5 May 2006

NEWS

£715,000 grant awarded to help break fossil fuel dependency
Grants worth £715,000 have been awarded to researchers from the Department of Chemistry (led by Professor Saiful Islam) to develop new lithium batteries that will help break the dependency on fossil fuels that produce CO2 greenhouse gas emissions.

Bath engineer wins prestigious aircraft research award
A prestigious award has been given to Professor Ismet Gursul (Mechanical Engineering) for his pioneering work on understanding air flows over aircraft wings.

Biomimetics expert writes for Inventique
The Wessex Round Table of Inventors (WRTI) has invited Julian Vincent, Professor of Biomimetics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, to write a regular column for Inventique, its free monthly newsletter. Each article, which will appear as part of a 'Design from Nature' series, will take the form of an idea plus a commentary. Biomimetics is the concept of taking ideas from nature and implementing them in another technology, such as computing, design or engineering.

University "very pleased" to be placed in top ten by The Guardian
The latest Guardian newspaper league tables have ranked Bath ninth in the UK which is a rise of four places from the University's 13th position in the last year's tables, and means we are the highest-placed in the south west region. In ten subject areas Bath is placed in the top ten of the UK universities, including first in Social Work, second in Sports Science and fourth in Mathematics. Congratulations everyone!

The F-Word: A photographic exhibition
The Chaplaincy is pleased to invite members of the University community to this national exhibition of photographs and personal testimonies from people who have experienced atrocities and who have been on a journey towards forgiveness.

Free public lecture: Brunel's flagship of the Industrial Revolution
Local people can hear how Brunel's SS Great Britain, the world's first iron hulled, steam powered ocean going ship, made international travel a possibility for thousands during the mid-nineteenth century. The free public lecture The Greyhound of the deep will be held at the University of Bath in Swindon on Wednesday 10 May.

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INFORMATION FOR ACADEMICS

AUT action and students
The action by some members of the Association of University Teachers continues across the HE sector. Pay talks between UCEA and the AUT will resume on Monday 8 May 2006 to try to seek a resolution to the dispute. We are hopeful that these talks will result in an end to the current action. At this stage, it is very important that students submit coursework and projects and take their examinations in the normal way so that Boards of Examiners have as much evidence available to them as possible. The University continues to monitor the impact of the industrial action closely, both internally and externally.

Undergrad options for 2006/7
Please remind your undergraduate students that they need to choose their course options online before 9 May.

Student Experience Survey
This year's survey will close at 5pm on Friday 12 May 2006. The survey is designed to provide an opportunity for students to comment on their whole experience of the University of Bath. Please encourage your students to complete it if they have not already done so. Thank you.

Chancellor's Prize
Nominations for this prize for the best final year undergraduate student close on Monday 15 May at 11am.

Personal Information Portal
The University has launched its new Personal Information Portal (PIP). This creates a single point of entry for all of the information about a member of staff or postgraduate research student.

Research Assessment Exercise 'Dry Run'
This RAE2008 dry run during May and June will enable us to test the systems being developed centrally to prepare submissions, as well as developing the provisional composition of submissions to UoAs. The dry run will provide an early opportunity for departments to verify their current position regarding outputs and other metrics and to generate a first draft of the required text for each Unit of Assessment (UoA) submission.

INFORMATION

Partial closure of Underdeck
Due to essential works by contractors it will be necessary to close the south side of the underdeck in the area of 2 West Catering from 8am on Friday 5 May to 6pm on Monday 8 May and intermittently until Friday 19 May. Traffic will be controlled by traffic lights and diverted via the north underdeck roadway.

Print Team installs 'Pick of the Year' colour printer
The Print Team has recently installed a Xerox DocuColor 250 named by the Buyers Laboratory Inc as Pick of the Year for 'Outstanding Production Colour System' and is offering 5 per cent off all colour photocopies in May.

May half-term playscheme cancelled
Due to the continuing staffing problems at St. Martin's Garden Primary School it is with regret that the May playscheme will not be running. The Percy Community Centre are running a playscheme, for further information please contact Percy direct on 01225 423014 or visit their website on www.percycentre.org.uk

Host a student this summer
The University is looking for families in Monkton Combe, Frome, Stonehouse, Wotton-under-Edge, Chard, Sutton Veny and Oxford to provide short-term accommodation for French students who will be doing six weeks of work experience at nearby companies.

