Connect Spring 2015

CONNECT Spring 2015

Cumbrian students quiz top BBC executive University professor begins secondment to UN Students win inaugural Prince of Wales Forest Leadership Awards University wins NEON Award for widening access to higher education

STAFF

CONTENTS/SPRING 2015 ISSUE 04 05 05 06 07 07

University professor begins secondment to UN Sue’s invitation to Westminster reception Margaret addresses student welfare seminar Lecturer’s book examines debt culture Staff profile/Frances McDarby Congratulations

STUDENTS

08 09 10 11 12 14 16 17

OBE award Students win inaugural Prince of Wales Forest Leadership Awards Amie’s Ethiopian challenge Student introduces successful children’s sport camps to Lancaster Linda Rader Overman achieves her PhD from ‘merry ole England’ A poignant visit to Ypres for trainee primary teachers Ingenious students establish midwifery society Laxcha finds success in Kathmandu

UNIVERSITY

18 19 20 22 24 25 26

27 28

University cuts emissions to win sustainability award Final business masterclass University and Chamber win second entrepreneur award University invests £1.2m in high-spec lab and new STEM courses Cumbrian students quiz top BBC executive Chancellor delivers annual chaplaincy lecture University wins NEON Award for widening access to higher education Twinning arrangement with Burundi Student law conference held at Fusehill Street campus

research

04

32

Research round-up

10

19

27

If you would like to contribute to the next issue of Connect, please contact a member of the communications team:

lynn.clark@cumbria.ac.uk julie.ratcliffe@cumbria.ac.uk fiona.hughes@cumbria.ac.uk frances.mcdarby@cumbria.ac.uk The copy deadline for the next issue of Connect is 15 May

3

FOREWORD

By now many of you will have had an opportunity to attend one of the spring term staff forums, at which we discussed some of the university growth and budget challenges that will face us over the coming months. Issues including the removal of the cap on student numbers; School Direct and the effect on our fees; increased pay awards and rising pension and NI costs, all have a bearing on how we plan for a stable future.

However, with a general election on the horizon, planning becomes even more problematical as the HE environment is yet more unpredictable than usual. And with the Labour party currently proposing a drop in tuition fees from £9000 to £6000, what sounds like good news for the students may leave universities short of £3000 per student per year.

If the Labour party succeeds in forming a government, HEIs will therefore be facing many unknowns: will the extra portion be fully covered from the Exchequer, and for what period? Any cuts to funds paid to universities would inevitably lead to long term damage to the economy, a declining quality of student education, and crucially a detrimental effect on widening access to higher education.

More optimistically, if the treasury component is agreed and at the same time inflation-linked, this would prove a distinct bonus for our planning. The £9K fees have been fixed for three years now, against a background of steadily rising costs, and seem currently to be an immovable object, with no indication of any increase in the near future. To address the resulting static core income, the Russell group universities have long argued for fees to be increased to more than £9000, so a drop by a new government to £6000 would clearly not meet their aspirations.

In spite of the unknowns, planning must continue—it cannot simply be put on hold until Friday 8 May—but the smart move now is to ensure we build in sufficient flexibility to deal with the election results, whatever they may bring.

Our current exploration of structures and processes will also help to deliver tractability with which we can tackle whatever comes our way, and integral to those preparations are the ideas and suggestions that come from our loyal and committed staff. We started informally with the ‘post-it note exercise’ that took place at the autumn staff forums, and now we have launched a new staff suggestion scheme, which will in future offer a simple repository for any suggestions for improvement, ensuring they are examined for potential by the right people.

I am always mindful that it is through working together that we have brought the university so far since its inception, and I am therefore confident that with a similar, combined and determined approach we will ensure our institution has a sustainable and prosperous future.

I wish you the best of success for the remainder of the academic year.

Professor Peter Strike Vice Chancellor

4

Our Staff

get involved Tell us about your achievements ...

University professor begins secondment to UN The university’s Professor of Sustainability Leadership, Dr Jem Bendell, headed to Geneva in early February to start a three-month secondment to the United Nations.

This UN-led initiative brings together over 50 stock exchanges, including NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange, to learn how to enable more responsible investment in publically listed companies.

Author of the recent book Healing Capitalism, Jem explains “The UN has an important role to play in convening organisations to reshape the global economy for more fair and sustainable outcomes. I’m pleased I can provide some research input for such efforts.”

Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), explains that the initiative aims to address how, “At present, financial markets are not hard-wired to drive capital towards sustainable business and achievement of the sustainable development goals. This can and should change.”

The coordinator of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative, Dr Anthony Miller is co-chair of the IFLAS Advisory Board, and IFLAS promotes sustainable finance through its free online course on Money and Society, and its new MBA in Finance and Sustainability.

Jem is director of the university’s Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS), based at the Ambleside campus.

Above: Professor Jem Bendell

5

SUE’S INVITATION TO WESTMINSTER RECEPTION Senior Lecturer Sue Temple attended an evening reception at the House of Lords at the beginning of February.

The reception was to launch the Historical Association’s Quality Mark, which is an award to recognise excellence in the teaching of history in primary and secondary schools. The event was hosted

by Lord Peter Hennessey in conjunction with the Historical Association. Also in attendance were Lord Howe, Al Murray, Lady Antonia Fraser, Baroness Williams, Lord Trimble and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Sue is an assessor for this award and presented the first ‘Gold’ to Knowsley Junior School in Oldham at the end of last term. She is also on the Historical Association Primary Committee and the editorial team for their Primary History Journal which is published three times a year.

Above: Sue Temple at the House of Lords

MARGARET ADDRESSES STUDENT WELFARE SEMINAR Head of Library and Student Services Margaret Weaver was invited to address the ‘Westminster Higher Education Forum Keynote Seminar: Tackling student welfare issues and improving student retention’ in London on 5 March Delegates at the seminar discussed ways that universities can tackle student non-continuation rates, focusing particularly on tackling welfare issues. The seminar followed the release of the HEFCE and OFFA joint National Strategy for Access and Student Success which called for universities to increase their focus on retention.

