to internationalisation, notably students learning to be global citizens, increased opportunities for research and consultancy, increased opportunities for student and staff exchanges, and the creation of an international ambience on all campuses through student and staff cultural and academic diversity.

In order to support the increased number of students, the College’s admissions procedures will be improved, student accommodation provision will be expanded and language support will be increased. In addition, student support centres will be created on at least two of the College campuses to act as a single point of information about student services.

March 2008 | Comment |

King’s people

New Schools posts Barbara Dahill has recently

joined King’s as the Director of Administration and Business Development for the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery. In this new position, Barbara will help the School to adopt best business and development practice and to secure a promising financial future.

Barbara started her career as a nurse in the US, and following relocation to London in the 1980s, held senior management roles in the private healthcare sector and the NHS. Cathy Brown joined the School of Social Science & Public Policy in December as Director of Administration. Cathy joins King’s from University College London where she was Faculty Manager at the Faculty of Laws for nearly six years. Cathy’s role in SSPP will involve facilitating the School to meet its objectives in terms of the King’s Strategic Plan; and maintaining an overview of the School’s six departments as well as managing the achievement of SSPP’s challenging financial and strategic targets.

Dean’s book launch

The Dean and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Revd Dr Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s, launched the updated edition of his commentary on John’s Gospel, John: The People’s Bible Commentary, with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on 14 February. The launch took place at an official fringe meeting during the Church of England’s General Synod.

Dr Williams has chosen John’s 10 | Comment | March 2008

New King’s Fellowships New Fellowships have been announced. Fellowships are awarded to current and former Council members, staff and students by virtue of ‘outstanding achievements and/or through exceptional services rendered to the College plus normally maintaining active links with the College’.

The new Fellows are: • Rt Revd Dr Thomas Butler, Bishop of Southwark, and member of the College Council; • Mr Anthony Evans, recently retired Headmaster, King’s College School;

Gospel for the Bible study material during the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops this summer, and has called for all Bishops (and people across the Anglican Communion) to read it in the run-up to the Conference.

More information about the conference is available at the Bible Reading Fellowship website www.brf.org.uk

Ambassador’s visit His Excellency Don Carlos Miranda,

Count of Casa Miranda and Spanish Ambassador, visited the College on 20 February to talk about his personal experiences of the Spanish transition to democracy.

The Ambassador was welcomed to King’s by Professor Keith Hoggart, Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences) and introduced by Professor Robert Archer, Head of the Department of Spanish & Spanish-American Studies.

The Ambassador spoke in Spanish to more than 100 staff, students, alumni and Spanishspeaking members of the general public at the event which was held in the Edmund J. Safra Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus.

HE Don Carlos Miranda gave what he called an ‘objective account of subjective experiences’ during the three to five year period from 1975 when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco

• Professor Jonathan Glover, Director of the Centre for Medical Law & Ethics; • Professor Judith Herrin, Professor of Late Antique & Byzantine Studies, Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek; • Professor Brian Holden Reid, Professor of American History & Military Institutions, Department of War Studies; • Professor Leonee Ormond, recently retired Professor of Victorian Studies, Department of English;

• Professor John Phillips, Professor of English Law and former Head of the School of Law; • Professor Lord Plant of Highfield, Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Philosophy, and outgoing Head of the School of Law; • Professor Susan Standring, Head of Department of Anatomy & Human Sciences; • Mr Christopher Wiscarson, Alumnus and Chairman of the Development Committee, Director of Group IT and Operations, Lloyds TSB.

Death notices Mr Fred Armitage Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at King’s and Queen Elizabeth College for more than 30 years.

Professor Sir Howard Dalton FRS Queen Elizabeth College alumnus (BSc Microbiology 1965), Chief Scientific Adviser, DEFRA, from 2002.

Mr W B E Euden FKC King’s alumnus (BA English 1939) and King’s staff member from 1933-77, starting as a Library Assistant, breaking for World War II service, then

an Assistant Secretary (1952) and Bursar (1960).

