Dr Karen Shalev Greene

International experts in missing people are to meet for the first time to share good practice and findings from research.

The University of Portsmouth is hosting the three-day conference in June with speakers coming from a wide range of disciplines and from countries including Canada, the US, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK.

Why children go missing, what role mental health has to play in those who go missing, when a parent abducts their own child, the geographical area missing people are most likely to be found in, the relationship between police and the families of missing people and people who go missing in the aftermath of a major disaster are some of the many subjects that will be discussed.

Researcher Dr Karen Shalev Greene, a specialist in missing people from the University’s Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, is the conference organiser.

She said: “This is the first time experts in a range of areas related to missing people will come together to discuss what we know and where more research is needed.

“We expect a big turnout and everyone is invited, whether they are academics; police; social, health and youth workers; NGOs and even family members of missing people.”

The conference, Missing Children and Adults ‘Working Across Borders’, will include speakers from national police, UK Missing Persons Bureau, and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. It is being held at the University’s Richmond and Portland buildings from June 18-20.

To find out more and to register, visit the Centre for the Study of Missing Persons website http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/icjs/csmp/conference/

Elephants are known for their ‘intelligence’

Elephants have a longstanding reputation for ‘intelligence’ but they are only distantly related to humans, so any real similarity must have arisen in parallel. Recent research has revealed that elephant cognition does share several interesting features with our own. This gives us clues to the original evolutionary pressures that shaped our minds.

Professor Byrne studies the evolution of cognition, particularly the origins of distinctively human characteristics. He uses evidence from species as diverse as great apes, elephants and domestic pigs. In 1987, with three colleagues he set up the Scottish Primate Research Group, which now links 17 faculties and their research teams in an informal collaboration spanning five Scottish universities.

Professor Byrne has published 118 refereed journal articles, 65 invited book chapters, and edited three books. He was awarded the British Psychology Society Book Award in 1997 for his study The Thinking Ape, and appointed to the fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2002.

Date: Thursday April 25, 2013

Time: 6–7pm, followed by a drinks reception

Venue: Portland Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth PO1 3AH

Admission is free but by ticket only from http://richardbyrne.eventbrite.com.

Alistair McDermott, Director of Knowledge Services at the University, and Shena Mitchell, Director of Innovation Warehouse, at the newly opened Innovation Space on Hampshire Terrace

A one-stop shop for innovation, entrepreneurship and the creation of new jobs for the city opened at the University of Portsmouth yesterday.

The University has invested £500,000 into the Innovation Space, on Hampshire Terrace to help ignite the growth of entrepreneurship and businesses in the region.

The centre has two floors dedicated to help business owners and managers work alongside academics to develop new products or routes to markets, and two floors dedicated to the Innovation Warehouse, an engine room for individuals and start-up companies looking for serious growth and new business opportunities.

Vice-Chancellor Professor John Craven officially opens the Innovation Space

The combination of the two elements is a first for the University, which has never before provided space for businesses, and a first for Portsmouth, which is now the second city in the UK to be home to the Innovation Warehouse, a concept designed and tested in its London headquarters and which has, in 18 months, helped eight new business ventures to launch.

The launch of the centre was attended by local business and civic leaders, including businesses from the Isle of Wight, academics whose research has potential to deliver a boost to businesses, local media and strategic managers from the University and Innovation Warehouse.

The University’s new Innovation Space aims to help fledgling and medium-sized businesses

Alistair McDermott, Director of Knowledge Services at the University, said: “The launch of Innovation Space is about the University bringing wealth and jobs to the region and promoting engagement with experts from University.

“Together with the Innovation Warehouse, we are now in a position to help support local entrepreneurship and growth, which the city and region needs.”

The University’s goal for the centre is to put like-minded people in science and innovation together side by side to find new ways of solving problems or to come up with answers to help businesses make a step change in the development of new products or services.

Alistair said: “We are committed to offering businesses direct access to researchers who are experts in their field to help create sparks of innovation and business growth. The businesses which have already joined us will be working with our experts in artificial intelligence to help improve their profit margins.”

The top two floors are dedicated to the Innovation Warehouse, which launched in London in 2011 after a philanthropist saw a need for those with entrepreneurial spirit and ideas to be given space to develop and fine-tune their ideas, products and goals.

The co-founders and directors offer mentoring, coaching and support help in writing business plans which stand a chance of working and, crucially, regular meetings with successful business directors and potential funders. In return for investment, they can take a share in businesses they help develop.

Tony Fish, Director of London’s Innovation Warehouse, said: “We are about giving direct access to market for entrepreneurs with progressive and novel ideas.
“What we offer is not for everyone but it is a strong launch-pad for businesses which have brilliant potential but also some gaps or hurdles ahead of them.

