The Olympic Dream Our sporting heroes
NOV | DEC 10
Editor Phil Mills Senior press officer Channel magazine is published by Marketing and Communications. Channel is available online at www.brighton.ac.uk/channel. Alongside this publication our online newsletter eChannel is produced monthly at http://community.brighton.ac.uk/ echannel. For the latest news about the university, please see www.brighton.ac.uk/news. For an insight into research conducted at the university, see www.brighton.ac.uk/research.
Contact details Channel Marketing and Communications Mithras House Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4AT +44 (0)1273 643022 communications@brighton.ac.uk Send your news to communications@brighton.ac.uk. Front page image Amy McClelland, physiotherapy student and world champion paratriathlete, see page 12. Photo by Andrew Weekes. Print and reproduction By DSI Colourworks, registered to environmental standard, ISO 14001. This magazine was printed using inks made from vegetable-based oils and without the use of industrial alcohol. Ninety-five per cent of the cleaning solvents were recycled for further use and 94 per cent of the dry waste associated with this production will be recycled.
Contents Regular features
18–19
04–07 Round-up News from across the university
18–19 Research briefing How Peter Squires found himself in demand
Lead features 12–13 Lead feature Dreaming of the Olympics
16–17
14–15 Lead feature Our new super sports hall
16–17 Research feature Sustainability in sportswear
Features 08–09 Team in focus An international team
12–13
11 Opinion Anyone for tennis? 10 Opinion Beyond video games and violence
20 In conversation Cressida Bowyer–from pop music to petri dishes 21 Research article The Roman forger 22–23 On campus Fuelling the flame and Chelsea re-united 24 Events
20
14–15
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 03
UNIVERSITY ROUND-UP
BRIGHTON BUSINESS SCHOOL Rethinking retirement
Comment Professor Julian Crampton Vice-Chancellor
The New Year promises to bring unprecedented challenges as we and every other university in the UK wrestle with changing economic circumstances. As the arguments continue over funding cuts and fee increases, we must not lose sight of just how important the University of Brighton is to the communities in which it lives. An independent report this year quantified our economic impact and concluded that we generated well over half a billion pounds to the economy, both nationally and locally. The findings demonstrate the value we bring to businesses, through money we spend, money students spend and through the staff and services we employ. For instance, we have two new £20m-plus science and education buildings. But this university is not just about balance sheets. We believe the work we do in and with the communities and the people of Brighton & Hove, Hastings and Eastbourne, is just as important as our economic significance. We focus on benefiting the community as a whole and through our socially engaged staff, students and graduates, applied research and community projects, we aim to make a difference locally, nationally and globally.
UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON Children in Need Thousands of pounds were raised by staff and students for this year’s BBC Children in Need appeal. Mithras Registry held a pyjama party and baked treats in the ViceChancellor’s office at Mithras were just some of the events organised. The School of Applied Social Science
We support wholeheartedly the government’s call for more students from low income backgrounds to study at university and, indeed, this is an endorsement of a policy we adopted many years ago. We have a proud record of welcoming and encouraging students from families with no history of university education. We have many positives that point to a bright future for this institution. Applications from students wanting to study here are at record levels and we have an excellent staff to provide them with a first class learning experience. We have strong links with businesses and professional bodies to help students with the best possible employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. And we are continuing to invest in new state-of-the-art buildings and facilities. The New Year will bring its difficulties but I am confident we are a university fit for the challenges ahead, financially sound and with a 150-year history of adapting to changing social and market needs, a constantly listening and learning institution that anticipates new ways to enrich both the local and wider society. I firmly believe we are in a strong position to flourish.
conducted a Pudsey lookalike contest using just the bear essentials – Pudsey’s ears. And Grand Parade caretakers Steve Chapman, David Rhoden and Tony Knight went for the shaved, smooth look and raised more than £1,300 thanks to some careful waxing and shaving by hairdressers Alwali Yasa, Renee White, Lauren Back and Sean Eambe from Sean Paul Hair and Beauty of St James’s Street and Coombe Road.
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A University of Brighton researcher has won funding to hold seminars around the country on the future of retirement, a topic he says is of crucial importance given government policy to extend the working life. Dr David Lain, from the university’s Brighton Business School, said: “Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg recently claimed that government will ‘reinvigorate what retirement means. In future people can anticipate working longer, and many retirees are expected to continue doing some paid or unpaid work’. “The extent to which this will occur, and the implications if it does, is less clear, however.” Dr Lain has been awarded funding by the Economic and Social Research Council and EU WorkCare Synergies project to stage a series of seminars across the country called Rethinking Retirement, to explore this issue. He said: “Given the complex issues at stake and the importance of the topic, the seminars will bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners.” The series is co-organised by Professor Wendy Loretto from the University of Edinburgh and Professor Sarah Vickerstaff from the University of Kent. Alongside seminars on paid employment and the future of pensions, there will be a session on active ageing and unpaid care and voluntary work. Dr Lain said: “This session will be held in Brighton because this is a key area of expertise for the university and we have three members of staff, Professor Marian Barnes, professor of social policy, Dr Lizzie Ward, research fellow; and Professor Paul Stenner, professor of psychosocial studies, presenting at the seminar in February 2012.”
UNIVERSITY ROUND-UP
The funding has allowed experts from the USA and Europe to present at other seminars, including Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus, from the University of Mannheim in Germany; Professor Madonna Harrington Mayer, from Syracuse University, New York; and Hanna van Solinge, PhD, from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute. For more information, contact Dr Lain at d.lain@brighton.ac.uk.
