RISE - University of Salford · RISE Research Innovation ... This is the story of Mende Nazer, an...

RISEResearch Innovation and Internationalisation News

November/December 2010

+Plus

EC Recognition | Youth climate | Mobile Life | Delegation to India | and much more ...

Professor Ghassan Aouad

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research & Innovation, The Old Fire Station, The Crescent

E: [email protected] T: 0161 295 5382

Professor Sue Kilcoyne

Associate Dean, Research & Innovation, College of Science and Technology, Newton Building


Professor John Keiger

Associate Dean, Research & Innovation, College of Arts and Social Sciences Crescent House


Professor Mustafa Alshawi

Associate Dean, International, College of Science and Technology, Maxwell Building


Professor Tony Warne

Associate Dean, Research & Innovation, College of Health and Social Care, Allerton Building


Professor Vian Ahmed

Director of Graduate Studies, Research & Graduate College, Faraday House, The Crescent


Dr Matt Boswell

Acting Assistant Registrar (Research Co-ordination) Research & Graduate College, Faraday House, The Crescent.


Mrs Anna Higson

Executive/Projects Officer, The Old Fire Station, The Crescent.


Mrs Gillian Southwell

PA to PVC Research & Innovation, Dean, College of Science and Technology

The Old Fire Station, The Crescent.


Mrs Sandra Wadeson

Administrator, Research & Graduate College, Faraday House, The Crescent.


Mrs Linda Kelly

PA to Director of Graduate Studies, Research & Graduate College, Faraday House, The Crescent.


Editor Anna Higson

RESEARCH AND GRADUATE COLLEGEContact details

For more information contact

Research & Graduate College,

University of Salford,

Faraday House, Salford,

Greater Manchester, M5 4WT

T: +44 (0)161 295 4616/4301

W: www.rgc.salford.ac.uk the design team, 0

161

2952

630

(313

18/1

0) Slavewitnessing the voice

From rainbows to invisibility cloaksIt’s a (Meta)Material Magical World!

Tweet the Word!Do you, Tweet, Blog, Facebook or Wiki?

Passing on the KnowledgeReal world research for use in real world situations

Centre for Disaster ResilienceUnderstanding the what, when, why and where of a disaster situation

Inside

RISE Research Innovation and Internationalisation News

...to RISE. RISE is the Research, Innovation and Internationalisation Newsletter from the Office of the

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation). The aim of RISE is to let you know about our expertise in

research, innovation and internationalisation and to reach out locally, nationally and internationally.

he weeks preceeding writing this introduction to the

November/December issue of RISE have been a time of concern

and contemplation, not just here at the University of Salford but

in Higher Education (HE) generally, with regard to the current economic

climate and the provision of Higher Education now and in the future.

However, when I think of all the academics and educational professionals

I meet in my role as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, the one word that comes to mind

is the word ‘curator’. This word comes from the Latin word cura meaning

to care, and that is exactly what HE professionals are doing: caring

passionately about the future of research in the UK, caring about the future

of our universities and our role of providing a high class education to

people from all areas of our society. In this current economic climate we

all face difficult situations with difficult decisions ahead of us, but out of

adversity can come great opportunities. The only way to advance HE is to

be good curators, to move forward, to take our research and teaching

into new areas, to support and nurture people from all levels of our society

who aspire to attend University, and to open our doors to young minds

and fresh ideas that can help us to build a stronger national picture in

future years.

Here at the University of Salford we aim to do just that. We have recently

changed our structure from faculties to colleges and our bustling schools

now sit within these three colleges,: the College of Science and

Technology; the College of Arts and Social Sciences; the College of Health

and Social Care. These vibrant and busy colleges will continue their

collaborative working across our six research themes of Energy; Media,

Digital Technology and the Creative Economy; Human Rights, Social Justice

and Security; Enterprise and Innovation; Health and Wellbeing; and the

Built and Human Environment, taking our multi-disiciplined research into

new and exciting areas.

Looking into the future and learning from the past is the message behind

our lead story in this issue. This is the story of Mende Nazer, an inspirational

woman from Sudan who has overcome great hardships and tragedy during

her lifetime. Through her testimony, she hopes to lay the foundations for

a better life for others. You can read her story on page 4.

There are awards and honours to read about, from Professor Trevor Cox

who has recently been made the President of the Institute of Acoustics

(page 9), Cristina Mendes da Costa, who has recently been named as

the Learning Technologist of the Year by the Association for Learning

Technology at their annual conference (page 8), and a fantastic

achievement by Dr. Julie Nightingale, Director of Radiography, and her

medical ultrasound colleagues whose expertise has been deemed best in

the country and as such have been appointed by the NHS as trainers to

others in their field! (page 6) Young talent also abounds in this issue.

There’s an article on young A-level students who had a fantastic time

working on anti-cancer and anti-bacterial drugs with scientists at the

University, and an article on the strong and vibrant talent pool of designers

here in the North who are part of the Designers Northern Alliance and

have been wowing the professionals at their recent exhibition.

There are also two added bonuses in this issue! The first you will see is a

supplement to RISE, (INACTION) highlighting just some of the fantastic and

engaging activity ongoing in the University, I’m sure you’ll find it an

interesting read. The second is a DVD on research and innovation at the

University; this short film will take you on a visual journey through our

University and touch on just a small amount of the fantastic research that

is ongoing here at Salford.

I’m not sure if the future’s orange, but here at the University of Salford it

is definitely bright! We’ll continue our mission to provide real world

research to address real world problems, utilising the wisdom and expertise

of experienced professionals and encouraging new talent to move us

forward into the next decade.

Please do contact us if you feel that our research is of interest to you, is

aplicable to your needs or can support your business, policy or processes

in any way. The University of Salford’s door is always open to conversation,

collaboration and new partnerships.

All are welcome!

Professor Ghassan Aouad

Pro Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation)

02 | November/December

04 Slave - witnessing the voice

06 Scanning for Health

08 Tweet the Word!

09 Read all about it

09 Make a Noise Mr President!

10 From Birth to Death

12 Brother, won’t you join the Line?

13 EC Recognition

13 Up and Over!

14 From rainbows to invisibility cloaks

16 Virtual Images = Real Choices

18 Leading the way to Business Success

18 On the Right Tracks

19 Art not to be sniffed at

19 New York, New York!

20 Passing on the Knowledge

21 Youthful climate

22 University’s Plans for Media City

24 Valuing Knowledge, Expertise and Evidence in Libraries

25 Searching the Future of Marketing

25 Reflexive Research

26 Centre for Disaster Resilience

28 Economy + Work = Employability

29 More Success!

29 Momentum Growing for ECE 2011 Conference

30 Go on Insulate... its free

32 Test Tube Researchers!

32 Recording the Creative Gesture

33 Talent Management in China

34 Open all hours

35 Mobile Life

36 Looking for talent? Its up North!

38 How many philosophers does it take to change a lightbulb?

38 Nursing Research & Education

39 Awarded for Excellence!

39 Acoustics and The Green Man

40 New Appointments

41 New beginnings

42 A Robot in your home by 2020

44 Disaster, Women and Empowerment

46 OCTIS1 2010

46 Early Career Researchers Deliver

47 Postgraduate awards

48 Delegation to India

48 India Higher Education Inward Mission

49 Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

49 Sino British College China

50 Forthcoming Events

22

Postgraduate research news

04 insidethis issue

International news

November/December | 03

Research Innovation and Internationalisation News RISE

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26

welcome

Research Innovation and Internationalisation News RISERISE Research Innovation and Internationalisation News

Much research has been undertaken around the subject of human rights: which laws need to be put in place to address international issues such as the freedom of women, the rights of children, the basic human right to food, water and shelter - all necessary and imperative to improving life chances for humans. But while reports can be read, programmes watched and

statistics analysed, none of these actions can move the world forward without doing one vital thing: listening.

he witness’ testimony reveals that which statistics and

reports can never do; testimony reveals the story of the

individual and the lasting effects of their experiences.

Researchers from the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the

University have been working with a former Sudanese slave, Mende

Nazer, to hold an academic conference to do just this: listen and bear

witness to her voice.

As a young Sudanese girl Mende’s childhood was horrifically cut short

when at the age of 12 the Mujahidin rode into her village to

murder, rape, burn down buildings and abduct the villagers. Mende

was sold as a slave to an Arab woman in Khartoum and stripped of

her name and freedom, being forced to work first in Khartoum and

then at the residence of a member of the Sudanese Embassy in

London, before escaping. Initially her appeal to stay in the UK was

refused, but following a high profile campaign she was

finally granted asylum in 2002. With the help of writer and filmmaker

Damien Lewis she turned her story into an autobiography, Slave, which

also inspired the recent Channel 4/Slate Films drama, I Am Slave, and

a forthcoming play, Slave: A Question of Freedom, which will be

premiered at the Lowry theatre in Salford Quays this month.

Inspired by Mende’s story and drawing on the University’s history of

research into testimony and performance, Vice-Chancellor Martin

Hall suggested a joint academic conference around Mende’s story in

conjunction with Feelgood Theatre Productions. The conference will

take place on 24th November and will include input from

the Director of Slave: A Question of Freedom, Caroline Clegg,

and documentary film maker and co-author of Slave, Damien Lewis,

as well as from Mende Nazer herself.

Aimed at academics, community groups and professionals working

in areas such as human rights and performance, the Salford

conference will focus on questions of telling true stories through

narrative, and relaying experiences through creative channels such as

literature and the stage.

Dr Matt Boswell, who is organising the conference, said: “Mende’s

story is terrifying and her willingness to share this story is a

tribute to her bravery. People associate the word slavery with the old

transatlantic slave trade – but it is still happening now, right on our

doorstep. At the conference we’ll be looking at how people

like Mende explore their experiences through the use of

storytelling. Salford has a strong emphasis on supporting research on

human rights, diversity and the creative industries and this event will

also link to all of these themes”.

This academic conference will address the function of testimony and

how bearing witness and telling the true story can lay the foundations

for a better life for others. Mende concludes: “I am one of the lucky

ones. I have a voice and can speak out, and I want to use my story to

help others who are not as fortunate. My story is very powerful and

sometimes overwhelming, but I know that it will educate and raise

awareness of not only slavery in Sudan but around the world, even

here in the UK”.

If you would like to know more about the research behind the

conference contact Matt at: [email protected]

If you would like to attend the conference on the 24th November

visit the website at: www.thelowry.com/event/slave-conference

Slave

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04 | November/December November/December | 05

witnessing the voice


it affects are men, men being six times more

likely to have an abdominal aortic aneurysm

than women.

However these statistics can be drastically

altered through screening. A number of

research studies, both in the UK and overseas,

have demonstrated that screening for AAA

can have important benefits. Screening aims

to detect aneurysms in asymptomatic

individuals before they rupture. The most

effective screening tool is medical ultrasound,

which is a quick, painless, safe and effective

test that can identify and take measurements

of aneurysms. The NHS AAA screening

programme is being gradually introduced

around England, with full coverage of the

country expected by March 2013. All men

will be invited for ultrasound screening in the

year they turn 65, although men over 65 can

request to be included in the screening

programme. When invited for screening, the

men will be scanned by trained sonographers

(registered radiographers with additional

ultrasound training) or screening technicians,

trained to a high standard in identifying aortic

aneurysms.

The University has a long tradition of offering

high quality ultrasound education and

training. The MSc Advanced Medical Imaging

(Ultrasound) programme at the University has

been led by Jan Dodgeon from the

Directorate of Radiography, and staff from

this Directorate will be delivering four

screening technician training programmes a

year in different sites around the UK. Each

training programme comprises a combination

of online learning, face-to-face delivery, and

practical hands-on training to complement

clinical practice in the workplace. Volunteer

patients will play an important part in both

training and assessment. Jan and her team

are also commissioned to deliver ‘training the

trainer’ sessions to ensure effective mentoring

and assessment in the workplace, and CPD

update sessions for GPs and others involved

in the screening programme. All training will

be overseen by an Advisory Group chaired by

Julie together with external stakeholders

including the commissioners, external experts

from different professional disciplines, and

professional body representatives.

This vital training will provide peace of mind

for many and will ultimately save lives, whilst

at the same time being cost-effective for the

NHS in the long term.

If you would like to know more about this

innovative training programme contact Julie

at: [email protected]

Dr Julie Nightingale, Director of Radiography in the School of Health, Sport and Rehabilitation Sciences and her medical ultrasoundcolleagues here at the University, have had one of the highest accolades possible given to them, which is that their knowledgeand expertise has been deemed the best in the country and is to be used in training others.

he University of Salford has been

awarded a three year contract to

deliver education and training to

support the NHS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Screening Programme (NAAASP), which is

currently being rolled out across England for

men aged 65 years and over.

This contract is an educational role in a vital

service, and behind any good health

education is research and tried and tested

science, but to those of us who don’t have

the medical expertise, what is an Abdominal

Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)?

The aorta is the main blood vessel that

supplies blood from the heart to the organs

of the chest and abdomen, dividing in the

pelvis into right and left branches which

supply the pelvic organs and legs. The blood

pressure within the aorta is very high, causing

the thick muscular walls to pulsate with the

contractions of the heart. In some people, as

they get older, the wall of the aorta in the ab-

domen can get weaker, and it begins to

dilate (expand).

This is known as an aneurysm, which will not

normally cause any symptoms – in other

words, the person is not aware that they have

the condition. Unfortunately, because the

aortic wall is weakened as it dilates, it can

rupture without warning, causing sudden

massive blood loss into the abdomen. This is

a life-threatening condition that requires

emergency surgery; the main group of people

T

Scanning for Health



The award was presented at the ALT

conference in Nottingham by Sugata Mitra,

Professor of Educational Technology at the

University of Newcastle.

Working with PhD students championing

innovative and critical use of social media

such as blogs, wikis and twitter for

networking, collaboration and dissemination

of their research, Cristina has recently been

involved with helping the students in the

Centre for Translation, Interpreting and

Intercultural Studies in the School of

Languages to organise the first student-led

online conference on translation and

interpreting studies which brought together

researchers from across Europe to

communicate their research via web-

conferencing.

She also works with the University's

researchers to help them make use of new

web technologies to assist collaborative

research ventures and holds regular

training sessions.

The judges praised her for: "Developing a set

of resources, activities and events that help

staff and students to learn by making

effective use of social media, for modeling

the behaviour that she wishes to encourage,

and for combining her own research with the

overall role to considerable effect".

Cristina said: "Many PhD students use social

media on a daily basis and social network

sites such as Facebook are common practice

in their personal lives. However, there is a

need to foster reflection and understanding

regarding the advantages and implications

that these communication channels can have

on their professional and academic lives.

Promoting digital literacy amongst the

research community is vital in the current

environment as it provides them with new

and open forms of sharing their work and

engaging with the wider community. I'm

extremely happy that my work at the

University has been recognised".

