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Welcome to in Focus Update… |
Past Issues << | Issue 178: Thursday 7 January 2010 |
A big thank you goes out to our in house Facilities staff and contractors at Docklands who worked from 5am yesterday morning to successfully clear the way for the University to open. On the two sites 
approximately 35+ staff braved the cold to ensure our staff and visitors arrived to safe campuses and the facilities were fully operational. These staff were supported by catering staff who eagerly prepared hot food and snacks for the workers. A few contract staff have also been working in the evenings gritting the Docklands campus and a member of the facilities services management team took the opportunity to undertake a quality audit of the residential halls by sleeping in one of the vacant rooms overseeing the preparation work!
Pictured: Left - Facilities working to clear the snow from the footpaths. Right - All the staff who worked at Docklands to clear the snow.... the men in green snow suits are not mountain rescue but in fact various members of the maintenance team.
Student wins first new music award for young LondonersMariama Samba, 20, from Greenwich, is in her first year at UEL studying for a BA Honours in Media and Creative Industries and has been awarded an innovative music award in a new inspirational scheme designed for young Londoners and judged by top celebrities in many fields including Leona Lewis, Christine Ohuruogu, Richard Blackwood and Ms Dynamite. As part of the awards, Mariama and the other nominees for each category met Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah at No 10 Downing Street. Mariama has also opened for top Senegalese musician, Youssou N’dour earlier this year at the O2.
Mariama said: “It’s been a fantastic year so far and I’ve been really privileged. I started writing poetry when I was fifteen and it was in response to racial tension in my school. I wanted to express that injustice and later on, those poems became my music. It’s an achievement to be at UEL too and I’m here to meet all my personal goals.”
For further information on the Spirit of London Awards visit www.spiritoflondonawards.com
Angela Harden paper published in the British Medical JournalAngela Harden’s paper was recently published on “Teenage Pregnancy and Social Disadvantage” in The British Medical Journal. Angela was appointed as the new Professor of Community & Family Health in October 2008; this position is held within the School of Health and Biosciences. Her paper “Teenage pregnancy and social disadvantage: systematic review integrating controlled trials and qualitative studies” was published last month, its focus Angela says was to “determine the impact on teenage conceptions of intervention that address the social disadvantage associated with early parenthood and to assess the appropriateness of such interventions for young people in the UK.”
The paper can be found on the www.bmj.com site (search for Angela Harden).
Working towards the Frank Buttle Charter MarkAs part of their work with care leavers ESDS was invited to visit the Mayors Office to discuss mentoring students with a care background.
This is part of a wider pre and post entry initiative spanning across UEL that ESDS is leading to make our systems more accessible to those leaving care; This approach involves colleagues from SMART, the School of Psychology, Residential Services and the Cass School of Education.
The work will contribute to achieving the Frank Buttle Chatermark a higher education sector standard for work in this area.
For more information on the Frank Buttle Chartermark go to http://www.buttletrust.org
In Focus Update is now on Twitter. Follow us here. For the latest on our activities visit the news releases section of our website www.uel.ac.uk/news
Renovation Project Seminar, Thursday 14 January 2010 10am - 11.30am (approx), LT02 Stratford Campus
Alan Barclay will host the lecture which will go into more detail about the renovation project being carried out on Romford Road and there will be specialist speakers from Bailey Simpson, Building Surveyors, Triton Conservation, Contractor, Deborah Carthy, Conservator and others to be announced. Space will be allocated on a first come first served basis please contact Alan Barclay, a.barclay@uel.ac.uk, to reserve your place. For the details and practises of the Building Craft College please go to www.thebcc.ac.uk
First week for February Starts, 1st - 5th February 2010
Mayfest, Wednesday 5th May 2010
Our annual cultural and arts extravaganza
Open Days 2010
Wednesday 20 January 2010, 5.30-7.30pm, Docklands only
Wednesday 21 April 2010, 4-7pm, Stratford Campus only – Postgraduate advice evening
Saturday 26 June 2010, 12-4pm, Stratford and Docklands
Wednesday 1 September 2010, 4-7pm, Stratford and Docklands
Saturday 16 October 2010, 12-4pm, Stratford and Docklands
For more information about Open Days, contact Vicky Rossiter on v.rossiter@uel.ac.uk
Key links:
Academic Board: www.uel.ac.uk/qa/committees/acaboard
UEL Chaplaincy: www.uel.ac.uk/chaplaincy
Board of Governors: www.uel.ac.uk/governors
Graduation:www.uel.ac.uk/graduation
Mayfest: www.uel.ac.uk/mayfest
Open Days: www.uel.ac.uk/openday
Public Lectures: www.uel.ac.uk/lectureseries
Stonewall Information Service, for advice on housing, parenting, school, work, partnerships, health, immigration and crime call 08000 50 20 20. For details, visit: www.stonewall.org/info
See Events Calendar for a full listing: www.uel.ac.uk/marketing/support/eventscalendar.htm
Sports and Physcial Activity Reps - we need you!!
UELSports are looking for enthusiastic and committed staff members to act as central rep for their respective schools or services.
The role of a rep encompasses:-
- Being a 'champion' and promoter of sport and physical activities across their school or service
- Assist in developing teams for friendly and sociable sporting competitions being held throughout the year
- Attend a monthly reps meeting to discuss and generate ideas for future sport and physical events, courses and programmes.