Margaret’s address was entitled: ‘Effective student support service: best practice for improving retention and tackling common causes for student dropouts’, in which Margaret gave her views about the problems faced by students today, and how successful student support services tackle these issues. Overall, sessions looked at: • Common student housing problems including: quality, cost and solving disputes; • The financial pressures that students face such as suitability of current student maintenance grants and loans, students’ financial literacy and achieving a study-work balance; and • Student well being issues – including mental health, drug and alcohol abuse and crime

Above: Margaret Weaver

The keynote speaker was Les Ebdon CBE DL, former vice chancellor of the University of Befordshire and currently director of the Office for Fair Access.

6

Lecturer’s book examines debt culture Based at the Fusehill Street campus, Dr Mark Horsley joined the university in January 2015 as a lecturer in criminology, after transferring from the University of the West of England in Bristol.

Mark grew up near Carlisle but left for the north-east in 2003 to study for an undergraduate degree in criminology, later completing a taught postgraduate degree in 2007 and, most recently, a PhD in sociology. His academic interests focus on criminological and sociological theory as they apply to real world problems. He has previously conducted research on consumer debt cultures and associated forms of criminality.

In March, his book The Dark Side of Prosperity: Late Capitalism’s Culture of Indebtedness will be published. A rich and original qualitative study of the close relationship between financial capitalism, consumer aspirations, social exclusion and the proliferation of personal indebtedness, The Dark Side of Prosperity examines questions of social identity, subjectivity and consumer motivation in close connection with the sociocultural ideals of an ‘enjoyment society’.

Critically engaging with the work of Giddens, Beck and Bauman, this volume draws on the thought of contemporary philosophers including Žižek, Badiou and Rancière to consider the possibility that the expansion of outstanding consumer credit, despite its many consequences, may be integral to the construction of social identity in a radically indeterminate and increasingly divided society.

In a pre-publication review, Professor Simon Winlow of Teeside University says: “In The Dark Side of Prosperity, Mark Horsley offers a detailed theoretical and empirical analysis of the debt industry and the lives of those who suffer under the burden of consumer debt. The book is written in a lively, imaginative and accessible style and yet still manages to remain theoretically rigorous. This is an outstanding contribution, and it is destined to become the standard text against which all other sociological accounts of the debt industry will be measured.”

“A rich and original qualitative study of the close relationship between financial capitalism, consumer aspirations, social exclusion and the proliferation of personal indebtedness.”

For further information about Mark’s book, click here

7

STAFF PROFILE/FRANCES MCDARBY Describe your job.

My job is to promote the university by placing positive news stories about the organisation and its achievements in the media. I also protect its reputation by minimising the impact of negative news stories. What’s great it is that I get to work with a wide variety of people right across the university as my job has the capability to cross departmental and faculty divides.

Frances with husband Luke and son Jude

Your job title, how did you end up at the University of Cumbria and when did you start?

My job title is communications officer and my family and I relocated to Cumbria from London in 2012 while I was on maternity leave. I worked for my old employer - The National Archives - remotely for a year before getting a job in the communications team here in October 2014.

What brightens your day at work?

My team, of course! But other than that I love nothing more than to use my lunch break to go to the gym to counteract the seven hours of sitting I do each day!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I have a two and a half year old boy—I don’t have any spare time! When I can squeeze it in (early mornings and lunch times) I like going to the gym to lift weights and I’m doing Gelt Gladiator in May so I’ve started training in earnest for that.

Name your ideal dinner party guest and why Grayson Perry. I love the complexity of his art work and think he’d be very entertaining!

Name your favourite book and why I loved reading His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman – the story gripped me immediately and transported me off into this alternative reality.

Name your favourite film and why This is a hard question as it can depend what mood I’m in and I tend to prefer TV box sets nowadays, but if I was to choose one I’d say Some Like It Hot just because it’s light-hearted and leaves you with a rosy after-glow.

And finally, your favourite or dream holiday destination and why!

My favourite holiday destination is somewhere sunny, remote and completely unlike Cumbria in winter - either the South of France or the Maldives.

CONGRATULATIONS! Dr Jae-Llane Khoo Energus based CACHET research fellow Dr Jae-Llane Khoo became Mrs Ditchburn on 13 December when she married Paul at St. John’s Church in Waberthwaite, Millom. Paul and Jae-Llane held their reception at the Pennington, Ravenglass and went to Penang, Malaysia after the wedding.

Elliot Joseph Beverley Owen, a health admissions administrator in External Relations, based at the Lancaster campus, became a grandmother for the third time when her eldest daughter Nicola gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on 17 February 2015, a month early! In spite of his early arrival, Elliot weighed a healthy 6lbs 8oz and, along with his mum, is doing very well.

8

Our Students

get involved Tell us about your students’ achievements ...

OBE award PhD student Julie Staun declared herself “honoured, and absolutely delighted to receive such a level of recognition from my homeland” when she learned that she’d been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List. “It is also a humbling experience” she added.

Born in Norwich, she first qualified as a registered nurse in the UK and later in Denmark. Before entering the field of occupational health, Julie worked as a specialist nurse anæthetist in the Danish Health Service, studied literature at the University of Copenhagen and worked as a translator and language teacher.

She was initially employed as an occupational health advisor at the Occupational Health Centre, Northern Zealand, Denmark, providing services for 700 companies and organisations. From 1987 until retiring in 2009 Julie held a number of posts including that of manager of the in-house occupational health services of a Danish international company specialising in the research, development and manufacture of chemical catalysts.

Over a period of 15 years she has been both vice president and president of the Federation of Occupational Health Nurses within the European Union (FOHNEU), and sits on a number of occupational health sector committees. Julie is an independent work environment consultant in Denmark and currently a part-time PhD student at the university. The subject area of her research is the health behaviour of industrial workers.

As well as her OBE, she holds four national awards in Denmark in recognition of contributions to occupational health. Julie comments: “I hope that this award will bring much needed attention to the importance of occupational health care thereby promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of the global workforce, and particularly within the Member States of the European Union, which has been the primary focus of my work.”

9

Left to right: David Johnes, Keira Todd and Head of Department SNROS, Dr Elspeth Lees

Students win Inaugural Prince of Wales Forest Leadership Awards Two of our National School of Forestry students have been selected as the first recipients of The Prince of Wales Forest Leadership Award.

