City News for staff Issue 14

City News Issue 14

Laying down the Law Our new Dean’s vision for The City Law School

NEWS | UNIVERSITY UPDATES | RESEARCH | MEET THE TEAM AND MORE INSIDE

Hello... ...and welcome to City News. This is the first edition of our new-look and now bi-monthly staff magazine for everyone working at City University London.

Over the last few weeks, the team has re-worked the look and content of City News to reflect the University’s new visual identity and to give readers more opportunity to become involved in the magazine. It has also been an invaluable tool for me as I learn about life at City, having joined from Imperial College London in January.

I feel that it is an exciting time for the University and I look forward to working with colleagues across the institution to raise awareness of City’s strengths, in particular the diverse array of excellent research, education and news-worthy projects.

Our main feature in this edition is an interview with another recent addition to our ranks, the new Dean of the City Law School, Professor Carl Stychin. He arrives with a global reputation for his research and wide experience of higher education leadership and he tells Sophie Cubbin about his plans for the School.

Exciting new features include an item unearthed from the University’s archive (a previous iteration of City News from the 1970s, which came with a purchase price of 5p), updates from our Governance and Executive Committees and from HR, Property & Facilities and Information Services.

You will see that many regular features remain, including a contribution from a journalism student and coverage of recent research highlights.

We hope you enjoy this new direction for City News and are keen to hear your views. Please contact the editor, Chris Leonard, if you have any comments or suggestions for future editions.

Simon Watts Head of Communications

Contents News Staff news Media highlights University updates HR update Facilities update Information Services update Governance and ExCo Feature article: Professor Carl Stychin Research at City Meet the team: Marketing & Communications Student journalist Staff benefits From the archive Dates for your diary Staff training and development

It’s Your Magazine Comments and feedback are always welcome, as are suggestions for future editions such as research outputs or an exciting new project. Please contact the Editor.

Facebook fb.com/cityuniversitylondon

Marketing & Communications reserves the right to edit submissions.

About City News City News is published six times a year by Marketing & Communications for all staff.

Back issues: www.city.ac.uk/blogs/staff-news/city-news

Twitter www.twitter.com/CityUniLondon

Youtube www.youtube.com/mycityunilondon

Recycle When you have finished reading City News, please recycle it.

Thank you... ...to all of this issue’s contributors: Jon Appleyard, Lindsey Baker, Evan Bates, Sophie Cubbin, Dr Graham Daborn, Sabrina Francis, Lucy Gabe, Jacqui Gaul, Dean Horton, Xan Kite, Mary Luckiram, Tom McElhinney, Helen Merrills, Jo Pentecost, Tom Sanderson, Ben Sawtell, Michael Schwarz, Matt Shipton, John Stevenson, Ryan Taylor, Lindsey Venden.

Editor: Chris Leonard Tel: 020 7040 3234 Email: Christopher.leonard.1@city.ac.uk

Next edition Our next edition will be published in March 2013.

Deadline for content submissions is Monday 25th February.

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News Recognising Teaching Excellence

Professor Jens Perch Nielsen leading a seminar in Actuarial Science

What is Change Academy?

Change Academy is organised through a partnership between the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.

City University London is taking part in a Change Academy programme on Recognising Teaching Excellence, with the support of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

The HEA’s Change Academies bring together cross-institutional teams and provide time and space to think creatively and develop major change initiatives (see right). The aim is to review how City’s excellence is recognised in our education provision, while exploring opportunities for sharing best practice across the University.

For one year an internal, crossfunctional Change Academy team will explore and review recognition and award processes at City and analyse the criteria used for ‘recognising teaching excellence’.

The team will also examine individual disciplines’ criteria for excellence in education and draw out core principles for dissemination and application across City.

Dr Pam Parker from the Learning Development Centre is leading the Change Academy programme. She said: “This underpins the Strategic Plan 2012 to 2016, specifically the University’s education commitments to support and encourage staff in pedagogical innovation and educational development. It also recognises excellent staff performance in education and captures and shares models of good practice.”

The Change Team Alongside Dr Parker, the Change Academy team includes: Julie Attenborough, Associate Dean Education Innovation and Technology, School of Health Sciences Maggie Cunningham, Development Support Manager, Academic Services

Dr Wayne Holland, Associate Dean Education (Teaching and Learning), Cass Business School James Perkins, Students’ Union Vice President (Education) The team will collect data through approaches including: interviews with staff and students; case studies of teaching excellence; data from current award schemes; documentary analysis from learning and teaching committees; a review of recognition schemes in other institutions (in the UK and internationally); and a literature review focused on areas such as teaching excellence, awards and recognition.

The Change Academy team is publishing a blog for staff to follow its activities (blogs.city.ac.uk/ teachingexcellence). If you wish to become involved, email Dr Parker: P.M.Parker@city.ac.uk

The Academy brings together crossinstitutional teams to develop major change initiatives. It is a yearlong process including development opportunities for team leaders, continuing support and a two-day residential workshop providing a creative environment for planning and developing strategies for lasting change.

The process is designed to enable learning knowledge and approaches to be cascaded more widely, using HEA resources, access to consultants with national and international experience and dedicated support from the HEA and the Leadership Foundation.

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Student survey 2013 illustration

Student surveys launching in February The University’s annual student survey season kicks off on Monday 25th February.

City will once again call on student-facing staff to encourage students to complete their relevant survey (see below). It is their opportunity to share their views about their experiences at City and how the University has responded to last year’s feedback.

The survey findings will help City to identify what is working well for students and opportunities where City can improve the student experience.

A cross-functional Student Surveys Working Group has developed plans to continue improving survey completion rates across all Schools and programmes. As with previous years’ surveys, the University’s promotional campaign will be run with the You Say, We Listen tagline and will feature leaflets sent to all students, lecture shout-outs, signage, emails and more between February and May.

In addition, City’s survey web pages will be updated to provide information throughout the year on student representation; success stories; the Student Charter; You Say, We Listen leaflets; and an online comments box for students to share their experiences at City.

Professor David Bolton, Deputy ViceChancellor, said: “The surveys are vital because they provide student feedback and allow us to track year on year where things have improved and where there is still work to do.

