Campus News
Cyclists – brighten up, be safe and be seen!
October 19th, 2014
It’s been a great year for cycling in Nottingham. The clocks go back on Sunday 26 October and your journeys are going to get darker – but this doesn’t have to put you off cycling. You just have to be prepared!
Our top tips for safe winter cycling:
1) The more visible you are the safer you are. Wear bright or fluorescent clothes in the day and reflective garments at night to reflect headlights.
2) Bike lights must be used when riding on campus, public roads, cycle paths or public places between sunset and sunrise or in conditions of seriously reduced visibility during the day.
3) Make sure you have a white front light, a red rear light and reflector, pedal reflectors (or ankle reflectors) and check your brakes are working well.
4) If you don’t have lights, you can pick them up from the Students Union shop for only £8.
5) For more information on winter cycling visit the Brighten up website or contact adam.batty@sustrans.org.uk
Cycling in winter can be very enjoyable but you have to be prepared. So it’s time to embrace the changing seasons, brighten up, be seen and stay safe!
Tags: cycling, sustainability, transport, travel, Ucycle
Posted in Environment, News | Comments Off on Cyclists – brighten up, be safe and be seen!
New NOOC — message from the Registrar
September 30th, 2014
In just a few weeks from now we will launch a new NOOC (Nottingham Only Online Course) designed especially for staff working in professional services across the University, in Malaysia, China and the UK. The course, ‘The Changing University: Inside Nottingham’, covers the ways in which the University works and how different parts of the professional services operate. During the four week course we will also explore what it means to work at a leading global university and how gaining a better understanding of professional behaviours can help with developing careers.
The course is entirely online and uses Moodle, the University’s online learning platform, and will require a time commitment of around 2-3 hours per week. The course begins with an overview of universities and an insight into how they work including the role of professional services, the regulations that govern us, how our large numbers of staff collaborate and work together and the challenges that face the University as we look forward to 2020.
One of the really important elements of the course will be the opportunity to work with, learn from and collaborate with colleagues from across all of our campuses. The first NOOC run by the University — On Sustainability — attracted hundreds of staff and students from the UK, China and Malaysia who engaged enthusiastically with its contents. You can find a brief note about the Sustainability NOOC here: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/teaching/teaching/moocnooc/index.aspx
Whilst ‘The Changing University’ is intended just for staff working in professional services and not students, we are really hoping for similar levels of participation and engagement across the campuses.
Tags: moodle, NOOC, professional services, Registrar
Posted in News, Side news story, Teaching | Comments Off on New NOOC — message from the Registrar
Take the sustainability challenge and sign up for a NOOC
September 30th, 2014
We have two online courses starting on Wednesday 8 October for all students and staff of the University of Nottingham who are interested in sustainability. You can choose from:
Sustainable and Responsible Business and
Perspectives on Sustainability
Both can be used to earn credits towards the Nottingham Advantage Award.
Sustainable & Responsible Business runs for 5 weeks (time commitment about 4 hours per week). It will explore the big issues for modern businesses, including strategies for change, positive impacts, leadership and innovation for sustainability. Students who complete this NOOC are eligible to apply for membership to the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (ICRS).
Perspectives on Sustainability runs for 10 weeks (time commitment about 4 hours per week). It looks at sustainability from many different angles – for example geography, engineering, business, arts and humanities. Students measure their water footprints, build a visual history of sustainability, and think about the information we need to make sustainable decisions in our own lives.
Both courses are taught entirely online and in Moodle – so you can fit them around your other commitments. You will learn alongside students and staff from our three campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia.
So take the sustainability challenge today – sign up for a NOOC!
To join Sustainable & Responsible Business, click here
To join Perspectives on Sustainability, click here
Tags: MOOC, moodle, NOOC, responsible business, staff, students, sustainability
Posted in News, Side news story, Teaching | Comments Off on Take the sustainability challenge and sign up for a NOOC
Celebrate Black History Month
September 30th, 2014
Music, spoken word, and public lectures on Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King — Black History Month at The University of Nottingham will explore different elements of black art, history and culture.
A full programme of events, taking place both on campus and in the city, will be complemented by the University’s Black History Month blog. This will give event info as well as featuring academic comment from staff and students.