Both in the final year of BSc (Hons) Forest and Woodland Management, Keira Tedd and David Johnes beat off stiff competition from UK applicants to pick up the national awards, while students from the University of Toronto, and the University of Alberta, were selected as the two Canadian winners.

Endorsed by HRH The Prince of Wales, and delivered in partnership by the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF), the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF-IFC), and the Duchy of Cornwall, the award recognises young forestry professionals in Canada and the United Kingdom who possess a dedication to sustainable forestry and the skills and aptitude to become our future forest leaders.

Keira and David, along with their Canadian counterparts, will participate in an international exchange experience during the summer of 2015, taking up work placements in their alternative countries. They will be placed in roles at some of the top forestry and natural resources management employers in Canada and the UK, in addition to receiving a £6000 bursary.

ICF’s Deputy Director Russell Horsey, praised the award winners, saying; “ICF congratulates all recipients of The Prince of Wales Forest Leadership Award. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our future leaders in the fields of forestry and urban forestry to broaden their knowledge and make great contacts among their UK and Canadian counterparts. We look forward to welcoming the Canadian winners to the UK, and hope that it is an invaluable learning experience in both countries.”

Geraint Richards, the Duchy of Cornwall’s head forester, commented; “I am delighted by the considerable interest that there has been in this new award, as highlighted by the calibre of the young people applying. The award will further forge our relationship with the Canadian Institute of Forestry. I wish Keira and David every success and I look forward to hearing about their wonderful experiences.”

Head of Department Dr Elspeth Lees said, “As head of school I am enormously proud of Keira and David’s achievement—they will be among the first cohort to graduate from the National School of Forestry following our move from Penrith to the Ambleside campus in the heart of the Lake District National Park —there is nothing more rewarding than seeing students excel in their chosen field of study.”

10

Amie’S Ethiopian challenge Primary education student Amie Hughes is passionate about becoming a teacher, but it is her passion for running that led to her taking off for Ethiopia in November last year.

Right (above): Amie (middle) with fellow runners

and current GMR champion, Kenenisa Bekele at the Yaya Village complex.

Right: The Great Ethiopian Run

“The race itself wasn’t organised like those over here, with placings and times. It was simply a freefor-all run with over 40,000 participants wearing the same t-shirt. Three team mates and I ran it in quite an interesting way: it was so busy we couldn’t run it properly, and we were also unfamiliar with the surroundings, so we stuck together and held hands for the whole 10k, just enjoying the atmosphere. It was the biggest road race in Africa and the biggest street party I have seen!

Alongside her studies, Amie works part-time in a bar/restaurant, but she still finds time to train with her local running club, the Stockport Harriers, and it was through the club that Amie achieved the opportunity to take part in the Great Ethiopian Run, a 10k event which is the biggest of its kind in Africa.

Amie explains: “I won this chance by completing the Manchester 10k alongside other athletes from my running club.

Having produced the best club performance at the Bupa Great Manchester Run in May, Stockport Harriers joined five other clubs who had won their own regional ‘Great Run’ events in a draw for the trip of a lifetime. On 19 November the seven quickest men and women who completed the race set off to East Africa, via London and Rome, to train with long-distance legend, Haile Gebrselassie,

“Not only did this trip allow me to experience a different way of training—it was really hard to run 8000ft above sea level at such high altitude —it opened my eyes to the African culture and their way of life. It was unbelievable to see the difference in how they live and especially the way the schools and education system work out there.

This experience really made me appreciate the richness of life and has inspired me to go back to such a place at some point in the future and work with schools directly.”

Amie is currently in the third year of her four-year degree and has one summer left before qualifying and taking up her first teaching post. Obviously not one for sitting around, she plans to spend it in America working at a children’s summer camp for up to 11 weeks.

11

Student introduces successful children’s sport camps to Lancaster An enterprising student who opened a series of children’s sports camps in Carlisle has expanded his successful concept to Lancaster.

Edd Snoxell, 22, received funding from the university and UnLtd to launch his own social enterprise of children’s sports camps called ‘MultiSports.co.uk’ in 2013.

Edd Snoxell

The sport camps are for children aged five to 13 to inspire them to get them into physical activity outside school, and, up until now, have been hosted in various locations around Carlisle.

Now, Edd, who is studying for his PGCE in Secondary Physical Education through the School Direct programme, launched his children’s sports camp in Lancaster at the university’s sports complex at the Bowerham Road campus.

Edd said, “I’m so excited to be bringing MultiSports to Lancaster. We want to build on our success in Carlisle and bring Lancaster children a unique sporting experience. The equipment and facilities are really great and we’ll be able to offer an amazing range of sports and opportunities.”

As well as providing traditional sports, the camps offer children the opportunity to try new sports.

The ‘ExploreSport’ scheme allows children to explore a sport they may not have access to outside school. In the past, activities such as table tennis, trampolining and boxercise have been offered, often at the suggestion of the children themselves.

Two camps will run, one at Easter and another in May. They will be run during school hours and all children need to bring with them is a packed lunch and water. As with the Carlisle camps, Edd has enlisted the help of other expert coaches who are also studying at the university.

Edd continues, “Children can explore regular sports, such as tennis, gymnastics and cricket but if a child is interested in trying something different we can tailor sessions to their needs. First and foremost it’s all about having fun!”

Julia Briggs, sports complex manager at Lancaster said, “I am delighted that we’ll be able to offer these holiday sports camps in Lancaster too.

Edd and his team brim with enthusiasm and always deliver entertaining sessions in a safe and professional manner”.

Table tennis will be the ‘ExploreSport’ at the first Lancaster camp and Edd has brought in a specialist coach to provide expert tuition.

THE CAMPS COST £30 FOR TWO DAYS AND CAN BE BOOKED ONLINE AT: www.multi-sports. co.uk/book.html

Originally from Peterborough, Edd has over eight years’ experience working with children and has a number of sporting qualifications ranging from gymnastics to Boccia.**

** Boccia is a Paralympic sport for athletes with disabilities. It is a target ball sport belonging to the same family as petanque and bowls.

12

Linda Rader Overman achieves her PhD from ‘merry ole England’ “In 2008 I heard about a programme in the UK, in Lancaster, that offered a PhD in Creative Writing. “England”, I thought, “how wonderful.”

