www.kingston.ac.uk/bridge
The Kingston University magazine
Winter 2008
Issue 66
Buildings boost learning experience hree flagship buildings have opened across the University following the completion of a £29 million project to expand and upgrade teaching and learning facilities. The John Galsworthy Building at Penrhyn Road, the Hawker Wing at Roehampton Vale and the Nightingale Centre at Kingston Hill all offer students access to the very latest educational equipment and technology. The centrepiece of the project – the £20 million six-storey John Galsworthy Building at the heart of the Penrhyn Road campus – incorporates lecture theatres, flexible teaching space and information technology suites. It also boasts a ground floor Knowledge Centre giving students a spacious setting in which to complete course work either in groups or at a laptop bar. The exterior of the building, named after the Nobel prize-winning novelist and playwright, is clad in German limestone complete with highly-visible fossils – an added bonus for geologists and students at the Faculty of Science. Elsewhere, the £4 million, three-floor Hawker Wing at the Faculty of Engineering’s Roehampton Vale campus serves as a lasting tribute to Australian aviator Harry Hawker, who was a test pilot for the Kingston-based Sopwith Aviation Company. Opened by Boeing United Kingdom president Sir Roger Bone in early December, it contains another 10 teaching rooms and additional office space for staff and students. Nearby at Kingston Hill, a £5 million extension to the Learning Resources Centre provides an extra 1,500 square metres of study space, a 60-seat learning café and meeting pods. Renamed the Nightingale Centre in honour of nurse Florence Nightingale who was once a regular visitor to Kingston Hill when her aunt and uncle lived there, it also features automated self-service loans and returns machines activated using radio frequency identification technology. The co-ordinator of World Book Day, Cathy Schofield, described the facility as both impressive and welcoming when she declared it open in January. “This centre is a library with books at its core, but is also so much more,” she enthused. “Designed to make the learning experience a shared and enjoyable one, it is a window on the world that will allow students access to what they need to succeed in their personal ambitions and make their contributions to society.” Construction of the buildings was overseen by University-appointed project managers and designers Arup and John McAslan + Partners. Arup’s associate director David Height said the team had been conscious of the need to ensure the design
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V-C’s Viewpoint Experts Ensure Small Business Stays In The Spotlight
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was consistent across all three sites. “Each of the structures has very elegant proportions, with the rhythm of the façades and the striking shape of the windows common in all,” he explained. John McAslan + Partners director Murray Smith said one of the major challenges the team had faced was creating a building which could truly become the focal point of the Penrhyn Road campus. “The L-shaped plan we developed allows the John Galsworthy Building to wrap around the sides of a landscaped central courtyard creating a useful meeting point, while its stone cladding ties in with the University’s existing buildings and adds a powerful sense of size, mass and gravity to the campus,” he said. The chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Professor David Eastwood, who officially opened the John Galsworthy Building in November, praised the University for its commitment to enhancing facilities for its students. “The new buildings make a very powerful statement that Kingston University is brimming with confidence about the future and is determined to not only maintain but invest in its record for high quality teaching,” he said.
The Nightingale Centre at Kingston Hill offers students a spacious, state-of-the-art setting in which to complete their course work.
Actress admires architecture creen star Susan Hampshire took a walk down memory lane when she attended the official opening of the John Galsworthy Building. The actress, who became a household-name playing Fleur in the BBC’s 1967 television adaptation of Galsworthy’s novel The Forsyte Saga, was guest of honour at a special event celebrating completion of the £20 million complex. Galsworthy, who was born at Parkfield on Kingston Hill in 1867 and whose family later moved to Coombe Warren, near Malden, penned 20 novels and 27 plays, as well as poetry, short stories and essays during the course of his career. The 26-episode Forsyte Saga, in which Ms Hampshire starred alongside Eric Porter, Nyree Dawn Porter and Kenneth More, was the last major British televised drama to be shot in black and white. Ms Hampshire still vividly remembers how the show charting the life of the prosperous upper-middle class Forsyte family gripped the nation. “It was a huge phenomenon and became so successful that times of church services even had to be altered so viewers didn’t miss an episode,” she recalled. “Galsworthy had the wonderful gift of describing his characters so well that readers could completely relate to each one. Fleur was quite spoilt and I found playing her extremely exciting.” Ms Hampshire described the six-storey John Galsworthy Building as a fitting tribute to the literary legend. “It was an enormous thrill to be asked to visit Kingston University for the official opening and reflect upon the achievements of a writer whose talent did so much for my career,” said the actress, who collected an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University in 1994.
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Actress Susan Hampshire was a guest of honour at the official opening of the John Galsworthy Building.
