Contents
Prof Schinazi & Lord Tugendhat

Lord Tugendhat, Chancellor of the University, thanks alumnus Professor Raymond Schinazi for his generosity in supporting the University philanthropically


QUOTE FOR THE WEEK:

"I do not despise ignorance - if you are not taught you cannot know - but I do despise unwillingness"
Brian Roper, Bath Honorary Graduate, Summer 2009

 

University Updates

3 July 2009

Summer awards ceremonies

Summer award ceremonies - vox pops
Graduates at the first of this year’s awards ceremonies share their thoughts on collecting their degrees.

Videos of individual graduation ceremonies now online
Videos of all ten ceremonies are now available online and include the orations and acceptance speeches of this summer's honorary graduates.

Feel-good film about summer graduations
A day to remember is a compilation of video images including graduates talking about their special day and plans for the future.

First Bath alumnus joins the Chancellor’s Roll of Honour
In a short ceremony at the Chancellor’s Dinner, Professor Raymond F Schinazi became the first Bath alumnus to join the Chancellor’s Roll of Honour. The award was made in recognition of Professor Schinazi’s “leadership, his passion for Bath and its academic research, and his generosity in supporting the University philanthropically”.

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Learning & Teaching

2009 Teaching Awards
The recipients of the 2009 Teaching Awards were presented with their awards this week during the graduation ceremonies. The Awards Committee considered the quality of all nominations to be very high this year.

Jos Darling is recognised for excellence in engineering education
Congratulations to Jos Darling (Mechanical Engineering) on being awarded an HEA Engineering Subject Centre Teaching Award for his outstanding learning and teaching practices. Jos received his award in recognition of his use of game based learning tools.

Uni receives £250K to develop Biosciences open educational resources
The Centre for Biosciences, led by Dr Momna Hejmadi, has received £250,000 to take part in a pilot project to develop ‘An interactive Laboratory and Fieldwork Manual for the Biosciences’. The project is part of the Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative which is funded by HEFCE and run by the Higher Education Academy and JISC, with the aim of making a wide range of learning resources created by academics freely available.

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Sharing expertise

A2009 Analytics Conference
Paul Goodwin ( School at Management), was a key speaker at the A2009 Analytics Conference, held in Denmark last week. Paul’s paper, entitled ‘Knowing when to intervene: How to make effective judgmental adjustments to your statistical forecasts’, considered how company forecasters regularly use their judgement to adjust statistical forecasts generated by software but asked, when are such interventions effective and when are they likely to damage accuracy?

Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East Conference
Adrian Hyde-Price (European Studies & Modern Languages) presented a paper at an international conference in Amman, Jordan, on Nuclear Proliferation and Nuclear Energy. The paper entitled ‘The European Union and Nuclear Proliferation: The Iranian Test-Case’ was followed by a lively and robust exchange of views with some of the Iranian participants. The audience included the EU’s top official dealing with proliferation issues, Annalisa Giannella.

Professor elected VP of European Academy for Standardisation
John Hudson (Economics & International Development) has recently been elected a Vice President of the European Academy for Standardisation (EURAS). The academy offers a platform for exchanging information, collaboration and dissemination. It does so by organising annual workshops and publishing the workshop proceedings, a newsletter, and the EURAS Yearbook. Professor Hudson is also joint editor of the yearbook.

Physics Reader wins Institute of Physics medal & prize
Dmitry Skryabin (Physics) has been announced as the recipient of the Maxwell Medal and Prize 2009 by the Institute of Physics. Dr Skryabin was cited for "his contributions to theory and modelling of nonlinear optical processes; in particular for predictions and understanding of effects accompanying interaction of solitons with radiation and generation of ultrabroad spectra in optical fibers."

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Information

Remember to re-set your voicemail message
Work carried out on Thursday to the University telephone system will have deleted any voicemail recorded on individuals' telephones.

Swine Flu: new website launched with updated information
The UK has a rapidly increasing number of cases of swine flu; the University has so far not been significantly affected (just one unconfirmed case at present).Since it is expected that the illness will spread substantially over the months ahead, the University has launched a new swine flu website which contains new advice for staff and students.

One-stop database for environmental research
Environmental researchers can now use one convenient database which lists nearly all publicly funded research in the UK.

Hospitality newsletter for July
New brand of coffee & lots of summer visitors arrive on campus!

