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Welcome to our weekly in Focus update...... |
Past Issues << | Issue 49: Tuesday 24 April 2007
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Philip Zimbardo Professor Emeritus at Stanford University gave an outstanding and inspirational lecture in Stratford’s Great Hall last week to support the launch of his latest book The Lucifer Effect How Good People Turn Evil. Now in his seventies, Professor Zimbardo, a seminal researcher and academic who has had an enormous influence on the fundamental tenets of twentieth and twenty-first century Psychological thinking, spoke to a packed audience of Psychology students, fellow academics, professionals and media commentators.
Organised by Reader in Psychology, Dr. Mark McDermott this was the second time Professor Zimbardo had so engagingly held a Stratford audience. The first time was fifteen years ago when Mark, a few years after starting work at UEL, organised a similar lecture.
Professor Zimbardo most noted for his Stanford Prison Experiment and more latterly the expert testimony he gave at the trial of Sgt Ivan (Chip) Frederick, one of Abu Ghraib’s prison guards, accused and convicted of the mistreatment and abuse of inmates, brings his own very personal viewpoint and mission to his work.
Zimbardo concluded: “After sixty years of looking at the banality of evil, acts which it seems most of us would be capable of I now want to look at the banality of heroism instead. In the banality of heroism rare and extraordinary acts are carried out by ordinary people.”
Public lecture: The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil was organised by UEL Reader in Psychology
Dr. Mark McDermott. Mark who also convened UEL’s Zimbardo lecture in 1992, has worked on successive projects with Professor Zimbardo: a profile for The Psychologist, the ITV series The Human Zoo, advising on `5 Steps to Tyranny' (BBC), published `Psychology A European Text' (1995) also with 2 Dutch authors, and recently at his behest worked on the BBC Prison Experiment as an ethics panellist.
Useful links:
www.lucifereffect.com
http://www.sonoma.edu/users/g/goodman/zimbardo.htm
The official opening of the Graduate School took place mid-April and began with a lecture from Dr Tim Brooks. Also part of our Public Lecture Series, Tim discussed his well-received debut publication British Propaganda to France 1940-1944: Machinery, Method and Message.
Professor Chandra Lekha Sriram, Chair in Human Rights and Director of our Centre on Human Rights in Conflict gave her inaugural lecture that same evening on "Globalising justice for mass atrocities". Chandra described the developing accountability and functions of particularly international, but also, regional and national legal processes, in implementing justice following mass atrocities, focusing on the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Martin Everett who attended the launch and lectures emphasised his commitment to our research work: "Only through excellence in our research, knowledge transfer, innovation and scholarly activity can we ensure excellence in teaching for our students as well as sustain and develop our academic reputation amongst our peers."
Do you know any top post or undergraduate students who want to sink their teeth into a real life project for a local firm?
Knowledge Dock are offering student placements for our students over a six week period in a variety of fields. Paid £1,500 (subject to tax and NI) students gain real practical work experience testing the academic knowledge gained during their studies.
If you know anyone who would be interested then please forward a copy of their CV to Richard Keenan r.keenan@uel.ac.uk or see the Enterprise Bureau section on our Knowledge Dock website.
Ever needed a repair done in one of our buildings? Light not working? Noticed a blocked basin, or something similar? Ever considered how we maintain our buildings? Do you currently have a building problem? Then phone our Facilties Helpdesk on Ext: 2000.
Ian Bruce and Kelly Donno of our Facilities helpdesk are available from 0900 to 1700.
You can report faults to the helpdesk team on a voice message system outside of office hours. If the problem too urgent to wait then inform our 24-hour Security on Ext: 7771, and they will contact an appropriate emergency contractor.
Our Sri Lankan Society , in collaboration with our International Office, invites you to the True Taste of Sri Lanka, a FREE event on Wednesday 25 April , to commemorate the annual Sri Lankan Sinhala-Tamil New Year Festival.
The event starts at 11.45am in the West Building of our Docklands Campus by lighting the 'Traditional Oil Lamp'. Main attractions for the day are a variety of dance performances to demonstrate the different ethnic backgrounds of Sri Lanka, traditional Sri Lankan games with prizes galore and the chance to try authentic Sri Lankan cuisine as well as other international dishes.