International Office Opens in India Professor Ponders Scientific Predictions
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Research Awards Dance Star Makes Academic Début
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Events Chancellor Directs Rose Theatre Curtain Raiser
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V-C’S VIEWPOINT he University has to write another Strategic Plan by the summer – although it seems hardly any time since we wrote our last plan (only three years ago). The immediate trigger is that the Higher Education Funding Council for England needs another plan from Kingston. So we have a choice – either to call up the existing Strategic Plan on the screen, change a few words here and there (and, of course, the dates) and press the print button; or to go back to basics, examine the challenges (and opportunities) Kingston faces and decide whether our current plan – and, more fundamentally, our mission – is still fit for purpose. I am sure it is right to choose the latter – for three main reasons. First, writing a strategic plan is a way a University can reaffirm its core values – in our case to be an open and accessible (and relevant) university but also a university committed to more traditional academic goals, in terms of excellence in teaching and research. We don’t want to be boxed in to any particular mission, especially one that has been defined by other people (‘up there’) rather than by ourselves and our students. We don’t want to be pigeon-holed as either ‘research led’ or ‘business facing’. We want to be both – and much else besides. The process of writing a new Strategic Plan (as much as, or even more than, the plan itself) is a way we can reaffirm what we truly believe in as a university. The second reason is that writing a Strategic Plan is, or should be, a moment of truth because it provides us with a context in which we honestly consider how we are doing. So it’s about (critical) reflection as well as reaffirmation. There is no point persisting with a mission that we have not been able to deliver, because if we couldn’t deliver it in the past the chances are we won’t be able to deliver it in the future. Let me add quickly that I don’t believe this is the case at Kingston; rather the reverse. During the past decade Kingston has been a very successful university – the most popular in London (bar none), the fastest growing in England, a nationally recognised innovator (in Foundation Degrees, but much else besides), with emerging research strengths and great partnerships (especially with St George’s). But this success does not mean we can afford to be complacent. In fact the more successful we are, the more we need to be tough-minded in drawing up a balance sheet of what has worked well – and what has worked not so well (often so that we redouble our efforts rather than abandon any key aspirations). But it is the third reason that really interests me. It is a truism to say that a lot is changing in higher education, but it happens to be the case. • First, the introduction of top-up fees may not have changed much so far. The universities’ cartel has held. But it probably can’t last. The cap will one day be raised, opening the way to a proper market in which ‘prices’ are truly variable. Then National Student Surveys may drive more than just newspaper league tables. • Second, the years of public expenditure aplenty are probably over. Although it never felt like it at the time, the past decade may well be remembered as golden years for higher education spending – not quite on the scale of the NHS, but still pretty good. • Third, the skills/employer engagement agendas are being pushed harder by Ministers every year – and some say that employer engagement is the ‘new widening participation’, if only because growth in student numbers is likely to be slower in the future (for demographic, and other, reasons). • Then there is research after the Research Assessment Exercise – and enterprise too, as the Higher Education Innovation Fund enters its fourth round. Will we end up with a premier
IN THE NEWS Specialists put sustainability under scrutiny
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division of research universities (‘world-class’, of course), or will the application of research receive new emphasis (and be linked more explicitly to enterprise)? And so the list goes on… So there couldn’t be a better time to be writing a new Strategic Plan. It allows us to consider all these far-reaching changes in the external environment (including even more fundamental changes in social practices and cultural values) – and to try to triangulate these changes with Kingston’s past – and very considerable – achievements and our aspiration to become what we sometimes call a 21st Century civic university (and the ‘Warwick of the post-92 universities’ – but why limit our ambition to ‘post-92’ universities?). Of course it would be wrong for me to secondguess the outcome of what I hope will be an engaged, and engaging, process across the University. So just two comments – or maybe predictions – or maybe personal hopes: • First, the new environment will test us – severely perhaps. The next decade is unlikely to be as congenial for Kingston as the past 10 years of easy-to-access funded growth, relatively generous public support and a general reluctance to overdetermine university missions – in short, considerable room for manoeuvre to grow, develop and innovate (within an essentially ‘public’ culture in which there was room for idealism alongside the inevitable – and necessary – instrumentalism). The next decade is likely to be characterised by slower, and more targeted, growth and greater emphasis on ‘alternative’ funding, i.e. someone else apart from the state will have to pay – students, employers, even ourselves (through greater ‘efficiency’), maybe within the context of a narrower ‘business’ culture. • But my second comment/prediction/hope is that, having been tested (however severely), we should stick to our principles – and will be better off because of it. In the short run the more tightly focused universities, the niche players, may have an advantage. But, over the longer haul, the future will belong to universities like Kingston that refuse to have their futures determined for them. Why? Because of the market, of course. But also because a proper university education, even in the most prescribed professions, and certainly proper university research are concerned to open up both people and subjects – often into the unknown and sometimes into the unknowable. So there will always be a premium on flexibility, adaptability and imagination. And because political fashions, economic trends and social attitudes are in constant flux. So to address some political, economic or social agenda to the exclusion of others is a recipe for rigidity – and, ultimately perhaps, redundancy and even extinction. But don’t take my word for it. Please participate as fully as you can in the writing of Kingston’s next Strategic Plan – and make it your plan. Professor Peter Scott Vice-Chancellor p.scott@kingston.ac.uk
Leading green thinkers, environmental campaigners and business managers have converged on the University to debate ways of combating the world’s growing carbon footprint. Academics and industry representatives gathered at the Kingston Hill campus to examine environmentally-friendly business practice, climate change and carbon emissions during two days of discussion at the Sustainability in Practice conference. Green campaigner Sara Parkin, founder director of national charity Forum for the Future, told delegates that there was little doubt human behaviour had led to changes in the climate responsible for such phenomena as melting polar ice-caps. She called for policy-makers to make it easier for people to radically reduce energy use, recycle and access public transport. “Sustainability is not just about the environment, it’s about people and it has got to become cheaper and easier to become green,” Ms Parkin said, adding that the role of universities in this process could not be underplayed. “They are providing the intellectual foundations for change, but could do even more to ensure the wider population becomes sustainability literate,” she contended. The former ward sister, awarded an OBE for services to education and sustainable development, was one of a string of high-profile speakers who delivered lectures at the conference. Delegates also attended workshops on such topics as ethical fashion, sustainable supply chains and
Green champion Sarah Parkin called on policy-makers to make it cheaper and easier for people to adopt eco-friendly lifestyles at the Sustainability in Practice conference.
transforming London’s approach to waste management. Conference organiser Dr Ros Taylor said the event, run by the University’s Steering Group for Sustainability, its Sustainability Team and the Centre for Sustainable Communities Achieved through Integrated Professional Education (C-SCAIPE), had highlighted the steps people from academia, business, charities and government agencies were taking to become more sustainable. “An event such as this is very important in championing good practice, allowing universities and businesses to learn from each other,” Dr Taylor said.
University steps up presence in international marketplace The University has placed itself firmly on the map in India by opening a new office in Mumbai. Launched during a British Council Fair in November, Kingston’s India Office is dedicated to helping potential students find out more about courses and life as an overseas student. Students from India already make up the largest group of international scholars at Kingston, with 185 currently enrolled on degree programmes.
Manager Charmaine D’Souza has been appointed to run the Kingston University India Office.