“The point was I thought, Wow . . . all I have to do is write a novel for a PhD? Well why not give it a go. After all USC’s (California State University) Creative Writing programme was way beyond our budget with two children in private elementary school at the time. So I discussed applying to the University of Cumbria at Lancaster with a colleague who was already in the programme and after a long chat over coffee with her, I thought—apply and see what happens. I liked the idea of travelling to the UK to attend the required three years minimum of summer school. I would be paired with a lead supervisor and two other instructors who would guide me along the UK approach to a postgraduate academic journey.

“Surprise, surprise, I was accepted. Now what?! Well, I found out that first year I attended summer school. July in England is rainy one minute, warm another, cool another, damp another, and hot another, depending. Layers I was told, dress in layers. One minute my jacket was on, another it was off, my umbrella (called a brolly for short) was open, and then it was closed—the weather was schizophrenic. So was my state of mind as I sat in class with students who were all postgraduates, but not necessarily studying in my discipline. At my first set of classes, all six hours’ worth with a lunch break in between and tea time breaks, I discovered I was the only creative writing major among a preponderance of forestry and outdoors, health and social care, science and engineering, and other non-related to humanities majors.

“One of the biggest shocks for me was how we were truly indeed separated by a common language. In American we call a PhD written artifact a dissertation. In the UK a undergraduate degree student generates a dissertation. This sounds basic, but when I shopped at Marks & Spencer looking for the bananas, I was repeatedly asked, “Sorry?” Then I realized no one understood me so I had to adjust my pronunciation to “Where are the ‘baahnaahnaahs’. After some minor linguistic adjustments, I had no problem being understood.

“This was, of course, minor to the hours of supervision I received from the very giving supervisors I was assigned to meet with one-on-one for a total of eight hours over the two gruelling summer school weeks. Not to mention the hours of writing late into the night, and drinking tea and wine in our flats with my newfound UK flat-mates, and wearing earplugs to void the noise from high strung teens from Italy boosting their English and hard partying skills. After summer school, I was to follow up online with my supervisors over the rest of the year providing drafts of my thesis for their perusal until the subsequent summer school.

I found that I had to create a rather long critical/theoretical section tantamount to dispositioning my novel in the canon of literature along with the novel itself. I had to work for this degree! Here I thought I was signing on to travel and write at my leisure (pronounced le-zher, not lee-zher).

“After six years of feeling like I was Sisyphus rolling an odd shaped large academic boulder up Mount Everest, I finally reached my goal. I landed on the top of that educational precipice and proudly planted my rhetorical flag announcing my research and my novel. Winded, exhausted, in shock and relieved, I screamed to myself, “I did it mom and dad and I hope you can hear me up in heaven.” Of course I assumed they were listening and smiling back at me. My husband and children couldn’t help but hear my cry of victory.

When my name was called to walk across the stage at Lancaster University, the awarding institution, in December 2014 wearing my PhD regalia, as I shook Sir Chris Bonnington’s hand, the chancellor and British mountaineer who scaled Mount Everest four times, I wondered “how did I get here at 63 years of age?”

No matter. I just did and it is NEVER too late.

Linda Rader Overman holds a PhD in Creative Writing along with an MFA in Creative Writing from California State University, Chico and an MA in Creative Writing from California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Her background as a production manager at KNBC-TV prepared her well for the long and positively gruelling hours of scholarly and pedagogical application as a lecturer in the English department at CSUN.

13

“After summer school, I was to follow up online with my supervisors over the rest of the year providing drafts of my thesis for their perusal until the subsequent summer school.�

DR Linda Rader Overman

14

A poignant visit to Ypres for trainee primary teachers Whilst teachers usually use half term to have a welldeserved rest, 23 trainee primary teachers, along with their history lecturer, Sue Temple, and Education Officer Julie Wooding from the Cumbria Museum of Military Life were joined by trainees from Leeds Trinity University and Pioneers Partnership ITT from the Rochdale area in an emotional and poignant journey to visit the World War I battlefields in Belgium.

This partnership of three Initial Teacher Education institutions for a residential had never been attempted before and the organisers, lecturers Sue and Bev Forrest (from Leeds Trinity University), were keen to see how it would work.

Cameron Simmonds at the grave of a Border Regiemnt solider

On the first evening the whole party attended the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate in Ypres.

They were astonished by how many people were there given that this takes place at 8 o’clock every evening throughout the year. The local fire brigade play the music for this service. West Cumbrian student Kieron Sharkey, was “filled with pride and very emotional – but for all the right reasons” to be chosen to lay a wreath of poppies on behalf of the Fusehill Street students. “It was literally a dream come true for me” he said. Kieron is very interested in World War I and he was one of the students who inspired Sue to organise this visit.

Julie Wooding had researched the 26 named Border Regiment soldiers who were buried in the Tyne Cot cemetery which was part of the visit itinerary. The students were inspired by Julie’s enthusiasm and passion to search out many of these graves during their visit there.

One group of six students discovered a small pottery where they created a small curled figure from clay to represent a human in pain.

The organisation, ‘Coming World Remember Me’, has the main goals of remembering, helping, reflecting and connecting.

The organisation’s aim is to make 600,000 of these figures to represent each of the victims of the First World War. As a certificate of participation they received a dog tag which will be linked to one on their creations and will hold both their name and the name of a victim.

Money raised also goes to help children who are currently trapped in war situations. The organisation intends to place these pieces of artwork along the frontline of no man’s land around Ypres in Spring 2018 between two larger sculptures created by a Belgian artist, with the aim of reminding us of the uselessness of war: yesterday, today and tomorrow.

15

Student Sarah Glass commented “We felt honoured to be part of this creation and had a great time in the workshop moulding the clay and making each figure unique. It will be interesting to see the final product.”

On the final morning, the tour guide, Stephen Jolly (from Gesta Tours), arranged for the group to visit Bedford House Cemetery where trainee teacher Tony Farrell’s great, great grandfather is buried. After a search which ended up involving students from all three institutions the grave stone was eventually found, not far from the grave of ‘Private Peaceful’ the young soldier who inspired Michael Morpurgo’s novel.