Professor Stephen F Mason FRS FKC Professor of Chemistry at King’s (1970-87) and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of London Mr John McCormack FKC King’s College London Academic Registrar from 1969-82.

Dr James B Heale Lecturer in Plant Pathology, Division of Biosphere Sciences and then Life Sciences, at King’s from 1985-99. alex bevis

Franco to a liberal democratic state. He described his experience of that period from the perspectives of his family, his diplomatic work, and party politics.

The speech was followed by a lively debate in which he fielded a wide range of questions from the floor.

This was the third visit by the Ambassador to King’s. In 2007 he addressed an audience at the opening of a two-day conference ‘New Perspectives on the Spanish Transition to Democracy’. In 2006 he attended a major lecture by Da Mercedes Cabrera Calvo-

His Excellency Don Carlos Miranda.

Sotelo, the Spanish Secretary of State for Education & Science, who spoke on ‘Education in Spain: Recent Reforms’.

Flashback

Contributing to the story of life Rosalind Franklin, after whom the College’s Franklin-Wilkins Building is named, died 50 years ago on 16 April 1958, aged 37: some five years after her X-ray diffraction studies at King’s made a major contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA.

F

helical and had worked out important aspects of the pairing of the strands: results which were published in Nature alongside the paper by ‘Photo 51’, taken in May 1952 by Watson and Franklin and Gosling at King’s.

Crick, and one

by Wilkins, Stokes and Herbert Wilson.

In mid-March 1953 Franklin moved to Birkbeck College to work for Professor JD Bernal on the tobacco mosaic virus, again using X-ray analysis. In 1956 she fell ill with ovarian cancer, and this illness and her subsequent death at the height of her powers was a great loss to science. She had, however, already made a crucial contribution to one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century and helped to lay the foundations of structural molecular biology.

ranklin was born on 25 July

1920 in Notting Hill, London. Both her parents came from established AngloJewish families and her father was a wealthy merchant banker. She won a scholarship to St Paul’s Girls’ School and took her degree in natural sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1941, followed by a PhD on an industrial problem with coal. In 1947 she moved to the Laboratoire Central des Services Chemiques de l’Etat in Paris, where she used X-ray diffraction techniques on carbons.

Randall In January 1951 Franklin came to King’s at the invitation of John Randall (later Sir John), to use her X-ray diffraction expertise in the new Biophysics Unit. At that time it was not at all clear that DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) was the key hereditary substance, let alone that it has a double helical structure that enables genes to replicate themselves.

X-ray diffraction has been described as like shining a light through the crystals of a chandelier, so that the pattern of light diffracted on a wall makes it possible to guess the shape of the chandelier. Before Franklin arrived at King’s, Maurice Wilkins (Randall’s deputy) and Ray Gosling (then a PhD student) had already developed new types of microscopes and cameras and obtained a supply of highlypurified DNA which enabled them to capture images showing the molecule’s crystalline structure. Franklin was asked by Randall to undertake a systematic X-ray study of DNA, and Gosling was placed under her supervision.

However, as Aaron Klug remarks in his article on Franklin in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘Randall left an unfortunate ambiguity about the respective positions of Wilkins and Franklin which later led to dissension about the demarcation of the DNA research at King’s.’

A and B forms By controlling and varying the water content of the DNA specimens, Franklin was soon able to show that the molecule could exist in two forms (A and B). In May 1952 she and Gosling captured the famous ‘Photo 51’ of the B form which showed a clear x-shaped pattern and might have confirmed the earlier hypothesis of King’s Alec Stokes that DNA had a helical structure. Franklin, however, concentrated in

Rosalind Franklin.

Dedicated her analysis on the A form which did not seem to be helical, and the poor relations between her and Wilkins meant that Wilkins felt himself to be driven out of the DNA research.