“Please play your part by encouraging students to complete their surveys and remember, the surveys allow students to share positive experiences at City as well as indicate room for improvement.”

This year, our students will be asked to complete one of five surveys running between February and May: Your Voice 1 and 2 are City’s own surveys for first and second year undergraduates.

The National Student Survey (NSS), now in its eighth year, is for final year undergraduates in England and Wales.

The survey is commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and run by Ipsos MORI.

The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is run by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and focuses on postgraduate taught students.

This year also sees the latest biennial Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) again run by the HEA, for research students.

WOW! award for City’s Student Centre City’s Student Centre team has won a prestigious WOW! award for ‘Service to Students’, based on direct feedback from our student body.

The WOW! awards, the UK’s only national award scheme that relies purely on customer nominations, recognises teams that have helped and guided students to success, have been committed to delivering excellent service and have recognised the diversity of student needs.

Judges described City’s Student Centre as “a very progressive team providing exceptional service to its customers”.

John Tibble, Director of Services for Students, commented: “This recognition is a great achievement for the team particularly because it is awarded entirely on the quality of the nominations from our students.”

News in brief QAA approval

New online store

City met expectations for academic standards and the quality of student learning in the recent Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) review. The QAA panel commended the openness and commitment of staff and students and City’s proactive approach. City will publish its plans to respond to the review in March.

A new online store for students and staff (estore. city.ac.uk) has officially gone live following several months of work. For staff the store offers the chance to enrol on and pay for our range of over 100 short courses. Students are also able to pay for club or society memberships and replacement ID cards.

Student Adviser Agata Lambrechts was also a finalist in the hotly contested ‘Most Inspiring Front Liner’ category. She joined City three years ago, combining work in the Student Centre with studying part-time for a Law degree and graduated with a First last year.

She is now enrolled on our MA in International Politics and Human Rights

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News £1.5 million invested in Library Services Library Services has benefited from City’s strategic commitment to academic excellence with the release of funds to improve its estate and invest in its collections.

Each year until 2016, the Library will invest £1.5 million in new resources including books and journals, raising the Library’s spend per full-time equivalent student from £141 to around £250, bringing it into line with a typical Russell Group university.

The Library has begun purchasing resources and is conducting trials of new products.

Additional funds will be invested in the Library’s physical estate and to upgrade the Assistive Technology Suite at Northampton Square.

In response to student feedback, some of this extra investment has enabled the extension of Library opening hours. This began with the Northampton Square Library remaining open between Christmas and New Year and continues with extended weekend opening and extended opening for the Cass Learning Resource Centre and the Library at Gray’s Inn Place.

New online expenses system for City City is implementing a new self-managed, online expenses system in the coming months to make it easier to submit expenses.

The new system, Expense on Demand, is a simplified, online version of the paper-based process currently in use and allows staff to submit expenses electronically at any time from any location and enables faster payment.

The system has been programmed with the University’s newly-updated Hospitality, Travel and Expenses policy meaning that expenses outside these guidelines will be automatically ‘red flagged’ at point of submission, enabling staff to resolve issues at a far earlier stage.

Early adopter staff from initial trials have commented on how easy and intuitive Expense on Demand is to use. David Street, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, was one of the first to adopt the system.

He said: “Having just used the system for the first time, I have to say it is simple and easy to use and will save us a lot of time. Brilliant!”

Social media boost for blogging research Research into live blogging by Dr Neil Thurman (pictured) and Anna Walters from the Department of Journalism, has received a significant boost from social media, helping to maximise its impact.

The research considered the production and consumption of live blogs on the guardian. co.uk website. Live blogging is an increasingly popular format used by news organisations to cover major breaking news stories and consists of regular text updates, links, and multimedia content.

The study found that live blogs at guardian. co.uk receive 300% more views and 230% more visitors than conventional online news articles on the same subjects. The success of live blogs was attributed to their meeting users’ increasing preferences for consuming news at work throughout the day in easy-tofollow and inconspicuous online formats.

Dr Thurman said that in the six weeks following the publication of the article it had been downloaded about 1,500 times from City Research Online and from the website of Digital Journalism.

A rollout to Professional Services has already begun and all Schools are expected to have been migrated by the end of April. Watch for more details in the coming weeks.

“Social media (and particularly Twitter) have driven significant traffic to the article”, explained Dr Thurman. “Although the research was covered by the mainstream media, the tweets and retweets about the article (more than 500) had a huge impact and brought home the benefits of engaging with social media in a professional context.”

New Library apps

UCAS applications

January graduations

The Library service has launched two new applications to provide easier access to information for staff and students. A Finding Company Information mobile app uses business databases to search for company information, while Reading Lists Online provides easy access to books, ebooks, journal articles and websites.

The latest UCAS application figures (as of 27th January) show a strong performance for City, with total applications up 6% on 2011/12.

Courses with particularly high growth in applications include the LLB in Law, BSc Software Engineering, BEng Biomedical Engineering and BSc Criminology and Sociology.

Last month, 1,800 students graduated in our latest round of ceremonies, which followed the 5,000 degrees awarded in our ceremonies in 2012.

Honorary graduates in January included Nobel physicist Professor Zhores Alferov, Hellespont Group Chairman Dr Basil Papachristidis and environmental lawyer and alumna Pamela Castle OBE.

Máire Lanigan, University Librarian, said: “The Library Service welcomes this large scale investment and believes it will deliver benefits to students and staff alike. They will enhance the student experience and improve access to University-provided electronic collections.”

News in brief

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Staff news Annual Research Competition This year’s winners of the City’s annual £50,000 Research Competition were Professor Panicos Kyriacou and Dr Michelle Hickey from the School of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences (SEMS). Dr Maud Dr Visscher (SEMS) won a commendation for her research proposal and Dr Steve Gruppetta from Optometry and Visual Science won a bottle of champagne for best presentation

BUPA London Marathon Dr Lorna Rixon, Research Associate in Health Services Research, is running her first marathon in this year’s Virgin London Marathon, to raise money for the WhizzKidz charity. You can support Lorna online at: www.justgiving.com/Lorna-Rixon

City Future Fund success The City Future Fund had a successful couple of months, raising almost £9,000 from its latest alumni telephone campaign, a donation from Clerkenwell Waitrose store’s Community Matters initiative and from colleagues’ Christmas shopping on Giveasyoulive.com. This means the Fund can provide an extra three Scholarships, nine travel bursaries for PhD students, 35 new volunteering projects or 200 mentoring pairs

Media highlights Recent highlights of press releases and notable media coverage of our academics.

