ASTON
ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2020
THE PEOPLE ISSUE PROFES SOR JONATHAN COX ON DEFE ATING T H E 'A N T I B I O T I C N I G H T M A R E ', P. 3 6
WELCOME
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
11 Beyond borders 18 P rofessor George Feiger
33 The past is the future
WELCOME
Cameron Clasper Guest Editor and Consultant, REPL Group. cameron.clasper@replgroup.com
As a recent Aston Business School graduate and technology consultant at REPL Group, I’m delighted to guest edit this People edition of Aston in Touch. Aston University champions the ideals of community, whether it’s through the campus experience, strong links with industry or success in diverse research fields. However, it’s the people that make this happen. This edition of Aston in Touch paints a picture of how the University and its alumni benefit society. For instance, the University recently offered the Students’ Union building to The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) as a distribution centre providing vital supplies to the local community during the Covid-19 pandemic (p. 3), while academics from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities are highlighting the injustices of refugees and migrants through their research (p. 11). In this issue, Olayemi Cardoso eloquently explains how we should never give up on the quest for high standards (p. 8) and this statement goes hand-inhand with the inspiring work being carried out by Dr Jonathan Cox and his team in the field of antimicrobial resistance (p. 36). Meanwhile, the dean of Aston Business School, Professor George Feiger, highlights that ‘the world isn’t ending, it’s changing’ (p. 18), and, as I sit here tasting my failed attempt at cooking aubergine, tomato and mint chutney (p. 29), I feel especially proud to be part of an alumni network that champions people and has a strong focus on improving the lives of others.
WELCOME
THE PEOPLE ISSUE
30 Patrick O’Brien
39 Pathway to Healthcare 26 W e must cultivate our garden
08 O layemi Cardoso
CONTENTS 2020 – Alumni Magazine FEATURES
REGULARS
11 Research: Beyond borders
02 News in brief
15 Alumni profile: Phil Mountford
08 Five questions for… Olayemi Cardoso
21 Research: Why people take offence
18 Meet the Exec: Professor George Feiger
33 History: The past is the future
30 Five questions for… Patrick O’Brien
36 Cover story: The ‘antibiotic nightmare’
42 Alumni news 44 From the archives COMMUNITY 06 What we did in lockdown
Executive Editor: Dr Annette Rubery Features Writers: Dawn Lander, Richard McComb Photography: Edward Moss Design: Digitronix Illustration p43: Rebecca Dudgon Print: WG Baird
24 With a little help from my friends 26 Aston People: We must cultivate our garden 39 Students: Pathway to Healthcare
alumniinfo@aston.ac.uk /AstonUniversityAlumni @AstonAlumni /school/16267
NEWS
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Schoolboy teaches French during Covid-19 A nine-year-old boy and his mother – who is the head of French in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Aston University – have been teaching youngsters French through YouTube. The channel was set up by Aleksandar Veresić-Labeau who attends St Mary's CofE Primary School, Selly Oak, in response to Covid-19 to help his classmates keep up with the language while learning from home. Aleksandar, who is the star of the videos and does most of the narration, covers a wide variety of topics in French, with the aim of using ordinary activities to practice the language and learn new phrases. Under the guidance of his mother, Dr Emmanuelle Labeau, senior lecturer in French language and linguistics at Aston University, Aleksandar has an avid following with some vidoes amassing hundreds of views.
Technical TALENT to be rewarded A new project led by a consortium of eight Midlandsbased universities and industry partners – including Aston University – is to shine a light on the expertise of their technical community by delivering a package of measures to support their career advancement and development. Midlands Innovation’s £4.99million TALENT programme is the largest ever investment into technicians in higher education, whose specialist skills often go unrecognised despite the crucial role they play in the success of universities and the growth of the UK economy. The investment is particularly timely, given the prominent role which technicians have played during the Covid-19 pandemic. In March 2020, Aston technician Jiteen Ahmed wrote about a major undertaking at the University to manufacture and distribute hand-sanitiser, as well as gathering useful medications and PPE for the NHS (read more on p. 25).
‘Cell pores’ discovery gives hope to millions with brain and spinal cord injuries Scientists have discovered a new treatment to dramatically reduce swelling after brain and spinal cord injuries, offering hope to 75million victims across the world each year. The breakthrough in treating such injuries – referred to as central nervous system (CNS) edema – is thought to be hugely significant because current options are limited to putting patients in an induced coma or performing risky surgery. The new treatment, developed by scientists at Aston University in collaboration with colleagues from Harvard Medical School, the University of Birmingham, the University of Calgary, Lund University, Copenhagen University and the University of Wolverhampton, features in the latest edition of the scientific journal Cell. The researchers used an already-licensed anti-psychotic medicine – trifluoperazine (TFP) – to alter the behaviour of tiny water channel ‘pores’ in cells known as aquaporins. Testing the treatment on injured rats, they found those animals given a single dose of the drug at the trauma site recovered full movement and sensitivity in as little as two weeks, compared to an untreated group that continued to show motor and sensory impairment beyond six weeks after the injury.
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NEWS
Aston University contributes to prestigious Institute of Technology
Students’ Union opens doors to food distribution centre
Aston University is a key participant in a new Government scheme to introduce Institutes of Technology (IoTs) across the country with a view to creating a powerhouse for advanced manufacturing and engineering. Led by Aston University, Solihull College & University Centre, Birmingham City University and South and City College Birmingham, the project will design, develop and widen education and training opportunities aligned to the latest skills needs of employers; the local, regional and national economy; and Government priorities for technical education. Professor Alec Cameron, vice-chancellor and chief executive of Aston University, said: “The approval of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology is so important for our region. As a key participant, Aston University is excited to be collaborating with institutions and employers across the West Midlands to create this new centre of excellence in engineering and advanced manufacturing. Building on our existing strengths in these fields, it will enable young people, adult learners and existing employees to develop new skills and secure high-quality jobs in the industries of the future.”
A food distribution service providing vital supplies to communities in need across Birmingham during the Covid-19 pandemic has been making use of Aston University Students’ Union building while it has been closed to the public. The service (formerly in Ladywood Community Centre) was coordinated by The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS), along with The Real Junk Food Project, and supported by food charity FareShare and Birmingham City Council. As the pandemic took hold, Aston University started a volunteer support group to help students living in accommodation in the city. As the number of volunteers grew, the group realised it could help on a much wider scale, so offered its services through a number of Covid-19 Facebook groups in Birmingham. When The Active Wellbeing Society got in touch, the University agreed to offer its Students’ Union building as a new location for the distribution centre. “We are delighted that we have been able to provide support for such a much-needed service for the city,” said Saskia Hansen, deputy vicechancellor (engagement) at Aston. “We now have over 200 staff and student volunteers supporting local projects and helping to run the distribution centre. We are so proud that our Aston community is making a difference to residents across Birmingham.”
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NEWS
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
ASTON
ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2019
Looking back on the Pioneers for Change campaign This year marks the close of Aston’s Pioneers for Change fundraising campaign, launched in 2016, and as we’re preparing to round the project off, we want to thank everyone who has contributed. It seems appropriate, in an issue dedicated to Aston People, that we celebrate some of these successes through the magazine. In the following pages you can read about alumni who have helped during the pandemic - whether by making PPE equipment, supporting students via the hardship fund or raising money for hospitals and health charities (p. 24). We also look at how donors are raising the aspirations of students via the Pathway to Healthcare programme (p. 39). We’re so grateful to you – our pioneering alumni – for supporting major projects such as the launch of the Americas Foundation (2017) and a public medical school (2016). Look on our website and social media channels or further celebrations of your achievements during the Pioneers for Change years – we can’t wait to see what transformations will be made in the years to come.
THE BUSINESS ISSUE ASTON IN 1981
CHEQUES AND THE CITY
THE FUTURE OF ENERGY
Alumni magazine wins silver at international awards
Crisis management expert joins Aston Business School Jonathan Hemus, managing director of specialist crisis management consultancy Insignia, has joined Aston Business School as a visiting lecturer. Jonathan brings over 25 years’ experience of providing crisis management advice and training to world-leading organisations and brands such as Cathay Pacific, DP World, London Luton Airport, NFU Mutual and Stagecoach. Throughout his career, Jonathan has helped multiple organisations navigate challenges presented by crises and his advice has been particularly sought after during the Coronavirus outbreak. Jonathan will be joining Aston Business School’s team delivering a new MSc in Crisis and Disaster Management from September 2020.
The 2019 edition of Aston in Touch has been given a Circle of Excellence Award by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The awards programme recognises outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising, and marketing at colleges, universities, independent schools, and affiliated nonprofits. Aston joined 610 institutions across 28 countries in entering the programme, bringing home a Silver award in the category of magazines published once a year. The winning issue was distributed to 52,000 graduates worldwide in October 2019. The cover-story featured alumna Arese Ugwu (BSc Business and Management, 2006) who wrote a book about finance for women which became a bestseller in Nigeria. If you have a story that you think might interest fellow alumni in future editions of Aston in Touch, please contact the executive editor Dr Annette Rubery (a.rubery@aston.ac.uk) with details, picture ideas, and a sentence on why you think it should be featured.
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NEWS
Business school expands global virtual internship programme Aston Business School is expanding its global virtual internship programme to provide international placement opportunities for its postgraduate students faced with travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Work Global, Stay Local programme offers students the possibility of working remotely for a real company for up to 300 hours in an industry related to their career choice and to develop digital and remote-working competencies in the process. The virtual internship programme is part of a comprehensive package of online activities that has been developed to provide a ‘virtual skills framework’ for Aston Business School students to help them navigate new ways of working and ensure that they are employment-ready when they finish their courses.