Charmaine D’Souza, who heads up the operation in Mumbai, said she was confident the new India Office would boost those numbers even further. “Research shows institutions with a permanent presence in overseas countries do particularly well recruiting from those areas,” she said. “The University already has a very good reputation in India and we’re determined to build on that and create a niche market for Kingston.” Potential students interested in getting a taste of life in the United Kingdom while studying at one of Kingston’s four campuses can call in to the office to find out about courses, accommodation, finance and visa requirements. The extra support will help speed up the application process, allowing students to get prompt feedback about whether they have the right educational credentials to secure a place. Another important function for the office, which was officially opened by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Mary Stuart, will be to consolidate links with the Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal (SVKM) trust, which currently runs the first two years of Kingston undergraduate programmes in business and computer science. In the long term, the University hopes to sign similar accords with other Indian institutions.
Future of Bridge under review The future of Bridge is being looked at as part of a wide ranging review of how we keep you in touch with what is going on at the University. “It’s now more than 10 years since the magazine was launched and it has developed a loyal readership,” said new Director of Communications Alison Cahn, who is leading the review. “However, the time has come for us to re-evaluate Bridge to see how well it serves both staff and the world beyond the University.
It may be that we should produce a different sort of magazine or, instead, be communicating in totally different ways.” We would like to hear your views about Bridge and other publications or communications produced by the University, as well as find out more about what kind of news you want to receive and the way you most like to receive it. To share your thoughts, please email us at communications@kingston.ac.uk.
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Small business centre comes of age ingston University’s Small Business Research Centre is celebrating two decades of pioneering work and a growing influence that has helped propel entrepreneurship into the academic mainstream. Centre Director Professor Robert Blackburn said the subject had gone from being regarded as something of an academic Cinderella to a boom area since the Centre was launched in 1987. Its researchers now work in a field that commands greater respect in education circles and has increasingly captured the public imagination, with programmes such as BBC2’s Dragons’ Den fuelling the nation’s entrepreneurial bent. While acknowledging the climate has changed in the past 20 years, Professor Blackburn is more reflective about the reasons growing numbers of people opt for business ownership. “Research shows that for some this is the result of limited labour market opportunities rather than a bid to make millions,” he said. “Although the current interest in start-up companies is more than just a flash in the pan, we have to be measured about what they can contribute to the economy and society.” Modern day fascination with all things entrepreneurial is a marked contrast to the Centre’s early days, as Professor Blackburn and colleague Professor David Smallbone discovered when they traced the emergence of the subject in a paper published to mark the Centre’s 20th anniversary. “Small business research had an under-developed knowledge base, with contributions from a few, often isolated, researchers,” Professor Blackburn said. Securing Economic and Social Research Council Centre status and annual commissions from the HSBC, and its predecessor the Midland Bank, helped Kingston’s reputation grow. So too did the line-up of clients eager to get a better understanding of the small business sector, from accountancy firms to telecommunications giant T-Mobile.
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Professor Robert Blackburn has witnessed small business research grow from a niche area to a subject that has captured the public imagination during the past 20 years.
From the 1980s onwards, small businesses were far more likely to be viewed as the engine of a dynamic economy, Professor Blackburn said. Reflecting that, the Centre was increasingly consulted by organisations seeking to understand business ownership and grew to be regarded as the United Kingdom’s premier centre of expertise in its field. Its influence now extends to government departments, particularly the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which has commissioned major projects evaluating such topics as Business Link services, employers’ understanding of employment rights and the effects of regulation on small firms. The Centre’s work has also assumed an increasingly international dimension. Professor Blackburn was academic adviser to the European Commission’s Action Plan, which forms the basis for current European Union entrepreneurship policies. Currently, the Centre is carrying out a study for the Treasury and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform comparing the business environment for highgrowth companies in the South East with that in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the United States. It is also engaged in a project with the Department for International Development and the Chinese Government exploring the support that exists for small business in China. Back on home turf, the team’s research activity has helped embed small business and entrepreneurship in the University’s curriculum, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Professor Blackburn expects the subject to come under even more scrutiny in the future as modern business models allow for greater entrepreneurship. “Previously, there was division of labour within a firm,” he said. “Now, with a greater amount of contracting and the evolution of more small, project-based companies, there’s increasingly a division of labour between firms.”
Online resource gives Records reveal young patient’s slow road to recovery insight into healthcare S in Victorian era he University’s Centre for Local History Studies has teamed up with Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children to launch a website documenting patient admissions from Victorian and Edwardian times. The online resource, compiled by a team of 40 academics and volunteers, provides information about children who were admitted to the hospital’s wards from 1852, when it first opened its doors, to 1914. Researchers working on the Small and Special project have logged the records of more than 84,000 young patients, detailing their names, addresses, ages and the symptoms from which they were suffering. The website, developed with the support of The Friends of Great Ormond Street Hospital, also provides access to old photographs, case notes and admission and discharge dates. It has attracted a steady stream of interest from history buffs and genealogists since its launch in November. Evidence gathered had revealed 10 per cent of the young patients visiting Great Ormond
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Street between 1852 and 1914 were suffering from an infectious disease, one in five of whom subsequently died, project leader Dr Sue Hawkins said. Tuberculosis was by far the most common disease recorded. “The hospital was not supposed to accept children with such severe conditions, but the doctors obviously felt unable to turn them away,” she said. Most patients were local, coming from nearby boroughs such as Islington and Shoreditch, with 20 per cent from outside the capital. Dr Hawkins described the online repository as a unique resource which would provide a real insight into the workings of the first hospital opened in England specifically to care for children. “This is the first time hospital records of such historical significance have been digitised,” she said. “The information will be of great importance not only to medical historians and demographers but also for people compiling family trees or those studying London’s Victorian and Edwardian past.” The records can be viewed by logging on to www.smallandspecial.org.
ix-year-old Sarah Coulson was admitted to the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street on 16 August 1875 after her chest had been badly burned in an accident. The youngster from Derby spent 10 days in hospital but made little progress before being transferred to convalescent home Cromwell House in Highgate, where her recovery remained painfully slow. Sarah returned to Great Ormond Street on 1 May 1876 after suffering fainting fits and spent three weeks in hospital. She was then once again sent to Cromwell House, although the scar tissue from the burns on her chest was still proving problematic. On 7 August 1876 her mother was unable to bear her daughter’s absence any longer and begged medical staff to let her return home. The doctors agreed and Sarah headed back to Derby to be reunited with her family for the first time in a year. Her condition improved but she was never cured.