Above left: Dr David Lain Above right: From left to right; trainee teachers: Liberty Bradley, Amy Good, Elise Brogan, Terry Hilton, Emily Londo, Emmeline Frame, and centre: Blanaid McCauley, chaplain and fund raiser.
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND SPORT Our school in Nepal Staff and students at the School of Education have raised £42,000 to start a school in rural Nepal for children who have no access to education. The school, in the hamlet of Malagiri, will open in April 2011 and money raised will be used for the school construction, equipment and for salaries. Fundraising activities included cake sales, sponsored walks and runs, a quiz night, memorial gifts as well as individual donations from staff and students. Three trainee teachers, Camille Montgomery, Sarah Davies and Katie Kilbey, visited the site this year and six more students will be visiting Nepal in February 2011 to undertake placements in Kathmandu and the surrounding area.
Kevin Fossey, senior lecturer in the School of Education, recently returned from Nepal where he attended a conference with other project delegates and discussed the school scheme with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader. Kevin said: “Blanaid McCauley from the Chaplaincy has been incredibly supportive in raising funds for the project. Additionally, the collection from this year’s Carol Service on 8 December and proceeds of the knitted tree decorations by the Knitting and Nattering Group, on sale now at Student Services at the Manor House, will also go to the project. The children in Malagiri are desperate to go to school – thanks to everyone for their kindness in making this happen.” For more information and ways to donate, go to www.brighton.ac.uk/ malagiri.
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 05
UNIVERSITY ROUND-UP
FACULTY OF ARTS Sharing the experience
PLUMPTON COLLEGE Is horse riding a good exercise?
Billy Cowie, choreographer and principal research fellow in the School of Art and Media, is on a world tour with his four stereoscopic dance installations. The four pieces, In the Flesh, The Revery Alone, Ghosts in the Machine and Tango de Soledad use special 3D techniques to make the spectator think they are sharing the space with actual dancers. This allows them to have an up-close and intimate experience of Cowie’s choreography.
The British Horse Society has commissioned Plumpton College and the University of Brighton to carry out research into the health and wellbeing benefits of horse-based sport and leisure. Part of this research is asking those who currently participate in horse riding to complete a survey which can be found online here, http://www.jotform.com/ form/3014634364. The final report with the findings from the work will be available on the BHS website in mid-2011.
He has shown his award-winning work at festivals and galleries in Turin, Rivoli, Düsseldorf, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Rome, Bucharest, Kochi, Amsterdam, Hobart and Melbourne. One viewer in Hong Kong, Ka-fai Tsang, wrote: “Even though you know it is but a virtual image, the dancers look incredibly real.”
Becky Taylor, head of research development at Plumpton College, was interviewed on BBC Radio Sussex and challenged with the claim that riding was not much of an exercise. Becky responded: “That’s what a lot of people who don’t ride horses think but initial evidence shows most horse riding is classed as a moderate to intense activity.
Many of the presentations are accompanied by choreography and film workshops, and lectures given by Billy. The tour will culminate in simultaneous presentations at the end of January in Sadler’s Wells Sampled Festival in London and at the Baryshnikov Arts Centre in New York as part of the Dance Film Association festival.
“There is far more work involved in riding a horse than it looks like.”
UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON Poster contest
More information at www.billycowie.com.
FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING Top award for Richard Faragher
by The Glenn Foundation which has laboratories at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA.
Professor Richard Faragher, assistant head of the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Science, has become only the third UK academic to win a Glenn Award for research.
Professor Faragher said: “I am delighted but this is a reflection of the groundbreaking work in the field of ageing being carried out by a lot of dedicated people at the University of Brighton.”
Professor Faragher, professor of biogerontology, is also chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing. His award for research in biological mechanisms of ageing was presented
Professor Faragher recently gave his inaugural lecture Three Score Years and Then? at the university’s Huxley Building.
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Top: 3D still looking up by Billy Cowie
The university is pleased to announce its research poster competition for 2011. The aim of the competition is to recognise and reward the quality and breadth of research being conducted across the university. Research students and research-active staff across the university are invited to submit a poster which summarises their research to non-subject specialists. Prizes are available in the following categories: • People’s prize: £500 • Research student prize: 1st prize £500, 2nd prize £300, 3rd prize £200 • Staff prize: 1st prize £500, 2nd prize £300, 3rd prize £200
UNIVERSITY ROUND-UP
The entries will be displayed at Grand Parade on Monday 4 April 2011 as part of the poster competition and award ceremony, where attendees will be able to vote for the people’s prize.
owner, as a result of her experiences and those of colleagues. Mebrak said: “I believe in improvement through learning and exchanging experience. There is no better place to do this than the University of Brighton. This seminar was the beginning of what I expect will be a great partnership, working with BME entrepreneurs for the common good.”
The posters will also be displayed online for two weeks before the event to ensure they reach as wide an audience as possible. Closing date is 25 February 2011. For further details go to: http://staffcentral. brighton.ac.uk/vru/riposter.shtm.
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND SPORT Magnificent seven for Stuart! Principal lecturer Stuart Mills won this year’s Beachy Head Marathon – his seventh victory in eight years of taking part. Despite the heavy rain, Stuart’s time was a minute quicker than in his victory last year and almost eight minutes quicker than his nearest challenger. This follows on Stuart’s victories in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. A total of 1,750 runners, joggers and walkers tackled the hilly 26.2 mile course. It is the country’s largest offroad marathon and covers parts of the new South Downs national park. Stuart lectures on the sport and exercise science courses at the university’s Chelsea School based on the Eastbourne campus. Rob Harley, who is also a principal lecturer at Chelsea School, finished in fourth place. The event returns on 22 October 2011 for anyone brave enough to tackle the notoriously difficult course.
