Campus News
Popular culture, from Doctor Who to zombies
March 2nd, 2015
What can zombies and Doctor Who tell us about genetics or vegan ethics? Find out at the Popular Culture Lecture Series at Nottingham.
Mathieu Donner, postgraduate researcher and teaching fellow in the School of English, who organised the lectures, says: “Popular culture is what we live by, breathe in, and — often literally — consume every single day, from our phones to the radios of our cars, from the circus to the stage, the street or the big screen.
“These lectures offer the chance to explore a new perspective or angle from your favourite novel, TV series, movie or comic book with experts from across the University. I’d encourage anyone with an interest in popular culture to come along. Everyone is welcome.”
All lectures are at 5.30pm, Wednesdays, B13 Physics Building, University Park. A 30-40 minute lecture is followed by a 20-minute Q&A.
Programme includes: 18 February Timo Schrader, School of Cultures, Language and Area Studies, slam poetry, verbal combat and the “death of Art” debate.
25 February Kate Stewart, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Matthew Cole, Open University, “I need fish fingers and custard”: the irruption and suppression of vegan ethics in Doctor Who.
4 March Sean May, School of Biosciences, zombie genomics; or the didactic dead.
11 March Keith Bound, School of Cultures, Language and Area Studies, “do you like scary movies?”: defining the anatomy of cinematic suspense and viewer anticipatory patterns.
18 March Catherine Johnson, School of Cultures, Language and Area Studies, selling The Hunger Games: the digital infrastructure of blockbuster promotion.
25 March Lynn Fotheringham and Stephen Hodkinson, School of Classics, “This is Sparta!”: ancient Greece in film and comics.
29 April Susannah Lydon, School of Biosciences, travels in deep time: evolution and extinction in classic Doctor Who.
6 May Nathan Waddell, School of English, Wyndham Lewis, the thriller, and the popular.
Tags: Catherine Johnson, Doctor Who, Kate Stewart, Keith Bound, Lynn Fotheringham, Mathieu Donner, Nathan Waddell, Popular Culture Lecture Series, School of Biosciences, School of Cultures Language and Area Studies, School of English, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sean May, Stephen Hodkinson, Susannah Lydon, Timo Schrader
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Professor Chris Rudd to lead at Ningbo
March 2nd, 2015
Professor Chris Rudd is take over as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Provost at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC).
He succeeds Professor Nick Miles OBE, who is returning to the UK after five highly successful years in charge of UNNC. He oversaw an expansion of the student body, developments in research capacity, new collaborations with business and government, and growth of its infrastructure. UNNC has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.
As Pro-Vice-Chancellor for External Engagement, Professor Rudd has brought many Chinese corporates into UK partnerships and taken technology transfer missions to China – focusing on energy, aerospace, automotive, food and drink, creative industries, pharma/healthcare and financial services.
He is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and has worked extensively to build long-lasting partnerships that benefit both countries – meeting China’s needs for technology and talent and the western need for new markets.
Professor Rudd said: “UNNC is a unique and exciting place and I really feel honoured to be asked to help steer it through the next phase of its evolution.”
Professor Rudd created Nottingham’s Asia Business Centre and led Nottingham’s presence at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. He chairs the Nottingham Confucius Institute and is a Board Director of the China Britain Business Council and a guest Professor at Jilin University.
Professor Miles has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Provost since 2010 and will hand over formally to his successor on August 1. He said: “It has been an honour to have had this opportunity to lead UNNC through the past five years and to work with such great people.”
Tags: Asia Business Centre, China Britain Business Council, Nottingham Confucius Institute, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for External Engagement, Professor Chris Rudd, Professor Nick Miles, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC)
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Medal for Jubilee blaze fire crews
March 2nd, 2015
The University of Nottingham has officially thanked Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service for keeping the community safe during the fire at Jubilee Campus.
The Chancellor, Sir Andrew Witty, presented the Chancellor’s Award to Deputy Chief Fire Officer Wayne Bowcock in recognition of the outstanding work by firefighters in containing September’s huge blaze at the GlaxoSmithKline Sustainable Chemistry Laboratory.
It is the first time the medal, which was created to recognise exceptional contributions to the University, has been given. As well as the award and certificate of recognition, £20,000 has been donated to The Fire Fighters’ Charity.
