Date: Sunday 24 February, 10.00am – 5.00pm at the Spinnaker Sports Centre AND St Paul’s Gym

How to Enter:

1. Get a team of friends together  (teams of  five to seven players)
2. Sign up and make payment online – www.port.ac.uk/spot/ims
3. Turn up on the day and have fun

Price: £3 per person (£15 per team)

Entry deadline: All teams must sign-up online by Friday 15 Febraury

Contact: ims@port.ac.uk or call Sarah Taylor on 02392 845101

As part of the Athena SWAN conference we are inviting all female academics in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) departments to submit a poster to share their career successes.

If you would like to submit a poster, please contact rkts@port.ac.uk or call Suzi Edwards on 6197 for a poster template.

Date: Wednesday 6 March 2013
Time: 2.00pm – 5.00pm
Venue:  Portland Building

The first University Athena SWAN conference will look at past, present and future progress regarding the Athena SWAN objectives, which are to promote the advancement of women in (STEM). The conference will put them into context for the University of Portsmouth and provide an opportunity for female academics in STEM departments to share their career successes in poster form.

The Chancellor, Sandi Toksvig, will open the conference followed by a keynote speech from Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE, FRS, FRAS, a British astrophysicist, who as a postgraduate student discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish. Other speakers include Dr Esther Sonnet, Head of School of Creative Arts, Film and Media who will be talking on the brains behind the beauty of Hedy Lamarr, Professor Tara Dean who will talk about the challenges she faced on her road to a successful research career and Professor Paul Hayes who will talk about how departments can aspire to achieve the Athena SWAN Silver Award.

To book a place at the conference, please visit: http://athenaswanconference.eventbrite.co.uk/.

For further details on the Athena SWAN charter at the University please visit: http://www.port.ac.uk/research/athena/.

What is UPEN?

The University of Portsmouth Environment Network (UPEN) was established in 2010 to coordinate and promote the diverse array of environmentally relevant teaching and research across the University. 250 staff and research students have engaged in UPEN activities. The network has achieved all of its original objectives and has been particularly effective in raising the profile of the environmental work of the University externally within the region. UPEN continues to be a success story and one that is being emulated in other areas of cross-faculty activity, such as Ageing.

What are the workshops?

The cross-faculty Steering Group responsible for oversight of the network has recognised that we now need to identify, coordinate and provide leadership for our activities under a small number of broadly drawn thematic areas:

•  Ecosystem Complexity and Environmental Change
• Environmental Hazards and Engineering
• Sustainable Society

More information about the specialist areas of each theme can be found at www.port.ac.uk/upenthemes.

To take this forward we plan to hold three workshops, one for each theme, at which we will explore and develop these ideas further.

Who should attend?

We would like as many people as possible to attend these workshops, including those of you who have not previously engaged with UPEN, so please sign up as appropriate for one or more workshop at www.port.ac.uk/upenthemes.

We recognise that the themes are not mutually exclusive and that individuals could contribute to more than one. We are also proposing cross-thematic interest groups, to which those of you who don’t work directly with the environment, but might have approaches or methodologies that could support the themes might like to get involved.

If you would like to know a little more about some of the recent activities across the network, you can read our January newsletter at www.port.ac.uk/upennews.

Kristina Angelova with Fleur Emery of Grasshopper at the 2010 Enterprise Challenge Awards

Kristina Angelova, who is studying BA (Hons) Business Studies, was nominated by her employer Bradbeers, where she spent her third year working on placement as an e-commerce and digital marketing manager. She is one of only four finalists in the Best Student Contribution to a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise category.

In their fourth year, the awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of employers, universities and students involved in undergraduate placements and internships. Stephen Davies, part-owner of Smith Bradbeer & Co, which has several department and furniture stores in the south of England, said: “Kristina is highly respected by me and her co-workers. During her time here, she has had an amazing impact on the company. She is hard working, dedicated and a great person to have in your team.”

Emma Winter, Kristina’s supervisor at the University during her placement, said: “She really is incredibly driven. Yet she has the ability to remain level headed, keep a sense of humour and be thoroughly likeable as well. I hope she inspires other students.”

Kristina was previously nominated for the award of Most Employable Young Talent in the UK at the Google and Entrepreneur Country Young Masters Awards 2012, and was runner-up in the 2011 Business Champions team competition, organised by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Bright Futures. She was also the 2010 winner in the Rising Star category at the Enterprise Challenge Awards, organised by the University of Portsmouth.

The awards ceremony takes place on Friday February 15 in London.

Mondays

5.30pm – Body Blast will become Cardio Tone (45 mins)
6.30pm – Studio 1 Funky Step will become Body Blast (45 mins)

Tuesdays

6.30pm – Will be Bokwa level one/two, participants will need to have attended level one for six weeks before attending (45mins)

Wednesdays

5.00pm – Aerobics will become Bokwa level one (45 mins)

For full information regarding the classes and descriptions please visit www.port.ac.uk/fitnessclasses.
To book please call on 023 9284 5555.

Professor Mike Tipton

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth are looking into why more athletes die during the swim compared to the cycling or running sections of a triathlon. They also want to know why these swimmers die during the competition itself but not during training.