“The gaps could be anything from understanding business concepts including intellectual property or company and product law, access to finance, pitching for funding, marketing and technical skills such as software development.

“You could say we are de-risking people who already have ideas worth millions.”

The Innovation Warehouse has plans to open eight more centres in the next two years and is working with partners to develop these in Leeds, Oxford, Croydon and New York.

Shena Mitchell, director of Innovation Warehouse Portsmouth, said: “When the co-founders and co-directors were looking to invest and start a new Innovation Warehouse I persuaded them to consider Portsmouth.

“Having worked in the city for the last 20 years, I believe there are many people in Portsmouth ready to start their own businesses and who just need the kind of support we have to offer.”

The importance of communicating: Professor Jim Al-Khalili

Theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili is giving a public lecture in Portsmouth next week on the importance of communicating scientific and engineering research.

The lecture has been organised by the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth and forms part of the 2013 Engineering Professors’ Council congress.

The annual two-day congress will attract some of the UK’s foremost academics in the field of engineering.

The University’s engineering heritage spans educational and research disciplines including chemical, civil, electronic, electrical, materials, mineral and mechanical engineering.

Faculty Dean Professor Djamel Ait-Boudaoud said: “Academics have a duty and responsibility to strengthen political and public support of their respective disciplines through public engagement events.

“This is particularly important in science and engineering to ensure that we are raising public interest through inspirational talks and activities.

“I am extremely thankful to Jim for agreeing to share his experience.”

The Engineering Professors’ Council exists to promote excellence in engineering in higher education. Its primary purpose is to provide a forum at which academic engineers can exchange ideas about education and research, and to represent engineer’s interests in industry and government.

Susan Kay, executive director of the council, said: “Now, more than ever, it’s important for the engineering profession to keep learning and developing new ways in which it can engage the public and communicate the vitally important things it does in solving some of the greatest challenges faced by the world today – from food security to cyber security – and its leading role in driving the UK’s economic recovery.”

Professor Al-Khalili is professor of theoretical physics and chair of public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. He is a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific and recent BBC television programmes Chemistry: a Volatile History; Shock and Awe: the History of Electricity and the 2012 Horizon special on the quest to discover the Higgs Boson. His regular Jim Meets… lecture series features interviews with Brian Cox, David Attenborough and Robert Winston.

The lecture will take place at 6pm next Tuesday in the University’s Richmond Building in Portland Street. Tickets are free but booking is essential via Eventbrite: http://spreadingtheword.eventbrite.com/

Professor Will Percival

An international expert on cosmology, based at the University of Portsmouth, discussed the mysteries of the Universe, from fact to scientific theory, in his inaugural lecture this week.

Professor Will Percival, of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, spoke about his work mapping the universe, using large surveys of galaxies to trace the cosmological evolution from the Big Bang to present day.

The Big Bang is estimated to have happened 13.75 billion years ago, and the Universe has been expanding since. The force of gravity slows down this expansion, and it was expected that this deceleration would continue forever.

However, in the last five billion years the Universe has started to expand much more rapidly. Scientists believe this is due to a mysterious force named Dark Energy.

Professor Percival says: ”Understanding Dark Energy is one of the most interesting questions that faces modern physicists.

“I was pleased to be able to take my audience on a journey through the observable Universe, and tell everyone about the wonders of the observations I have had the privilege to analyse.”

Large surveys of galaxies, compiled by cosmologists all around the world, provide a wealth of information about the Universe, and on Dark Energy.

Watch edited highlights of Professor Percival’s lecture here:

Professor Percival lecture

Law students are encouraged by visiting family barrister Hugh Merry to apply for the Bar

One of the UK’s ancient Inns of Court attended an outreach event at the University of Portsmouth’s School of Law to encourage students to aim for the Bar.

The visit to Portsmouth Business School by some of the country’s most prominent lawyers was a coup for the School.

The event was sponsored by one of the UK’s four Inns, the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and was attended by judges and barristers on the Western Circuit.

Judge Mark Sutherland-Williams talks with law students

The Inns are professional associations for barristers and judges in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, a lawyer must belong to one of the four Inns.

School of Law lecturer Bernard Davis said: “This is the first outreach event of its kind and is an accolade for Portsmouth.

“Modern universities are under represented at the Bar because more traditional universities have historically provided an ample supply of well qualified recruits.

“But things are changing now with the recognition that the modern universities also have academic talent and students with the essential personal qualities needed to complement academic excellence. Both are required to be successful in practice.”

The drinks and talks reception was, Bernard said, all about the future, about inspiring young student lawyers they can aim for the highest positions in their career.

He said: “A number of former students have won scholarships to the Inns and one has secured a pupillage, which is a bit like winning the Pools. This is very impressive for a relatively new Law School and we have other promising candidates following this lead.”

