Comment 169 - October 2006

| 3 Tutu on the web | 4 Degree powers | 5 King’s rocks | 6 Health research centre | 16 Time Team: Windsor dig | 19 The Big Draw

Comment Issue no 169 | October 2006

The College newsletter

Gordon Brown makes special visit to King’s The Chancellor, Gordon Brown,

visited King’s for a series of meetings with staff and students on 11 September.

Discussions included issues facing higher education, specific initiatives in nursing and midwifery education and the College’s groundbreaking Extended Medical Degree Programme.

Freshers’ Fortnight kicks off new year chris sharp

‘A unique opportunity’ The Chancellor was met by the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, and Baroness Rawlings, Chairman of Council, at the James Clerk Maxwell Building.

His first meeting with senior staff centred on the interface between Government, universities and the NHS and the development of research funding.

The Chancellor then visited the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery and met with Professor Anne Marie Rafferty, Julie Bliss, Dr Peter Griffiths, Pauleene Hammett, Professor Ian Norman, Professor Jane Sandall and Professor Alison While. They briefed the Chancellor on the various initiatives in nursing and midwifery education at King’s.

The School provides education

KCLSU (King’s College London Students’ Union) welcomed new students to King’s with two weeks of activities across the College to mark the start of the new academic year. Highlights included the Xfm Freshers’ Festival, a Freshers’ Ball, 70s Fever Night, Freshers’ Quiz Night as well as opportunities to join 44 clubs, 75 societies, six student-led volunteering projects and six campaigning groups held at several Freshers’ Fairs around the College.

and training to approximately 4,616 students. There are 166 academic and research staff and 39 support staff and the recent QAA (Quality Assurance Audit)

audit resulted in a maximum score. In the final part of the Chancellor’s visit he met with nursing and midwifery students and two students on

the Extended Medical Degree Programme, plus the course Director, Dr Pamela Garlick.

The Extended Medical Degree continued on page 2

News

Gates Foundation HIV funding King’s has been awarded funding

by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for research into HIV vaccines, as part of a $287 million international funding initiative.

The main King’s grant is for a novel approach using the body’s own HLA proteins to induce a powerful immune response to HIV. Another team at King’s will be working with Imperial College London on developing a vaccine skin ‘patch’ using polymer-shielded ‘stealth’ viral vectors.

Tom Lehner, Professor of Basic and Applied Immunology, is leading a consortium of

research groups who will focus on developing vaccines based on human leukocyte antigens – or HLA proteins. When HIV replicates inside human cells, selected human proteins, in particular HLA, become incorporated in the HIV virus and are important to the mechanism of the infection. They are therefore potential targets for an anti-HIV immune response.

Professor Lehner said: ‘After 15 years of research we have very promising evidence that harnessing this specific part of the immune system – the part involved in rejecting tissue transplants – may be an effective

means of preventing infection.

Ultimately we hope it can form the basis for a safe, effective and affordable vaccine against the HIV virus.’

A novel approach using the body’s own HLA proteins Dr Linda Klavinskis, Department of Immunobiology, will work closely on a grant led by Dr Steven Patterson of Imperial College London. This multi-disciplinary team will pursue a novel vaccine concept

Gordon Brown makes special visit to King’s

based on a ‘stealth’ delivery system using adenovirus (the virus that causes the common cold) to induce strong immunity at the body’s mucosal surfaces, the main site of virus replication.

The vaccines will be developed as patches incorporating microneedles, which are invisible to the naked eye, and will not require refrigeration, facilitating much wider, cost-effective use in the developing world.

This group of grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation brings together more than 165 investigators from 19 countries in a network of highly collaborative research groups.

New design

Dominic Turner

continued from page 1

Programme, now in its fifth year, is a six-year medical degree course which allows students to study at a slower pace and with greater support during their first three years. By the end of the six years students will have covered the same topics, at the same level of detail, as the conventional medical students on the standard five-year MBBS programme.

They will also have sat the same examinations and been required to achieve the same pass mark.

There are currently more than 180 students on the programme.

The Principal commented: ‘This series of meetings was

The Principal introduces the Chancellor to Baroness Rawlings, Chairman of Council.

a unique opportunity for the Chancellor to hear at first hand from those who have responsibility for the provision of teaching and research at King’s, the largest provider of healthcare education in Europe.’

The Chancellor enthused: ‘King’s is a great place to work!’

This is the second high profile ministerial visit this summer: the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, gave the College’s Commemoration Oration on 26 June.

Dominic Turner

The Chancellor meets [from left] Shelley Peacock, Senior Nurse Practioner, Helen Pooley, Community Matron, and Jakki Berry, Diabetes Specialist Nurse.

| Comment | October 2006

You may have noticed that Comment has been refreshed for the new academic year. The newsletter retains many of its original features but following feedback from staff the Corporate Design Unit and Public Relations Office have worked to introduce some improvements.

These include: revitalising the design using the College’s primary type face, Caslon, and adding clearer page headings to help navigation, making Comment easier to read; printing Comment with paper produced with 80 per cent recovered fibre in line with the College’s policy to protect and enhance the environment; and introducing new features including Question? and Three favourite... [see page 24] where we ask staff to interact and let us know their views. Let us know what you think – email julie.munk@kcl.ac.uk The Corporate Design Unit is keen to assist staff with the application of the visual corporate identity. Visit www. kcl.ac.uk/design to find out more about the King’s logo, corporate typefaces, House style for written material and stationery.

News

Tutu immortalised on the web On 25 September the British High

Commissioner to South Africa, Paul Boateng, and former African High Commissioner Cheryl Carolus hosted a reception at Paul Boateng’s residence in Cape Town to mark Desmond Tutu’s 75th birthday. The event also launched a groundbreaking King’s web project to create a digital archive of the life and work of the Archbishop.

A groundbreaking King’s web project Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu studied at King’s in the 1960s and returned in 2004 as Professor in Post-Conflict Societies. Speaking of his time as a student at the College Archbishop Tutu has said: ‘I have wonderful, happy memories of my time at King’s.

I was excited by the accessibility of books, the freedom to question and to debate and the opportunity to listen to the wisdom of minds

whose experience and learning left me eager to discover more.’

The glittering event was attended by around 300 guests, who included former President FW De Clerk; the Premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool; HRH Princess Irene of Greece; author Antjie Krog; Mamphele Ramphele, Managing Director of the World Bank; Adelaide Tambo; the Chairman of the Robben Island Museum, Ahmed Kathrada; Nicky Oppenheimer, Chairman of de Beers; and alumnus Barney Pityana, Chairman of the South African Human Rights Commission and Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Africa.

The celebration began with a film of the Archbishop’s life.

This was followed by a speech from Paul Boateng who paid tribute to the College and its vision for a Tutu digital archive, declaring that raising funds for this elevated the evening into ‘a party with a purpose…for the man who is, and always has been, a man with a purpose’.

The glittering event was attended by around 300 guests including former President FW De Clerk.

Left: The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, pays tribute to Archbishop Tutu. Right: Simon Tanner [left], the Centre for Computing in the Humanities, and Tim Allen, a researcher on his father John’s new biography of the Archbishop, ‘Rabble-Rouser for Peace’.

Baroness Rawlings, Chairman of Council, and the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, also spoke and paid tribute to the Archbishop, who himself concluded with a moving tribute to his wife, Leah, commenting: ‘I am on cloud nine. I feel really blessed tonight.’

‘A party with a purpose’ The Tutu Digital Archives project aims to digitise the entire works of this modern icon and provide a free, interactive resource for his humanitarian teachings that will resonate around the world for generations to come. King’s is now seeking to raise £4.5 million for the project.

Over the next five years, experts from the Centre for Computing in the Humanities (CCH) at King’s will collaborate with the Universities of Western Cape and Witwatersrand to assemble, catalogue and digitise thousands of documents, film materials, videos, audios, photos and even personal letters into the Archive.

The project constitutes the most comprehensive digitisation of a personal archive in the world.

The archive – to be housed and managed in Cape Town – will be developed as a unique historical record of South Africa’s struggle for freedom and reconciliation.

The project will also be delivered as a comprehensive teaching resource, free to all schools across South Africa.

‘As one of the great leaders of our time Archbishop Tutu continues to bring messages of hope to a troubled world,’ said the Principal. ‘Our intention is to ensure that everyone everywhere can benefit from his teaching and speeches by making them freely available via the internet.’

Archbishop Tutu has expressed his own enthusiasm and support for the project, commenting: ‘I am humbled to be at the centre of such an initiative, but if it can help spread understanding and, dare I say it, love, around the world, then it surely must be a good thing.’

Media coverage of the event was extensive and Professor Harold Short, Simon Tanner, Dr Marilyn Deegan (all of CCH) and Chris Coe (Director of Communications) of King’s each gave extensive interviews to the South African media, including a 20-minute slot on the pan-African satellite news channel.

The Principal commented: ‘The event was a huge success for King’s and we have now established a very strong presence in South Africa, aided, of course by some of our distinguished South African alumni and the ongoing work of our HIV and palliative care specialists who are working in the country. I am very keen to build on this and develop stronger academic links with South African universities and would welcome suggestions from our own academics as to how this may best be achieved.’

October 2006 | Comment |

News Principal’s Column

It has been a busy summer for the College. A cursory glance at the News Highlights’ archives on the College website for the past couple of months reveals the extraordinary breadth of activity and achievement that we have enjoyed recently.

The College has hosted a very large number of conferences and seminars that have attracted delegates from all over the world.

These have explored such diverse subjects as global migration and mental health, the Byzantine Empire, the representation of illness in the arts, the making of modern Greece and religious violence in the modern world.

‘We are receiving record research grant funding’ This dynamic range of activity reflects the fact that we are receiving record research grant funding. Two recent grants to which I would particularly draw attention are those from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for HIV research [see page 2] and from Tate & Lyle for a Health Research Centre [see page 6].

