April 2010
Queen Mary Student
Dear Student, Welcome to the second edition of Queen Mary Student. This is your e-newsletter, providing bite-size information on recent news and research from Queen Mary, University of London. If you would like to comment on QM Student or have any news you think is relevant, please email Kate Ashenden: k.ashenden@qmul.ac.uk
In sid e : Mo du le Re gis tra tio n Important information for 20 10 /11!
It pays to go to university Students from Queen Mary recently appeared on a news item, broadcast by the BBC, which reflected on the benefits of going to university against the backdrop of the debate regarding university fees. Student Union President and graduate of Queen Mary, Nas Tarmann, was interviewed. He commented: “I think there are many merits of going to university, not just the knowledge you acquire in lectures and seminars, but also all the extra curricular activities you can get up to, and the student experience in terms of interaction with fellow students and lecturers.” Several students at Queen Mary explained why they chose to study, highlighting how it enabled them to explore their passion for a particular subject, as well as the skills it will provide them with to apply for certain jobs. A student also commented that in actually completing a degree it demonstrated to future employers that he had dedicated three years of his life to academic study and in doing so had improved his experience and competency.
Queen Mary spin-out sold to global healthcare company An award-winning Queen Mary spin-out company, established in 2001 at the College’s Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials in the School of Engineering and Materials Science, has been acquired by global healthcare company Baxter International Inc. for total consideration of up to $330 million. Queen Mary holds a shareholding of just under 8%, so is set to receive a significant sum from the sale. ApaTech, formed with an initial investment of £3 million from 3i, an international lender in private equity, to manufacture and market synthetic bone substitutes. ApaTech has generated sales of approximately $60 million in the calendar year 2009. Its lead product, Actifuse is being used in Europe, the United States and other select markets around the world. Caroline Quest, Managing Director of Queen Mary Innovation (QMI), which helps to develop companies from Queen Mary’s research and manage the College’s equity interests in its spin-out portfolio, said: “This sale demonstrates just how much can be achieved in a relatively short time-frame when innovative scientists join together with top-class commercial leadership. Congratulations to the founding inventor, Professor William Bonfield and all those involved at Queen Mary and ApaTech in this outstanding result.”
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
Latest News Campaign to increase language learning among young people The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film at Queen Mary is providing undergraduates with primary teaching placements to foster an interest in languages among school children. It is the first scheme of its kind nationally. The initiative, led by Dr Sylvia Jaworska, has been created to encourage children to take up languages early and then, as graduates, to consider becoming language teachers. The teaching placements which started last year led many of the School’s graduates to choose a PGCE teacher training course. Feedback from the school children has been very good, so the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film plans to expand the scheme, getting more schools involved, and to provide placements for those studying French and Spanish degrees in the coming years. There has also been considerable interest from other universities, such as Cambridge and Bristol, keen to follow suit. However, on a wider scale, Dr Jaworska highlighted the language learning issue in our country: “In the UK languages are viewed as difficult subjects. Worryingly, some state secondary schools don’t push students to take them, because they think it might affect their league tables. It’s short-sighted considering additional languages offer a competitive edge in the jobs market.”
Ambitious mind seeking QUEDOS The Continuing Professional Development market (CPD), which encompasses graduates and professionals keen to improve their knowledge and skills, has become the focus of a new Humanities and Social Sciences initiative. With £460k of funding from the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE), the Queen Mary Centre for Enterprise and Development Opportunities (QUEDOS) provides a range of courses, including seminars and conferences, accredited professional activities, full degree programmes, re-training and various mechanism courses, including CV-writing and interview skills. Each participant is encouraged to take a proactive approach to their development by attending Professional Workshops, Career Insight Days (including a site visit to the professional setting or industry) and breakfast networking events. The programme has received contributions from academics and professional support staff, keen to provide guidance for our graduates, beyond their degree. For more information about QUEDOS, you can visit the website at www.quedos.qmul.ac.uk or email quedos@qmul.ac.uk.