The trip has definitely been a huge success from everyone’s perspective—comments from the students included “just incredible… a once in a lifetime opportunity…I’m so glad I had the opportunity to do this - it has really enhanced not only my professional development as a teacher but also my personal development ...

I absolutely loved every minute and I was lost for words with how overwhelming it was. This momentous experience will be taken into the classroom…an experience I’ll never forget… thought-provoking… a whirlwind of emotions”.

Sue explained, “this was one of the best residentials I have been involved with—a real rollercoaster of emotions. We have all taken so much from this trip that we will remember for a very long time. The staff are already planning two similar joint visits next year to the Somme and Auschwitz”...

The group was also inspired to hold a followup fundraising evening. They put on a quiz night in the Calva bar on the campus on 9 March and raised funds for the War Graves Commission, the organisation with responsibility for the upkeep of the graveyards they visited as well as many others throughout the world.

Above: the trainee teachers at the Memin Gate Memorial to the Missing Below: the group at the Calva bar fundraising event

16

Midwifery practice

Ingenious students establish midwifery society A group of students have established the Cumbria Midwifery Society, organised by students for students.

The society was the brainchild of two second-year BSc (Hons) Midwifery students, Emma Martlew and Sarah-Jane Craig with help from the Students’ Union. The society was formed to enhance training and education opportunities for students as well as affiliated midwives working in local hospital trusts.

Students are asked to donate £5 per annum and in return the society will set up events, conferences

and study days with external speakers at a reduced price and a location convenient to students.

The society was launched in January with a fundraising event at Fusehill Street which featured a ‘guess the weight of the baby’ competition. The prizes for the competition included a six-month subscription to Practising Midwife Journal.

17

Laxcha finds success in Kathmandu It’s a very long way from Carlisle to Kathmandu, but distance is no object for recent graduate, Laxcha Bantawa.

Above: Laxcha on her Everest trek.

Right: Film poster (with winner’s laurel).

In November, she collected her degree in film and television production at Carlisle Cathedral after three years of study at the Brampton Road campus.

And in December, she was in Nepal to collect the ‘Best Documentary’ award for her film Pawan at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival.

Laxcha’s father was a Ghurkha and the family travelled around the world on a number of postings before finally settling in Leeds. Her heritage was a strong influence on Laxcha’s choice of subject for her film, which she created as the final project for her degree and explores a young Nepalese boy's candid impressions of the UK. “Pawan is a culture shift story told through a 12-year old boy's perspective”, she explains. “It is a subject I really relate to because 16 years ago, I was Pawan, moving home from the East to the West.

“I couldn't speak English properly; the only thing I could say was ‘my name is Laxcha’. I remember being petrified of British children on my first day in school, but then they became my best friends.”

She is thrilled with her success at the film festival in Kathmandu and says: “The audience whistled, laughed and applauded throughout the film.

Afterwards many people came to me and told me they were so touched by the story; a gentleman who helps Ghurkha families with visa applications told me he has seen this story over and over again in real life, so he really empathised with it.”

The judges at the film festival said: “This international category contained some wonderful films, some made on a limited budget, some made with a huge budget and expensive technology.

“One of the things that contributes to a great film is tension and Pawan contained that in huge amounts.

What this film also did was use technology in a simple and effective way. In many ways it was a classic adventure film, but what it didn’t have was sunrises and sunsets, big views or dramatic scenery.

Instead it relied on the adventure, the characters and the tension of genuine exploration.”

Mike Mitchell, programme leader for film and television production, says: “Laxcha's film managed to encapsulate what all good films do: it was personal to her and still managed to explore the universal, allowing us all to empathise with the journey Pawan took. It is very pleasing to see graduation films make their mark internationally, Laxcha should be very proud.”

The best documentary award included a cash prize of 50,000 rupees (around £320), the majority of which Laxcha chose to donate to the Nepalese charity ‘Maiti Nepal’ which is dedicated to helping victims of sex-trafficking. Whilst in Nepal, Laxcha has also been able to complete another of her ambitions, an Everest trek to ‘celebrate her first quarter-century on this planet’!

18

Our

University

get involved Tell us about news and developments in your area …

University cuts emissions to win sustainability award The university has won an Energy Saving Trust ‘Fleet Heroes’ Award for sustainable management of its fleet of business-use vehicles.

The university was nominated in the ‘Grey Fleet’ category and was highly commended for cutting its business mileage by 32%, resulting in a 16% reduction in carbon emissions.

The university implemented a number of innovative green initiatives to achieve these impressive results, which included: • Implementing a travel hierarchy to reduce unnecessary travel, supported by a car club and rental vehicles.

• Issuing over 200 personal travel plans to help staff make more environmentally sound travel choices.

• Incentivising car sharing and offering reduced parking rates for ultra-low emission vehicles.

• Providing students with Stagecoach passes to discourage car use and developing a partnership with Virgin Trains for free first-class upgrades for university staff.

The awards ceremony was held at the Institute of Directors in London in November and the award was presented by Quentin Willson, ex presenter of Top Gear. Quentin Willson said, “I was delighted to present the University of Cumbria with their award. The judges saw the university as the clear winner in this category, having implemented a range of innovative ideas to help reduce their business mileage and

impact on the environment. Having been a runner-up two years ago, it was great to fully recognise what they’ve achieved.”

The Fleet Heroes Awards are organised by the Energy Saving Trust and identify organisations that proactively reduce fuel bills and cut carbon emissions through innovative transport policies, improved fleet efficiency, or the provision of cost and fuel saving products or services to fleets.

Ian Rodham, the university’s travel planner, attended the ceremony and accepted the award on behalf of the university.

He said, “It’s just fantastic that the University of Cumbria has been recognised in this way and held up as leading the way by the judges.”

The university beat off stiff competition from Sussex Community Trust and Portsmouth City Council to win the award.

19

FINAL BUSINESS MASTERCLASS The university held its final business skills masterclass in January, with Chris Ward author of best-selling self-help book Out of Office.

Chris Ward is renowned for being one of the most powerful part-time working men in the UK who works where he likes to increase productivity. In his masterclass he shared new ways of working, maximising performance, attaining work/life balance, and thinking outside of the box.

This was the final masterclass in the university’s hugely popular series that recently saw Apprentice stars Dr Margaret Mountford and Tim Campbell share their business insights with an audience of students, graduates and local business people.