The College’s research profile improves with each year; the most recent recognition is from the World Health Organisation which has designated the Institute of Psychiatry as its lead research centre for mental health services.

I am particularly proud that the other great focus of

| Comment | October 2006

our activity, teaching, has also received a boost this summer.

Our ratings in the National Student Survey have improved considerably overall and our Law School was voted the best in the country. The Sunday Times shortlisted King’s for the title of ‘University Of The Year’ in that newspaper’s University Guide [see page 5].

In July we also received approval from the Privy Council to award our own degrees (as opposed to awarding degrees of the University of London). I am cheered that our independence has now been formally recognised [see right].

King’s has helped shaped public policy for a long time, and continues to go from strength to strength in this area. Naturally I am extremely pleased that both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have recognised this and visited King’s recently.

Both, incidentally, emphasised their belief in the importance of developing a global university community, and I am glad that we are taking that forward with a number of international initiatives.

I cannot review College activity for the summer without mentioning the email crash which left us bereft of this vital communication tool for several days in late July. Once again, I apologise to the many members of the College who were inconvenienced by this.

Everything possible has been done to ensure that a prolonged shutdown of this kind cannot happen again.

Lastly, I would like to welcome all new staff and students who join our community this term; in particular, the College has a new Head of Administration/ College Secretary, Ian Creagh, and a new Director of the Graduate School, Vaughan Robinson [see page 14].

I hope that you are ready for what looks like being an exciting year for King’s.

Rick Trainor

Principal’s fora All staff are encouraged to attend these open meetings from 13.00-14.00.

(A sandwich lunch will be provided from 12.30.)

26 October

27 October

30 October 31 October

Classroom G79, Franklin-Wilkins Building, Waterloo Campus Bill Whimster Suite, Weston Education Centre, Denmark Hill Campus Great Hall, Strand Campus Henrietta Raphael Function Room, Guy’s Campus

Degree powers for King’s In July King’s was granted degree-

awarding powers in its own right by the Privy Council. Currently, the College awards degrees of the University of London under a delegated authority as do all other colleges of the University.

The University, which is undergoing a fundamental review of its governance structures, has actively encouraged individual colleges to seek their own degree-

awarding powers and so far King’s, along with the LSE and University College London, has been successful in achieving such powers.

The decision on whether and when the College might introduce these newly acquired powers has yet to be taken and will require further consideration

by Academic Board and the Council.

MP gives keynote address Greg Funnell

Professor Charles Mitchell [left] welcomes Ivan Lewis MP to the College.

On 14 September the School of

Law hosted a conference on Charities and the NHS: A Change of Direction?

More than 100 delegates from health charities and NHS bodies were addressed by a range of speakers from academia and legal practice, on topics including NHS commissioning, Primary Care Trusts, welfare service provision, the role of grantmakers, and

political activities in the health charity sector.

Ivan Lewis MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Services, gave a keynote address, and a concluding speech was delivered by Lindsay Driscoll of the Charity Commission.

The Minister’s responsibilities include social care finance and child and adolescent mental health services.

News

King’s rises through the rankings In recent months King’s has risen through the rankings of a number of influential league tables.

Meteoric rise King’s has leapt spectacularly to

46th place from 73rd in the third edition of The Times Higher World University Rankings. This now puts the College in 12th place in Europe and confirms its position as a centre of global academic excellence.

A centre of global academic excellence The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, comments: ‘I am delighted that King’s is recognised internationally as being on a dynamic upward trajectory. The College’s improved standing reflects the outstanding achievements of colleagues right across the institution. Today higher education is particularly volatile internationally, as indicated by the number of countries represented in the top 200. There is no question that the high ranking of King’s is well deserved, but we should be aware of the growing academic standing of institutions around the world and avoid any complacency.’

The rankings are based on a survey for The Higher of more than 3,700 academics worldwide who

King’s rocks with the best

were asked to identify up to 30 universities best for research in their own field of expertise.

The table also includes data from 736 graduate employers from around the world, as well as the ratio of faculty to student numbers and a university’s success in attracting foreign students and internationally renowned academics. Citations of academic papers are also used as they are regarded as the most reliable measure of a paper’s impact and the intellectual power a university has relative to its size.

The five factors were weighted and transformed into a scale giving the top university 100 points and ranking the others as a proportion of that score. Britain has eight universities in the top 50.

Martin Ince, compiler of the table for The Higher, explains the methodology: ‘Peer review is once again a key criterion in this year’s rankings. But research quality is now gauged on five rather than ten years of citations, making it more topical.’

John O’Leary, Editor of The Higher, comments: ‘The aim is to produce the most expert view of academic strengths rather than an impressionistic verdict on whole universities that might be swayed by outside factors.’ julian anderson

King’s recently topped a light-hearted Times Higher survey of pop stars with university backgrounds. Produced by surveying institutions and scouring the biographies of musicians, the review revealed that higher education is increasingly common among today’s leading music acts. King’s boasts: Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) [pictured], John Deacon (Queen), Richard Coles (Communards), Anne Dudley (Art of Noise), John Evan (Jethro Tull) and Den Hegarty (Darts).

‘At King’s we rock and we rock hard!’ commented a spokesperson.

Law School tops survey In the second National Student

Survey, King’s School of Law has been voted the top UK university law department in terms of student satisfaction. Two other subject areas, Medical Science & Pharmacy and Politics (War Studies), are in the top five for overall student satisfaction.

Of the institutions that took part from the Russell Group, King’s came joint top in terms of overall student satisfaction.

Nationally more than 157,000 students took part in the survey which aims to provide useful information to prospective students. This represents 56 per cent of the 279,000 eligible

students at 145 higher education institutions. At King’s 1,500 finalyear students (62 per cent) voted on six broad areas of learning and teaching in spring of this year.

Professor Phil Whitfield, VicePrincipal (Students), comments: ‘I am delighted that so many King’s students took part and that they voiced a high level of satisfaction with their education.

As a College, and in consultation with our students, we took the results of last year’s survey very seriously. The results this year suggest that some of the consequential changes that we introduced have acted to enhance student satisfaction.’

Shortlisted for best uni King’s was shortlisted for the title

of ‘University of the Year’ in the annual Sunday Times University Guide published on 10 September.

Four other universities, out of the UK’s 120 higher education institutions included in the Guide, were shortlisted.

In the main league table rankings the paper produces,

King’s finished fourth in the capital, and is in 13th position overall in the UK: holding its position nationally for the third successive year.

The results show that King’s enjoys the highest levels of student satisfaction with teaching quality and learning resources of any institution in the capital.

October 2006 | Comment |

News

Byzantine Who’s Who launched naresh verlander

The history of Byzantium, told

through the careers of individuals, is captured in the unique Prosopography of the Byzantine World (PBW). This rich online searchable database (www.pbw.kcl. ac.uk) of more than 10,000 people had its international launch at King’s on 24 August.

A Prosopography is the systematic recording and study of individuals. This way of presenting material tells not just the stories of monarchs and ‘great men’ but of wider social groups as well.

The Prosopography of the Byzantine World is a definitive Who’s Who of the Byzantine world. Professor Charlotte Roueché, Chair of the project, comments: ‘Our goal is to record in a computerised relational database all surviving information

about every individual mentioned in Byzantine sources and every individual mentioned in nonByzantine sources during the same period who is relevant to Byzantine affairs at this time. More importantly, having gathered the information, we want to make it available to as many people as possible, to use however they wish – to investigate their genealogy, or the history of a place, or the details of a historical event.’

The overarching project, sponsored by the British Academy, covers the period 641-1261; this section covers the 11th and early 12th century, a period of dramatic change. It also extends into the history of other people – Normans, Russians, Arabs, Bulgarians, Turks – as individual people passed between these cultures.

From left: Professor Elizabeth Jeffreys (Oxford University), Professor Judith Herrin (King’s), the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, Professor Charlotte Roueché (King’s) and Professor Alice-Mary Talbot, Director of the Centre for Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks (Washington DC).

The Prosopography was developed with the Centre for Computing in the Humanities.

Its launch was the culmination of a week-long series of events for the International Congress of Byzantine Studies which

was attended by more than 1,100 participants from over 30 countries. This year’s theme was ‘Display’ and the opening address, Byzantine Studies on Display, was given by Professor Judith Herrin of King’s.

MA national recognition New health research centre greg funnell

On 7 September Tate & Lyle

From left: Members of the e-learning programme, MA War in the Modern World, Department of War Studies team: Steven Warburton (e-learning Consultant), Anne-Lucie Norton (Director), David Betz (Senior Tutor and Lecturer), Menisha Gor (Administrator), Simon Mahony (Student Support Manager), Sergio Catignani (Tutor and Lecturer), Ivan Zverzhanovksi (Tutor and Lecturer) and Simon Hall (Project Manager).

David Betz, e-Learning Academic

Programme Director for the College’s innovative War in the Modern World MA programme, has won second place in this year’s E-Tutor of the Year Award.

The competition is run by The Times Higher, the Higher Education Academy and the Association for Learning Technology.

War in the Modern World is the College’s first wholly webdelivered MA programme. It is unique in respect of its particular combination of subject matter, | Comment | October 2006

academic rigour and manner of delivery. Launched last year with 34 students, it draws on the expertise of the world-renowned Department of War Studies.

Dr Betz comments: ‘The award is very much a team effort.

An enormous amount of work has gone into establishing the programme.

‘To receive this recognition in our first year is really gratifying because it shows we’re on track.

It gives me confidence that our ambitious plans for MA War in the Modern World are well grounded.’

announced that it will contribute £4.5 million over a five-year period to King’s to set up a new centre for research into the link between nutrition and health.

Collaboration between the company and the College dates back to the 1970s when research by scientists from King’s and Tate & Lyle led to the development of the no-calorie sweetener SPLENDA® Sucralose.

The new ‘Tate & Lyle Health Research Centre’ at King’s will include a clinical research facility (based at St Thomas’) and a carbohydrate nutrition research laboratory (based at the Waterloo Campus).