United Nations award goes to Aston spin-out An energy start-up in India, formed out of an Aston University research project, has won a prestigious United Nations award for its work. In January, A2P Energy, formed through the University’s European Bioenergy Research Institute’s (EBRI) Energy Harvest project, won The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) award, which recognises the work being done in India to combat air pollution. The company, founded in 2018 by Sukhmeet Singh and Robert Berry, seeks to provide a solution to the challenge existing in Northwest India relating to agricultural waste management. Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh regularly burn residual rice straw as it is seen as having little value. The burning causes substantial local disruption and health problems; additionally, large amounts of pollution are then blown by prevailing winds to the heavily populated city of Delhi. In a bid to reduce the resulting health issues, A2P has established a supply chain that collects the paddy straw and produces energy pellets that can be used as a replacement for non-renewable fuels. These pellets can also be transformed into biochar through EBRI's expertise in pyrolysis, helping to improve soil structure and crop yields. -5-
IN LOCKDOWN
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— What we did —
IN LOCKDOWN
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03
IN LOCKDOWN
It's certainly been a strange year, but, in the absence of physical events, Aston University has embraced new ways of celebrating and connecting with its community of staff, students and graduates. On April 7th and July 29th 2020 – with the UK in lockdown due to Covid-19 – the University held virtual graduation celebrations on its social media channels. These were not intended to be a replacement for the Spring and Summer ceremonies (our new graduates will still get the chance to walk across the stage when it’s safe) but rather to lift everyone's spirits and celebrate new achievements. The gatherings planned for the Aston Global Celebration (held annually in April to mark Aston’s receipt of its Charter in 1966) were sadly cancelled but we again moved the celebrations online. These took place between April 22nd and 30th and involved alumni sharing selfies with special greetings, competing for Aston hoodies in a Facebook nostalgia quiz, and having virtual meet-ups (with and without silly hats). From June 15th to 19th the University held Aston Live: a week-long festival of online learning delivered by academics from across a range of subject disciplines. With much of the world still in varying stages of lockdown, the festival provided an opportunity to learn something new, inspire people to think about new career directions or simply to refresh their knowledge. 01. #VirtualAstonGrads – Spring 2020
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Dr Nabila Jones tweeted: “Proud to have graduated from Aston with a PhD in Optometry. Even more proud to be supporting my colleagues in the NHS (Queen Elizabeth Hospital) at this very difficult time!”
02. Aston Global – Australia Harry Wade (Human Resource Management, 2010) led a sillyhats-themed Zoom catch-up for graduates based in Melbourne.
03. #VirtualAstonGrads – Summer 2020 New graduate Sailesh Patel (Computer Science) joined the virtual celebrations on July 29th via Facebook, complete with Aston hoodie, hat and branded bear.
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04. Aston Global – United States David McCollum (Business and German, 1982) sent us greetings from sunny Rhode Island.
05. Aston Global – Campus Staff celebrated with cakes, tea, and by testing their knowledge at a quiz about Aston’s history.
06. #VirtualAstonGrads – Furry Prizes Aston Bears were sent to everyone who shared an alternative graduation picture with us on social media.
07. Aston Global – Nigeria Peter Drillingcourt (Occupational Health and Safety, 1984) – wearing his Irish rugby shirt – sent us his regards from Nigeria. Cheers Peter!
ALUMNI INTERVIEW
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
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OLAYEMI From his days as a student of managerial and administrative studies at Aston in the 1970s to his 30-year career as a financial sector and development policy expert, we catch up with an alumnus who has never given up the quest for high standards.
CARDOSO -8-
ALUMNI INTERVIEW
Calling Lagos: interview carried out via Zoom during the pandemic.
Aston in Touch: What was your time like as a student of managerial and administrative studies in the late 1970s?
next-door but now, happily, Aston has bought it and expanded the space that you have.
Olayemi Cardoso: At the time, we were located in a place called Maples House, which was above a furniture store on Corporation Street. Sometimes you’d have lectures on campus, but mostly at Maples House. But something far more significant, in my view, is that in the mid-seventies it was rare for universities in the UK to have business degrees at undergraduate level. I think Aston was one of the first to do this. We were the guinea pigs in some respect because we were the second set to start managerial and administrative studies. The course had mostly British but a good international mix of students. We worked very hard and there was little time for socialising. Happily, I have some classmates who I continue to keep in touch with. In fact, when I had the privilege of accepting an honorary doctorate from Aston [in July 2017], one of my mates at the time happened to come along. I knew him back from 1976 when we all started that programme together. The experience helped us to build a sense of esprit de corps. We were, as I said, a new discipline. It was tough, and we knew we all had to get through it together.
AiT: You were the first cabinet member for economic planning and budget for Lagos state. How did it feel taking on that important job?
AiT: You came back to campus in 2017 to receive your honorary degree (Doctor of Business Administration). Were you surprised to see the changes on campus?
Words: Annette Rubery
OC: Yes. I told my former classmates, it’s completely different. That goes, by the way, for the city as well, because don’t forget that Aston is pretty much a city university. It’s much wider, greener. Of course those buildings [the towers] have come down and it’s all changed. And of course, proudly, very proudly, we have the business school. I think it’s moved from being a relatively small, compact university to less small and compact, but you have a place which is well and truly yours. In those days Birmingham Polytechnic had a building on campus right -9-
OC: Well, I think context helps to explain a lot of this. It was 1999. At that point we were at a critical stage in the country’s history because we had had several decades of military rule and now people genuinely wanted democracy. At that time people were unsure that it was going to last. And, more importantly, business people traditionally didn’t go into government. Now, it could seem like a high-risk opportunity – in the sense that I’d never done it before – but I felt that I needed to blaze a trail and encourage more people who had the skills to come into government, make their contributions and improve matters. The ministry of economic planning and budget was started from scratch. It became the think-tank of the administration. Remember, Lagos is one of the largest megacities in the world with a population of over 20million people, then maybe about 15 or 16million. It’s the economic nerve centre of West Africa, so, to all intents and purposes, it was a place that everybody looked to. At the time it was under crisis; nothing worked and the infrastructure was dilapidated. We had to understand what the problems were and reach out to international bodies like the World Bank and the UNHabitat, before coming up with plans that would help to solve those problems. Nobody really believed it was possible, then suddenly you’re the gatekeeper of the government. It’s not a job for anybody who wants to be popular and that’s the reason why they don’t look for politicians to occupy these positions. It was the first time that such a ministry had been set up in any state in the federation. I’m happy to say that now, years later, almost every single state (with the exception of one) has a ministry of economic planning and budget fashioned along the lines of the one we started in Lagos.
ALUMNI INTERVIEW
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Undated photo of the Students’ Common Room in Maples House, Corporation Street.
AiT: As chairman of the board of directors at Citibank Nigeria Ltd., what do you see as your primary role? OC: My career in Citibank started in London. Frankly, I went in and out of Citibank about two or three times but Citi is good like that, it doesn’t hold it against you. If you’ve got experiences elsewhere, they are happy for you to bring them back into the organisation. The last time I went back as a non-executive, and now I’ve been chairman of the bank for almost ten years. It’s easy to feel that there’s a disconnect between you as chairman and everybody else but, in my case, it’s not like that because it’s an institution I know very well. It has gone through enormous changes but it’s where I cut my teeth. One of the things that’s important to realise is that people look up to you. You always try to conduct your activities in a way that conforms to very high ethical standards. Citi, for example, is the only US bank on the African continent. There are American companies who come into Nigeria looking for banks they can deal with. We have to show that we can provide the services they are used to in any other part of the world.
As chairman of the board, my responsibilities are also to ensure that we are able to think globally, act locally. Those are very important issues for us. Culturally, to blend in; and to ensure that gender sensitivity is properly catered for. I ensure that all those different pieces of the jigsaw come together, enabling Citibank to be run in the most effective way possible. AiT: What advice would you give to young alumni just starting out on their careers? OC: First and foremost I would say be true to yourself. Know what your strengths are and stick to that path. Two: never give up on the quest for higher standards. You may feel that you are at a position in life where everything is spick-and-span and you've done it all well. Don't rest on that. Redefine the standard and set an even higher standard. It should never stop. Three: keep learning. Keep looking for ways to get new skills. Go back for short courses; take them online if you can. Finally, I will say keep professional friendships. Keep them, nurture them. In this day and age, the world is interconnected. When you travel, keep in contact with your friends. You just don't know how you could be useful to each other. - 10 -
RESEARCH
BEYOND BORDERS
Photograph: Gemma Bird
Dr Patrycja Rozbicka, Dr Amanda Russell Beattie and Dr Jelena Obradovic-Wochnik
The trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic has diverted attention from other urgent crises, including the plight of hundreds of millions of refugees and migrants who have been forced to leave their homelands due to violence and economic hardship. Academics from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities have been working to change conditions for the better.
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RESEARCH
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Photographs: Jelena Obradovic-Wochnik
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n 2015 Dr Jelena ObradovicWochnik was conducting research in Serbia, when migrants began entering the country. Soon The Guardian was reporting a “big river of people”, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, and heading through Serbia on their way into Croatia. Later, it was estimated that 600,000 migrants had entered the country; the Croatian, Slovenian and Hungarian governments responded by closing their borders, causing Serbian and Greek refugee camps to overcrowd. Dr Obradovic-Wochnik, who is a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Aston University, became interested in the plight of these people, and, more broadly, conditions in European refugee camps. For a few years she conducted research on her own before discovering synergies with Aston colleagues Dr Amanda Russell Beattie (who was working on ethics and migration, particularly discourses of citizenship and deportation), Dr Gemma Bird (now at the University of Liverpool) and Dr Patrycja Rozbicka. All four went on a research trip to Greece and Serbia and what they found was illuminating, namely that the EU’s response to the migrant crisis had been to outsource refugee settlement and care to states such as Serbia, Greece and Bosnia, who were previously described as ‘transit’ countries. This was leading to overcrowding and poor
RESEARCH
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Even before Covid-19 emerged in Europe, January and February 2020 saw terrible violations of human rights... As Turkey opened its borders, and Greece denied any asylum claims, life for individuals who were seeking safety in Europe was increasingly fraught.
conditions for the migrants and aidworkers were struggling to cope. The research methods used by the group were qualitative, based mainly on interviews and focussed on NGOs (i.e., grassroots organisations and activists). The researchers spent time in their offices and shadowed them on trips to speak to people on certain routes through Europe. They also conducted interviews with camp officials and policy-makers in Brussels, Greece, Serbia and Bosnia. The team did not focus on interviewing refugees. “We’ve tended to try to avoid that kind of research because these are obviously vulnerable communities,” explains Dr Obradovic-Wochnik. “During 2015 there was quite a lot of emphasis on individuals and journalists were going to these different camps and informal settlements, taking pictures of them and publishing them. A lot of ethical concerns came out of that.” “From the very beginning of the project we had to pay extra attention to the narrative linked to our work and the extremely sensitive topic that we work on,” agrees Dr Rozbicka. “All our media engagement had ‘do no harm’ at its heart – but we also had to make sure our messages were clear and could not be misinterpreted. While sometimes that meant heated debates with editors, we aimed at staying true to our guiding ethical principles.”