Sarah Coulson had two spells in Great Ormond Street Hospital after sustaining serious burns.
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Advanced technology provides first aid for doctor-patient relations ioneering digital imaging technology developed by Kingston experts could soon have a major impact on how doctors conduct consultations with their patients. Dr JeanChristophe Nebel, a senior lecturer from the Faculty of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics, has helped devise a system which automatically monitors patient movement during appointments, allowing GPs to gauge how animated their patients are and evaluate how well they are interacting with them. Dr Nebel worked with final year computer science student David Forson to fine tune the new technique, which uses video images from cameras set up in a surgery to pinpoint patient head movement. “When the patient’s head moves a lot, it usually indicates that he or she is alert and actively engaged in conversation with the doctor,” Dr Nebel explained. “Long periods without animation can suggest the patient isn’t really relating to the doctor and maybe not getting as much as possible out of the appointment.” The project was prompted by concerns that an increased use of computers in GPs’ offices was distracting medics from spending time communicating directly with their patients. “Doctors have very limited consultation time as it is and GPs have to spend a significant amount of each appointment looking at their computers while they process information rather than concentrating on the patient,” Dr Nebel explained.
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The issue was brought to Dr Nebel’s attention by Dr Simon de Lusignan, a practising GP and course director of biomedical informatics at St George’s, University of London, who had carried out initial research by setting up cameras in his own surgery to chart doctors’ interaction with patients. “Going through this video footage frame by frame proved very time-consuming,” Dr Nebel said. “Our goal was to see if there was any way of automating the process.” The result, known as the GP Consultation Video Analysis Application (GPCVA), automatically tracks movement from video images by searching for the outline of a human head and shoulders in every frame. Each is then compared for signs of movement, generating a motion curve for the entire film footage.
The new application has been welcomed by Dr Lusignan, who said it could have far-reaching implications for doctor-patient relations in the future. “With further development, GPCVA could potentially be used as a training tool for medical students and practising doctors to help improve how they deal with patients,” he said. “Eventually we hope the technology will be able to differentiate affirmative body language, such as head nodding, from stillness or other body movement, which will help us pinpoint in even greater detail the moments where a patient isn’t being communicated with correctly. This will undoubtedly lead to better care for patients, improved performance amongst the medical profession and better quality of service.”
Report uncovers confusion about consumption of health supplements lmost 60 per cent of athletes regularly reach for overthe-counter remedies without having a clear understanding of their effects, Kingston researchers have found. Academics from the School of Life Sciences teamed up with UK Sport to analyse nutritional supplements taken by athletes from more than 30 different disciplines. The researchers reviewed answers submitted by high performance athletes completing the United Kingdom Sport 2005 Drug Free Survey. They discovered three-fifths of athletes sampled took supplements, but their reasons for doing so did not generally tally with each product’s purpose. The team also found that relatively few supplement users appeared to be taking vitamins or herbal remedies as a result of medical advice. Dr Andrea Petróczi, who headed the research team, said the study showed the vast array of products available and lack of industry regulation made it difficult for the average person to make an informed choice about taking supplements. Even athletes, who were likely to be more knowledgeable about how to stay in peak physical condition, frequently used them without realising their full impact, she said. “We found, for example, that an athlete trying to increase body strength might actually be taking something designed to ward off colds,” Dr Petróczi said. The research report, published in Nutrition Journal, also highlighted the danger that some athletes might consume such high doses of supplements that they could inadvertently damage their health. “The level of ignorance regarding nutritional supplements and their potential side effects was really quite alarming,” Dr Petróczi said. The results raised important questions about how athletes found out about nutritional supplements, she Dr Andrea Petróczi and added. She called for better her research team analysed education about their use and the nutritional supplements recommended mandatory taken by athletes training for sports coaches so participating in more they could play a greater part than 30 different sports. in redressing the situation.
Surgeries could soon be kitted out with video technology to ensure doctors communicate properly with patients rather than remaining glued to their computers.
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Scientist makes waves studying coastal erosion Kingston academic has put his scientific predictions under the spotlight at the largest wave testing centre in the world. Professor Curt Koenders has travelled to Germany to trial a theory that could soon help experts improve their understanding of coastal erosion. The trip has enabled Professor Koenders, who is based in the School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, to carry out detailed analysis of a formula to detect how different sandy soils will wear away when waves wash over them. After some encouraging early results using a makeshift testing centre made with DIY products, Professor Koenders was selected to take his experimentation to a more sophisticated level using a giant wave flume at the University of Hanover’s Coastal Research Centre. “Scientists and engineers from all over the world vie to be invited to the facility to submit original experiments, so it was very exciting to be chosen to use the specialist equipment available there,” he said. Working with geotechnical engineer Nick Thompson, from Bournemouth University, Professor Koenders prepared a sand base in the centre’s wave flume, which is 300 metres long, five metres wide and seven metres deep. Water was then pumped into the flume before metre-high waves were propelled over the sand. “The actions of waves erode the sand bed but, because of natural variation, it is removed more in some places than others,” Professor Koenders explained. “Our aim was to observe how the sand had shifted at different points after coming into contact with waves and correlate that with our erosion sensitivity measurements.” After the simulated surf had been pumped over the flume and the water drained away, the team was able to measure how the sand had worn away in 18 locations. Data accumulated on the three-day fact-finding mission is now undergoing further analysis
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back in laboratories at Kingston. “In the long-term, we hope the research findings could help the battle to save Britain’s disappearing shorelines, allowing experts to identify which areas may potentially be more susceptible to erosion,” Professor Koenders said.
Kingston professor Curt Koenders, left, and geotechnical engineer Nick Thompson from Bournemouth University have tested their latest scientific theories in the wave flume at the University of Hanover’s Coastal Research Centre.
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Life-changing events lead shoppers online New mothers are one of the biggest customer groups likely to log on to buy groceries online.
