May 2011
Queen Mary Student
Speaking to Queen Mary students at a meeting on the Mile End campus about the matter of fees and bursaries, the Principal said: “The fact is that we are now being dealt a hand by the government which obliges us to charge a fee much higher than the fees we have charged previously.” The new fee structure will apply for those starting their undergraduate degree course in Autumn 2012. It will also apply to those who have deferred a place in 2011. It will not apply to students who start their course in 2011 or earlier. The Principal maintained however that: “We aim to provide a bursary and other benefits package that is as generous as we can possibly make it, whilst maintaining the financial viability of the institution at a time when that viability is explicitly threatened by the volatility induced by the government’s fee structure.” It is anticipated that approximately 50 per cent of students will be eligible for some kind of support, based on the current student profile. This will help the College continue its excellent tradition of widening participation.
The Principal discusses the fee impact
The open meeting took place on Wednesday 4 May, following the success of the first ever event of this kind in January, enabling students to meet the Principal face-to-face and pose questions relevant to their experience at Queen Mary. The Principal emphasised that the College’s fee of £9,000 per year was not based on some perception of where we stand in the market place. “We very specifically rejected the notion that we should charge a particular fee because we’re worth it.” Instead the Principal explained how the College has assessed the actual cost of delivering a Queen Mary education, and that charging the maximum fee is necessary to cover expenses. The College is also working hard to seek other forms of income, including philanthropic giving. While the government estimates the cost of providing a university education is around £6,300 for an arts or humanities course, the Principal stressed that this does not incorporate the cost of maintaining and improving the College infrastructure, and ensuring teaching at Queen Mary is of a high standard and research-led. “If the University wants to gradually decline in terms of its physical estate and the services it provides then £6,300 would be fine, but we believe
that it is vital to continue investing so that we can increase the provision of facilities for students, and enhance the quality of teaching we provide.” Tuition fees will also need to take into account the College’s wish and obligation to provide wide-ranging scholarships and bursaries. The Principal made reference to recent investments including the new Library on the Mile End campus, the Arts 2 building, and his commitment to the establishment of a new student centre which will provide meeting spaces, interfaith facilities and study areas for students. He also highlighted that a Queen Mary degree was not just about employability, income and earning potential, it also develops key interpersonal and analytical skills which distinguish graduates from other candidates, and enhances the contribution they can make to society. Open meetings will take place this Autumn and next Spring.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
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KEEN students prove their business potential Three Queen Mary student entrepreneurs have recently been awarded funding from Queen Mary Innovations Ltd through the Knowledge East Enterprise Network (KEEN) to explore their business ideas. Financial assistance from the KEEN Test Trade entrepreneurship scheme is providing vital support in the early stage development of their projects. Stuart Battersby (PhD Electronic Engineering & Computer Science) is working on ‘Social Media Analytics' - a business to provide a set of analytics tools that enable brands to understand and engage with consumers in social media spaces such as Twitter and Facebook. Amitji Odedra (BSc Hons Economics, Finance and Management Year 3) is carrying forward his ‘BookHive’ idea, which he says will help students sell and trade their textbooks. Vladimir Choi (Medicine MBBS Year 4) has created a novel business idea, in response to experience on his clinical placement, to use the latest web technologies to increase efficiency in patient record keeping. If you would like to know more about these projects, or have a general enquiry about KEEN please contact Kevin Byron, k.c.byron@qmul.ac.uk.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
News Calling all finalists – Will we know how to get hold of you in January 2012? If you are in your final year (undergraduate or postgraduate), then next January probably seems a long way off! However, around that time, Queen Mary will need to get in touch with you to find out what you have gone on to do – whether that’s a job, further study or a gap year. The UK government requires all universities to conduct this survey (the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey or ‘DLHE’ – please see www.hesa.ac.uk if you would like further details). To help us find you in January, please don’t forget to update your contact details on MySIS (email, telephone and postal address) before you leave us. Your School will send you an email reminder. The survey results not only ensure that the College meets its statutory requirement, but also help inform future students about their huge range of options with a Queen Mary degree.