Scholars event celebrating contribution from international students More than 70 international students studying for Masters’ and research degrees at Queen Mary attended a reception in the Octagon hosted by The Principal, Professor Simon Gaskell. Each student had been given the opportunity to study at the College through their own country’s governmental education investment, the EU, the Jean Monnet programme, the British Council Chevening awards, Queen Mary or the Westfield Trust, as well as corporate investment. In his speech, the Principal noted that some 4,000 EU and international students from over 100 countries were currently studying at Queen Mary enriching the educational and cultural experience of the College. He went on to thank the awarding bodies for their foresight and commitment to international higher education. Queen Mary intends to set up a special ‘Scholars Club’ within the Alumni Association as a means of maintaining strong relationships with students when they return to their home country.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
Latest News (cont) British economy depends on immigrant labour Gordon Brown’s pledge of ‘British jobs for British workers’ and the Conservatives’ plan for tougher border controls are nothing but political fantasy, according to a new book, co-authored by geographers at Queen Mary, which reveals the truth about jobs and immigration in London. Global Cities at Work: New Migrant Divisions of Labour (Pluto Press, 2010), exposes the capital’s reliance on migrants to clean offices and hotels, care for elders and change the sheets on hospital beds. Using official statistics, it suggests more than 60 per cent of such workers are now foreign-born. This trend, claims the book, is linked to a growth in aggressively-priced subcontracting and outsourcing, coupled with the weakening of trade unions, and labour market deregulation. Professor Jane Wills, co-author, from the Department of Geography, highlighted that these factors ensure many low paid jobs are devalued to the point that ‘natives’ won’t do them. Of over 800 foreign-born workers in London interviewed for the book, just seven per cent were paid at or above the living wage (currently £7.60 an hour). Most had no access to occupational sick pay, compassionate leave, enhanced overtime pay or holiday leave.
Queen Mary wins Attorney General Award
Read all about it Library Services have been able to increase access to services due to the continuing re-development of the library at Mile End. The conversion of former staff rooms into ‘bookable’ group study rooms has proved to be an enormous success with students. In addition, there are self issue terminals, brand new toilets, an Archives reading room, and Open Access Short Loan Collection. Students have also benefited from the new comfortable furniture and the installation of 50 silent study bays. April will see the introduction of increased seating on the ground floor to support students during the intense examination revision period.
The Legal Advice Centre, in the School of Law at Queen Mary, has won an Attorney General Award for its Pink Law project, which focuses on the legal issues faced by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. The Award recognises the dedication of the team of students who have worked above and beyond what is expected of them, in order to ensure access to justice for their clients. In addition, the Legal Advice Centre was runner-up in the Best New Pro Bono Project category, for its Market Law project, which provides advice to a local market on issues such as revocation of market licences and on-the-spot fines by council officials. This is the second time they have won in three years, and Queen Mary was the only university to receive two awards this year.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
Research Brief Groundbreaking findings from your top research led university… Pulling power points the way to the World’s strongest insect Following months of gruelling tests and trials, scientists now reveal the World's strongest insect to be a species of dung beetle called Onthophagus Taurus. In an experiment to find out why animals vary so much in strength and endurance, Dr Rob Knell from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, and Professor Leigh Simmons from the University of Western Australia, found the strongest beetle could pull an astonishing 1,141 times its own body weight - the equivalent of a 70kg person lifting 80 tonnes (the same as six full doubledecker buses). Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists also found these insect athletes need to pay just as much attention to their diet as human athletes. Even the strongest beetles were reduced to feeble weaklings when put on a poor diet for a few days.
How women first stirred the British love of tea Women led the tea-drinking boom when it first took hold in eighteenth century Britain, reveals new research by a Queen Mary cultural historian. The British story of tea and its widespread popularity among women of all classes during the eighteenth century was conveyed by Professor Markman Ellis, Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies in the School of English and Drama, during his inaugural lecture. Using literary evidence in poetry, letters and satires and caricatures of the day, he
outlined the cultural association between tea and female polite society and domestic life, and described the social environment related to these popular drinks: “While men met in raucous coffee houses to drink, read and debate public affairs, society dictated that women socialised in private, at home. Their social world was domestic, discreet and centred on polite, tea-table conversation.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
Research Brief Groundbreaking findings from your top research led university…
Bees see super colour at super speed
The ability to see at high speed is common in fast-flying insects; allowing them to escape predators and catch their mates mid-air. However, until now it wasn't known whether the bees' full colour vision was able to keep up with their high speed flight. This research sheds new light on the matter; suggesting that although slower, it is also about twice as fast as human vision.