Of the 38 athlete deaths in American triathlons between 2003 and 2011, 30 occurred during the swim. None of those who died had any pre-existing health problems.

Professor Mike Tipton, who runs the Extreme Environments Laboratory in the University’s Department of Sport and Exercise Science, believes these deaths could be caused by a phenomenon called Autonomic Conflict. This is the first time this concept has been applied to competitive swimming.

Autonomic Conflict takes place when the body’s cold shock response and diving response are activated at the same time. The cold shock response speeds up the heart rate and causes hyperventilation, whereas the diving response slows the heart rate down to conserve oxygen.

In an online commentary written for the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Professor Tipton said: “Normally the two responses don’t happen at the same time, but when they do, the heart can go into abnormal rhythms, which can cause sudden cardiac death.”

The cold shock response can be caused by anxiety, competitiveness and the body entering cold water. The diving response is caused by facial wetting, extended breath holding and water entering the nasal passage. Although many of these factors are present to some degree during training, anxiety and competitiveness are more likely during the competition.

According to Professor Tipton, the confused mass swim in the competition, not present in training, can also require extended breath holds and cause more water to enter the nasal passage.

“The increase in these factors makes Autonomic Conflict more likely during the competition than in training,” he said.

Professor Tipton conducted earlier research with Professor Mike Shattock from King’s College London that linked submersion in cold water to Autonomic Conflict and sudden cardiac death. This included experiments using isolated rat hearts, the results of which were published in the Journal of Physiology last year. He has also conducted experiments involving helicopter underwater escape training. The results were published in the journal Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine in 2010. He intends to do further research to determine how open swimming deaths could be prevented.

He said: “Possible solutions involve the prevention of swimmers coming together at the start or during the race, by introducing wave starts and longer distances before turns.”

This will speed up the interlibrary loans process and provide an improved service. It is also more sustainable and cost efficient for the library.

A new online interlibrary loan request form is also available on the library website.

For more information please visit the interlibrary loans service page.

The Research Group in Breast Health are currently recruiting female participants for a study on breast support. Participants who complete this study will receive a free sports bra.

We are looking for females who:

• are aged between 18 and 39 years
• are a breast size 34D
• are able to run on a treadmill and perform jumping activities
• have not been pregnant or breast-feeding within the last year
• have not had any surgical procedures on their breasts

Testing will take place from the 22 January 2013, in the Spinnaker Building at the University.

As a participant you would be required to attend an initial session to assess your bra size and any health problems that may prevent you from completing this study. You would then be required to attend a testing session involving running and jumping activities, lasting approximately 90 minutes.

The sessions can be completed either separately or on the same day.

If you would like more information on this study, please contact amy.loveridge@port.ac.uk.

How would you like to be in with a chance of winning £75 of vouchers for a supermarket of your choice?

A number of simulations based on crises caused by natural events have been developed to find out how people would respond. Those who complete the study will be entered into a draw for the £75 prize.

The study takes no longer than 30 minutes to complete and the simulations do not involve any physical activity. There is a short questionnaire, you would take part in a single simulation and end with a chat about the experience.

You will be asked to answer a further set of questions three months after you take part in the simulation. This can be completed over the telephone and will take no more than 10 minutes.

The simulations will be run over the next two months and volunteers must be over 18 years of age. All responses will be treated in confidence and you will not be identified in any research output.

If you would like to participate or get further information, please contact danny.atkins@port.ac.uk.

As part of the celebrations the University and Portsmouth City Council are pleased to invite you to Gay equality – A woman’s perspective. This will be a unique opportunity to hear from two amazing, inspirational speakers, Mandy McBain and Julie Fry, as they share their own personal and professional experiences of LGBT equality and being lesbians, followed by a Q&A session and networking.

Date: 12 February 2013
Time: 6.00pm – 7:30pm
Venue: Portsmouth Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, The View Cafe
Booking: Space will be limited so you must book for your free place at http://lgbtequalityviewpointevent.eventbrite.co.uk/ or contact dave.small@port.ac.uk.

Mandy McBain MBE, spent over 20 years serving in the Royal Navy. She spent time working as part of the Royal Navy Equality and Diversity Team and was active in establishing the first support network for LGBT personnel in the Naval Service. Mandy was awarded an MBE for her work on LGBT equality within the armed services and has herself appeared in the Independent on Sunday’s 100 most influential LGBT people ‘pink list’ for the past three years. Having now left the Royal Navy she currently works for the gay campaigning organisation Stonewall.

Inspector Julie Fry MBE, joined Hampshire Constabulary in 1990. She has worked across the region in various posts including the Diverse Communities Officer at Hampshire Police Headquarters in Winchester.  In the 2013 honours list Julie was recognised for her work in ensuring increased reporting of hate crime and improved confidence in local policing from the LGBT communities. As a member of the Gay Police Association she recognised the need to form a local police LBGT support network for Hampshire Constabulary. She also played a leading role in the development of the Lesbian and Gay Liaison Officers (LAGLO) providing specific support to the LGBT communities of Hampshire.

For further details of the event, please visit: http://j.mp/Vs8Ba9.