FBI funding for psychologist
January 8: Professor Aldert Vrij has won two grants from the FBI to study different aspects of interview technique. The first project will look at how investigators can build rapport with non-native interviewees, how they can tell if they’re lying, and ways of getting the most accurate information from them. The second project will look at how the use of two interviewers influences the result of an interrogation.
Researcher is awarded US trip
January 2:Dr Siobhan Watkins from the School of Biological Sciences has been awarded the Heatley-Payne Award from the Society for General Microbiology.
The award means she will be paid to attend and present at the American Society for Microbiology annual conference in Denver, Colorado, in May 2013. She will also spend three weeks at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore, Maryland, conducting research into cyanophage genomics.
Success for Stina film makers
December 17: Foam Digital, a visual effects facility that operates out the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, has received £53,000 from the Higher Education Investment Fund for the development of Stina & the Wolf.
Stina & the Wolf is a computer animated feature film which uses performance captured live actors, (similar to the process used in Avatar) and a mix of 2d and 3d animation. You can view the website here.
Last desperate moments brought to life
December 12: Dr Dominic Fontana will use Tudor art, geography, history and archaeology to bring to life the last desperate minutes that ended in the sinking of King Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, in the Solent in 1545 in a talk at the National Archives in London tomorrow. Dr Fontana is a leading expert in the subject and in using GIS data and has taken part in many television documentaries on the ship’s sinking.
Ice music podcast available
December 10:Professor Mike Tipton has been working with Norwegian composer Terje Isungset on an ice-related piece of music called The Fingers, sponsored by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award (presented by Fuel, The Roundhouse and UCL Ear Institute). The piece, available as a podcast here, looks at the way we use our fingers everyday and is juxtaposed with Professor Tipton speaking about the effect of extreme temperature on the fingers.
Grant win for molecular biologist
December 6:Dr Anastasia Callaghan, Senior Fellow in Structural Molecular Biology, has been awarded over £300,000 pounds to research metabolism in cells in the body.
The funding, awarded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), will allow the team to build on earlier research that looks at the way gene levels are regulated in bacteria. The research could eventually mean big changes for industries as diverse as medicine and food production.
New literary magazine
December 3: A new literary magazine, The Portsmouth Review, celebrating the “eclectic and diverse work” of University of Portsmouth students and alumni is to be launched at Blackwell’s on Wednesday. The quarterly magazine, featuring short stories, micro-fiction, poetry, non-fiction, reviews and visual art, will be available online and print-on-demand. Its co-editors, Garrett Monaghan and Sally O’Reilly, say they hope it builds on the city’s rich literary heritage and becomes an integral part of the city’s creative life.
Star-gazer short-listed
November 29: Dr Karen Masters, an astronomer at the University of Portsmouth, was short-listed for a prestigious Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Excellence award. The award recognises inspiring women who actively promote science, engineering and construction to girls and young women. Karen was chosen for her dedication to promoting careers in STEM to young women. The award was won by Jia-Yan Gu, a researcher in semantic technology for BT.
Rewarding health research
November 26:UoP has sponsored an award at the NHS Isle of Wight ‘Celebrating Excellence and Innovation in Health Care on the Island’ awards . The University awarded Clare Louise Sandell an award for her research into the incidence of surgical site infection.
Cool in a crisis
November 22: University staff and students have been involved in a council-run exercise to test emergency response time. The drill involved actors pretending to be overcome by fumes in St Michael’s building. All emergency procedures were followed correctly and the event was declared a big success.
Tweeting from the North Pole
November 7:Two polar explorers are due to visit the Department of Sport and Exercise Science this week. Alex Hibbert and Justin Miles are about to embark on The Dark Ice Project. They will be testing equipment in the cold chamber, including an iPhone in a protective case that they will use as a camera, to check email, and to tweet.
Professor Tipton wins best paper
October 30: Professor Mike Tipton is today being presented with a prize for best research paper in the journal, Institute of Health Promotion and Education, at the House of Commons. He was the UK member of the international taskforce which put together guidelines in response to 3,280 people dying from immersion-related incidents each day, the second most common cause of accidental death in most countries of the world.
Police Crime Commissioners first debate
October 22: The University is hosting the first debate by the candidates for Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s new Police Crime Commissioner role tomorrow in St George’s, 1:08, from 10am-midday. Co-ordinated by Barry Loveday, of the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, the six candidates setting out their vision for policing are Jacqui Rayment [Lab], David Goodhall [Lib Dem], Stephen West [Ukip], Simon Hayes [Indep], Don Jerrard [Justice and Anti-corruption party] and Michael Mates [Con].