Eating disorders in the media Research conducted by Emily Shepherd, BMedSci Health Sciences graduate, and Clive Seale, Professor of Medical Sociology from the Institute of Health Sciences Education, has provided a fresh insight into the media’s portrayal of eating disorders. The findings are the result of an investigative project into ‘Eating disorders in the media: the changing nature of news reports.’ The evidence revealed that UK press coverage presents a more realistic clinical picture than US coverage. UK media coverage also appeared more pessimistic than US coverage about the prospect of recovery from eating disorders. Both countries shared a similarity in the portrayal of eating disorders amongst young white women and celebrities. The research also demonstrated that the tabloid newspapers tended to give more details of clinical complications, whereas the broadsheets focused on research stories and public health concerns. Across the board there were examples of how the media sensationalises and simplifies scientific facts about eating disorders, because this works more effectively on the emotions of readers. Eating disorders initially drew the
attention of journalists when Princess Diana spoke in public about her problems. Reflecting on time trends analysis, the report identified that the portrayal of eating disorders had changed over the years. Pivotal moments included the emergence of new and influential voices such as the Eating Disorders Association campaigning to raise awareness of the problem, and the political and media driven attempts to regulate the fashion industry. The research also showed that medical terminology has increasingly entered media discourse, describing eating disorders as diseases requiring medical and psychological treatment; however there are signs that UK newspapers still lag
behind medical opinion. The research has provided a platform to suggest to clinicians and professionals the need to work with journalists in order to find reporting formats that fulfil the agendas of both health promotion and entertainment.
creditto Helga Heilmann, BEEgroup Wuerzburg
Bees see the world almost five times faster than humans, according to new research from scientists at the Research Centre for Psychology in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. This gives bumblebees the fastest colour vision of all animals, allowing them to easily navigate shady bushes to find food, write Dr Peter Skorupski and Professor Lars Chittka in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
Research Brief (cont) Groundbreaking findings from your top research led university…
Sound as you’ve never heard it! Designers are working with researchers from the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary, to ask probing questions about our future world of sound and what impact it will have on our acoustic culture. Soon gadgets will exist that can listen to and understand sounds, drastically changing the way that we hear the world around us. Researchers in the project are exploring 'machine listening' (where computers analyse and understand sounds from the world around us), which is starting to power devices that recognise surrounding activity and act accordingly. In particular they are interested in 'sparse representations': choosing one sound from many possible sounds. Professor Plumbley said: "Rather like the way the internet has changed how we understand the world, machine listening can change our hearing experience for the better. New research is opening the way for devices that can identify a wide range of individual sounds, with diverse uses including better hearing aids and cochlear implants; incident-detection systems for public places; and detailed audio searching on the internet."
Sea-creatures' sex protein provides new insight into diabetes A genetic accident in the sea more than 500 million years ago has provided new insight into diabetes, according to research from Professor Maurice Elphick, at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. His findings could help to explain a rare form of the disease that causes sufferers to urinate more than three litres every day. As reported in the journal Gene, Professor Elphick has discovered that some marine animals produce 'NG peptides' - proteins that help the creatures release their eggs and sperm at the same time. Critically, it emerges that
NG peptides are made by a gene very similar to the mutant gene that causes diabetes insipidus. By researching further into how animals like sea urchins produce NG peptides, the scientists at Queen Mary will understand better why the faulty human vasopressin gene can cause this form of diabetes in around 10,000 people in the UK.