Above: Principal lecturer Stuart Mills running in the Beachy Head marathon. Photo courtesy of Sussex sportphotography.com
BRIGHTON BUSINESS SCHOOL Supporting black and minority ethnic businesses in Sussex The University of Brighton opened its doors to members of the black and minority ethnic (BME) community, support agencies and community groups to discuss the challenges faced by BME entrepreneurs and business owners. More than 40 people from the local community attended the event which was sponsored by the Brighton Business School and the Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp), and was hosted in partnership with Vandu Language Services. Budding entrepreneurs, successful business owners, local councils, Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce and others came together with the common purpose of better understanding the barriers faced by BME businesses in accessing support and how to bring those barriers down. The event was the brainchild of Mebrak Ghebreweldi, managing director of Vandu and a successful BME business
Chris Baker, head of Economic and Social Engagement at the university, opened the event. He said: “We were delighted to respond to an initiative that came from the community itself. For many of those attending it was their first experience of a university event and showed that we are accessible to them as well as our students. I think we all learned from the experience.” Speakers included Professor David Smallbone from Kingston University, Clive Gross from 1066 Enterprise, Lorraine Bell from Simply CSR and Julie Stanford from Essential Business. A follow-up event is planned for January 2011.
FACULTY OF ARTS European sustainable food More than 100 activists, academics and practitioners attended the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) 2nd European Sustainable Food Planning conference, hosted by the university. The international audience included representatives from a range of disciplines including planning, policy development, design, public health, business and the sciences. The event was organised by Andre Viljoen, principal lecturer in the School of Architecture and Design, who said: “Common to all was a concern about how, within the wider contexts of global climate change, a world population of nine billion and growing, competing food production systems and diet-related public health concerns, we can move towards more sustainable and equitable food systems.”
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 07
TEAM IN FOCUS
IN FOCUS...
AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM FOR A
GL BAL PROBLEM BY DOCTOR HUW TAYLOR
Some 1.8 million people are estimated to die from diarrhoeal disease each year with 88 per cent of this burden attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene, mostly among children in developing countries. In July 2010, despite abstentions from the USA and the UK, the United Nations adopted a resolution recognising access to clean water and sanitation as a human right. This global health issue, which is closely associated with poverty, is complex and further complicated by climate change-related storm events and the impact of newlyemerging waterborne diseases. It requires an interdisciplinary approach. The university’s Environment and Public Health Research Unit (EPHRU) looks at how science can help us understand how these diseases are transmitted and identify how we might develop better technology and environmental management practices to remove disease-causing organisms from drinking water. The group, which was set up in 1998 when there was little interdisciplinary research into the interactions between environment and human health, is relatively small. However, it punches above its weight, drawing expertise from a team of international researchers from a broad variety of specialist areas. Headed by Dr Huw Taylor, it has seen five PhD projects successfully completed, has five more in progress, and three new research students hope to join the group in 2011. Lakshmi Yaliwal, a biotechnology graduate from Bangalore University in 2005, is researching how molecular techniques can be combined with simpler approaches to distinguish sources of faecal pollution in surface waters. Dr Daniel Ekane Nnane from Cameroon joined the group as a postgraduate research student in 2006, having previously gained a masters degree in geography.
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He has considerable expertise in river catchment pollution dynamics and is a research officer on the University of Brighton led Interreg project AquaManche. Sarah Purnell took an interest in EPHRU’s water pollution research during her undergraduate degree in Environmental Hazards at Brighton and is now a postgraduate researcher with the group. Her work is exploring how the faecal indicator bacterium Enterococcus can be used to distinguish pollution sources. Sarah divides her time between her research studies and her role as a research officer on the AquaManche project. Diogo Trajano da Silva from Brazil has a degree in Fisheries Engineering and an MSc in Water and Environmental Management from Brighton. Diogo is looking at shellfisheries contamination and his research has helped EPHRU to forge a strong collaborative link with The Centre for Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in Weymouth. Sílvia Nunes Monteiro, a chemistry graduate based at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, is working towards a University of Brighton postgraduate research degree on the relationships between microbial source tracking markers and human pathogenic viruses, and Dr David Diston who recently completed his PhD studies in EPHRU, and is working with research colleagues at the Department of Health in Bern to develop microbial source tracking as a health protection tool in Switzerland.
TEAM IN FOCUS
The team work closely with other international research groups. Dr James Ebdon, a senior lecturer and research student supervisor in EPHRU, said: “We have strong collaborative links with the University of Barcelona in Europe, and the Universities of Hawaii and Stanford, and the Environmental Protection Agency in the US. More recently its work with the Federal University of Viçosa in Brazil, the University of Lagos in Nigeria, and the University of Malaya, has allowed the group to share its expertise with scientists
Above: (left to right) Diogo Trajano da Silva, Lakshmi Yaliwal, Sarah Purnell, Dr Daniel Ekane Nnane, Dr Huw Taylor, Dr James Ebdon, Dr Jonathan Caplin, Christine Sinclair and Chris English.
from countries where combating waterborne disease is an urgent priority.” EPHRU’s international activities have grown rapidly since its inception, and it is now recognised as a leading European centre of excellence in the area of microbial source tracking (MST). Dr Taylor said: “When we join forces with other groups in other countries, our contribution to global health-related water microbiology research can be enormous.”