Partnership poised to perfect pedestrian monitoring company that has played a key role in Legion’s head of product development James crowd control projects for the Olympic Amos said the company turned to the University for Games is tapping in to the knowledge support because of its excellent reputation for and experience of staff from the University’s pioneering research in visual surveillance. “The Digital Imaging Research Centre to improve its project will make it much quicker and easier for us software. Pedestrian behaviour simulation to map behaviour, allowing us to expand our specialist Legion Limited is working with senior database of pedestrian profiles which we will be lecturer Dr Dimitrios Makris from the Faculty able to integrate with our existing software,” he said. of Computing, Information Systems and The partnership demonstrated the important Mathematics as part of a two-year Knowledge contributions the University was able to make to Transfer Partnership (KTP) project. company performance and profitability across The company was eager to automate data the region, Dr Makris added. “The fact we were collection for its software programs, which approached to assist such an internationallyreplicated the movement of people inside buildrenowned company as Legion Limited shows just ings and public spaces during the design process, how highly regarded the Knowledge Transfer Dr Makris explained. “The software tests the Partnership scheme is within industry and functionality of the architect’s concepts to see demonstrates how companies can benefit from how each structure would cope once completed, accessing the University’s wealth of resources and looking at how many people can be accommoexpertise,” he said. dated, how easily they can move around inside and what would happen if an emergency evacuation had to take place,” Dr Makris said. “Legion’s software is based on real-life measurement which involves filming pedestrians and going through CCTV footage manually, analysing each frame. The company wants to streamline this laborious process by finding a way of automatically gathering data relating to pedestrian behaviour.” The partnership, overseen by the University’s Enterprise Exchange, is being part-funded by Legion and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Most of the work will be carried out by a dedicated Knowledge Transfer Partnership associate who will Dr Dimitrios Makris has stepped forward to share his expertise be guided by Kingston academics in digital imaging with leading pedestrian mapping company as the new computer program Legion Limited. takes shape.
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ecoming a new mother or suffering health problems can be key factors in making customers turn to internet shopping, new research has revealed. Experts from Kingston Business School’s e-Commerce Consumer Research Unit, who have analysed customers’ reasons for using the internet to buy groceries, have identified major triggers that influence shoppers’ decision-making processes. Having a baby and developing mobility problems were among the significant events which led people online, they found. Reader in marketing Dr Francesca Dall’Olmo Riley said consumers’ choices to begin shopping from home might lie outside grocery retailers’ control. “Supermarkets are always looking for ways to increase their market share and attract more customers to use their website shopping facilities,” she said. “However our findings suggest that buyers are usually motivated by their own distinct needs when they opt to shop online, rather than being mindful of the advantages.” Customers choosing to replenish their cupboards with the help of the internet were
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influenced by the convenience and flexibility of online shopping, Unit Director Dr Ruth Rettie contended. Some were likely to find visiting stores in person too tiring, while others could prefer avoiding shopping with their children. In contrast, decisions to stop shopping by computer seemed to be more closely related to supermarkets failing to live up to expectations of online shopping. This suggested that there were tactics retailers could employ to make the experience more appealing, Dr Rettie said. People who returned to the aisles had often encountered problems with internet orders or deliveries and were concerned about the quality of produce. The researchers also found customers were unlikely to stop venturing out to the shops altogether and frequently re-evaluated whether they would rather shop online from the comfort of their own homes. This suggested there was potential for retailers to offer incentives to shoppers who found themselves more housebound following changes in their circumstances, they concluded.
Sarajevo students set to work on high-specification equipment eography students at the University of Sarajevo now have some of the latest electronic mapping tools at their fingertips after receiving a helping hand from Kingston academics. Staff from the Faculty of Science have played a pivotal role in creating a new Geographical Information Systems (GIS) laboratory at the institution in Bosnia-Herzegovina, fitting it out with an array of cutting-edge equipment. The collection of computer hardware, software and associated data allows students to display and analyse a range of intricate information as they progress through their degrees. The Kingston team, renowned as a world leader in GIS, was drafted in to spearhead the project as part of a European Union Trans-European Mobility Scheme for University Studies (Tempus) programme, which encourages institutions to work together to modernise course provision. Collaborating with specialists from the University of Graz in Austria and the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) along the way, they also compiled a comprehensive training programme to embed GIS in Sarajevo’s geography curriculum.
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Professor Guy Robinson has overseen the launch of a new Geographical Information Systems laboratory at the University of Sarajevo.
Professor Guy Robinson, who worked on the project with Kingston colleagues Professor Nigel Walford, Dr James O’Brien and Dr Ken Field, said hands-on experience gained in the new laboratory would boost opportunities for students from the Balkans to compete for jobs in the global marketplace. “Geographical Information Systems is becoming increasingly important to decision-makers across a wide range of organisations concerned with land, resource and environmental management,” he said. “Working on this venture has been a rewarding way for us to impart our expertise and ensure Sarajevo students stand the best possible chance of graduating with the confidence and credentials demanded by big business and government.” The laboratory is the latest knowledge-sharing initiative involving Kingston and Sarajevo. The relationship between the two institutions has flourished since Kingston staff first visited the Balkans back in 1997 to help update the Sarajevo University curriculum. The links were expected to continue to thrive in the long term, Professor Robinson said. It had already been agreed that Kingston academics would form an external advisory panel to ensure Sarajevo students were able to keep up to speed with further advances in technology.