Highlight events from the programme include:
- A music and spoken word event at Nottingham Lakeside Arts on Tuesday 7 October, featuring Nottingham-based singer Blessing Magore
- A night of soul music DJed by our very own Soul Professor — Professor Patrick Callaghan, Head of the School of Health Sciences — on Thursday 2 October
- A performance by Gambian kora player Sura Susso at a Read Hear event on Saturday 18 October
- A public lecture by Annette Gordon-Reed, Professor of History and Law at Harvard University, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History, on Wednesday 29 October
- An evening of readings and conversation with Margaret Wrinkle, author of Wash, a novel on American slavery, on Wednesday 15 October
- A series of public lectures on Martin Luther King, taking place at ACNA in St Ann’s, by Professor Peter Ling, Head of the University’s Department of American and Canadian Studies.
All events are free and open to the public. For a full events programme and information on how to register for individual events, have a look at the poster gallery on the blog.
Val Watson is the Chair of the University’s BME Staff Network. She said:
Black History Month gives us an opportunity to celebrate black culture at the University and beyond. We’ve got a really varied programme this year, and want to encourage as many people as possible to attend events or read the blog.
“Black history and culture are often still seen as somehow ‘separate’ from the mainstream. Hopefully, people will discover or learn something new in October that will change the way they think and start to address this.”
For more information on Black History Month at The University of Nottingham, visit the blog at blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/blackhistorymonth
Tags: Black History Month, celebrate, culture, events, history, music, public lectures, spoken word
Posted in Main News Story, News | Comments Off on Celebrate Black History Month
May Fest’s day of wonders
August 19th, 2014
Thousands of visitors descended on University Park for May Fest, Nottingham’s open day for the community.
Events Manager Clare Anderton said: “Year on year this event has grown and I hope even more people keep coming.
“As well as the little ones, we have tried even harder this year to engage with older children at senior school or college-level to show them what further education can offer and get them excited about a future here.”
It was a challenging day for Steve Wright — the University chauffeur cycled 250 miles in 24 hours astride a static trainer in aid of Children’s Brain Tumour Research, the cause supported by this summer’s Life Cycle 4 riders.
Tags: Children’s Brain Tumour Research, Clare Anderton, Life Cycle 4, May Fest, Steve Wright
Posted in Issue 78 | Comments Off on May Fest’s day of wonders
University technician Kelly a true champion
August 18th, 2014
One of the most respected university technicians in the country has won new recognition for her dedication to not only enhancing the experience of students but also highlighting the vital role the technical workforce play in Higher Education.
Kelly Vere says she is “hugely proud” to be named the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Technician of the Year across all of the STEM disciplines — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Kelly, a senior technician and laboratory manager in the Institute of Biophysics, Imaging and Optical Science, said: “Technical staff make a vital, yet often unsung, contribution to a wide range of university activities, not least the student teaching and learning experience and it’s fantastic to see the technical contribution to higher education formally recognised by the HEA through these awards.”
She has authored articles in the national press and without intending to do so has become a spokesperson for highlighting the contribution of technicians.
Kelly has supported many students through degree programmes by assisting in research projects and laboratory classes, providing pastoral care and proofreading many PhD theses. Scientifically, Kelly has co-authored a number of research publications and presented her research nationally and internationally.
In 2011 she gained an MA in International Higher Education at Nottingham. The work from her thesis University technicians: undervalued, misused and misunderstood? has featured in Times Higher Education and the Guardian. In 2013 she embarked on a Professional Doctorate in Education aiming to increase the academic research available on the technical role in higher education. In parallel, she is leading a programme to enable and improve professional development of over 600 technical staff across the University.
Kelly is Head of Special Projects at the Institute of Science and Technology and a Registered Scientist (RSci) accredited by the Science Council. She sits on the committee of the University Bioscience Managers’ Association and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
She chairs the University’s Technical Focus Group, which aims to raise the profile of the technical contribution to higher education. The group has been shortlisted in the “Making a Difference” category for an S-Lab Award for supporting world-class science. Results will be announced in September at the Supporting World Class Science conference at Kings College London.