City University London City named in top 10 UK universities for starting salaries according to the Which?

University website: http://tinyurl.com/Citywhich Cass Business School Professor Joseph Lampel commented on the US government’s ban on new BP contracts, following the Deepwater disaster, in The Guardian and on Sky News: http://tinyurl.com/lampelbp School of Arts and Social Sciences Professor Tim Lang was in demand for media commentary following the news that beef burgers in some British and Irish supermarkets were contaminated with horse DNA. In January, Tim appeared on Channel 4’s flagship current affairs show Dispatches: http://bit.ly/langdispatches School of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences Dr Olalla Castro-Alvaredo called for a renewed appreciation of mathematics as a

key scientific discipline in The Telegraph: http://tinyurl.com/olallatelegraph School of Health Sciences Professor Stanton Newman, Dean of the School of Health Sciences, joined fellow experts for The Times roundtable on how the health sector can adapt to a challenging future: http://tinyurl.com/healthroundtable

Social media highlights City’s Twitter feed (@CityUniLondon) communicated the work of the Press team on the publication of the Leveson report: The link in this tweet was clicked through 105 times: “The Leveson report is 2,000 pages long but Prof @StewartPurvis has condensed it to 70 words. http://bit.ly/Sz1JIl”

School of Informatics Professor Kevin Jones, Interim Dean of the School of Informatics, appeared on CNBC Europe’s Worldwide Exchange, commenting on the hacking of Israeli government websites during the recent conflict between Israel and Gaza: http://tinyurl.com/jonesongaza

To coincide with the end of the 2012 Formula 1 season, Cass (@cassinthenews) tweeted a story on related research:

The City Law School Professor Lorna Wood spoke to Bloomberg about press regulation prior to the Leveson Inquiry report: http://tinyurl.com/Woodleveson

Ninety-two users clicked through to the story and it was re-tweeted to a potential audience of 48,000 Twitter users.

“Cass Lecturer, Dr Amanda Goodall on why Formula 1 teams with leaders who started as drivers win twice as many races http://ow.ly/fwETP”

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University updates Updates from HR, Estates and Information Services on activities and projects as part of our Strategic Plan implementation or other activities of interest to staff.

Strategic Plan Implementation Update

HR update: academic appointments

For the latest developments with our Strategic Plan implementation, look out for our regular e-newsletter, emailed to staff by the Strategic Planning & Performance Unit.

Issue #1 was emailed on Wednesday 19th December 2012.

As featured in our Strategic Plan Implementation Update newsletter (emailed to staff in December), we have made 43 new appointments as part of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 recruitment of research-excellent academics.

You can view the full list of academic appointments (correct as of Monday 21st January 2013) and links to their academic profile pages, on our City News for Staff blog: www.city.ac.uk/blogs/staff-news

Facilities update Implementation of the University’s Strategic Estates Investment plan begins this spring after months of detailed planning.

Confirmed projects include: Cass Undergraduate Project: Expansion of Cass facilities at Northampton Square to encompass the entirety of Drysdale Building Level 3 (April to September 2013) Cass Executive Project: Fit-out of newly leased premises on Aldersgate from where Cass Executive Education and Executive MBA education will be delivered (April to August 2013) Gloucester Building Project: Reconfiguration and improvement of existing accommodation (March to June 2013) A number of other major projects are pending full Council approval in February, and further details will be announced next month.

These projects are just the first in a long-term series of important capital developments for the University. Over the next five years many of City’s buildings will experience major transformation, as defined in the Estate Plan, to support individual School plans; to provide high quality academic space; to create a sense of community; and to improve the student experience.

IS updates Over the last 18 months, Information Services has focused on two key areas: 1. Stabilising core systems; and 2. Introducing services to support the University’s improvement of the student experience.

What has been achieved?

IS has improved wireless internet provision throughout University buildings and introduced Eduroam, enabling staff students and visitors to use City University London logins to access the internet at participating institutions worldwide.

Online registration was identified as an area where the student experience could be improved. Improvements to the system for August 2012 registrations resulted in a smoother registration period with approximately 80% fewer student enquiries (compared to 2011) and almost no queues at in-person registration.

IS has also introduced 24-hour IT support, allowing staff and students to call the IT Service Desk 365 days a year. Call abandonment rates have fallen from 28% to just 3%.

What else has IS done?

Upgraded 1,500 classroom PCs to Windows 7 Installed an iMac Lab in the Department of Journalism Introduced an online print credit system Created a Digital Repository [City Research Online] Created new Research Librarian roles Extended Library opening hours Introduced Reading Lists Online Invested £1.5M in new educational and research resources (see page 5) Refurbished all assistive technology laboratories.

What is coming up?

IS has a number of projects for further improvements either underway or planned for the coming months: A Student Gateway for easier log-ins Single sign on to online services Self-service password reset Personalised timetables Desktop virtualisation Introduction of Office 365 (including 25GB email storage for all staff and students)

Governance and ExCo

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Each edition of City News features brief reports on recent meetings of Council, Senate and the University Executive Committee (ExCo). More information on our Governance structure can be found on our website: www.city.ac.uk/about/city-information/governance

Report from Council

Meeting held on 23rd November 2012

Report from Senate

Meeting held on 5th December 2012

Council is the University’s Governing Body and delegates decision-making to sub-Committees, the Vice-Chancellor and the Chair of Council. You can read more information on Council online, including minutes after their circulation to Council members for comment: https://intranet.city.ac.uk/staff/governance.

Senate covers aspects of University decision-making that concern the assurance of academic quality and enhancement of academic standards.

From this year, Council moved its meetings to Friday mornings, preceding by informal discussions the evening before. In November, internationalisation was discussed and at the next meeting it will cover the Student Experience.