The research will strengthen understanding of how carbohydrates can promote gut health and how different types of carbohydrate can reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome (the group of disorders associated with heart disease and type II diabetes).

Tate & Lyle’s investment will support new appointments within the Centre, such as a Tate & Lyle

Professor of Nutrition and Health and a Reader in Endocrinology and Diabetes. The Centre will also draw upon the clinical expertise at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

King’s has a strong international reputation for its cross-disciplinary approach to nutrition and health, bringing together expertise in gut health, cardiovascular disease, reproductive health, molecular biology and nutrition.

Current research includes the use of prebiotic carbohydrates to promote gut health and the influence of diet and obesity during pregnancy on the risk of offspring developing high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome.

A strong international reputation The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, commented: ‘This is a big achievement, with important implications academically and as a model for collaboration with a commercial partner.’

Profile

Lawrence Freedman

greg funnell

Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies, and Vice-Principal (Research) was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1995, awarded the CBE in 1996 and knighted in 2003. Here he tells Comment about his career, his research and why he is extremely proud of King’s unique Department of War Studies.

Tell us about your career.

I was educated at Whitley Bay Grammar School and the universities of Manchester, York and Oxford. Before joining King’s I worked in the ‘think-tank’ world, ending up at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

I joined King’s on 1 April 1982 as the Department of War Studies’ fifth member of staff which means I’m now fast approaching my 25th anniversary. I remember my start date well because the next day Argentina invaded the Falklands, so I started off as Professor of War Studies with a real war.

I like combining research with a management role and was Head of Department from 1982 until 1997. Working with great colleagues we were able to build up the Department, and Christopher Dandeker and Brian Holden Reid have since taken it on to its current international strength. Watching its success now gives me a real kick.

When John Reid, as Secretary of State for Defence, gave his keynote speech here in February, I enjoyed seeing the Great Hall filled with War Studies staff and students.

I remember the days when I could fit the Department’s staff, their partners and the students in my back garden!

In 1997 I took a few years leave to write a book on President Kennedy and in the same year was appointed Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign. In 2000 I returned to head up and establish the new School of Social Science & Public Policy. This was quite a challenge as people hadn’t really associated King’s with the social sciences before but I think that we’ve definitely established King’s as a distinctive player in this area.

In 2003 I took up my current role as VicePrincipal (Research). This was a new post created to ensure a joined-up, College-wide approach to research. This is particularly vital in light of the forthcoming Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

the College’s budget but its future reputation.

Our mock RAE is getting underway now so that we can assess the full strength of what the College has to offer. I know some staff are still finishing that last piece of work that can be published in time for the deadline of December 2007. I am sure that we’ve moved on a lot since the last RAE in 2001 but competition between universities is fiercer than ever. For a research-led university like King’s we have to demonstrate that we are working at the highest international level.

The final submission will be made next November. This is the last exercise of its kind so the reputational affect of the RAE results will linger longer than the financial rewards.

I can’t stress enough how important is to the College that we get in the strongest possible submission.

find a settlement after the Argentine invasion.

Once I got going the writing took over and guided the research. I am now finishing the changes for a second edition.

Tell us about your own areas of research.

I have two main strands of interest: strategic theory and contemporary international affairs and conflicts. I really enjoy writing, it gives me a lot of satisfaction. The challenge is to find the time for research.

My most recent books include an Adelphi Paper called The Transformation in Strategic Affairs, a book on deterrence, and the twovolume Official History of the Falklands Campaign which was published in the summer of 2005.

I am currently writing a book on American policy in the Middle East over the last three decades including Iran, Iraq and Israel/ Palestine. I hope to have this finished by next summer. I am also trying to finish a book on strategic studies which I have been struggling with for about a decade.

As well as research, writing and my VP role I still do teach on one Masters course and have quite a few research students. I would like to do more teaching but this isn’t practical at the moment.

How do you unwind outside College?

My wife is a Law Professor at Oxford so part of the challenge is to find time to be together.

We enjoy dining out and going to the theatre with friends. I also like the odd game of tennis and collect books on political cartooning.

When I find the time (which can be during the more boring meetings!) I also enjoy sketching cartoons.

In terms of the RAE what are the key messages?

The purpose of RAE 2008 is to produce quality profiles for each submission of research activity made by higher education institutions. The funding bodies will then use the profiles to determine their research grants with effect from 2009-10. It is vital not only for

How do you begin to undertake a project like the Official History of the Falklands Campaign?

I had written on the subject before and Chris Baxter, a former King’s student, was a very good research assistant. I knew I had to start at a place I could really get my teeth into and for me that was the negotiations on the efforts to

Who inspired you to enter into academia?

I was very lucky with both my PhD supervisors at Oxford. Professor Sir Michael Howard, who created the Department of War Studies and established the Centre for Military Archives at King’s, was one of my supervisors.

I greatly admired his writing and the way he used research as a foundation to comment on contemporary policy. He was a valuable role model, very helpful and very influential in the early stages of my career.

My other supervisor, Philip Williams, also gave me an enormous amount of guidance on how to write in an effective and organised way.

Fact file First job

Temporary teaching assistant at the University of York.

Book on my bedside table

I’ve just finished Imperium by Robert Harris. I read quite widely and enjoy crime novels by authors such as PD James.

Favourite holiday destination

A recent trip to southern Africa taking in Cape Town, Kruger National Park and Victoria Falls was pretty spectacular.

Proudest work moment

Getting knighted and being elected a Fellow of the British Academy are both pretty high up on the list.

October 2006 | Comment |

International

Sino-British partnership Prime Minister Tony Blair and

the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao held a joint press conference at 10 Downing Street on 13 September on closer collaboration between the two countries. One initiative unveiled was a new technology innovation partnership, Innovation China UK (ICUK), in which King’s will play a key role.

This new research and knowledge transfer partnership will fund and support UK and Chinese collaborators to develop and commercialise their joint technology worldwide.

King’s, along with its partners the University of Nottingham, the Royal Veterinary College and the University of Southampton, and led by Queen Mary, University of London, have received a £5 million funding

commitment from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF 3) to commercialise research with a number of Chinese participating institutions.

The Chinese Government is providing a matching financial contribution through its Ministry of Science and Technology in partnership with the Chinese Ministry of Education.

King’s has a broad number of collaborative research interests with Chinese institutions ranging from developing new technologies for treatment of diseases arising from natural products, to pioneering metamorphic mechanisms with potential manufacturing applications, and multi-layer mirror technologies. Projects of this kind will receive a real boost from ICUK.

Mental Health conference

Research colloquia

Dr Richard Overill [pictured], Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, recently gave a series of research colloquia in the Department of Informatics, Tsinghua University, Beijing. While in China he was also able to take up an official invitation from the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province to spend a month at the Chan Wu Gong Fu Academy studying traditional northern Shaolin Kung Fu and Chen style Tai Chi with Sifu (Master) Wang Xing Peng.

MSc student commended Dominic Turner

The Institute of Psychiatry’s

third International Mental Health conference People on the Move, attracted speakers from the Institute and around the world.

It focused on the consequences of displacement due to natural disaster and war, famine, changing land use, political oppression and civil conflict.

Martin Prince, Professor of Epidemiological Psychiatry, commented: ‘The importance of sharing best practice for better mental health provision globally has never been more crucial.

Public health systems in lowincome countries are limited at the best of times when it comes to mental health care and just cannot cope with the extra strain in these complex emergencies.

The fate of the growing numbers of displaced persons is a matter of international concern. Their vulnerability is recognised, but their mental health needs are not being met. Our conference provided the perfect platform for this essential knowledge exchange.’

Dental agreement signed A memorandum of understanding

has been signed between the Dental Institute and the Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry in Japan. The agreement formalises links which have been developed between | Comment | October 2006

researchers over a number of years and will further promote research collaboration in areas of mutual interest such as the basic biology of oral diseases and the development of biologically active materials.

MSc construction law student Cher Cheng Ng [centre right] is congratulated on winning the EC Harris prize by Mr Justice Ramsey [left].

On their recent study visit to

King’s, construction law students from Singapore on the King’s/ National University of Singapore (NUS) Joint MSc programme visited the Technology and Construction Court in Fetter Lane.

Mr Justice Ramsey presented the annual EC Harris prize to Cher Cheng Ng, selected as the best first-year student in 2006. He is a Singaporean civil engineer with a BEng (First Class Honours) from NUS; he works as Senior Development Officer for the Building and Construction Authority in Singapore, who also sponsor him on the MSc.

This MSc programme, the first joint degree at King’s, is taught by The Centre of Construction Law at King’s with the Department of Building, NUS. All the teaching takes place in Singapore except for a summer visit to King’s between the first and second years.

Like students on the similar London MSc, all are already professionally qualified as lawyers, engineers, quantity surveyors, architects or project managers.

They follow the programme part-time over two years, with four taught modules and a final dissertation.

International

East Asian security On 20 September, the Laughton

Naval History Research Unit invited Vice-Admiral Hideaki Kaneda (retired), former Commander in Chief of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Fleet, to the Department of War Studies to deliver the first Laughton Naval History Seminar of this academic year.

A stark portrayal of East Asian security Chaired by the Director of the Unit, Professor Andrew Lambert, the presentation, Japan’s perspective on Missile Defence: Facing Realistic Missile Threats from China and North Korea, provided a stark portrayal of East Asian security. It highlighted the existence of robust missile

arsenals in the region responsible for Japan’s decision to opt for a sophisticated defence posture featuring a missile defence system designed to deter such threats.

Vice-Admiral Kaneda pointed out that because Japan is an island nation its Maritime SelfDefence Force plays a central role in preserving national security.

The sea-based component of the defensive shield is inherently flexible and thus well disposed to addressing a variety of threats.

This in turn ensures it is a valuable instrument of deterrence and key component in future Japanese diplomacy.

