Campus News
Participants needed for BEEP study
April 21st, 2016
The BEEP study team, based at the University of Nottingham, are looking for participants for an NHS-funded study into whether skin care advice including emollients can prevent eczema in newborn babies.
Participants must:
- be pregnant or very recently have had a baby (up to 21 days)
- have a family history of Eczema, Asthma and/or hayfever
If interested, please contact the study team at 0115 846 8623 or sue.davies-jones@nottingham.ac.uk.
More information can be found at www.beepstudy.org.
Tags: beep study, eczema, research
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Cascade: funding round open until 23 May
April 21st, 2016
Thanks to donations from alumni and friends, current staff and students can apply for up to £10,000 to fund projects which benefit the student experience.
The Cascade fund was set up to provide Nottingham students with an opportunity to develop their skills, social awareness and employability, all the while making a significant impact on communities at home and around the world.
Contact cascade@nottingham.ac.uk or click here for details on how you can apply as well as examples of previous projects.
Tags: Cascade, community, funding, project
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Queen’s birthday message etched on Corgi hair
April 20th, 2016
Etched on a strand of Corgi hair – it has to be the Queen’s tiniest birthday message.
To celebrate Her Majesty’s 90th birthday scientists based in the new Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre in the School of Chemistry etched their birthday wishes using a beam of Gallium ions.
The hair was kindly donated by Cracker and CJ – two Corgis living in Nottinghamshire who are from the same blood line as the Queen’s corgis.
The hair was taken to the new Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre where the samples were carefully prepared for etching.
The work was carried out on a Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscope manned by Dr Chris Parmenter. Chris is part of the interdisciplinary group of scientists who hold the world record for creating the smallest test tube and for writing the smallest version of the periodic table on a human hair. So, what better way for them to send a 90th birthday message to the Queen.
There is a serious side to this science. When fully operational the NMRC will also host a state of the art electron beam lithography system; a powerful suite of surface characterisation equipment (X-ray photoelectron spectrometers, Raman microscopy); and a comprehensive sample preparation laboratory.
The new centre, officially opened this week, will allow us to peer into the fundamental world of the very, very small and addresse some of the major challenges facing humanity – medicine, materials for energy production, storage, electronic devices and novel catalysts.
To find out more and see more photos, visit the News Room blog. You can also read the full press release.
In pictures: the Queen on campus
As we celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, we’ve taken a look through the archives to bring you a selection of photographs that document occasions when Her Majesty has visited The University of Nottingham.
Visit the News Room blog for more photos.
Tags: community, nano technology, Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre, Queen
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Puzzles, robots and Raspberry Pi – Computer Science activity day at Firbeck Academy
April 20th, 2016
In March, a team from the School of Computer Science ran a computing activity day at Firbeck Academy in Wollaton.
For the third year, academics and students from the School of Computer Science went out to the school to put together fun computer science activities designed to get the children excited about programming, technology and computing. The whole school got involved, with pupils spending the day taking part in each activity. Each year a new set of activities are set up and run by a mix of academic staff, researchers and students. This year, activities included:
- Computer Science Puzzles with Dr Andy French: exploring some challenging ideas in computer science, and why we need computers and coding to help make sense of them. Pupils looked at why you need computers to help plan routes around cities, and to solve puzzles like a Rubik’s Cube
- Making Noise with Raspberry Pi: PhD student Amy Dickens and undergraduate third year student Richard Davies introduced the pupils at Firbeck to the marvels of Raspberry Pi Zero (a small personal computer that can fit in the palm of your hand). Pupils helped Richard and Amy by learning how to connect sensors to the Raspberry Pi that could detect movement and trigger sound using Amy’s special code. Students then tried to sneak past the sensors without being detected.
- The Don’t Smile Game with ERiSA with PhD student Andry Chowanda and undergraduate Tjaart Broodryk: the students played a simple game called “Don’t Smile”, with social game agents which are capable of perceiving the player’s emotions. The goal of the game is simple: make the computer smile and laugh with jokes, and funny facial expressions. The first contestant to smile uncontrollably loses. Through the activity, the students also learned about emotions – what are emotions and feelings, how we as humans can perceive those emotions and how a computer can understand such emotions.