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Gradually, the focus of Dr ObradovicWochnik’s research turned to the migrants’ experience of violence and she joined with Dr Arshad Isakjee (University of Liverpool) and Dr Thom Davies (University of Nottingham) to examine the borders themselves. These inhospitable, often dangerous, places are sites of violence where people regularly risk their lives to reach safety. The reasons for migration, too, were not always obvious. “Pretty much everyone that we spoke to indicated that people were fleeing various kinds of violence,” says Dr Obradovic-Wochnik. “That could be a large-scale conflict, such as in Syria, or instances of localised violence that have regional patterns. I think the ways in which violence affects different communities is quite broad-ranging. For instance, somebody living in parts of Damascus in Syria will have a very different experience of somebody living in a rural part of Afghanistan. Not all forms of violence are warrelated. People living in parts of the country where the Taliban is resurgent might experience kidnappings. And people having worked for the US military in Afghanistan are being targeted by other members of their community. So there’s all kinds of things; the stories are just endless.”
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New ways to raise awareness of these stories emerged. In 2018, through Dr Bird’s work, the group launched a photographic installation at Tate Liverpool and held walking tours, explaining the background behind their fieldwork. These activities were enhanced with additional research photographs and a presentation by Karolina Augustova, whose PhD research at Aston focuses on refugees’ experiences of borders and violence. True to their purpose, the group avoided picturing individuals but investigated the geographies of migration: the landmarks people used to navigate through the so-called Balkan Migration Route and the infrastructure of the camps. In 2019 a British Parliamentary committee called on evidence from academics to help shape policies around dealing with migration post-Brexit. The whole group was well-placed to highlight injustices and to make recommendations; meanwhile, the project on border violence attracted funding to work with activists in the field. As a result more public engagement is planned, including an animation. Yet, with the outbreak of Covid-19 still a big concern, is there a danger that the plight of refugees will sink under the radar again?
RESEARCH
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Meet the academics: “Even before Covid-19 emerged in Europe, January and February 2020 saw terrible violations of human rights,” explains Dr Beattie. “As Turkey opened its borders, and Greece denied any asylum claims, life for individuals who were seeking safety in Europe was increasingly fraught.
Dr Patrycja Rozbicka is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations. Her research circulates around the participation of interest groups in European and national policy-making as well as the regulation of the live music industry in the UK and EU.
“Covid-19 has only heightened this challenge. Boats arriving on the shores of Greek islands are being quarantined, but not in any recognisable spaces. We hear stories of individuals inverting their boats into makeshift shelters. We also hear stories of boat arrivals simply not being reported thus skewing arrival numbers. As we have written in our latest report to the Government, the lockdown across European countries is exacerbating the instances of border violence, public health crisis, and delaying, even further, asylum proceedings.”
Dr Amanda Russell Beattie is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and Fellow of the Aston Centre for Europe. Her research cuts across political theory and international political thought, exploring her experience of the deportation regime in the UK.
Dr Jelena Obradovic-Wochnik is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and Deputy Director of the Aston Centre for Europe. She is an expert in the politics of the Western Balkans, Serbia and Kosovo.
You can follow progress on the research on Facebook (@ACEIRAesthetics) and Twitter (@IR_Aesthetics) - 14 -
ALUMNI PROFILE
Phil Mountford (Computing Science, 1996) tells Richard McComb how he went from computer coder to Elton John tribute act.
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ALUMNI PROFILE
P
hil Mountford has got the feathers, the sequins, the sunglasses and the wigs. The Aston University computing science graduate has also got the voice, the keyboard licks and a songbook packed with half a century of pop hits. A self-deprecating showman, Phil describes himself as a ‘coding monkey’ who is fascinated by the possibilities of computer programming. But – in the lyrics of the song Tiny Dancer – he is also a music man. Phil’s alter ego is in fact the singer of the classic 1972 single – because when he hits the stage, father-oftwo Phil Mountford becomes Elton John. It's been a relatively recent transformation for the film and TV composer, sparked when he was asked to put together a fundraising rock concert. Phil’s father-in-law, John Knox, had heart bypass surgery at New Cross Hospital,
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Wolverhampton, and wanted to thank the medical team. John asked Phil to be the musical director for the charity show and perform a slot. “I thought, ‘What can I do?’” said Phil. Step forward Sir Elton Hercules John. It was meant to be a one-off incarnation but the four songs went down well with the audience in Bewdley, Worcestershire, and a seed was sown. Phil, from Shropshire, hooked up with a couple of the band members, roped in son Josh, an accomplished cello player, and daughter Zoe, for background vocals and percussion, and Forever Elton (www. foreverelton.com) was born. The act’s repertoire now features Elton’s big hits including 'Your song', 'Goodbye yellow brick road', 'Don't let the sun go down on me', and 'Rocket man'. The tribute show is popular on the regional touring scene and played two dates in Malta for a special New Year celebration.
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ALUMNI PROFILE
At the same time, Phil, who is 49, leads a five-piece crossover classical ensemble, Fordante (www.fordante.com), which was launched in 2008 and is supported by the Arts Council of England. Fordante fuses the work of classical and baroque composers with a contemporary sound and draws on Phil’s love of the Italian group Rondò Veneziano.
challenge of communicating a director’s vision and message via a musical score, working with the images on the screen to embellish the narrative. “The enjoyment comes from being creative. Some of it is science and some of it is art,” says Phil. He has also written choral music, Suite for the Fallen Soldier, to commemorate World War I.
It means planning Phil’s diary can be tricky but at the time of this interview major lockdown measures were in force due to the Coronavirus pandemic. With theatres closed, Phil had about 15 shows cancelled and was unsure what the future of touring might hold. “From a financial point of view, it is difficult on all fronts,” says Phil, who was looking to take on extra computer work during the extended hiatus in live performances.
A portfolio comprising an Elton John tribute act, a modern ‘pop and rock’ Baroque ensemble and film-score composition is unconventional but Phil has always enjoyed an eclectic taste in music. As a teenager, he would play Geoff Love’s easy listening versions of movie themes alongside the pop gold of Abba, Pet Shop Boys and Barry ‘Could it be magic’ Manilow.
After all, the skills he learned at Aston University have served him well throughout his career. Having left school at 15 to join the family stonemasonry business, Phil later enrolled on a four-year software engineering course. He considered other universities but was drawn to Aston. “It felt relaxed and it was right for me,” recalls Phil. “I was at university to study and that is what I did. I was in the labs programming. It sounds very grown up now but it was a case of being there to learn and I enjoyed doing it.” When he graduated in 1996, Phil worked as a software engineer for several years but he had always been fascinated by music and enjoyed the electronic organ in particular. His love of computers and melodic sound came together as he launched into the world of composing for films. With credits including Danny Dyer’s crime thriller Vendetta and comic legend Norman Wisdom’s last film, Expresso, Phil loves the
He has fond memories of his time at Aston and has no hesitation in recommending the institution and the undergraduate experience. Phil says: “What I got out of Aston is that you learn to learn. If you are going to be a computer programmer, you must always keep on top of technology and read and learn manuals – and it’s the same for music. “If you want to learn how to be a composer, you have got to learn and listen and teach your mind how to learn. It’s having that discipline, training you mind to learn and it’s really the greatest thing for your health and for everything.” For now, the Elton John rhinestone jackets and over-sized spectacles are packed away in the wardrobe. But when the Coronavirus lockdown lifts, and social distancing measures are relaxed, Phil will be looking to don his star-spangled top hat and tails, hit the stage and belt out: 'The bitch is back'.
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For more about Phil, including news about his concerts and recent soundtrack album to the film Stalked, please visit www. philmountford.com.
MEET THE EXEC
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Professor George Feiger: ‘The world isn’t ending, it’s changing’ - 18 -
MEET THE EXEC
Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of Aston Business School reflects on lockdown, video calls, and how interaction aids creativity.
There are two dimensions to lockdown, personal and work. The personal side has been strange, especially at the beginning when all the streets were empty, the air was clean and you could hear the birds. For me, I discovered that a lot of my management work takes place when I run into people in rooms and corridors. A conversation takes place, not necessarily one I might have planned, and that leads to other things. That’s how creativity works, right? Working in [Microsoft] Teams or Zoom, you have to plan and schedule and have a prior agenda. That is good for organising processes but not so good for innovation.
important, the more judgment calls are being made on uncertain futures. In a prior life, in investment banking, this was absolutely critical. It’s the judgment that is written on a person’s forehead. The better you are at reading people’s faces, the better you are at managing trading risks.
