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Welcome to in Focus Update… |
Past Issues << | Issue 271: 29 November 2011 |
Due to expected strike action on Wednesday 30 November, all staff and students will need their ID cards to gain access to Campus. Those without ID cards should go to the Campus Security Reception Desk where they will be able to pick up a visitor’s ID card for the day.
Please note that there will be some disruption to catering services. Opening hours are as follows:
Docklands Campus
Oscars Coffee Shop open: 8.30 am – 3.30pm
The Edge: 7.30am – 8pm
The other catering outlets on Docklands Campus will be closed tomorrow.
Stratford Campus
Buzz Café: 8.30am – 3.30pm
University House Coffee Shop: 8.30am – 3.30pm
Café on the Green: 3.30pm – 7.30pm
Duncan House
Normal service: 8.15am – 8pm
Cleaning and maintenance
All services will operate as normal.
For cleaning emergencies call: Docklands ext. 2841, Stratford and Duncan House ext. 4317. For maintenance enquiries call: Helpdesk ext. 2000.
All staff need to confirm to their Dean or Director by email whether or not they took part in the strike by 5pm on Wednesday 7 December. If no response is received, UEL will assume that they took part in the industrial action and pay will be withheld. For more information, please visit www.uel.ac.uk/hrservices/strikeaction.htm or contact your Dean or Director or your HR Manager.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Patrick McGhee has called for the government to rethink its higher education policy, claiming that the sector’s success is being jeopardised by the ‘double whammy’ of tuition fees policy deterring home students and the new immigration policy deterring overseas applicants. “The UK higher education sector is one of the best in the world for research, teaching, knowledge transfer and widening access, but all these areas are threatened by the new fees regime and the way it has been introduced alongside Home Office restrictions on overseas applicants.” For the full story see bit.ly/tuition_fees
On Wednesday 7 December Vice-Chancellor Professor Patrick McGhee will welcome staff and student guests from 19 partner schools and colleges to the launch of the UEL National Scholarship Programme. The UEL NSP offers financial support in the form a £3,000 bursary and additional outreach and transition support for eligible students. Our National Scholarship Programme webpages give more information about our partners, the offer and eligibility criteria. Visit www.uel.ac.uk/nsp
UEL staff and students now have the opportunity to learn Spanish, French, Chinese Mandarin or Japanese. The new courses are for beginners and will introduce participants to both language and culture. The courses are open to all UEL staff members and are free. Places are strictly limited, so if you would like to apply email languages@uel.ac.uk by Friday 9 December, specifying which language you would like to learn and why. Also include any other successful language learning experience you have had. Lessons will take place at Docklands Campus between 5pm and 8pm on a Tuesday or Wednesday, running from Tuesday 24 January 2012 until the end of Semester B. For more information visit www.uel.ac.uk/languages
UELSports, in partnership with the School of Arts and Digital Industries, is offering one UEL photographer the chance of a lifetime. UEL staff and students are invited to submit photographs on the theme ‘Sport in the University of East London’. The winning photograph, as chosen by a panel of experts, will be displayed in the SportsDock from its opening and during the London 2012 Games when Team USA will use the centre as their training base. Opportunities are available for staff and students to photograph UEL clubs as they compete against other universities in various sports. The deadline for entries is 11 February 2012. For more information email Cienna Smyth at c.smyth@uel.ac.uk
This year’s Staff Christmas Party will take place on Thursday 15 December, 4 – 9pm, and will be held in Aqua East on Docklands Campus (next to Residential Services). Shuttle buses will be running approximately every 15 – 20 minutes from the main Water Lane entrance of Stratford Campus, beginning at 3.30pm.
Expect lots of food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and dancing. This year’s theme is Winter Wonderland, with prizes for anyone who comes as Santa, Rudolph, an elf, tree, or other festive flora or fauna. Guests are admitted if they turn up with a decoration for the tree (loosely interpreted) and staff must RSVP to Richard at r.pyle@uel.ac.uk with ‘UEL Staff Christmas Party’ in the subject line as soon as they can. Please also email if you would like to help decorate Aqua East before the party begins. See you there!