Before the event, Chris Ward said, “I’m looking forward to hosting a really productive session; showing people how they can progress successfully in their careers while also creating enough time to do more of what they love!”

Senior Project Officer Louise Gardham commented, “It has been a pleasure to bring such high profile and successful business men and women to Cumbria to speak to our local businesses and share their tips and knowledge.

“The events have been extremely well attended and the feedback has been fantastic.

Chris’ insights as to how to achieve success in your business career while also ensuring you accomplish your bucket-list ambitions was a terrific way to round off the series”.

The masterclasses, alongside other services such as business placement scheme and project management training, have been offered as part of the university’s contribution to the Cumbria Business Growth Hub project—an initiative partfunded by Europe, involving partner institutions across the region and led by the Chamber of Commerce in support of local businesses.

Above: Chris Ward

20

University and Chamber wins second entrepreneur award The university and Cumbria Chamber of Commerce have won a ‘high impact’ award for their contribution to Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014, for the second year in a row.

The university hosted a series of free events in its Business Interaction Centre and Carlisle campuses during Global Entrepreneurship Week which ran from 17 - 23 November.

University students, school pupils, local businesses and those new to self-employment were invited to attend free workshops and advice sessions given by industry experts on diverse topics such as marketing, raising finance for businesses in arts and creative industries, branding, HM Revenue and Customs basics, social media and bookkeeping.

The university’s student enterprise co-ordinator Sylvia Grainger said: “It’s great to take part in Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014 and be recognised once again for making a significant contribution. Working with the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce made this week a success as both organisations were focused on putting on the best events we could for students, graduates, budding entrepreneurs and local businesses. It also showcased the vital work being done at the Carlisle Business Interaction Centre to support businesses and grow the local economy”.

The events were organised by the university in partnership with Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, and were delivered by experts from the university’s Business School, the Chamber and a number of organisations including Arts Council England, Bluefin Insurance, Dodd & Co Accountants, HM Revenue and Customs, Pulse Creative Marketing and the Intellectual Property Office.

Lesley Robinson, responsible for start-up activity at Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, said: “We were really pleased to be able to work with the University of Cumbria offering support to new businesses and those with a passion for enterprise.

“The events were well attended by the local business community, students and graduates and it is great to see the interaction between all the delegates. So much work goes into making these events happen and there is a great sense of teamwork across the university and with local businesses to make it such a success”.

“Our full programme of activity during Enterprise Week showed the real value of partnership working and those who attended the event gained valuable information giving their business the best possible chance of success.

“As a Chamber we’ll be building on the support we offer to those looking to start a business and in the early stages of trading, anyone interested in finding out more should give me a call.”

The Global Entrepreneurship Week activities culminated in a business master class presented by BBC Apprentice stars Dr Margaret Mountford and Tim Campbell to nearly 150 local businesses, pre-start businesses, students and graduates. The event was aimed at the next generation of Cumbrian business leaders and was delivered as part of the Cumbria Business Growth Hub programme.

Above: Left to right, Tim Campbell, Louise Gardham and Dr Margaret Mountford.

21

Enterprise and Business Relations Manager Dr Michele Lawty-Jones said: “The events were well attended by the local business community, students and graduates and it is great to see the interaction between all the delegates. So much work goes into making these events happen and there is a great sense of teamwork across the university and with local businesses to make it such a success”.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is a campaign hosted by Youth Business International, a charitable network of initiatives helping young entrepreneurs in 40 countries around the world.

The university and Cumbria Chamber of Commerce first won a ‘high impact’ award for Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2013.

Each year the university seeks to grow and develop a range of events to encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise in the local area.

22

University invests £1.2m in highspec lab and new STEM courses The university is investing £1.2m to develop a new teaching programme of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and a highspec laboratory in Carlisle.

Professor Peter Strike

The investment is the result of two successful bids to England’s education funding authority, HEFCE, and to the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), as well as matched investment from the university.

The successful bids were for £256,000 and £748,000 respectively, with the university making up the remaining £256,000.

The investment will be a phased development, the first phase of which will provide new high-quality teaching laboratory space at the university’s Fusehill Street campus, Carlisle, fitted out with the technology and equipment to support teaching of the new STEM subject courses.

The new laboratory space will, initially, provide 40 bench spaces for multi-purpose teaching across a range of STEM subjects.

The plan is for the labs to be finished in time for next academic year starting this September.

The first three new STEM courses to be offered this year are BSc (Hons) Biology, BSc (Hons) Zoology and BSc (Hons) Marine and Fresh Water Conservation. All of these courses are now open to applicants and are recruiting well.

For 2016 onwards, the university will develop new courses in chemistry, biomedical science and other related areas of STEM. The investment forms part of the university’s wider ambition to develop its presence in the county and to work closely with partners in further education colleges to ensure that the STEM progression routes and higher education courses available in Cumbria provide the trained graduates that local employers need.

23

Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Strike said: “This investment signifies the university’s commitment to providing high-quality education to Cumbria. The new laboratory, along with the development of a new STEM curriculum and partnerships with further education providers and major local employers, will result in a joined-up approach that will provide excellent educational prospects for our students and more job opportunities in the local area.

“Our aim is to increase the number, the attractiveness and the accessibility of STEM careers for our university students. By promoting closer co-operation with our local further education colleges, we intend to create a ladder of opportunity for training in STEM subjects in Cumbria and beyond”.

Participation in higher education in Cumbria is traditionally low, and in the STEM subjects particularly so. The west coast of Cumbria has one of the lowest higher education participation rates in the UK and in some areas participation is falling rather than rising.

Currently, there is no university provision within Cumbria in mainstream STEM subjects such as biology and chemistry.

The intention is that the skills and knowledge acquired from studying applied bioscience and analytical chemistry degrees, together with professional body accreditation where applicable, will enhance student employability prospects and create a wider pool of skilled graduates to supply the regional economy.

The laboratory forms part of an integrated approach for working in collaboration with further education partners to develop more progression routes into STEM subjects.

The successful bids were for £256,000 and £748,000 respectively, with the university making up the remaining £256,000.

As well as this, the university will develop courses which aim to meet the needs of local industrial employers who will require STEM graduate and postgraduate skills.