QM Olympic study of East End regeneration A team of public health specialists at Queen Mary is embarking on a major five-year study, investigating Olympic-led health and social regeneration in east London. Dr Steve Cummins, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography whose work focuses on the effect of the built environment on health, will lead the project thanks to a significant research grant from the National Institute for Health Research secured in April 2011. “The original 2012 Olympic bid was secured partly because it was recognised that the Games could be a catalyst for vital health, social and economic regeneration of neighbourhoods in one of London’s most deprived areas," explains Dr Cummins. “The Government anticipated that the Games would lead to new jobs, business and volunteering opportunities, and more affordable housing for Londoners. “In addition to the world-class Olympic sports facilities, there was significant commitment to creating new green and open spaces, public transport routes and new cycle and pedestrian walkways to inspire local communities to take part in more physical activity. “Our project will examine whether such Olympic legacies and aspirations will actually transform the health and wellbeing of residents of east London,” adds Dr Cummins, who has also secured a £550,000 NIHR Senior Fellowship, the only UK academic to receive the award this year. The Olympic Regeneration in East London (ORiEL) project team will comprise three postdoctoral researchers and 10 investigators at Queen Mary, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and University of East London. They will interview over 1800 local families from across Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham during the course of the study.
Many thanks for updating MySIS and for completing the survey when it arrives with you in January. In the meantime, on behalf of Queen Mary staff, we wish you all the best with your exams and for your next step after graduation. Whatever you decide to do, we hope to stay in touch with you throughout your career.
SU President candidate for U LU elections 2011 Congratulations to Queen Mary's Student Union President, Vraj Domalip, who has been made President-elect at University of London Union. For more information on ULU go to www.ulu.co.uk
The Government anticipated that the Games would lead to new jobs, business and volunteering opportunities, and more affordable housing for Londoners
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Goodbye to Athens! From July 2011, Queen Mary will be using Institutional Login (also known as UK Federated Access or Shibboleth), instead of Athens, to access electronic resources. If you have saved resources on MyAthens, and need to access them after July 2011, you will need to save them elsewhere. You will also need to delete any Athens cookies from your browser. NHS Athens accounts are not affected by this change, and will continue to work. For more information, check the e-resources pages on the Library website, email us on: library@qmul.ac.uk or send us a tweet: @QMLibrary. Try out our new Library catalogue We've now launched our new Library catalogue. Type your query into the search box on the Library web site homepage and click on the Search button to try it out. If you'd rather use the old catalogue, you can still access it via the "Classic Catalogue" option in the Quick Links on the Library website. Let us know what you think about the new catalogue on our catalogue feedback form. Library opening hours 24/7 opening at Mile End Library finishes at midnight on Friday 10 June 2011. Term-time opening hours continue at Whitechapel and West Smithfield Libraries until Sunday 17 July 2011. Please check the Library website for details of Summer Vacation opening hours.
New Bibliotherapy Scheme What is Bibliotherapy? Bibliotherapy is a term used to cover the use of self-help books to address psychological and emotional difficulties. Research shows that it can be very effective in helping people help themselves. Books in the scheme can be used independently, or in addition to group or individual therapeutic work. Bibliotherapy in the UK began in Cardiff, where a scheme was developed which linked the City’s libraries and doctor’s surgeries. This scheme is now known as ‘Book Prescription Wales’ and is used throughout the health service in Wales. How does it work at Queen Mary? At the moment the bibliotherapy scheme contains a limited number of self help titles which we plan to expand over time to include fiction as well. Students using the Advice and Counselling service can be recommended a specific title by a member of staff if they think it’s likely to give added benefit to the counselling work. However, any student or staff member can borrow books from the scheme without seeing a counsellor. The books are housed within the study skills section of the library on the ground floor and are withdrawn as with any other library loan. In order to maximise access to the books they are available as one week renewable loans - this is to prevent long reserve lists building up as some books are likely to be particularly popular.
Topics Covered Depression Anxiety Exam stress Self harm Eating disorders Relationship issues Sexuality Childhood abuse
A full list of books is available on the Advice and Counselling service website, www.welfare.qmul.ac.uk or you can also check their availability by accessing the Library Catalogue
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Money Matters Some tips from the Advice and Counselling Service Are you owed a tax refund? If you are working and you earned below £6475 in the last tax year (6 April 2010 to 5 April 2011), you can usually claim back any tax you paid.
are advised to apply by 30th June so that you will receive your money at the start of the academic year. If you apply after this deadline your money might be delayed.