Tags: HEA, Higher Education Academy, Institute of Biophysics Imaging and Optical Science, Institute of Science and Technology, Kelly Vere, misused and misunderstood?, Technical Focus Group, Technician of the Year, University Bioscience Managers’ Association, University technicians: undervalued
Posted in Issue 78 | Comments Off on University technician Kelly a true champion
Our lives on video
August 18th, 2014
So… what’s student life really like at Nottingham? Well, who better to ask than our students?
The University’s new student video team has been charged with capturing the student experience at Nottingham. And with an iPad mini for filming, a couple of apps for editing and a University’s worth of inspiration, the team, which has a student from each of the five faculties, is now out and about making videos and telling stories.
Iain Botterill, of the Faculty of Arts, has already filmed across all of UoN’s UK campuses. His personal highlight has been Sutton Bonington’s Cake Off, featuring everything from a calf giving birth on a Victoria sponge through to the depiction of a chicken’s innards in icing. It’s organised by the vet school, you see.
“The cakes were spectacular and highlighted a pocket of Nottingham’s unique culture that I’d never normally come across,” says Iain, who is pictured, centre, with the rest of the team Charlie Conway, Chrystal King, Izzy Cross and Dylan Robson.
“I’ve also enjoyed travelling to different campuses; working with the Derby choir was great fun and opened my eyes up to a whole new campus I never realised existed.”
As well as giving both current and prospective students an insight into student life, the team is working with the University’s digital marketing and communications team to learn about interviewing, filming and editing.
“This project aims to give more of a voice to our students,” says Digital Engagement Manager Tom Wright. “It’s about allowing them to have their say on what makes the Nottingham student experience so special. Rather than us making videos about what it’s like to be a student here, we thought it would be more effective and more engaging to have students do this on our behalf. At the same time, we’re giving the students some valuable experience in producing video content for promotional use — skills that will potentially help them get a job once they graduate.”
Recent UoN graduate and Digital Communications Assistant Liam Ross heads the team. Liam interned in the digital team while in his final year and understands the importance of picking up employability skills while studying.
“There’s a huge amount of value in this project for current and prospective students of the University,” says Liam. “I know if I was still a student I would have applied to join the team in a heartbeat. The student producers are going to pick up some really desirable skills from being a part of this project, as well as the opportunity to say they’ve worked for and been paid by the University, producing some tangible content that they can show off.”
The team is partly funded by the University’s Cascade fund, which awards money to projects that will enrich the lives of Nottingham students.
You can watch the team’s Campus Cam videos — including the Sutton Bonington Cake Off one — online: tiny.cc/UonCampusCam
Tags: Charlie Conway, Chrystal King, Digital Communications Assistant Liam Ross, Digital Engagement Manager Tom Wright, Dylan Robson, Iain Botterill, Izzy Cross, student video team
Posted in Issue 78 | Comments Off on Our lives on video
Lights on Amber
August 18th, 2014
It’s now official — The University of Nottingham is an undisputed hotbed of musical talent. UoN’s London Grammar topped off an amazing 18 months by bagging an Ivor Novello in May and now attention is turning to another band who came together on the hallowed turf of University Park — Amber Run.
Decked out in Chelsea boots and All Saints knitwear Joe Keogh, Henry Wyeth, Will Jones, Tom Sperring and Felix Archer — four from UoN, Felix from Nottingham Trent — formed Amber Run in the city for something to do as much as anything else, not thinking the whole thing would take off. But then, thanks to BBC Introducing, an initiative which supports undiscovered and unsigned music, they ended up playing Reading and Leeds festivals as their fourth and fifth ever gigs.
“Before Reading and Leeds, it was genuinely just us making music for the sake of making music,” says vocalist Joe. “And then at that point some actually said ‘your music’s alright, we think people might like it’ and then it was at that point we thought ‘okay, let’s give this a go and see what we can do’.
“It was only afterwards that we realised how big it was, and so big for a small band who haven’t even released that much music. It also gave us the confidence to be able to say ‘we deserve to play headline shows and we think we can do this’.”
And the band is keen to push on from this initial success and follow in the London Grammar footsteps. “They are amazing — their success is because they’re amazing musicians and wonderful songwriters and Strong is such a huge tune,” says Joe.
“The fact they came from Nottingham Uni and are so successful — it’s healthy competition and it does spur you on,” adds Henry. “When you see your peers, who have gone through what you have, doing so well, it makes it attainable.”