Dawn Hyland, from the Crown Prosecution Service, talks with a law student

All barristers have to be a member of one of the Inns, all of which are in London. If they practise at the independent Bar, they also become members of the “circuit”, or geographical region where they practise. Portsmouth is in the Western Circuit.

After graduation, would-be barristers must first take the one-year Bar professional training course and attend 12 training events at their Inn. They must then complete 12 months’ pupillage, attached to a practising barrister, before they are fully qualified to practise on their own.

The four Inns of Court have a rich history going back to the 14th century and are Temple Inn, Gray’s Inn, Middle Temple and Lincoln’s Inn.

The University of Portsmouth is celebrating National Science and Engineering Week with a range of free events that will appeal to all age groups.

The week is officially kicking off on Saturday March 16 with a band of science buskers setting out to amaze and enlighten shoppers in the Guildhall Square area. The event is from 12:00 to 1:00 pm and the buskers are returning on Saturday March 23 at the same time.

Astrophysicists from the University’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitationwill be holding stargazing nights every day for a week in Gunwharf Quays. People are encouraged to come along, use a telescope, and find out about the night sky. The event is being held from Monday 18 to Friday 22 March from 6:30 to 8:00 pm outside Bar 38.

Astronomers star gaze in the city

Like a Tea Tray in the Sky, a café in Osborne Road, Southsea, will be hosting an evening of knitting with maths on Saturday March 16 from 6:00 pm. Knitting is highly mathematical, with the best knitting patterns relying on an active brain as well as active fingers.

The University’s centre for simulation in healthcare will open its doors to the public for the first time. Guests will be able to see the range of facilities on offer, including mannequins that can simulate the symptoms of a heart attack, among other things. Radiographers, Operating Department Practitioners, and paramedics, among other disciplines, are able to train there as part of their course. The centre will be open on Tuesday March 19 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

The University is also involved with a variety of talks being held in the city.

The Mary Rose Story will be hosting an evening of science and technology as researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences will talk about the science involved in the preservation of the historical ship. The event is being held on Wednesday March 20 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Mary Rose Story in the Historic Dockyard.

The University is also hosting a talk by Dr Phillippe Blondel from the University of Bath who will be talking about the secrets of our oceans, and what we can learn from the past to predict events such as tsunamis in the future. This will be held on Wednesday March 20, 7.00-8.30 pm, in Richmond Building.

Professor Will Percival will be speaking about the latest theories of the universe and his work in mapping the history of the universe in an attempt to learn more about the present night sky. This event will be held in Park Building on Thursday March 21 at 6:00 pm.

As part of the Café Scientifique series, Dr John Williams, an expert in urban infrastructure, will be talking about the impact every day domestic behaviour has on our waste water systems. Join him for the discussion on Tuesday March 26 at 8:00 pm in Le Café Parisien.

To book onto any of the events please go to http://www.port.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/events/title,171270,en.html or call 023 9284 3757

Rules of the Road by Mike Manson

Tony Giles, Tom Sykes, Sarah Cheverton, Mike Manson and Tom Phillips will describe their approach to travel writing and read excerpts of their work. They will also be taking questions from the audience.

Drawing on their own enthralling travel experiences, their work spans poetry, fiction, drama, creative nonfiction and journalism.

Tony Giles is a blind and mostly deaf writer whose travel autobiography is a young blind man’s angle on the world as he attempts to achieve his dreams, dealing with disability whilst living life to the full.

Tom Sykes is a journalist and co-editor of three anthologies of hitchhiking stories, whose writing has appeared in The Daily Telegraph.

Sarah Cheverton is a feminist activist, freelance writer, co-ordinator of the Portsmouth Writer Hub and Writer in Residence for Aurora New Dawn, a service working with victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Mike Manson’s travel novel tells the story of two travellers as they get lost, meet strange people, buy weird footwear and avoid being eaten by tortoises.

Tom Phillips spent ten years working in radio before becoming a freelance journalist. He is also a poet and playwright whose plays have been staged in Bristol and Bath.

Travel writing has never been more interesting or more diverse than it is today. It has both broad appeal and literary import, with television personalities such as Michael Palin working in the genre alongside Nobel Laureates such as VS Naipaul.

The authors will be selling and signing their books at the end of the event.

Date: Wednesday March 13, 2013

Time: 6–7pm talk, followed by a drinks reception

Venue: Portland Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth PO1 3AH

Admission is free but by ticket only from http://offthepage.eventbrite.com

Vindicated: David Walsh – CREDIT: Rhianna Dawes

David Walsh, chief sports writer at The Sunday Times and the man who uncovered Lance Armstong’s dishonest past, presented a lecture at Portsmouth’s Guildhall this week, writes Will Carpenter, third year journalism student at the University of Portsmouth.