- Scratch Programming with Research Associate Stefan Mairhofer and PhD student Amy Lowe: pupils built code in Scratch that allows a robot to find its way out of a maze. With each run through the maze, the robot learns more about the different turns, so that it can find a better path the next time. Introducing the ideas of algorithms, and how we can define a set of simple rules to solve a problem
Speaking about the ‘Making Noise with Raspberry Pi’ game, PhD student Amy Dickens said: “It was great fun explaining how the sensors connected and worked, the pupils were really helpful and had some very inventive ideas about how they could use the sensors for personal room alarms to keep brothers/sisters and parents out of their rooms!”
Firbeck Academy is part of the Nottingham University Samworth Academies Trust, and is a primary academy with a focussed provision for the Deaf.
See a gallery from the day below. To keep up to date with news from the School of Computer Science, visit their website. You can also find them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
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- (Left to Right) Amy Dickens, Richard Davies
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- Stefan Mairhofer
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- Tjaart Broodryk
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- Amy Dickens
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- (Left to Right) Tjaart Broodryk, Andry Chowanda, Amy Lowe, Stefan Mairhofer, Andy French
Tags: community, local, Nottingham, Nottingham University Samworth Academies Trust, Nottingham University Samworth Academy, NUSA, Ofsted, school, School of Computer Science, teaching
Posted in News, People | 2 Comments »
Participants needed for behavioural study
April 20th, 2016
We are currently recruiting both LEFT-HANDED participants only for a behavioural experiment entitled ‘Lateralisation of Cognitive Functions in the Brain: A Behavioural Study’.
If you take part in this behavioural study, you will complete two computer-based tasks. Additionally, you will be asked to perform three simple manual tasks and to fill in a few short questionnaires.
The whole procedure will last about 1 hour and will take place at the School of Psychology. An inconvenience allowance will be provided.
For more information, please email Louise O’Regan (lpxlo3@nottingham.ac.uk).
Tags: behavioural study, experiment, participants
Posted in Opportunities, Research | 2 Comments »
New Student Service Centres – everything you need to know
April 20th, 2016
The University is introducing a number of new Student Service Centres, as you have most likely seen advertised on our UK campuses. Students are invited to come along to one of two sessions being held to introduce these changes in greater detail.
Entitled ‘Introducing your new Student Service Centres’, these will be an opportunity for you to find out more about the new service centres, the kind of help and support they’ll be providing and a demonstration of the new online self-service facility called MyNottingham. Additionally, you’ll be able to meet the staff who will be working within the new service centres and ask them any questions you may have.
A programme for each of the events can be found below:
- Presentation (15 minutes)
- MyNottingham demo (15 minutes)
- Open floor Q&A (15-30 minutes)
- Informal discussion/meet and greet (30-45 minutes)
We have two sessions running at the following times and locations – please note that you only need to attend one as the content will be the same.
- Wednesday 27 April, 2-3:30pm, LG140, Hallward Library, University Park
- Friday 29 April, 12-1:30pm, B1, Life Sciences Building, University Park
Refreshments will be provided.
If you would like to attend either of these sessions, please sign up for a session so that we can account for numbers.
Tags: discussion, MyNottingham, New Student Service Centres, Q&A, Service Centres
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Fashion Week comes to Nottingham
April 19th, 2016
If you find yourself at a loss of what to do over the next week, why not make your way into town for the first ever Nottingham Fashion Week?
Hosted by BBC Radio 1 Presenter, Alice Levine, the event will take place from Friday 22 April to Saturday 30 April in different locations all over the city – a great opportunity to blow off some exam season steam!
More info and Tickets for the Style shows are available here.
Image credit: @itsinnottingham
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Upgrade now to Outlook 2013
April 19th, 2016
From Monday 18 April, UK staff and postgraduate researchers with a University-issued PC or laptop (Windows machines) will be able to upgrade to Outlook 2013.
This upgrade is the first step before Information Services begin the process of moving all staff and postgraduate researchers to Office 365 for calendaring and email.
Upgrade to Outlook 2013 manually – instructions
To manually upgrade to Outlook 2013 you will need to run the installation from the Software Center. You can run this by clicking on Start>All Programs>Microsoft System Center>Configuration Manager. You should see ‘Outlook 2013 SP1 (Required)’. Tick the box next to this and click ‘install’:
Hints and tips following the upgrade
- If you have an Outlook shortcut pinned to your taskbar, you will need to unpin the shortcut for Outlook 2010 and replace it with a shortcut for Outlook 2013 after you have upgraded. You can do this by locating Outlook 2013 and right-clicking the icon and choosing ‘pin to taskbar’.