The well-attended event was followed by a lively Q&A session with penetrating questions from postgraduate students, academics and experts. Vice-Admiral Kaneda also provided some insights on Japan’s political future as he

Balkan summer school In late August, under the direction

of Jane Sharp, the Centre for Defence Studies (CDS), in partnership with the British Office in Pristina (Kosovo), ran a summer school for advisors and analysts in Vushtri, north of Pristina.

The purpose was to help a target group of young leaders examine and analyse issues of relevance to national security policymaking as Kosovo approaches independence.

The school built on a distance learning programme, devised by CDS Director Dr Peter Neumann and project coordinator David Ucko, which ran in Pristina from May until August, under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Cox, the British Military

Liaison Officer in Kosovo.

Lecturers included scholars and practitioners presenting on topics such as: The Rule of Law (Zoran Pajic); Coping with Transnational Crime (Lindsay Clutterbuck); Parliamentary Oversight of Defence Policy (John Roper); Understanding Putin’s Russia (Janet Gunn); European Security Organisations (Jackie Gower); Strategies for Defusing Cultural Tension (Simon Mundy); Terrorism and Counter-terrorism (Peter Neumann); Police Reform (Annika Hansen); The Transfer of Power: Lessons from East Timor and the Balkans (Richard Caplan); and Minority Rights (Marc Weller).

The Centre has been asked to deliver a similar project in the new year.

South Korean forum Anthea Tinker, Professor of

Social Gerontology, School of Social Science & Public Policy, was one of 12 experts invited by the President of South Korea to speak at an international

policy forum on Low Fertility and an Ageing Society in Seoul in September.

She spoke about the lessons for South Korea of housing policies in the UK.

Vice-Admiral Hideaki Kaneda delivers the first Laughton Naval History Seminar of this academic year.

enjoys a close relationship with former Ambassador Hisahiko Okazaki, an influential figure in Japanese political circles and reportedly ‘the brain’ of Japan’s next Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Following the success of this inaugural seminar, the Unit is sponsoring a series of postgraduate seminars aiming to present some of the latest

research in naval history and encourage debate. A diverse spectrum of themes, of historic and contemporary interest, is addressed by this series. The speakers are drawn from a new generation of scholars in the field and this series is designed as a platform to allow them to present original ideas in an informal environment.

King’s welcomes Masai men elizabeth horn

A group of eight Masai Mara warriors who had never left the Mara before recently stayed at King’s Hampstead Residence for five days. They were in the UK to raise funds for the Sereolipi Nomadic Education Trust to buy an ambulance for their village. While in London they took part in two very successful fund-raising events during which they wore their tribal costumes complete with spears and knives. Susan James, Site Services & Residence Manager at Hampstead, commented: ‘It brought some excitement to the quiet residential streets of Hampstead to see the warriors standing by the side of the road in full ceremonial clothing, awaiting their taxi each morning. It was clearly a surprise to the parents dropping their toddlers off at the local nursery, as well.’

Human rights conference In July, Professor Robert

Wintemute, School of Law, completed more than two years work as Co-President of the Scientific Committee of the largest International Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Human Rights, presented by the 1st World

Outgames. The conference, held in Montréal and offering around 200 workshops to 1,500 participants from more than 100 countries, was opened by Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and closed by Martina Navratilova.

October 2006 | Comment |

Focus

The Randall Division The Randall Division of Cell & Molecular Biophysics carries forward the tradition of Biophysics at King’s established by Sir John Randall in 1946, which produced the Nobel Prize-winning studies of the structure of DNA by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins in the early 1950s.

M

kate kirwan

uch of this early work was

supported by the Medical Research Council, which still provides about half of the Division’s total research income of £11.5 million. Current research in the Randall is at the interface between the health, biomedical and physical sciences, developing new techniques for application in biology and medicine.

The Randall’s Director is Professor Malcolm Irving FRS FKC, who joined the MRC Cell Biophysics Unit at King’s in 1982.

The Division occupies new laboratories on the third floor of New Hunt’s House on the Guy’s Campus.

About 120 staff and postgraduate students work in six research groups: Muscle Biophysics; Cell Motility & Cytoskeleton; Muscle Signalling & Development; Cell Imaging; Structural Biology, and Allergy & Asthma, with many cross-group collaborations and shared facilities. Randall staff contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in the School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, mainly through co-membership of the Department of Biochemistry and also to preclinical teaching in the School of Medicine.

Interdisciplinary ‘Our research has a strong interdisciplinary flavour,’ Professor Irving says. ‘We have joint appointments and extensive collaborations with the divisions of Asthma, Allergy & Lung Biology; Cancer Studies; Cardiovascular, and Developmental Neurobiology. We contribute expertise in molecular and cell biology, molecular structure, and molecular cell imaging to these and other areas of research in the Health Schools.’

Among the Randall’s interdisciplinary research projects is that of Professor Mathias Gautel (also a member of the Cardiovascular Division) with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Hamburg, which has shed new light on the inner workings of the muscle proteins on the control of muscle development.

In a paper published in Nature earlier this year Professor Gautel described the complicated molecular acrobatics which create anchor posts for the muscle ‘piston packs’ or sarcomeres. Part of this process involves a vital ‘muscle marshall’ called titin becoming interlocked with another protein called telethonin.

10 | Comment | October 2006

From left: Professor Brian Sutton, Professor Tony Ng and Professor Mathias Gautel, set against a background of scientific images taken in the Randall Division.

‘Titin comes into play before we even take our first breath,’ Professor Gautel points out.

‘We need it to make the heart muscle work efficiently while in the womb and beyond.

It might not exactly be the key to life but it certainly keeps the lock well oiled.’

Dimbleby Chair Tony Ng, who was appointed to the Richard Dimbleby Chair of Cancer Research in November 2004, has been working on cancer cell motility and imaging. ‘Malignant cancers kill people primarily because they invade and spread (metastasise) to distant organs,’ Professor Ng explains. ‘Advances in surgical techniques mean that tumours arise in relatively few places from which they cannot be excised successfully. However, should the cancer spread before the operation, then the patient’s outlook is substantially poorer than it would be if the tumour remained localised.

‘The chief focus of my group has been on how to utilise our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms that control cancer cell spread, in order to design specific targeting approaches, using chemical compounds or gene-based therapeutic approaches.’

Because of the multidisciplinary nature of his research, Professor Ng collaborates with mathematicians, physicists, chemists and clinical oncologists.

Allergy Brian Sutton, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, leads the IgE research programme within the Randall Division, part of the recently established MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

‘IgE is the antibody associated with all allergic conditions, from seasonal hay fever to food allergies and severe asthma,’ Professor Sutton says.

‘My group determined the threedimensional structure of IgE by X-ray crystallography, and this has since led to new approaches to design inhibitors of IgE that prevent it from triggering allergic reactions.

‘In collaboration with Professor Hannah Gould, I am seeking to understand and even visualise (using ultra-high resolution microscopy techniques being developed at the Randall by Dr Rainer Heintzmann) the recombination events in the DNA of antibody-producing cells that causes them to switch to making potentially harmful IgE rather than normal protective antibodies.’

Research in the Randall Division illustrates the effectiveness of broad-based collaborations between physical scientists, molecular and cell biologists and clinical scientists in creating new approaches to medical therapy.

Flashback

Alumni from the Archives A recent exhibition by Katie Mooney of the College’s Archives staff featured some of the more quirky, famous and notorious people who have studied at King’s and its incorporated institutions.

Fougasse (Cartoonist and journal editor) (Cyril) Kenneth Bird (1887-1965) studied engineering at King’s between 1904 and 1908. Bird began to draw cartoons for Punch in 1916 under the pseudonym Fougasse, and is well known for his work for the Ministry of Information during World War II, including the series of ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ posters which imagined Hitler listening in to conversations on British buses and other places. Bird was an active member of the College Engineering Society and provided charming drawings of Reggie, the College mascot, for Engineering Society and other College events.

Quentin Crisp (Writer, model and raconteur) Crisp (1908-99) was born Denis Charles Pratt and studied journalism at King’s between 1926 and 1928. He failed to complete his final year and drifted into life as a prostitute.

In 1931 he changed his name to Quentin Crisp, alluding to the care he took with his appearance. In the 1970s he became a gay icon after the publication of his memoir The Naked Civil Servant, which expressed his defiant exhibitionism and long-standing refusal to conceal his homosexuality. In 1981 he moved to New York. He died in 1999 in Britain just

before embarking on a tour of his one-man show. Crisp can be found under his original name in the College Calendar for 1927-8.

James Barry (Medical officer) James Barry (c1799-1865) was probably baptised as Margaret. From the age of ten Barry dressed and presented herself as a man, but the woman who laid out her corpse declared that Barry was female. In 1812 Barry became a pupil dresser at St Thomas’ Hospital, half a century before women could openly qualify as doctors. S/he became an Army medical officer and was posted around the world. In 1826 Barry performed a successful caesarean section in Cape Town, seven years before this operation was successfully carried out in Britain. The Archives have a register with Barry’s signature showing attendance at anatomy lectures at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1812.

Greer Garson (Film actress) Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson (1904-96) studied at King’s from 1923 to 1926, after her mother refused her permission to apply for RADA. An academic career seemed likely until she began acting in amateur productions while studying at the University of Grenoble. Garson’s starring roles included those in Pride and Prejudice and Mrs Miniver. She received seven Oscar nominations and was awarded a CBE in 1993.

Also famous on the screen a little earlier than Garson was Boris Karloff (1887-1969, born William Henry Pratt), who studied for the consular service at King’s in 1906 and went on to achieve fame as the Monster in the 1931 film of Frankenstein.

Napoleon IV (Prince Imperial) Cartoon by Kenneth Bird (‘Fougasse’) for the menu of the College’s 100th anniversary dinner in 1928. Ref: K/CEN.