Meanwhile, in Cambridge, Jim Watson and Francis Crick had begun to experiment with helical models of DNA. On 30 January 1953 Watson came to King’s and had a heated argument with Franklin in her laboratory, after which Wilkins showed him the crucial ‘Photo 51’. Asked later whether he should have ‘let the cat out of the bag’ in this way, Wilkins commented: ‘I think science isn’t supposed to be kept in bags. Any more than cats. Science ought to be an open activity where you work as part of a community.’

Model At Cambridge Watson and Crick were also given an unpublished MRC report on Franklin’s work, which confirmed their view that DNA was a double helix and enabled them to build a correct model of the molecule in February 1953. This was checked by the King’s scientists before the results were published in Nature in April. Franklin’s unpublished notebooks of February 1953 demonstrate that by then she had accepted that the structure of DNA was

Aaron Klug writes of Franklin as ‘singleminded and uncompromising in her work, so that she sometimes was bound to provoke exasperation among her colleagues, a feeling immediately tempered by the admiration they felt.’ But, he added, ‘she was not austere, she had a sense of fun, and was a woman of wide culture, at home in several European countries and the USA. She loved travel, took walking and cycling holidays abroad, and was a good mountain climber.’ Ray Gosling has described her ‘beautiful dark eyes, shining black hair’, and also ‘an intensity about her, and an awkwardness in conversation’.

In 1962 Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded a Nobel Prize for their work on DNA. The Prize is never given posthumously, so the question of whether Franklin should have been included did not arise. Since her contributions were crucial to the achievement, however, it is difficult to see how she could have been denied a share.

Christine Kenyon Jones See Brenda Maddox, Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA (HarperCollins, 2002) and Maurice Wilkins, The Third Man of the Double Helix (Oxford University Press, 2003)

March 2008 | Comment | 11

Around the College

Oedipus’ fall from grace greg funnell

Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus

was the Department of Classics’ choice for this year’s Greek play. The production ran from 6-8 February at the Greenwood Theatre, Guy’s Campus.

Oedipus Tyrannus is a dramatic rendering of the story of the downfall of the King of Thebes.

Over the course of the play Oedipus discovers that he has, unwittingly or not, broken two of the most fundamental taboos of human society; patricide and incest.

The drama tackles some of the most difficult and disturbing aspects of human desire, violence, and political power.

It also highlights the troubled relationship between man and god(s). Apollo is frequently invoked in this play, both as the god of plague and prophesy, and as the god responsible for Oedipus’ fall from grace.

The play was performed and directed by Classics students.

On the play, the director, Gina Syers, said: ‘As one of the best

Classics students performed and directed this year’s Greek Play Oedipus Tyrannus.

known plays in the entire Ancient Greek dramatic tradition, our play was a brilliant production with buckets of enthusiasm from both cast and crew.’

Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe, Lecturer in Roman History and Executive Producer of the Greek

Play commented: ‘This year, members of the chorus, a crucial part of all Greek drama, developed a powerful physical language of movement to accompany, reflect and develop this complex play.’

The Department of Classics stage a Greek Play every year

and it is the only one in the country to be performed entirely in Ancient Greek. The play has been an uninterrupted tradition of the College since 1953. It gives Classics students the opportunity to bring the ancient Greek text and language to life.

College Choir’s high-profile projects simon tottman

Choir Director Dr David Trendell with the King’s College Choir at Edmond J. Safra courtyard at Somerset House.

The College Choir has embarked

on two high-profile collaborative projects, which will culminate in a two-week tour of France later this year.

On 12 March, the Choir was 12 | Comment | March 2008

joined by the Royal Academy of Music Baroque Ensemble for a performance of JS Bach’s St John Passion, using period instruments in the College Chapel. The soloists were current or former

choral scholars in the choir and included Tom Hobbs, who graduated in History in 2005 and who is currently Peter Pears scholar at the Royal College of Music, as the Evangelist. During

the ensemble the Revd Dr Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s, gave a short interval talk about St John’s Gospel.

The forthcoming Passiontide Service will be held in the College Chapel, Strand Campus, on 18 March.