Mr Bowcock said: “It’s a great honour to receive this on behalf of the service. It’s an absolute tragedy to lose the building and the crews were aghast when they got there and we realised there was little we could do to save it. The priority then was people’s safety and there were some significant challenges for us to protect the surroundings and keep people safe.”
Dr Paul Greatrix, Registrar at the University, said: “We would like to show our appreciation to the Fire Service for its exceptional response to the fire and for helping to prevent the loss of any other buildings and ensuring no loss of life. We are also extremely grateful for their thorough investigation and subsequent report which will allow us to proceed with rebuilding and to continue with our ambition to complete this landmark development.”
Sir Andrew is pictured presenting the award to Notts Fire and Rescue’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer Wayne Bowcock, with, from left, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Karen Cox, Group Manager Jo Wooler-Ward and Operations Commander, Station Manager Phil Revill.
Tags: Chancellor’s Award, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Wayne Bowcock, Dr Paul Greatrix, GlaxoSmithKline Sustainable Chemistry Laboratory, Jubilee Campus, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, Registrar, Sir Andrew Witty, The Fire Fighters’ Charity
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The art of war at Lakeside
March 2nd, 2015
As the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War approaches, two exhibitions at Nottingham Lakeside Arts bring together artists whose creativity and experiences were shaped by the conflict and its aftermath.
Lee Miller’s War focuses on one of the least recognised episodes in the iconic model and photographer’s remarkable life. In 1944, while working as a freelance photographer for Vogue, Miller became the only female combat photojournalist in Europe.
The exhibition includes 40 photographs from the Lee Miller Archive. Her photographs of the liberation of Paris and the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps serve not only as historical records but are also as powerful images in their own right that sear into the memory. Described by a fellow photographer as “never afraid of what the evil men do”, it was this that allowed her to keep on photographing, despite witnessing some of mankind’s worst acts of inhumanity.
The second exhibition, In the Shadow of War, is showing alongside Miller’s photographs and features a generation of artists who rose to prominence in post-war Britain. The 40s-50s was a period of recovery and reconstruction, marked by austerity and the newly drawn battlelines of Cold War politics. In the arts, as in life, the shadow of the war loomed large until well into the 1950s; the paintings and sculptures in this exhibition contain numerous references to the trauma of the conflict.
Francis Bacon’s anguished subject matter contained veiled references to Nazi propaganda while Graham Sutherland made direct use of photographs of the victims of concentration camps to portray his tortured figure of Christ on the cross.
Throughout the 50s, the Jewish émigré Frank Auerbach and his friend Leon Kossoff dedicated themselves to a series of paintings of London’s building sites, many of which had been caused by bombing raids during the Blitz. Merlyn Evans made direct references to his own wartime experiences in the painting The Execution.
A spirit of despair described as the ‘geometry of fear’ was seen to be the hallmark of a group of young sculptors including Lynn Chadwick, Bernard Meadows and Reg Butler. Elisabeth Frink’s childhood experiences of living close to an airfield during the war influenced a series of bronze warrior birds made in the 1950s that are an explicit statement of aggression.
Head of Visual Arts Programming at Lakeside, Neil Walker, who curated the exhibition said: “The late 40s and 50s was an incredibly fertile period in British art but the work of figurative artists has tended since to be overshadowed by American-influenced abstract painting and the birth of pop art. This exhibition brings together many of the names who were to seen at the time to be at the vanguard of modern art in this country.”
Other artists in the exhibition include: John Bratby, Prunella Clough, Robert Colquhoun, Derrick Greaves, Lucian Freud, Josef Herman, Patrick Heron, LS Lowry, Robert MacBryde, Edward Middleditch, John Minton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Ceri Richards, Jack Smith, William Turnbull, Keith Vaughan.
In the Shadow of War and Lee Miller’s War continue at Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, until Sunday 22 February. For more information and opening times, visit www.lakesidearts.org.uk
Tags: Ceri Richards, Derrick Greaves, Eduardo Paolozzi, Edward Middleditch, Elisabeth Frink, Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Graham Sutherland, In the Shadow of War, Jack Smith, John Bratby, John Minton, Josef Herman, Keith Vaughan, Lee Miller’s War, Leon Kossoff, LS Lowry, Lucian Freud, Merlyn Evans, Neil Walker, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, Patrick Heron, Prunella Clough, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, William Turnbull
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LGBT: Plenty to celebrate
March 2nd, 2015
The University is marking LGBT History Month with a series of events celebrating its LGBT staff and research.