Eugène Louis John Joseph Napoléon (1856-79) was exiled to England from France with other members of his family and took

a course in elementary physics at King’s in 1871-2. His tutor complained about the way the King’s students ‘whistled incessantly’, but the Prince described the College as ‘a nest of blackbirds’. He served as an officer in the British Army and volunteered for the British expedition to Zululand. While out on reconnaissance he was speared to death. His death sent shock waves throughout Europe because he was the last dynastic hope for the restoration of the Bonaparte family to the throne of France.

Thomas Neill Cream (Poisoner) Cream (1850-92) first studied medicine in Canada and then at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School from 1876 to 1878.

His wife (whom he had married in a shotgun wedding before coming to London) died in suspicious circumstances in 1877, having taken medicine that he had sent her. After practising as a doctor in London, Ontario and Chicago, in 1892 Cream was charged and found guilty of the murder of three prostitutes in London and the attempted murder of Louisa Harris. He was hanged on 15 November 1892.

A photograph of Thomas Neill Cream recently discovered in the College Archives. Ref: TH/PH8/17.

William Schwenck Gilbert (Dramatist and librettist) Gilbert (1836-1911), the ‘words’ half of Gilbert and Sullivan, studied at King’s from 1853 to 1857. He began to collaborate with the composer Arthur Sullivan in the late 1870s on a string of successful operettas including HMS Pinafore, The Mikado and The Yeoman of the Guard.

While at King’s he helped to temporarily change the College Engineering Society into a ‘Shakespearean Reading and Dramatic Society’. The Society’s minute book shows the meeting in October 1855 where the decision was made to change its name.

For more information about the College Archives visit: www.kcl.ac.uk/archives October 2006 | Comment | 11

King’s people Awards Fellow of the British Academy

Fellows In May a Graduation Ceremony was held at the Joint Services Command Staff College, Shrivenham (where the Defence Studies Department is based) and in July six took place at the Barbican Centre. More than 2,400 students from across the College took part. Chairman of Council, Baroness Rawlings, and the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, also awarded seven Fellowships and one Honourary Fellowship.

Fellowships

Avshalom Caspi, Professor of

Personality Development at the Institute of Psychiatry, is one of 34 academics who have been awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the British Academy, the national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.

British Academy Fellowships are awarded to scholars who have ‘attained distinction in any of the branches of study which it is the object of the Academy to promote’.

Professor Caspi, a member of the MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, is internationally renowned for his research, perhaps best known for his work on factors relating to the development of antisocial behaviour in adolescents.

‘This is a terrific honour,’ says Professor Caspi. ‘I believe that I am, in fact, the fifth member of the Centre to be awarded an FBA. We have a very exciting department that is unique in bringing together social and behavioural scientists with medical scientists.’

In March, Professor Caspi was awarded a prestigious Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award for further research into genetics and stress.

12 | Comment | October 2006

all photos by Ede and Ravenscroft

Ms Brigid Brown, Treasurer/Secretary of the Friends of King’s Association (USA) since 1998.

Professor Adrian Hayday, Head of the Division of Immunology Infection and Inflammatory Diseases, and Kay Glendinning Professor of Immunobiology.

Professor Malcolm Irving FRS, Director, Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, and Professor of Biophysics.

Professor Noreen Murray, Emeritus Professor of Molecular Genetics, University of Edinburgh, a graduate of the College and loyal supporter of King’s.

Professor Geoffrey Till, former student and Dean of Academic Studies, Defence Studies Department.

His Honour Judge Toulmin, a member of College Council since 1997.

Professor Nairn Wilson, Dean and Head of the Dental Institute and Professor of Restorative Dentistry.

The College’s coat of arms.

Honourary Fellowship

Sir William Castell, Chairman of the Board of Governors of The Wellcome Trust.

King’s people Top environmental prize Professor Michael Redclift is

the world’s first recipient of the Frederick H Buttel International Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Environmental Sociology.

The award, new from the International Sociological Association, aims to recognise ‘distinguished scholarship in environmental sociology’. After an extensive selection procedure, Michael Redclift, Professor of International Environmental Policy, was elected as the inaugural winner of the first Frederick H Buttel Award.

Arthur Mol, President of the Research Committee on Environment and Society, International Sociological Association, said that Professor Redclift was a well-deserved winner from a strong set of candidates.

On hearing that he had won Professor Redclift commented: ‘Fred Buttel was a pioneer in a relatively new and increasingly important field of the social sciences – international environmental policy. I am honoured to be given this recognition in his name, as he was a good friend, a great scholar and an innovative scientist.’

Shortlisted for THES Award Dr James Rubin, an outstanding

young academic who was awarded his PhD just two years ago, has been shortlisted for the Young Researcher of the Year Award in the prestigious Times Higher Awards.

Frederick Buttel was an eminent American sociologist who died last year after devoting much of his professional life, at Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin, to the development of international environmental policy.

Professor Redclift has undertaken research in Spain, Latin America and the UK. His research interests include sustainable development, global environmental change, environmental security and the modern food system. He was the first Director of the Global Environmental Change programme of the ESRC between 1990 and 1995.

A lecturer in Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Dr Rubin has unravelled the mystery behind why some people report painful symptoms when they use a mobile phone.

Working at the Mobile Phones Naresh Verlander

Research Unit at King’s, Dr Rubin has devised a simple experiment to show that electrosensitivity – in which people in contact with weak electromagnetic fields report discomfort – is not a physiological problem but rather a psychological one.

Dr Rubin exposed people who reported sensitivity to mobile phone signals to a device with a pulsing mobile phone signal, a non-pulsing signal or no signal. Volunteers reported severe symptoms in all three cases, lending weight to the psychological explanation for the phenomenon.

His findings demonstrated that innocuous exposures can produce a ‘reverse placebo effect’ and received widespread media coverage.

He now has funding to replicate and extend his work to test whether a similar explanation of his results has beneficial effects for his original volunteers. He would also like to look at whether treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy can help people with the symptoms they experience.

In July Dr Rubin was the winner of the Young Researcher of the Year in the College’s Annual Award Scheme.

The Times Higher Awards were established last year to reward the huge contribution British universities make to the economic and cultural health of the country.

The award ceremony will take place on 15 November.

Young Investigator Award Shuiping Jiang was recently

presented with a Young Investigator Award and a cheque for $1,000 by The American Society of Transplantation, The American Society of Transplant Surgeons and The International Transplantation Society at the World Transplant Congress 2006 in Boston.

These annual awards recognise young professionals (under the age of 40) working in the field of organ transplantation.

Shuiping is a Research Fellow in Vice-Principal (Health) Professor Robert Lechler’s group in the Department of Nephrology & Transplantation.

His research focus is towards adoptive cell therapy using CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells as individualised medicine to promote clinical transplantation tolerance. He is the recipient of a Basic Science Research Fellowship from the British Heart Foundation.

Harold Johns Medal

An international award which recognises scientists who have distinguished themselves through excellence in teaching and international education leadership has been presented to King’s academic Dr Slavik Tabakov. The award, which is made triennially, has never before been given to a UK scientist.

At the World Congress in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, held recently, the International Organisation for Medical Physics (IOMP) presented its Harold Johns Medal to Dr Slavik Tabakov, Director of the MSc Programme for Medical Engineering and Physics, School of Medicine.

‘I am delighted to have been awarded the Harold Johns Medal.

It reflects the continuing strong focus and leading position of the Department of Medical Engineering and Physics on education and training in medical physics and clinical engineering,’ comments Dr Tabakov.

Dr Tabakov has developed and led six international projects in Medical Physics Education and Training, which were instrumental in the introduction of e-Learning in Medical Physics.

The results of these projects are October 2006 | Comment | 13

King’s people now used globally and King’s now has a leading role in this field.

Dr Tabakov has also taken an active role in the organisation and delivery of more than 50 Medical Physics courses around the world.

[Find out more about the MSc on page 19.]

Quality Practice Award King’s Health Centre has been awarded a Quality Practice Award from the Royal College of General Practitioners.

This is the first time a student health centre has attained this award in the UK. There are currently 10,000 practices in the UK and King’s is the 80th to achieve this status.

‘This award reflects the contribution and commitment of the staff who work together as a team to provide this service to the College,’ said Dr Derek Chase, principal GP and lead practitioner.

The Health Centre is an NHS practice, which provides healthcare for College students and staff.

The Royal College of General Practitioners is the academic organisation in the UK for general practitioners. Its aim is to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of general practitioners on education, training and standards issues.

Director of Graduate School On 1 September Professor Vaughan Robinson took up his appointment as the first Director of the Graduate School. He joins the College from the University of Swansea where he played a leading role in establishing and running their Graduate School.

He was also Head of Quality for the School.

The Graduate School, established in September 2005, will co-ordinate all aspects of postgraduate provision in the University and ensure that the needs of postgraduates are heard at all levels of decisionmaking. It will also ensure that good practice is identified, disseminated and rewarded.

Professor Robinson comments: ‘I am delighted to have been offered the opportunity to contribute to King’s drive to become a world-class university. There is already much good practice across the Schools and we now need to build on this to achieve consistent and guaranteed excellence. I am looking forward to being the catalyst for this process and building up a team of people to implement our ambitious goals.’

The two immediate priorities for Professor Robinson in

Lambeth Degrees The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, recently presided over a Lambeth Degree ceremony in Lambeth Palace Chapel where he awarded seven degrees, including one to former College organist and Director of the King’s College Choir and King’s Fellow Ernie Warrell.

Mr Warrell was awarded the degree in recognition of over

14 | Comment | October 2006

40 years’ contribution to church music through conducting, performing, running the choir of King’s and training organ scholars and clergy in liturgical singing.

Mr Warrell was a professional church musician for nearly 70 years and spent much of his career at King’s and within the Diocese of Southwark. He joined King’s as a Lecturer in Music in 1953. (He retired in 1991.)