Cristina’s current research focuses on the use

of Information and Communication

Technologies in a changing environment,

with particular interest in analysis of the

advantages and also the implications of using

the social web for teaching, learning and

research. Her other topics of interest include

web 2.0, Curriculum Innovation, Digital

Identity, Digital Storytelling, ePortfolios,

Communities of Practice, Social Networking,

PLEs and PLNs, Mobile Technologies, Teacher

Training, all this whilst also being a PhD

student in Technology Enhanced Learning

(TEL), we think she deserves the award!

If you would like to know more about

Cristina’s research contact her at:

[email protected]

ristina is a member of Staff here at

the University in the Research and

Graduate College where she is the

Learning Technologies Development Officer,

but she is also a PhD student here at the

University, and the reason she is in this issue

of RISE is she has been named as Learning

Technologist of the Year by the Association

for Learning Technology (ALT) at their recent

conference!

ALT is a professional and scholarly association

which seeks to bring together all those with

an interest in the use of learning technology.

With over 200 organisations and

over 700 individuals in membership,

ALT facilitates collaboration between

practitioners, researchers and policy makers,

spreads good practice in the use of learning

technology, raises the profile of research

in learning technology, supports the

professionalisation of learning technologists

and contributes to the development of

policies. Cristina was given the award in

recognition of her work with postgraduate

research students and researchers across the

University and beyond.

Tweet the Word!Do you, Tweet, Blog, Facebook or Wiki? Do you know your Google from your Mozilla Firefox? No? Perhaps you need to have achat (virtual or otherwise!) with Cristina Costa!

C

Many PhD students use social media on

a daily basis

ith regard to his recent experience

Brian said: “Conference plenary

lectures are usually rather insular

affairs, aimed at impressing immediate peers

with arcane knowledge. Thus, while I was

honoured to be asked to give the centrepiece

lecture I was somewhat daunted to discover

that it would also be a public lecture at the

Yale Centre for British Art, perhaps the most

prestigious art museum of its kind outside

Britain, plus the fact that the lecture was to

be recorded for an educational podcast, that

a local journalist was to make a feature of

the lecture and that as well as the attendance

of the specialised audience there would be

many members of the New Haven public in

attendance!” Brian overcame the daunting

task and delivered a lecture entitled ‘From

Caricature to Cartoon – the Comic Image and

the Periodical Press 1820-1850’ to a full

house in the extremely well equipped and

steeply raked lecture theatre. The lecture also

resulted in a well illustrated lead article in the

New Haven Sentinel.

Brian’s lecture formed the twelfth Wolff

Lecture, named after a founding figure of the

Society, the historian Michael Wolff who, now

aged 83, was present in the audience. At the

reception in the foyer of the magnificent Louis

Kahn designed Centre Brian met a range of

local people who had come to the lecture,

and they proved to be a very well informed

and enthusiastic group.

On summing up his experience Brian said:

“for a day at least, it was a wonderful

experience to be embraced by the staggering

resources, congenial environment and

cultural standing of a world leading American

museum”.

If you would like to know more about Brian’s

research contact him at:

[email protected] you would like to read the article in the

New Haven Register visit:

www.nhregister.com/artcles/2010/09/08/life/doc4c8811993aadb292659792.txt

he Institute of Acoustics is the UK's professional body for

those working in acoustics, noise and vibration. It has 3000

members with the aim of “promoting and advancing the

art, science and technology of acoustics in all their aspects”, or put

more simply, to improve the world we hear. As President of the

Institute, in theory Trevor is the boss! He chairs Council and Executive,

committees which make all the big decisions affecting the Institute.

Although the Institute has a small office run by professionals, a lot of

work is done by volunteers from industry, academia and the public

sector, and Trevor will also get to do the nice bits such as attending

the Institute’s conferences and handing out awards to the great and

good. Trevor said: “The Institute has been very successful in recent

years, but it is still rather reactive, as the President I hope to establish

more forward-looking budgeting as well as strategic and operational

planning. In the current recession, balancing the budget is a concern”.

Not only has Trevor been doing his normal job of Professing and

Researching at the University, along with being President of the

Institute he has also has been a Journalist for a month. He said: “at

the New Scientist I spent a month in their offices writing stories. The

idea was to improve my ability to communicate science and developing

contacts for future public engagement activities. I’ve been very lucky

to be a Senior Media Fellow funded by the Engineering and Physical

Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and part of my fellowship has

involved taking placement in media organisations. Soon after I arrived,

the story of the annoying vuvuzelas at the World Cup hit the news.

I wrote a short on-line piece for the New Scientist which was even

tweeted by the White House! Other writing included a piece on

Acoustic Archaeology, investigating how important sound was to

ancient sites such as Stonehenge, which appeared in the printed

magazine”.

But that was not the end of Trevor’s work in London. Immediately after

finishing his placement, he spent a week performing a Science Show

at the Purcell Rooms, South Bank Centre, London. It was part of the

Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition and involved working with

professional singers to explore the science of the human voice.

You can follow Trevor’s x Presidency on

http://twitter.com/ioa_presidentOr if you would like to know more about his research contact him at:

[email protected]

Read all about it

Make a Noise Mr President!

W

Professor Brian Maidment, College of Arts and Social Sciences here at the University was recently honoured by being approachedto deliver the Wolff lecture centrepiece at the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals annual conference in New Haven, USA.

June was a busy month for Professor Trevor Cox, from the University’s School of Computing Science and Engineering, not onlydid he spend a month being a journalist at New Scientist, he also became President of the Institute of Acoustics.

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his new, multi-disciplinary research

centre includes expertise from a

wide range of disciplines including

social work, public health, social

epidemiology, psychology, social policy,

historical archaeology, counselling and

psychotherapy whilst also drawing on

members from related research disciplines

including housing, environmental health,

sociology and nursing and midwifery.

The Centre is also closely linked with the

World Health Organisation (WHO)

Collaborating Centre (oral health in

deprived communities).

The Centre for Social Justice Research is

concerned with fairness and equity in

society, exploring major issues such as

poverty, exclusion, health inequalities and

human rights. In order to do this

the research centre collaborates with

universities and research groups in the UK,

Europe and beyond to make a positive impact

in people’s lives.

Social and health Inequalities; community

and professional engagement and social,

psychological and public health interventions

are the three major streams of current

research work in the Centre, streams which

are constantly growing and being developed.

The first of these themes is closely linked

to WHO’s agenda of “closing the

inequalities gap in a generation” and is

particularly concerned with; delivering

equity from the start, promoting universal

access to health and social care and

understanding and tackling social exclusion.

The second stream, community and

professional engagement, seeks to promote

social justice by focusing on such areas as

oppression, disadvantage, human rights and

security, with the research also

focussing on the work of professionals

in these areas, including their training

and pedagogical underpinnings.

The third stream, social, psychological and

public health interventions, includes research

on improving health and well being, advocacy

and therapies and psychological capabilities.

Newly emerging research involves the areas

of social policy and health psychology with

new Professorial appointments.

The research team at the Centre work with a

wide variety of funders such as; The

European Union, The Home Office, Ministry

of Defence, Economic and Social Research

Council, National Institute for Health

Research, Children’s Workforce Development

Council (CWDC) and private companies such

as Unilever, local authorities, primary care

trusts and third sector organisations such as

the Prince’s Trust and Petrus.

There are also 31 postgraduate research

students linked to the Centre whilst the

school is also home to postgraduate

programmes in Social Work, Counselling and

Psychotherapy, Public Health and

Psychology. This School and Research

Centre are making real and tangible

differences at local, national and

international levels, not just for the future but

for the here and now.


the research ongoing in the School

contact: [email protected] or

[email protected]

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How do we cope with looking after our ever expanding and diversifying society? What makes society tick? Are we providingthe right kind of health and social care for future generations? Are the plans we implement now equitable and morally just?Will they work in the future? Researchers in the School of Social Work, Psychology and Public Health, here at the University,form the new Centre for Social Justice Research and are looking at just such questions leading to exciting and challenging

times ahead!


From Birthto Death

and all

inbetweenHuman Side

the


hese projects are about discovering how specific

working-class communities (the Chartists and Owenites in

the early C19th, British Communists in the first half of the

C20th, and trade union members in the mid C20th) used periodicals

to shape and develop their message or agenda. Together these

projects will examine the role of periodical publications in giving voice

to specific working-class political movements within this broad period.

Each student will be supervised by a University expert and

co-supervised by the expertise of Lynnette Cawthra who is the WCML

Library Manager.

The first student (supervised by Sharon and Lynette) to start this

marathon of PhDs is Jen Morgan. Jen has just begun her study of the

‘Transmission and Reception of P. B. Shelley in Working-Class Journals’

this academic year. The WCML holds a surprising number of early

nineteenth-century journals and Jen will be exploring the use to which

Shelley’s poetry is put in journals published from the aftermath of

‘Peterloo’ to the end of the Chartist period, roughly 1820-1850.

The second PhD student (supervised by Ben Harker from English/

Sociology and Lynnette) will begin work on ‘Culture, Journals and

Communism in Britain, 1935-50, reading journals central to

communist debates on national culture in an effort to explain why and

how communists analysed and sought to improve British culture

between 1935 and 1950.

Then in 2012, a third and final student (supervised by John Callaghan

from Politics and Lynnette) will begin a PhD project on ‘Political

Cultures in British Trade Unionism, 1931-79’, investigating the politics

of British trade unions through the in-house journals of leading trade

unions.

The real distinctiveness of these particular PhD projects though is that

in the second year of their study, each student will spend a year based

at the Working-Class Movement Library, to use the archives and to

work on library business. It is aimed that the students will give public

talks on their research, specialist tours of the library, curate an

exhibition on their project, and write a finding aid for the library’s

resources in the area they have explored. The students will also be

offered the opportunity to be trained to index, catalogue and digitise

the journal material they examine, to help with the WCML’s audience

development and outreach activities, or to develop the library’s web

presence and social network.

If you would like to know more about this research project contact

Sharon at: [email protected]

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EC RecognitionThe University has recently received recognitionfrom the European Commission for its work to support the career development of researchers. Dr. Victoria Sheppard, Research Skills Co-ordinatorat Salford, represented the University at the recentVitae Researcher Development where the ‘badging’ was to take place. Salford is one of onlyten universities in the UK to have achieved this status.

he European Commission ‘badging’ is the

result of a national benchmarking exercise,

which was carried out by Universities UK in

March 2010 and measures what Higher Education

Institutions (HEIs) are doing to implement the Concordat

to Support the Career Development of Researchers.

It looks at the standards of management and support

that UK researchers can expect, in alignment with the

European Charter and Code. Victoria said: “The EC

badging is a useful way of publicising the University

internationally, to researchers who are considering

coming to work in the UK. It was awarded to Salford in

recognition of the support that the University

currently offers to colleagues on research-only

contracts and its strategic commitment to continuously

improve the recognition, retainment and professional

development of its research staff.”

The University set up a Concordat Steering Group in

2009 to oversee the implementation of the Concordat,

this has involved consultation with Salford’s contract

research staff, a feedback event and the development

of an action plan, which sets out practical steps to

improve the representation and integration of this

community within the University.

For more information on the University’s

implementation of the Concordat, visit

www.research.salford.ac.uk/research_staff_concordat.

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here are approximately

70,000 masonry arch bridges

on the UK road and rail

networks (approx. 1 million spans

worldwide), the vast majority of which

are now well beyond the 120 year life

usually expected of bridges. Though

masonry arch bridges are in general

considered long-lived structures, large

numbers are now showing signs

of distress.

However, the cost of replacing these

bridges in the UK alone would run into

tens of billions of pounds, and their

aesthetic and heritage value is also

significant. Unfortunately the methods

currently used to assess their safety are

antiquated and/or over-simplistic,

making the task of prioritising

renewal or refurbishment schemes

extremely difficult. Weathering,

continually increasing traffic volumes

and factors such as the increased

frequency of flood events brought

about by climate change only serve to

exacerbate the situation.

The need to ensure our bridge stock can

safely carry current and projected traffic

loading has led to dramatically increased

interest in the performance of masonry

arch bridges over the past few decades,

with UK researchers playing a leading

role in this internationally. Gareth and

Clive’s research will lead to the provision

of significantly improved guidance for

bridge assessment engineers.


this research contact Gareth at:

[email protected]

T

Up and Over!Dr. Gareth Swift and Professor Clive Melbourne of the Civil Engineering

Research Group here at the University, are celebrating securing a £650,000

EPSRC grant for a 40 month research project to gain an improved

understanding of the behaviour of soil-filled masonry arch bridges under

both ‘ultimate’ and cyclic ‘working’ loading regimes.


Brother, won't you join the Line?

The University is celebrating the success of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) application for an extended programme of three consecutive Collaborative Doctoral Awards (or CASE awards) in partnership with the Working-Class Movement Library (WCML). The entire programme looks at ‘Culture, Journals and Working-Class Movements, 1820-1979’

focusing on the library’s extensive journal holdings.

Allan has been leading an EPSRC project for the lastthree years and together with major scientists from theUniversity of Surrey, has produced a Nature paper on thistopic. It has now attracted 100 citations, which makes itone of the most cited University papers in recent years.


‘

’

ver the last ten years, the idea that artificial materials could

be created to give us a way of life beyond our dreams, has

taken root throughout the world. Exploiting the Greek word

‘meta’ meaning ‘beyond’, the word metamaterial has been adopted

to describe an artificial material constructed from ‘atoms’ or

‘molecules’ of our choice, and it turns out that their influence on the

behaviour of light is so remarkable that the outcomes are truly

breathtaking. If we think of a prism, or a pair of spectacles, we can

soon get used to the idea that light is redirected for our benefit.

After centuries of acceptance of this everyday occurrence, the onset

of the last decade coincided with the dramatic idea that adding

magnetism to materials can alter our expectations in a most dramatic

way. The question of how to do this was answered by the construction

of the metamaterial. Progress over the last ten years has lead to the

invention of various types of metamaterials, and to the stimulation of

revolutionary ideas in optics and the use of nanotechnology.

The ideas that have taken us all by surprise are now led by the trapping

of rainbows and the design of invisibility cloaks. Firing a beam of light

into a wedge shaped piece of metamaterial enables the light to be

brought to a standstill. This is quite remarkable because the stopping

of light in its tracks seems an impossible thing to do, but it is absolutely

necessary to do this if light beams are to be used to make the

computers of the future. As if this was not the only outcome, it is also

the case that light of different colours can be brought to rest at

different points in the wedge.

This leads to the description of the trapping of a rainbow. Allan has

been leading an EPSRC project for the last three years and together

with major scientists from the University of Surrey, has produced a

Nature paper on this topic. It has now attracted 100 citations, which

makes it one of the most cited University papers in recent years.

