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Welcome to in Focus Update… |
Past Issues << | Issue 219: 3 November 2010 |
Indian actress and humanitarian Preity Zinta admitted to being “incredibly humbled” by the award of an Honorary Doctorate from UEL on Friday 29 October, and pledged to use the accolade to forge a positive relationship with the University. The screen star and social campaigner told journalists, “In my career I have always won awards for films. This is the first time I’ve received something for my cultural contribution or for my humanitarian work, so this is always going to be extremely special to me.” Dr Zinta was mobbed by hundreds of adoring fans at the Docklands Campus, signing countless autographs and taking time out to be photographed with many students. Camera-phone footage of this gathering, along with a video of Preity’s acceptance speech, have attracted a record number of views on UEL’s Youtube channel. To view the UEL channel, visit youtube.com/videouel. At the same event Lord Dholakia OBE (a tireless campaigner for social and racial equality) and Professor Lord Parekh (one of the great political philosophers of our times) were also bestowed with honorary doctorates, both in Law. For the full story, click here.
Graduation season kicks-off with the CASS School of EducationProud CASS School of Education graduates celebrated their success at the Barbican Centre in central London on Monday. UEL’s first graduation event of the year saw former students joined by delighted family and friends, as each was presented with their certificates by Chancellor Lord Rix. Honorary Doctorates were also conferred at the event, to philanthropist Kevin Everett, education campaigner Vanessa Wiseman and acclaimed teacher Chris Tomlinson, while a posthumous Doctorate was awarded to former Sir John Cass Foundation board-member Manuel Alvarado. A PGCE Primary student, Omar Ebanks, provided a vote of thanks on behalf of his fellow students, commenting, "At UEL I’ve learnt that the most important thing someone can do in their life is to help children. Our tutors have always been there for us, and I want to be there for others". The University also pioneered an online live stream of the event, which could be viewed anywhere in the world. Six more ceremonies are scheduled to take place before Christmas, with the next, for the Royal Docks Business School, being held next Monday. For more information, please see uel.ac.uk/graduation.
The event that was due to take place today has unfortunately been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. The in Focus team will keep staff and students informed of any further developments, and whether the event will be rescheduled.
UEL Alumni Reception in DelhiUEL officials were in Delhi last month as part of the University’s ongoing 'Global Reach' initiative. Catherine Downes, Director of Corporate Marketing, hosted a dinner on the evening of Saturday 9 October at the Taj Palace Hotel which was attended by an intimate gathering of alumni who live in and around the city. Guests enjoyed each others' company and learnt about the many exciting projects that are developing out of the University’s new strategy, Transformation for Excellence. The Development and Alumni Office hopes to continue the success of these activities by returning to India next year for a further series of events.
35th anniversary of legal education at the School of LawTo celebrate the notable milestone of 35 of teaching the LLB degree at UEL, the School of Law, in partnership with the Development and Alumni Office, will be hosting a reception at the Law Society's Hall in central London on the evening of Thursday 18 November for law professionals, and for students and staff of the School, past and present. The Dean of the School of Law, Fiona Fairweather, and law alumnus Mark Stephens, a distinguished lawyer and media commentator who now also serves as the Chair of the Board of Governors at UEL, will chair the event. For further information, or to reserve your place, please contact the Development and Alumni Office via 020 8223 2222 or alumni@uel.ac.uk by Friday 5 November.
Last Friday, 80 Royal Docks Business School students gathered at the ExCel Centre to take part in the third and largest XING Business Challenge at UEL. XING is an interactive strategy game where teams of students go through the decision processes and stages of setting up a new business venture. Twelve teams of six or seven students worked for over five hours and were given less than ten minutes to present their ideas in front of a panel of judges, including experts from the business world. By the end of the day it was clearly evident that UEL has some truly gifted and inspiring students who are bound for future success. Congratulations to the winning team SWARRS B, who walked away with £500 after narrowly beating second place team Oxygen A. More information and photos from the day can be found at www.uel.ac.uk/xing.