The Lambeth Degree is an academic award. Candidates are exempt from both residential and examination requirements and the awards are made on merit in recognition of recipients contribution to religious, academic and public life. Lambeth Degrees can be awarded in Divinity, Law, Arts, Literature, Medicine and Music.

Greg Funnell

his new role are: enhancing the marketing, recruitment and admissions strategies for postgraduate (research) students; and expanding and developing the training provision.

He continues: ‘We want the Graduate School to support all those in the College involved in postgraduate education: students, supervisors, and administrators alike. Our job is to make it easier for all to excel, without over-regulation.’

Vaughan Robinson, DPhil, MA, read Geography at Oxford before joining Swansea University in 1982 as a Lecturer.

In 2003 he was appointed Professor of Human Geography.

Jean Monnet Chair Law Professor Sir Francis Jacobs was recently awarded the Jean Monnet Chair ad personam.

This is a symbolic term corresponding to a full-time teaching post in the field of European integration studies.

Funded by the European Commission, the ad personam is awarded to professors showing evidence of European commitment recognised by the academic world at both national and international levels.

Sir Francis, a former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice of the European Committee and a member of the Privy Council, has recently joined the team of professors teaching the LLM in European Law at King’s.

Appointments Chief Information Officer Karen Stanton has been appointed

as Chief Information Officer and College Librarian. In these roles, she will have responsibility for Information Services and Systems, and Management Information Systems.

Karen is currently Chief Information Officer at the University of Nottingham, where she is responsible for over 400 staff.

At Nottingham she successfully led the convergence of Library Services and IT into a single directorate, and recently established the library and IT infrastructure of the university’s international campuses in Malaysia and China.

Karen has also previously held senior positions in the Information Services directorates of Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Birmingham. She will take up her post at King’s at the beginning of 2007.

The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, commented: ‘I am delighted to welcome Karen to King’s. She has an outstanding record in her field and I look forward to working closely with her and building on the strong record of achievement in ISS at King’s. I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Patricia Methven who has managed the directorate so well in an acting capacity over the past months.’

Honorary Professor Lord Harries of Pentregarth, former

Bishop of Oxford and past Dean of King’s and interim Chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, has been appointed as King’s first Honorary Professor of Theology. He will give occasional lectures and undertake research.

Lord Harries retired as Bishop of Oxford on 2 June 2006 after 19 years in office. He was made a Life Peer upon retirement and sits as a cross-bencher.

Before that he had been Dean of King’s since 1981, and was the first Dean after the re-merger of the Theology Faculty with the rest of the College and the end

King’s people frank blackwell, oxford diocesan publications ltd

Promotions

Listed below are details of promotions across all Schools, effective from 1 September 2006.

of the provision of training for the Anglican priesthood. As a result, he was responsible for forging the new role of the Dean in the contemporary life of King’s today. He was elected a Fellow of King’s in 1983.

Lord Harries says of his new appointment: ‘I am delighted to be reconnected to King’s and look forward to being part of its distinguished Theology Department.’

Farewell Becky Williams

Promotion to Professor

Dr Anne Goldgar, Reader in Early

Dr Adam Hasan, Periodontology &

Dr David Armstrong, Professor of

Modern History Dr David Green, Reader in Human Geography Dr Catherine Hawrylowicz, Reader in Asthma, Allergy & Respiratory Science Dr Saul Kelly, Reader in International History Dr Richard Kirkland, Reader in Irish Literature Dr Morven Leese, Reader in Medical Statistics Dr Bruce Malamud, Reader in Natural & Environmental Hazards Dr Paul McCrone, Reader in Health Economics Dr Paul Mitchell, Reader in Law Dr Carla Molteni, Reader in Physics Dr Vanessa Munro, Reader in Law Dr Mark Pelling, Reader in Human Geography Dr Martyn Sherriff, Reader in Dental Materials Science Dr Ishtla Singh, Reader in English Language & Linguistics Dr Alberto Smith, Reader in Vascular Science Dr Nicholas Thomas, Reader in Haematological Oncology

Preventive Dentistry Mrs Jane Henderson, School of Law Dr Susan Howell, St John’s Institute of Dermatology Dr Guo Cai Huang, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Internal Medicine Dr Ian Kinchin, King’s Institute of Learning & Teaching Dr John Lavagnino, Centre for Computing in the Humanities Mr Simon Lygo-Baker, King’s Institute of Learning & Teaching Dr Francesco Mannocci, Conservative Dentistry Dr Ian McBride, Department of History Dr Matthew Morrissey, Department of Physiotherapy Dr Mohammad Nakhai, Department of Electronic Engineering Dr Rebecca Oakey, Department of Medical & Molecular Genetics Dr Barry Panaretou, Department of Biochemistry Dr George Papadakis, Department of Mechanical Engineering Dr Stewart Paterson, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics Dr Stephen Pratten, Department of Management Dr Mike Raco, Department of Geography Dr Richard Samuels, Department of Philosophy Dr Kim Soin, Department of Management Dr Jane Sturges, Department of Management Dr Alexander Türk, School of Law Dr Steven Wainwright, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery Dr Mary Webb, Department of Education & Professional Studies Dr Claire White, Department of Physiotherapy Dr Wuding Zhou, Department of Nephrology & Transplantation

Medicine & Sociology Dr Richard Brown, Professor in Neuropsychology & Clinical Neuroscience Dr Arthur Burns, Professor of Modern British History Dr Diana Coben, Professor of Adult Numeracy Dr Christopher Corrigan, Professor of Asthma, Allergy & Respiratory Science Dr Theo Farrell, Professor of War in the Modern World Dr Patrick Ffrench, Professor of French Dr Michael Hurley, Professor of Physiotherapy Dr Veena Kumari, Professor in Experimental Psychology Dr Nikolaos Mavromatos, Professor of Theoretical Physics Dr Andrew McKie, Professor of Iron Metabolism Dr George Papadopoulos, Professor of Theoretical Physics Dr John Rees, Professor of Medical Education Dr Ulrike Schmidt, Professor in Eating Disorders Dr Mahvash Tavassoli, Professor of Molecular Oncology Dr Christopher Winch, Professor of Educational Philosophy & Policy

Becky Williams, Director of

Promotion to Reader

Development, has left King’s to join the Tate as Development Director.

Becky spent eight years at King’s where she was responsible for the College’s most successful capital campaign, which raised over £40 million.

Plans are underway to launch a more ambitious campaign and the College is in the process of recruiting a Development Director.

‘We are very sorry to lose such an outstanding colleague but she leaves for one of the most prestigious fundraising jobs in the UK and this reflects the College’s excellent reputation in this field,’ commented Caroline Usher, Director, External Relations.

Dr Christopher Abbott, Reader in

E-Inclusion Dr Peter Adamson, Reader in

Philosophy Dr Jennifer Beecham, Reader in

Mental Health Economics Dr Anthony Cleare, Reader in Affective Disorders Dr Philip Eaton, Reader in Cardiovascular Chemical Biology Dr Anthony Edwards, Reader in International Human Resource Management Dr Robyn Fairman, Reader in Risk Management Dr Michael Fenlon, Reader in Prosthodontics Dr Maribel Fernandez, Reader in Computer Science

Promotion to Senior Lecturer Dr Kasper Althoefer, Department

of Mechanical Engineering Dr Tanya Aplin, School of Law Dr Louise Barriball, Primary & Intermediate Care Dr Mark Betz, Film Studies Programme Dr Hugh Bowden, Classics Department Dr Robert Brooks, Department of Anatomy & Human Sciences Dr Alison Cave, Department of Cardiology Dr Colin Cooper, Department of Computer Science Dr Barbara Daniel, Department of Forensic Science & Drug Monitoring Mr Justin Dillon, Department of Education & Professional Studies Dr Peter Duncan, Department of Education & Professional Studies Dr Elaine Gill, Medical Education

This information was supplied by the Personnel and Training Department.

October 2006 | Comment | 15

Around the College

Time Team: the Windsor dig Over the August Bank Holiday

the Channel 4 archaeological series, Time Team, was allowed access to three royal residences: Buckingham Palace, Holyrood and Windsor Castle. David Carpenter, Professor of Medieval History, was involved with the Windsor dig.

At Windsor the objective was twofold: in the upper ward, it was to find evidence for the Round Table, the circular structure built

by Edward III in the 1340s to house a new chivalric order of 300 knights. In the lower ward, the aim was to discover evidence for the Great Hall. Records showed that in 1223 this had been rebuilt on earlier foundations by the

minority government of Henry III, but all signs above ground had vanished.

‘Time for the investigations was short,’ said Professor Carpenter.

‘The trenches were not opened until Saturday morning and they had to be closed the following Tuesday. Despite these constraints the dig was a success and both objectives were achieved. Two major reports will be published which will transform all future writing about the medieval castle.

‘My role was to help put the dig in its historical context. I also became increasingly involved in checking through documentary evidence for the whereabouts

New memorial sculpture

and nature of the Great Hall.

In the end, a trench, opened on the last day, revealed the foundations of the Hall just where

the documents suggested they should be – a good example of how the disciplines of history and archaeology work together.’

Nursing reconsidered Professor Sioban Nelson,

Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, recently gave the (Nursing & Midwifery) Dean’s Lecture at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, titled The Complexities of Care: nursing reconsidered. She challenged nurses to abandon images of hearts and angels, and argued that they need to learn to think and talk about their knowledge and work in more accurate and helpful ways. She also called on nurses to openly address the way healthcare costcutting has radically transformed

Professor Sioban Nelson, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto.

patient care and to frankly confront the impact of this on nursing practice. The lecture also asserted the importance of nurses’ work and the need to communicate this.

Know No Limits visit Seventy Year 11 students from

The recently installed Children’s Memorial Sculpture, located outside the Henrietta Raphael Building, Guy’s Campus was commissioned by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity three years ago. It provides a space for contemplation and remembrance. Artist, Carol Misch designed a granite circle, in the centre of which sit three glass columns, each the size of a child, facing one another, and each with a broken edge and a DNA spiral running through the centre, the symbol of eternal life. The sculpture is lit from beneath at night to allow for people to visit the site at any time.