Claverton Rooms open for packed lunches
The Open University will be using 6 West South for their lunches in July and August and during this period the space will not be available to staff and students from 12 noon till 2.30pm. Therefore, those wishing to use a social space to eat their own lunch will be able to use the Claverton Rooms during the period 1 July to 14 August.

Sandra Newell is retiring
Sandra Newell joined the University in August 2000 as Secretary to the Dean of Students, now Head of Student Services, and is due to retire on 24 July.

Dealing with funding challenges – info for USS pension scheme members
A number of funding pressures make it highly likely that, without changes to future benefits, the contribution rate to the pension scheme will need to be increased – perhaps substantially – in future years.  These pressures have been jointly recognised by the members of the USS Joint Review Group, and the group is pursuing solutions in a purposeful manner, on a confidential basis.

RICE Memory Trail
Take part in the 16th annual Memory Trail and help support research into Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Starting in the pretty village of Rode and following the river Frome as far as Tellisford the two longer routes then take you to Farleigh Hungerford and its 12th century castle and as far as the weir at Avoncliffe.

Jobs
Vacant posts: www.bath.ac.uk/jobs

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Research volunteers wanted

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In the media

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Training & development

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Forthcoming lectures, conferences & exhibitions

Product Lifecycle Management 2009 (PLM09) 6-8 July
The University is to host the sixth international PLM conference, the first to be held in the United Kingdom. Some 68 full papers will be presented at the conference, together with 20 keynote and industrial presentations from companies such as BAE Systems, BMW, Eurostep, HP, IBM, Rolls-Royce and Samsung.  Industrial presentations will be concentrated on Tuesday 7 July to encourage one-day delegates to attend. The Conference organising team is being led by Chris McMahon (Director of the Innovative Design and Manufacturing Research Centre).

Effective technology for mathematics & statistics support Thursday 9 July
As well as featuring talks on the use of different technologies for mathematics and statistics support, the meeting will see a sigma-sw discussion forum with reflection on 2008/09 activities and planning for 2009/10.

Snapshots of research: University of Bath research captured through a lens
An exhibition of photographs taken by researchers which reflect the work they do at the University will be held at Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution (BRLSI), Queen Square, Bath on Wednesday 15 July.

Former President of Ireland to give lecture at Bath Abbey Wednesday 16 September
Staff and students are invited to attend a lecture by the Honourable Mary Robinson, former President of the Republic of Ireland, in Bath Abbey. The lecture, entitled ‘Realising Rights: the role of religion in human rights in the future’, is part of the 1100th anniversary celebrations of the Diocese of Bath & Wells.

What's on next week

More details about events below

Monday 6
12:00 Noon ‘Green Channel’ patent application workshop

Tuesday 7
12:15 PM Postgraduate Summer School Lecture
14:15 PM Access Grid Nodes (AGN) demonstration
19:30 PM The selective advantage of art

Wednesday 8
12:30 PM Poems by David Francis

Thursday 9
11:00 AM Effective technology for mathematics & statistics support

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UBSA trips - open to everyone

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Sport

World University Games get underway
The University of Bath is being represented across a wide range of sports at the World University Games, which started in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Free RFU level 2 rugby course
There is a ‘free’ RFU level 2 rugby course running on 11 & 12 July and the second weekend will be 12 & 13 September. This is subject to completing an NVQ ‘Coaching, Teaching and Instruction’ which is mapped to the RFU award.

Sports partnerships celebrate multi-skill ability at regional academy
School sports partnerships from Bath, Bristol, Wiltshire and Dorset took part in the Youth Sport Trust’s annual regional multi-skill academy at the University.

Junior Beach Volleyball Grand Slam arrives in Bath
Some of the brightest young beach volleyball players in the South West will be in action at the STV at the TeamBath Junior Beach Volleyball Grand Slam Tournament on Saturday 4 July.

TeamBath netballers named in ‘World 7’ squad
TeamBath netballers Tamsin Greenway and Geva Mentor have been named in the ‘World 7’ team to take on New Zealand’s mighty Silver Ferns in a three-test series in August.

Fell wins individual silver as GB win team gold at Euro Champs
Britain’s Heather Fell, who trains at the STV, added the Modern Pentathlon European Championships silver medal to her Olympic silver in Leipzig – and her performance helped Great Britain win the team gold.