Professor Maffulli comments on David Beckham's injury News of David Beckham’s ruptured Achilles tendon caused national disappointment regarding his chance of playing for England in the 2010 World Cup. Professor Nicola Maffulli, Centre Lead for Sports and Exercise Medicine, based in the Institute of Health Sciences Education at Queen Mary, provided his perspective on the matter: "A ruptured Achilles tendon is a common injury in football players. Surgeons in the UK are used to operating on such patients on a regular basis. Not only do I have a special interest in this condition but I have already operated successfully on a number of football players, including past and current England players David Batty and Matthew Upson.” He continued: "The procedure is minimally invasive, can be performed under local anaesthesia and allows the player to weight bear immediately after the surgery. Unfortunately the nature of the injury is such that, even in extremely skilled hands, it is unlikely that Beckham would be able to take part in the World Cup.” The Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine at Queen Mary is a world renowned centre for Achilles tendon research. The Centre will be hosting the International Symposium on ligaments and tendons in the year of the London Olympics, 2012.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
MySIS The new Student Information System
Im p o r tant in fo rm a tio n for 20 10/11!
Six stepssutoccess module an email telling you to
1. You’ll receive IS with your usual log-in sign in to MyS details. u’ll see fixed registration’ yo ules, and 2. In ‘module od m ’ ry lso pu ‘core’ and ‘com Each module has a . es tiv ec el of t oose a lis d you must ch ‘credit value’ an you up to a specified g in br modules to its. number of cred fore the ch ur oices be 3. Confirm yo nd them to your deadline to se hool for approval. sc department or meet t or school may en rtm pa ugh ro th 4. Your de lk ta to is stage with you at th . ns your selectio ions at this do your select 5. You can un l of them al do un ll wi stage, but you sing your place on lo and might risk . es popular modul you know an email letting 6. You’ll receive your choices. If your the outcome of en you’re successful, th IS and choices were yS M to in ck ba g done. If not, lo n. ai choose ag
Modules in moments Queen Mary is introducing a new and interactive Student Information System (SIS) this summer, bringing big changes to our processes. Many of these affect you directly, and Queen Mary Student is letting you know what you need to do. Last time in Queen Mary Student we told you about some of the main changes that the new SIS will bring to the ways that you interact with us. Starting this month, we’ll be giving you detailed advice on what returning students need to do this summer. Today, we’re taking you through module registration.
What is module registration? Your programme of study is made up of a number of different modules, each covering a key topic or theme. Some (or even all) of the modules available to you may be required for your programme and you’ll have to take these, but at the start of each academic year you can choose your other modules (electives) from a list set up by your department or school. This selection, and its validation by your department or school, is called module registration.
What’s changing? In the past, Queen Mary, University of London, ran module registration through a paper-based system, and you had to fill in forms and refer to handbooks to find out what each module was about. The new SIS will change all of this, and module registration will be completed online.
How will online module registration work? You’ll log-in to MySIS (your personal area of the system) with your usual computer log-in, and make preliminary choices from a list using
the online descriptions to tell you what the modules are all about. Any core or compulsory modules will be Once you are happy with your choices, you will send them off to your department or school for approval (they will make sure that you don’t have any timetable clashes, and that you have a balance of modules in each semester, for example) – you can send comments to them with the selection if you wish. All of your selections must be confirmed and approved by the specified deadline. The final outcome of your choices will be confirmed to you by email. You can undo your choices, but remember that you may risk losing your place on popular modules if you don’t act quickly.
Why is this better? The new system means that you won’t have to come in to pick up and fill in forms; you’ll be able to log-on from any computer at any time, wherever you are – just make sure you meet the published deadlines. Online registration will also be more efficient for our staff, and will reduce our carbon footprint by using less paper.
What should I do now? You don’t need to do anything right now, but you must check your Queen Mary, University of London, email account regularly throughout the coming months. We will be sending you a prompt to let you know when to begin module registration.
Anything else that I need to know? The new SIS will bring a lot of changes. Queen Mary Student will keep letting you know what you need to do each month - next time we’ll tell you how to re-enrol. We’ll be releasing more information as you need it, but if you have a specific question that isn’t covered you can contact us at sis@qmul.ac.uk.