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

Learn a language

• Enjoy languages? FREE Beginner Spanish lessons – For more information and to sign up head to http://giagspanish.eventbrite.co.uk.
• Enjoy languages? FREE Intermediate Spanish lessons – For more information and to sign up head to http://giagintermediatespanish.eventbrite.co.uk.

Will you be my Valentine?

Make a handmade card in our Valentine’s card workshop
Date: Tuesday 12 February 2013
Time: 3.00pm – 5.00pm
Venue: 3^rd Space, Students’ Union
Price: Tickets only £2

Dance the night away Modern Jive style

Modern Jive lesson with qualified instructor
Date: Tuesday 12 February 2013
Time: 7.45pm onwards
Venue: Portsmouth Irish Society, 77 Elm Grove
Price: Tickets only £4

Chill out with a bit of mug/plate painting

Date: Tuesday 19 February
Time: Drop-in from 4.00pm – 6.00pm
Venue: Meeting Room 1, Students’ Union
Price: Tickets – £2 mug painting/£3 plate painting

Fire lasers at Laser Quest

Date: Thursday 21 February (must book in advance, by Monday 18 February)
Time: Meet 4.45pm
Venue: Meet at Cambridge Road side to the Students’ Union
Price: Tickets £5 for one game per person

I love Amsterdam

Give it a Go trip to Amsterdam
Date: Thursday 28 February – Sunday 3 March 2013
Price: £135 includes return coach travel, two nights bed and breakfast and travel insurance
Tickets:  Buy online at www.upsu.net/giveitago. The £60 deposit deadline is Monday 11 February 2013

Unless otherwise stated, tickets must be bought in advance at the Welcome Centre Shop, Ground Floor, Students’ Union.  It is important to buy in advance to avoid disappointment.

Follow us on Facebook or email giveitago@upsu.net to keep up to date with all things Give it a Go.

Dr Juliane Kaminski and her dog, Ambula

Domestic dogs are much more likely to steal food when they think nobody can see them, suggesting for the first time they are capable of understanding a human’s point of view.

Many dog owners think their pets are clever or that they understand humans but, until now, this has not been tested by science.

Dr Juliane Kaminski, of the University of Portsmouth’s Department of Psychology, has shown that when a human forbids a dog from taking food, dogs are four times more likely to disobey in a dark room than a lit room, suggesting they take into account what the human can or cannot see.

Dr Kaminski said: “That’s incredible because it implies dogs understand the human can’t see them, meaning they might understand the human perspective.”

This is the first study to examine if dogs differentiate between different levels of light when they are developing strategies on whether to steal food. It is published in the journal Animal Cognition. The research was funded by the Max Planck Society, Dr Kaminski’s former employer.

Dr Kaminski said: “Humans constantly attribute certain qualities and emotions to other living things. We know that our own dog is clever or sensitive, but that’s us thinking, not them.

“These results suggest humans might be right, where dogs are concerned, but we still can’t be completely sure if the results mean dogs have a truly flexible understanding of the mind and others’ minds. It has always been assumed only humans had this ability.”

The research is an incremental step in our understanding of dogs’ ability to think and understand which could, in turn, be of use to those who work with dogs, including the police, the blind and those who use gun dogs, as well as those who keep them as pets.

Dr Kaminski ran a series of experiments in varied light conditions. In each test, a dog was forbidden by a human from taking the food. When the room was dark, the dogs took more food and took it more quickly than when the room was lit.

The tests were complex and involved many variables to rule out that dogs were basing their decisions on simple associative rules, for example, that dark means food.

There is no evidence on how well dogs can see in the dark, but the results of this research show dogs can differentiate between light and dark.

Dr Kaminski said: “The results of these tests suggest that dogs are deciding it’s safer to steal the food when the room is dark because they understand something of the human’s perspective.”

Dogs’ understanding may be limited to the here and now, rather than on any higher understanding, Dr Kaminski said, and more research is needed to identify what mechanisms are controlling dogs’ behaviour.

In total, 42 female and 42 male domestic dogs aged one year or older took part in the tests. They were chosen only if they were comfortable without their owners in the room, even in complete darkness, and if they were interested in food. “Some dogs are more interested in by food than others,” Dr Kaminski said.

Previous studies have shown chimpanzees have a sophisticated understanding and seem to know when someone else can or can’t see them and can also remember what others have seen in the past. It is not known how sophisticated dogs’ understanding is in comparison. Many earlier research papers have found that, for dogs, a human’s eyes are an important signal when deciding how to behave, and that they respond more willingly to attentive humans, than inattentive ones.