Senate agenda items include student satisfaction and representation; academic quality and standards; educational enhancement; research and enterprise; regulations and governance; and nominations of honorary visiting professors and emeritus appointments.

In November, Council approved the University’s 2011/12 financial statements as required by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England), which showed a net operating deficit of £1 million.

The meeting focused on Strategic Plan implementation and items presented by the Vice-Chancellor and ExCo. Council asked for a future discussion on the extent to which the cultural change at the heart of the Strategic Plan was understood throughout the University.

City’s score in the 2012 THE World Rankings had improved but its final ranking slipped, following sector improvements and new universities joining the rankings. An academic reputation survey plays a significant role in the rankings and Council noted City’s could be improved through increased citations [for research].

Council considered early stage principles and the timetable for the Professional Services Review.

Appointments of new members Brendan Barber and Iain Gray were approved. They join Council in January and April 2013 respectively.

Five Council members were identified as link members for individual Schools: Roger Bright (Arts and Social Sciences); Carolyn Regan (Health Sciences); Hunada Nouss (Cass); Philippa Hird (The City Law School); and Dr John Low (Engineering & Mathematical Sciences and Informatics)

Information on Senate, including papers and minutes can be read online: http://tinyurl.com/CULgovernance.

At the December meeting, Senate considered: The findings of the successful QAA Institutional Review 2012. A detailed action plan will be presented for Senate approval in March.

Student satisfaction items including reports from the Students’ Union and on Schools’ Student Experience Committees.

A report on Annual Programme Evaluations in response to the National Student Survey 2012.

The reasons given for each case of non-compliance with University policy on the speed of providing assessment feedback to students.

An Education Committee report on changes planned for education and student experience under the Strategic Plan implementation.

Minutes of Boards of Studies meetings, introduced by each Board’s Chair.

Senate will review future attendance at each School’s Board of Studies meeting.

Monitoring reports on institutional performance including 2012/13 and 2013/14 admissions data; research degree qualification rates; The Times Good University Guide 2013; and the register of professional, statutory and regulatory bodies.

Research and enterprise items including an introduction to City Research Online (CRO). Senate noted the Open Access Policy of Research Councils UK and the University’s Policy that all new publications, all REF publications and all PhD theses be included on the CRO

Report from ExCo

Meeting held on 11th December 2012

Unlike Council and Senate, ExCo is not required by the University’s constitution. It is a fortnightly meeting chaired by the ViceChancellor for discussion and expert input before he makes executive decisions as the academic and executive head of the University.

ExCo’s members comprise the Deputy and Pro Vice-Chancellors, Chief Financial Officer, Director of HR, School Deans (including the Graduate School) and six directors of Professional Services. Its agenda comprises (i) standing items on the ‘Big Six’ important and urgent issues (Academic Staff Recruitment; Undergraduate Recruitment; Student Satisfaction; Academic Staff Performance Management; Professional Services Review; and the REF and Research and Enterprise Income); (ii) Strategic Plan implementation; and (iii) financial reporting; operational issues; and preparations for Council and other Governance meetings.

At the 11th December meeting, ExCo: Received reports on progress with the ‘Big Six’ and Strategic Plan implementation, including appointments of new academics (see page 8) and undergraduate applications; Approved provisional School-level undergraduate recruitment targets; Received the draft QAA report, confirming that the QAA has ‘full confidence’; Noted the planned student surveys schedule and appropriate preparations; Received the first report on recommendations for the future of language provision and suggested areas for further work; Received a report on arrangements to welcome students at the beginning of the 2012/13 year and made recommendations for further improvements; Approved amendments to policies and procedures including Expenses, Hospitality and Travel; and Approved suggestions for improving ExCo and its relationship with other executive meetings

Big ideas for Law at City Our new Dean of The City Law School tells City News about his approach to leading the School

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hat first attracted you to join City University London?

Article by Sophie Cubbin

The ambitious plan for City. It is exciting to think that I could be part of a plan to push City up the national and international league tables in both research and education and to work with the School to achieve these challenging goals.

With these ambitions in mind, what is your vision for The City Law School?

I think there is a very good platform on which to build. My predecessor Professor Susan Nash did an excellent job to create this position so I am very lucky to have the foundation already in place. My initial priorities will include working closely with colleagues, particularly Associate Dean for Research Professor Lorna Woods, to improve further our research strategy and agenda, which will pay off in terms of the Research Excellence Framework.

I would like to see us have a presence in terms of research income. All law schools find this

challenging but there are people at City who can improve the situation. However, this is a complex School, where we provide all stages of legal education from undergraduate through graduate to professional. It is important that we value all parts of the School and to keep in mind that the primary criteria by which I will judge and be judged myself is through the achievement of excellence.

City Law School already has an impressive track record of excellence in its education but no department can be complacent: it is a very competitive market and we have to make sure we are continually trying to up our game.

Student satisfaction is very important too. I am originally from North America so I have experience of how a North American Law School Dean operates and I recognise that part of my role is to interact with students and be a presence in student life.

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You mentioned the different parts of The City Law School - an ever expanding academic area, alongside a well-established professional programme portfolio. How will you fit the two together?

I value the great work displayed on both the professional and academic programmes and I recognise that the research, scholarship and education that underpins all programmes is very important - the University recognises that too. For me, it is about sending out the right signals. I value everyone’s talents and each person has a combination of strengths. Strong organisations are those where people of various talents feel that they can do their best work.

How would you sum up the opportunities and challenges you face?

I have had a range of leadership and management responsibilities in the past. I have headed a Law School, been Dean of an interdisciplinary Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences (which included a School of Law) and I have been a Pro Vice-Chancellor. This experience

has given me a solid understanding of Higher Education leadership and management yet City presents new challenges and opportunities for me, so I certainly will not find it boring.

This is a more complex School than I have run in the past but it is an exciting challenge. The opportunities are there to achieve success for the School at a time when the Higher Education sector faces challenges and increased competition.

The Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) is due to report its findings in the coming months and has been billed as being the most substantial review of this area for 40 years. What are your views on it?

I am not going to pre-judge what is coming from the LETR but I am confident that as a leading provider, we will not be on the back foot. I do not think that we need to worry excessively. I hope that everyone remembers that legal education in this country is very well respected internationally and that we do not throw the baby out with the bath water on this.