These activities also take place throughout the afternoon in the atrium of the East Building as well as University Square.
All welcome!
30 April 3- 5.30 pm Docklands Campus
Hosted by Professor Adrian Renton, Director of our Institute of Human Health and Development, the seminar's theme is Health Inequalities. Speakers and contributors include Hilary Thomson, MRC Social and Public Research Unit, Glasgow; ‘Economic and neighbourhood regeneration as a healthy investment - a solid foundation?’ and Alex Scott Samuel, Liverpool University; 'What are the causes of health inequalities and how could the Mayoral strategy address them?'
The seminar is followed by a reception to mark the launch of the 2007 Health in London report published by the London Health Commission in the Business School 5.30 – 6 pm with a drinks reception 6 – 7.30 pm.
To book your place email: Kofi Owusu, LHC Administrator kofi.owusu-kyereko@london.gov.uk or telephone 020 7983 5765 For further information contact Gus Wilson email gus.wilson@london.gov.uk or telephone 020 7983 4120.
The Graduate School is sponsoring an Interdisciplinary Research Seminar on Pluralism and Security in a Post-Secular World on Thursday, 24 May.
Organised by Josephine Stein, Principal Research Fellow in Innovation Studies/SSMCS, and co-sponsored by the Contextual Theology Centre andour Multifaith Chaplaincy, the Seminar seeks to explore emerging research areas in two sessions entitled: Living, Loving and Learning: New insights into making pluralism work; and Tolerance, Faiths and Politics in East London and Beyond: Security and purpose.
Guest speakers are Angus Ritchie of Oxford University and Director of the Contextual Theology Centre in East London, and Dilwar Hussain of the Islamic Foundation in Leicester and a member of the Commission on Racial Equality and the Home Office's workgroup on Preventing Extremism Together. Staff from our School of Education, East London Business School, Law, Psychology, School of Computing and Technology, and the School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies have been invited to participate, and expressions of interest are welcome from all other UEL colleagues, Postgraduate Research Students (PGRSs) and Early Career Researchers (ECRs).
Colleagues, PGRSs and ECRs interested in co-presenting are invited to contact Josephine Stein Email: j.a.stein@uel.ac.uk.
Others interested in participating are asked to RSVP to Aygen Kurt Email: a.s.kurt@uel.ac.uk for catering purposes.
For a full programme for the Seminar contact Tim Brooks Email: t.brooks@uel.ac.uk. All welcome!
To conduct a search of current funding opportunities , including all the major competitions , or to set up email alerts specific to your interests, visit www.researchresearch.com.
If you intend to submit an application for funding please contact Tim Brooks (Acting Research Funding Officer) in the Graduate School. Tim is retaining his other responsibilities within the Graduate School so the more notice you can give, the better!
London 2012 is seeking people from across London and the UK with a story to tell for a new film and will be holding casting sessions over the next couple of weeks. From the worthy to the wacky, we want to hear from people who have made a difference – however large or small - whether it’s through sport, culture or education.
It could be making a difference in the local community by setting up a sports club for young people, overcoming a disability to take part in extreme sports, learning to play the piano at the age of 70, or even climbing Everest – London 2012 would like to hear your story.
If successful at the casting, your story could be featured in London 2012’s film which will form a crucial part of promoting the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The London casting will take place next weekend at:
Olympia Conference Centre, Sunday 29 April, 10am – 6pm Hammersmith Road, London, W14 8UX
No need to book, just turn up.
The Second Gateway Futures Symposium for architects, researchers and design practitioners
1- 3 May 2007 ExCel London
The Thames Gateway is Europe’s largest regeneration project in one of the world’s most dynamic cities with plans to create 160,000 new homes and some 180,000 new jobs.
A revitalised, connected network of existing neighbourhoods as well as new settlements will be created involving the remediation of several thousand hectares of brownfield land. These "sustainable" communities will be places where people will be able to live and work, learn and relax in their locality, with space for new services from transport, health and education to shopping and leisure.
But how can we:create these new places and develop their functionality and sense of identity? make these places destinations of choice for Londoners and new settlers from around the world? ensure the Thames Gateway delivers a lasting architectural legacy, with homes better designed to respond to the challenges of climate change?