You can catch Amber Run alongside headliners Tom Odell and Happy Mondays at Splendour Festival at Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall on Saturday 19 July. Visit www.splendourfestival.com for more information.
Follow the band on Twitter via @amberrunuk
Tags: Amber Run, Felix Archer, Henry Wyeth, Ivor Novello, Joe Keogh, London Grammar, Tom Sperring, Will Jones
Posted in Issue 78 | Comments Off on Lights on Amber
On the trail of the Vikings
August 18th, 2014
The first major exhibition on Vikings at the British Museum for over 30 years highlights a new research project by experts at The University of Nottingham.
Professor Judith Jesch, pictured, from the University’s Centre for the Study of the Viking Age has contributed her expertise to this landmark exhibition in the form of interviews and audio recordings on Viking culture to accompany the exhibits. She also took part in ‘Vikings Live’ from the British Museum, which was streamed in cinemas across the UK.
Thanks to a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Professor Jesch is leading an initiative to bring knowledge about Viking heritage to parts of the UK and Ireland where there is potential to develop local understanding of their links to this fascinating period.
The BP-sponsored exhibition, Vikings — Life and Legend, showcases archaeological discoveries, including religious images, coins and jewellery, swords and axes. At the centre of the show are the remains of a 37-metre Viking warship excavated at Roskilde in Denmark in 1997.
The AHRC research project, ‘Languages, Myths and Finds’ is built around the British Museum exhibition and involves 20 PhD students from eight universities led by a team of academics. The group was given a private view of the exhibition and gathered valuable information from the curator, Gareth Williams, about new ways of translating Norse and Viking culture for 21st-century audiences.
The researchers traveled to five different parts of the UK and Ireland — Dublin, Cork, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Lewis and Cleveland — to engage with local people and produce a series of guidebooks on the Viking heritage of each area. The teams worked with teachers, schoolchildren and tourism and heritage industry professionals to tailor the booklets to local needs and interests.
A two-day conference on the AHRC Languages, Myths and Finds will be held at The University of Nottingham on 28-29 June to bring academics and non-academic stakeholders together to hear and discuss the results of the project.
Professor Jesch said: “We aim to raise the profile of Viking history both in areas where the Celtic heritage dominates and in areas where there is still little awareness of their Norse history. A good example is Cleveland in north-east England where the hill called Roseberry Topping is the only place-name in England to contain the Norse form of the name of the god Odin.
“We’d like to thank the British Museum for our extremely valuable tour of the Vikings exhibition. We hope our trips to the five research locations will offer a view of the exhibition to people who may not be able to get to London to see it.”
University of Nottingham PhD student Eleanor Rye said: “I’m part of a team going to Cleveland, an area which was on the periphery of the main area of Scandinavian settlement in Northern England. It’s an area where there are plenty of traces of the Vikings in things like place names like Loftus, but where nowadays the Scandinavian story isn’t really told. We are going Viking hunting in Cleveland and will produce a booklet. We’re also holding a final conference and creating a project website. I am really interested in how Viking heritage affected our English language and the British Museum exhibition has given us fantastically rich cultural material including stories and texts to read and get to grips with.”
Aya Van Renterghem, also doing her PhD, added: “I really enjoyed the exhibition. They’ve got a lot of the really famous things on show which you hear about and read about in books but it’s something different to actually see them. I am part of the team going to the Isle of Man to make a Viking trail of the island, especially based around stone sculpture and archaeological evidence. This will eventually be available to the public and the tourist industry there. We are also running a ‘children’s university’ workshop on Viking Runes and even re-enacting a Viking burial so it’s all very exciting and a great way to disseminate our research.”
Vikings — Life and legend is at the British Museum until 22 June.
A new book, The Vikings in Britain and Ireland by Jayne Carroll (Nottingham), Stephen H Harrison (Trinity College Dublin) and Gareth Williams. (British Museum) is published by the British Museum Press to accompany the exhibition.
Tags: Arts and Humanities Research Council, Aya Van Renterghem, British Museum, Centre for the Study of the Viking Age, Eleanor Rye, Gareth Williams, Jayne Carroll, Languages Myths and Finds, Professor Judith Jesch, The Vikings in Britain, Vikings — Life and Legend, Vikings Live
Posted in Issue 78 | Comments Off on On the trail of the Vikings