As if the trapped rainbow work was not enough for the metamaterial

field, the latest developments are pursuing what is known as

transformation optics. It is incredible that the ideas underpinning this

go back to the early part of the last century concerning relativity, and

introduce the possibility of using metamaterials to bend the path of

light into whatever direction is preferred. The natural application for

this kind of light control is to be able to bend light around objects to

cloak them, i.e. to hide them from view. This is a really wonderful, and

totally unexpected, direction, but there is more to come! Salford is

now involved, not only in trying to cloak a stationary object, but

together with Imperial College London, Allan and Rhiannon are

working out how to hide a whole sequence of events. For example, a

CCTV camera could be observing an area, but if an intruder into that

area is suitably embedded into a metamaterial, a piece of time is

erased from history, and the camera will see nothing! So is Harry

Potter’s invisibility cloak fiction or a future possibility? Watch

this space!

If you would like to know more about this research project contact

Allan at: [email protected]

Allan Boardman, Professor of Applied Physics from the University’s College of Science and Technology, along with hisresearch student Rhiannon Mitchell-Thomas, are engaged in cutting edge research in the globally hot topic called

metamaterials. Rhiannon, who obtained a top-class first in Physics at Salford, is working with Allan to bring out someof the magic of these new materials and is helping to establish Salford as a leading player.

O



IT’S A (META)MATERIAL

MAGICAL WORLD!

From rainbows to invisibility cloaks

n the Research Centre for Virtual Environments, VETS3D have

created the Virtual Housing Suite which allows professionals

from the public and private sector to access a range of tools

and services that facilitate a number of controlled and bespoke

interactions with tenants, suppliers and other stakeholders. Using a

games engine environment, extensive modelling techniques and links

to external databases, this approach has built on the expertise drawn

from the research at the University into immersive virtual environments

and its uses within the public arena.

A recent project has been undertaken with City West Housing Trust,

based in Salford, to engage with tenants involved with the Barton

Village Project in Eccles. The outline of the work is to refurbish four

high rise housing blocks and improve the energy efficiency of the

structures.

A representation of the site with a number of possible options was

presented to residents of the housing blocks by using an interactive

model, This enable d the residents to understand the choices on offer

to them and visualise the changes to their home environment.

The model that the VETS3D team designed allowed for the addition

of further data sets, so for example the team were able to overlay a

visual representation of collated thermal data to allow for comparison

between the current materials used and proposed materials for

external render and windows., which in turn showed the potential

heat loss and heat savings. In projects such as this, clear and effective

communication is paramount to success and the model proved

invaluable when used with residents to explain the issues around

energy efficiency for their flat and the surrounding building.

Sustainability Manager at City West Housing Trust, Jon Cross, worked

with the VETS3D team and decided to utilise the tool in his work as

he felt it would give the project added value, Jon said: “the Barton

Village 3D modelling tool brings the expertise of the University of

Salford out into our local community, visually informing customers of

the design option decisions for their homes. This is the

first visualisation tool that brings real information choice to staff

and customers".

Any Regeneration Manager knows that tenant engagement is

essential in these types of upgrade projects, as Nigel Sedman, Head

of Investment & Regeneration at the Trust, said: “the biggest risk to

projects such as this is customer buy in. The University of Salford’s

virtual model allowed tenants to visualise a range of options for their

homes allowing them to engage fully in the project. This created a real

feeling of inclusion and vision within the tenant group and allowed

this phase of the project to run smoothly”.

VETS3D is a prime example of cross disciplinarily research themes

working closely with external partners to deliver the required results,

as Paul Welshman, Business Manager of the VETS Research Centre

said: “this is an example of a commercial unit within the University’s

Energy theme, working with one of our key partners in Salford City

Council in order to bring a product to market. Salford City Council

helped us to identify an industrial partner in City West Housing Trust

who will now be using the tool to interact and engage with the wider

community. This is a perfect example of the University integrating into

the public and private sector, using research and innovation and

making our technology available in the public domain”.

If you feel VETS3D could help your business or work area or you would

like to know more about the research behind VETS3D contact Paul at:

[email protected]

In the current economic climate, careful thought into the planning of public services and the best way of spending publicmonies on projects such as refurbishing housing, is an essential prerequisite of any organisation, and the University of Salfordhas just the way to help.

I

=VirtualImages Real

Choices




Leading theway to Business SuccessThe University of Salford’s BusinessSchool was one of 13 providers in theNorth West selected by the North WestDevelopment Agency to deliver theLeading Enterprise and Development(LEAD) programme. The programme isrun by experts from the University of Salford, alongside leading industry professionals. The team at Salford consists of: Veronica Jones as LEAD Project Manager, Dr Ed Doran as Programme Leader and Liz Walker asLEAD Administrator.

EAD is a 10 month leadership

programme specifically aimed at

companies with up to 50

employees and is designed to equip

owner-managers with the skills and abilities

they need to increase profits, capitalise on

new opportunities and make the most of

their existing resources. Concentrating on

two areas: the business itself and the

personal development of the owner-manager,

the LEAD programme is made up of several

elements which run alongside each other

throughout the 10 months and it requires

2-3 days commitment per month. These

elements are: a two-day Residential

“Overnight Experiential”; Masterclasses;

Action Learning Sets; Expert Coaching;

Shadowing & Exchanges; Learning &

Reflection Days and Online Forum.

To date the Masterclass speakers have

included two of Salford Business School’s

Visiting Professors, international lawyer

Professor Arun Singh OBE and marketing

guru, Professor Malcolm McDonald.

The School has been working with 56 SME’s

so far on this programme. The first cohort of

LEAD participants successfully completed

and graduated from the programme in

June 2010 and the second group, which

started in February 2010, is due to graduate

in December this year. A third group started

in September 2010 and a fourth one is

planned for March 2011.

For further information on the LEAD

programme at Salford, please contact

Veronica Jones on [email protected] visit: www.business.salford.ac.uk/LEAD

Congratulations go to Professor T X Mei, Chair of Control and Mechatronics, Directorof Engineering 2050 Research Centre from the School of Computing, Science and Engineering here at the University, who has recently been awarded £345,887 in a research grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)to study innovative methods for Challenging Established Rules for Train Controlthrough a Fault Tolerant Approach. The project will be led by Professor Mei from Salford’s Engineering 2050 Centre along with his Salford colleague Dr. Samia Nefti-Meziani, also from the School of Computing, Science and Engineering, and work in collaboration with The Institute for Transport Studies at the Universityof Leeds with colleagues Dr R Liu, Professor M Carey and Dr T Whiteing.

his exciting new project brings

together a multi-disciplinary

multi-skilled team to develop a

new integrated approach that can be used to

challenge the current conservative safety

rules in signalling and train systems and to

increase capacity at busy stations and

junctions.

The expertise level runs high in this project

with the team consisting of specialists in rail-

way research as well as experts from outside

of the industry, providing a highly

appropriate mix of relevant skills in railway

signalling, scheduling, network modelling,

safety and fault tolerance methods, and

evolutionary computational techniques for

optimisation which are all essential for

tackling the problem in question effectively.

The project proposes to develop a fault

tolerant approach to the design and

operation of the rail network, by integrating

track design (e.g. the track layout, the

positions of points and signalling blocks) with

dynamic routing/scheduling, optimised using

a novel evolutionary computational approach

particularly suited for combining multi

objective optimisation with safety/risk

management. Many challenges lie ahead in

this project and one of the key challenges for

the research team is to develop solutions that

do not require additional new infrastructure

investment or major changes to existing

stations/junctions.

If you would like to know more about TX’s

research contact him at:

[email protected]

On the Right Tracks

TNew York, New York!University of Salford’s Dr Maria Burke and her Research Fellow Michael Quigley, both have good reason to celebrate as one of the world’s most famous Magazines highlighted their current research activities when their Digital Research Project was featured recently in the New York Times Magazine!

he research project entitled, talesofthings.com (ToTEM), is

funded by EPSRC and is led by Dr Chris Speed at

Edinburgh College of Art who gave the interview.

The University partners included in the project are: Brunel, Salford,

Dundee, Edinburgh and University College London.

Maria said: “This is really thrilling! – so far this year our work has been

featured by the BBC, by top technology sites such as Wired, by New

Scientist Magazine and now the New York Times, plus the project also

featured as an article in there! The Brussels Airline in flight magazine.

As to the future, well its very bright… just wait and see where we go

with this!”

Maria and the team have just finished working with a large Estate

Agent in Manchester and more details on research emerging from this

part of the project will be forthcoming in following issues.

If you would like to know more about Maria’s research or the ToTEM

Project contact her at: [email protected]

T

ub is an innovation space and pop

up gallery based in a disused retail

space in Salford. By attracting an

audience to an otherwise empty retail unit,

this project aims to support the regeneration

of the City and further create links between

the University, its local community and the

creative industries that surround it. Working

as a cross University fusion between research,

academic enterprise and teaching and

learning, Hub aims to facilitate the incubation

and showcase for ideas and creative outputs

through a series of curated shows and events

by the partners involved. Each of the projects

is collaborative involving the community

and the creative industries. Partners

include Central Salford Urban Regeneration

Company, BBC 21CC, Lets go Global, Soup

Collective and producer and curator Bren

Callaghan, to further secure cultural and

industry links within the community. There is

also a virtual Hub in Second Life at the Salford

Metaverse and first and second life visitors

gathered together for the launch.

An alternative method of viewing the classic

British film ‘My Beautiful Launderette’ was

one of the first offerings at Hub, with

Manchester-based Producer Bren O'Callaghan

working in collaboration with Charlotte and

the School of Art to present the film via

nostrils and throats and not just eyes and ears

as part of the Hazard Festival. Screenings

were a real retro hit and the Friday night

audiences were treated to a question and

answer session with Gordon Warnecke, an

actor from the original film. In a period of

escalating 3-D movie production, itself

stemming from a gimmick long thought

redundant, Scratch ‘n Sniff Cinema is a

purposely no-tech method descended from

the era of Odorama and Smell-O-Vision,

popularised by the likes of trash film director

John Waters (Polyester, Hairspray). Salford

students had worked with staff to create the

set to transform Hub into Tub for the night!

Let’s Go Global in collaboration with Hub

held a pervasive gaming event called ‘Zombie

Nation’. Exploring new ways of engaging

with urban public spaces this event combined

creative technology, gaming and performance

and involved local youth groups who through

playing the game experienced digital media

training, with ‘mash up’ edits of the film

captured on their hand held digital video

cameras as they solved the clues provided.

Passersby joined in and some came along

dressed as zombies on the day to engage with

game and the space, such as the zombie

knitter who took over one of the empty

shop units encouraging others to join her

in knitting!

‘Offit’ was Mary Oliver’s along with Lois

Klassen’s foray into the Hub. Mary who is the

Head of the Performance Research Centre in

the School of Music Media and Performance

and Lois during their six-week collaborative

residency at Hub, explored the locale specific

to the gallery, just on the border of Salford

and Manchester. As travelers and explorers

the artists were considering the imbalance

caused by the presence of cultural production

in urban spaces.�‘Offit’ - Salford vernacular for

‘not on it’, out of sorts, or not quite right, is

an installation in which the visitor finds

themselves confronted with things that are

‘Offit - not on it’. This exhibition asks: does

art produce a condition of offit and is this a

useful condition from which to view the

process of urban regeneration?

If you would like to know more about the

research behind the hub contact Charlotte at:

[email protected]

L

Art not to be sniffed atWhat do you do with a disused space? Well if you’re Charlotte Gould, Head of Creative Technology & Communications Research Centre in the School of Art and Design here at the University, you turn it into an innovative art gallery!

H



Passing on the KnowledgeReal world research for use in real world situations, that’s the ethos here at the University of Salford, working with organisations, supporting the development of new products and services to create impact not just at local business

and community level but regionally, nationally and internationally. Never more so are these intentions alive and kicking than in the University’s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships(KTPs)

e’ve written about the KTP office before and its success in

creating new knowledge partnerships, currently 22 live

KTPs, benefitting a wide range of local businesses, students,

academics and researchers alike.

Marie Foley KTP Administrator tells RISE “For several years the

University has used HEIF funding to support the short-term

placement of academic staff in organisations to enable the

development of new products and services. This has proved to be an

extremely successful initiative at a number of levels. Benefits have

included good relationships between academics and companies

resulting in further placements, projects and consultancy and the

development of Knowledge Transfer activities particularly through

Knowledge Transfer Partnership projects. Under HEIF 4 the University

has an allocation of funding to support staff placement activity. As this

is the final year there is a limited amount of funding available and each

application will be assessed against the extent to which the

activity will lead to the following; development of a KTP, innovation in

products, services and processes, contract/collaborative research

(particularly with SMEs), consultancy and other commercial services”.

Seeing is believing as they say and never more so with KTPs, the proof

that these successful KTP partnerships work for all those concerned is

clearly demonstrated in the partnership between Fuji Film Imaging

Colorants Ltd and the School of Computing, Science and Engineering

(CSE) here at the University. Fuji required the expertise to develop

analytical methodology to characterise the morphology of primary

particles of organic pigment based inks to study the interaction of the

ink vehicle when printed onto media using inkjet technologies.

Working in partnership with Geoff Parr from CSE and utilising

X-ray Diffraction together with Transmission Electron Microscopy and

high resolution Scanning, Fujifilm now have a methodology allowing

them to continue with their studies and are using the knowledge

transferred to them by the University to evaluate further technologies.

Definitely a win win situation! Universities through KTPs can support,

develop and inspire local businesses; the KTP office at the University

is always open for discussion and collaboration.

If you as an academic would like to apply under the final stages of the

HEIF 4 or if you’re a business who would like to know more about

KTPs and what the University can do for you, contact Marie Foley at:

[email protected]

limate change was the issue and

Simon and colleagues in Virtual

Environments at the University,

created, as part of the Iconic Project, an

opportunity for pupils around the globe to

show their work and discuss issues. At a time

when climate change is highly topical, this

project set out to determine how various

forms of IT could be used to bring together

young people and to help them to find out

more and discuss their thoughts and feelings

around this important, but contentious topic.

Below the Big Screen in Exchange Square

pupils involved in the project from St.

Ambrose Barlow High School in Salford also

talked to passing shoppers and city centre

workers demonstrating their work live on

laptops .

Working in collaboration with the BBC’s

21CCs and schools in London, Salford and

Shanghai via East China Normal University

(ECNU) the schools were equipped with

professional quality weather stations allowing

pupils to collect their own meteorological

data, this year there has been a wide range

of weather events to say the least from heavy

snow to heat waves and not a little

controversy surrounding climate change

following 'Climate Gate'!