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 09
OPINION
BEYOND
VIDEOGAMES AND VI LENCE BY DR EWAN KIRKLAND, SENIOR LECTURER IN THE SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES As someone who has played videogames almost all their life, I am often disappointed by the lack of serious attention games receive. Largely ignored by the mainstream, videogames are regarded as a juvenile distraction at best, a menace to society at worst. When videogames do attract interest it is largely in negative terms. Violence is a recurring issue. This is an undeniable component of many videogames, but it seems to me that few commentators have had experience of playing the games which get so much criticism. As a participatory medium, there is a huge difference between playing a game and watching someone else at play. To a spectator, shooting soldiers in Call of Duty may look like a violent affair, but for the player, calculating their next move, tactically managing resources, scouring the distant landscape for snipers, the experience is a rather more abstract and cerebral process. Like chess, this is a game with violent real-world equivalents, but it is a game, nonetheless. A wide range of successful titles eschew violence altogether. Sports games are no more or less violent and the activities they simulate. Games like Civilisation, The Sims, or Little Big Planet illustrate the interactive possibilities of building rather than destroying. Casual games like Farmville, the Wii Fit exercise system, or the hugely popular Rockstar franchise show there to be nothing inherently violent in videogames or their players. Moreover, the emphasis on violence detracts from the innovation and artistry
increasingly evident across the medium. Grand Theft Auto is an ironic comment on the American dream. Manhunt, a game which has also attracted moral outrage, is a dark and disturbing meditation on virtual violence. Games like Shadow of the Colossus, Flowers or Braid are artistic, expressionistic, emotionally moving experiences. From Fable to Bioshock to The Suffering, games designers are constructing
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worlds which react to players’ actions in a way which reflects the morality of their decisions. Focusing on violence in videogames is like focusing on sound effects in cinema. Violence is just one aspect of the medium, and concentrating on this element distracts from the innovative realities and possibilities of this emerging new art form.
OPINION
COURTING SUCCESS Body movements are being recorded to help tennis players anticipate shots from their opponents – an advantage that may well give top stars of the future a winning edge. Dr Nick Smeeton, senior lecturer in sport and exercise psychology, University of Brighton, and Dr Huys (Université de la Mediterranée, France), have been filming a tennis player and their research is soon to be published in the journal Human Movement Science.* Here, Dr Smeeton explains the joint research project. This research may help improve training programmes designed to teach anticipation skills to young tennis players. For example, it may be possible to highlight movements in training videos to help young tennis players anticipate their opponent more easily. This, in turn, will give them more time to move and play a well-executed shot in return.
DOWN-THE-LINE
CROSS COURT
Learning to anticipate an opponent’s next shot direction is a difficult skill. There are only milliseconds to spot very subtle differences contained in the movements of an opponent as they prepare and execute the shot. Importantly, accomplished tennis players can do this. If they did not, they would find it very difficult to play the modern game and cope with the speeds at which the tennis ball is struck. For example, in certain circumstances a serve and volley game would be impossible. To help train younger player to anticipate it is important to know, for instance, how a cross court or down the line forehand differ biomechanically. Next, it is important to know if accomplished tennis players can see these biomechanical differences in the fractionsof-a-second time-frame that they need to. These differences are very difficult to see with the unskilled eye and even more difficult to verbalise because the shot can start and finish in blink of an eye. Things can go on that we see but are not aware of. Therefore, scientific experimentation can help understand what is happening.
court and down-the-line shots and found that these two shots differed in both their range of motion and the pattern of the rotation of body segments. But we did not know if these were too small to be noticed by tennis players. So next we tested how well intermediate and low skill tennis players could anticipate when they watched tennis shots that either had range of motion differences or pattern of rotation differences added or removed from tennis shot simulations.
These results help understand how skilful anticipation in tennis takes place by identifying what types of movements are seen and ignored by players when determining tennis shot direction. Knowing how these movements effect players of different skill levels gives us an idea about what we need to train young tennis players to see. Training players to ignore a range of motion differences and see the subtle differences in the pattern of rotation may be a good place to start.
One way in which tennis forehand shots to different directions may differ is in their range of motion. Cross court shots may simply be a down-the-line shot that has a larger range of motion. That is, a cross court shot may just rotate more than a down-the-line shot. Alternatively, the timing of the body segments that are rotating in a cross court might give it a unique pattern that allows it to be distinguished from a down-the-line shot. First, we biomechanically analysed cross
Overall, results showed that only the pattern of rotation among body segments were important for anticipating shot direction in tennis. Furthermore, the range of motion differences between shots appeared to interfere with only the low skill players’ ability to determine the shot direction. It may be the case that these differences are involved in disguising shot direction to the low skill players, whereas the more skilled players are fooled less easily and can see through this when they anticipate.