The other thing that happens is that people get grumpy. It’s very tiring to do video calls. But you see yourself in the little window, in addition to seeing the other participants. And there is a lot to be learned from seeing yourself in action. I remember in my first year teaching, Harvard [University] got a grant to improve teaching quality. My first 20 classes were filmed, and a coach would play them back with me, telling me what I was doing wrong. When you watch yourself you see what everyone else is seeing, and you should ask, “Do I want to project myself like that?” My job is to help everybody else be successful. That means I’m constantly nudging and talking and suggesting and possibly criticising. I think that lockdown doesn’t make it harder to be an insurance adjuster, for example. You work with rules and facts, and, because you don’t have to commute, you can probably get more done. I have to read body language and faces, to see if there is something that I should be worried about. That is very difficult to do on a screen. Reading people’s body language is more
Whenever you have a decision which uses data to inform judgment, the judgment is the dominant thing. Of course you would be more than unwise to make judgments without data. But no set of numbers is going to tell you what to do about an uncertain future. The quality of decisions is partly driven by data and partly driven by people’s ability to process their own experiences and turn them into useful analogies. Education can prepare you for leadership roles but, thereafter, you need to be apprenticed to some good leaders to absorb those intangible skills. I don’t think we’ve learnt enough from the 2008 global financial crash. The underlying causality is completely different to Covid-19, of course. In the financial crisis, it was an explosion of the consequences of stupidity in the financial system itself. In contrast, the virus spreads everywhere, creating fear and reducing both economic output and the desire of people to buy that output. The similarity is in the process of trying to rescue the economy. During the financial crisis, many of the people who caused the problem were more than made whole by the bailouts while the rest of society bore the cost. Currently, and especially in the US, huge sums have gone to people and entities that didn’t need it to survive and who have profited greatly. There should be much greater economic and financial literacy in the public. They might then be able to put a stop to this type of institutionalised corruption.
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MEET THE EXEC
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
During the financial crisis, I was deeply opposed to the central banks lowering interest rates effectively to zero. One of the reasons was that it destroyed the value of retirement assets. No one thought about the fact that to keep eating, a large proportion of the population had to eat through their savings. No one thought about the fact that low interest rates cause the present value of future pension obligations to explode, requiring companies to divert cash from investing to shoring up their pension funds. The same thing is happening now. The Bank of England has cut interest rates to zero. But who’s going to invest or spend just because rates are low? Whether your interest rate is zero or 50 per cent, you’re not going to borrow money to splurge on anything. You’re thinking “Am I going to lose my job?” You’re not even going into shops for heaven’s sake! What we need instead is more investment. Luckily, there’s a lot to invest in – green energy for example. If the private sector is afraid, the Government should be supporting the investments, not lowering interest rates. The investments would employ people; these people would spend some money, and things would get back to normal. Do I think some universities will close in the current circumstances? That’s really in the hands of the Government. I think there are a number of universities that are commercially bankrupt, in that they can’t generate enough revenue to cover their operating costs. The Government might try to merge them into larger entities to sustain them, but merging doesn’t change the economic situation. Having one vice-chancellor instead of two looks good in the tabloids but as a fraction of the cost base is inconsequential. The central question is the future balance between higher education, which I believe has expanded too much, and further education (and while-you-work education such as degree apprenticeships), which I believe needs to grow substantially. - 20 -
One area which I think will change permanently as a result of Covid-19 is what I call personal-service activities. We’re going to see much more automation. There are already hamburger-flipping robots. The only reason these things haven’t taken over is because people are paid so little; it’s actually cheaper to hire someone than to buy the robot! In places like Japan, where they don’t allow immigration and the population is ageing, you see a greater use of robotics in homecare, in care homes, in restaurants. You’re seeing the beginning of it in the UK now. Possibly the biggest response in the long run is that a number of people will be able to work from home for part of the time. That’s a big deal because it affects the real-estate industry. Who wants an office in a high-rise building where you mingle with thousands? How many people can you put in a lift if they have to be socially distanced? You’ll finally get to your desk at the time you have to turn around to go home! But every cloud has a silver lining. If people move to less dense areas, they will need more housing there, and new work quarters. Even in real estate, the world isn’t ending, it’s changing. The question for many will be: “How am I going to adapt?” The question for our shrewd Aston Business School graduates should be: “How can I profit from this change?” Professor George Feiger joined Aston University in 2013, having run a wealth management business in the United States. Prior to this he held a variety of senior roles including Director of McKinsey & Company, Global Head of Onshore Private Banking for SBC Warburg, and Global Head of Onshore Private Banking for UBS. George started his career in higher education as a Lecturer in Economics at Harvard University, going on to become an Associate Professor of Finance at Stanford University. He has written and spoken on a wide variety of topics in international economics and finance and investment strategy.
RESEARCH
WHY PEOPLE TAKE OFFENCE Most of us have felt offended at a remark made by a close friend or a random comment on our social media. Even worse, the chances are that we have experienced the shock of hearing that others were offended by our comments – despite the fact that we had no intention of hurting them. - 21 -
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
RESEARCH
This article first appeared in The Conversation www. theconversation.com
W
hile no one can deny that certain words and actions can be offensive, the taking of offence is more complicated than that. As research findings in linguistics demonstrate, people are not necessarily offended when confronted with rude language, and they get offended for a range of different reasons. The words we use are not polite or impolite in and by themselves. Even the most offensive words (for example, the notorious F- or C- words) can be generously used among close friends, as in-group solidarity markers, without anyone ever taking it to heart. It is therefore the context that determines the offensiveness of our words. In the right context, we do of course take offence at explicitly rude language directed at us. But regardless of the words used, we also take offence at what was meant or implied rather than what was actually said (“Were you implying that I am not a good cook when you said pass me the salt?”) But how does the taking of offence happen? What actually motivates this ubiquitous phenomenon? The taking of offence – or feeling offended – often involves an experience of negative emotions caused by a word or an action which is in conflict with what we expect and believe to be the right, appropriate, moral and acceptable behaviour. Feeling offended or describing something as offensive is deeply rooted in those expectations that govern our daily interactions.
Clashes of expectations or values In one of my research projects, which is based on more than 100 diary report forms in which participants told me stories of occasions where they felt offended, I discovered that our expectations are usually formed in the context of our relationships with others – and when they are breached, we tend to feel offended. I call these expectations interpersonal as they make most sense in the context of particular relationships that we have with others. These can roughly be broken down into three different types, according to research by me and others. ‘Foreseeability expectations’ drive us to expect others to predict the potentially negative impact of their words and actions, simply because we think they know us well (“I did not expect to hear this from my best friend”). Meanwhile, ‘reciprocity expectations’ are based on hoping that our favours, gifts or kindness are returned in kind (“I stopped sending her birthday wishes when she forgot mine four years in a row”). There are also “equity expectations”, which are about our desire to be treated fairly and equally (“It offends me how dad always has my sister’s back, but never mine”). That said, we also take offence outside our personal relationships. For example, we may take offence at a comment on Facebook or Twitter which ridicules or questions something which is of importance or value to us, such as our nationality, political stance or religion. Our judgements are informed by our values and beliefs and they become a yardstick against which we evaluate others – including those we don’t know very well. Our belief in these values may be an important part of our identity, thus giving us a sense of entitlement to take offence because we believe that those values are salient and should be, among other things, respected.
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RESEARCH
As research has shown, our expectations, values and beliefs are all based on our previous experiences, accumulated throughout our life span. These are unique to each individual, which explains why people take offence for so many different reasons. For example, if you were bullied at school for having red hair, you may take more offence when someone stereotypes you as being ‘fiery’ as opposed to someone who wasn’t bullied for having red hair. This is one of the many reasons there is so much anger and offence on, for example, social media – people constantly take offence at what they think is a breach of their values. This gets worse when some take it to a nasty level by lashing out in defence of their own values, which ultimately creates a vicious and endless circle of causing and taking offence. So, if you worry about causing offence, try to put yourself in the shoes of the people you are talking to. What could they realistically expect you to say, and are you treating them fairly? If they always back you up when you get in trouble with the boss, for example, they may be offended if you decline to do the same for them. And similarly, if you feel that you take offence too easily, consider what the offending person may not know about you. If they make a negative comment about you having a certain type of dog as a pet, rather than spending lots of time being angry about what they said, remember that they might have had some sort of traumatic experience with that animal before. You may not like what others are saying, but the chances are you can take some comfort from knowing that what has offended you might be rooted in the many different experiences and worldviews we all have.
Dr Tahmineh Tayebi is a Lecturer at Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics. Her research is in the area of language aggression and impoliteness. She is interested in online offensive and abusive language and other similar phenomena, such as cyberbullying, trolling and hate crime. You can follow her on Twitter @tahmineh_tayebi. - 23 -
COMMUNITY
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Alumni have been working to help during the Covid-19 pandemic in many different ways, showing the ingenuity and community spirit for which Aston is known.
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS THE HARDSHIP FUND HERO “I’m a first-generation graduate who came to Aston on a full grant (when such a thing existed). I want other people to have the opportunities that I had, and not be blown off course by something unexpected like Covid-19,” says alumnus Rob Hornby. In April he gave an amazing founding gift of £10,000 to a new hardship fund for students affected by the global pandemic. Rob’s journey started at Aston Business School in the late 1980s when he studied Management and Computer Science, before completing his MPhil in Computer Science in 1996. He then went on to have roles in Old Mutual (Skandia), Sky Television before beginning at AlixPartners where he is currently managing director and chief digital officer. “I’m delighted to help students in a difficult time,” he added, “Aston opened so many opportunities for me, and I want to make sure as many people as possible can benefit from the same experience.” “So far the Student Emergency Hardship Fund has helped nearly 200 students to continue with their studies during the crisis,” commented Geoff Savage, head of individual giving. “The response from alumni has been exceptional." To find out more about how alumni support students in hardship, please visit www.go.aston.ac.uk - 24 -
THE MASK-PRINTER An alumnus in the United States has been directly involved in the manufacture of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Philadelphia-based Aston alumnus, Simon Gainey (BEng Chemical Engineering, 1988) has been helping to solve the discomfort of healthcare workers from prolonged maskwearing. Elasticated masks can cause sore ears when worn all day, but following the invention (by Canadian boy scout, Quinn Callander) of a 3D-printed notched strap that sits at the back of the head, masks can be held in place comfortably. Since sharing the pattern on digital-design platform, Thingiverse, Quinn has enabled others to produce his ‘ear guards’, including Simon’s company, Hardworking Packaging LLC, which has been supplying both the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Temple University.
