Rob Archer, a 30 year-old postgraduate chemistry student at Bath, is waiting for fair weather and the right tides to embark on his 21-mile swim from Dover to Calais.

Rob and his younger brother, Phil, decided to attempt the Channel crossing in memory of their uncle, Ian Massey, who died of prostate cancer. They have so far raised £3,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Phil made his bid last week, and Rob swam alongside him for part of the endeavour, as permitted in Channel crossing rules. After 14 hours of swimming Phil was forced to abandon his attempt just three miles from the French shore because of severe cramp.

Rob said: “I saw first hand my brother’s 14 hour struggle against sea sickness, weather conditions and cramp and of course it’s made me really apprehensive about what I’m facing. He did brilliantly well though, so I’m just going to go for it too.”

Rob began his training last October and has clocked up over 400 hours of swimming in the University’s 50m Swimming Pool, plus open air swims in Bath’s River Avon, dodging swans and rowers, and sea swimming in Cornwall.

He will wear a wetsuit as he describes himself as too skinny to cope with the chilly water temperatures of 17 degrees centigrade, despite attempts to fatten himself up ready for the challenge.

Rob is a keen surfer and sportsman but says this is the biggest thing he has done by a long way.

His dad and brother will be on board the support boat and it’s messages from his family and friends that he says will keep him going. To make a donation please visit Rob and Phil’s donation website

The University of Bath’s Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts (ICIA) has commissioned the acclaimed performance company Lone Twin to bring their unique and extraordinary project Speeches to the city next month.

Speeches invites members of the public to work with Lone Twin and professional speechwriter Helen Mackintosh to develop a speech about their life, delivered in a place that has a particular connection to them.

It takes place from 11-13 September in and around Kensington Meadows, off London Road.

Kensington Meadows is a parkland and local nature reserve. It is one of the few areas within Bath that has natural banks along the River Avon.

Audiences will be able to hear about life on a barge from a canal boat dweller, the personal passions of a local activist, and find out how the communities and surroundings have changed from a resident of 20 years.

The aim is to create a snapshot of life in the area. The end result promises to be a surprising and truly diverse collection of private thoughts shared in a public space, in a heart-felt performance event.

Tanya Steinhauser, ICIA Theatre Co-ordinator, saw Speeches in London.

She said: “I was really struck by Speeches, it was fascinating, funny and touching. Everyone had a story to tell, and it felt like a privilege to listen.

“There is real honesty in a performance like this. The participants and audiences enjoyed it so much that I was determined to bring Speeches to Bath and place it in a rural setting.”

Gregg Whelan and Gary Winters of Lone Twin are highly regarded for their gift of making work that intrigues, entertains and embraces life to the full.

Lone Twin, and the newly formed Lone Twin Theatre, are committed to creating work that appeals to a wide audience.

The company’s work has achieved critical and popular acclaim, with an international audience enjoying work for both stage and public settings. They gained high profile for “Nine Years”, a piece made up of performances they presented during a nine year trip around the world, involving seven hundred performances in many different countries.

In the autumn of 2008, Lone Twin Theatre presented a sell-out performance of Daniel Hit By A Train at ICIA, University of Bath. 

Speeches sits alongside a range of public projects which Lone Twin are developing, including Beastie, a new work for children, The Boat Project, which invites residents of a town to set about the communal building of a boat constructed entirely from its unwanted wood, Working Day, a film portrait of a community at work, and Social Dance Project where Lone Twin will work with a Choreographer and Musical Director, to develop a dance that will accumulate and grow as it passes through communities and households.

For its 2009 programme ICIA selects work which explores ideas around the theme of “plotting… arts and place.”

Speeches will be held on: Friday 11 September, 6.30pm, Saturday 12 September, 2pm and  5pm, Sunday 13 September, 2pm and 5pm.

Admission is free but tickets must be reserved in advance (capacity limited to 30 per show). Bookings can be made via the ICIA Box Office on 01225 386777.

The research also indicates that their children (aged 11-15) are happier, have greater self-esteem and enjoy better relationships with their mothers. It also shows large and significant declines in truanting, smoking and in the intention to leave school at the age of 16 among the same age group.

The research was led by Professor Paul Gregg at the University of Bristol’s Centre for Market & Public Organisation in collaboration with Dr Susan Harkness, Senior Lecturer in Social & Policy Sciences at Bath.

The study, which looks at the impact of government support for families with children from 1999 to 2009, is published in the current issue of Research in Public Policy.

Reforms introduced in 1999, notably The Working Families Tax Credit and The New Deal for Lone Parents, sought to improve work incentives for single parents and previous research has shown that these reforms were effective in raising employment among single parents by four to five percentage points over five years, equivalent to an additional 65-80,000 single parents in work.

This research looks at other benefits and finds that the reforms eased the transition into single parenthood when a relationship broke up. It shows a significant increase in the proportion of women staying in employment after becoming single and improvements in their financial circumstances and mental health.

Single parents have long been identified as a group with relatively poor mental health compared with mothers in relationships but the data show a significant improvement in mental health among single parents after the reforms when compared with both single women with no children and mothers in relationships. Further analysis reveals that most of the negative impact of being a single parent – and the subsequent improvement after the reforms – is concentrated around the point of break-up.

There is also evidence of improved levels of mental health in the year prior to separation. This could be explained either by an improvement in employment and financial circumstances among those who go on to become single parents, or by people leaving relationships at a less unhappy (earlier) point.