Dr Smeeton has put a short video on YouTube where people can test their own anticipation skills against the stick man. * Smeeton, N. J. and Huys, R. Anticipation of tennis-shot direction from whole-body movement: The role of movement amplitude and dynamics. Human Movement Science (2010), doi:10.1016/j.humov.2010.07.012
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 11
LEAD FEATURE
OLYMPIC HOPEFULS GO FOR Sporting stars of the future are looking to conquer the world thanks to sports scholarships from the university. Many students have seen national funding for their sports cut so the scholarships provide vital money for equipment and travel. Faye, 31, says the sport is in its early days and she expects more people to join in the future as it gains popularity. “I will have to raise my game to retain my championship,” she says, adding that she also hopes that the sport will eventually gain Paralympic status. A decision on this will be made in December. Faye began her physiotherapy course in September and hopes eventually to work in the NHS as a physiotherapist. She is particularly interested in amputees and neural rehabilitation. She balances her studies with training, doing up to 15 hours a week before a competition and around 8–12 hours a week outside of competition times. Her favourite sports are swimming and cycling and she says she finds running “taxing”. She has never really considered her hand impairment as holding her back, although she admits to feeling a little self conscious about it as a child. “It has opened up lots of possibilities now, though,” she says. “I do not consider myself disabled. I’m very competitive and doing the paratriathlon has been incredible. I only wish I had discovered it earlier.”
Student Faye McClelland has only been competing in paratriathlon events for two years, but already she is a world, European and national champion. Faye, who was born without the fingers of her left hand, won the ITU Triathlon World Championship Grand Final in Budapest in September in category four which covers people with arm impairments. Earlier in the year she was named European champion in Ireland. She has only competed in the national championship series before and is national champion for 2009 and 2010.
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Faye, who is studying physiotherapy at the university, has been competing in regular triathlons and other sports events for several years. She did kickboxing as a teenager, has taken part in the London to Brighton bike ride and was a fitness instructor for several years. She says her disability mostly affects the swimming element of the triathlon because it limits her ability to pull herself through the water. She rides a normal bike, but it has dual access components to control the brakes and gears. She only started competing in the paratriathlon last year after returning from travelling and joining a triathlon club to get fit.
Weightlifter Halil Zorba says the sports scholarship he receives has provided essential funds for the equipment he needs to train, particularly after his other sources of funding were cut last year and the equipment he had on lease was taken away. He is balancing doing a masters degree in civil engineering and participation in the Excellence with Industry programme with Southern Water and, at the same time, attempting to qualify for next year’s world championships in his sport. He trains three days a week and his immediate focus is on the English championships in February. But his main goal, however, is the 2012 Olympics. As a Londoner, he is keen to compete. “It would be the icing on the cake, but I need to put the right ingredients in first to get there,” he said.
LEAD FEATURE
Far left: Faye McClelland Left: Halil Zorba Right: Guy Franklin
Guy Franklin is also hoping to be selected for the GB Olympics team in his sport, skeet clay pigeon shooting. It all depends on next year’s rankings. He says his sports scholarship money is vital since his sport no longer receives National Lottery funding. He plans to take a year off after finishing his foundation degree in agriculture at Plumpton College next summer so he can focus on his shooting. Guy has had a very successful sporting year. He started 2010 as Great Britains number one junior and was fifth in the seniors and goes into 2011 as Great Britain’s number one junior and number three senior. Kelly Randall and her twin sister Linda are both in the GB softball team and both in their second year of a Sports Science degree. They are focusing on the world championships in four years’ time since softball was recently removed from the Olympics. Kelly says having her twin in the same team helps. “We are very competitive so it helps me to improve having my sister on the team,” she said.
Stephanie Busbridge is also studying sports science and is a member of the GB junior dressage team. She started her degree this year and brought her horse Banner with her. He is stabled with her trainer about an hour from the university and she rides him three days a week. “I used to ride him every day, though, so I really miss him,” she said. She is focusing on qualifying for the national championships in April and said the sports scholarship had helped a lot with her training, travel and competition fees. ”Riding is an expensive sport,” she said.
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 13
LEAD FEATURE
OUR NEW ÂŁ7.6M SPORTS CENTRE AND THE
OLYMPIC CONNECTION BY SARAH HOGG, HEAD OF SPORT AND RECREATION
The newly-opened ÂŁ7.6m Sports Centre on the Falmer campus was designed by S&P Architects who are also involved in the design and build of the 2012 London Olympic Aquatic Centre. It truly is a fantastic facility, built in a fantastically short space of time. It was constructed by Leadbitter Construction, who were appointed to deliver the new facility in a challenging 36 weeks. Even though the country suffered the worst winter and snow in more than 30 years the centre was delivered only three weeks later than planned and it opened to its first users at the end of October. The building has many environmental features such as a green roof, solar-powered heating, and rainwater harvesting which has resulted in it being awarded a BREAM Excellence rating. With its multi-coloured Trespa panel covering on the sports hall and the bright film on the fitness room windows the new centre makes a bold statement. Facilities include a 500m2 m main fitness suite equipped with more than 80 stations of Life Fitness machines. Life Fitness has installed an Elevation Engage series cardio-vascular range which includes recumbent bikes and treadmills, cross trainers, steppers, plus and its Hammer Strength and Signature Series strength and conditioning, and resistance machine equipment. The equipment comes with integrated screens which are multi-functional media stations allowing the viewing of Freeview tv, the selection of an interactive virtual trainer with specific programme and challenges to follow, and an ipod docking station. There is also a six-court sports hall, two 180m2 activity studios, a seminar room, vending area and a synthetic pitch, along with a netball centre and outdoor pitches. The centre provides access to state-of-the-art training facilities for the School of Education primary teacher training course, and senior
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lecturers Jackie Hannay and Nigel Cook have already praised the venue as one that offers an expanded range of physical education opportunities to the students. Every evening, the centre is full of students taking part in the multitude of student sports clubs and the new facilities have already resulted in a massive increase in club memberships and the creation of completely new clubs, some of whom are already entering national student sport competitions. For those who prefer more fun or individual activities there is a range of classes both at lunchtime and in the early evenings and an ever-expanding programme of Parklife recreational sports, some of which cater specifically for staff. Membership prices to the fitness facility for students and staff are highly competitive compared to many other local providers and all who join undertake an induction and are offered the opportunity for a fitness consultation. There is also opportunity for staff and student partners to take advantage of the associate rate membership although parking restrictions on site will mean that only those with a valid permit will be able to park before 3pm. However, the campus is very well served by public transport and there will be ample covered bike racks adjacent to the facility. The centre is already in demand from external organisations and a number of outside clubs have moved to be based there. These clubs are open to all and this is increasing opportunities and allowing further benefit for the university community. The centre has already hosted a number of external training events and meetings, and Brighton College are bringing pupils to the centre to increase the range of activities they offer their
students. This growth in commercial activity has a direct impact on income generation and allows the department to meet budget targets and to reinvest in sport on all sites. This is a tremendous asset for the university and the investment will support student and staff recruitment and retention and will, hopefully, encourage more of the university community to make physical activity a part of daily life.