If you are employed, your employer should deduct tax from your earnings through PAYE (Pay As You Earn). At the end of the tax year you should receive a P60, which is a statement of your earnings and the tax you have paid in the whole tax year. £6475 is your ‘personal allowance', which is the amount of earnings in a year on which you do not have to pay income tax.
Student Finance England says that online applications are processed more quickly than paper ones. You can apply online here: http://bit.ly/MH0lo
To claim back tax for the 2010/11 tax year, tell your Tax Office why you think you've paid too much tax. They may already have everything they need to check your claim. If not, they'll tell you. To find your tax office, go to http://bit.ly/deKC5B To claim back tax for any period before the 2010/11 tax year, write to your Tax Office with a list of your jobs in the tax year for which you are claiming, including any P45s and your P60. Explain that you want to claim a tax refund. If they calculate that you are owed tax, they will post a refund to you. You must claim on time. The time limit varies from between six years and four years – for deadlines see http://bit.ly/aRSQFq The earliest tax year for which you can currently claim a refund is the tax year ending in April 2006. For more information about Income Tax, go to http://bit.ly/i9FHY2 Reapply on time for Student Finance 2011/12 The application process is now open for continuing students to apply for Student Finance for the next academic year. You
However, if you applied as an EEA Worker, you will need to complete a paper PR1 form, which you can download here: http://bit.ly/guUHmB What documents will you need to send? If your application is assessed on the basis of your parent(s) income, this will be for the 2009/10 tax year. From 2011/12 you can send in photocopies instead of original financial documents. See http://bit.ly/gBoLX If you think your household income for the 2011/12 tax year will be at least 15 per cent lower than for the 2009/10 tax year, you can ask to be assessed on the current tax year income - you should complete and return a 'Current year income assessment form' which you can download: http://bit.ly/gBoLXN Independent students If you are under 25 and you applied to be assessed for Student Finance as an independent student, you will not normally have to resubmit evidence of your independent status after the first year. However, if you are estranged from your parent(s) you will need to write a letter each time you reapply for Student Finance, to confirm that the estrangement is continuing. A Welfare Adviser in the Advice and Counselling Service can advise you how to do this.
You can contact the Advice and Counselling Service by • emailing us via our website www.welfare.qmul.ac.uk • calling us on 020 7882 8717 • visiting our Reception on the ground floor of the Geography building, Mile End You can follow the Advice and Counselling Service on Twitter: http://twitter.com/qmul_acs
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Important things to remember for the summer vacation Working in the summer vacation (i.e. paid work during university vacations and never during term time) If your total earnings between 6 April 2011 and 5 April 2012 will not exceed £7475, and you will be returning to full time study in September, you can ask your employer to complete Form P38(S) and send it to the tax office (HMRC). This means that your employer will not have to deduct Income Tax from your pay. Your employer can download a P38(S) form via www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/p38s.pdf Money for lone parents During part of the summer vacation, you can usually claim more income from benefits than during term time. Please see a Welfare Adviser for advice about what benefits you are entitled to, and how to claim for the summer. We will also advise you about any entitlement to non repayable financial help from the College’s Access to Learning Fund
Getting your deposit back - students who are moving out of privately rented accommodation If you are renting accommodation from a private landlord, and you signed a new assured shorthold tenancy agreement on or after 6 April 2007, your landlord is required to place your deposit in one of three governmentauthorised tenancy deposit schemes within 14 days of receiving it. If your landlord has refused to place your deposit with a Scheme, you can apply to the county court to take action against your landlord to ensure the return of your deposit, and the court can ask the landlord to pay you three times the value of the deposit. If your deposit has been placed with one of the Schemes… At the end of the tenancy if there is any dispute about you getting your deposit back, there is an alternative dispute resolution service attached to each of the Schemes which will act as an independent mediator.