“Strong organisations are those where people of various talents feel that they can do their best work�

There may be changes around the edges but I think the qualifying law degree will remain.

Professional education may see some changes but we are as well placed as anybody to adapt, so we will adapt, we will take on board what is required and if necessary we will be fleet of foot to respond.

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Tell us about your background and how your career has progressed.

I am originally from North America and educated in Canada and the United States. I completed my training contract in a very large corporate commercial law firm in Toronto so I have worked in a corporate environment on the 66th floor. I have also had a Judicial Clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada, working in an academic environment but still involved in research and case work.

After Graduate School I came to the UK and had a very rewarding academic career at Keele University and at the University of Reading. There were several years in management roles which I also enjoyed. I feel lucky in that I am very comfortable in a traditional academic role focused on research and education and in a university management role. I feel at ease going back and forth between the two.

It is an unusual background. There are not too many people with my particular package of experiences and hopefully, abilities.

Regarding the academic side of your career, your research into issues of sexuality has received international acclaim. How did you find your area of interest?

I started doing research around 1990 while living in New York. It was an interesting and exciting period to work on issues of sexuality but also sometimes depressing. This was at the height of the HIV crisis and a period of quite reactionary politics. My career has seen such huge changes in terms of history and I feel I have lived that history, which is exciting but also throws up challenges.

We clearly live in a more liberal, enlightened period than when I started researching but that does not mean there is not still scope for critical thinking about what is going on. If anything, the issues have become more complex. That strand of my research – law and sexuality studies – has always been central to what I am known for as an academic, but I do have other interests.

I continue to write in the field of Tort Law, which I have taught for many years and I have a general interest in law and popular culture and more generally, citizenship and identity. My work is interdisciplinary

but I like to think I am a reasonably good “black letter” lawyer.

As Dean, is research something you want to retain as an element of your career?

I would hope so. I know it is going to be a huge challenge to be research active but I also know that it is important to City that I send out positive messages about research through example, even if I am in a demanding management role.

At the moment, I am working on a project considering Public Services under this government’s ‘Big Society’ agenda. If public services will increasingly be delivered not by the State but by a range of other actors such as charities, not-for-profit organisations, for-profit organisations etc., what challenges does that throw up for the idea of services being genuinely public?

For example, if a faith community delivers a public service, what are our expectations about how it will be delivered? On one side, you might argue this kind of public service delivery should be secularised, or “cleansed”, of its connotations with faith, based on the principles of equality and universality. On the other hand, the argument behind ‘Big Society’ is that there is something special about the abilities of faith communities (and others) to deliver services, so requiring providers to detach the faith element could mean you lose what is particularly valuable. This has been a challenge the United States has had to deal with already, so I am seeing what lessons can be learnt from there.

And outside of academia, what are your interests?

I have certainly enjoyed travel and I still enjoy being on the beach in the sun although I have more limited opportunities than in the past. I am also a bit of a foodie and like going out to eat, which is something I have to watch increasingly as I get older! I also really enjoy spending time with my friends and my partner

Professor Stychin: His career to date Professor Stychin has an international reputation for his research on the legal construction and regulation of sexual and gender identities.

He joins City from the University of Reading where he was Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise).

Initially educated in Canada at the University of Alberta and University of Toronto, Professor Stychin undertook postgraduate studies at New York’s Columbia University. Upon completion, he joined Keele University as a Lecturer, progressing to Senior Lecturer in 1996.

Two years later, he joined the University of Reading as a Professor of Law and in 2009, was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Laws.

Professor Stychin is the author of three monographs, numerous articles and a student ‘text and materials’ collection.

He has published extensively on civil partnerships, same-sex adoption and the interplay of sexual orientation and religious freedom in the UK. He is currently working on an analysis of the relationship between public service provision in the ‘Big Society’ and the right to equality.

He is currently Editor of Social & Legal Studies: An International Journal and is a member of the Peer Review College of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

He also has an interest in the regulation of legal education on behalf of the professions.

In 2007 he was appointed as one of two chairs of authorisation and validation panels for the Legal Practice Course by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. He is also a member of the Joint Academic Stage Board and the only legal academic member of the Qualifications Committee of the Bar Standards Board.

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Research at City Highlights of recent research at City University London

A framework for analysing multiplayer games in structured populations The understanding of evolution has been greatly enhanced by mathematical modelling and includes contributions from mathematician Professor Godfrey Hardy and physician Dr Wilhelm Weinberg in genetics and biologist Professor John Maynard Smith’s theory of evolutionary games.

Recent evolution models draw on evolutionary graph theory, incorporating probability theory, mathematical biology and graph theory to represent structured populations, where structure can be due to spatial location or social relationships.

However, this theoretical framework is limited: interactions within it are restricted to interactions through the edges of areas connecting pairs of individuals. Interactions between many animals are likely to involve multiple players and existing theoretical models also describe these multiplayer interactions.

Research by City Professor Mark Broom and Associate Professor Jan Rychtár from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has addressed these limitations. It details a more general framework of interactions

The understanding of evolution has been greatly enhanced by mathematical modelling

Professor Mark Broom

involving structured populations and was published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.

Their focus was on the competition between territorial animals in which each animal or animal group possesses a ‘home range’ overlapping with others and where interactions between various group sizes are possible. Depending on the behaviour studied, Broom and Rychtár showed how to embed the results of evolutionary games within a group’s structure, in the manner of pairwise games such as the Prisoner’s Dilemma or the Hawk-Dove Game.

By considering a simple model of animal interactions where territories are distinct, they illustrated two alternative ways of viewing the model: naturally involving real

space; and by using a general graphical representation.

Professor Broom said: “We pay special attention to investigating how different place structures can affect payoffs and hence behaviour. A strength of the methodology is that the framework is capable of doing this in a variety of settings.”

Game theory

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Research at City cont.

Fibre optics

Are you colour blind?

How colour blind are you?

Visually demanding professions, such as the fire service and the maritime and aviation industries, specify 20/20 vision as a prerequisite for entry. Others also require applicants to have normal colour vision, preventing those with even very mild colour vision loss from entering the profession.