Through a bespoke programme of workshops

hosted by the BBC's 21CCs the schools'

meteorological data provided the context

for discussion of the issues and

misunderstandings surrounding climate

change. From December 2009 to July 2010 a

programme of 8 workshops were delivered,

with the final event taking place as

mentioned above, on Manchester’s BBC big

screen in September this year. Initially the

workshops made use of various video

conferencing facilities to discuss the weather

data that the different schools had collected.

Live discussions were held between pupils in

Salford, London and Shanghai and the

contrasts between each location's weather

data and the difference between weather

and climate was debated.

Working with the Virtual Environment

Specialists (VETS) at the University the project

also developed a unique, 3D VE to further

facilitate communication between schools.

In this environment pupils were able to

upload the material they had created e.g.

video clips, posters and podcasts and discuss

key climate change issues using the chat

facility. Topics for discussion ranged from the

Greenhouse Effect to the Ozone Hole with

pupils in different locations sharing the

information they had gathered, asking

questions and trying to reach a common

understanding.

The research undertaken through this project

allowed researchers at the University to

explore the use of telepresence experiences

to understand how different ways of

interacting across a distance can contribute to

the learning process and assess the combined

use of range of technologies. These events

provided a range of challenges e.g. dealing

with diverse groups and linking

communications across several time zones.

The challenges were met head on by

researchers and pupils and highlighted for all

the schools involved that through the

technology of the future the world is a smaller

place and its problems more easily solved by

working together.


Simon’s research contact him at:

[email protected] visit the project website at

www.cccproject.co.uk

W

The BBC Big Screen in Central Manchester was the showcase for one of the six VC’s Iconic Project for MediaCityUK recently,when Dr. Simon Hutchinson, School of Environment & Life Sciences here at the University, took his Virtual Environment (VE)

project live and youthful!

C

Youthful

climate


ocusing on how the BBC were aiming to use MediaCityUK

as a catalyst to drive forward the development,

management and archiving of the BBC’s growing volume

of digital content, Tim stressed the critical role of the University in

designing and developing new programmes to deliver graduates

equipped with the right skills and industry knowledge to fill new,

emerging and exciting roles.

The keynote speech from the BBC was just one of a number of

interactive sessions delivered as part of the day. With less than one

year to go until the doors open to the first 1,500 students, the Summit

was designed to provide key University colleagues, with an in-depth

insight of the innovation, advanced technologies and collaborative

working that is shaping the University’s MediaCityUK Programme.

Delegates were given a preview of what Curriculum, Research and

The Student Experience would look and feel like at MediaCityUK in

October 2011.

Alongside the formal presentations, delegates were given the

opportunity to experience some of the new technologies and

equipment destined for MediaCityUK. Paul Welshman from the

University’s VETS team, alongside Steve Bradley and Russell Vaughan

from Cisco, demonstrated the teleconferencing facilities that would

be available at MediaCityUK which, as well as providing a direct link

to a global audience, could also be used to share real time learning

and research across the University estate.

Over lunch, delegates were treated to a number of interactive digital

performances from staff based in the Performance Research Centre.

Following these performances, Professor Ghassan Aouad Pro Vice

Chancellor, Research & Innovation and Professor Brian Longhurst Pro

Vice Chancellor, Digital & Media Futures, outlined the vision for

research at MediaCityUK. Central to this vision is the creation

of a dedicated research base in the form of a ‘Research Hotel’.

Ghassan and Brian emphasised the pivotal role this will have in the

achievement of the University’s strategic objectives for Research and

Innovation facilitated through this new and collaborative approach.

University colleagues were given the opportunity to set out their views

on the opportunities for MediaCityUK over the next three years. The

University’s MediaCityUK sponsor, Dr Adrian Graves, Deputy Vice

Chancellor and Registrar, closed the Summit reflecting on the

outcomes saying “The great achievement of the day was to

demonstrate that our presence and activities in MediaCityUK will

transform the University of Salford.”

Summarising the day, Andrew Kemp MediaCityUK Programme

Director said “The summit has been successful in bringing

MediaCityUK to life”. Andrew thanked colleagues across the

Programme saying “We now have a strong view of how it will look

and work on day one. The challenge from this point forward is to

start the transition of staff, students and systems to MediaCityUK to

ensure the University realises the full potential of this unique and

innovative facility. The key to its success will be effective engagement

with the local communities, the public and partners”.

If you would like to learn more about the summit or the

University’s plans for MediaCityUK please visit the website at:

www.mcuk.salford.ac.uk or contact the Programme Team at:

[email protected]

Tim Sargeant, Head of Technology BBC North, addressed over sixty delegates at the University’s second MediaCityUK Summit recently. Speaking of the challenges faced by one of the world’s most established broadcasting organisations, Tim highlighted

the importance of Higher Education and specifically the University of Salford’s presence at MediaCityUK, in helping to develop solutions that meet the ever

changing needs of digital and media industries.

IndustryLeaders

participate in

University’s Plans

MediaCityUKfor


F

Photograp

hy b

y:Peel Media



vidence based practice (EBP) is an approach to decision

making that involves a process of integrating the best

available research evidence with professional knowledge

and expertise. Evidence based practice has been a key feature of

modules within the School of Nursing for a number of years,

but recently two active research staff within the school, Alison Brettle

and Maria Grant, were successful in obtaining a bid to host a major

international conference in another area of EBP, that of library and

information practice.

The 6th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

Conference will be hosted by the University of Salford from

27th-30th June 2011. The conference will provide an exciting

opportunity for collaboration between the School of Nursing and

Midwifery and the University Library and beyond, with local and

international organising committees made up of representatives from

a range of the library sectors.

Libraries are usually associated with storing or finding information and

evidence rather than using or generating it, and as a profession which

is not traditionally associated with conducting research, generating

sufficient evidence can be a challenge! But EBP is important to libraries

for a number of reasons. As a professional service libraries need to

ensure that the decisions they make are based on the best available

evidence as this affects the service they provide to their users.

For example should a University Library switch all its journal and book

collections to electronic ones as many students are now distance

learners? How would this affect remaining students? Libraries are

increasingly being asked to evaluate and justify the services they offer

to provide evidence of effectiveness, value for money or impact on the

‘community’ around them. How would a public library provide

evidence of this? Does it just provide books for children or a valuable

resource to the whole community? Will this information convince

councils of a continued need for funding? Librarians spend much of

their time providing information to others to help them make

professional decisions and teaching people how to incorporate

evidence based approach into their work, it makes sense that they

practise what they preach!

With a core strand of valuing knowledge and expertise, the conference

will seek to explore issues such as these and the best ways of

incorporating evidence into professional library practice.

The conference themes are set to provide something of interest for

everyone and include: reflection; outcomes, impact and value;

practicality and applicability; and innovation, education and research.

Dr Hazel Hall of the Library and Information Science Research Coalition

will be a keynote along with others from the local academic and library

sectors to promote the wealth of expertise within the University and

the North West. Previous conferences have been held in Sheffield,

Canada, Australia, US and Sweden and have attracted a wide range

of national and international delegates.

To find out more about the conference contact conference Chairs

Alison Brettle or Maria Grant at: [email protected] or

[email protected]

Or visit the conference website at: www.eblip6.salford.ac.uk

Most people would agree that important decisions need to be based on strong evidence. In recent years the evidence based practice movement has gained momentum and acceptance, not only in healthcare (where it began) but across a range of professions and areas of policymaking.


Valuing Knowledge, Expertise and

Evidence in Libraries


he new programme offers business training courses

in search marketing and social media marketing.

The programme comprises four evenings for the Foundation

and six evenings for the Professional course, runs over ten weeks

and aims to shape the search engine optimisation industry.

The identification of the need for search engine optimisation (SEO)

training is the result of ongoing research in the Information Systems,

Organisations and Society Research Centre (ISOS) and also of

collaborative work undertaken with commercial partner organisations

such as the Latitude Group, MEC Manchester, MediaVest, PushON and

the SEMPO Institute. Demand for the programme has been confirmed

by delegate registrations – all twelve places for the September 2010

cohort of learners have been filled.

Search engine marketing management is becoming an increasingly

important discipline used by organisations that want to reach out and

interact with the increasing online user population. Moreover,

marketers can also realise benefits of measurement such as return on

investment that are unprecedented in other media. For example, tools

such as Google Analytics allow website owners to track the journey

of a visitor to their website, activity whilst on their website and at what

point they leave. This all provides a wealth of data helping marketers

to develop and optimise their web pages to suit their prospects’ needs.

Keeping the training material up-to-date is one of the main concerns

for any programme in such a dynamic field as search engine

optimisation. Therefore, the course combines the work of three main

contributors – academics, local industry experts and a leading

international body in the field, who together, through a process of

peer review, develop the latest thinking and practice in the area of

search and social media.

The trend demonstrated by the increased industry investment in

Search & Social Media Marketing is encouraging, however, despite its

popularity in business, there are still not many academic studies in this

area and to meet this need, Salford Business School is currently

exploring the options of a Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Search

& Social Media Marketing as well as encouraging doctoral research in

the field in topics such as: Search engine optimisation and its

integration with marketing and Social Media Marketing. It is

anticipated that these programmes will be delivered at the new unique

digital learning, teaching and research space at MediaCityUK from

October 2011.

If you would like to know more about Aleksej’s research or the new

programme contact him at: [email protected] or visit

www.searchmarketing.salford.ac.uk

Searching the Future of Marketing Salford Business School is currently offering a new and cutting edge executive education programme – Search and Social MediaMarketing. This is particularly timely, since last year the UK reached an historic milestone – spending on online advertising surpassed that of advertising on TV and the current thinking is that the US economy will follow in 2010 by becoming the secondmajor economy to spend more on online advertising compared with traditional media.

URF have carried out work across a number of themes on

science cities, knowledge regions, innovation ecosystems

and univer-cities, on critical infrastructure, urban retrofitting

and the development of energy alternatives to reduce resource

consumption.

Research has been funded by academic, government, industry and

other types of funding organisation. What this means is a ‘mixed

economy’ of research, underpinned by long-term intellectual agendas

and a desire to inform contemporary debates in practice. Working in

this way requires a particular context and culture. In search of

engaged research that is both ‘excellent’ and ‘relevant’ we need to

understand the relationship between what academics do and where

and how they do it.

These issues form the focus of a new book, written by Professor Tim

May and Dr Beth Perry, entitled ‘Social Research & Reflexivity –

Content, Consequences and Context’ (Sage 2011). This book

examines the critical gaps in thinking about reflexivity and social

research, how reflexive practice is shaped by contexts and cultures in

which researchers work and how research practice might respond to

twin demands of excellence and relevance in the knowledge-based

economy. With acclaims from the academic community ‘….Thought

provoking and well-organised’… ‘a harsh critique of academic

business as usual…’ this book develops a new position on reflexive

research that will generate much debate.

For more information please contact: [email protected] or

[email protected] or see www.surf.salford.ac.uk

Reflexive ResearchThe Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures (SURF) at the University of Salford has a critical research focus on howcities can address the challenge of developing a sustainable and knowledge-based economy.

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nderstanding the what, when, why and

where of a disaster situation is the most

important element of undertaking good

research that can provide good evidence to open up

solutions and fast responses which are critical to

recovery post disaster. The main aim of Udayangani’s

visit was to explore opportunities to create a strategic

partnership between Salford and PSTU in carrying out

collaborative research and teaching activities. During

her visit she met with undergraduate students who are

currently enrolled on the BSc in Disaster Management

programme which is the first bachelors’ degree

programme in this subject area in South Asia.

Udayangani also addressed a disaster management

learners and a practitioner group on the flood

management initiative. Whilst visiting PSTU she also

carried out site visits in the areas affected by floods and

cyclones and visited housing reconstruction activities

which had developed following disasters.

Udayangani’s visit was a success and she plans to

further expand her research partnership with

Bangheadh and has submitted several research

applications. This will help her to further expand the

“disaster risk reduction” and “impact from culture on

disaster risk reduction” research themes within the

centre.

If you would like more information on Udayangani’s

research contact her at: [email protected]

Inspire in BangladeshDr Udayangani Kulatunga, a member of the Centre for Disaster Resilience, here at the University recently visited Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU) in Bangladesh to understand and explore disaster management activities carried out in this country. Her visit to PSTUwas sponsored by British Council’s INSPIRE Exploratory research grant.

In this Centre, we’re not just researching into Disaster Resilience and associated activities, were writing about it!

Through the Centre’s International Journal of Disaster

Resilience in the Built Environment, published by

Emerald insight and Edited by the Centre’s Dr. Richard

Haigh and Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga, we are

highlighting new and exciting knowledge, via peer

reviewed papers, from colleagues across multi

disciplined/multi themed research strands, colleagues

from other research areas across academic institutions

both nationally and internationally providing evidence

based practice for the wider academic community,

national and international strategic agencies,

construction companies and anyone who is witnessing,

aiding and developing disaster areas across the world,

can utilise the research knowledge published in this

journal to better prepare and develop for the future.

To visit the Journal’s website go to:

www.emeraldinsight.com/ijdrbe.htm

United Nations DevelopmentProgramme RecognitionReal world research is at the ethos of the University of Salford andnever more so than here at the Centre for Disaster Resilience, researchers in this Centre, don’t just write about the topic from afar,they are on the ground researching and working with the peoplewhose lives are most affected by these international disasters and,importantly, working with the agencies that have to regroup and develop devastated communities and their built environment.

he United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) has endorsed the

activities being carried out by theCentre for Disaster Resilience and inparticular UNDP recognises the Centre’s efforts in Sri Lanka, lookingat its aimed capacity developmentfor strengthened ownership and sustained results on disaster mitigation and reconstruction, its work on the development of institutional frameworks on disaster risk management (DRM)and promotion of efforts to

decentralise it and for helping tostreamline various local DRM efforts under a common platform.The Centre plans to put forward ajoint programme of activities together with UNDP, in order tostrengthen current work and leadforward into future research and mutual programmes.

If you would like to know moreabout the above developments contact: [email protected] [email protected]

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Centre for Disaster Resilience

Rics Cobra 2010 ConferenceThe University’s Centre for Disaster Resilience, recentlyorganised and hosted a special Disaster Managementstream as part of its partnership with the Royal Instituteof Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in association with the International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the BuiltEnvironment, all done as part of The Royal Institution ofChartered Surveyors’ (RICS) COBRA 2010 InternationalResearch Conference. Dr Chaminda Pathirage and DrKaushal Keraminiyage from the Centre for Disaster Resilience at the University co-chaired the session.

iming to stimulate research ideas and views by

exploring a range of perspectives from which the

Built Environment is able to contribute towards

improved resilience to disasters, the session succeeded in

bringing together many researchers and postgraduate students

from around the world and by doing so the international

postgraduate community presented and discussed their

research in order to facilitate networking among researchers

and to widely disseminate the existing knowledgebase.