Professor to look inside peptides
October 16: Professor Darek Gorecki and his team are part of a collaboration of 23 research teams who have won Eur 5 million funding from the EU to look into the potential use of peptides in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. Peptides play a vital role in human physiology and pathology, but still face limitations in practical use. The collaboration will look to develop a unique peptide discovery and application platform.
Probation officers get advice from graduate
October 10: A graduate who is working as a probation officer has had his first book published. Jonathan Hussey graduated from University of Portsmouth with a BA in Community Justice Studies. The book, which is aimed at readers working with offenders in the Probation Service, is called Reoffending. It will be available at the end of the month.
Pharmacy grad earns national prize
September 26: Recent pharmacy graduate Rosaline Kennedy has been named Royal Pharmaceutical Society pre-registration trainee of the year. Rosaline, who graduated in 2011 and who now works for Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, was awarded the title due to her work in educating patients about the risk factors for strokes and how to avoid them.
Engagement rewarded
September 3: Comparative psychologist Dr Bridget Waller, University of Portsmouth, and Dr Katie Slocombe, University of York, have been awarded a collaborative grant of £20,000 by the British Psychological Society in recognition of their impressive public engagement. Dr Waller has established the world’s first cognitive study centre for rare Sulawesi crested macaques in partnership with Marwell Wildlife. By interacting with computer touchscreens the monkeys give scientists a window into their memory, communication skills and emotion. Dr Waller said: “The interactive research centre offers the scientific community and the public visiting Marwell Wildlife a unique and invaluable opportunity to study these fascinating animals.”
Be-productive seminar
August 29: A free seminar to help creative people become happy and productive is to be held at the University’s Dennis Sciama building on Monday, September 10 from 1.30-5.30pm. Guest speaker Paola Campari-Moss, director of the University’s Creative Industries Business Advice and Skills unit (CIBAS), said: “The seminar will help people enhance their creativity and allow them to network with their creative peers. The event is being run by Ardent Hare, which supports disabled and deaf artists, and will be useful to anyone interested in self employment through creative means.” To find out more, telephone 01622 685694.
Professor patron
August 24: Extreme environment expert, Professor Mike Tipton, has become the patron of SARbot, a charity which provides staff and technology to search for people under water, increasing the chance of finding casualties and reducing risks to search and rescue teams. Professor Tipton said: “I’m honoured to have been asked. The capability that SARbot offers will, when used in conjunction with existing emergency service capability, reduce the time taken to find people in water and increase the chance of rescuing people alive. Importantly, their work also reduces the danger to our rescue services. Sadly, these capabilities have been much needed this summer.”
Exhibition film online
August 20: A two-minute video based on an exhibition inspired by Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is now available to watch online. It is made by artist, Suki Chan, of her sound installation exhibition project A Hundred Seas Rising, currently showing at Aspex Gallery until 2 September. A Hundred Seas Rising explores how literature might be implicated in the imagination and trajectories of revolutions and was commissioned in response to London 2012 by Aspex, the University of Portsmouth CCI SPACE and Quay Arts, Isle of Wight.
Cosmologist in Beijing
August 9: Dr Karen Masters has been asked to present one of just four ‘invited discourses’ at the forthcoming General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Beijing later this month. She join one of the 2011 Physics Nobel Prize winners on the podium and will be talking about the work of Galaxy Zoo and what it’s taught cosmologists about the different types of galaxies in the universe and how they relate to each other.
Graduate’s Olympic experience
August 7: Recent UoP Journalism graduate Zach Ward has been volunteering as a Games Maker for London 2012. Zach has been negotiating London traffic in order to drive Olympic Delegates to and from sporting venues – read more…
Bells ring in Eldon for Olympics
July 26: At 08:12 a.m. on 27th July 2012, thousands of people across the UK will be joining together to ring in the first day of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. University Artist in residence Jon Adams will be ringing a handmade bell in the Eldon Building as part of Work No. 1197: All the Bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes by Turner Prize-winning artist and musician. If you would like to take part, come along on 27th July at 8am to the Eldon Building, ready to ring your bell at 08.12 – 12 hours before the start of 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
IS shortlisted for national award
July 26: The new student portal (Myport), which brings together news, events and support services, plus students’ personal information, has been shortlisted in a national competition designed to showcase excellence in teaching and learning using Google Apps. The competition is run by Google and the Association for Learning Technology and the winners will be announced next week. Stuart Graves, IS Service Delivery Manager who worked on Myport with colleagues from IS and Marketing said: “I am so delighted that all of the hard work put in by the project team, especially the developers, has been recognised by two leading organisations. Myport was worked on for over a year, using untried technology, and the fact that we are shortlisted by Google / ALT shows that our students will be benefitting from an excellent new portal, available via their student Google accounts.”