‘My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong’, organised by the University, detailed Walsh’s 14-year pursuit of the disgraced American cyclist and the fascinating journey to unmasking sport’s biggest fraud.

For Walsh, the period since Lance Armstrong’s doping confessions has been very busy.

“It’s been fantastic that people want to hear the truth now, because for so long, the one thing people didn’t want to hear was the truth, it’s come full circle,” he said.

Walsh spoke to a crowd of more than 600 at the Guildhall about his eventful and at times stressful quest to bring Armstrong to justice, including facing legal action from Armstrong and being abandoned by his fellow professionals on a roadside in Belgium.

Journalism lecturer Mary Williams and David Walsh          - CREDIT: Rhianna Dawes

The group of journalists he had arranged to travel with during the Tour de France told him he was no longer welcome in the car because his pursuit of Armstrong meant that the American would not speak to him, or anyone associated with him.

Lance Armstrong had labelled David Walsh ‘a troll,’ publicly questioned his ethics and integrity and taken legal action against his newspaper. Despite this, Walsh, who will spend next week at Team Sky’s training camp, said he had never considered quitting.

“I felt the only way I could sustain the feeling that I had in terms of respect was to ask questions. I couldn’t persuade enough people to talk to me or help with the investigation, I didn’t regard that as failure because important people were basically covering up for the way cycling had gone,” he said.

“UCI didn’t want to catch Armstrong; sponsors didn’t want to catch him, the Tour de France company didn’t want to. His team, the doctors, everyone was covering up for him.

“I didn’t feel like: ‘Oh, this is affecting your integrity.’ I mean people thought that I was wrong, but I felt I was getting it right and I didn’t care what other people thought, I cared that I was doing the right thing.”

Walsh’s inquiry uncovered one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in sporting history and led to the downfall of a man previously considered by many to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. But in Walsh’s opinion, Lance Armstrong’s biggest crime was not doping or in fact the legacy he built on false pretences.

“His greatest crime was the bullying and the way he set out to destroy people’s lives,” he said.

“Many people have doped, but not many people have gone to the lengths he went to protect his lie. I suppose a huge problem for me was the way he duped the cancer community – to actually go out there and make yourself out to be this iconic figure to people affected by this horrible disease. He was prepared to accept all the plaudits, all the human worship, knowing that he was the author of the biggest lie the sport had ever known.”

The free public lecture attracted the largest audience the University public lecture series has ever attracted including students and staff from the University and members of the public. It was made possible because journalism lecturer Mary Williams contacted the journalist and writer, inviting him to speak to her students.

The exhibition is part of New Creatives, a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, Aspex Gallery and seven local colleges. It will include visual art, photography, 3D sculpture and installation, animation and film, graphics and sound.

Artwork by Zoe Radcliffe, art and design student at South Downs College

Young people aged 16–18 from local further education and sixth form colleges have been working with commissioned artists Chris Jenkins, Oliver Merkin and Eileen White to produce work for the exhibition. University of Portsmouth students have acted as ‘buddies’ to the three artists, giving them professional practice to enrich their CVs.

Artist Eileen White said: “I was really impressed by the depth of research, commitment and level of skill demonstrated by all of the students who have committed extra time and effort to this project.”

Now in its fourth year, New Creatives gives young people a chance to exhibit their work at Aspex, an Arts Council England National Portfolio gallery in Gunwharf Quays, which is normally home to the work of professional artists. The college students are also invited to help curate the exhibition and get free membership of Aspex.

Denise Callender, Promotions Manager for the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries at the university and the exhibition’s curator, said: “I’m really excited to see what work the students have come up with in response to this year’s theme. I’m always impressed by the enthusiasm and talent they display.”

The exhibition work is produced by students studying creative courses at Chichester, Havant, Highbury, Fareham, Portsmouth, South Downs and St Vincent colleges. The exhibition will also feature the artistic response to working on the project by the university student buddies.

Lauren Scott-Smith, a final-year illustration student and one of the student buddies, said: “I particularly enjoyed seeing the project through, from developing ideas to curating the work at Aspex Gallery. I was able to learn about the artist’s working practice and gain a lot of knowledge from her experiences as a professional artist.”

The project is designed to generate relationships, collaborations and a legacy of creative partnerships between the University of Portsmouth and colleges and organisations in the city of Portsmouth and surrounding region. With 140 students taking part each year, over the last four years 500 young artists have exhibited their artwork through the project.

There will be a preview launch on Friday March 8, 6–8pm, which will include a short speech and the chance to see the pieces before the exhibition officially opens on Saturday.

The exhibition is open from March 9 to April 14 2013, 11am–4pm daily, at the Aspex, Vulcan Building, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth PO1 3BF. The launch event and exhibition are both free to attend.