This Disaster Management session attracted more than 35

scholarly written research papers and presentations relating to

many themes: disaster mitigation and response; climate change

and disasters; disaster resilience and risk reduction; knowledge

management and disasters; skills and human resource aspects

of disaster management, gender and disaster management;

building design and management in reconstruction. All the

research papers presented during this session have been

published in the formal proceedings of the RICS COBRA 2010

conference. It was a successful session with stimulating and

thought provoking papers and discussions, culminating in the

highlight of two expert keynote addresses delivered by

Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga, from the University of Salford,

and Dr Suzanne Wilkinson, from the University of Auckland,

New Zealand. Two best paper awards were given by the

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built

Environment, in two categories; the experienced researcher and

the postgraduate researcher.

A special themed issue using selected papers from the session

will be published in the International Journal of Disaster

Resilience in the Built Environment, further spreading the

expertise available in this area. After the success of the special

stream in this year’s RICS Conference the Centre plans

to continue its association with RICS in holidng disaster

management specal streams in years to come.

If you would like further information on the special

stream contact: [email protected] or

[email protected]

AU


hese may be phrases that many of us dread, but they are

concepts that Dr Phoebe Moore, Lecturer in International

Relations and International Political Economy and

Programme Leader for the Master’s degree in International Relations

and Globalisation here at the University knows only too well.

Writing, teaching and researching in these areas is what makes

Dr Moore tick!Phoebe’s latest monograph, entitled ‘The International

Political Economy of Work and Employability’ (Palgrave, Aug 2010)

examines the after effects of global shifts to a knowledge-based

economy which have led to an emergence of a new type of labour

force in both the Eastern as well as Western hemispheres, with

workers and the rising unemployed increasingly being expected to

become self-managing, precarious lifelong learners, linked with the

impact of technological development.

The book has attracted good reviews highlighting her expertise in her

subject area as, one international academic states: “This book

provides one of the richest and most systematic comparisons of skills

revolutions in three countries in the East and West. Phoebe Moore

introduces brilliantly the International Political Economy of Work

and Employability into the literature on employability and skills”.

(Joohee Lee, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology,

Ewha Womans University, South Korea).

Phoebe’s latest work conducts a critical investigation of how

employment and education policy in three different locations across

the world is informed by a dominant view of what should make a

person ‘employable’, a concept created by the elite, and then she

looks for new models for post-capitalist production such as peer to

peer communities, that want to overcome this binding set of rules.

The International Political Economy of Work and Employability

provides the basis for research into the dramatic impact of global

instability on workers such as is seen in the context of the recent

recession.

If you would like to know more about Phoebe’s research contact her


‘Knowledge based economy’, ‘employability’ and ‘international markets’ are all buzz words we are hearing currently, with ‘financial crisis’, ‘double dip recession’ and ‘market forces’ joining in

the chorus.

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aving reported in a previous issue

the success of the creative Poets,

Lecturers and Writers in the

School of English, Sociology, Politics and

Contemporary History (ESPaCH) here at the

University, it would appear that the School

have gone on to further accolades in the last

few months with the English and Creative

Writing Lecturers winning awards and

recognition in all areas and from all quarters!

Lecturer, Jennifer Tuckett, has been selected

for Drafted, Vision and Media's film

development programme. As part of the 8

month development and training initiative,

Jennifer will be working with Caroline

Cooper Charles, Head of Development at

Warp X Films, to develop a screenplay from

treatment to first draft stage as well as

attending master classes at Vision and Media,

the North West's film agency. The project is

supported by the UK Film Council

and National Lottery and Jennifer has

been selected as one of 24 writers chosen

to undertake this highly competitive

programme.

Dr Gill James’s project with Aimhigher

students, has just won the approval of Yoko

Ono wife of the late John Lennon. Gill’s

research and work with the students will

support the Imagine Appeal at the Alder Hey

hospital in Liverpool. Dr Ursula Hurley’s

experimental memoir/novel, Heartwood won

first prize in the Unbound Press International

Creative Non-fiction Competition, with the

first chapter being published in the November

issue of their journal. Ursula has also recently

been shortlisted for the Tony Lothian

Biographer’s Club Prize for first time

biographers, for her work charting the life of

Renaissance Playwright Elizabeth Cary.

In a previous issue of RISE we celebrated the

successful launch of Dr Judy Kendall’s poetry

collection and the success for Judy continues

with her poem 'Wa Harmony', from her

second poetry collection Joy Change,

(Cinnamon Press, 2010), which has been

selected to feature in the Forward anthology

of best poems of 2010, complementing the

selection of a poem from her first book ‘The

Drier The Brighter’ for the 2007 anthology.

If you would like to know more about these

works or the research behind them contact

Judy Kendall at: [email protected]

More Success!The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, moves on to lots of recognition andawards it seems!

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MomentumGrowing forECE 2011 ConferenceSaul Nasse, Controller of BBC learning, Glynis Cousin, University of Wolverhampton, Alex Couros, Universityof Regina, Canada and Norman Jackson,University of Surrey are all now confirmed speakers at the 6th Educationin a Changing Environment conference‘Creativity and Engagement in Higher Education’!

he Conference will take place on

University of Salford Campus from

6th – 8th July 2011, with a Gala

Dinner to be held on the 7th July at the world

renowned Lowry Centre, Salford Quays

Colleagues and partners of the University,

alongside those from Universities in the UK

and overseas, are being encouraged to

submit full papers by 24th January 2011

which will be double reviewed by an

international committee including many

academic staff from Salford. Those papers

that are accepted will be contenders for a

special issue of PESTLHE or will be

recommended for other REF returnable

journals.

The Education in a changing Environment 6th

International Conference will be a conference

that will look at creativity and engagement

in Higher Education, and to this end the

Committee are keen to seek suggestions of

creative ways for exploring Higher Education

research and practice by means of an

abstract and are therefore encouraging

proposals for performance/demonstration/

posters and workshops.

If you would like to know more about the

conference visit the website at:

www.ece.salford.ac.uk

Or contact either Chris Procter or Debra

Leighton, Co-Chairs of the Conference at:

[email protected] or

[email protected]

EmployabilityEconomy + Work = T


As you read this article, we will be nearing completion of the Salford Energy House and Hub, where the University’s leading academics are working collaboratively across research themes and with external partners to address all sorts of issuesaround Energy, but one of the vital stumbling blocks is not the climate but the human mind and attitude, raising the question - How can we engage homeowners and residents to adopt energy efficient measures?

Go on Insulate...

hen a well known building materials company offered to

insulate the lofts of every house on a street, all the residents

declined. This was despite the obvious benefits, of reduced

energy bills, and warmer homes; many could simply not face having

to clean out their crammed lofts!

This is the issue facing the Department of Energy and Climate Change

(DECC) and the newly formed Energy Technologies Institute (EIT). The

institute, a new public/private partnership involving some leading

British companies including Rolls Royce, BP and Shell, has been tasked

at making our homes more energy efficient. David Clarke, Chief

Executive of EIT recently said: “in order to hit the 2050 targets the UK

will have to refurbish and retrofit approximately 12,500 homes per

week, that’s a city the size of Cambridge every month”.

Speaking recently as the first bricks of the Energy House were laid, Dr

Nigel Mellors, Associate Dean, College of Science and Technology

commented: “the issues around reducing the carbon footprint, of our

homes, through energy efficiency, can only be solved through a

multi-disciplinary approach, combining new technology, behaviour

change and fiscal support”. Passionate about people is what we are

here at the University of Salford, people and their behaviour especially

in relation to issues in local environments such as Nigel is talking

about. What makes our Energy hub researchers tick are issues such

as: reducing the carbon footprint of a home; the energy efficiency of

an area; flood ratings and warnings and the burning question how

do you encourage the population of an area be pro active and take

responsibility for such occurrences as floods?

Erik Bichard, Professor of Regeneration and Sustainability at the

University, is currently actively engaged in examining just such

problems. Over the past 18 months Erik has been leading a team of

researchers to investigate a problem that had been troubling the

Environment Agency. The Agency is required to help the population

in England and Wales to cope with flooding. Climate scientists predict

that inundation events are set to increase, but most people who live

in a flood risk zone are not listening to advice from the Agency with

regard to flood defences.

It’s a fact that the emission of greenhouse gases as a result of heating

homes is a contributing factor to this problem, but many people still

don’t have basic energy saving measures installed in their homes.

Erik’s team has proposed a solution to this problem which involves

reward-based incentives. Offering residents non-cash rewards

including fruit and vegetables, garden makeovers, access to further

education, free meals, hair dressing sessions and a range of public

transport opportunities. In exchange for this, home-owners are

required to buy flood protection measures as recommended by a

qualified flood protection survey team. The research programme – part

of the Resilient Homes programme – has undertaken a comprehensive

survey of home-owners in England and Wales, with results so far

indicating that two in three people who were reluctant to invest in

flood measures said they would change their minds if offered

non-cash rewards. These interesting results will feed into the next

phase of Erik and the team’s research.

Its cross University projects such as Erik’s above that will feed into the

Energy Hub and create the bigger picture, giving Universities, Industry

and business vital information in planning, developing and protecting

our future environment.

If you want to find out more about the Energy House and Energy

theme then visit us at the BBC:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment/

If you would like to get involved, or have your work and research

featured on the BBC then please contact Stephen Waterworth,

Energy Hub Manager.

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It’s free


Talent Management in China:Is it a Management Fashion?

Paul Iles, Professor in Leadership and Human Resource Management (HRM) at the Salford Business School here at theUniversity has recently had two articles published on a growingarea of research that of ‘Talent Management’ or TM.

ntil the late 1990s, this phrase was uncommon in HR or

management circles. It was placed firmly on the HR agenda

by a report, later book, by the McKinsey Group, who coined

the phrase ‘the war for talent’. The argument was that a

series of changes such as: the increasing value of knowledge to

contemporary organisations; the global nature of many managerial

and professional labour markets; the reduced ‘commitment’ of many

employees to their employers; demographic changes such as ageing

societies and an increasing importance given to work-life balance,

had generated a reduction in the talent supply at the same time as

the demand for such talent was soaring. Organizations had to ‘wage

war’ to recruit and retain scarce talent, as well as optimise it through

training and development, by enhancing their ‘employer brand’ and

becoming an ‘employer of choice’.

Various studies conducted by Paul with colleagues David Preece

(University of Teesside) and Xin Chuai (Belzona, Harrogate),

have analysed the ‘fashionability’ of TM, involving two empirical

studies of TM in China; specifically, among Western multinationals

and consultancies based in Beijing. The team found that the

organizations defined TM in very different ways, and meant very

different things by the term. For some it was simply a re-labelling of

HRM, with no substantive differences seen between the two terms.

For others it was around the definition of TM; the focus of TM with

this group of employers was to use the term when referring to an

exclusive, selected elite group, ‘talents’, whose contribution is seen as

of disproportionate importance to the organization, either because of

their performance in a key business-critical role, or because they are

seen as ‘high-potential’ and likely to occupy such a role in the future.

The majority of these companies saw TM’s novelty and value lying in

its break with the traditional ‘egalitarianism’ of HRM. TM provided a

rationale, partly drawn from marketing theories of branding and partly

from economic theories of human capital, to segment the workforce

and treat it differently in how it should be managed. Paul and his

colleagues’ research, with their case studies, found that all the

organisations involved denied that they had adopted TM due to

fashionability; this was driven by real organisational problems that

needed urgent resolution in China’s booming labour market, and

specifically in the area of recruiting and retaining professional and

managerial talent.

Paul said: “a limitation of the study findings so far is they are based

on the findings from Western multinationals in Beijing, and may not

be applicable to other kinds of organizations in other parts of China.

I am currently following this up with studies of local Chinese

companies in Hangzhou Zhejiang and articles on these findings will

be published soon.

If you would like to know more about Paul’s research contact him at:

[email protected]

UTest Tube Researchers!Stimulating and encouraging an interest in the science of thehere and now and the possibilities that can be attained are keyto creating future science professionals and researchers. Hereat the University the College of Science and Technology takesevery opportunity to do just that and recently saw Dr SteveRossington and Dr Nick Hirst supervising A-level studentsworking on research projects to investigate methodology to synthesise anti-cancer and anti-bacterial drugs in the university’s Cockcroft laboratories.

he five students from Clitheroe Grammar School, Bury

College and Oldham College, working under the Nuffield

Foundation science bursaries and University of Salford’s

College of Science and Technology sponsored placements, worked

on a project looking at improving synthetic methods towards an

antibacterial agent and work experience involved in the synthesis of

potential anti-cancer drug molecules.

All five students, who are looking to apply to university in September

2011, worked in the university’s laboratories implementing their

knowledge of biology and chemistry to ‘real life’ research as well as

understanding aspects of an university research environment.

This summer saw the first year of the College of Science and

Technology’s sponsored A-level scheme which offers 19 places for

students to be placed in respective research centres across the Schools

of Environment and Life Sciences and Computer Science and

Engineering. It is however the second year that the University has

welcomed AS level students on the Nuffield Scheme, and after the

success of this Summer Steve and Nick will be hopefully continuing

next year! Vice-principal at Oldham College, Dr Alan Mathur, said

of the scheme: “Josh got a tremendous amount from his placement

and I think it has been a real help to him in focusing his choices of

degree courses”.

If you would like to know more about the scheme contact Steve at:

[email protected]

T Recording the Creative GestureEvery picture tells a story, every city has a tale and every citizenis a package of narratives, emotions and images. University ofSalford tutor in Advertising Design, John Rooney from theSchool of Art and Design has embarked on a research projectinvestigating and capturing the creative gestures of a city,bringing a medieval process to life through digital technology.

orking with recordings of past and present narratives John

aims to use digital technologies to present a gallery of coded

interconnected emotional information in a creative space.

John’s research will reveal local content which will include a wide range

of creative commentary including, sculpture, poetry, visual arts,

architecture, pop culture and film. Data and interviews from around

the city and spaces are recorded with image and sound, the narrative

image or trace is revealed when creativity is discussed, and the

outcome from each gesture can include abstract, figurative or

typographic results.

Manchester and Salford has always, and still is a hotbed of cultural

activity and contains work that has had a profound impact on John’s

design practice and creative reference points. Interviews with key

figures involved in the cultural impact of places have been recorded

and where possible with face-to-face interviews of the individual

in question. Datum will also be recorded via existing audio and

video archives.

The methodology of this project is a transferable model. A long-term

aim of John’s work is to develop a databank of creative narratives in

collaboration with others from other locations. Data will be presented

in the form of a digital palimpsest. Before the invention of the printing

press, writers imprinted their texts on reusable parchment. The paper

would be scraped to "erase" the prior content and make way for new

writings. This was known as a palimpsest. The previous layers could

often be seen rising beneath the new words, a delicate reminder that

we cannot ignore what came before, that we are constantly building

on the past. The research in this project includes visuals that contain

a layer of emotional engagement within the data; information

expressed in this project is at once analytical and emotional in its

content, the data in John’s project will be presented in the form of a

digital palimpsest.