Two open meetings have already taken place and we are still looking for reps from the following areas:-
-
AVA
- HSS
- Law
- Combined Honours
- International Office
- Finance
- HR
- Student services
Anyone wishing to represent the other schools/services are still able to register. All reps will receive some 'free' sports clothing. Please sign up with David Cosford (Director of Sport) at d.cosford@uel.ac.uk
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) - Managing Research Data Programme. Deadline: 12 February 2010. JISC invites institutions to submit funding proposals for projects under three separate strands of the Managing Research Data Programme. JISC wishes to fund projects across three strands: Strand A: Citing, Integrating and Linking Research Data: To demonstrate the innovative potential for research and scholarly communications of improving methods for citing, integrating and linking research data. Strand B: Enhanced Research Data Publications: To explore innovative technical and organisational models for data publication by scoping and piloting enhanced publications for research data in the form of ‘data journals’, ‘overlay journals’, or similar. Strand C: Research Data Management Training: To promote research data management skills in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through designing and piloting training units for undergraduate or postgraduate courses, for librarians or research support staff, or in the form of summer schools or roadshows. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2009/12/1409researchdata.aspx
British Association for American Studies – Postgraduate Essay Prize. Deadline: 12 February 2010. The writer must be a student currently registered for a postgraduate degree at a university or equivalent institution in Britain. The prize is offered annually by the British Association for American Studies. It is awarded for the best essay-length piece of work on an American Studies topic. The prize is worth £500. http://www.baas.ac.uk/awards/pgessayprize.asp
Harvard University (US), Program on Negotiation (PON) - Graduate Research Fellowships. Deadline: 12 February 2010. These fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Consistent with the PON goal of fostering the development of the next generation of scholars, this program provides support for one year of dissertation research and writing in negotiation and related topics in alternative dispute resolution, as well as giving fellows an opportunity to immerse themselves in the diverse array of resources available at PON. http://www.pon.harvard.edu/category/graduate-research-fellowships/
The Pasold Research Fund – Research grants. Deadline: 15 February 2010. The Pasold Research Fund, UK invites applications for grants ranging between £501 and £1,000 in support of research into textile history. Projects should have a lasting outcome in the form of a publication, exhibition or similar. Applications will also be considered where preliminary work is needed for the preparation of a more substantial grant application to one of the major funding bodies. Some money is also available for conference attendance. http://www.pasold.co.uk/grants.html
Department of Health including NIHR, Evaluation of the NHS Health Checks Programme – Exploring Implementation and Analysing Trends. Deadline: 15 February 2010. The aim of the call is to use existing data sets to analyse trend data on key outcome and intermediate indicators and to generate high quality evidence on the implementation with a specific focus on tackling inequalities in health. http://www.nihr-ccf.org.uk/site/callsproposals/prp/default.cfm
BUPA Foundation and Alzheimer Society – Call for Projects on Dementia. Deadline: 28 February 2010. Alzheimer's Society and the Bupa Foundation are offering £1.5m for project grants over two or three years. Applications are invited for individual applications of between £100,000 and £750,000. In line with guidelines from AMRC, the grants awarded would not include provision for non-attributable costs or costs of permanent academic staff. Topics in the areas of Cause, Cure, Care and Prevention of dementia might include but are not limited to: Epidemiology of all forms of dementia; the causes of dementia and mechanisms of disease progression; the causal relationship between genetics and lifestyle factors predisposing people to dementia; prevention, diagnosis and treatment of dementia; slowing the progress of dementia; developing (non-embryonic) stem cell therapies with translational benefits for people with dementia; Evidence for dietary supplements or complementary therapies as an alternative to drugs; improving quality of life for people with dementia in their own homes or care homes; how to best train staff in all health sectors, at all levels, in communicating with, understanding the needs of, and caring for people with dementia; management of anxiety, agitation and other behavioural symptoms, without the use of antipsychotic drugs; the impact of acute hospitalisation of people with dementia. Please visit http://www.bupafoundation.com/asp/specialist/this_years_theme.asp
Missed an Update? All previously advertised funding opportunities are archived until their date of expiry at http://www.uel.ac.uk/gradschool/research/ResearchUpdate.htm or http://www.uel.ac.uk/gradschool/research/euroupdate.htm
Bookings are now being accepted for UEL's 2010 'Be Your Own Boss' programme, which is organised by our Knowledge Dock Business Centre for February - April of next year. If you are a recent graduate, unemployed or thinking of starting your own business then this course is a great opportunity for you. For further details or to book a FREE place please visit:
Stratford: http://bookingsatuelstratford.eventbrite.com
Docklands: http://bookingsatueldocklands.eventbrite.com
Download the 'Be Your Own Boss' flyer here.
Do you want to win research funding, present a paper at a conference or get a journal article published? Are you studying for a PGR degree, or do you supervise PGR students? Then please have a look at the courses we are offering you this semester! Course details are available at http://www.uel.ac.uk/gradschool/training.htm
To book a place, or with queries, please e-mail Dr Caroline Dunmore, Research Skills Development Adviser in the Graduate School, on c.dunmore@uel.ac.uk.
For details about First Aid courses, contact Frances Bronzite on f.s.bronzite@uel.ac.uk
For details about ECDL, contact Cedrick Nosa on c.nosa@uel.ac.uk
For Learning and Development Course dates see: www.uel.ac.uk/staff-development/handbook
Please send comments or contributions for in Focus Update to: infocus@uel.ac.uk
© 2010