Film screenings, music and poetry readings, panel discussions and public lectures will explore the diverse aspects of LGBT culture and history – from local musicians and poets to debates on the public image of bisexuality and the participation of trans people in sport.
Events include:
Call Me Kuchu screening, New Art Exchange, Thursday 12 February
The documentary Call Me Kuchu examines the lives of LGBT men and women – ‘kuchus’ – in Uganda, in the shadow of the country’s strict anti-homosexuality laws. A talk by Bisi Alimi – Nigerian gay rights activist and HIV/LGBT advocate – follows the screening
Read Hear, Nottingham Central Library, Saturday 21 February
LGBT musicians and poets will give short performances at Nottingham Central Library at this free family event
Bambi screening, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, Monday 16 February
Dr Karen Adler and Dr Onni Gust introduce and discuss a screening of the documentary Bambi. The film profiles Marie-Pierre Pruvot, an Algerian-born trans woman who had a long career as a dancer and showgirl in Paris in the 1950s and 60s
The Enigma Problem: Alan Turing and the British Establishment, Jubilee Campus, Wednesday 25 February
Dr Max Biddulph, Chair of the LGBTQ Staff Network and Associate Professor in the School of Education, and Professor David Brailsford, of the School of Computer Science, examine the life and work of Alan Turing in this public lecture
The programme is a collaboration between the University’s HR and Professional Development departments, the LGBTQ Staff Network, and schools and departments.
Dr Biddulph said: “LGBT History Month is a great opportunity for the University to celebrate and highlight both our LGBT staff, and our research. We hope to give people a chance to learn more about LGBT issues, culture and history, challenge and debate their current thinking, and to be entertained.”
Many of the events will be live tweeted on Twitter from @UoNresearch. Follow the account at www.twitter.com/uonresearch
For more information, email
claire.henson@nottingham.ac.uk or visit the University’s LGBT History Month blog, for a full programme and blog posts from staff whose research touches LGBT culture, history, politics and health.
Tags: Bambi, Call Me Kuchu, Dr Max Biddulph, LGBT History Month, LGBTQ Staff Network, Marie-Pierre Pruvot, Professor David Brailsford, School of Computer Science, School of Education, The Enigma Problem: Alan Turing and the British Establishment
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International accolade for architecture students
March 2nd, 2015
Students from the world’s only university qualification in high-rise architecture triumphed in an international design competition.
Nottingham took the first two prizes – and four of the top 10 places overall – in the prestigious Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) 2014 Student Design Competition, which attracted 288 submissions from almost 50 countries.
Alex Balchin led the field with his Clean Air Tower, which combines vertical architecture with industrial air-cleaning technologies and self-generated power to clean 8,500,000m3 of air a year for residents and office workers in Tianjin, China. Second place went to Matthew Humphreys for his Vertical Farm Project in Singapore. Alex won $6,000 and Matthew $4,000 in prize money and stipends to travel to China.
Course Leader Dr Philip Oldfield is delighted at the international recognition for Nottingham’s Masters in Architecture Sustainable Tall Buildings studio.
“For me, this demonstrates that the work our students are undertaking at Nottingham is at the forefront of tall building design and research internationally, and that we’ll see our graduates leading the construction of such radical architecture in the future,” he said.
Alex returned to Nottingham for a Masters in Architecture after working in Shanghai and Singapore for two years, gaining experience in the design of skyscrapers. He is now negotiating a job offer in New York after he graduates later this year.
He said: “It was my pleasure to present my high-rise design to a jury of whom many had been a profound influence on my work in the past. Winning the competition is a high point in my career and I’m excited about the opportunities it has brought me.”
Matthew, who is now working for Pomeroy Studio in Singapore, said: “I was absolutely chuffed to have come second in a competition with such worldwide appeal; it is a great accolade. It was a privilege to attend the CTBUH Shanghai conference as a finalist. To have the opportunity to rub shoulders and learn from the leaders in the field was a fantastic opportunity and experience.”