LEAD FEATURE
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 15
RESEARCH FEATURE
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RESEARCH FEATURE
YOU WEAR IT WELL BRINGING SUSTAINABILITY TO THE WORLD OF SPORTS DESIGN
A University of Brighton course leader has been asked to advise sports lifestyle giant PUMA on sustainable design. Dr Jonathan Chapman, who leads the Sustainable Design MA, was recommended to PUMA as they were looking for someone who could bring an engaging and forward-thinking approach to achieving greater sustainability through design. The firm has committed itself to a huge reduction in its material use and their designers needed some guidance on how to convert these plans into practical action. The firm’s head of design Bernd Kellar contacted him and invited him to attend a global design camp at PUMA’s head office in Germany over the summer. Dr Chapman, whose research explores new routes to waste reduction through designing for sustainable behaviour, told the firm’s designers that they needed to develop design strategies that lead to the creation of products that people feel greater emotional connection to, and which they would want to keep for longer. He says PUMA is keen to sell itself as being sustainable and this will give it an edge over its rivals. “Sports companies have in the past focused on performance and style. PUMA aims to become the most sustainable and desirable sports lifestyle brand. It’s an exciting value shift
and it’s about educating the public as well as the company’s designers. It could mark the early stages of a real culture shift,” said Dr Chapman. He admitted that convincing a commercial company to get people to buy products they wanted to keep rather than ones they had to keep replacing was a hard sell, but said PUMA was tackling this by looking at designing products they could buy additional parts for, and upgrade and repair. In the past Dr Chapman has worked with the Science Museum and gave a presentation on his research to the House of Lords, but this is the first time he has worked with a major global company. He aims to continue the relationship with PUMA and is currently developing next steps with them, in the form of collaborative projects, including discussions around a university-wide competition whereby students from different disciplines would be asked to come up with sustainable approaches to everything from PUMA’s branding to the materials it uses. The prizes would be internships with the company. “It’s a reciprocal relationship,” he said. “It’s a myth that academics have all the answers. We learn a lot from working with industry.”
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 17
RESEARCH BRIEFING
IN THE FIRING LINE Professor Peter Squires, professor of criminology and public policy in the School of Applied Social Science, found himself in newspapers, on Radio 4 and on the BBC Breakfast couch, talking about guns. As one of the UK’s leading experts on firearms control, he was in great demand after giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the Cumbria shootings which left 12 people dead and 11 injured. Here, he describes his experience of being in the public eye. The Home Affairs Select Committee announced its intention to conduct a review of current UK firearms laws and in the wake of the shooting rampage perpetrated by Derrick Bird in Cumbria on 2 June this year. Bird killed 12 people and wounded 11 before shooting himself. The Select Committee issued a call for evidence and I duly submitted some written evidence around the end of July. Subsequently, I was invited to give oral evidence and to answer questions from the committee members. Bird’s killing spree was the third such event Britain has experienced – following a similar event in Hungerford 1987, and the murder of 16 five-year-old school children in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996. All three atrocities have been perpetrated by legal gun owners with licensed weapons and, in the aftermath of each, attention has duly focused upon the firearm licensing process. However, this is not the end of the story. Britain undoubtedly also has a problem of urban gun crime, associated with semi-
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organised criminal groups, gangs and drug-dealing and, each time the question of gun safety arises, the British shooting lobbies – the Countryside Alliance, Gun Trade Association, British Association for Shooting and Conservation – make the argument that Britain’s real gun problem, notwithstanding the odd rampage every decade, is not firearm misuse by a largely law abiding and responsible shooting fraternity but urban street gangs and the like. This is not entirely true and my evidence was intended to convey this. I tried to pitch my intervention at three levels: (i) Providing evidence – there is evidence of a significant pattern of legal firearm misuse in domestic homicide. Around 14 per cent of firearm killings are perpetrated with legal weapons – these are mainly domestic killings (where the victim is usually a female member of the gun-holders family) or murder/suicides. These events are fairly rare, but there are patterns. In about one in three domestic firearm killings the weapon is licensed, in other words, legal – this rises to 70 per cent where the weapon used in domestic abuse
is a shotgun. I asked if it was sensible, in the light of all this, for guns and ammunition to be stored in private homes where they appeared the least secure and most available for misuse. (ii) What I called horizon scanning – looking for the next issues coming along. In my evidence I talked about the massive shift in the UK illegal firearm inventory which had not been anticipated in the 1980s but which had significantly altered the nature of our urban gun crime problems – around half of UK crime guns are now conversions, air-weapons or imitations. This is fuelling the fear, as it were, and I have survey data from a 4,000-person opinion poll that shows 16 per cent of people thinking they’d be safer if they could keep a gun at home. (iii) Asking the questions that no one else is posing – every time the question is asked, the usual lobbies present their usual cases – vested interests abound. So I was arguing for better data, better collaboration between law enforcement intelligence and the academic
RESEARCH BRIEFING