COMMUNITY
THE SWEATY SAVIOURS Rob and fellow hardship donors aren’t the only members of Aston’s community to have contributed to the fight-back against Covid-19. Former Aston student, Ben Francis, and founder of global fitness apparel brand Gymshark, led the #NHSsweatyselfie campaign. For every “sweaty selfie” sent in by their customers and fans, Gymshark pledged £5 to the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital charities. Two weeks and over 35,000 selfies later, Gymshark donated an incredible £180,000 (split equally between the two charities) which has gone towards buying vital medical equipment. “Having watched my mum work at the QE [Queen Elizabeth Hospital] in Birmingham all of my life, I know first-hand how incredibly hardworking they are,” says Ben. “We admire the tireless work everyone is doing there and will do our utmost to support them, as they support us through this difficult time.”
THE PATIO RUNNER Teaching fellow at Aston Business School, Paul Fleming, ran roughly 15,600 widths of his patio (the equivalent of a marathon) to raise money for Compton Care, where his sister-in-law Louise Pimm works as a palliative nurse. The Wolverhampton-based charity had seen funds depleted due to the Coronavirus pandemic, so Paul set himself a challenge. He had already planned to do a 10k race in the Highlands of Scotland that had been cancelled, so he thought he would run a mile a day for 26 days to see if he could raise £100 for Compton Care. Despite the constant turning on his patio being more of a strain on his knees and ankles than he had realised, Paul achieved his goal on May 9th 2020 and smashed his target, raising a total of £650. “I set the fundraising target low as I know a lot of people are being furloughed at the moment,” he remarked, “but the response has been amazing.”
THE CAMPUS HELPERS Manjeevan Singh, a student on the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare Programme at Aston, responded to a call-out at his local hospital for Covid-19 volunteers. Meanwhile, technical staff in the School of Pharmacy manufactured and distributed hand sanitiser using a World Health Organisation (WHO) recipe. Staff also collected and delivered PPE and medical supplies for the NHS, something which technical manager, Jiteen Ahmed, found particularly rewarding: “My personal highlight, and one which meant a lot to me was the donation of PPE to our NHS friends and colleagues,” he wrote in a blog post about the experience. “As our laboratories were closed during the pandemic, we were able to collate supplies that we felt would be useful to the NHS. Technical colleagues collected PPE from across the University, along with medical supplies. These were all delivered to the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals. This was of personal significance to me as I was a patient of the Children’s Hospital and the Women’s Hospital has provided so much support to me and my wife, so to give something back meant a lot.”
THE PPE PROVIDERS Gary Coombe (BSc Business Management, 1986) – CEO of global grooming at Procter and Gamble – has acknowledged the contribution made by P&G towards the manufacture of face shields, which have a plastic visor at the front. “For the first time since World War II, our Gillette HQ in Boston is making something apart from blades and razors,” he says. “We have repurposed our manufacturing operations to make a first batch of 100,000 face shields for healthcare workers in Massachusetts. “A dedicated group from across our organization has taken this from the call-to-action to shipping to hospitals in just 14 days. Another example of Gillette people stepping up to support our community through this crisis. We are all in this together and we’re here to help the heroes on the front lines.” - 25 -
ASTON PEOPLE
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
WE MUST CULTIVATE OUR GARDEN In June 2020, in a heatwave, an Aston staff member and an alumna sat down to meet over the video-chat platform Zoom. It was not how we had planned it.
B
oth Alison Levey (director of student and academic services at Aston University) and Punam Farmah (Human Psychology, 2007) have written a great deal about gardening and had already chatted on social networks. The plan was to introduce them in real life and to photograph them in one of the University’s greenhouses, where staff grow the flowers and plants for Aston’s graduation ceremonies. “It will be a riot of colour in here,” the gardener had told me in February. Enter Covid-19 and those plans quickly fell to pieces.
Punam, who is a counsellor for Red Maple Counselling, also found lockdown initially busy with counselling and teaching commitments, but during the first, unreliable stirrings of the British summer was able to escape briefly to her allotment in Birmingham. “In that first spot of beautiful heat I managed to get out there, dig over my allotment, sew spinach, tomatoes. And I think it came at the right time because we had a whole spate of showers and then another heatwave, where it's too hot to go outside. But I've been managing to go to the allotment in doses.”
But gardeners are resourceful people. Punam has published several gardening books and writes a blog – the charmingly titled Horticultural Hobbit – while Alison runs the award-winning blog The Blackberry Garden about her Leicestershire garden. Both were keen to meet on Zoom and also agreed be photographed, separately and socially-distanced, in the open air.
‘Doses’ is the right word because gardening – or just getting out for a walk somewhere green – has been a source of self-care for many during the Coronavirus pandemic. Punam (who cheerfully endured the heat later that day to be photographed at Sarehole Mill) even has a special gardening persona called ‘Petal’, who appears in cartoon-form on her blog with a spade in one hand and a bunch of carrots in the other. “Petal is my avatar, my alter ego, and my allotment is literally in Hobbit-land. It backs onto the River Cole and is not too far from Sarehole Mill, the alleged childhood haunt of J.R.R. Tolkien,” she explains. “There is a horticultural hobbit in The Lord of the Rings. It's about three pages in and he's outside tending his garden. I'm a bookworm, so it seemed like a fairly apt thing to name this figure, holding carrots. So that's Petal – and Petal is the umbrella underneath which I do all things gardening and writing-based.”
“I can't tell you I've been in the garden every day because, funnily enough, sorting out 15,000 students in the middle of a pandemic has been busy,” laughs Alison when asked how her lockdown has been. “But it's meant I've been able to get into the garden more and actually, I've just taken a five-minute break between meetings when I might have picked some courgettes for tea tonight. Just being able to do that is rather wonderful.”
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Photographs: Edward Moss
Words: Annette Rubery
ASTON PEOPLE
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ASTON PEOPLE
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
I do hope that someone somewhere has it on their shelf, annotated. That would really make my day.”
Executive editor Annette Rubery (centre) interviews Punam (top) and Alison (bottom) over Zoom.
Alison does not claim to be a gardening expert. She modestly protests when I refer to The Blackberry Garden as the top UK gardening blog (it has been awarded top UK gardening blog by Vuelio every year from 2017 to 2020). “I was very honoured to have won the Garden Media Guild Award Blog last year,” she says, “I don't write a how-to blog. That's not me. I'm very much an amateur gardener so I write about my garden and what’s happening in it.” Like Punam and J.R.R. Tolkien, Alison’s writing is full of playful cultural references. “There's quite a lot of film and television references in my blog because I love watching films and one of my favourite roses is Blythe Spirit. Blithe Spirit is also one of my favourite films. It was written by Noël Coward in my favourite place: Portmeirion [in North Wales]. So if I can put a rose with my favourite film in my favourite place, I'm in heaven.” Another useful lesson from gardening is that not everything can be controlled; things will go wrong, but it’s how you deal with it that counts. “I have a slot on my blog where I do the ‘irritating plant of the month’,” Alison explains. “This features a plant that should be doing well but isn’t. You can't include weeds because they're always going to be irritating, that's their job. But an example is when you’ve spent 30 quid on a rose and it's wilting. I’m not even blaming the plant. Nine times out of ten it's where I have to admit it’s because of something I’ve not done properly.”
You can read more about Punam and Alison’s gardening adventures on horticulturalhobbit. com and blackberrygarden. co.uk.
“Gardening is not about perfection,” Punam agrees. “It’s not about striving to be Monty Don or Alan Titchmarsh. I came out of Aston University with a degree which says Bachelor of Science on it, so everything is experimental. My first book [Playing with Plant Pots: Tales from the Allotment] has pictures taken on my phone. I grew chilli plants and had to find something to do with them so there's recipes in there based on what my mom cooks in her kitchen. It’s not an expert guide, it’s ‘This is what I've done. This is what could happen. The rest is up to you’. When it was published I Ieft spaces where people could write stuff. - 28 -
“Just think of all the chutney, Alison” says Punam. “All those courgettes people have grown in the middle of this pandemic. They have all those courgettes and no idea what they're going to do with them. We're suddenly going to end up with courgette chutney everywhere.” “You're right, and they’re probably growing things they don't even like, bless them, because those were the seeds they could get.” Living with a concrete patio and a few plant pots, I am surprised to learn that lockdown has left the shelves empty of plants, seeds and soil. Whereas a family of four could eat from one courgette plant, some people may have found themselves with only one packet of seeds, planted four or five, and ended up in a jungle of courgettes. “And the more you pick off a courgette, another one grows,” laughs Punam. “These vegetables will probably end up being hidden down the back of the sofa!” Alison says she feels lucky to have a garden at a time when many don’t have a green space of their own, but nevertheless it’s been a sad experience crossing so many gardening events off her calendar (she has started a new series on her blog called ‘Where I’m not this week’). “The minute that Covid hit, everybody was buying all the gardening stuff they could,” she says. “Buying compost has been like buying gold. I don't know when things will completely restart, but being able to have more choice is going to be good.” Although it’s difficult to predict on a hot day in June 2020 when or how we will emerge from quarantine, Alison and Punam are already looking forward to a renewal of simple pleasures. For Alison it’s “actually going to visit a garden that isn't mine and meeting up with gardening friends” and for Punam,
ASTON PEOPLE
it’s getting on with tasks in the allotment. “I know that I've got lots of redcurrants to harvest,” she says. “I've got these three great, big grapevines. And my roses; I've got something like 18 or 19 rose bushes. Some of them have come up a beautiful Christian Dior red. So I'm looking forward to just harvesting abundance in my garden. It's been such a long time, but it will be so nice just to enjoy it and get mindfulness out of it. That's what I plan to do.”
PUNAM’S ‘FREUDIAN SLIP’
AUBERGINE, TOMATO AND MINT CHUTNEY INGREDIENTS:
As well as Tolkien, the French writer Voltaire comes to mind when interviewing these two gardeners during an extraordinary moment of global upheaval. In his novella, Candide, Voltaire makes his hero endure every kind of 18th-century horror including the Lisbon earthquake and enslavement by the Turks, but Candide gains wisdom in the end, concluding that the only worthwhile activity in life is to “cultivate our garden”. Gardens offer peace, sanity and food, but what Voltaire also meant was: keep your counsel, work hard, do something useful for the community. What better advice for dealing with the fallout of 2020? Let’s practise the skill of cultivation, whatever life brings.