Accurately assessing the severity of colour vision loss is important because many colour-deficient people have been shown to have sufficient residual ‘chromatic sensitivity’ to be able to perform visually demanding, colour-related tasks as well as those with normal colour vision.

Professor John Barbur and Dr Marisa Rodriguez-Carmona from the Division of Optometry and Visual Science in the School of Health Sciences, co-authored research into assessing the severity of colour vision lost, published in Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.

The problem with conventional colour assessment tests such as the Ishihara Test (IT) is that they produce inconsistent results and do not quantify accurately an individual’s severity of colour vision loss. Since these tests were developed to screen for normal colour vision, not the severity of colour vision loss, there are no objective pass/fail limits for deciding when an applicant can no longer be considered safe.

The research examines how well the number of failed IT plates captures a subject’s loss of colour vision and whether a level of importance can be attached to each IT plate to improve the test’s predicted severity of loss.

The research investigated 742 subjects using a 25-plate IT test with a Colour Assessment and Diagnosis (CAD) of chromatic sensitivity, which quantifies the signals needed to see just red, green, yellow and blue colour differences.

The subjects’ IT error scores provided plate-specific weights used to calculate a

Severity Index (SI) of colour vision loss, measured and compared in three subject groups.

The researchers found that colour thresholds provide a good measure of the severity of colour vision loss since they relate linearly to “red”, “green” and “blue” signals, but neither the number of plates failed nor the SI value computed in this way can be used to determine reliably the severity of colour vision loss.

Professor Barbur said: “The findings from this study prove convincingly that the number of plates failed does not provide a good measure of the severity of colour vision loss. New approaches are needed to establish safe but fair pass/fail limits that relate directly to the applicant’s ability to carry out the colour-related tasks within visually-demanding occupational environments with the same accuracy one wuld expect of those with normal colour vision.”

15

City Research Online Have you uploaded your research outputs to City’s research repository?

City Research Online can help raise the visibility and citation of your research and help the University to collate and monitor its research.

Find out more at: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk

HPV cells

Deviations in segmented cladding fiber Research by Professor Aziz Rahman and Dr Arti Agrawal of City’s Photonics Modelling Group in SEMS and published in Applied Optics, has indicated that small deviations in segmented cladding fibre arising from the manufacturing process, do not significantly alter the beam-splitting properties of the fibre.

Segmented cladding fibres (SCFs) are highly sought-after materials in fields as diverse as medicine and telecommunications. They are used in high-power lasers, optical communication systems and mid-infrared sensing.

Understanding attitudes to HPV Advances in the understanding of the links between genital human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer have not been matched by changes in behaviour and knowledge of Irish medical practitioners, according to City research published in Implementation Science.

The research analysed the birefringence or double refraction of light within an elliptical SCF, which can be altered by the number of segments used and the cycle of segmentation within it. Birefringence is the term used for splitting a beam of light into two, each refracted at a different angle and polarised at right angles to one another.

The analysis employed an established method utilised in engineering and physics for realising very accurate characterisations of optical structures.

Professor Rahman and Dr Agrawal demonstrated that a circular SCF possesses low refraction of light and that its segmented cladding does not add a significant degree of birefringence in an elliptical-shaped fibre.

consequences; social influences; knowledge and environmental context and resources.

Previous studies have concentrated on knowledge alone, which although important, is not the sole influence.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) with more than 40 HPV types that can infect male and female genital areas. It can also infect the mouth and throat.

Medical practitioners in the Irish health care system described a general lack of knowledge and a need for more information. They also perceived that the evidence base was ‘rapidly evolving’. They found it difficult to keep up to date and questioned the validity of some sources of information. Many GPs questioned also said they found it difficult to explain HPV in a way that patients could understand.

Research co-authored by Professor Jill Francis from the School of Health Sciences, discovered that the dominant factors influencing clinical behaviours in relation to HPV vaccinations were: beliefs about

A striking finding of the study is that male GPs have moved away from responsibility for smear taking, which they viewed as a predominately female role. Furthermore the researchers found it difficult to get male GPs

They said their result provides, “a strong indication that small deviations in the segmented cladding parameters arising from the fabrication process do not significantly affect the birefringence of the fibre”.

The study was assisted by a UK-India Educational and Research Initiative (UKIERI) award.

City’s Photonics Modelling Group, led by Professor Rahman and Dr Agrawal, simulates the performance of myriad photonic and optical devices. A large part of this work regards Microstructured Optical Fibres, in collaboration with leading international research groups

to participate in the study as they saw cervical cancer treatment outside their remit.

The authors said that it is clear that in the absence of any guidelines there will need to be a change in both the knowledge base of Irish GPs and an adjustment to their behaviour and practice. They argued that GPs’ understanding of the issues surrounding HPV testing and vaccination needs to improve to create a better appreciation of this infection among patients.

This first qualitative study will provide the basis for quantitative research to determine the frequency of behaviours of interest in health care, identify the important predictors of behaviours and investigate interrelationships between domains and constructs that predict those behaviours

16

Meet the team In the first of a regular series, City News introduces a team within the University and its work.

City’s Marketing & Communications function, led by Director Tim Longden, is based in the Goswell Road Building and has a key role in supporting the delivery of the University’s Strategic Plan. The team is responsible for developing plans and strategies which support the delivery of several of our key performance indicators including developing City’s external profile and positioning in line with the Vision for 2016. Marketing & Communications’ strategic role includes market research and intelligence to inform decisions relating to the development of academic programmes, fees and

scholarships and responsibility for its brand and corporate identity. The team also oversees the University’s student recruitment activities, its digital presence and communications and engagement with City’s internal and external audiences and stakeholders. Marketing & Communications comprises three key teams: Digital, Communications & Events and Marketing.

Tim Longden, Director of Marketing & Communications, has overall responsibility for the Communications, Digital and Marketing teams and ensures that the teams’ plans are aligned with the University Strategic Plan. Tim is supported by Marta Gajewska, Marketing Support Manager, who also provides general administrative support for Marketing & Communications.

Digital The Digital team, led by Ryan Taylor, is responsible for City’s online presence including our website, social media activity and online advertising.