The content of this research is taken from interviews with key figures

from the creative sector, a joint project with Birmingham Institute of

Art and Design about the life, work and influences of Birmingham’s

typographic alumni and utilising software designed by Dr Ian Drumm,

Acoustics at Salford, which has been designed to record the audio

signature of an image, John will create a unique experience and way

of viewing our lives and cultures.

If you would like to know more about John’s research contact him at:

[email protected]

Wbringing a medieval process to lifethrough digital technology


elen, a recent finalist in the ALT

Epigeum Award for the most

effective use of video in education,

has been working with students making short

films using the devices in their pockets, i.e.

their mobile phones, developing imaginative

and innovative techniques through exploring

the creative affordances and constraints of

everday technology.

This active, experiential learning video-based

project was fully digital and networked;

students used wikis for all aspects of project

management, technical analysis and final

reporting, accompanied by online photo

journals (Flickr) which gave an insight into the

entire process. The films were also uploaded

to YouTube and presented in class in a mini

film-festival. Through using multiple media

across a range of open platforms the students

immersed themselves in the technologies as

mobile and networked learners and content

producers

At first, the students were resistant to the idea

of creating mobile phone films as many of the

techniques ran counter-cultural to the

predominant disciplinary culture. However

once the students began to work on the films,

they discovered a whole range of innovative

and imaginative techniques that could be

used with small handheld devices that

they wouldn’t be able to do with

normal video cameras turning constraints

into opportunities.

This project also gave the students the

opportunity to consider other areas of mobile

technologies such as ethical issues around

mobile recording/monitoring devices and

addiction to technology, whilst others used

their mobile phones film to capture

truly engaging, authentic footage in

unexpected alternative ways, developing

a range of innovative techniques.

By challenging their usual practice and

exploring mobile film-making as an emerging

genre, this project, institutionally and further

afield, has raised awareness of the creative

potential of consumer technologies and the

benefits of UGC creation as way for students

to create open content which can be

repurposed for others. Staff in other

universities are now following our approach.

This innovative project challenged the

students current thinking and practice and

widened their repertoire giving them an

appreciation for the potential of short form

content and its engagement capacity. With

the final films being highly praised at a recent

TEDx conference by Hugh Garry, BBC Senior

Interactive Producer, it looks as if these

students will have a smooth and mobile

journey from education to industry!


Helen’s innovative work contact her at:

[email protected]

Innovative practices and new exciting ways of teaching, make the student think outside the box, that’s what produces bright,enthusiastic and employable future citizens, and that’s just the mix Helen Keegan, Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media and SocialTechnologies and Researcher in the School of Computing Science and Engineering, encourages in her students!

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Mobile Life


Research that is real, useable and accessible, that’s a firm belief here at the University of Salford and twelve months ago theUniversity made a commitment to the Open Access agenda announcing plans to mandate peer reviewed research from the 1st

January 2010.

n principle this means that all our

research outputs and publications are

deposited into the University of

Salford’s Institutional Repository (USIR) and

with this pledge the University became the

100th institution worldwide to announce

its intention to become an Open Access

University.

Since the mandate and over the past twelve

months USIR has attracted in the region of

32,000 downloads and 1,500 deposits. The

University wants the repository to wholly

reflect the magnitude of research produced at

Salford and this is something that will be built

on during the new academic year 2010/11.

In order to spread the open access word and

get researchers on board, the USIR team took

their expertise along to visit Research and

Innovation colleagues in the University’s 45

research centres early on in the new academic

year. The aim of these visits was to encourage

researchers to deposit their work, and this

approach seems to be working! With over

500 pieces of work being deposited in USIR

during the month of September alone, the

USIR team has also been providing one to one

support for those wishing to find out more

about how the deposit process actually

works.

To celebrate the success of USIR’s past twelve

months an Open Access celebratory event

was held recently to thank all Salford

researchers for their contribution to USIR and

for supporting the ethos of Open Access, a

culture to which the University shows

heavy commitment. A thank you speech was

delivered by the Vice Chancellor, Professor

Martin Hall who described Open Access as

being at the heart of what we do as an

institution and provided an insight into his

vision of Open Access in the future. Martin’s

speech was complimented with presentations

from the Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and

Innovation, Professor Ghassan Aouad and

Julie Berry, Acting Director of The Library,

updated colleagues on the achievements and

developments of USIR. A number of

colleagues were recognised for their

contributions to USIR. Professor Andy

Moorhouse and his colleagues in the

Acoustics Research Centre were acknowl-

edged for their paper on research into

aerodynamic modulation of wind turbine

noise which has been downloaded 1,184

times during the last year! Fame also for Dr

Darren Brooks from the Centre for

Parasitology & Disease Research whose recent

deposit in USIR becomes its 3000th!

Discussions at the celebratory event were held

around researchers concerns such as

copyright and policies of publishers nationally

and internationally, an area that the USIR

team are expert in and adept at handling,

using tools such as the Sherpa Romeo

database to check copyright and policies of

publishers from around the globe.

The further development of the audio visual

side of the repository are next in the sights of

the USIR team as they look to develop current

collaboration to find more fitting ways of

displaying the practice based research outputs

of the University.

If you would like to know more about USIR

contact the team at: [email protected] visit the USIR site at:

http://usir.salford.ac.uk

I


Openall hours


his innovative alliance was developed by the BA Graphics

course team at the University of Salford with a core project

team consisting of Joanne Greenhalgh, Tash Willcocks,

Hannah Gibson, Julian Tagoe, John Boothe, Andrew Taylor and Paul

Haywood. Connecting with other Northern based Higher Education

Institutions currently focused within the discipline of Advertising,

Animation, Digital Media and Graphic Design, these being; University

of Central Lancashire, Manchester Metropolitan University, Liverpool

John Moores University, the University of Huddersfield and the

University of Chester with many other institutions across the North of

England and Scotland also expressing an interest in the mission of the

network, it was green to go and DNA was formed. The intention of

DNA is to create a collaboration of partners who would meet to

discuss the subject of design and how academia may best be tailored

to meet the needs of the local creative industries, and ultimately

provide students with high quality, ‘real world’ experience, which is

likely to become an even more important commodity as the ripple

effect of the recession is experienced.

The Alliance’s first exhibition was held recently in the Triangle in

Central Manchester, exhibiting the best graduate talent from seven

major Universities in the North of England, keynote lectures from

industry such as Robert Urquhart and Si Scott (famous for his work

with Nike and Umbro) and Alliance academic partners. With

Sponsorship from the Triangle Shopping Centre, GyroHSR, Tayburn,

Leftfield, Shape, The Drum and Business Link NorthWest, the event

highlighted and showcased the best new and emerging talent in the

field judged by industry experts.

The event was considered to be a real success, with, over the two day

event, approximately 300 students attending and over 40 businesses

who willingly engaged in the event. However perhaps the whole

event is best summed up in the words of Illustrator and Designer Si

Scott of Breed London who was one of the judges at the exhibition:

“I admit I didn’t really know what to expect from the Designers

Northern Alliance, a graduate show and awards event that I had been

invited to take part in and be a judge for. When walking into the

shopping centre, it dawned on me that this was a great idea for

hosting a design festival. Rather than expecting people to visit your

respective university or college to view your final end of year show,

why not bring the show to them? Slotted in among the designer stores

peddling their trade, the DNA was spread over the three floors of the

building offering a great visual melting pot of emerging talent from

various different design institutes in the North. The work on display

was of such a high standard that I and fellow judges found it difficult

to narrow down the winners”.

If you would like to know more about this initiative contact

Joanne Greenhalgh at: [email protected] or visit:

www.designersnorthernalliance.org

Looking for talent?

Think of advertising, digital media, graphic design and animation, slick, thought provoking, fresh new ideas doyou immediately think of London its talent pool, connections and capacity? Well you shouldn’t, if you’re lookingfor fresh new inspiring talent, go North my son to the Designers Northern Alliance (DNA) its where the new creativetalent gene pool is emerging!

tailored to meet the needs of the local creative industries,

and ultimately provide students with high quality, ‘real world’ experience

T

Its up North!

Sounds like the North is where it’s at!



How many philosophers does ittake to change a lightbulb?A: Nine. One to change the bulb, andeight to hold a seminar on how Nietzche would have done it

Say the word Philosophy and many of us think of Hippocrates, Kant or Sartre. Philosophy to many is a rational and balanced investigation of questions about our existence and knowledge, our ethics and morals, then to others Philosophy is the jokeabove!

ut all joking aside, doesn’t the ability to philosophize make

us human? Too deep? Andrew Basden Professor of Human

Factors and Philosophy of Information Systems in Salford

Business School at the University wouldn’t agree, read on! The

University of Salford has not traditionally been a seat of philosophy,

but it is becoming an international centre for the application of the

radical philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd, a Dutch thinker of the mid

twentieth century. Academics and professionals from all over the world

contact the Salford team, led by Andrew, who are investigating the

application of Dooyeweerd's philosophy to information systems,

business and other areas, academics such as Dr Duncan Roper.

Duncan, previously from the University of Western Sydney, Australia,

and now in New Zealand, recently presented three applications

of Dooyeweerdian thought in a seminar entitled ‘Questions of Unity

and Diversity in the Management of Social Systems’, hosted by the

ISOS (Information Systems, Organisations and Society) research centre

here at the University. During this presentation three examples of unity

and diversity were explored or put up for discussion: the social system

of water management in Sydney - how real-life water management is

not just a matter of physics but has important social, economic,

juridical and even faith aspects; the more general issue of: state and

nation, especially with reference to New Zealand's experience -

intercultural issues between those of Maori and European origin and

the abstract question: what is a university? The ability of Dooyeweerd's

thought to address real-life systems, general issues and abstract

questions is rooted in three characteristics that distinguish

Dooyeweerd's approach from many others: its emphasis on everyday

rather than theoretical thinking, its focus on meaning rather than

things, and its acceptance of diversity and coherence. It is these that

make Dooyeweerd's thought particularly relevant to complex

interdisciplinary issues in real-life social systems today.

Salford University hosts 'The Dooyeweerd Page’. This site began in the

mid 1990s and has grown to become an international

scholarly resource that facilitates understanding, discussion and critical

development of Dooyeweerd's thought and its application.

Andrew and colleagues believe that Dooyeweerd is one of the best

philosophers of everyday life yet to emerge, but that other thinkers

are moving in that direction. Might the University of Salford grow a

wider capability in the philosophy of everyday life? Something to

think about?

If you would like to know more about Andrew’s research contact

him at: [email protected] or visit the Dooyeweerd Pages at:

www.dooy.info

Acoustics and TheGreen ManUniversity of Salford Research Technician, Charlie Mydlarz,Acoustics Research Centre, and colleagues recently took theirresearch work to the Green Man Festival, where hundreds offestival goers were able to experiment with some weird soundsand one of the world’s biggest whoopee cushions!

etting up stall at the festival was done with the aim of

fostering public awareness of the work of scientists in

acoustics, and the University’s stall was set out in the

science area, Einstein’s Garden. Charlie and colleagues invited people

to experiment with making their own sounds using bikes, tubes and

a variety of weird and wonderful objects and were on hand to explain

the different acoustic properties behind the creation of each sound.

Hundreds of young people and families at the festival took time out

from bands such as Billy Bragg and the Doves to visit the Salford Sound

Around You tent and experiment, making it one of the most popular

of the science tents on site. Charlie is Research Technician on the

Identifying a Sound Environment for Secondary Schools (ISESS) project,

which is a three year project investigating the effects on teaching and

learning of different acoustic designs within secondary schools and

classrooms, with the aim of improving the environmental design of

secondary school buildings to minimise the detrimental impact on

children and teachers of poor school buildings. Along with working

on the ISESS project Charlie is also undertaking a PhD at the University

working on creating a sound map of Britain, with a project entitled

‘sound around you’, here the research project asks the public to use

their mobile phones to record around 5 – 10 second audio clips from

different environments such as a park or a street and upload them to

a virtual map. The project aims to produce the largest ever sound map

purely for research purposes, the findings of the project could have

far reaching uses in such as psychological research, town planning or

checking out the sound map for a particular area before buying

a house!

If you would like to know more about Charlie’s research contact him


S

Nursing Research & Education – Seeing the Person not the IllnessFor the past five years the School of Nursing & Midwifery has been pro-active in working with patients, service users and carers by making visible their experiences within nurse education.

larger article on this group is included in the Supplement

to this issue of RISE. The school’s ethos has been one

that is committed to driving forward nursing practice,

education and research, by putting service users/carers at the heart

of nursing knowledge and learning through public engagement.

An important aspect of this work was the formation of a service user

and care forum in 2005. This group represents a range of people;

as patients, service users and carers who are committed to sharing

their ‘real world’ experiences of healthcare and illness to enhance

nursing and nursing care. With academic staff the service user/carer

forum have delivered over 20 student conferences, presented their

experiences and personal knowledge within modules and have

commented on curriculum developments. This year (2010) the group

is five years old and there will be a celebration on 8th December in

the Mary Seacole building to mark the group’s huge contribution to

creating evidence based practice for improved nursing services.

If you would like more information about the User/Carer Forum

contact Julie Wray at : [email protected] or visit:

www.nursing.salford.ac.uk/aboutus/serviceusers

A

Awarded for Excellence!The Emerald Publishing House has recognised the editorialwork of one of the University’s leading academics, Professor Mustafa Alshawi.

ustafa who is, Associate Dean, International in the

College of Science and Technology here at the

University, has extensive research expertise with

specific interest in Integrating IT and Business Strategies,

Measuring IS/IT capability of Organisations, Business Process

Management, Integrating Design and Construction, e-learning and

Process Management as wells as holding down international

advisory posts in various countries.

The editorial award was received in partnership with the Journal’s

Co-editor Professor Jack Goulding from the University of Central

Lancashire, and was awarded in recognition of the work and level

of commitment in seeking to maintain the high standing of their

journal “Innovation in Construction”

If you would like to know more about Mustafa’s research contact

him at: [email protected]

M

B



New beginningsAs the Director of Graduate Studies at the University of SalfordI take this opportunity to welcome you to the November/December 2010 issue of RISE Postgraduate Research News.

e’ve recently seen the return of continuing postgraduate

students carrying on with their research projects after the

Summer break and we also welcome to our halls new

postgraduates full of enthusiasm for their new research project

beginnings in exciting new and multi discipline areas of research.

The enthusiasm for new and exciting research opportunities here at

the University outweighs the general economic and financial gloom

spreading across the country, here in these pages you’ll find positive

and dedicated young researchers seeking answers to real world

problems regionally, nationally and internationally. In this issue the

postgraduate student researchers are talking about robotics, disaster

management and online conferences in translation.