Students’ Union first
July 20: The University of Portsmouth Students’ Union is the first organisation in Portsmouth to win prestigious national recognition by being awarded the Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard. Student volunteers gave nearly 5,000 hours of volunteering to 17 local and national organisations last year. Godfrey Atuahene Junior, President of UPSU said: “We are delighted to be recognised for our commitment to volunteers. As an organisation, we strive to have a positive impact with every Portsmouth student and this year, have offered a number of new volunteering opportunities.”
Marketing tops table
July 19: The Marketing Department won the University staff sports day on points with a triumphant team of nine, called ‘Follow the Reader’, taking home winners’ rosettes for the second year running. Marketing campaigns officer Chris Bulman, who joined the team for the first time this year, said: “We reached five out of six finals and were way out in front in the sack race. It was our attitude that helped us win.”
Economics reports on dockyard
June 29: The Department of Economics has produced a report about the future of the Portsmouth Dockyard, commissioned by the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) and the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The report looks at the effects of the Dockyard’s presence in the city and at its wider impact on the region’s economy.
Prestigious posts
June 26: Professor Munir Maniruzzaman, School of Law, has been re-elected to the council of the International Chamber of Commerce Institute of World Business Law, a think-tank providing research, training and information to the legal profession. Professor Maniruzzaman has also been appointed visiting professor of international law at China’s largest university for the subject, China University of Political Science and Law, and has been reappointed for three years a member of the advisory board of Foreign Direct International Arbitration Moot to advise on international arbitration and investment regulation.
Researchers ‘outstanding’
June 26: A 1970s British cinema research project undertaken by academics in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media has been given a rare award of outstanding by the Arts Humanities and Research Council. The project – 1970s British Cinema, Film and Video: Mainstream and Counter-Culture – was recognised for furthering research in the field and laying foundations for future research. Professor Sue Harper, Dr Dave Allen and Dr Justin Smith were praised the for the quality of their work, including a website, scholarly articles, two books, conferences, TV and radio broadcasts, and invited lectures.
Google comes to Portsmouth
June 15: A conference about using google apps for education is taking place on campus today. There will be presentations by Google and several European universities about how they use Google and Google Apps and amongst a wide range of sessions there will be discussions on embedding Google Apps in the institution and deploying Google Apps into the curriculum. The conference is hosted jointly with the University of Loughborough and Google.
STEM event for girls
June 13: Teenage girls from local schools with a flair for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects are attending a one-off event to encourage them to further their studies. The pupils, age 13-14, will join University lecturers at a hands-on event where they will take part in activities connected with architecture, computing and product design. 40 pupils from eight local schools will be building a model car, designing a computer programme to make sweets and learning about building bridges by constructing a structure to support chocolate bars.
Champion in and out of water
June 6: Portsmouth sports science graduate and champion swimmer Tara Stroud (née Hutt) has been nominated for the Fitness Industry Association’s Future of Flame Award, which recognises outstanding individuals who consistently deliver results above and beyond the call of duty. Tara worked at the University after graduating before six years ago moving into the fitness sector to work for Leisure Connection. As head of swimming, she has seen user participation increase across the company’s 40 pools by 33 per cent.
Best teacher awards
May 29: For the second year, the Students’ Union will be honouring excellent teachers and student support at the Golden Apple Teaching Awards on Thursday at 5.30pm in Portland atrium. Prizes will be awarded to Most Inspiring Teacher; Best Feedback; Learner Support; Personal Tutor; Outstanding overall positive impact on students; Outstanding department; and a new award, the Postgraduate choice award.
Two new roles
May 25: Dr David Hutchinson, environment facilitator for the University’s Environment Network is “honoured and excited” to have been appointed environment and health science coordinator for two nationally-funded initiatives designed to help protect human, plant and animal health – The Environmental Exposures and Health Initiative and the Environmental and Social Ecology of Human Infectious Disease.