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New research projects under way Kingston academics have embarked on a range of research projects after successfully securing backing from leading funding bodies. Grant Holder
School/Centre
Project Title
Funding Body
Amount/Duration
Mr S Brown
Performance and Screen Studies
British Colour Cinematography
Arts and Humanities Research Council
£40,098 – three years
Professor B Cathcart
Humanities
New Perspectives: Exploring the Potential for the Natural History Museum Collection as a Resource for Arts and Humanities Research
Arts and Humanities Research Council
£16,255 – one year
Professor R Istepanian
Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics
Mobile Communications to Improve Monitoring of Heart Disease and Diabetes
British Council
£15,000 – three years
Dr K Whiting and Dr A Hoppe
Life Sciences and Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics
The Interaction of Primitive Haemopoietic Progenitor Cells in Aplastic Anaemia with Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells
British Society of Haemotology
£7,000 – one year
Dr K Whiting and Dr A Hoppe
Life Sciences and Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics
An Investigation of the Role of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Aplastic Anaemia
The Aplastic Anaemia Trust
£15,000 – one year
Professor K Truss Resource Management
Leadership and Human
Managing Employee Engagement
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
£130,000 – two years
Dr N Wilson
Entrepreneurship Centre
Entrepreneurs in the Corporate Workplace
Cripps Sears and Partners
£14,560 – seven months
Professor R Blackburn
Small Business Research Centre
Growth Challenges for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: A United Kingdom-United States Comparative Study
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
£40,000 – three months
Dr J Collis
Accounting and Finance
Directors’ Views on Accounting and Auditing Requirements in Company Law
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
£24,993 – six months
Mr M Humphreys
Law
Urban Regeneration
EC1 New Deal
£56,700 – three years
Professor S Sayce
Surveying
National Land Use Database of Previously Developed Land – Scoping Study
English Partnerships
£97,960 – one year
Professor M Stuart
Education
Student Diversity, Extra-curricular Activities and Perceptions of Graduate Outcomes
Higher Education Authority
£27,581 – one year
Professor M Stuart
Education
The Impact of Social Identity and Cultural Capital on Different Ethnic Student Groups at University
Economic and Social Research Council
£81,881 – 18 months
Professor J Wen
Engineering
Glazing Behaviour in a Fire Environment
European Union Marie Curie
£110,000 – two years
Professor C Koenders
Pharmacy and Chemistry
Investigation of Slurry Flow by Means of Simulation and Theory
Leverhulme Trust
£13,377 – three years
Dr J Orwell
Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics
To Research and Trial an Autonomous or Semi-autonomous System To Detect, Identify and Locate Threats in a Hostile Urban Environment
Ministry of Defence
£75,000 – one year
Professor E Chell
Small Business Research Centre
The Identification and Measurement of Innovative Characteristics of Young People
National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
£118,692 – one year
Professor C Edwards
Leadership and Human Resource Management
Survey of Working Life 2007
Kingston Council
£25,000 – four months
Dr L Y Meng
Small Business Research Centre
Revitalising Rural China Through Land Policy Reform and Innovation in Governance and Public Service Delivery
UNDPR and CIRD, China
£24,600 – two years
Dr W Skok
Business Information Management
Knowledge Transfer Partnership: To Develop a Generic Information Technology Solution for Medium-sized Charities
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
£110,528 – two years
Dr S Pretlove
Architecture
Knowledge Transfer Partnership: To Establish a Specialist Sustainability Service for Clive Chapman Associates
Technology Strategy Board
£110,528 – two years
Professor W Lomax
Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Marketing
Secondment into Knowledge: To Develop a Strategy to Enable New Blood Art to Strengthen its Client Base and Expand Operations
London Development Agency
£14,000 – 12 days
Dr D Stokes
Enterprise
Secondment into Knowledge: To Develop a Diagnostic Tool and Innovation Route Map for the Ethnic Hair and Beauty Sector
London Development Agency
£14,000 – 12 days
Academic accomplishments The University has announced the most recent recipients of its prestigious research degrees. Shehla Darr has been named a Doctor of Philosophy after examining the ‘Compression Recovery
of Rigid Polymer Foams Following Confinement at Elevated Temperatures’. Abdenour-Karim Khelifi has been awarded a Doctor of Philosophy after exploring ‘Attitudinal
Determinants of Consumer Behaviour: An Empirical Study in the United Kingdom Credit Card Sector’. Youssef Ouchagour has been named a Doctor of Philosophy after investigating the ‘Suitability of
Recycled Concrete Aggregate for Use in Binary Cement Concrete’. Oliver Reutter has been awarded a Doctor of Philosophy after undertaking an ‘Assessment of Masonry Flexural Bond Strength’. Sven Riedel has been named a Doctor of Philosophy after exploring ‘Developments in Tensiographic Multivariate Analysis Leading to a New Approach with Prevalent Applicability for Sample Fingerprinting and Data Representation’. Susan Simpson has been named a Doctor of Philosophy after undertaking ‘An Investigation into
the Uptake and Farmer Acceptance of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in Southern England’. Mark Thomas has been awarded a Doctor of Philosophy after examining the ‘Geomechanics of
Volcano Instability and the Effects of Internally Elevated Pore Fluid (Gas) Pressures’. Yiwei Wang has been named a Doctor of Philosophy after concluding a study focusing on ‘Improving
3D Polymeric Matrices for Tissue Engineering Using Advanced Drug Delivery Techniques’. Caroline Saffell has been awarded a Doctor of Business Administration after completing a study
entitled ‘Values, Value, Risk and Satisfaction as Antecedents to Continue in Farming with Specific Reference to Farming in Great Britain’. Andreas Steinbauer has received a Master of Philosophy after completing ‘An Innovative Study of
Private German Real Estate Investments in United States Residential Real Estate with Reference to the Cultural Dimension’. Teresa Payton has been awarded a Master of Science by Research after exploring the ‘Representational Effects in Casual Judgement’.
Experts secure groundbreaking database contract Kingston research team has won a sought-after contract to examine the process through which the Government collects, stores and provides access to information about brownfield sites across England. University experts have embarked on a nine-month project to review the National Land Use Database of Previously Developed Land (NLUD-PDL), which provides an inventory of vacant and derelict plots as well as information about occupied land and buildings with redevelopment potential. The Head of the School of Surveying, Professor Sarah Sayce, said the database was essential to the National Brownfield Strategy for England. “The project forms a key part of the Government’s policy to make sure land across the country can be put to best use,” Professor Sayce said. “By building up a definitive database of land uses, we will be helping the Government manage its most precious resource effectively.” Launched in 1998, the database has been refreshed annually since 2001 with data supplied by local authorities. English Partnerships national brownfield adviser Professor Paul
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Professor Sarah Sayce has brought together researchers from across the University to review the national database of previously developed land.
Syms said reviewing the way data was collected would ensure information was as reliable, accessible and comprehensive as possible. “This work will help the Government meet its targets for bringing brownfield land back into productive use,” he said. English Partnerships and the Department of Communities and Local Government are funding the cross-Faculty project, due to be completed by mid-2008.