In June, the Choir of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge will join the King’s Choir for the UK premiere performances of Rodion Shchedrin’s monumental work The Sealed Angel at the Spitalfields Festival on Saturday 14 June and then at the Oundle International Festival on Friday 11 July. The two choirs will then record the work for Delphian records.

This will be followed by the choir’s two-week tour of France, which will include concerts in music festivals in Brest, Uzès, Pau, Montluçon, Tournus and Paris.

Student news New head team elected to Students’ Union Following a very closely fought campaign, the winners of the 2008-9 KCLSU Election are: President, Christopher ‘Japers’ Mullan; Vice-President Academic Affairs, Emily Rowe; VicePresident Student Activies & Facilities, Tony Sebastian; VicePresident Student Media & Engagement, Peter Ellender.

Winners of the three Student Trustee positions available, and the successful candidates were: Natasha Tanczos, Tayab Hussan and Jo Myer.

With 2,002 students voting (a 25 per cent increase from last year), there was a record turnout for this election. KCLSU congratulates all candidates and is looking forward to working with those who were elected.

Student switch off Students at King’s are helping

to cut the College’s energy consumption as part of the national ‘Student Switch Off’ campaign.

The campaign, backed by energy company E-on, aims to cut energy usage in the halls of residence of seven universities across the country. To date, 25,000 students from King’s and the Universities of Birmingham, Warwick, Leceister, Bradford and East Anglia, have signed up to the campaign.

King’s is currently in joint second place in the eco-race, with students reducing the amount of energy consumed in College residences by 10 per cent. This has reduced carbon emissions by 53 tonnes, and saved the College £11,000 on its energy bills. To find out more about the campaign visit http://studentswitchoff.co.uk

New studentships and bursaries King’s has announced its largest

support scheme for postgraduates.

Almost 100 new postgraduate studentships and bursaries will be offered for the 2009 entry, with much funding available

From left: Peter Ellender, Emily Rowe, Christopher Mullan and Tony Sebastian.

immediately. Full details of all these awards will be found at www.kcl.ac.uk/graduate

Professor Vaughan Robinson, Director of the Graduate School said: ‘Potential graduate students considering King’s have always been impressed by our academic standards and our research expertise, but have sometimes believed that our competitors offer more funding opportunities.

While this wasn’t always the case, we have responded. These new awards will do much to help us attract the very brightest students from around the world to King’s.’

At the same time as this announcement, King’s College London Engineering Association (KCLEA) – the graduate association for engineers who have studied or worked at King’s – have announced the recipients of this year’s undergraduate student bursaries. This year five awards were given from a £1,000 fund.

The recipients were Ahmed Abubaker (Electronic Engineering); Ruchna Bhirgoo (Telecommunication Engineering), Alessandro Guicciardi (Engineering with Business Management), Panayiotis Kolios (Telecommunication Engineering), Florian Naumann (Engineering with Business Management).

24/7 Prayer week

greg funnell

To help mark the beginning of Lent, the Chaplaincy held a 24/7 Prayer week in the Chapel on the Strand Campus, from the 6-13 February. During the event, the first of its kind to be held at the College, the Chapel was open 24 hours a day, providing people with an opportunity for personal prayer and reflection. The event, which was open to everyone, also aimed to raise awareness about world issues, such as climate change, fair trade and poverty.

March 2008 | Comment | 13

Media watch

Leisure benefit

Web wellbeing

US threat

Pepper cure?

BBC London News interviewed Professor Tim Spector, Head of the Twin Research Genetic and Epidemiology Unit and Dr Lynn Cherkas on their research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine concerning exercise in prolonging life. The research was also reported in The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Mirror, The Scotsman, and overseas media including The Washington Post, Seattle Times and ABC News.

Robert Goodman, Professor of

Radio 4’s Today programme featured Dr Peter R Neumann, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation & Political Violence, discussing Al Qaeda, terrorism and security between the US and Europe.