16 | Comment | October 2006

22 schools across Southwark and Lambeth attended a twoday ‘Know No Limits’ visit to the Institute of Psychiatry in September, designed to encourage them to consider higher education.

A parallel aim was to enable students to gain greater insight into what happens in their local mental health trust and dispel any misconceptions they might have about people living with a mental illness. The pupils, aged between

15 and 16, listened to a number of talks and met King’s students and also individuals who have experienced psychiatric problems.

Professor Ian Campbell, Sub Dean of the Institute and one of the organisers of the visit, commented: ‘We are aware that these young people are all in their last year of GCSEs and will soon be making crucial decisions about which subjects to study at A level.

We hope that in the future some of the students will pursue careers in mental health.’

Around the College

University Prelude summer school Pete Millson

British Airways London Eye), and a debate on ‘Opera is an Elitist Art Form Past its Sell-by Date’ judged by Dr Jonathan Garton, Department of Law, and Dr Ruth Adams, Cultural and Creative Industries. The academics involved were all impressed with the standards of enquiry and debate.

‘A very useful insight into life at King’s’

A-level students from London

schools and colleges experienced a range of activities in a ‘University Prelude’ summer school held at the Strand Campus and the Royal Opera House (ROH).

At King’s they tasted both

work and play in the life of a Humanities undergraduate, with a wide range of activities, including a lecture from Dr Tony Edwards, Department of Business Management, a topical reflection on 14 July from Dr John Stuart, Department of History (aloft the

Knife crime: new report

The highlight of the students’ time in Covent Garden was a performance of Turandot, where they were joined by Professor Keith Hoggart, Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences), and other King’s staff and students.

The students were enthusiastic about their experience. One commented: ‘They [the student ambassadors] have given me a very useful insight into life at King’s and course options. The opera was magnificent and breathtaking.

I also loved being part of the debate and putting forward my arguments.’

King’s collaboration with the Royal Opera House began in 2004. Since then ROH Education and King’s Marketing Department’s Widening Participation Office have worked together on numerous events and activities for children, young people and teachers.

This summer school was part of the Marketing-funded Gifted and Talented Programme, collaborative events run by Undergraduate Marketing and Widening Participation. Other activities in this programme included a teachers’ seminar and two ‘University for a Day’ events.

The Marketing Department has devised this new programme specifically to improve King’s profile amongst, and attract applications from, the cohort of state school and college students who are gifted and talented. The aim is to recruit a greater number of students from groups underrepresented in higher education.

Three Campus walks cecilia cockburn

The Government lacks a coherent

evidence-based strategy for dealing with knife carrying and knife-related offences, according to a new report published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS), an independent charity based at King’s.

The report, Knife Crime: Ineffective reactions to a distracting problem? A review of evidence and policy, says that there is a lack of knowledge about the carrying and use of knives and the motivations for this behaviour. Furthermore, there is insufficient evidence that a knife amnesty or harsher sentences for carrying knives and knife-related offences will decrease the level of knife use and carrying.

Report author, Chris Eades, CCJS Policy and Information Officer, said: ‘If the goal of criminal justice policy is to reduce

the number of victims and the harm they suffer, we should look at the root causes – the inclination or desire to resort to violence.’

Richard Garside, CCJS Acting Director, added: ‘Knives are but one means by which people assault and injure one another. We need to address why individuals get into violent confrontations with each other, and not simply fixate on the weapons they use.’

Enver Solomon, CCJS Deputy Director, discussed the report on Radio 4’s Today programme.

Their research was the lead story in The Times and was covered by all the national newspapers. Chris Eades was interviewed by the BBC, Channel 5, and Sky for their news programmes and spoke to a variety of national and local radio stations including Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales and the BBC Asian Network.

Martin Harvey, Site Services Manager (Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Waterloo Campuses) and London Blue Badge Guide, provides staff with some fascinating historical stories on one of the three recent Three Campus walks between the Strand, Waterloo and Guy’s Campuses. More than 120 staff took part in these popular events which provided the opportunity to meet new colleagues and learn something new about London’s history.

October 2006 | Comment | 17

Around the College

News in brief email policy On 14 June Academic Board approved a wide-ranging email policy. To promote awareness of this policy ISS recently ran a series of roadshows across the College. Staff were encouraged to drop in to ask questions about the policy and attend short presentations outlining some of the main points of the policy. The roadshows were well attended and all comments and issues raised will be fed back for a policy review in June 2007.

The policy can be found at: www.kcl.ac.uk/college/policyzone/ attachments/emailpolicy.pdf

health schools roadshows Robert Lechler’s termly Campus roadshows about strategic developments in relation to research and teaching and also Campusspecific news will take place from 12.30-13.30 on the following dates: 17 november (Lecture Theatre G16, James Clerk Maxwell Building, Waterloo Campus), 27 november (Lecture Theatre 2, New Hunt’s House, Guy’s Campus) and 4 december (Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Institute

Air quality monitoring site

of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill Campus).

Guy’s and st Thomas’ Charity Patrick Disney, has been elected as the new Chairman of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, succeeding Sir Tim Chessells, who stood down after 10 years as Chairman at the end of September. He has been a Trustee of the Charity since February 2000 and is Managing Director of SEI Investments (Europe). He is also a member of College Council.

exhibition: medicine embodied An exhibition entitled Medicine embodied is running in the Weston Room, Maughan Library & Information Services Centre, Chancery Lane, until Friday 15 December. Drawing on a wealth of printed material from the historical collection of St Thomas’ Hospital (housed in the Foyle Special Collections Library since 2002), the exhibition explores the complex history of man’s understanding of the relationship between the body and medicine. Entry to the exhibition is free for College staff.

Graduate Prospectus 2007 institutions worldwide.

There have been a number of improvements this year including a new design with a striking cover showing the view from Waterloo Bridge, more profiles of staff and students, an expanded contents spread making it easier to find programmes of interest and mini-indexes at the start of each section.

Staff can order boxes of the prospectus online by visiting

£90,000 worth of cabin and air monitoring equipment is safely lowered into position.

The envIrOnmenTal researCh

Group recently took delivery of London’s newest air quality monitoring site. The site is funded by Transport for London and is located on the north approach to the Blackwall Tunnel. It is designed to detect changes in transport emissions as a consequence of changes in London’s vehicle fleet arising from the proposed Low Emission Zone.

In addition to measuring the statutory pollutants the monitoring site will make measurements that are especially sensitive to changes in vehicle emissions. These include

counts of airborne particles and automated measurements of black smoke.

In response to recent research findings the site will take measurements to allow the quantification of primary emissions of NO2. New automated techniques will also be used to measure the mass concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 particulate.

The new site is part of a wider programme which includes new equipment at existing monitoring sites along the North Circular, Woolwich Flyover and other parts of London’s trunk road network.

Bikeathon success

www.kcl.ac.uk/staff/prosporders.html

The GraduaTe PrOsPeCTus 2007

has been printed, copies delivered to King’s and more than 3,000 sent to relevant libraries and 1 | Comment | October 2006

Copies are also available on receptions. Please email olivia.davenport@kcl.ac.uk with any feedback. The prospectus was designed by design agency Blast.

For the second year running a team of cyclists [from left: Jamie Bell, simon lea, mark rosser and richard magowan] from the Strand estates Department completed the London Bikeathon, raising £500 for Leukaemia research. Despite the extreme temperature richard Magowan, who organised the team, managed to set a pace that stretched the young apprentices.

Around the College

The Big Draw King’s Strand Campus and

Somerset House were the joint venues hosting ‘Amazing Space’, the national launch of this year’s Big Draw season celebrating drawing and architecture.

On Sunday 24 September a programme of inspirational activities explored the extraordinary spaces of these buildings. Around 6,000 people attended the event and more than 1,600 took part in activities in King’s buildings. Four staff and seven students gave their time on the day to help ensure everything ran smoothly.

World-renowned architect, Lord Norman Foster launched one of the day’s first workshops with a public talk, on his personal experience of drawing and its role in his career, in the College’s new

South Range Lecture Theatre.

This was followed by Big Draw patron and one of the UK’s best known illustrators, Quentin Blake, presenting his experiences of Amazing Spaces.

The Chapel hosted the Elevating Spaces event led by Peter Jarvis. Participants were invited to draw from observation in the splendour of this ornate Victorian chapel.

In some of the other activities, Gerald Scarfe, Posy Simmonds, Zandra Rhodes, Michael Foreman, and Andrew Logan joined other top ‘drawers’ to contribute epic sketches to a giant picture frame throughout the day.

The Big Draw – now in its seventh year – is the annual showpiece of The Campaign for Drawing, which aims to get

Partnership with breast cancer charity

naresh verlander

Children helped artist Steven Follen cover the Quad at the Strand Campus with designs and patterns reflecting what they had seen and enjoyed at the Big Draw.

everyone drawing and to prove that drawing can be a public activity as well as a private

passion. More than 1,000 Big Draw events have taken place across the UK during October.

MSc celebrates ten years

King’s has recently been awarded

a Knowledge Transfer Partnership award to work with leading cancer charity, Breast Cancer Care (BCC).

Led by Dr Emma Ream and Professor Alison Richardson, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, the award from the Department of Trade and Industry and BCC will fund a graduate to explore potential barriers to people accessing the services provided

by Breast Cancer Care, especially among groups such as older people, people from black and minority ethnic groups and those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds who are not currently fully utilising services such as the helpline. It will also help identify possible methods for increasing the reach of the organisation.

The two-year partnership with King’s will enable the charity to redress this balance with expert academic input. Christine Fogg, Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Care, commented: ‘We

From left: Dr Emma Ream, Karen Scanlon, Research and Evaluation Manager at Breast Cancer Care, and Professor Alison Richardson.

are delighted to have won this prestigious award with King’s and anticipate it will lead to further strategically important collaboration with the School of Nursing & Midwifery.’