Onion seeds
Black mustard seeds
Ginger
Carom seeds
Garlic
Cumin
Olive oil
Coriander powder
Chillies
Finely diced red onions
Cayenne powder
Mango powder
Paprika
Beefsteak tomatoes
Tomato puree
Finely chopped fresh mint leaves
600ml Red wine vinegar
Diced aubergine
METHOD: 1. In your pan, warm up the olive oil. You should use enough to prevent the chutney from burning. Add to this, cumin, carom, mustard and onion seeds as well chopped onions, garlic and ginger. The mixture should go transparent, rather than golden brown or caramelise. 2. Add the diced aubergine and tomatoes. 3. Now add the measured amount of red wine vinegar. To this, add chopped chillies, cayenne powder, paprika, coriander, mango powder and brown sugar. Squirt or dollop in tomato puree. Drop in mint. 4. Stir the pan with a long handled spoon, to ensure that all of the spices are equally distributed throughout. Maintain a moderate heat and allow the mixture to simmer gently. 5. Stir the mixture from time to time, so as to prevent it from sticking to the bottom and burning. Stir gently and avoid mashing the vegetables. Keep the mixture on a moderate heat and simmering for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Cover and see to sterilising jars to pot up the preserve. 6. The mixture should start to reduce and bulk up, with the liquid ebbing away. Pass your wooden spoon through to judge consistency. If the spoon is able to pass through and leave a channel that remains in its wake, remove from the heat and pot up into clean and warm jars. - 29 -
ALUMNI INTERVIEW
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
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PATRICK O’BRIEN - 30 -
In 1996, following the completion of his MBA, Patrick O’Brien gave an interview to Aston Business School’s magazine, Network, about his move to New Zealand Telecom. Twentyfour years later, Aston in Touch caught up with Patrick (now based in Singapore) for a Zoom chat about Aston, soft skills, and introducing the Ninja Turtles to New Zealand.
ALUMNI INTERVIEW
Aston in Touch: What took you to New Zealand after graduating from your MBA in 1989? Patrick O’Brien: I was head-hunted over to New Zealand on a two-week job. It took 12 years! That was back at the turn of the nineties, when deregulation was all the rage in this part of Asia. I was brought over as a senior manager to help move the business forward. So I built the network for New Zealand’s first privately owned television channel, TV3. I was the man that helped bring the Ninja Turtles to New Zealand. 4pm in Singapore, 9am in Brum: interview carried out via Zoom.
I moved on to manage the Maritime Distress and Safety Radio Service, a critical 24-hour infrastructure service providing coverage all the way down to the South Pole, and halfway to Chile. And then after that I became the regional director Asia Pacific, exploring cultures and doing large infrastructure projects in countries like Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In the mid-nineties the internet came along. I was head-hunted to set up an internet start-up managing the New Zealand domain namespace, dot.nz. When I was at Telecom I’d done a lot of work on presenting in the region on mass conferences on infrastructure, so networking played an important part of my role. The Aston MBA at that time was really handy for me because it gave me a big portfolio of skills. The one thing it hadn’t given me, though, was in-depth legal knowledge. When you were thrown into the internet in those early days, you had to create the rules and defend them. Every day I’d receive a [legal] suit, but it was kind of fun, running things over there. AiT: Tell us about the company you set up in Singapore.
Words: Annette Rubery
PO’B: At the turn of 2000 I was invited to come and run another company in Singapore as the chief operating officer. It was 130-strong, so a much bigger company and venturecapital-funded out of the United States. As it was going to the next stage, - 31 -
it needed grey hair! But joining a company in 2000, 18 months before 9/11, was not so good. After September, all of the venture capital investors flew back to the States and there was turmoil in Asia. So Instead of growing the company, we shrunk it down to 20 people and sold it off. I thought, “What to do next?” The one thing I realised is that the culture over here is very different from what I was brought up with. Especially with the Confucian principles of perseverance, thrift, family values, and education. We had a very simple proposition: what if we could teach people to 'think' in a different way? It was bold but that was the seed for setting up a company [The Amanuenses Network Pte Ltd.] which dealt in soft skills. In 2003 it was a difficult sell because this part of the world was into manufacturing and technical skills, and orders were handed down via hierarchies. But we persevered and we have done quite well, helping people to grow. We conduct training programmes to help people learn about influencing, coaching others, thinking skills, confidence, even writing skills. AiT: How did you come to speak on cruise ships? PO’B: In 2008, with the global financial crisis, times were tough but in 2011 the cruise-ship market started to open up in Asia. A good friend of mine in Australia was launching a talent agency for speakers on ships and they chased me to get involved in the process. The one big attraction was that it took me from small-group training back to big-stage speaking, which I’d done a lot of in the nineties. And another thing: after the global financial crisis everyone had put their head to the grindstone so we hadn’t had a holiday for three years. We thought, “Cruise ship? Never been on one. Why not?” And we enjoyed it. When you talk to an audience on a cruise ship, you’re not necessarily trying to give them ideas for themselves. It’s more about passing on ideas vicariously, to their kids or their grandkids. It’s a very different way of talking to people. Subsequently we’ve gone a lot deeper, talking about the destinations visited, including history, geography, culture, religions, philosophies, even the Silk Road. It forces us to keep learning.
ALUMNI INTERVIEW
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Patrick and his wife Maureen on-board ship with the Mubarak Peace Bridge in the background.
AiT: Has the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on your business? PO’B: From a business standpoint, yes, it is challenging. We had experience of SARS many years ago and that was pretty horrific. After the global financial crisis, cash and client retention were the main issues. But during recovery, everyone assumed that business would be the same afterwards and it pretty much was. Covid is different because it’s teaching us that with technology it’s possible to do things in a mediated way. But can we be agile enough? The technology over here is good; it’s fast. Working in soft-skills though, much of what we do is interpersonal. Therefore some of the kinaesthetic activities that we conduct with people can be a little bit problematic when performed in a mediated way. So, for instance, if we are running a programme on networking and culture we might be comparing the British handshake, the Japanese bow and the Thai wai – you really have to experience them and that’s difficult to get a feel for over a screen. But doing business face-to-face will be back. There’s no doubt about it because people like it, and in this part of the world, face-to-face also means a good lunch and community is part of the culture too!
AiT: What’s your best memory of Aston? PO’B: The Pot of Beer [laughs]. Actually, two or three things really. I’m pretty much a generalist, so an MBA really hit the spot for me because it pushed me into areas of business that I hadn’t thought about. It also challenged me to consider things that I didn’t ordinarily know. I remember seeing marketing people arguing with engineers, HR people arguing with finance people. And I really hadn’t experienced clashes between different ways of thinking before. I volunteered to be on the student liaison committee, which was good for me because I got the chance to talk to the lecturers, and to meet a mix of part-time and full-time students. I was also networking, though I didn’t realise that at the time. But I guess the key thing was that when I went to university I’d spent my life saying “no” to most things. What Aston taught me was that I needed to get “no” out of my language. So it really changed me; it taught me to embrace ideas with a lot more confidence. What Aston gave me was a passport. It was a passport to go out there, not just to an exciting business career, but to some great life experiences. I’ve never looked back!
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HISTORY
THE PAST IS THE FUTURE A new archive project has launched at Aston University, preserving vital documents from its predecessor institution, Birmingham Municipal Technical School.
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“
istory is more or less bunk,” remarked Henry Ford in 1916. Thankfully, the inventor of the Model T automobile did not operate in a world dominated by ‘fake news’ or need to grab the attention of a largely distracted public. These days, most businesses (Ford included) value history because it helps, not only to mark progress, but to remind everyone of their higher purpose. It helps to correct errors and to articulate who we are. It may be too much of a stretch to claim that it helps us to avoid mistakes – history, as we know, repeats itself – but it might keep us focussed; even honest. For universities, maintaining the continuous thread of tradition has always been important (just look at the pomp of a graduation ceremony) but now more so than ever. No longer monolithic; slow-to-change; exclusive; universities are diverse and populous institutions. Reputation is key – and what is it built on? History.
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HISTORY
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Harriet May Robinson: by kind permission of Herschel Girls' School, South Africa.
This year is a milestone for Aston University because it was 125 years ago that the seed of the current institution was first sown. Birmingham Municipal Technical School opened its doors on Suffolk Street (near to what is now New Street station) on December 13th 1895. It taught chemistry, physics, metallurgy and electrical engineering and by 1917 had expanded into other subjects, such as botany. Its ethos was to provide pupils with practical skills that could be utilised in Birmingham’s industrial trades. In 1911 commercial classes were introduced, and, in 1927, the School changed its name to Birmingham Central Technical College to reflect its changing approach to technical education. In 1951 it changed its name again to the College of Technology, Birmingham, and it was decided that the old building on Suffolk Street was no longer fit for purpose. Work began on what is now the Main Building at Gosta Green, and Her Majesty the Queen inaugurated it as the College of Advanced Technology in 1955. Another name-change and a decade later, the College gained a Royal Charter and university status. All this while, the old ledgers from its days as Birmingham Municipal Technical
Birmingham Municipal Technical School opened its doors on Suffolk Street on December 13th 1895.