The Daily Telegraph, The Metro, The Daily Express, The Evening Standard and The Herald reported on research by Professor Antony Young, Head of Experimental Photobiology at St John’s Institute of Dermatology.

The research established that topical treatment with piperine stimulates even pigmentation in the skin.

Cold War? Anatol Lieven, Professor of

International Relations and Terrorism Studies, appeared on BBC2’s Newsnight countering claims that there is a new Cold War. Professor Lieven explained that the comparison was grossly overstated and outlined the differences. He also discussed Pakistan on Radio 3’s Nightwaves programme.

Diabetes cure Stephanie Amiel, RD Lawrence

Professor of Diabetic Medicine, was quoted in an article in The Metro in relation to the recent funding from the Department of Health for six new islet transplant centres in the UK. She also appeared on the Channel 4 News, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Mirror, Northern Echo, The Express, The Herald, Nursing Times and BBC News Online.

Australian apology Dr Frank Bongiorno, Senior

Lecturer, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, commented on the symbolic gesture of the Australian Government’s recent Aboriginal apology on Radio 4’s Today programme. CNN TV World News interviewed Professor Carl Bridge, Head of the Menzies Centre, on the same subject.

14 | Comment | March 2008

Brain & Behavioural Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, was interviewed in The Guardian about a new website he has set up www.youthinmind.co.uk

Transplants Professor Steven Sacks, Director

of the MRC Centre for Transplantation, appeared on Radio 4’s Case Notes explaining his latest research on transplantation.

Saudi Arabia Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed,

Department of Theology & Religious Studies, took part in Radio 4’s Start the Week, and discussed the situation in Saudi Arabia as well as recent events.

Embryo go-ahead

German U-boats The mystery of three German U-boats from the WWII scuttled in the Black Sea was discussed on Radio 4’s Today programme with Professor Andrew Lambert, Laughton Professor of Naval History.

Lincoln battle David Carpenter, Professor

of Medieval History, was interviewed on BBC2’s Timewatch programme about The Battle of Lincoln.

News of new research by King’s scientists using humananimal embryos (see page 6) was widely reported in the press, including the Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Daily Mirror, and The Independent.

East meets West

Spanish elections

Drop-out rates

Dr Diego Muro, Lecturer in

The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, and the General Secretary of the UCU, Sally Hunt, discussed the noncompletion rates for higher education on Radio 4’s Today programme.

Spanish Politics and European Studies, discussed the Spanish elections on Bloomberg TV.

Metabolic syndrome Professor Tom Sanders, Head

of the Nutritional Sciences Research Division, discussed metabolic syndrome on Radio 4’s Case Notes. Professor Lucilla Poston, Head of Division of Reproduction and Endcrinology, was interviewed about obesity in pregnant women on the same programme.

Aviation expansion Paul Ekins, Professor of Energy

& Environment Policy, wrote in The Guardian about carbon pricing and climate change. He also appeared on BBC2’s Money Programme.

Dementia The development of the Government’s national demential strategy was discussed by Professor Sube Banerjee, Institute of Psychiatry, on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

Dr Stephen Minger, Director

of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, was featured in an article in The Times Body & Soul on Chinese herbal medicine and its link to potential benefits for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Alcohol ecstasy BBC2’s Horizon featured an interview with Dr John Marsden, Institute of Psychiatry, regarding the harmful effects of a number of street drugs in a programme which listed 20 of the UK’s most dangerous drugs.

Nuclear weapons?

Nature featured an article with comments from Wyn Bowen, Professor of Non-Proliferation & International Security, on whether certain nuclearweapons technology should be shared.

Terrorism bill Dr John Gearson, Reader

in Terrorism Studies, was interviewed on Radio Wales regarding the proposed 42-day detention period.

See www.kcl.ac.uk/headlines for the latest media coverage or on Campus noticeboards.