Bridge WINTER 2008
Top dancer takes leading role at Kingston West End star and former backing dancer for some of the biggest names in the music industry has bowed out of show business to take centre stage in the lecture theatre. Jason Piper, who performed in singer Kylie Minogue’s sell-out Fever world tour, has become course leader for Kingston’s recently-launched dance degree. The 31 year old is confident the breadth of professional experience he gained during a career which also included top billing in the critically-acclaimed, all-male version of Swan Lake will make him an inspirational role model for students. After beginning his love affair with dance aged just five, Mr Piper honed his talent performing with the National Youth Dance Company before gaining a degree from the London Contemporary Dance School. “Over the years I’ve been involved in many aspects of dance, from ballet and street to working with artists ranging from Kylie and Christina Aguilera to Shirley Bassey,” he said. “Performing around the globe has been an amazing experience and now I’m ready to take a fresh direction and give something back.” Taking a broader approach than many other dance courses, the Kingston degree caters for students who may not have a classical or
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contemporary background. “It will be about developing their existing knowledge and skills and applying them in new ways,” Mr Piper explained. As well as paving the way for graduates to become dancers and choreographers, the course also provides an academic and creative grounding for those keen to specialise in outreach and youth work. Students contemplating a stage career of their own are set to benefit from Mr Piper’s bulging contact book. “There will be people coming in from the top end of the industry to share their knowledge,” he said. “I’m determined the students will build and develop industry relationships right from the start.” The degree also examines the relationship between dance and the wider community, a subject close to Mr Piper’s heart. Students will delve into urban, ethnic and popular styles as well as more conventional contemporary techniques in a programme designed to capitalise on London’s vibrant multicultural dance scene. As part of their course work, they will be expected to forge links with festival organisers and dance outreach groups across the capital. “Dance is the path of least resistance to the heart of any culture,” Mr Piper said. “It doesn’t have a political agenda and is a great way of breaking down boundaries.”
Navy personnel deployed on academic operation T
en Royal Navy sailors have become the first students to embark on a new Kingston Business School course. The two-year, part-time Foundation Degree in Operations Management will enable service men and women to acquire an academic qualification complementing their on-the-job experience. The course includes modules on innovation and entrepreneurship, information management and human resources. Eight of the first group of students to sign up for the Kingston programme work at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire, while two are ship-based. They will complete the bulk of their course by computer using the University’s online web-based learning management system, Blackboard. Naval Accreditation Manager Lieutenant Max Sennett said returning to the books would enhance the future prospects of the warrant officers and senior rates by consolidating their specialist skills and giving them official recognition for what they learned at work. “Today’s Royal Navy is committed to encouraging the continuing professional development of its staff in every way possible,” Lieutenant Sennett said. “We are determined to redress the situation where, in the past, many senior officers who had dedicated their entire working lives to the Navy had no official qualifications to show for the huge amount of experience they had accumulated along the way.” Petty Officer Mark Abrams, who is based at HMS Collingwood, is confident his Foundation Degree foray will pay dividends in his career. “I’m really looking forward to putting what I learn from my lecturers into practice and becoming a better manager,” he said. Course leader Deborah Pinder-Young said the programme had been designed to fit around the students’ ongoing duties both on the ocean waves and back at base. “One of the key features is that it is flexible enough to incorporate aspects
Jason Piper has swapped his stage career for a star turn launching Kingston’s BA (Hons) in Dance.
Alumni mark 65 years of architecture education ndustry professionals from around the globe relived their student days when they converged on the Knights Park campus to celebrate the School of Architecture and Landscape’s 65th anniversary. The reunion saw staff mingle with 90 graduates at a champagne reception followed by the official opening of a new exhibition charting the School’s history. Guests included alumnus Phil Allsopp, now president and chief executive of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in the United States. He joined Financial Times architecture critic Edwin Heathcote, who graduated in 1994, and architects Sidney Bernstein (1963), Terry Pawson (1982), Andrew Waugh (1988) and Anthony ThistletonSmith (1993) in a roundtable discussion focusing on the School’s multi-faceted approach to architecture education. “Kingston in 1968 was a magical place,” Mr Allsopp recalled, crediting his course with giving him confidence in his ideas. “There was tremendous freedom. I absorbed whatever discipline I could by osmosis and it served as an amazing springboard for my career.”
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Petty Officer Mark Abrams has been one of the first students to sign up for the Foundation Degree in Operations Management.
of each student’s workplace role into the curriculum,” Mrs Pinder-Young said. “The course framework gives us the scope to easily adapt it to suit other Armed Forces personnel. We also hope to roll it out in the civilian workforce catering for employees heavily involved in field work, such as environmental officers and the police.” The University already has a strong track record of tailoring work-based learning programmes to meet the needs of the Armed Forces. Kingston’s MSc in Technology (Maritime Operations) for naval officers has been running for five years, while equipment support staff from the Army’s Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers (REME) have been enhancing their skills completing the MSc in Technology (Equipment Support).
Founded in 1942 by Eric Brown, the School has developed a strong reputation for academic excellence. The associated School of Planning was established in the 1960s along with an Architectural Psychology Research Unit – the first of its kind in Britain. Later, with Professor Peter Jacob at the helm, the School joined forces with Merrist Wood College and introduced landscape architecture to the curriculum. Current Head of School Professor Sarah Chaplin has overseen its transition into the digital era, with high-specification computing facilities complementing existing workshops. Welcoming so many familiar faces back to the University for the reunion as well as renewing links with graduates the School had lost touch with had been an enlightening experience, Professor Chaplin said. “What was most remarkable was discovering, despite the many physical changes at Knights Park, how constant the sense of community and shared ethos of the School has remained over the decades,” she added.
Financial Times architecture critic Edwin Heathcote, who graduated from Kingston in 1994, pored over exhibits of a bygone era at the School of Architecture’s 65th anniversary reunion.