Events

The Digital Team’s expertise covers a wide range of digital marketing and communications activities including web content strategy and development, search engine marketing, online advertising, email marketing and social media.

Events has two teams – Corporate Events and Academic Events. The Corporate team, led

by Lindsey Baker, manages University events including Graduation ceremonies, the Lord Mayor’s Show, Court, Chancellor’s Dinner and Council events.

The team provides advice and guidance to colleagues across the University on using digital media and technology most effectively as part of our marketing and communications.

Under the management of Louise Gordon, the Academic Events team supports colleagues within Schools on their events, ranging from music concerts to lectures and conferences.

Comms.

The Communications team consists of three Senior Communications Officers led by Simon Watts, the new Head of Communications. The team manages press, media and external communications, sharing responsibility for the School communications as well as the University’s corporate communications.

The team includes the Internal Communications function for the University’s internal staff and student communications, which includes producing City News.

17

Academic excellence for business and the professions

I chose excellence.

I chose opportunity.

I chose City.

Among the top 5% of universities in the world and 9th for graduate level jobs in the UK.

www.city.ac.uk/choosecity

Case study

scan to view video

‘Chooseyou City’ advertising Whatever choose to be, choose City University London.

Marketing The team’s mission is to support activity relating to City’s Strategic Plan 2012 to 2016, through strategic marketing planning and activity and providing support to the University.

Led by Lindsey Venden, Interim Head of Marketing, the team manages City’s brand and corporate identity through visual and writing style guidelines, produces all corporate campaigns and materials and develops marketing insight and research for use across City.

The team works closely with School marketing departments on student recruitment activities, developing marketing materials including films and prospectuses, attending recruitment events and UCAS fairs and organising Open Days.

It also provides strategic marketing support to internal departments, helping them develop and implement plans to meet their objectives.

campaign Read more at blogs.city.ac.uk/studentblogs Background City’s student recruitment marketing strategy has traditionally focused on students in London and the South East. The increase in our entry requirements and a decrease in students wishing to live at home require City to widen its catchment area and raise awareness further afield, whilst continuing to recruit the most able students in the South East.

After a thorough analysis of our undergraduate admissions data, the Student Marketing and Recruitment team developed a list of target schools to act as feeder schools for City, selected for their quality, location and suitability.

Activity Our plan was to build relationships with key stakeholders within each target school, to raise awareness of City among the students and to improve our communication with students and their advisors.

The list of target schools was supplied to our media agency, who created a schedule of bus stop posters and bus sides in the vicinity of each school.

facebook.com/ cityuniversitylondon @CityUniLondon

Our marketing proposition focused on City’s excellent employability record and its London location: ‘Exceptional career prospects in an exceptional city’.

Creative We wanted real students to star in our campaign and used two of our student bloggers - Veronika Kelemen (BSc Media Studies and Sociology) and Ryan McConnell (MA Electronic Publishing). By linking to their blogs, potential students could read what life is really like at City.

The photoshoot took place on a helipad on the top of a building in Farringdon, where our students suffered an afternoon of gale force winds and frequent showers!

Results The campaign went live in October and ran to mid-December as part of a series of activities aimed at target schools. We will continue to monitor our application data to measure the campaign’s success, early results show a 13% increase in applications from the 16 schools we targeted

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Student journalist: Is London ready for an NFL team?

With the successful annual NFL games in London and the upcoming Superbowl, a Journalism undergraduate asks if a London-based franchise is feasible.

By Michael Schwartz

Last October, the New England Patriots trounced the St. Louis Rams on Wembley Stadium’s hallowed turf in front of 84,000 fans, in the sixth International Series gridiron game played in London. Since then, rumours of the National Football League (NFL) becoming permanently entrenched in London with a new team (or ‘franchise’) have increased.

The most notable voice in favor of such a bold step was none other than London Mayor Boris Johnson whose office stated: “Given the ever growing popularity of gridiron on this side of the Atlantic, the Mayor and his team have held a number of meetings with senior executives in the last few days to explore further opportunities involving the NFL and London. The talks were exploratory. We are at an early stage, but the signs are encouraging.”

The NFL is a $9 billion industry with a global television audience of hundreds of millions of viewers for its annual showpiece Superbowl final (the 47th was held in New Orleans on Sunday 3rd February). However, the NFL wants to expand globally and attract more worldwide interest. In the eyes of a small but influential group of NFL franchise owners and executives, London is the gateway to other international markets.

Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, publicly stated at a fan rally in Trafalgar Square prior to October’s Wembley game that he’s in favor of a new franchise in London.

He said: “You are already hosting the Premier League and we believe we are the

premier sport in the world. I think London has shown, with the way you've handled the Olympics and every other major sporting event, that it is time for you to have your own NFL franchise based in London.”

Yet, despite the growing popularity of NFL in London and the UK, there are numerous obstacles to creating a new franchise.

Despite growing interest, the NFL is still only a novelty in the UK television viewing figures for NFL games are on par with professional darts. Football, rugby, cricket, tennis, motor sports and golf all attract higher television ratings.

According to Chris Parsons, NFL Director of International Business, franchise owners and NFL executives feel it would need to be in the top five sports for viewing figures in the UK before they would seriously consider a London franchise. However, he also believes this could happen within five years.

Beyond garnering support for a London NFL franchise, are other significant issues. The NFL’s league structure and scheduling, fan support and players would all have to be taken into account when considering a London franchise.

For such a franchise to exist in London, either an existing US franchise would have to relocate to London or an expansion club be created. Both scenarios would carry repercussions because no American city would want to lose their lucrative franchise and the formation of a new one would disrupt the established

32-team, eight division structure of the NFL. The travel associated with a Londonbased squad would also be immensely difficult for players and coaches. All NFL teams play half of their 16 regular season games on the road, meaning a London team would have to contend with significant jet lag. In terms of air miles, the Oakland Raiders currently travel the most out of all NFL teams at 28,692 miles a season. In comparison, a London NFL team would travel slightly less than 71,000 miles, even without additional matches in the play-offs or the Superbowl.

Besides the constant state of travel fatigue, players who have grown up in America may not desire to live in England. Having to contend with the challenges of living in another country would turn off many established professionals let alone 18-year old college draft players.