Inaugural lecture
May 15: Professor Dareck Gorecki will give his inaugural lecture on Wednesday 16 May on the subject of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The disease is the most severe and common form of muscular dystrophy and one of the most commonly inherited disorders in men, with the risk of having an affected child being about 1 in every 3500 male births. This event is FREE and tickets can be booked through http://darekgorecki.eventbrite.com/
Brains break records
May 8: An exhibition about the human brain, curated by the University’s Dr Marius Kwint, is set to become the Wellcome Collection’s most visited exhibition. The exhibition, which runs until 17 June, has so far had the highest number of daily visits in the organisation’s history
The One Show film on campus
May 8: A film crew from the BBC’s ‘The One Show’ have spent a day filming in the Extreme Environmental laboratories for a feature on hibernation. They interviewed Professor Mike Tipton about the effect of cold on the human body.
PR legend visits University
May 3: Celebrity Public Relations guru, Max Clifford, gave a talk to students at the University yesterday. Well-known for the rich and famous clients he represents, Mr Clifford spoke for half an hour before spending over an hour taking questions from an audience of journalism and media studies students.
Campus on show
May 2: Sixty international agents from 20 countries are visiting the University of Portsmouth this week to meet staff and see first-hand the facilities, campus and city. They will also meet students and attend an awards ceremony with Deputy Vice-Chancellor Rebecca Bunting.
Bees draw a crowd
April 25: The University recorded its biggest ever audience for Cafe Scientifique in Portsmouth since its inception in 2006. Last night there was standing room only in Café Parisien as more than 70 people attended a discussion lead by the UK’s only Professor of Apiculture, Francis Ratnieks, who talked about the amazing qualities of honey bees. The audience was a mixture of people from bee keeping enthusiasts to the plain curious.
Economist on video gaming panel
April 23: Joe Cox has been asked to appear on the panel for a special session on the economics of video gaming, at the 2012 Association of Cultural Economics International Conference in Kyoto.
Accounting paper wins prize
April 17: An accounting review paper by Portsmouth Business School Professor Lisa Jack, which reviews the history of fair value accounting, has been awarded the best article prize by the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA).
Big BOSS
April 2: Professor Will Percival is leading a consortium of researchers at four UK Universities which have been awarded development funding for a future astronomical experiment called ‘BigBOSS’. He said: “The experiment is extremely exciting – it would observe twenty billion distant galaxies, mapping the cosmic web out to unprecedented distances.”
Sky talk
March 6: Sky IQ’s Head of Marketing will speak about ‘The Art of Now, the Next and the Possible – the future of marketing and the customer experience’ at a Portsmouth Business School open evening on Tuesday 13th March, 2012.
Business School hosts Lean conference
February 16: The Business School recently hosted the fifth international conference on ‘Lean’ practices in higher education and services, which saw over 80 delegates from a wide range of organisations and countries share best practice on ‘Lean’ – a concept which challenges organisations to improve their value.
Professor wins fellowship
February 15: The Head of Economics at Portsmouth Business School has won a prestigious fellowship to conduct research at Rhodes University in South Africa. Professor Alan Collins has been awarded the Hobart Houghton Research Fellowship.
Happiness Study
January 9: A 12-month study to measure people’s levels of happiness is being conducted by a University of Portsmouth sociologist. Dr Laura Hyman will carry out the research in partnership with BBC Radio Solent to examine how people feel about their lives in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Dorset.
Game Jam
December 23: Around 100 students from France and Denmark showcased their video game building skills at a week-long ‘Game Jam’, organised by a UoP Creative Technologies lecturer and three students. Teams had to make a video game from scratch in just one week. The Game Jam was hosted in Rouen, France, but students took part remotely from 10 other locations across France and Denmark.
Street smart
December 20: Dancers from across Portsmouth coached by UoP staff and students won first prizes in a recent county street dance championship.
Up For Sport dance development officer Carly-Ann Purcell said: “I am so proud of all my dancers, they have worked incredibly hard. We now can’t wait to perform at the university’s Most Wanted Dance Off at the Kings Theatre in February.”
TV crew visit
December 18: A Vietnamese television crew interviewed staff and students on campus recently as part of a promotional film for Vietnamese students considering studying at higher education level in the UK.