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School had been preserved in the basement of the Main Building. Information was still sometimes needed, such as in 2015 when the alumni office was contacted by David Skidmore. David was writing a paper about his father’s cousin, Harriet May Robinson (1887–1962): a distinguished botanist who had attended the Technical School. Harriet was born in Staffordshire and was elected a fellow of The Linnaean Society in 1915 (female fellow had only been in existence since 1904, following years of campaigning by the botanist Marian Farquharson). Harriet was the headmistress at various schools, including Durban Ladies’ College in South Africa. David asked if we could verify what Harriet had studied and also sent us some portrait photographs of her. She had joined Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1909, he explained, following her education at Kidderminster High School for Girls. A search through the dusty ledgers revealed that she had been a pupil in botany and mathematics, and that she completed her course in 1913. Between 1910 and 1913 she was also studying for a degree at the University of Birmingham,
HISTORY
source of information about the Municipal Technical School, not least its relatively enlightened attitude towards female education.
but during this period Birmingham Municipal Technical School’s adult education was confined to evening classes, so it would have been possible to study simultaneously at both institutions (she graduated from both in 1913). Without the ledgers we would not have known so much about Harriet but during recent years, storage space has begun to reach a premium. In November 2018 an interdisciplinary team of staff members rescued the ledgers and transferred them to a safe, dry area provided by Aston University Library. Volunteers (including students) surveyed and provided a preliminary description of the collection. Particularly interesting were documents related to wartime activities and to foreign visitors from both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Another good reason for their preservation was the existence of a complimentary archive, belonging to the Library of Birmingham, comprising floorplans and architectural details of the original building, which was demolished in the 1960s to make way for Suffolk Street Queensway. Having consulted the Library of Birmingham’s collection in 2015, this writer found a rich
If you are interested in supporting the conservation work on the Aston archive, please drop us a line at alumniinfo@ aston.ac.uk
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However, a survey recently undertaken by conservationists found the precious ledgers to be suffering from ‘red rot’: a problem whereby leather book-bindings degrade and give off potentially harmful chemicals. At the time of writing, staff are putting together funding bids to have the collection professionally cleaned and made safe to handle. With Aston now teaching a BSc in history (a course which focuses on the 19th and 20th centuries) it’s hoped that the Technical School materials will eventually come into their own as primary source materials for study. Today, teachers of history seem to spend almost as much time defending its purpose than explaining the past, but far from being ‘bunk’, ‘bunkum’, ‘nonsense’ or whatever you want to call it, there is enormous value in preserving the fragments of our past. For, without them, how can we preserve the heritage left by generations of graduates?
RESEARCH
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
DEFEATING THE ‘ANTIBIOTIC NIGHTMARE’
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RESEARCH
Aston University researchers have found a way of destroying an infection that can be fatal to cystic fibrosis sufferers.
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longside enormous challenges like Covid-19, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is still a serious threat to global health. The term refers to the phenomenon when microorganisms such as bacteria change, rendering the drugs used to combat them useless. Along with antibiotic resistance, AMR is an ongoing problem and health professionals, from hospital nurses to GPs, are fighting it on multiple fronts. There is one bacterial pathogen, Mycobacterium abscessus, to which several academic journals have given the rare status of ‘antibiotic nightmare’. It comes from the same family that causes tuberculosis and is lethal to people with lung disorders, especially cystic fibrosis. Of the 10,000 people living with cystic fibrosis in the UK, Mycobacterium abscessus infects 13 per cent of all patients. And it’s a nightmare precisely because it’s highly drug-resistant. Treatment involves giving the patient a cocktail of aggressive antibiotics over a long period of time, a strategy which in itself may have serious side-effects. Some patients will suffer permanent hearing loss, all of them will feel very ill, and there is no guarantee that the patient will respond – in some cases, the treatment is just as damaging as the infection. Dr Jonathan Cox, who leads the Mycobacterial Research Group at Aston University, has been working on a solution to this complex set of problems with colleagues at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and their discoveries have broken new ground.
Words: Annette Rubery
‘Mycobacteria are very difficult to treat and cause a lot of infections,’ he explains. ‘One of - 37 -
the most common that we know about is tuberculosis but there’s another type that we’ve been working with extensively in the lab: Mycobacterium abscessus. This is an environmental pathogen by origin, but it’s made the leap to humans and is now able to persist very happily within the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis and those with problems like bronchiectasis.’ The risk factors are higher with cystic fibrosis patients partly because of the ways in which they are treated. Whereas they were traditionally seen in their own homes, they are now brought together at centres of excellence where they receive specialist care. The down-side is that they can transmit infections to one another through coughing and expiration (forced exhalation of breath) and the bacteria can survive for long periods of time outside of the body, being resistant to most of the disinfectants used in the clinic. ‘There’s particularly a problem in children,’ adds Dr Cox. ‘We don’t fully understand why, but this is the reason for our collaboration with Birmingham Children’s Hospital. As you can see, there is a big opportunity here for discovering and developing new drugs.’ Dr Cox and his team first tackled the problem by looking at combinations of currently approved antibiotics which are commercially available. ‘We worked on the understanding that one antibiotic on its own won’t be enough to overpower the bacteria but you need to find what’s called synergistic antibiotics. In other words, drugs which complement each other in the way that they work.’
RESEARCH
The team was particularly interested in antibiotics that block an enzyme – beta lactamase – which Mycobacterium abscessus contains. Beta lactamase destroys Penicillinbased antibiotics, so if the team could find something that would block it, the bacteria would, in theory, become susceptible to Penicillin again. This would open the door to a plethora of different antibiotics that might kill the infection, as well as to new treatment programmes. ‘We trialled a chemical compound called relebactam, which is a very effective beta lactamase inhibitor,’ explains Dr Cox, ‘it’s also FDA-approved and commercially available in the United States. We found it blocks this enzyme in a very powerful way. Then we wanted to find the best drug to match it with. We screened a wide variety of different Penicillin-based drugs and found the best one, by far, was amoxicillin. It is an incredibly safe, well tolerated antibiotic. This was exciting, because for the first time ever we were able to kill this highly-drug-resistant bacterial organism with Penicillin.’ The battle was not quite over, however. The amounts of relebactam and amoxicillin needed to kill Mycobacterium abscessus in the lab were still too high to give safely to patients.
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
‘At the moment we’re working with Birmingham Children's Hospital and also Heartlands and Great Ormond Street children’s hospitals to try and get this drug from Merck in the United States,’ he adds. ‘Currently it’s not manufactured in high enough quantities but over the next couple of years we expect it to be more abundantly available. Then we’ll be in a position to run a much larger clinical trial, and, assuming that meets with success, we can revolutionise the way abscessus infections are treated in future.’
Dr Jonathan Cox is a Lecturer in Microbiology in the School of Life & Health Sciences and Head of the Mycobacterial Research Group at Aston University. His research focuses on the battle against antimicrobrial resistance (AMR), mainly through the discovery of new drugs and identifying the mechanisms by which they kill bacteria.
‘We then looked to see if there was a third drug that we could put into the mix that would mean the concentrations of each drug was within acceptable limits. We found that if we added the antibiotic imipenem to the combination, it worked within a safe range for patients. This was great – it killed our lab strain very effectively – but the next question was, would it work in a patient?’ At the time of writing Dr Cox and his colleagues have tested the combination against 25 clinical isolates from patients of all ages, from all over the country, and they have yet to find an infection which they can’t kill with an acceptable dose.
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If you are interested in supporting the work of Dr Cox and his team, please drop us a line at alumniinfo@ aston.ac.uk
STUDENTS
JOINING THE ASTON PATH TO SUCCESS The enormous success of the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare Programme – helping young people from less advantaged backgrounds into medicine – has forged a whole new set of courses in different disciplines. Dawn Lander finds out more.
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right young people living in less advantaged circumstances in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, may not have considered a career in healthcare and medicine – a profession that traditionally, has been deemed for the elite. An independent regulatory body for fair access to higher education has shown that only four per cent of medical students are from disadvantaged backgrounds (Office for Fair Access, 2015), a startling fact that Aston Medical School has been changing through the innovative Pathway to Healthcare programme. Thanks to the generosity of former Aston Villa chairman and one of the city’s leading philanthropists, the late Sir Doug Ellis, the innovative Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare Programme was launched in 2016, which supports students in years 12 and 13. Working with schools from some of the most deprived areas in Birmingham, the course prepares students to enter medical and other health-related professions through a two-year outreach programme. As well as taster sessions and application workshops throughout the year, the Programme also includes mentoring, healthcare work-placements and a popular week-long residential summer school. Sir Doug strongly believed in fair access and a ‘level playing field,’ and the impact of this Programme has been tremendous. Ysabel Jordan, director of sixth form at Stuart Bathurst Catholic School (which feeds into the Programme), explained the effect it has had:
“Many of our young people come from homes where parents won’t have had experience of higher education. Many won’t have the financial or emotional support to seek out these opportunities. This Programme enables our students to access the personnel, the experiences, to have tutors who will support them with their UCAS application and will give them enriching experiences within medicine. It’s given them self-confidence and it’s given them a sense of self-worth that actually students from their background do have a right to apply for the medical professions. At Aston they too share the belief that every child should achieve regardless of any barrier they may experience.” Of the 100 students who started in the first cohort in 2016, 81 per cent enrolling onto a Medicine or Healthcare related degree with 24 specifically enrolling on to Medicine. This shows that the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare Programme has enabled students to go forward into medical education, which previously may have not been a possibility. Of the 60 undergraduates beginning their studies at Aston Medical School in September 2018, ten students came through the Pathway to Healthcare Programme. We caught up with two of these students who are now both in their second year at Aston Medical School. They share their experience of the course and the impact it has had on them.
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STUDENTS
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
Amina Abib
Muna Yusuf
Growing up, Amina’s family encouraged her that better opportunities in life come from working hard and a good education. Amina always wanted to go to university and had an interest in medicine. Taking part in the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare Programme helped Amina to understand more about the profession of medicine as an occupation and the importance of selecting the course for university to help support her career choices.
Like Amina, Muna had aspirations to go to university and has always been interested in science-based subjects. She found the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare Programme a whole new experience and it helped her to make the decision to take a career in medicine and healthcare. Muna talked about her experience on the Programme with her family (who were very proud of her achievement) and they were interested to hear about the workshops, visits from healthcare professionals and the medical equipment used during the sessions. She learnt a great deal, adding, “the Programme taught me to become proactive and be an independent researcher, which set me up for university life”. She is a Pathway to Healthcare student ambassador and mentor and will soon be starting her third-year clinical placement.
As the first in her family to attend university, Amina’s family and friends were really pleased for her and very supportive. Amina enjoyed many aspects of the Programme, especially the summer school which she described as one of the highlights and a great experience. She also said that during her time on the Programme, she became more serious about going to university to study medicine. The Pathway to Healthcare Programme helped to prepare Amina for the next steps in her career. By raising her awareness and aspirations for the future, she was encouraged to focus and take action to achieve her goals. Subsequently, Amina co-founded the Widening Access Medicine Society at Aston University, and, as a keen contributor to sector discussions surrounding widening participation, attended a Medical School Council conference in London about this subject. She is also a Pathway to Healthcare student ambassador and mentor.