- After installation, it could take up to 30 minutes for all mail and calendar items to fully populate depending on the size of your mailbox. During this update, you can continue to work in Outlook Web Access.
- We recommend that you reboot your machine following the upgrade. Please note Outlook 2013 will prompt you to enter your password upon first use.
- If you would like to alter your Outlook 2013 background/theme following the upgrade, you can do this via the Outlook File menu>Options>Outlook Options.
Benefits of upgrading to Outlook 2013
While the end benefit for upgrading to Outlook 2013 is to enable the move to Office 365 for calendaring and email, there are also some immediate improvements:
- Enabling faster responses – a ‘delete’ button has been added next to each email for quick and easy deletion. There is also a ‘quick response’ option – rather than open a new window when you hit ‘reply’ you can compose your message within the original message itself.
- Encouraging good practice – a new feature is an ‘attachment reminder’. This pops up if you mention the word ‘attachment’ in the body of your email to help you remember your attachments.
- Easier to stay on top of things – Outlook 2013 provides a pop-up window with your upcoming appointments and tasks when you hover over a calendar or task folder.
Next steps, help and support
For users who choose not to manually upgrade, Information Services will be scheduling formal automated rollouts on a departmental basis, starting from 25 April.
If colleagues have any immediate concerns regarding the upgrade, please contact your local Campus IT Support team or the IT Service Desk.
For more information and regular updates, visit the IT Network blog.
Tags: computer, email, Information Services, IT, IT Services, postgraduate, staff, upgrade
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The Sean Morley Memorial Prize
April 19th, 2016
The Sean Morley Memorial Prize is open to undergraduates of UK universities and rewards exceptional projects and dissertations which have a road safety theme.
It aims to promote research into road safety – and ultimately road safety itself – by attracting talented graduates to the field. In addition, it is hoped that the prize will provide a mechanism through which those just beginning their careers can bring their ideas to the wider road safety community. All entrants will receive one year’s free membership of AIRSO. The winning entry will receive a £300 prize, with a further prize fund of £200 being distributed between the other short-listed entries.
The prize is open to all students regardless of course, and entries should have been submitted in the academic year 2014/15 or 2015/16. No definition of “road safety” is provided, as the organisers are keen to encourage as wide a range of projects as possible. It is suggested that tutors with queries about the relevance of a project should contact Dr Lucy Rackliff at Aston University for an informal discussion.
Entry forms are available now, from L.rackliff@aston.ac.uk, or via the AIRSO website (PDF). Completed projects must be emailed to sandra@airso.org.uk no later than midnight on Friday 24 June, and short-listed authors will be notified by Friday 19 August.
The Sean Morley Memorial Prize is an initiative of the road safety charity, Association of Industrial Road Safety Officers (AIRSO) and celebrates the life of a remarkable young man, whose needless loss reminds us why continues efforts to make our roads safer are so important. Sean Morley was a 20-year old History and Politics final year undergraduate at Aberystwyth University, described by those who knew him as outstanding with great wit, natural charm, and an exceptional future ahead of him. While making his way home on foot after a night out with friends on 2nd September 2012, Sean was hit by a car and killed.
For more information, visit the AIRSO website.
Tags: AIRSO, road safety, sean morley memorial award, undergraduates
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National Student Survey – have your say
April 18th, 2016
Final year undergraduate students are automatically eligible to fill out the National Student Survey (NSS), providing anonymous feedback about their experience studying at The University of Nottingham.
What is the survey?
The survey is made up of 23 questions covering things like the teaching on courses, assessment and feedback, academic support, learning resources, the Students’ Union and students’ overall satisfaction. Responses are completely anonymous.
What difference does it make?
Feedback makes a huge difference to life at UoN, letting the University know what it’s getting right and what needs to be improved upon. Visit the University’s NSS page to read more.
The feedback provided is also published on the Unistats website to help anyone thinking about studying here choose the right course for them.
How long does it take?
It only takes ten minutes to complete and feedback can help the University continue to improve the student experience at Nottingham. Students can fill it out online or using their phone. Last year a record 75% of finalists completed the survey!
When’s the deadline?
The deadline is Saturday 30th April.
Follow the link in the invitation email or visit www.thestudentsurvey.com.
Tags: experiences, National Student Survey, NSS, the student survey, undergraduate
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