More Information For more information, see http://bit.ly/kI4T45 The Housing Services office in the Queens’ Building (E01) or the Advice and Counselling Service can advise you further.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
News BBC’s Jeremy Bowen launches new Islam and the West lectures Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East Editor - and the first British journalist to interview Muammar Gaddafi since the start of the Libyan uprising gave a lecture at Queen Mary on 4 May. His lecture, entitled ‘New Crusaders?’ The Modern Middle East, is the first annual flagship lecture to mark the launch of a new Masters in Islam and the West. This ground-breaking MA programme, which started in autumn 2010, explores one of the fundamental issues of modern times – the relationship between Islam and the western world. Charting a 1,400-year period, from the birth of the Muslim faith in the seventh century to the present day, the course looks beyond the spheres of politics, warfare and religion. “The course also aims to reveal the positive interactions between these two overlapping worlds,” explains Dr Tom Asbridge, Programme Director, from the School of History.
Shared knowledge in science, maths and astronomy, for example, lead us to question simplistic assumptions about an ‘inevitable clash’ of Muslim and Western civilisations
QM graduate translates dissertation into commercial venture Sean Patterson, a Queen Mary graduate of MA London Studies, has developed a walking tour of Victorian London. His new commercial venture, inspired by his dissertation into the socio-economic history of Victorian London, leads a walk that illustrates architecture, literature, social history and psychogeography.
Lord Mandelson joins Lord Hennessy to unveil Clement Attlee statue A champion of the East End and a great reformer for social justice, former Prime Minister Clement Attlee, was recently honoured with a statue unveiling at Queen Mary. Lord Mandelson was invited to unveil the repaired statue of Clement Attlee to commemorate Attlee’s achievements as the area’s former MP, leader of the Labour Party and post-war Prime Minister. Attlee's granddaughter, Jo Roundell Greene and great grandson Tom Roundell Greene were also present at the event. A lecture to celebrate Attlee’s achievements was delivered by Lord Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
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Improving Student life over the next three years – The Queen Mary IT Strategic plan Students are more confident consumers of IT than ever before.
• Consolidated provision of common IT services and modern IT infrastructure.
Queen Mary, University of London’s IT Services understand that students are consumers prepared to take their fees to the university with the potential for the best overall educational experience. They come to university already familiar and comfortable with modern IT facilities such as social networking, virtual learning and mobile working. It is essential that the College’s IT provision adds to the appeal of studying at Queen Mary.
But what does this mean for you? Over the next three years, IT Services will be implementing new tools and improved ways of working that will bring Queen Mary’s Student experience into the 21st Century. As valued ‘customers’, you will be given full support from a single point. To ensure you are able to achieve your potential, Queen Mary aim to provide you with access to improved learning tools, use of modern communications and networking products to create an overall better learning experience.
IT Services have now published the Queen Mary IT Strategic plan for 2011-2015, click here to view £23m is being invested into this comprehensive plan and is set to deliver the following: • An enhanced and personalised student experience • Improved research lifecycle management • Improved business systems and reporting to support administration services
How will your day-to-day life change and improve? IT Services plan to give Students the latest email and calendaring service, improved timetabling, Virtual Learning Environments and access to the Queen Mary network via any device, anytime, anywhere. This is what students have come to expect and rightly so. IT Services know that these valuable tools impact upon student life.
IT Str ategy
Quee n
2010 Mary, – Unive rsity o 2015 f Lo n d on
Some tools will be available sooner than others. Please refer to the plan to see in full the IT Strategic Roadmap. Want to know more? Join us on Facebook and become a fan of the Queen Mary, University of London’s IT Services Group. A Facebook page will be available from September to make sure you have access to the latest Strategy IT information. We will let you know about this again in September so that you can add us to your groups. Further information will also be shared with the Student Union and updates will continue to come out from the Principal. Any ideas you have that will help us improve how we communicate with you are welcome. Please contact Georgina Button, IT Services Communications Manager. For more information you can contact Georgina Button, IT Communications Manager via g.button@qmul.ac.uk
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Got an idea for starting your own business? Need financial support? After the exam period is over in mid June a new entrepreneurship initiative will be launched by QM Innovations Ltd and The Learning Institute that is open to all Queen Mary undergraduate and postgraduate students.
There’s no need for any action now (apart from recording your moments of inspiration for new ideas in between revision periods), and after the exam period is over full details will be issued on how to apply for up £1,500 to support your idea.
As part of the growing culture of enterprise / entrepreneurship at Queen Mary, you will be eligible to apply for financial assistance to help establish the feasibility of an enterprising idea you have that could become a new business.