Generating a permanent fan base for a London squad would also be a challenge. A cursory glance at clothing on London’s streets shows clearly how Londoners share a wide range of allegiances for NFL teams all over America. Attracting enough fans to support a London squad that would initially struggle to compete with established American sides could be quite difficult.

The rising success of the annual Wembley games has undoubtedly shown that the NFL has become more popular in the UK over the last few years, but the dream of creating London’s own NFL team could be too ambitious to become a reality

NFL: Its growing global reach The annual Superbowl regularly ranks as the most-watched television show of the year in the US and the second most-watched sporting event after the UEFA Champions League Final.

Television rights to the NFL are the most lucrative and expensive sports broadcasting product in the United States.

Prominent figures in the NFL, including Commissioner Roger Goodell, expect there to be a new team based in London in the future.

Wembley Stadium will host two regular season NFL games next year which, according Mayor Boris Johnson, will raise £22 million for London’s economy.

19

Staff benefits Employee discounts City has teamed with Edenred to launch City Discounts, an employee discount scheme offering savings with high street, supermarket, travel and online retailers.

Edenred claims an average user of its site could save at least £565 a year with no change to their normal shopping habits.

How to sign up: 1. Go to: www.edenred.uk.com/signin 2. Username: your City email 3. Your initial password is ‘Citydiscounts’ (you choose a new password after signing in)

Free eye tests and aftercare

Revitalise February

The Division of Optometry and Visual Science offers free eye-examinations, contact lens assessments and aftercare from our clinic in Bath Street, near Moorfields Eye Hospital.

This month the ‘Well’ team is running its ‘Revitalise February’ programme of health and wellbeing activities to help you stay motivated, fight off the winter blues and balance your body and mind.

Each consultation is led by one of our final year students under staff supervision and you can purchase reduced-price spectacles and contact lenses from the clinic.

Activities include sessions on personal fitness, dieting, stress resistance, an introduction to Tai Chi and Free Fruit Fridays.

Find out more and sign up to events by emailing: wellbeingcoordinator@city.ac.uk

Make a booking via email at: eyeclinic@city.ac.uk or telephone extension: 8338

Launch letter

From the archive As we re-launch City News what better item to start with than a previous iteration of our staff magazine, first published in February 1977?

The City News, costing 5p per edition, was announced in a memo to staff from editors Tom Baistow (then Lecturing in Media Studies after an illustrious journalism career) and colleague Vivien Turner, from the Communications Room. Their aim was to record the news and cover, “every aspect of the University’s life from Senate policy-making to our football teams’ results, all developments, happenings and activities, official and unofficial, departmental and personal.”

The City News featured regular staff contributions in Forum columns and Letters to the Editor alongside University news, events, profiles of staff, appointments and promotions and sections for sports, arts and entertainment news. Tom and Vivien said there would be no leader article but instead they would ‘leave the expression of opinion to The City News’s readers’.

The top stories in the first edition were employment rates for Batchelor degree students, the theft of £1,300 from Northampton Students’ Club (around £6,300 in today’s money) and University porters’ concerns about ‘crowds of local youths, attracted by an evening of pub rock in the

New Hall, fighting in Northampton Square’ (Police were called).

There is also an article on improvements to the Graduation Day following Jack Forshaw’s first Graduation as Ceremonial Officer. High on the list of issues being addressed was the quality of food on offer and plans to change the location from St Bartholomew’s Church to St Giles’s Cripplegate to accommodate graduates and their guests.

Finally, the back page featured Situations Vacant, listing several jobs including an Accountant role (salary scale: £2,927 to £5,627) and Departmental Secretary in Mechanical Engineering on a salary scale of £3,618 to £4,173

Dates for your diary To find details and to register for events at City, you can visit our website: www.city.ac.uk/events Corporate events University Court Tuesday 12th March 2013 Annual Meeting of the University Court in which members of the University leadership team review the past year and look ahead to the coming academic year.

Open Days and Open Evenings Postgraduate Open Evening: Schools of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences and Informatics 5pm to 7pm Wednesday 13th February, Northampton Square Postgraduate Open Evening: School of Arts & Social Sciences 5pm to 7pm Wednesday 13th February, Northampton Square Postgraduate Open Evening: School of Health Sciences 5.30pm to 7pm Tuesday 19th February, Northampton Square Undergraduate Open Day: City Law School 11am to 3pm Saturday 23rd February, Northampton Square

Music concerts Constanze Quartet Tuesday 19th February, Performance Space College Building Lectures Gresham College Lecture: Professor George Brock 6pm Wednesday 20th February, Gresham College (Holborn) Professor Brock, gives a lecture on the Leveson Inquiry at Gresham College School of Health Sciences Dean’s Lecture series Tuesday 26th February, Oliver Thompson Lecture Theatre Professor William Ayliffe, Consultant Ophthalmologist in the NHS and at the Lister Hospital in London.

Edwards Lecture 2013: Sir Paul Nurse Wednesday 6th March, Oliver Thompson Lecture Theatre Sir Paul Nurse, geneticist and Nobel Prize winner.

Inaugural lectures Professor Alan Dashwood, The City Law School Wednesday 28th February, Oliver Thompson Lecture Theatre Professor Dashwood explores possible constitutional arrangements under which the European Union might be re-formed.

Department of Sociology seminar series Merchants of Culture: On the Logic of the Publishing Field Thursday 28th February, Room D427 Social Sciences Building Professor John Thompson, The University of Cambridge.

Health Services, Research and Management seminar series 1pm to 2.15pm Tuesday 12th February, Convocation Suite Centenary Building Dr Andy Tyerman, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Head of Service - Community Head Injury Service at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Staff training and development For information about staff training email: evan.bates.1@city.ac.uk or visit: http://www.city.ac.uk/sd/index

Building Disability ConďŹ dence Thursday 14th February Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Thursday 21st February Environmental Awareness Training Thursday 21st February

Finance and Purchasing Training Friday 22nd February Equality and Diversity - General Awareness Wednesday 27th February Writing for Publication Wednesday 6th March

Introduction to Tier 4 Visa System Thursday 14th March Finance & Purchasing Training Monday 18th March