Dr Oldfield said Alex and Matthew’s projects demonstrated how tall building design was evolving in the face of the global challenges of population growth and urbanisation, while also answering criticism that the tall building was inherently unsustainable, both socially and environmentally.
“There is a growing consensus that tall building design needs to evolve so it makes a more positive impact on the cities of the future,” he said.
“Alex and Matthew demonstrate how the tall building typology is evolving from the air-conditioned glass towers that we currently see in cities around the world, to challenging new ideas for innovative forms and functions, such as vertical farming, or even taking advantage of the stack effect to clean polluted air.”
Tags: Alex Balchin, Clean Air Tower, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Dr Philip Oldfield, Matthew Humphreys, Pomeroy Studio, Student Design Competition, Sustainable Tall Buildings, Vertical Farm Project
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Carolan, the talking guitar
March 2nd, 2015
Bob Dylan’s Fender Stratocaster, Willie Nelson’s ‘Trigger’ and Neil Young’s ‘Old Black’ Gibson Les Paul: if guitars could talk … imagine the tales they could tell.
Scientists at Nottingham have teamed up with a master craftsman to create a beautiful interactive acoustic guitar that can digitally capture and chart its own life history.
The project uses unique technology to hide digital codes – like QR codes – within the decorative patterns adorning the instrument. These can be scanned using an app on a mobile phone or tablet to unlock or upload information via the internet. And so the guitar and its players can build and share a digital footprint of its lifetime.
The finished instrument is dubbed Carolan after the composer Turlough O’Carolan, the last of the great blind Irish harpers and an itinerant musician who roamed Ireland at the turn of the 18th Century. Professor Steve Benford, a computer scientist in the University’s Mixed Reality Laboratory and keen amateur guitarist, is leading the project. He said: “Like its namesake, Carolan is a roving bard; a performer that passes from place to place, learning tunes, songs and stories as it goes and sharing them with the people it encounters along the way.
“Making this interactive guitar has been an incredibly difficult challenge, involving an unusual meeting of minds between a traditional craftsman and computer scientists.
“This is just the beginning of the journey. We’re going to learn so much when our guitar finds its way into the world to gather stories and songs from players and audiences.”
The computer scientists teamed up with Liz Jeal, a freelance graphic designer and teacher, who created the Celtic-inspired patterns. Using a new technology called Aestheticodes, the scientists embedded the codes within the designs.
Next, Nick Perez, a luthier (guitar maker) and teacher at the Newark School of Instruments and Crafts, built the guitar. The design features a striking soundboard which mixes decorative Celtic knotwork with multiple soundholes to create a scannable pattern.
The Aestheticode designs were etched on to the flamed maple of the body, then carefully inlaid by Nick with Indian Rosewood – the result is a crisp, clean design that can be scanned from some distance away, perhaps through a shop window or even at a concert.
The decorative patterns each reveal an aspect of the guitar’s life story. The headstock of the guitar, which traditionally features the maker’s logo, links to a digital version of the maker’s label while the soundboard tells how it was made and where it has visited.
The soundboard plays back tunes that have been recorded on the guitar and will allow players to upload their own recordings.
The back of the guitar is reserved for its unofficial history – a public blog on which people can comment or post photos, videos and recordings wherever they encounter it.
Finally, a small pattern discreetly located unlocks hidden content for the truly dedicated fan clever enough to find it.
The project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through Professor Benford’s Dream Fellowship award, the Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training and the Fusing Semantic and Audio Technologies (FAST) project.
The full story of the Carolan has been documented via a blog, which also features videos of the etchings being made on the body of the instrument.
Visit carolanguitar.com for videos and more on the project.
Tags: Aestheticodes, Carolan, Dream Fellowship, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC, Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training and the Fusing Semantic and Audio Technologies (FAST), Liz Jeal, Newark School of Instruments and Crafts, Nick Perez, Professor Steve Benford
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Arise, Sir David
March 2nd, 2015
Professor Sir David Greenaway was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace in November.
The Vice-Chancellor was honoured in recognition of his achievements in higher education and public service.