Comment is keen to know of any staff featured in the media, email pr@kcl.ac.uk

Research First-ever ERC grant awarded Dr Christoph Meyer, Lecturer in European Studies and member of the Department of War Studies, is the recipient of the College’s first ever grant from the newly-formed European Research Council (ERC).

The grant will be used to fund a project on the use of early warnings relating to intra-state conflict and their contribution to improving public policy.

The 754,000€ Starting Investigator Grant will enable Dr Meyer to set up a research team to work for three years on the production, communication and political use of early warnings relating to intra-state conflict since the end of the Cold War. The project is anticipated to start in September 2008.

Dr Meyer explains: ‘The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 showed the shortcomings in the communication of and political response to early warnings. The project will look at more cases to study much more thoroughly under what conditions early warning can lead to conflict prevention. We then want to compare our insights with studies of preventive approaches to issues such as climate change, ageing populations and financial instability.’

The ERC grants are investigator-driven and the sole assessment criterion is the excellence of the investigator and the proposed project. The ERC aim is to support frontier research in any discipline.

Exercise prolongs life

New rare genetic disorder

A Group within the Medical &

Molecular Genetics Department is researching a rare genetic disorder which has significant similarities between fossil findings from the island of Flores (Indonesia) and the Primordial Dwarfism condition. The recent study from Professor Richard Trembath and led by collaborators from Germany was published in the renowned journal, Science.

Individuals with MOPD II (Microcephalic Primordial Drwafism) have several features in common with Homo Floresiensis,

including an adult height of 100 cm, grossly normal intelligence, despite restricted brain size, absence of a sloping microcephalic morphology, and a number of minor morphological features such as facial asymmetry and abnormal teeth. Given these similarities, it is tempting to hypothesize that the Indonesian fossils were in fact from humans with MOPD II. Prospects for developing this work into treatments remain distant but a number of research groups have been refocused.

No MMR and autism link There is no evidence for a

A study by the Twin Research

& Genetic Epidemiology Unit at King’s has shown that people who exercise more in their free time appear to be biologically younger than their more sedentary counterparts.

The study looked for evidence of ageing at a molecular level in the population by analysing telomeres, which cap the end of chromosomes in our cells and protect them from damage.

With age, telomeres shorten, leaving people more susceptible to cell damage, which causes disease.

However, there is considerable variation between people, and

recent research has already highlighted several lifestyle factors such as smoking and obesity that are associated with shorter than average telomeres.

The research was conducted

by Professor Tim Spector and Dr Lynn Cherkas, together with Professor Abraham Aviv in New Jersey.

Professor Spector states: ‘Our study indicates that a sedentary lifestyle appears to have an effect on telomere dynamics – thus providing a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potentially antiageing effect of regular exercise.’

persistent link between the MMR jab and autism, finds research published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. Professor Emily Simonoff, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, was coinvestigator on this collaborative study and said: ‘This study provides an additional nail in the coffin refuting the causal role of the MMR vaccination in autism.

Parents should be reassured that the MMR vaccination is safe and an important measure in protecting their offspring against common childhood diseases.’

This is the third study that has failed to show a link between the triple jab and autism. As well as being the largest, the strength of this study was in the cohort, which was drawn from the general population rather than clinic derived and offered two

comparison groups. The sample comprised 240 10 to 12-year-old children – 98 who had an autism spectrum disorder, 52 with special educational needs, but not autism and 90 typically developing children. All the children had been vaccinated against MMR, although not all of them had been given both doses.

The full study Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders can be found in Archives of Disease in Childhood 2008; doi: 10.1136/ adc.2007.122937.

March 2008 | Comment | 15

Books Three favourite...