Please note if you have already started to develop a new business idea it will only be eligible for funding provided there has been no income generated to date, and the maximum number of businesses that can be supported under the current scheme will be ten – so the funding scheme will be competitive.
Note: A formal application process will be issued after 11 June and any applications or information on new business ideas received from potential applicants before then will not be eligible for support. For further information, please contact Dr Kevin Byron, Enterprise Education Coordinator, k.c.byron@qmul.ac.uk
Queen Mary student awarded Commentator of the Year Congratulations to Josh White from QMessenger (Queen Mary’s newsletter produced by the Student Union) for winning Commentator of the Year at the recent London Student Journalism Network (LSJN) awards.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
News Queen Mary creates serious fun on your smartphone, and first up is a beauty Queen Mary’s Smartphone App Distribution Portal, QApps, set up to explore and promote the app ideas of Queen Mary researchers and students onto the app markets, was officially launched in May. QApps first app is BeautyGauge, a fun app that allows users to explore some fascinating research questions around facial beauty. Developed in partnership with the award winning mobile app agency AlwaysOnMessage, BeautyGauge rates the attractiveness of a face based on scientific ideas surrounding face proportions and symmetry – the Golden Ratio. Peter McOwan, CEO of QApps and Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary commented on the new app: “While BeautyGauge is easy and fun to use, I want to get people exploring the science behind attractiveness and realise beauty is more than just a number.”
Peter Swain from AlwaysOnMessage explained: “There can be a gap between education and the ‘real world of business’ and the responsibility to bridge this gap falls to, not only the educational sector, but also specialist businesses.” He continues: “Working with Queen Mary staff and students, AlwaysOnMessage look to enable the next generation to understand the mobile environment and the associated business cycle, from initial concept to finished product. BeautyGauge is the first in a number of mobile apps developed with Queen Mary to help realise these goals.” Commenting on the drive behind developing the company, Professor Peter McOwan noted: “QApps was created to allow the brilliant ideas from researchers and students in the university to leap into the world. The growing apps market gives us the
amazing opportunity to make a real and positive impact on people’s lives. All our apps are created with a ‘serious fun’ philosophy, they have first and foremost great entertainment value but also get people starting to think about deeper questions about science and technology, and we have plenty more in the pipeline.” Adam Daykin, QApps Director and Technology Transfer Manager at Queen Mary Innovation (QMI) said: “It’s been great to be part of this new type of venture for QMI. QApps represents a progressive approach to commercialising the ideas of the Queen Mary students and staff which embraces a new digital era. We’re also hoping that some of the apps will go viral.” For more information about QApps go to www.qappsonline.com/ www.qappsonline.com/beautygauge.php\
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
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Summer jam event As we approach the end of term, students and staff are invited to celebrate the end of exams and the start of summer. Student and Campus Services have organised an evening of festivities on campus, taking place on Friday 10 June in the Student Village, Mile End. The site will be transformed into a carnival atmosphere with fairground rides, stalls and attractions, music, and food stalls.
Please visit the Student Events website for more information: www.studentevents.qmul.ac.uk
Where do international students work? You can now find out where international students from various universities in the UK go on to work after graduating. Visit the 'destination statistics' section of 'International Futures' website for more information: www.careers.lon.ac.uk/international/ Stats.aspx.
You can see the various locations that graduates from different countries are working, what size employer they are working for, and how they found their job. It may give you some ideas for your own career path. If you have any further questions, you can visit the Careers Office (www.careers.qmul.ac.uk).
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
Research Brief Groundbreaking findings from your top research-led university…
A safer treatment could be realised for millions suffering from parasite infection A safer and more effective treatment for 10 million people in developing countries who suffer from infections caused by trypanosome parasites could become a reality thanks to new research from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences.
The future of breast cancer prevention Drugs could be used to prevent breast cancer in women at high risk of the disease, according to an international panel of cancer experts. In a review published in the journal Lancet Oncology the panel including Professor Jack Cuzick from the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine - agreed that all women with a greater than four per cent above average risk of getting breast cancer in the next ten years should be offered preventive measures and closer monitoring. The density of breast tissue as seen on a mammogram is one of the strongest indicators of breast cancer risk. Women with dense breast tissue are around four times more likely to be at risk of cancer than those with the least dense breasts. Chairman of the panel Professor Cuzick, a Cancer Research UK epidemiologist, said: “There’s strong evidence to show that drugs such as tamoxifen are effective at preventing breast cancer in women with greater than average risk of the disease. But it’s important to find ways of predicting who will respond, so drugs like this can be targeted at those most likely to benefit and least likely to experience side effects.