Following its official launch earlier this month, visitors to King’s Cross have been able to scan the night sky for an (un) Identified Flying Object. An art installation was set hovering over the area on Wednesday 16 November, from where it will continue to shine down on one of London’s biggest transport hubs for the next two years. The piece, entitled IFO (Identified Flying Object), is part of RELAY, an art programme coordinated by UEL academic Michael Pinsky and art critic Stéphanie Delcroix. For the full story see bit.ly/relaykingscross
UEL’s Schools and Colleges Team attended the launch of Clapton Girls' Academy in Hackney this week as one of their education partners, along with the University of Cambridge and global law firm Linklaters. The launch was to celebrate the school’s conversion from a technology college to Academy status and was officially opened by Baroness Amos, the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations, who had in her early career worked at Hackney Council before heading up the Equal Opportunities Commission and later becoming the first black leader of the House of Lords. For the full story see bit.ly/claptongirls
Derek Robbins, Professor of International Social Theory in the School of Law and Social Sciences, has published a new book entitled French Post-War Social Theory:International Knowledge Transfer. It is original in attempting to analyse the process of trans-national transfer of social science concepts between cultures. Although it concentrates on the transfer of ideas from France to England, it raises wider questions about the applicability of Eurocentric social science in a global context. For full details see uk.sagepub.com/books/Book225042
For the latest on our activities visit the news releases section of our website www.uel.ac.uk/news
Improving health in Newham – research seminar series: Tuesday 29 November, 4.15 – 5.30pm (Classroom 3, Education Centre, Newham University Hospital NHS Trust)
Dr Noble will be presenting how the many known risk factors for type 2 diabetes can be combined in statistical models to produce risk scores for estimating future risk of developing diabetes. He will also present and discuss preliminary results. For further details or to RSVP contact Sadna Ullah on Sadna.Ullah@newhamhealth.nhs.uk or 020 7363 9037.
Morality, person-value and ideology: reacting to reality TV: Thursday 1 December, 5 – 6pm (ED.2.02, StratfordCampus)
Professor Bev Skeggs, Head of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, will be speaking at this public research seminar for UEL students and staff. Please RSVP, or direct any queries to, Veronica at v.a.burton@uel.ac.uk To find out more about Professor Skeggs see gold.ac.uk/sociology/staff/skeggs
Communities and health: reflections on community development and lay involvement in public health: Friday 9 December, 1 – 2pm (EB.3.16, Docklands Campus)
Speaking at the seminar will be Sarah Frost, Learning Network Development Manager on the Altogether Better Programme at Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory, and Jane South, Director of the Centre for Health Promotion Research at Leeds Metropolitan University. For further details email g.phillips@uel.ac.uk
Hereditary spastic paraparesis: from pathophysiology to rehabilitation: Wednesday 14 December, 6pm (AE.1.01, Stratford Campus)
Professor Jon Marsden will be presenting this public lecture. To attend, please email May Nahar at m.nahar@uel.ac.uk
Any Questions: Friday 16 December, 8pm (Sir John Cass Foundation and Red Coat School, Stepney)
Sir John Cass Foundation and Red Coat School in Stepney is hosting Radio 4’s Any Questions next month. The panel currently includes John Pilger, Andrew Motion, Michael Portillo and Anne Leslie. For your free ticket contact the School Business Coordinator, Catherine Bowler, on 020 7791 4986 or catherine.bowler@sjcr.net
See Events Calendar for a full listing: www.uel.ac.uk/marketing/support/eventscalendar.htm
Adopt a club this Christmas
UELSports are asking UEL staff to make a difference to one sports club this Christmas and New Year. Individuals with a passion and enthusiasm for sport are invited to volunteer to sponsor a club. Sports clubs in UEL range from futsal to table tennis, dance to taekwondo, and over 16 other clubs in between! Sponsors will mentor clubs through attending matches, getting in touch with club members and supporting the club committee. UEL staff will also offer students advice and their professional opinion, to ensure their adopted club reaches its full potential. For more information on sports clubs or to adopt a club email Katy at k.hollands@uel.ac.uk
Welcome to the Green Thing, a regular section full of information on environmental projects, tips and ideas for staff at UEL. Visit our website www.uel.ac.uk/greenthing, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/uel_greenthing or get in touch at greenthing@uel.ac.uk
We’d love to hear from you!
Environment Team, Facilities
You can now pick up your own 100% reused paper notebook in the Print Centre in the East Building on Docklands Campus. Staff in the Print Centre take old letter-headed paper that can no longer be used, cut off the top and turn the rest into a bound notebook. Any staff member who wishes to make use of one of these notebooks can come to the Print Centre and pick one up. When you go to the print centre, don't forget that you can also take your old printer cartridges along for recycling as well as old letter-headed paper. Contact the Print Centre for more details at print.centre@uel.ac.uk
“Hi, I’m Danielle, a new intern in the Environment Team. I’m carrying out a sustainable procurement project placement as part of my Master's degree in Environment, Politics and Globalisation at King’s College London. The aim of the project is to review the supply chain of products and services across UEL, considering value for money on a whole-life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment. Outside of university and work I love to travel, and have spent time living and working in Australia.”
To contact Danielle email d.bistacchi@uel.ac.uk
…that there are plenty of ways you can keep warm – and your bills down – this season? The Energy Saving Trust has 10 tips to get you started. See bit.ly/10tipstokeepwarm
Please send comments or contributions for in Focus Update to: infocus@uel.ac.uk
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© 2011