Remains of lost gems near the Strand and Waterloo campuses As recommended by Dale Cooper, Head of Major gifts (Arts & Sciences), Development Buckingham Gate, Victoria embankment Gardens

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Israeli Counter-Insurgency and the Intifadas: Dilemmas of a conventional army

Learning Disability and other intellectual impairments: meeting needs throughout health services

Professor Judith Herrin, Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies

Dr Sergio Catignani, Department of War Studies

Louise Clark and Professor Peter Griffiths, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery

For a thousand years an extraordinary empire made possible Europe’s transition to the modern world: Byzantium. An audacious and resilient but now little known society, it combined Orthodox Christianity with paganism, classical Greek learning with Roman power, to produce a great and creative civilisation which for centuries held in check the armies of Islam.

Judith Herrin’s concise and compelling book replaces the standard chronological approach of most histories of Byzantium.

Instead, each short chapter is focused on a theme, such as a building (the great church of Hagia Sophia), a clash over religion (iconoclasm), sex and power (the role of eunuchs), an outstanding Byzantine individual (the historian Anna Komnene), or a symbol of civilisation (the fork).

In this way she makes accessible the grand sweeps of Byzantine history, from the founding of its magnificent capital Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 330, to its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Allen Lane

This volume analyzes the conduct of the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) counter-insurgency operations during the two major Palestinian uprisings (1987-93 and 2000-5) in the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

It employs primary and secondary resources to produce a comprehensive analysis on whether or not the IDF has been able to adapt its conventional conduct of warfare to the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian lowintensity conflict and achieve any sort of victory over the Palestinian insurgents.

Sergio Catignani provides new insights into how conventional armies struggle with contemporary insurgency by looking in particular at the strategic, operational, tactical and ethical dilemmas of the IDF over the last two decades.

Israeli Counter-Insurgency and the Intifadas will be of much interest to students of low-intensity conflict and counter-insurgency, the Israeli army, the Middle Eastern conflict and strategic studies in general.

Routledge

Learning Disability and other intellectual impairments is the first book of its kind to explore the similarities and parallels between the needs of people with various types of intellectual impairments as they encounter generic health services.

The text not only looks at the shared issues from a biopsycho-social perspective, but also discusses the transferable skills that health practitioners can develop when working across these groups. It identifies the key skills and knowledge that are needed in order to work with intellectually impaired patients whether they are in the hospital or at home.

Rather than just focusing on people with learning disabilities, this text attempts to break down barriers and look at some of the issues associated with the care and treatment of people who have intellectual impairment for a variety of reasons.

Learning Disability and other intellectual impairments is suitable for health care practitioners at all levels who work with people who have intellectual impairments.

Wiley-Blackwell

This flamboyant stone gateway was built in 1626 by architect Balthazar Gerbier as the entry to the Thames for the Duke of Buckingham. The gate is still in its original position, but since its creation the Thames water line has moved and the gate is 100 metres from the river.

Winchester Palace, Clink street

The 13th century palace was destroyed by fire in 1814 and all that remains is the west gable end of the Great Hall with its Rose Window. The palace was the London residence of the Bishops of Winchester, which also housed the Clink Prison.

The Clink was used to detain anyone breaking the peace, notably prostitutes from the Bishop’s own Bankside brothels, their customers and Protestant separatists. epstein sculptures, 429 strand

In 1908 the BMA commissioned Jacob Epstein to produce 18 sculptures for the façade of their Strand headquarters.

The intention was to celebrate the dignity of the naked body however, the sculptures caused scandal and public furore when they were unveiled. When a piece of stone fell and injured a pedestrian, the London County Council ordered the sculptures to be made safe. Anything considered unstable was chiselled off.

Let us know your three favourite things related to a Campus. Email kate.saunders@kcl.ac.uk

Comment is the College’s regular newsletter, edited by the Public Relations Department and designed by the Corporate Design Unit | Comment is printed on paper produced with 80 per cent recovered fibre | Articles are welcomed from all members of the College, but please note that the Editor reserves the right to amend articles | Copy for the next issue can be sent to the Internal Communications Officer, Public Relations Department (ext 3075), James Clerk Maxwell Building, Waterloo Campus, or emailed to kate.saunders@kcl.ac.uk by 22 April.

1 | Comment | March 2008