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/.

Professor David Smith will be talking at the University of Portsmouth on February 20.

Professor Smith’s work involves remodelling seascapes from the past in order to understand why tsunamis happen and what we can learn from them.

Professor David Smith

The UK has been hit by two major tsunamis in the distant past.

In the 18^th century an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal caused the south coast of England to be hit by a large wave, centring on Cornwall where the waves were up to three metres high.

The other large tsunami to affect the UK occurred approximately 8,000 years ago, in 6,100 BC, when a giant underwater landslide off the coast of Norway meant the Scottish coast was hit by a series of waves. This tsunami is generally considered to have been the cause of the UK’s detachment from Denmark and The Netherlands.

Professor Smith will look at the causes of these tsunamis, and the likelihood of such events reoccurring in our lifetimes.

The event is organised in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society.

Date: Wednesday 20 February 2013

Time:6.00-7.00pm, followed by a drinks reception

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

Tickets are free, but by ticket only from eventbrite

Humour is ‘social glue’ for police and ambulance crews

Black humour, drawn from shared experiences, helps ‘glue’ ambulance crews and police officers together, with firefighters likely to be on the receiving end of the jokes, according to new research.

Dr Sarah Charman, of the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, examined the role of dark humour in the workplace of ambulance crews and police officers and found it provides comfort and creates a bond that crosses the occupational divide.

She said: “Emergency workers frequently find themselves in unpleasant and unpredictable situations at odds with the heroic status and image presented in television dramas.

“They regularly deal with death or near-death. They face messy and mortifying situations the rest of us never have to encounter.”

Dr Sarah Charman

Humour acts as social glue and what makes one person laugh can make someone else recoil, she said. Shared humour requires a degree of shared experience.

“By normalising a situation through humour, a stressful encounter can be made more manageable – humour allows people to control feelings of fear or vulnerability,” she said.

“For these people, it is often a case of if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry. Both have a tension-reducing effect but it’s not socially acceptable for professionals doing their job to cry.”

The unexpected finding of the research was that while all three emergency services enjoy a camaraderie and mutual respect, firefighters are often not included and are even the target of jokes, being referred to as ‘water fairies’ and ‘drip stands’.

According to the research findings, which incorporated the views of 45 ambulance staff and police officers, firefighters ‘sleep on the job’, ‘are fed on the job’, ‘cut car roofs off unnecessarily’ and ‘hose away vital evidence’. The fact firefighters tend to be held in high esteem by the public, especially women, was also mentioned.

One police officer said: “You could say we’re not ramming it down people’s throats that we rescued a cat out of a tree.”

The humour directed at firefighters was, nonetheless, seen as light-hearted banter and, as one ambulance crew member said: “Ultimately, we are all protective of each other, we just don’t like to admit it.”

Dr Charman said one of the reasons for the apparent divide might be ambulance crew and police officers have more in common. Although their role and function is ultimately very different, both have jobs that rely on patient, calm communication skills.

She said: “What makes academics marking undergraduate essays laugh; what makes shop assistants dealing with customers laugh; and what makes ambulance crews and police officers dealing with the public laugh is culturally defined – it is based on shared experiences at work and the nature of the work.

“Risque humour demands a high degree of trust and confidence between colleagues and has the potential to be career threatening, but the humour between ambulance crews and police officers is seen by them as unremittingly positive.”

The camaraderie emerged on the job. In interviews they used phrases about the other which included, ‘in tune with’, ‘like-minded’, ‘have a natural affinity with’, ‘reciprocal respect’, ‘friendly’ and ‘fun’.

Shared gallows humour was the single most important factor in the work they did together and was mentioned by nearly all those interviewed, who described it as ‘inappropriate’, ‘warped’, ‘bizarre’ and ‘slightly sick’. Both parties also described a tacit mutual understanding, an unspoken agreement to not use such humour with friends, family or members of the public.

Dr Charman said a mutually defined ‘joke book’ written for and by members reinforces combined cultural identity; acts as glue in a way outsiders might see as trivial; helps build a strong reliance on each other’s skills and qualities in difficult situations; and fosters a strong degree of trust and rapport.

She added that further research was needed to give a voice to the firefighters, to understand their position within this tripartite relationship.

The research is published in the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy.

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.