Students sometimes complain about the noise and disruption that can be caused by children who are brought into library and IT areas. In response, Library and Learning Services have produced a set of guidelines for students with children to sign up to before they come in. Additionally, the University's libraries have outlined the ways that students and staff can access resources without coming in to the library. With online access to almost 70,000 online journals and 3,000 e-books, and our term-time ‘Ask-a-Librarian’ service where students can chat online to a librarian, students can now visit the library anytime, from anywhere that has a PC. More details about the guidelines can be found here.
Vice-Chancellor Patrick McGhee would like you to join him for a small gathering in honour of Remembrance Day on Thursday 11 November at 11am. Remembrance Day is a special day to remember all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts. If you would like to join Patrick then please make your way to the Dockside beside the green at the Docklands Campus promptly at 10.45am, where Patrick will say a few words. This will then be followed by a two-minute silence. Subject to the weather conditions the gathering may move to under the West Building cover. For more information please contact Sarah Pallett via s.pallett@uel.ac.uk or 020 8223 2512.
For the latest on our activities visit the news releases section of our website www.uel.ac.uk/news
WISE UP! UEL Health, Safety and Wellbeing Events
A wide range of health, safety and wellbeing exhibitors will be present. There will also be several competitions and our ever-popular goody bags. So whether you want to check your fitness levels, get some advice on healthy eating, find out about stress management or have a soothing massage, put the dates in your diary now. All staff and students welcome.
- Tuesday 2 November, 10am–4pm (Stratford Campus Computer Centre)
- Tuesday 9 November, 10am–4pm (Docklands Campus East Building)
‘Secrets to a Successful Career by Leading Business Woman Heather McGregor': Thursday 4 November, 4
– 5pm (Main Lecture Theatre, Business School)
Heather will be addressing the top ten essential secrets to creating a successful career path and climbing the corporate ladder. There will be a chance to ask Heather your burning questions and obtain invaluable advice to plan your career beyond academia. For more information, please visit the Talking Business website uel.ac.uk/business/events.
ICMEC international seminar: ‘Vouchers again? Recent experience with early education vouchers in Hong Kong’: Tuesday 9 November, 2 – 5pm (Stratford Campus)
The International Centre for the Study of the Mixed Economy of Childcare will be hosting a free seminar to address the controversy and criticism surrounding early childhood education in Hong Kong, with speakers from the Hong Kong Institute of Education and CASS School of Education. To confirm your attendance, please email Eva Lloyd at e.lloyd@uel.ac.uk.
Surviving the Transition Process
– Improving the Overseas Student Experience: Wednesday 10 November, 2pm (WBG.02, Docklands Campus)
This presentation is designed for tutors and module leaders who will be teaching international students who are studying at British HE institutions for the first time. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Leah Netley at l.netley@uel.ac.uk.
Celebrating and Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship:
Thursday 18 November, 8.30
– 10.00am
(London's Living Room, City Hall, The Queen's Walk SE1 2AA)
To mark 'Global Entrepreneurship Week', UEL is hosting an event to celebrate our achievements in supporting entrepreneurial women.
Please RSVP to Karen Wilton
at k.wilton@uel.ac.uk by Wednesday 10 November.
Vice-Chancellor's Prizewinners Awards: Monday 22 November (Stratford Campus)
A celebratation of first- and second-year student prizewinners. For more information, please contact Dinaz Trudeau at d.trudeau@uel.ac.uk.
Volunteering Awards: Wednesday 24 November, 6.30 – 8pm (Docklands Campus)
A celebration of UEL students' commitment to volunteering over the past year. Refreshments and canapés will be served at 6pm. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Danielle Bailey at volunteering@uel.ac.uk.
See Events Calendar for a full listing: www.uel.ac.uk/marketing/support/eventscalendar.htm
The University of East London’s rowing team has enjoyed its first taste of success thanks to competitor David Marshall, who picked up a silver medal at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) trials in October.
David, who picked up his medal in the single trials, was the second fastest student in all of the 5K trials over the weekend, coming eighth out of the entire GB senior squad. The team also narrowly missed a double coming fourth in their competition on the Sunday.