The University has recently changed its structure from a Faculty and

School System to a College System and our postgraduate researchers

now sit in one of three colleges, either; The College of Arts and Social

Sciences; The College of Health and Social Care or The College of

Science and Technology. This new way of being will build even further

on the University’s ethos of cross disciplinarity working, and by

interacting and working together will provide a more holistic research

outcome, delivering research and sharing knowledge that is

applicable, deliverable and useable.

In this issue we visit Antonio Espingardeiro and his research into

robotics and the ethics of robotics, he poses the question ‘are you

prepared for a robot in your home by 2020?’ The vast application of

robots in industry over the past years is now going even further with

countries such as South Korea working towards robots delivering

services in elderly care in care centres and hospitals, so maybe the

question of a robot in the home is not so far fetched!

With the recent Chilean Miner’s rescue and the capacity of human

beings to survive in difficult situations and rise above disaster events,

disaster management and post disaster reconstruction are areas of

research that are vital to moving certain countries forward. To this end

we visit again the Centre for Disaster Resilience and in particular two

students, Kanchana and Nirooja from the Centre who are researching

into empowerment post disaster for women, an interesting read for

the ever present challenge of women’s place in difficult environments.

I hope you enjoy reading in this issue about just a small part of the

postgraduate research ongoing at the University. Here at Salford we

are keen to encourage the many ways in which our research students

can engage and share their work and newly gained knowledge with

the wider community, building on relationships nationally and

internationally.

Professor Vian Ahmed

Director of Graduate Studies

The Directorate of Graduate Studies (DGS) was established to provide

a champion for graduate studies across the University. The office, in

Faraday House, looks after all aspects of central Postgraduate

provision, including Postgraduate Skills Training, e-learning and

careers, and has responsibility for quality assurance and enhancement

of Postgraduate programmes, as well as representing the University

externally, in particular on graduate organisations such as vitae and

the UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE).

Members of the Team

The current Director, Professor Vian Ahmed,

School of Built Environment.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0161 295 6397

Linda Kelly is the Graduate Studies Office

administrator, and responsible for running

the office as the DGS PA, as well as organising

the SPoRT programme.


Tel: 0161 295 3841

Cristina Costa is the Learning Technologies

Development Officer, and looks after all e-learning

resources on postgraduate research programmes.


Tel: 0161 295 6751

Fiona Christie is the Careers adviser with

responsibility for postgraduate researchers,

and is based in Careers within the Student Life division.

Her PhD careers blog can be found here.

Email: [email protected] tel:

Tel: 0161 295 5668

Jaye McIsaac is the Educational Developer

responsible for teaching and learning

development for Graduate Teaching Assistants

and other Postgraduate Teachers and is based

within the Research and Graduate College.


Tel: 0161 295 3747

Dr Victoria Sheppard is the Research Skills

Coordinator. She oversees the provision of skills

training, the SPARC postgraduate conference and

other events and resources to support

postgraduate researchers.


Tel: 0161 295 4452

W

Professor Pauline Adairhas been appointed as Professor of Health Psychology in the School ofSocial Work, Psychology andPublic Health. Pauline is a clinical and a health

psychologist and has held both academic andclinical posts concurrently throughout her career.Pauline has extensive experience managing and developing clinical services in the NHS, and hasbeen the Professional Lead for pain management services and a key part of a teamwho secured recurring funding of over 400K for a new integrated pain management service(2009). Pauline has published work in the area of health improvement in deprived populations and long term conditions. She hasled on an evaluation of a cardiovascular prevention initiative (the Keep Well health check)for NHS Fife (2008-2010). Pauline has previously(2001-2003) been the lead psychologist on amajor international collaborative study in childhood dental caries across 17 countriesfunded by the National Institutes of Health, NIH,USA. She has recently been awarded The Division of Health Psychology (of the British Psychological Society) award for her outstandingcontribution to the advancement of Health Psychology within NHS agendas and has playeda significant role in securing funding for thetraining of health psychologists at both Mastersand Doctoral levels and integrating their traininginto NHS practice. Pauline currently is a memberof the Division of Health Psychology PractitionersSubcommittee. [email protected]

Professor Stephen Davis-moon has been appointedas Professor of Contempo-rary Composition and Director of Music in theSchool of Media, Music andPerformance. Stephen has

enjoyed a professional composition career formany years, and has written music for a broadrange of ensembles and situations – from soloworks through to full orchestral pieces, with andwithout voices. He has also written a number oflive electronic/interactive; electro acoustic andsound-art installation pieces.

Stephen has had performances in Brazil, Finland,France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Ukraine andUruguay and has worked with many notablemusicians, institutions and festivals along theway including: Roberto Fabbriciani; Rohan deSaram; Die Neuevocalsolisten; Scottish Opera;

Centro Tempo Reale; Das Experimentalstudio derHeinrich Strobel Stiftung; Richard Craig; TaraBoumann; CCMIX Studios; Edinburgh International Festival – ‘Behind the Scenes’; Martyn Brabbins; Chamber Group of Scotland;Le Champs Libre; Ensemble Linea; Brake DrumPercussion Ensemble; The Edinburgh Quartet;Klangwerktage Hamburg; Finestre sul Novecento; The Tampere Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra.

He has also written widely on subjects that relateto Contemporary Music Practice and History: hisedited publications on Luigi Nono and EdgardVarese were well received; he also has a strongresearch interest in Algorithmic, Evolutionary andInteractive Music. Before joining the UniversityStephen had gained a broad experience of themusic HE sector in Scotland, spanning a periodof nearly 20 years. He began lecturing at the University of Edinburgh in 1991 and subsequently held posts at the University of Glasgow; the Royal Scottish Academy of Musicand Drama; and the Ian Tomlin Academy ofMusic at Edinburgh Napier University whose activities he directed from January 2007until September 2010. [email protected]

Professor Judith Smithhas been appointed as Head, of the School of Environment & Life Sciences.Previously Judith was Director of the Faculty of Biological Sciences Graduate

School and Head of the School of Biology at theUniversity of Leeds, where she built her researchprofile linking molecular science with the environment and evolutionary genetics. Herwork has ranged from pathogens affecting silkworms in China and shrimps in Lake Baikal,through to zoonotic disease (disease transmittedbetween animals and humans) in chickens inEast Africa and in sheep in the Yorkshire Dales.

Having previously served on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Post Genomics and Proteomics Steering Group, Judith was recently appointed to the NERC Panelof Chairs – a body comprised of the top scientistsin the field and has co-ordinated a major EU-funded €2,355,000 project to deliver MarieCurie Fellowships for training in advanced genetic analysis.

Judith has a degree in physiology from Edinburgh University, a PhD in nutrition fromCambridge University and has carried out post-doctoral malaria research at Imperial College London. She also holds a Chair at theprestigious South China Agricultural University.Her research interests are in understanding therelationship between transmission and diseaseusing two systems; the zoonotic pathogen Toxoplasma gondii and the microsporidia, agroup of fungal related parasites that infect allanimal taxa. [email protected]

Professor Seamus Simp-son is Professor of MediaPolicy in the School ofMedia, Music and Perform-ance. His research interestslie in European and globalcommunications media

policies. Specific focus has been on a range ofInternet, telecommunication, and digital mediaconvergence governance issues. Some of his recent work has focused on: the EU as an actorin global Internet governance; critiques of theEuropean Electronic Communications Regulatory Framework; next generation communications media network policies at EU level; policy issues around private interest/hybrid public-private regulation in digital media environments.

Seamus’ work in these areas has recently appeared, or is shortly forthcoming in, among others: the Journal of European PublicPolicy; Governance; Convergence; Information,Communication and Society; the Journal ofCommon Market Studies; the European Journalof Communication; and the Journal of PublicPolicy. Seamus is also author of: Globalisation,Convergence and European TelecommunicationsRegulation (2005, Edward Elgar) (with PeterHumphreys, University of Manchester) and TheNew Electronic Marketplace: European Governance Strategies in a Globalising Economy(2007, Edward Elgar) (with George Christou,University of Warwick),

He was Principal Investigator on the ESRCfunded European Regulation of Internet Commerce project and is currently a member ofthe ESRC's Peer Review College. [email protected]

Postgraduate

research news


New Appointments


he first generation of personal

robots will be able to interact

with humans by providing

entertainment, companionship, supervision,

locomotion or cognitive assistance. We could

expect scenarios where robots can play games

with humans, help them in their daily chores,

deliver lectures at households and even act

as personal carers for keeping patients

safely monitored, mentally occupied and

emotionally happy.

Governments around the world have already

expressed their concerns about the lack of

solutions/support for dealing with the aging

phenomenon (e.g. shortage of facilities

encompassing human and financial resources

to deal with elderly groups). The paradigm is

not only related with our longer life

expectations, but mostly with the guarantee

of dignity, mental activity and physical

occupation through the aging process.

Over the last few years it has been possible to

integrate several types of technological

disciplines such as software and hardware

into relatively cheap platforms. Personal

robots are a result of that, a mixture of

sensory information, image processing, voice

recognition etc, which soon could transform

the way in which humans live. We are talking

about devices that can perform a wide variety

of tasks such as assisting and entertaining

people in houses, offices, care centres or

hospitals. South Korea is already working

towards solutions for the problem and

intends to start commercialising robots in

every household by 2020. Also in Europe and

USA some prototypes are already under

research and they are likely to reach the

global markets over the next few years.

The future seems promising with these types

of achievements, making the Human Robotics

Interaction (HRI) an inevitable stage for

human history. Apart from the level of

Artificial Intelligence (AI) that ‘machines’ will

display; it’s likely that humans will gradually

develop new kinds of relationships with

robots (different from ordinary computers).

From an ethical point of view we have to

work towards a synergetic behaviour

between humans and robots. The recent

curriculum of Roboethics can establish new

paradigms and ethical frameworks to equip

roboticists, engineers, computer scientists,

philosophers, sociologists, lawyers and

ultimately users when it comes to decide the

direct and future applications of robotics

in society.

Only by converging Science and Humanities

is it possible to pose such questions as; why

we want personal robots, where should they

be applied and how could they help us, are

they threatening and if so what can be done

to mitigate this? By studying issues such as:

how machines should be designed, what kind

of algorithms should be applied, what kinds

of privacy and accessibility levels users require

in particular HRIs scenarios and finally what

are the relevant levels of autonomy and

uncertainty for human intervention, safety or

welfare we can answer these questions. It’s

certainly a huge challenge ahead of us that

progressively will demystify some of the

visions depicted in science fiction and value

the real meaning of human life.

This first decade of the 21st century will

hopefully be seen as the beginning of a new

digital era, a time where computers, the in-

ternet and communications became part of

our daily lives, boosted economies, aided in

the workplace and enriched our personal

lives. We have the opportunity, but also the

duty, to explore the potential of Robotics

technology and how can it positively influence

future generations.


Antonio’s research contact him at:

[email protected]

We return again this issue to PhD student Antonio Espingardeiro, Antonio is researching into the ethics of Robotics and whatthe future may hold around the human/robot interaction, read on to catch up on Antonio’s research to date!

A Robot in yourhome by 2020...

Postgraduate

research news

Are you prepared?

T


ow do we define a disaster? According to the United

Nations a disaster is commonly defined as “a serious

disruption of the functioning of a community or a society

involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental

losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected

community or society to cope using its own resources” (UN/ISDR,

2009). However, disasters may affect different people in many

different ways even within the same community since there are various

factors such as socio-economic class, level of education, gender,

culture, age and disability that make some individuals and groups in

the society less capable to cope with disasters than the others.

These social factors influence the ability of people to prevent, mitigate,

prepare for and respond to hazards. Thus, the poor, the elderly,

children, women and disabled people are identified as more vulnerable

to disasters. Women are typically disadvantaged in the event of a

disaster with limited access to resources, restricted rights, and

inadequate voice in decision-making, policies and measures which

are insufficiently sensitive to their needs.

Kanchana and Nirooja, working under the supervision of Professor

Dilanthi Amaratunga and Dr. Richard Haigh from the Research Centre,

are approaching their research from two different perspectives. Since

women face different conditions in disasters due to their different

social roles and responsibilities, resulting in different needs in disaster

risk reduction, Kanchana aims to investigate how women’s needs can

be mainstreamed with disaster risk reduction in the built environment.

In particular, her study attempts to find out how the different needs

of women can be identified and integrated into disaster mitigation

and the preparedness activities within the construction industry in

order to reduce their higher disaster vulnerabilities. Kanchana identifies

the role of the built environment as significant in fulfilling the needs

of women in disaster risk reduction since it provides the underlying

framework for all human activities. So far Kanchana’s research findings

demonstrate that women’s involvement in decision making in the

construction industry, consultation of community women, conducting

needs assessment and construction briefing are all ways

of mainstreaming women’s needs into reducing disaster risk in the

built environment.

Whilst Kanchana’s research is aimed at identifying ways of

mainstreaming women’s needs in disaster risk reduction prior to a

disaster, Nirooja’s research is aimed at how the affected community

women could be empowered during the post disaster reconstruction

in Sri Lanka. Since post disaster reconstruction can provide windows

of opportunity for physical, social, political and environmental

development of the impacted population, Nirooja’s research focuses

on formulating a strategy that integrates community women’s

empowerment in the post disaster reconstruction and it includes,

identifying the key factors which enable or hinder women’s

empowerment and exploring the current practices of empowerment

of women within this situation. Capturing the views of these women

in such difficult situations is no easy task and this research will discover

the opinions of women who are from the affected communities and

also the opinions of the policy makers and professionals who are

working in practice within the field of disaster management, women’s

development and the built environment.

If you would like to know more about this research contact

Kanchana or Nirooja at: [email protected] or

[email protected]

Empowerment is a privilege; the empowerment of women is a long and hard fought battle, a battlesome countries are still fighting. Two PhD students, Nirooja Thurairajah and Kanchana Ginige

from the Centre for Disaster Resilience, here at the University are researching into just this problem,examining the empowerment of women in post disaster reconstruction and the mainstreaming

of the needs of women with disaster risk reduction.

Disaster, Women andEmpowerment

Moving Forward


Postgraduate

research news

H



ith a broad conference theme of: “Research in Translation

and Interpreting Studies: Methods of the Past, the Present

and the Future,” OCTIS 1 2010 succeeded in bringing

together international postgraduates from within the various areas of

Translation and Interpreting Studies and to give them the opportunity

to present papers to their peers.