In particular, there will be an increased need for biosciences graduates in Cumbria with the development of the new GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) £350m biopharmaceutical facility in Ulverston and an increase in demand from Sellafield for scientists. Pat McIver, Site Biopharm Lead, GSK Ulverston, said: “The new factory will require STEM jobs at all levels, including apprentices, graduates and postgraduates.

“The university’s investment will respond to our needs, improve progression into higher education in key disciplines of biology and chemistry and will help us to recruit from the local area.

“This is a great opportunity for Cumbria to secure valuable resource for its young people. It will not only benefit GSK, but also other science and technology companies based in Cumbria, thereby making a contribution to economic growth and our local communities”.

In addition the university will create innovative programmes to feed the pool of qualified teachers of STEM subjects. There are acute shortages nationally of teachers in some areas of the STEM curriculum such as chemistry and physics and the university will seek to develop new provision to help to address this need. The new lab will form part of this new provision.

24

Ben Cooper

Cumbrian students QUIZ top BBC executive A top BBC radio executive visited the university at the end of January for a question and answer session with students.

Ben Cooper is controller of BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra and during his tenure has introduced bold scheduling changes such as rejuvenating Radio 1’s audience and renewing its focus towards 15-29 year olds.

At the event, he was in conversation with British media executive, John Myers, and shared his vision for the future of Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra. Ben and John also offered useful advice on getting a job at the BBC. The session took place at the Brampton Road campus, and was aimed at students, graduates, members of the Radio Academy and local media industry professionals.

Karen Jones, from the Development and Alumni Relations Office said, “We were delighted to have such a high profile person to speak to our students and graduates.

“It provided a rare opportunity to meet the most important man in UK Radio today and get insider knowledge from one of the world’s most recognised and revered institutions.”

25

Dr John Sentamu

CHancellor delivers annual chaplaincy lecture March 11 saw the university’s Chancellor Dr John Sentamu deliver the annual chaplaincy lecture to a packed audience in Carlisle The Archbishop spoke on the title: ‘On Rock or Sand? – Firm Foundations for Britain’s Future’, a theme which is the subject of the book he has just edited and published under the same title.

For fuller details click here.

The event proved very popular with more than 150 people attending. University Chaplain Matthew Firth, who organises the annual lectures, said: “It was fantastic to have Dr Sentamu with us to deliver this year’s Chaplaincy Annual Lecture, both in his role as Archbishop of York, but also as our university chancellor.

“It was fantastic to have Dr Sentamu with us to deliver this year’s Chaplaincy Annual Lecture, both in his role as Archbishop of York, but also as our university chancellor.”

“As ever, he engaged the audience in a way only he can, and people went away with many valuable insights and things to ponder in relation to Britain’s moral and ethical future, especially as we approach the general election.”

26

Left to right: Hannah Pears, Tamsin Rogers and Mel Bakey

University wins NEON Award for widening access to higher education The university has won a National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) Award for its work to encourage care leavers to study with us.

This was a collaborative project between the widening participation access and retention teams.

Hannah Pears and Mel Bakey led on the project from their respective areas, which also saw the university gain the Buttle Quality Mark last year.

In 2010 there was only one care leaver studying at the University of Cumbria and there are now 56.

This is a great testament to the impact of this work, which is part of the university’s spend and commitments set out within its Access Agreement with the Office for Fair Access.

The awards ceremony was held on Wednesday 25 February at Westminster Palace in London and was hosted and presented by the Rt Hon Liam Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Shadow Minister for Universities, Science and Skills.

27

Chaplain Matthew Firth with Twinning Certificate

For more information visit: www.toilettwinning.org

Twinning arrangement with burundi When new toilet facilities were installed at the chapel on the Fusehill Street campus, Chaplain Matthew Firth was determined to ensure the benefits had a far-reaching effect.

Through a toilet-twinning scheme, the Carlisle convenience is supporting a latrine in Bujumbura, Burundi. The scheme, run by www.toilettwinning.org, enables you to ‘help those in desperate poverty to have access to a proper latrine, clean water and the information they need to be healthy’.

Matthew comments: “It’s great to be able to have new toilet facilities in the chapel which will make the space much more usable and welcoming to both the university community and outside groups—but it’s also a reminder of our responsibility to do something about the fact that 2.5 billion people around the world don’t have access to proper sanitary facilities.”

28

Student law conference held at Fusehill Street campus The university’s first national student law conference was held on Tuesday 13 January at our Fusehill Street campus in Carlisle, aimed at encouraging the study of law as well as providing a range of informative workshops for existing and prospective students.

The conference was organised by the university’s Student Law Society and principal law lecturer Ann Thanaraj. Around 50 delegates attended, made up of our own students on the LLB Law and BA (Hons) Criminology and Law courses and students from local sixth form schools and colleges.

Speakers included an international criminal lawyer and former Crown Prosecutor as well as academics from the Universities of Cumbria, Newcastle and Huddersfield and representatives from Carlisle solicitors Cartmell Shepherd and Bell Park Kerridge.

During a working lunch, all the delegates were involved in a number of workshops led by experts from the legal profession in preparing for interviews with solicitors, building confidence in public speaking and writing successful applications for work experience, entering law school and law jobs.

The day also included a number of debates covering topics such as ‘How do you sleep at night defending the guilty’ and ‘What is ethical about Law?’ The keynote speaker was Nicholas Davidson, commercial law QC from London who delivered a presentation on the challenges of appearing in court, including some controversial moments, and how to think quickly on your feet. He explained:

“Law and justice are both national and local, and are vital to the public just as much in beautiful and sometimes lightly populated areas as in the big cities. It is tremendous that this university promotes in this region the study and understanding of law, encouraging people both to consider a career in the law and to realise the importance of the work to a healthy society.

Ann Thanaraj, principal law lecturer, said: “We decided to organise the conference mainly to share the experience of studying law with younger people in the region who have an ambition to get involved in legal practice.

Above: The organisers of the conference (left to right) Natalie Tatton, Sophie Allinson and Julie-Ann Miller from the Student Law Society with Ann Thanaraj, Principal Lecturer in Law. Right: (left to right) Nicholas Davidson QC, Ann Thanaraj and Scott Garson from Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors.