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

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IN THE MEDIA www.bath.ac.uk/news/bathinpapers

• Stuart Greenhill (Pharmacy & Pharmacology PhD student) was featured in the BBC programme 'A Life of Grime' (broadcasted this week) whilst working for Edinburgh council during his summer vacation.
• Tony Trueman (Marketing) was interviewed on Bath FM and GWR about the University's rankings in the Guardian league tables.
• Saiful Islam (Chemistry) appeared on GWR discussing the hybrid battery storage systems he is working on. The research was also featured on the BBC news site and in various motoring websites.
• Ben Drew (Mechanical Engineering) spoke about the Clever car on BBC Radio Newcastle.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

• New IT training courses for summer term
• Food Safety for occasional caterers - Friday 12 May
• Preparing students, marking & giving feedback - Monday 15 May
• Student money matters - Wednesday 17 May

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WHAT'S ON NEXT WEEK www.bath.ac.uk/whats-on

Monday 8
19:30 PM  Beyond belief - Metaphysics & the nature of reality

Tuesday 9
09:30 AM  The Mouse Trap Event
10:15 AM  Ethics: treading carefully?
11:15 AM  Italian April 2006 Elections
19:30 PM  Bath Western Riverside Development

Wednesday 10
14:00 PM  The Art of the Japanese Kimono
16:30 PM  Aging & cardiovascular function with acute & habitual exercise
17:30 PM  The greyhound of the deep: Brunel's flagship of the industrial revolution

Thursday 11
09:30 AM  KTP Regional Seminar
10:30 AM  MBA Open House Event
16:15 PM  Does the EU have a grand strategy for its future direction?
19:00 PM  Isambard Kingdom Brunel: The greatest engineer?

Saturday 13
12:00 Noon  Salsa Society guest workshops

Sunday 14
19:30 PM  Film - Flightplan

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ARTS www.bath.ac.uk/icia

1 East 2.1, phone ext 6777 or see website for further details.

STUDENT MUSIC
GASP Choir & BUBBA Big Band
Sat 6 May, 7.30pm | ICIA Arts Theatre | £4, £3 concs & Uni staff
An evening of energetic gospel music and high-quality big band jazz.

University Wind Band, Orchestra & Alley Barbers
Sun 7 May | 7.30pm | ICIA Arts Theatre | £4, £3 concs & Uni staff
Music for wind band, brass band and male barbershop.

THEATRE
imitating the dog & Pete Brooks | Hotel Methuselah
Sat 13 May | 7.30pm | ICIA Arts Theatre | £9, £7 concs & Uni staff
A psychological thriller, Hotel Methuselah explores our fears around death and sexuality in a stunning homage to post-war British cinema and the film-noir. Here they create breathtaking images and push the boundaries digital technology in this tale of a night porter's struggle to uncover the truth of his past.

imitating the dog – performance workshop
Sun 14 May | 12-2pm | ICIA Arts Theatre | £10, £5 concs & Uni staff
This workshop explores the different ways that stories and narrative can be used in the contemporary theatrical experience.

EXHIBITION
Ana Bilankov: Inventing a Space
Mon 15 May – Fri 9 June | ICIA Art Space 1
Croatian artist Ana Bilankov's beautiful, atmospheric video and photographic images raise questions about location, identity and how many places one can be present in at once. Held in conjunction with the Symposium, PRESENT trauma / art / representation.

SYMPOSIUM
PRESENT trauma / art / representation
Saturday 13 May | 10am-5pm | Claverton Rooms
As part of ICIA's commitment to providing a platform to investigate contemporary critical issues, ICIA presents a one-day international event to explore art and lived histories. Of interest to artists, curators, academics and students from disciplines including visual arts, cultural theory and history.
Fee: £65 (organisation rate), £35 Individuals, £20 concessions, includes lunch and coffee.

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SPORT www.teambath.com/news

Football: TeamBath in narrow BUSA Final defeat
The University of Bath went down 2–1 to arch–rivals Loughborough University at the Loftus Road home of QPR in the final of the British Universities Sports Association football championships.

Netball: TeamBath crush Leeds to stay top
TeamBath consolidated their lead at the top of the figleaves.com netball superleague tonight at the Sports Training Village of the University of Bath with a 71–21 win over seventh–placed Leeds Met Carnegie.

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