Scientists have uncovered the mechanisms behind a drug used to treat African sleeping sickness and Chagas disease infections caused by trypanosome parasites which result in 60,000 deaths each year.
“What we’ve found is that an enzyme within the parasites carries out the process nifurtimox needs to be converted to a toxic form. This produces a breakdown product which kills the parasite. “This mechanism overturns the longheld belief that nifurtimox worked against the parasites by inducing oxidative stress in cells.”
The study, appearing in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, investigated how the drug nifurtimox works to kill off the trypanosome. Co-author of the study, Dr Shane Wilkinson from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, said: “Hopefully our research will lead to the development of anti-parasitic medicines which have fewer side effects than nifurtimox and are more effective.
Mother and kid goat vocals strike a chord Mother and kid goats recognise each other’s calls soon after the mothers give birth, new research from Queen Mary reveals.
Dr Briefer said: “Goats in the wild have an antipredator strategy called ‘hiding’ where the young stay hidden in vegetation during the first week after being born to avoid being detected by predators.” “As hiders are isolated, they don’t move around a lot and are mostly silent to avoid detection from predators, we thought kid calls would not necessarily be individualised and therefore not easy to recognise.”
The study, published in the journal Animal Cognition, measured the individuality of the goats’ calls and the ability of goats to recognise the individual differences. Scientists Dr Elodie Briefer and Dr Alan McElligott from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences found that mother and kid goats react more to the calls from their own kids and mothers than they do from other goats they know.
Dr Briefer and Dr McElligott measured the individuality of calls and the vocal recognition during this ‘hiding’ phase (one week old) and later on after they had joined the social group, at five weeks old. The research was carried out at White Post Farm, Nottinghamshire, UK. “Studying the link between vocal signals and species ecology can help us understand how animal communication evolves,” Dr Briefer said.
Queen Mary Student: a newsletter for you
Research Brief Groundbreaking findings from your top research-led university…
Age alone should be used to screen for heart attacks and strokes, say experts Female deer confirm bigger is not always better when choosing a mate Female deer do not always choose the bigger and dominant males to mate with, scientists from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and Hartpury College have found. The research, which was undertaken in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on a herd of fallow deer, focussed on females who chose not to mate with the ‘top’ males. The study found that yearling females tended to mate with a higher proportion of younger, lower ranking males while older females actively avoided mating with them.
Using age alone to identify those at risk of heart disease or stroke could replace current screening methods without diminishing effectiveness, according to a groundbreaking study conducted by researchers from the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, based at Queen Mary’s Whitechapel campus. Existing screening methods which include measuring cholesterol and blood pressure are expensive and time consuming. The authors of the new study say that this finding could save thousands of lives by making it easier for more people to have access to preventive treatment.
Alan McElligott, co-author on the study from Queen Mary said: “The findings of this study have important implications for assessing the effects of sexual selection on evolution. In the past, studies very much focussed on the ‘big’ males in these types of species and why the vast majority of females mated with them. We focussed instead on matings from the female perspective.”
The new study compared screening using age alone with screening using age and multiple risk factors, measured via blood tests and medical examination. The authors used existing data to estimate the effects of the two screening approaches on a modelled population of 500,000 people. Age screening alone using a cut off of 55 years had an 84 per cent detection rate and a 24 per cent false-positive rate.
Scientists demonstrated that yearling female fallow deer mate later in the breeding season than older females, with the first yearlings not mating until eight days after the start of the season.
Less radiation in Chernobyl lakes than feared
“This difference in yearling female matings meant that a small but consistent proportion of them do not mate with the "big and dominant" males each year.”
A new study of the lakes in and around Chernobyl’s fallout zone reveals that radiation from the nuclear accident appears to have had no long term effect on the abundance or diversity of aquatic animal life.
High levels of exploitation among London’ s Latin American population
The study, which coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, examined invertebrate animals, such as insects, snails and crustaceans, living along the shores of eight lakes. Levels of radiocaesium in the lakes ranged from near-background levels at 0.1 microGrays per hour, considered normal, to around 300 times higher.