and scientific communities to address these gun control questions more proactively and In the wider creatively and contexts not justofrelying globalon climate inadequate change, a worldcrime police population data. of nine billion and growing, competing food production systems and dietrelated And finally‌. public health concerns, are there new concepts As I sat giving for urban the evidence, and rural Iplanning was verycapable of supporting conscious of the sustainable membersand of the equitable British food systems?lobbies sat behind me, scowling shooting and disagreeing whenever I said anything that The Second impinged on European their turf. Sustainable Food Planning Conference, run by the Association of European They are keen Schools that weofconfine Planning all (AESOP), discussion aims of guntocontrol promote in the cross-disciplinary UK to illegal weapons discussions between and public active criminal researchers misuse. But and itpractitioners is not like in response that and, forto me, thisthe question, key to this andissue, to address while related issues recognising that which Britain emerged does already from the have first conference a tough, though last year admittedly in Almere, complex Netherlands. and patchwork, compendium of gun laws and, internationally, one of the lowest gun crime rates in the developed world (we do want to keep it that way) is to understand that our gun problems are the result of many factors, and that guns slip into illegality and misuse by many routes.
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 19
IN CONVERSATION
WHY I BECAME...
From the pop charts to the laboratory Twenty years after topping the charts with acid house music, Cressida Bowyer has swapped guitars for microscopes and is now researching new ways to fight cancer. It’s been a major change of careers for Cressida, who sang backing vocals with the London band KLF on hits including Justified and Ancient, which reached number one in 18 countries and the top-ten UK hit Last Train to Trancentral. The ex-wife of KLF’s co-founder and artist Jimmy Cauty, is coming to the end of her PhD studies at the university’s School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, where she has undertaken groundbreaking research into liver cancer. She is working on more effective ways to deliver life-saving chemotherapy in beads inserted directly into the liver and which carry the drugs direct to tumours. In September this year, she presented her work at the International Liver Cancer Association conference in Montreal, Canada. Scientists have discovered that oxygendeficient (hypoxic) cancer cells are resistant to traditional forms of chemotherapy and radiation. Cressida has developed a model of hypoxic liver cancer which mimics the problem in the laboratory and allows for experimentation to find the most effective drugs or combinations of drugs to destroy the tumours. Her research is funded through an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council CASE studentship in collaboration with Biocompatibles UK Ltd. Cressida, who lives in Hove with her children, said her work was fulfilling a dream from her youth. She said: “I always loved science at school and wanted to pursue it as a career – but I found myself being seduced by punk rock.” She left school at 16 and a year later she met Jimmy Cauty in London. Their relationship lasted more than 20 years, 16 of them in a squat in Lambeth where the K Foundation was established to “subvert the art world”. It staged alternative art awards for the worst artists and burned £1 million in cash on a Scottish island. KLF, also known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and The Timelords, were one of the original bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Cressida later co-handled the vocals for Disco 2000 which released singles on the KLF Communications label.
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Cressida took on organisational and design roles for KLF Communications recording studios, but the call of science was never far away. After splitting with Jimmy, Cressida and their children moved to Hove and she found herself drawn once more to science. She took A-levels and then a biological sciences degree at the university before starting her PhD studies four years ago. Cressida said: “I probably would have gone on to university and to have studied science when I was younger had it not been for the lure of punk rock. I never envisaged being a student again at this stage of my life but I do really enjoy it and especially the work I’m doing. “There’s no prospect of a band reunion and I certainly don’t have any ambitions to go back to that life”.
IN CONVERSATION
Roman Forger A Roman coin discovered by a cleaner was struck at the time of Christ by a “Del Boy” forger who couldn’t spell and didn’t know one emperor from another. Experts at the British Museum say the coin is a mystery because it is made from solid silver and probably cost the forger as much to make as he received in profit. The British Museum has never seen anything quite like it and its rarity has pushed up its value from £100 for a genuine coin to at least £3,000, money he now intends using to finance his plans to study the Romans. The silver denarius, an average day’s pay for a Roman worker, is based on coins struck to commemorate the Battle of Actium between Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC. But the forger got most of his inscriptions wrong. He crafted his denarius some years after the battle but had a poor memory of what the real coin looked like. On one side is a crocodile but it is facing the wrong way. On the other side is the head of Emperor Caesar when it should have been Augustus. And he misspelled Egypt – he had Aegipto instead of the common spelling of the time, Aegypto or Aegvpto. Cleaner Rob Clements, discovered the coin lying two inches beneath the surface on a grass path in open ground on the outskirts of Brighton, only a few months after buying his first metal detector. An examination using the university’s new electron microscope, the most advanced in the south-east, showed the coin’s content was solid silver. Rob registered the find with Laura Burnett, finds liaison officer for Sussex, who sent photos of the coin to the British Museum. Sam Moorhead, national finds adviser for ancient coins at the British Museum, said the poor spelling “suggests the die cutter is not fully literate” and he said he was baffled why the forger bothered in the first place. He said: “Interpreting the coin is difficult. Were it a (silver) plated piece, then it would have been explicable as an attempt to create a coin for profit by using a smaller amount of silver. “However, why would someone create a fantasy piece like this in the ancient period from solid silver? As such, the coin is a mystery.”