“I was really grateful for the opportunities it gave me," she said, “I loved being on the Programme. After graduation I can’t wait to study a placement abroad and learn more about the application of healthcare outside of university. I definitely see myself working in a clinical setting.”
Amina will be starting a clinical placement for her third year and is very pleased that she undertook this type of study. “Definitely go for it ,” she advised, “the Pathway to Healthcare Programme is a great opportunity which has benefitted me very well.”
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STUDENTS
A
ston is now expanding on the success of the Pathway to Healthcare programme. With the generous support of local philanthropist Keith Bradshaw the programme was extended in 2019 to students in years eight to ten, resulting in the Keith Bradshaw Introduction to Healthcare programme. In early 2020 it was expanded further to include Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programmes, along with Business and Law.
2016
Aston Progression Pathway in Business
Launch of the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare Programme
For young people interested in business-related courses in higher education, students get a real insight into aspects of business leadership working with Aston Business School academics.
With more than 600 students, the Programme has given young people an insight into what university life is like. For those with the ambition to study a medicine or healthcare-related degree for university, students are empowered to make decisions about their career choices. The Programme has positively impacted young people and their communities across Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country regions.
Aston Progression Pathway in Law
2018
The first cohort completed the Programme with 81 per cent enrolled onto a medicine or healthcare-related degree (24 specifically enrolled in medicine).
2019
Launch of the Pre-16 Keith Bradshaw Introduction to Healthcare Programme Building upon the foundations of the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare, the Programme increases an awareness of careers within the healthcare sector aimed at young learners in years eight to ten. A key theme is helping students to think about planning for their future, especially the importance that their GCSE choices and grades have on their career aspirations. To date 1,697 students have participated in activities including interactive healthcare workshops and university campus experience days.
Studying real-life law cases in tandem with leading academics, students explore the skills needed for a career in law and have the opportunity to take part in a mock law court.
Aston Progression Pathway in STEM Students complete a university-level project in one STEM subject, choosing between chemistry, maths, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, biomedical engineering and biosciences.
of Aston Progression Pathways in 2020 Launch Business, Law and STEM programmes Aston Progression Pathways empower eligible Year 12 students to achieve their goal of studying Business, Law or STEM courses at Aston University. The sustained programmes of activity aim to raise aspirations, improve motivation to progress onto higher education and provide young people with the knowledge, skills and experiences to enhance their UCAS applications.
These programmes are only made possible with the support and generosity of Aston's friends and alumni, whose donations help to improve facilities for students and give those from less privileged backgrounds the opportunity to discover life-changing experiences.
Regardless of the stream selected, all students attend a residential summer school, benefit from e-mentoring, assistance with study skills, UCAS and personal statement support, and receive a contextual offer.
To find out more about any of the Pathway programmes or to donate please contact the development team via development@aston.ac.uk.
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CLASS NOTES
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
ALUMNI NEWS Where has life taken you since you’ve been away from Aston? We’d love to hear what you’ve been up to. Why not drop us an email at alumniinfo@aston.ac.uk with your story and a photograph? The best will be included in the next edition of the magazine.
1960s Mehdi G Mehdi (Chemical Engineering, 1967) was one of the graduates who were awarded degrees for the first time when Birmingham College of Advanced Technology received its Charter and became the University of Aston in Birmingham. Mehdi worked abroad in the textile industry as a project engineer. Then he worked in the UK as a senior research and development engineer for a furnace company. Following that, he became a chief research and development engineer for a boiler company and then a teacher (teaching both GCSE and A-Level science). He is now enjoying his retirement.
1970s Jo Donnelly (Biological Sciences, 1971) followed her Aston degree by attaining a PGCE at Chelsea College and then went on to teach biology, geography and religious education. In her forties she retrained in special educational needs (SEN) and taught special needs pupils. Her career as a SEN coordinator in two large secondary schools in West London spanned 20 years. “I never regret my time at Aston,” she said “It helped to build my confidence and I met some amazing people. My tutor was Mr Gardener and I also remember Dr Egins and Dr Cole.”
Read more entries on the website: bit.ly/2Y95oG0
Chris Peace (Environmental Health, 1974 and Risk Management & Safety Technology, 1997) started his working life enforcing health and safety legislation in the UK before emigrating to New Zealand in 1980, moving to work in the insurance industry as a loss control engineer and subsequently as a risk consultant. In 1990 Chris returned to the UK for five years where he worked for Jardine Lloyd Thompson as a risk management consultant. During that time he worked with major manufacturing and retail companies and public and private hospitals, work which took him to the USA, the Caribbean, Holland, Spain, Eire and Italy and included acting as an expert witness. In August 2019 he was appointed adjunct research fellow in the Faculty of Health at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, after graduating in December 2019 from the university with a PhD on ‘The effectiveness of risk assessments in informing decision makers’. In 2020 Chris started a new post as teaching fellow at Victoria University, instructing on the principles of health and safety management as well as hazard and risk.
1980s Richard Brittain (Physical Methods Analysis, 1981) came to Aston as a fresh, young physics graduate seeking to hone his skills in a specialised and vocational area of science and technology. - 42 -
After graduating from Aston he was offered a role as a research assistant at London University working on highfrequency wide-band ultrasound for materials analysis and medical imaging. This ultimately led to the completion of PhD based on part-time study. In 1989 he took up a role as head of electrical and electronic engineering at a large private educational institute based in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. He moved from there to Sydney, Australia, where he worked initially in commercial research and development for a company making medical imaging systems, and then at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) materials science (ceramics) laboratory. After that he joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as a senior research scientist. He later moved into science management and policy before joining the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Research. From there he moved into the field of legal metrology, specialising in the development of technical policy and infrastructure. To further support this role – and indulge a long-held interest in law – Richard undertook an external Legum Baccalaureus (LLB) followed by a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the New South Wales College of Law. He completed his practical legal training at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Office, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Homeless Persons’ Legal Service in Sydney before being admitted as a lawyer by the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2010. After 23 years in the Australian public service, Richard started his own legal consultancy and now provides consultancy to the governments of Fiji, Myanmar and Ghana on legislation to facilitate and strengthen their technical infrastructure to support both their internal and international trade and regulation. He feels that his transition from a science graduate to an international expert and consultant really started with the specialist postgraduate training he received at Aston.
CLASS NOTES
Alison Tennant (née Abernethy) (Pharmacy, 1987) left Aston to train at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London for her pre-registration year. She then returned to the Midlands to work at the General Hospital across the road from Aston. Alison moved around various Midlands hospitals before she was appointed as one of the first GP practice pharmacists in 1997. She progressed through the various NHS changes to become a specialist in pharmaceutical public health at Dudley PCT. Following the 2012 health reforms Alison moved into broader NHS management, eventually working at a regional level within NHS England. In 2016 she decided on a move back to hospital and took up the post of chief pharmacist at the Royal Wolverhampton Trust. Alison is now back across the road from Aston in the original General Hospital building as the chief pharmacist at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Trust. She enjoys hosting the pharmacy students from Aston and talking to them about a career that can lead you full-circle geographically.
1990s Alastair Cush (International Business & French, 1999) met his Canadian wife during his time in France as part of his course. After graduating, he moved to Montreal and is still there 21 years later. He works as managing director of Skyfold (a maker of vertically-folding retracting walls owned by the Swiss group, dormakaba). Thanks to learning French while at Aston, he integrated easily into Québec life and into his French-Canadian family.
the assessment, validation, design and authorisation of parachute systems to deliver up to 8000kg of equipment onto land or into water from large freight planes and helicopters globally. Rory travels extensively and on his next trip he will be deployed to Southern Chile where he will be based to resupply the British Antarctic Survey at their base. Hasnain lalji (Pharmacy, 2014) graduated from Aston University with a Masters of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree. He passed his pre-registration exam and qualified as a practicing pharmacist in August 2015. He is currently studying for a PhD at the University of Bath focussing on ‘Investigating sex differences in the response to kappa opioid receptor antagonist in mice’. He also does locum work as a community pharmacist every Saturday and during Christmas. Anum Abdullah (Business and Management, 2015) returned to the UK after completing a Global MBA in International Business, which involved spending 12 months working as a HR analyst on Wall Street in New York and four months studying in Thailand. Having gained different experiences in the HR field in a variety of different industries, she now works as an HR advisor providing knowledge on employment law and
2000s Rory Bate (Mechanical Engineering, 2012) joined the British Army and completed his Aston degree while a salaried captain. Rory’s current role involves responsibility for the testing and evaluation of equipment parachutes for UK Defence. This includes
Illustration: Rebecca Dudgon
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employee relations; she also provides a private tutoring service to students teaching English, maths and business studies. Her first book, The Never Ending Life, was published in February 2018 and is available on Amazon worldwide. Ashok Sureshkumar Kalavathi (Supply Chain Management, 2018) was always proud to have gained a scholarship to study at Aston University. Following his Masters he started his first role as a marketing and operations specialist for a Finnish multinational corporation, Mirka Ltd. (a manufacturer of coated abrasives and power tools). Now Ashok heads up the Middle Eastern marketing operation, based in the Dubai office. In addition to his Masters from Aston he achieved a Certification from Harvard Business School in Sustainable Business Strategy. “I have respect and love for the University and the dear teachers who helped me to reach where I am,” he says. “Last September I was in the UK for a business trip and was fortunate to visit Aston. I was so moved by the new Students' Union building. The friends I made at the University are for life and it was great to see them attending my wedding last year in May 2019.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES
APPLE FOR THE TEACHER
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2020
The year was 2007 and the Department of Sociology had made lectures available for download to Apple iPod devices. Photograph: www.edwardmoss.co.uk
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HERE’S FOR GOING FURTHER
Postgraduate study at Aston University
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* *Scholarship applies to all Aston University standard taught masters and full-time MBA programmes for all Aston continuing students/graduates. Student loans are available to home and EU students. To find out more visit the student loans Postgraduate study company at: www.slc.co.uk
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