The four conference keynotes were: Professor Graham Turner,

Chair of Interpreting & Translation Studies at Herriot-Watt University

in Edinburgh. Graham’s research is in social and applied areas of

linguistics with special reference to sign languages. Dr. Robin Setton’s

PhD is in Applied Linguistics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong

and he also has postgraduate degrees in Conference

Interpretation, Translation, Chinese Studies and Linguistics from the

University of Paris (Sorbonne), and is the author of a

monograph and articles on cognitive, linguistic cultural and

pedagogical aspects of interpreting. Dr Federico Gaspari is a

post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Bologna at Forlì

(Italy), where he is conducting a corpus-based investigation into

translation universals, looking at the features of translated and

non-native English as mediated forms of written production in

combination with Italian and finally Professor Ovidi Carbonell, who is

a Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Salamanca and

is working on issues of interculturality and ideology in translation.

The ten minutes presentations given by the keynotes generated

discussions and opened new avenues of networking.

Other presentations followed the keynotes and these were given by:

Roberto Pérez Gonzáles’ (University of Leon in Spain) on TRACE corpus

alignment; Paola Valli’s (University of Trieste) on Multilingual

Concordancers in the Translation Process: the How and Why of

Concordancing; Yasmin Al-Kashef from Ain Shams University in Cairo

on the topic of conjunctions as evidence of the translation universals

and Mireia Vargas (Autonomous University of Barcelona) on

insights on multidisciplinarity in the present of T&I Research with a

specific focus on community interpreters for the Chinese in Catalonia.

Katia Peruzzo from the University of Trieste gave a presentation on

terminological equivalence in European, British and Italian Criminal

Law texts, followed by Gianluca Pontrandolfo’s (also from the

University of Trieste) speech on Phraseology in English, Spanish and

Italian Judgments: A Contrastive Study. The last two contributions

were given by University of Salford PGR student Ines Radionovas on

the translation of the lipogram and by Georgina Collins from the

University of Warwick, who spoke about The Fluidity of the Original

Text: Translating Francophone Senegalese Women’s Literature

into English. Professor Myriam Salama-Carr, Head of Translating and

Interpreting at Salford, who chaired the conference, said: “the

conference was a rewarding experience for all. OCTIS 1 2010

succeeded in opening new perspectives in Research in Translation and

Interpreting Studies, establishing new venues for networking and

discussion and helping to develop crucial academic and social skills in

a friendly setting”.

With such a successful outcome and with requests from online

delegates to have more of the same, the OCTIS organising

committee, would like to thank all keynote speakers and presenters

who contributed to the success of the event and to let them know

that OCTIS 2 2011 will go ahead next year with a call for papers

circulated in due course.

If you would like to know more about OCTIS contact:

[email protected]

Or visit: http://tinyurl.com/OCTIS2010

OCTIS1 2010The First International Online Conference in Translation and Interpreting Studies (OCTIS 1 2010) organised by the Centre for Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies in the School of Languages at the University of Salford took place recently andproved to be a great success!

W

his year the conference had a

truly international feel with

papers delivered by early career

researchers from the UK, Australia, France,

Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania,

Spain and Turkey. Papers delivered dealt with

a plethora of different crises facing humanity

in the contemporary era, from ecological and

urban crises to crises of literary representation

and media technologies. The conference was

addressed by two keynotes; the first,

Professor Mark Neoclaus of Brunel University

dealt with the unending crisis of

contemporary security regimes and

governance through a permanent state of

emergency, while the second, Dr Lawrence

Cassidy of Manchester Metropolitan

University presented his work with Retracing

Salford on the crises of memory associated

with urban policies that have ‘cleared’ large

areas of traditional working class settlement,

both in the City of Salford and around the

North West more generally.

The conference also included a screening

of the film Cambodge me Voici by writer/

director Jean-Baptiste Phou exploring the

crisis of identity associated with the

Cambodian diasporas in France. The

conference organisers, Postgraduate

Researchers in the college; Will Jackson

(ESPaCH), Bob Jeffery (ESPaCH), Mattia

Marino (Languages) and Tom Sykes (MM&P)

are planning to publish a selection of the

papers delivered in 2011.


the conference contact Debbie Hughes at:

[email protected]

T

School

School of Computing, Science & Engineering

School of Languages

School of the Built Environment

School of Environment & Life Sciences

School of English, Sociology, Politics &

Contemporary History

School of Health, Sport & Rehabilitation

Sciences


School of Environment & Life Sciences

Salford Business School


School of English, Sociology, Politics &

Contemporary History


School of Computing Science & Engineering



School of Computing Science & Engineering

School of Nursing & Midwifery


School of Languages

School of Computing

Surname

Clarke

Paoli

Yao

Barrie

Duke

Yongsheng

Guilherme

Kazmierczak

Keogh

Liu

Miles

Tattersall

Xiong

Zami

Mohammed

Elsebai

Young

Younis

Tamrackitkun

Malaheem

Forename

Charlotte Louise

Marco

Jialiang

John Anthony

Gary Paul

Gao

Henrich

Aleksandra Ewa

Claire

Nan

Alex

Angela Louise

Xiao

Mohammad Sharif

Tayfour Abdalla

Ali

Stephen Philip

Grace

Kamonnat

Mohammad Suliman

Title

Novel Precursors for the Growth of TiO2 by Liquid

Injection MOCVD

The Evolution of Crime in Post-War Italy in the

works of Carlo Lizzani and Grigorio Scerbanenco

A Collaborative Urban Planning Environment

Investigation of the Effects of Schistosoma Mansoni

Eggs on Hepatic Stellate Cell Phenotype

Labour Movements in a "Post-Material" World:

A study into the Continued Relevance of Labour

Movements in Contemporary Advanced Industrial

Societies

Formal Representation of Acupuncture: Concept,Theory and Logic

Development of a tool for diagnosing Production

Management Efficiency on Construction Sites

Urban Green Spaces and Social Cohesion

Work-Life Balance Policy in the UK: Gendered ICT

Workplaces and the Culture of Resentment

Analysing Functionalities of Project Extranets in

Construction: A Provision-Requirement Approach

The rise of the rogue states doctrine: The Clinton

and Bush approach to national security in the

post-cold war era

Social Relations in ICT Workplace - The Gender

Dimensions of Social Capital

Power Optimisation for Wireless Sensor NetworksSecurity Based on an FPGA Implementation

An Interpretivistic Approach to Understanding the

Factors that Influence the Adoption of Stabilised

Earth by Construction Professionals to Address the

Zimbabwe Urban Low Cost Housing Crisis

A Critical Investigation of the Implementation of

an Information Technology Service Management

project in a UK Higher Education Institution

A Rule Based System for Named Entity Recognition

in Modern Arabic

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Minimising Construction Disputes

Award

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

PhD

MSc

PostgraduateAwards

Reading: An Empirical Study of its effects on EFL Thai

Comprehension, Reading Fluency and Attitudes

The Effects of Prosthetic Alignment on Gait

Biomechanics

Early Career Researchers DeliverCrisis, Rupture and Anxiety was title of the Annual Postgraduate Conference from the College of Arts and Social Sciences held recently at the University, with yet another successful outcome.

Postgraduate

research news



Sino British College China Sino British College (SBC) is an emerging key partner for theUniversity not only in terms of direct recruitment potential, but also in terms of other partnership opportunities that are in development such as potential delivery of a University of Salford programme in Media related areas in Shanghai.

alford Business School and The School of Computer Science

and Engineering have worked closely with Sino British

College to facilitate and support increased recruitment of

their students to study on campus at Salford. Following several

initiatives to encourage student recruitment to Salford, the University

is delighted to have welcomed over 50 students to its halls in

September. Most of these students will be entering the second year

of their undergraduate studies on Business related degrees with 5

students studying Engineering related courses.

The Sino British College students have been provided with a bespoke

induction programme as well as a designated Support Tutor to assist

them in their studies and provide pastoral and academic support at all

times. In addition, a visiting scholar from SBC, Mr Andy Ritchie has

been invited to the University to help the students in their first weeks

and ensure a smooth induction period.

Michael commented: “We are very pleased to welcome SBC students

to Salford and are grateful indeed for the support from colleagues at

the University for helping to make this happen. Both colleagues from

the University and SBC have worked collaboratively and the results of

these efforts are reflected in the arrival of students to Salford as a

destination of choice. We look forward to a longstanding relationship

with SBC that will further develop into other areas of collaboration” .

If you would like to know more about The Sino British College visit

their website at: www.sbc-usst.edu.cn/en/index.asp

Delegation to India As this issue of RISE goes to press the University’s VC, ProfessorMartin Hall will be leading a University delegation to India inNovember as part of the increasing engagement with India beyond direct recruitment initiatives.

reparations are well under way for this event and the

itinerary comprises several networking events, visits to

existing and potential partner universities as well as

attendance at the FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of

Commerce and Industry) Higher Education Summit 2010

www.ficci-hes.com/index.htm being held in New Delhi.

The FICCI supported by Ministry of Human Resource Development,

Government of India is organizing its sixth annual Higher Education

Summit in November, with the main features of the Summit being

Conference, Exhibition, One-to-One Meetings and Master Classes.

At the Summit Martin and colleagues will be endeavouring to bring

together key policy makers, educationists and corporates at both

national and international level for deliberation and interactions that

would lead to knowledge sharing, identification of policy and practice

imperatives and action plan for the way forward.

The VC will be accompanied by Professor Brenda Cooper who

will co host all alumni and networking events, Pro Vice Chancellor

International, Professor Cynthia Pine, Michael Lurie, Head of

International Partnerships and Mr Jerry Burgess, Senior International

Officer, South Asia.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) - UpdateOver the past months, visits have taken place between the University of Salford and RMIT to identify further areas of collaboration.

nitiatives have extended across activities relating to University

Themes realising potential in many areas. RMIT and Salford’s

institutional visions and strategies complementing each

other in many areas with an institutional collaboration that spans over

multiple disciplines.

As the University’s sole Tier One partner, activity with RMIT is being

carefully monitored and supported at the highest levels within the

University, and will be focussing on some specific areas such as: joint

projects in the area of Urban Futures, which is a strategic theme that

both universities share and joint projects in Media and Digital Futures.

Over the coming weeks, further communications regarding RMIT activity

will be shared with colleagues.

The University recently hosted a delegation of Indian universities as part of British Council Higher Education InwardMission. The University was selected to participate in this eventfollowing a successful tender process.

eld at the futuristic ThinkLab at the University, the event,

attended by senior representatives from XLRI, Jameshedpur,

Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune, Vignan

University, Guntur, and National Law University, Jodhpur, aimed at

seeking areas of common interest as part of potential collaborative

activity.

Colleagues from Computing Science and Engineering, Salford

Business School, Nursing and Midwifery and the Law School were

in attendance. During the visit, the Indian institutions were given a tour

of the facilities available within the respective Schools.

Following the day’s events, certain areas of collaboration were

identified such as staff and student exchanges, sharing of best practise

and potential research collaboration.

Michael Lurie, Head of International Partnerships commented:

“We were delighted to have been selected to participate in this event

for the second year running and build on the past experience. India is

a priority market and we are constantly seeking like minded partners

to establish long term, sustainable collaborations based on mutuality

and reciprocity”.

H

International News

India Higher Education Inward Mission

P

If you would like information on any of the articles in the

international section please use the contact details below:

Michael Lurie – Head, International Partnerships

T 0161 295 5953

E [email protected]

Course Enquiries Service (International/non-EU)

University of Salford

T + 44 (0)161 295 4545

E [email protected]

S

I



Forthcoming Events

10th November 2010 – Transforming Public Engagement at Salford, 2pm – 4pm. Venue: Lady Hale Lecture Theatre, Peel Campus, Salford.

For more information contact: [email protected]

10th November 2010 – Crescent Network Event 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm Venue: Islington Mill, Salford.


16th November 2010 – Midday Recital: The Barbirolli Quartet. The University’s String Quartet in Residence presents a programme to

include Mozart: Strong Quartet in C major, K.465 (‘Dissonance’) and Szymanowski: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 56. Venue: Peel Hall,

University of Salford Campus. For more information go to: http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1292

16th November 2011 – 18th November 2011 – exposures Film Festival. The UK’s largest festival of student moving image work,

which takes place every year in Manchester. Venue: Cornerhouse, Manchester.

For more information go to: www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1239

17th November 2010 – 1st CSE Doctoral School Postgraduate Research Conference. Venue – University of Salford.


18th November 2010 – 22nd January 2011 – CUBEOpen. CUBE, Centre for the Urban Built Environment is opening is annual submission

competition. Venue: CUBE. For more information go to: www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1261

22nd November 2010 – Evening Recital: Chetham’s School of Music. Programme for Baroque Wind Ensemble presented by the

exceptionally talented young musicians of Chetham’s School. Venue: The Church of St Philip with St Stephen, Encombe Place, Salford,

M3 6FJ. For more information go to: http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1297

23rd November 2010 – A special tribute to the late Professor Deborah Baker. A seminar, in memory of Professor Deborah Baker,

will explore the ways in which established communities experience and make sense of the local impact of new migration within their

neighbourhoods. Venue: Mary Seacole Building, University of Salford.

For more information go to: http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1245

29th November 2010 – Monday Midday Organ Recital: Jonathan Scott ‘Best of British’. Programme to include Alfred Hollins and Henry

Purcell. Venue: The Church of St Philip with St Stephen, Encombe Place, Salford, M3 6FJ. For more information go to:

http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1310

30th November 2010 – Midday Recital & Masterclass: Halle Brass. Post recital Halle Brass Masterclass will be held and is free to attend.

An opportunity for brass musicians to observe the Halle Brass performing and seek advice and tips from professional musicians.


7th December 2010 – Midday Recital: The Marchini Ensemble. Programme incluses Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Holst: St Paul’s

Suite. Venue: Peel Hall, Peel Building, University of Salford.


14th December 2010 – Piano Recital & Talk: Angela Lear presents ‘Chopin: Composer v Interpreter’. Angela Lear examines and

demonstrates some of the problems and anomalies of interpretation in Chopin’s music as she discusses and performs a selection of

works. Venue: Peel Hall, Peel Building, University of Salford.


12th January 2011 – 14th January 2011 – MeCCSA Conference 2011. Venue: University of Salford, Salford.

For more information go to: www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1269

14th January 2011 – 14th April 2011 – Exhibition: Langworthy Cornerstones Community Centre, Salford.

For more information go to: www.streetsmuseum.co.uk

20th April 2011 – 30th July 2011 – Exhibition: Primrose Hill Primary School, Phoebe Street, Ordsall.

For more information go to: www.streetsmuseum.co.uk

6th – 8th July 2011 – Education in a Changing Environment 6th International Conference: Creativity & Engagement in Higher Education.

Keynotes include: Glynnis Cousin, University of Wolverhampton; Alec Couros, University of Regina, Canada; Saul Nassé, Controller of BBC

Learning; Norman Jackson, University of Surrey. Venue: University of Salford, Salford, UK.

For more information go to: www.ece.salford.ac.uk

50 | November/December

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