The positive effects on their children show that the effects are typically far greater for boys than for girls. Two other factors are important to young people’s esteem: maternal employment and depression. To the extent that policy reforms have raised maternal employment, young people’s outcomes will have improved.

Speaking about the findings, Professor Gregg said: “The magnitude of the changes arising from the reforms is significant. Half of the gap in self-esteem and unhappiness scores and in truanting, smoking and planning to leave school at age 16 are eliminated among 11-15-year-olds after the policy reforms.

“This strongly suggests that the increases in incomes and employment associated with the reforms have profoundly changed the quality of life of children in single-parent families.”

People are invited to email their funny, ridiculous or embarrassing language mishaps to the University’s Foreign Languages Centre, to win free language classes.

The winning anecdote will be announced at a free language class taster day on Saturday 12 September at The Brunswick Room, in Bath’s Guildhall.

The taster session will run from 11am to 3pm with free and friendly 20 minute sessions for complete beginners in a range of languages running throughout the day, including French, Japanese and Arabic.

Isabella Stefanutti, Director of Community Courses in the Foreign Languages Centre said: “Anyone who has tried out new language skills can no doubt think of a situation where their vocabulary or pronunciation has let them down, and something hasn’t quite come out as intended. Asking an Italian waiter for fish when you meant peach, telling someone in Spain you’re pregnant when you meant embarrassed – we’ve all been there!

“We’d love to hear your slip-ups and invite people to come and have a go at working on their language skills in time for next year’s holiday. The taster session is a chance to find out what learning a language with us is like – a quick dip into another language and culture.”

The Foreign Languages Centre runs evening, daytime and lunchtime language courses in 10 languages including Italian, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and German. Courses cater for complete beginners to advanced.

There is no need to book for the taster session, just turn up on the day. To enter your language blunders and be in with a chance of winning two free language classes of your choice please email Isabella Stefanutti . For more information on the courses please visit the Foreign Languages Centre community page.

The Centre for Digital Entertainment (CDE) is a new and unique collaboration between the universities and a host of industry partners across the computer animation, games and visual effects industries.

The CDE has been awarded £6.3 million initial funding from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to fund 50 doctoral studentships in digital entertainment beginning in October and spread over eight years.

The CDE’s purpose is to train the next generation of leaders in the computer animation, games and digital effects industries by offering a unique doctoral program that places researchers directly in companies to work on real projects. Under academic supervision students’ work will form the basis of an Engineering or Professional Doctorate.

Professor Phil Willis, Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath said: “This high-level of EPSRC investment offers a wonderful opportunity to put leading-edge researchers into our national and world-class companies in the digital media sector.

“This is exactly the right time to put skills investment in place, ready for the economic recovery. The complementary skills of Bournemouth University and the University of Bath, and the demonstrated willingness of both universities to work closely with industrial partners, maximises the value we can deliver to our partner companies.”

Dave Walsh, Managing Director of Frontier said: “This is an excellent programme which will benefit our industry significantly. Currently there is a big need for high calibre technical people and the proposed Centre will address this shortage effectively.”

Andy Lomas, Head of Computer Graphics at Framestore CFC added: “I believe that in the UK we are missing out on the type of close connections between academic research and the animation and visual effects industry that happen in North America. The proposed Doctoral Centre could have very significant impact in addressing this gap.”

The program lasts four years with 75 per cent of students’ time being based in a company working on real projects with support by access to options from a suite of Master’s programs from both universities. The taught program will be negotiated by the student, academic supervisors and the host company allowing bespoke tailoring to particular research needs.

Bournemouth University is recognised worldwide as providing one of the best digital arts degree courses with alumni obtaining prestigious posts at Frontier, DreamWorks and many other world leading companies.

Doctoral studentships are fully funded providing fees, a tax-free stipend and dedicated funding for international conferences.

For more information for applicants or information for companies please see the CDE website or email cde@cs.bath.ac.uk.

Victoria Wells, 39, spent all of her childhood and a significant portion of her adult life enduring pain and disability due to congenital hip dysplasia.

The painful and disabling condition meant she was only able to walk short distances and has never been able to work.

But after attending a lecture by Professor Tony Miles, Director of the Centre for Orthopaedic Biomechanics at the University of Bath on Hip Replacement Research, she learnt that a complex hip operation could change her life.

Professor Miles introduced her to Professor Ian Learmonth from the University of Bristol who specialises in complex hip surgery.

This led to two hip joint replacement operations that have transformed Victoria’s life resulting in her growing two inches taller and allowing her to live a life that is free from pain.

Now Victoria is training to swim one kilometre of the Serpentine on 13 September along with two orthopaedic surgeons and former University of Bath PhD student Hazel Boyd.

By taking part in the event the team is hoping to raise awareness of the benefits and life changing nature of joint replacement. They also want to raise money for further research into the subject.

Victoria said: “Swimming is about the best exercise after joint replacement, as it is a non-weight bearing activity and uses just about every muscle in your body. I have found this to be a hugely beneficial part of my rehabilitation and enjoy being weightless in water and gaining fitness at the same time.”

Victoria is committed to telling others about her experience of chronic pain and encouraging people of all ages with hip disability and pain to fully explore the opportunities now available to enhance their lives.

She is the driving force behind a campaign to raise money to support Joint Replacement Research at the Centre for Orthopaedic Biomechanics at the University of Bath.

To sponsor the team go to http://www.justgiving.com/swimserpentine/