29

“However, our own students have also benefited greatly from taking part in the debates and hearing from such experienced and knowledgeable speakers.

They appreciated the opportunity to learn how solicitors and barristers in legal practice and experts in the field of legal ethics deal with challenging and controversial cases in court.”

Scott Garson of Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors in Carlisle was involved in the debates and workshops and commented: “It was a real honour to have been invited to take part in the conference; we have some highly talented future lawyers in our area who are really benefiting from an exceptional programme delivered by the University of Cumbria.”

30

research ROUND-UP A selection of some of our staff research outputs from the past few months

Faculty of Education, Arts and Business – publications and activity Simone Spagnolo has been commissioned to translate a book entitled Vocalises with Movements by opera singer and teacher Alessandra Totoli from Italian to English.

Penny Bradshaw’s new critical edition of Ann Radcliffe’s Observations during a Tour to the Lakes [1795] (Bookcase, 2015) is due out at the end of February and will be launched at Words by the Water Literature festival in March where Penny is doing a talk on Radcliffe’s tour. Penny will also be talking about her new book at a Wordsworth Trust event later in March.

Stephen Longstaffe, ‘Employability and the English Literature Degree’ in English Studies: The State of the Discipline, Past, Present, and Future, eds. Niall Gildea, Helena Goodwyn, Megan Kitching and Helen Tyson (London: Palgrave Pivot, 2014), pp. 83-98.

Faculty of Health and Science – publications Conservation, National School of Forestry, Environmental Engineering Convery, I, Corsane G, Davis P Eds (2015) Displaced Heritage. Responses to Disaster, Trauma, and Loss Boydell & Brewer. Contributions from Ian Convery, Mark Wilson (Fine Art) & Billy Sinclair http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/ viewItem.asp?idProduct=14642 Stevenson-Holt, C. D., & Sinclair, W. (2015).

Assessing the geographic origin of the invasive grey squirrel using DNA sequencing: Implications for management strategies. Global Ecology and Conservation, 3, 20-27.

Sport & Active Ageing Relph, N. & Herrington. L. (2015). Interexaminer, intra-examiner and test-retest reliability of clinical knee joint position sense measurements using an image capture technique. The Journal of Sport Rehabilitation (in-press).

31

Relph, N. & Herrington, L. (2015) Criterionrelated validity of knee joint position sense measurement using image capture and isokinetic dynamometry. The Journal of Sport Rehabilitation.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsr.2013-0119.

Dewhurst S, Peacock L, Bampouras TM. (2015). Postural stability of older female Scottish country dancers in comparison with physically active controls. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. 23(1):128-132.

Devine, C. (2015) Sex, sport and justice: reframing the ‘who’ of citizenship and the ‘what’ of justice in European and UK sport policy, Sport, Education and Society, DOI: 10.1080/13573322.2015.1004166 Allied Health (Radiography, Occupational Therapy, Medical Imaging, Physiotherapy) Youngson A, Wilby H, Cole F, Cox DL, (2015) Occupational Therapy in Diabetes Care: The use of Metaphor British Journal of Occupational Therapy 78; 1: 24-32 http://dx.doi. org/10.1177/0308022614561240 Medical Imaging & Radiation Protection Helbren, E., Fanshawe, T. R., Phillips, P., Mallett, S., Boone, D., Gale, A., ... & Halligan, S. (2015). The effect of computer-aided detection markers on visual search and reader performance during concurrent reading of CT colonography.

European radiology, 1-9.

Social Work, Nursing, Midwifery, Advanced Practice, Community Practice Ruddick, F. (2015). Customer care in the NHS. Nursing Standard, 29(20), 37-42.

isualising V rs e p a P r Fo ll a C rence The Animals Confe theorists and ll bring together This conference wi raphy. It aims e field of photog practitioners in th estioning the rm for debate qu en to provide a platfo rary society as se als for contempo meaning of anim phy. through photogra tations are 20 -minute presen r fo als os op pr r Pape ing @ cumbria. be sent to visualis invited and should ence is at Fusehill 2015. The confer ac.uk by 29 March .

18 – 19 June 2015 Street campus on alisingco Visit w w w.visu full details.

nference.com fo

r

Cumbria Research and Enterprise 2015 – call for abstracts Research & Papers are now invited for Cumbria place on Friday 3 Enterprise 2015. The event will take welcome abstracts July 2015 in Lancaster. We would across the faculties for presentations and posters from k. The call for wor on both research and enterprise l 2015. abstracts will close on Friday 10 Apri it your abstract.

Please complete this survey to subm racts, please abst g If you have any queries regardin contact the Research Office: research.office@ cumbria.ac.uk

Send us your stories

If you would like to con tribute to the next issue of Co nnect, please contac t a memb er of the communications team: lynn.clark@ cumbria.a c.uk julie.ratcliffe@ cumbri a.ac.uk fiona.hughes@ cumbri a.ac.uk The copy deadline for the next issue of Connect is 15 May

Kiddivoucher s cheme

Childcare Vouc her schemes ar e changing, an Government pr d the oposes to laun ch a new Tax- Free Scheme this au Childcare tumn. Once in place, current choose to stay m em bers can in the existing scheme or sw scheme. New itc h to the new members will not be able to scheme after join the existin this time, but g signing up be will protect yo fore this dead ur right to choo line se.

The scheme w hich will offer the most finan to you and yo cial benefit ur family will de pend upon yo circumstances, ur individual and a Tax- Free Childcare Savi is available at ngs Calculato w w w.kiddivouc r hers.com.

Signing up to your employer ’s scheme coul You can sign up d not be easie to your employ r! er’s scheme on kiddivouchers.c lin e at w om or phone 08 w w.

00 612 9015. quote scheme You’ll need to number: S103 754K and have a payslip to ha nd.

If you have an y questions regarding th contact: info is, please @ kiddivouch ers.com or 08 00 612 9015.

Arts Degree Show This year’s undergraduate arts exhi bition will be held at Brampton Road and Caldewg ate, Carlisle from Saturday 30 May until Friday 5 June, open from 10.00am –4.00pm, Monday to Saturday.

Copyright Š 2015 University of Cumbria (UOC 453)

Fusehill Street Carlisle CA1 2HH

www.cumbria.ac.uk