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WINTER 2008
Exhibitions and Events... WINTER 2008 EXHIBITIONS
THURSDAY 21 FEBRUARY
THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY
MONDAY 18 – FRIDAY 22 FEBRUARY
6.00pm
4.30pm
Theatre without Borders Part of the Think in Kingston Festival. Guest speaker director Jatinder Verma. Rose Theatre, 24-26 High Street, Kingston
6.00pm
Bridging the Gaps Former diplomat and visiting professor Sir Roderic Lyne explores future trends in the global environment, communication between the boardroom and the front line and the lack of understanding between the private and public sectors. Part of the Strategy into Practice lecture series. Lawley Lecture Theatre, Kingston Hill campus
9.00am– Sustainable Education 5.00pm An exhibition being staged as part of London Student Go Green Week showcasing project work examining economic environmental principles. C-SCAIPE Reading Room, Penrhyn Road campus Open evening: 5.30–8.30pm, Tuesday 19 February
WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH – SATURDAY 26 APRIL International Orange Ben Kelly presents a series of collaborative projects with such leading designers as Peter Saville, Michael Marriot and DJ Simpson. Stanley Picker Gallery, Middle Mill, Knights Park Gallery opening times: Tuesday-Friday 12.00-6.00pm; Saturdays 12.00-4.00pm; Mondays (by appointment only)
EVENTS – FEBRUARY
SATURDAY 23 AND SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY 10.00am– Cello Festival 4.00pm Featuring workshops and performances from a line-up of professional cellists and a masterclass conducted by expert William Bruce. Coombehurst Studio, Kingston Hill campus
EVENTS – MARCH MONDAY 25 FEBRUARY MONDAY 3 MARCH 1.15pm
4.00– 6.00pm
MONDAY 18 FEBRUARY 1.15pm
Lunchtime concert Featuring Kingston University music students. Coombehurst Studio, Kingston Hill campus
WEDNESDAY 20 FEBRUARY 1.15pm
Lunchtime concert Featuring pianist Ted Beament, drummer Adrian Macintosh and bassist John Rees Jones from the Trio Time jazz group. Rose Theatre foyer, 24-26 High Street, Kingston
Entrepreneurship and the Creative Economy A panel discussion led by Endemol UK chairman Peter Bazalgette and brand evolution expert BJ Cunningham, being staged as part of The Entrepreneurship Experience seminar series. Main Lecture Theatre, Knights Park campus
Lunchtime concert First year music students showcase original compositions. Coombehurst Studio, Kingston Hill campus The Enforcement of International Human Rights Law: The Challenges Ahead Part of the Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility seminar series. Speakers Professor Richard Ennals and Paresh Kathrani. Room 6032, Frank Lampl Building, Kingston Hill campus
1.15pm
THURSDAY 6 MARCH 5.30pm
Google and Maps: Why Where is Important The Annual Industry Lecture from the Faculty of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics. Guest speaker Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist for Google. Roberts Lecture Theatre, Penrhyn Road campus
6.00pm
Entrepreneurship and the Market A panel discussion led by director of the Kingston Innovation Centre Chris Fogg, being staged as part of The Entrepreneurship Experience seminar series. Lawley Lecture Theatre, Kingston Hill campus
WEDNESDAY 27 FEBRUARY 1.15pm
Lunchtime concert A tribute concert being staged in honour of senior music lecturer Dr Tim Ewers. Coombehurst Studio, Kingston Hill campus
Lunchtime concert Second year music students showcase original compositions. Coombehurst Studio, Kingston Hill campus
SUNDAY 9 MARCH 2.00pm
Theatre-goers flock to University gala night eading business people and influential alumni filled the auditorium at a Kingston University gala night celebrating the opening of the borough’s Rose Theatre. Drama enthusiasts turned out in force to watch a performance of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya directed by University Chancellor Sir Peter Hall. Inspired by the former 16th Century Rose Theatre on London’s Bankside, the 900-person capacity complex cost £11 million to complete, with the University contributing £500,000. Sir Peter told guests at a reception following the performance that the opening of the venue was a huge achievement. “If it wasn’t for the backing of the University and the extraordinary strength and belief of the borough council we wouldn’t be here now,” he said. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Mary Stuart said the University and theatre would maintain strong links in the future. “We are thrilled that our students will be rehearsing and exhibiting their work at this fabulous venue very soon. It gives us the chance to have a strong presence in a landmark town centre location,” she said. Uncle Vanya cast member Neil Pearson praised the venue’s layout. “The Rose has what all the best theatres have – space for both actors and the audience without losing that sense of intimacy,” he said. Gala guest Kevin Whately, who starred in television drama Inspector Morse, echoed those sentiments. “I believe both the town and University stand to gain a great deal from their stunning new theatre. It works a treat for audiences and actors alike,” he said.
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The cast of Uncle Vanya played to a packed house at a University-organised gala night at Kingston’s new Rose Theatre.
Jazz Futures The borough’s annual jazz festival run in association with Kingston Council. Rose Theatre foyer, 24-26 High Street, Kingston
MONDAY 10 MARCH 1.15pm
Lunchtime concert Third year music students showcase original compositions. Coombehurst Studio, Kingston Hill campus
WEDNESDAY 12 MARCH 7.00pm
Towards The Light Philosopher Anthony Grayling discusses his new book as part of the Think in Kingston Festival. Clattern Lecture Theatre, Penrhyn Road campus
THURSDAY 13 MARCH 5.00– 7.00pm
Reflections on Professional Ethics A seminar in which speaker Dr Bob Brecher from the University of Brighton presents the case Against Professional Ethics and Dr Joan McCarthy from University College Cork examines the hysterectomy scandal at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Ireland. Boardrooms 3 and 4, Hunter Wing, St George’s, University of London
MONDAY 31 MARCH 6.30pm
Creating the New Design Aesthetic – Meeting the Global and Environmental Challenges Chief executive of the Design Council David Kester shares his views on the importance of design in the ecology of the 21st Century as part of the Think in Kingston Festival. Knights Park campus
Editorial Information Editor: Nicky Baird, ext 63166 (internal); 020 8547 7166 (external) University staff are invited to submit ideas for possible stories and features. Contributions should be sent by email to bridge@kingston.ac.uk or by internal mail to Bridge, Room 2, River House. The editorial team reserves the right to amend articles as appropriate.