Sir David, who was accompanied by his wife, Susan, sons, Stuart and Dan, and daughters-in-law, Caroline and Georgina, told the Nottingham Post after the ceremony: “It was very inspiring and uplifting, superbly well organised. It was great to share it with my family and so many others who received their awards for work they have done in the voluntary sector.
“The Queen asked a little about my career as economist, about the University, how it was doing and I assured her that it’s in pretty good order.”
Tags: Buckingham Palace, knighted, Professor Sir David Greenaway
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Project Transform set to go live – first stage to focus on student enquiries
February 27th, 2015
The first part of Project Transform will launch in May, marking a step change in the way the University interacts with students.
Enquiries Light will begin to change the way that we manage prospective student enquiries. It lays the foundations for fast, easy, effective enquiry response and management, ensuring that the lifelong relationship between the University and its students starts on the very best footing.
From May, several areas across the University will process enquiries from prospective students in a different way. The central Enquiry Teams in China, the UK and Malaysia; the International Office and the Schools of Economics and Health Sciences will be the first to test the new approach using a shared database and an online data capture form. Staff who will be part of this new way of working will be contacted in the coming weeks with more information.
Project Transform will enable us to revolutionise the relationship between the University and its students. Creating a unique record for each enquirer is just the start of the process. As the project progresses, every element of student/University interaction will be incorporated. Staff will have easily accessible, comprehensive student information at their fingertips, enabling a tailored, friendly, seamless and efficient student experience.
Enquiries Light is the soft launch for the full Enquiries system, testing this new way of working. It’s the first of the three ‘GoLives’ that will see Project Transform implemented across the University in the UK, China and Malaysia. The second, in September 2015, will bring Admissions and Enquiries into the new system supported by a comprehensive CRM system to support student recruitment and marketing. September 2016 is the final stage, covering student records, exams, finance, self-service and programme management activity and planning.
Would your School or Department like to be part of GoLive1 — the launch of Enquiries Light?
Contact Maggie Royston in Project Transform by Friday 6 March to find out more.
Tags: administration, Admissions, APM, CRM, enquiries, Enquiry Centre, GoLive1, Project Transform, staff, student, system, update
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New Nottingham Masters Scholarship Scheme
February 27th, 2015
For 2015 entry, the University has 175 new scholarships of £10,000 available for Masters students from under-represented groups.
Jointly funded by HEFCE, the Nottingham Masters Scholarship Scheme not only presents an opportunity to attract further top academic talent to our taught Masters programmes but will also enhance the diversity of our university community. As with any financial support, there are a number of criteria that applicants must meet.
Applicants to the scheme will need to be progressing from an undergraduate course for which they were charged the higher £9k tuition fee (applicable since 2012-13) and be classed as a Home/EU student. Candidates will also need to be from a group that is evidentially under-represented among our taught masters population.
Having examined our own taught Masters population, we have identified a number of under-represented groups. In addition to the basic criteria, applicants for the Nottingham Masters Scholarship Scheme will need to hold an offer for a taught postgraduate course and fulfil one or more of the following criteria:
- Care leavers – have been in public care for a minimum of three months prior to their entrance to university in 2012
- In receipt of government funding in the form of a full maintenance grant and/or a National Scholarship Programme during the first year of undergraduate study (2012)
- Women in STEM (specific qualifying programmes have been identified)
- Disability, long-term medical condition or specific learning difficulty
- From a Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) group
In the event that a number of candidates equally meet the above criteria, priority will be given to:
- Current University of Nottingham third year students (graduating Summer 2015)
- Candidates who have undertaken pre-entry activities with the University prior to their undergraduate course (e.g. Summer School attendance, Master class attendance etc.)
Please note, the scholarship scheme is intended to support students undertaking HEFCE-fundable Master’s courses only. Other postgraduate taught courses, including PG Diplomas and PG Certificates, are not eligible, nor are master’s courses which are funded by other public bodies.
The scheme will be open for applications soon with an initial application deadline of Sunday 31 May 2015. Potential applicants can register their interest via this web form.
Tags: BME, bursary, care leavers, disability, funding, HEFCE, masters, Nottingham Masters Scholarship Scheme, postgraduate, scholarship, STEM, taught postgraduate, Women in Stem
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