Rob, meanwhile, said: “I never thought I’d find anything so interesting and valuable – and so soon after getting a detector. I would have been thrilled finding a genuine coin but this fake could mean a big difference to my life. I’ve always loved history but never bothered much at school. Now I’m seriously looking into the idea of selling the coin and putting it towards
a degree here at the university. I hope to study more about the Romans – it’s fascinating that there were forgers at the time, some, it seems, who were not very bright. I’ve always been a fan of Only Fools and Horses and it’s amazing that I’ve connected with a Del Boy who lived 2,000 years ago.”
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 21
ON CAMPUS
SMILING SUCCESS
Olympic medallist Kate Allenby gave a tip to future would-be athletes – “keep smiling”. Kate, who competed in two Olympic games and collected a bronze medal at Sydney 2000, was offering advice at Fuelling the Flame, a question-time event hosted by the university’s Chelsea School in Eastbourne. The school is holding a series of such events in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics. Kate, who retired from competition in 2004, now sits on the British Olympic Association and runs a modern pentathlon club. She graduated from the school in 1995 with a sports science degree. The pentathlete was among a panel of sporting experts, chaired by head of Chelsea School, Professor Jo Doust. They fielded questions from an audience of alumni, staff, students and friends of Chelsea School. Kate, who received an MBE for services to sport in 2008, had a simple piece of advice for any budding athletes. “All I could say is to enjoy yourself and keep a smile on your face.” Also on the panel was Darren Kenny OBE, who has won six gold medals at Paralympic games and was awarded an OBE in 2009. He received an honorary degree from the University of Brighton earlier this year.
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Left to right: Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport Dr Stephen Ingham, former student and Olympic hockey umpire Dr Gillian Clarke MBE, Kate Allenby MBE, Darren Kenny’s coach and a senior lecturer Dr Gary Brickley, Head of school Professor Jo Doust, Darren Kenny OBE
ON CAMPUS
CHELSEA RE-UNITED
More than 80 alumni, friends and former staff joined the first-ever Chelsea School reunion and saw for themselves how things had progressed since their student days. They returned to Hillbrow and Welkin buildings in Eastbourne on 13 November – some for the first time in nearly 40 years – and were welcomed with an action-packed day, organised by staff. Sam Davies, director of Devlopment and Alumni, said: “They could take part in a range of workshops or watch displays. Mountain biking, kinball and trampolining were just some of the ‘join in’ options, with impressive displays of dance, gymnastics and triathlete training available to watch.” Attendees were welcomed by Professor Julian Crampton, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, who thanked the alumni for returning to Chelsea and complimented them on preserving the Chelsea spirit. Professor Jo Doust, head of school, gave a talking tour of the 112 years of Chelsea. The afternoon saw more active participation in the workshops, joining campus tours or catching up with friends and staff over coffee in Sprinters.
“Fuelling the Flame provided an aspirational finale, showcasing some of the high calibre alumni, friends and staff of the school. As our guests left, one message was clear – let’s do it again. We now expect another alumni reunion will be organised for 2012, with the date to be fixed as soon as possible.”
Sarah Grant, alumni engagement manager, jointly organised the reunion with Fiona Smith, principal lecturer at Chelsea. She said: “If the volume of laughter and conversation was anything to go by, it was clearly a successful and enjoyable event. The energy and affinity of our Chelsea alumni was infectious – it was easy to see why they value the Chelsea heritage so highly.
Mrs Liz Reynolds (née Bollam), from the same class and year, said: “The displays were excellent – we saw the dance and gym displays and were very impressed with the standard of work being shown. Fuelling the Flame was a brilliant end to the day and gave us an insight into what happens during the run up to and the Olympics themselves.”
Photograph: Staff and attendees at the Chelsea school reunion.
Alumni gave their seal of approval. Dr Margaret Sills (née Jennings-White), Physical Education class of 1972, said: “It was great to feel so welcomed and to see some familiar buildings surviving, but also the developments that show how Chelsea is adapting and thriving as part of the University of Brighton.”
November | December 2010 Channel Magazine 23
Events PUBLIC EVENT Burning the clocks parade Date Venue Time
Left: Inaugural lecture poster for Professor Steven Miles.
Tuesday 21 December Central Brighton 6pm 6pm
PUBLIC EVENT Social Science Forum: Dr Kanwald Mand Wednesday 5 January Room A50, Checkland Building, Falmer 1pm
INAUGURAL LECTURE Professor Steven Miles Purchasing the post modern self? Place, space and the art of consumption Date Venue Time
Thursday 13 January Sallis Benney Theatre 6.30pm
PUBLIC EVENT Social Science Forum: Dr Sharon Lockyer Date Venue Time
Wednesday 19 January Room A50, Checkland Building, Falmer 1pm
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Inaugural lecture
Purchasing the post-modern self? Place, space and the art of consumption Steven Miles Professor of Urban Culture Thursday 13 January 2011 at 6.30pm Sallis Benney Theatre University of Brighton Grand Parade Brighton BN2 0YJ
All are welcome – if you would like to attend please email events@brighton.ac.uk or book online at http://www.brighton.ac.uk/news/events
Image copyright : Fergus Heron. The Village, Westfield, London 2009
Date Venue Time