Our staff and students are able to register for the reduced price of £20.
Register now for the Second Gateway Futures Symposium. Visit http://www.ltgdc.org.uk/think07/ for more information.
News from the UEL Chaplaincy
This semester the UEL Chaplaincy is holding weekly meetings with a focus on the issue of landmines - awareness-raising about this very serious problem, its implications, and work being done to address it, discussion of practical and ethical issues relating to conflict, security and the arms industry, projects for peace, wider thinking on the meaning of peace in relation to justice ... Throughout the term we shall be fundraising for the charity MAG (Mines Advisory Group - www.mag.org.uk). Tim Carstairs, MAG's Director of Policy, will be coming to speak on Tuesday 8th May. All are welcome, 12.30 - 2 p.m. every Tuesday at Stratford (Chaplaincy Centre, room 032 - in the basement by the main entrance) and every Thursday at Docklands (room EBG07).
All welcome. 12.30pm - 2 pm every Tuesday at Stratford (Chaplaincy Centre, room 032 - in the basement by the main entrance) and every Thursday at Docklands (room EBG07).
For further information, or if you wish to make a donation but cannot make the discussions, please contact the Revd. James Ramsay, Email: j.a.ramsay@uel.ac.uk.
Oarsome paddlers are needed to take part (and ideally win) in the 10th annual Rotary Dragon Boat race. So far we have three committed oarspeople from our Sports Science programme and we only need 13 more. Each crew has a maximum of 16 rowers and one drummer. Last year's event was a great success raising well over £20,000 for a wide variety of charities and local community groups.
Participants are usually amateur teams from other Rotary Clubs, corporations from the City and the Wharf, fire departments, student union teams, as well as semi-professional dragon boat teams. So it’s serious competition but in the end it's all about raising funds together for charity. Charities which the Rotary Club specifically intend to support with this year’s event are children’s hospices Little Havens and Richard House, two high school projects in Ecuador and South Africa, and Rotary International (supporting commitments such as PolioPlus, a drive to eradicate polio).
As well as having a great time on the day, and in the practice sessions we're planning, the event will not only raise our profile to a wide range of influential community and business partners in Docklands, we'll also be raising much needed funds for very worthy causes.
If you're interested in taking part as a rower or a supporter please get in touch with Karen O'Connor Email: infocus@uel.ac.uk
All welcome - admission FREE
Events all afternoon from 12 - 8pm.
Celebrate the joys of spring at Mayfest 07, featuring free performances and fresh artistic productions on the waterfront at the University of East London Docklands campus.
An exciting programme of events, including art and photography exhibitions, music, dance, poetry, and literature performances will bring together the work of professionals, students, school pupils and community groups in a celebration of culture and creativity.
For more information and detailed listings visit http://www.uel.ac.uk/mayfest/
Brush up your IT skills and get an internationally recognised qualification online. Contact Greg Price, Organisational Development Manager on ext 4361 or email g.price@uel.ac.uk
Jane Riches and some of our AVA students have completed the third mural for New Deal for Communities Art and History Project, which aims to convey the history of Newham to its residents.
The renovated Plaistow Bridge now has a two sided mural depicting a number of the historic buildings of the borough, researched by Jane Riches and designed with MA student Lanre Badmus.
A number of local and business volunteers helped with the initial work, whilst a range of AVA students completed the finer details – main ones were Margaret Wood, Adam Skidmore, Sam Bridge, Fatma Durmush, Susan Cooper, Shevonne Brade, Cherish York, Andy Palomata and Haylya Kolozali.
Part of the process of working on a public walkway involves dialogues, interest, and praise from locals, many of whom recognised the historic images and provided much extra information, personal stories, and huge encouragement.
The completed murals have to date escaped graffiti, perhaps proving that community observation of a local arts job being undertaken, together with the care and commitment to a neighbourhood expressed by this team, can hopefully enrich attitudes.
For a round-up of events see www.uel.ac.uk/events.
If you would like items included in In Focus Update please send them to me by Wednesday of the preceding week at infocus@uel.ac.uk
Please print off a copy of In Focus Update for those of your colleagues who may not have easy access to email.
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