David Marshall, who competed alongside fellow UEL student John Collins, said, “It was a solid weekend for both myself and John. I was happy to gain the first BUCS points in rowing for UEL. It would be great to see rowing become firmly established as a sport in which UEL is nationally recognised, I think we certainly have the talent”.
The NIHR Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) programme: 10/1013: Research into promising local innovations in healthcare delivery in the NHS. Deadline: 16 December 2010. The NIHR SDO programme is advertising a call for research into promising local innovations in healthcare delivery. Innovations to be researched are likely to have all or most of the following characteristics: (1) Promising innovations in healthcare delivery which have a substantial potential benefit and could be applied more widely in the NHS. (2) Being piloted, tested or implemented in a number of healthcare organisations. (3) Involving the application of ideas or technologies introduced or transferred from other countries, sectors or settings. (4) Focused on service delivery and management issues in healthcare organisations. (5) And have not already been well explored and tested through research. This call requires partnership between healthcare organisations and health service researchers with expertise in evaluation. For instance, a project evaluating a new form of diabetes care across a whole health economy might have input from an academic health services team, a lead clinician and the local diabetes network. Please visit the call’s website for more information.
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), International Opportunities Fund. Deadline: 14 December 2010. The aim of this scheme is to facilitate international collaboration for research and research-related activities that are aligned with the NERC strategy ‘next generation science for planet Earth, 2007-2012’. Funding is worth £1.3 million per year with individual grants worth up to £300,000. See NERC’s website for information.
Medical Research Council (MRC), Partnership Grants – (1) Population and Systems Medicine and (2) Neurosciences and Mental Health. Deadline: 16 December 2010. This aims to provide support for collaborative activities that add value to existing research or helps galvanise researchers in a particular field, or complementary fields, to address important issues that cannot be addressed through other funding arrangements. MRC will usually fund on the basis of 80% of the full economic cost. Follow the link for more information.
Fisheries Society of the British Isles, Small Research Grants. Deadline: 1 January 2011. This supports small research projects in any field of study relevant to the aims of the society. The budget is £30,000 and grants are worth up to £5,000 each. Visit the Society’s website for information.
Leverhulme Trust, Research Programme Grants. Deadline: 12 January 2011. Proposals are invited for programme awards on one of the following three topics: intergenerational justice, resilience and science & politics. Grants are approximately between £500,000 and £1.75 million each for a period of up to five years. See the Trust’s website for more information.
The European Commission. FP7 People (Marie Curie) programme: Career Integration Grants. Deadline: 8 March 2011. Marie Curie Career Integration Grants (CIG) provide financial assistance to experienced researchers who are offered a stable employment in research in an EU Member State where they have not resided more than twelve months during the previous three years immediately prior to the relevant deadline for proposals. Please visit the CORDIS webpage for more information.
The European Commission. FP7 People (Marie Curie) programme: International Research Staff Exchange scheme IRSES. Deadline 17 March 2011. The programme aims to strengthen research partnerships through staff exchanges and networking activities between European research organisations and research organisations from third countries. The partners are expected to propose a multi-annual joint programme as the common basis for their collaboration. This may include joint research and training activities or joint workshops and seminars, as well as other networking activities. For each member of staff from an EU Member State seconded to a third country, the Union will pay a flat rate of €1,900 per researcher and per month. Please visit the CORDIS web page for more information.
European Research Council: Advanced Grants. If you wish to apply to the next Calls of the ERC for Advanced grants, the UK Research Office is organising a series of Information and proposal writing events in the UK. This call is expected to open on 2 November 2010 with deadlines in spring 2011:
- London School of Economics, Friday 3 December 2010, 1.30 – 5.30pm
- London School of Economics, Friday 8 December 2010, 1.30 – 5.30pm
To register in one session please follow this link.
Missed an Update? All previously advertised funding opportunities are archived until their date of expiry at uel.ac.uk/gradschool/research/ResearchUpdate.htm or uel.ac.uk/gradschool/research/euroupdate.htm
Please send comments or contributions for in Focus Update to: infocus@uel.ac.uk
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