London’s Latin American workers are being illegally paid below the minimum wage at a rate 10 times higher than the UK average, suggests a new survey directed by Dr Cathy McIlwaine, of the School of Geography at Queen Mary. No Longer Invisible is the most comprehensive research to date of this largely overlooked migrant community and was commissioned by charities Trust for London and the Latin American Women’s Rights Service. The report establishes the first robust estimate of the size of the community and explores a number of key economic and social features of the Latin American community in London. The size of the Latin American community in London is estimated to be 113,500 and it has grown nearly four-fold since the 2001 census (the UK figure is estimated to be 186,500). The largest national group are Brazilians followed by Colombians. There are also large numbers of Ecuadorians, Bolivians and Peruvians.
No evidence was found that the abundance or diversity of the animal communities was influenced by direct contamination from the Chernobyl accident. Indeed, the most contaminated lake, Glubokoye, 6.5 km north of the nuclear power plant, supported the most animal diversity of those lakes studied. The findings are published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity by Dr John Murphy from the School of Biological and Chemicals Sciences at Queen Mary, Dr Jim Smith from the University of Portsmouth, and Dr Liubov Nagorskaya of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
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Research Brief Groundbreaking findings from your top research-led university…
Method used in hunt for serial killers turns to killer diseases A tried and tested method used in the hunt for serial killers can help combat infectious diseases, research from Queen Mary reveals.
Understanding what affects beauty through the pirouette of a dancer An in-depth analysis of a ballet dancer’s movements could hold the answer to how we distinguish whether someone has grace and beauty, Queen Mary researchers suggest. A team of scientists from Queen Mary’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) worked with renowned Italian ballet dancer Roberto Bolle to capture his movements using a variety of new technologies. They were able to create a digital pixilated formation of Bolle using 3D body scanning, motion capture and digital conversions with the aim of studying the body in new ways. “We know that people are sensitive to changes in human movements at the millimeter and millisecond level,” said Pat Healey, Professor of Human Interaction and lead for the Interaction, Media and Communication Research Group at Queen Mary. “Motion capture technologies make it possible, for the first time, to analyse human movements in full 3D at very high resolutions. Modeling human movements at this unprecedented level of detail can help us to understand what affects people's perceptions of grace and beauty." The project, Dancing Atoms, was conducted at Queen Mary’s Pinter Studio where scientists converted Bolle into a digital copy. One million digital pieces of his body were created to form a full 3D, 360 degree copy. The body scanner mapped Bolle’s coordinates to replicate both his shape and colour.
Geographical profiling, a statistical technique which uses the locations of crimes to identify areas in which the serial criminal is most likely to live and work, was originally developed to help police prioritise suspects. It has been successfully used by law enforcement agencies around the world, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Scotland Yard and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. New research from Dr Steven Le Comber at Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences has shown that this mathematical method can be used to map the locations of diseases to try and identify the source of the disease.
Dr Le Comber, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Miami and Ain Shams University in Cairo, as well as with the inventor of geographic profiling, former detective turned Professor of Criminal Justice Kim Rossmo from Texas State University, examined the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, and more recent cases of malaria in Cairo. In both cases, geographic profiling successfully located the sources of the disease – the Broad Street pump in London, and the breeding habitats of the mosquito Anopheles sergentii in Cairo. The findings were published in BioMed Central’s International Journal of Health Geographics today (18 May 2011).
Wildlife in trouble from oil palm plantations, according to scientists Forest fragmentation driven by demand for palm oil is having a catastrophic effect on multiple levels of biodiversity, scientists from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences have discovered. The researchers are worried that unless steps are taken to safeguard and manage the remaining forest, then certain species will struggle to survive. The study, which focused on bats as an indicator of environmental change, was published in one of the leading scientific journals, Ecology Letters. The team conducted bat surveys in pristine forest and also in forest patches of varying size in central Peninsular Malaysia. They recorded the numbers of different species present and also assessed the level of genetic diversity within populations of some species. Lead author Matthew Struebig, jointly based at Queen Mary and the University of Kent, said: “We found that smaller forest areas support fewer species, and that those species that remain face an eventual decline, potentially leading to local extinction in the long-term.”