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships is a national programme that helps businesses, charities and other organisations to improve their effectiveness through accessing the skills and knowledge of higher education institutions.

King’s has a successful track record of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships in the engineering sector, and more recently has built a successful partnership

This year King’s MSc programme in Medical Engineering & Physics, School of Medicine, celebrates the graduation of its tenth cohort of students. Hospital trainees, students, lecturers and collaborators [some of whom are pictured here outside King’s College Hospital] have helped ensure that this course is the best of its kind in the UK and a model for others around the world. The programme first welcomed students in 1993 and was one of the first MScs to be professionally accredited by the UK Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. This research-led Masters attracts high-calibre students – last year Nicola Fry (graduated in 2001) was joint winner of the Department of Health Award for ‘Young Healthcare Scientist of the Year’.

It has also won international acclaim for its innovative Medical Physics e-Learning materials in 2002, from the EU Commission in 2004 (Leonardo da Vinci Awards for excellence in vocational education and training), and recently the distinguished Harold Johns Medal was awarded to Programme Director Dr Slavik Tabakov [see page 13].

in the health sector with the medical diagnostics company, Lein Applied Diagnostics Ltd to develop diabetes monitoring devices. Academics and partner organisations have worked closely

with the Business Development Team at KCL Enterprises to initiate and successfully win these awards.

For further information visit: www.kcl.ac.uk/kcle/services/ktps/

October 2006 | Comment | 19

Media watch Terrorist strategy

Middle East crisis

Ageing gracefully

UN force

Dr Peter Neumann, Director of the Centre for Defence Studies, commented on terrorist strategy and the parallels between Operation Bojinka and the alleged airliner-bombing plot in The Times, Independent on Sunday, The Age (Australia), The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. He was interviewed by Channel 4, BBC News 24, Sky, CNN Europe, FOX (US), RTE (Ireland) and Voice of America (US).

As the situation between Lebanon and Israel intensified, Dr Ahron Bregman, Department of War Studies, was interviewed on CNN and BBC Radio Scotland about Israel’s strategy in Lebanon.

The subject of growing old gracefully and how much a woman’s appearance is bound to her identity, was discussed by MM McCabe, Professor of Ancient Philosophy, and Joan Bakewell on Woman’s Hour.

Dr Rory Miller, Senior Lecturer in Mediterranean Studies, spoke with ABC Radio (Australia) on the issues surrounding peacekeeping troops from Muslim countries in enforcing the ceasefire in Lebanon. Dr Miller and Efraim Karsh, Professor of Mediterranean Studies, have written and been featured in a number of articles on the Middle East for titles including The New York Sun, The Jerusalem Post and the Irish Times.

Heat wave impact Frank Kelly, Professor of

Environmental Health, was interviewed in the Environmental Research Group’s monitoring control centre for BBC London News. Gary Fuller, ERG Air Quality Manager, discussed the consequences of the summer smog and air pollution on BBC City Hospital and BBC Radio London Drivetime.

Secret D-Day files Patricia Methven, Acting Director of Information Services & Systems, discussed Sir Basil Lidell Hart on the BBC One and Six O’Clock News after newly released MI5 files implied he had prior knowledge of plans for the invasion of France in the summer of 1944.

Afghanistan Michael Clarke, Professor of

Defence Studies, commented on the latest situation in Afghanistan in interviews for BBC News, ITV News and Radio 4’s The World Tonight. He also wrote about the revolution in military affairs, asymmetric war and the evolving terror threat in articles for The Times, The Sunday Times and The Guardian.

Domesday online Dr Steven Baxter, Lecturer in Medieval History, helped to compile a feature in The Independent about the Domesday Book, which has been made available online 920 years after it was compiled. Dr Baxter was subsequently interviewed on the subject for Sky News, Canadian Radio and LBC. 20 | Comment | October 2006

War crime?

James Gow, Professor of International Peace and Security, entered into a debate on the bombing of Qana on Channel 4 News in a feature discussing whether the incident was legitimate or should be viewed as a war crime.

Climate change Professor Glenn McGregor, Director

of the Centre for Environmental Assessment, Management and Policy, talked on the BBC Ten O’Clock News about the potential effects of global warming on our cities, and the importance of keeping an eye on vulnerable people in particular hotspots.

Mozart the dramatist Dr Cliff Eisen, Department of Music, told the story of Mozart’s passion for opera in an interview on Radio 3’s Twenty Minutes. He revealed how opera influenced Mozart’s orchestral and chamber music, showing he was a dramatist in every genre.

Cruising capital Dr Mark Turner, Head of the

Department of English, wrote about the history of gay men cruising for sex from St James’ Park in the 18th century to Hampstead Heath today in an article for The Observer.

Explosive comments Peter Zimmerman, Professor of Science and Security, explained the destructive power of a liquid bomb on an aircraft to the New Scientist, Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Independent. He was interviewed

by CNN International, BBC World and BBC News 24 on the subject.

He also spoke to Newsnight about types of missiles following North Korea’s tests.

Landis case Professor David Cowan, Director

of the Drug Control Centre, commented on the Floyd Landis doping case to the New York Times. Professor Cowan explained the doping test for the journal Nature and for Forbes.

The Shipman effect Professor Irene Higginson, Head of Palliative Care, was interviewed on Radio 4 for a programme about how the Harold Shipman case has left many doctors reluctant to administer palliative treatments.

Professor Higginson explained that effective pain control can be much more complicated for older patients.

Manic depression Jan Scott, Professor of

Psychological Treatments Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, was interviewed for a Radio 4 Case Notes special looking at manic depression, its different variants, current treatments, support groups and considerations for mothers with manic depression during pregnancy.

Idea of a University Alison Wolf, Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management, was one of the speakers in a panel discussing what universities are for in the Radio 4 series The Idea of a University.

Youth Justice Board Rob Allen, Director of the

International Centre for Prison Studies, was interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme about the Youth Justice Board which was set up to oversee the justice system for juveniles in England and Wales. Mr Allen is stepping down from the board and had some criticisms of the system.

Unhealthy breakfast Tom Sanders, Professor of

Nutrition & Dietetics, discussed research in a report by Which? that found some breakfast cereals contain as much sugar as chocolate bars, while others can match fat levels found in a bacon roll. He was interviewed on GMTV, Five Live, Ulster News and Independent Radio News.

Communication Dr Brooke Rogers, King’s Centre for Risk Management, was interviewed on GMTV about terrorism and communication following the publication of a report on how survivors and the families of the 7/7 bombings were dealt with.

Student debt Daryn McCombe, President of

KCLSU, spoke about student debt on Sky News after a report found UK debt is double the European average.

Obese mothers Lucilla Poston, Professor of Maternal and Fetal Health, was interviewed for Channel 4’s 30 Minutes about her research which shows that maternal obesity, diabetes and high-fat diets during pregnancy can ‘pre-programme’ children to be overweight. Andrew Shennan, Professor of Obstetrics, also appeared in the programme.

See www.kcl.ac.uk/headlines for the latest media coverage or on Campus noticeboards. Comment is keen to know of any staff featured in the media, call ext 3202 or email pr@kcl.ac.uk

Research

Tackling MRSA Pharmacists at King’s have

discovered that the roots of an African shrub possess antibacterial properties that are effective against the potentially fatal Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection.

In traditional medicine in Ghana, the Paullinia pinnata plant has been widely used by different communities for the treatment of wounds and other microbial infections. The team at King’s, which includes Kofi Annan and Rita Dickson and is headed by Professor Peter Houghton, tested extracts of the root and found that they were anti-bacterial and effective against certain strains of MRSA. In addition, they were found to work as an antioxidant which could help in the body’s healing process.

MRSA infections are difficult to combat because the bacteria involved have developed complete resistance to certain antibiotics. Usually it is hospital patients with weakened immune systems who are most likely to become infected.

The researchers, from the Pharmacognosy Research Group, presented the work at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester in September.

Older fathers and autism Children of men age 40 and older

have a significantly increased risk of having autism spectrum disorders compared with those whose fathers are younger than 30, according to research by Dr Abraham Reichenberg, of the Institute of Psychiatry and published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Autism is characterised by social and language abnormalities and repetitive patterns of behaviour. Autism and autism spectrum disorders have become increasingly common, affecting 50 in every 10,000 children compared with five in 10,000 two decades ago.

Dr Reichenberg and his colleagues analysed the draft board records of children born during the 1980s in Israel. This included information on their psychiatric health and the ages of their parents. The researchers found that the risk of autism or related conditions was six times greater in children of men age 40 and older compared with those of fathers who were 29 years and younger. These findings took into account year of birth,

Super-gentrifiers A new group of very wealthy professionals working in the City of London are ‘supergentrifying’ an already gentrified inner London neighbourhood, according to new research from King’s academics.

Dr Loretta Lees, Reader in Geography, and Tim Butler, Professor of Human Geography, say these ‘super-gentrifiers’ or ‘financifiers’ are slowly imposing their mark on the neighbourhood of Barnsbury in Islington, where Tony Blair used to live.

Their investment in property in this expensive area is driven by profits from the financial world’s inflated salaries and bonuses. They are largely the product of Britain’s elite education system, especially Oxbridge, and work in large solicitors’ firms, the Inns of Court or investment banks in the City.

Super-gentrifiers differ from the traditional banking and stockbroking elites (who live in Chelsea, St John’s Wood and Notting Hill) and the super-wealthy international bourgeoisie living in Mayfair, Park Lane and Kensington.

Their values are more suburban; most of the women (who were once in similar high-flying careers to their husbands) give up work when they have children – in sharp contrast to nearly every other gentrified area of London where both partners tend to work. They may have stronger ties to similar super-gentrified neighbourhoods like Brooklyn Heights in New York City.

This new research was reported in The Times, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph.

World female prisoner numbers More than half a million women

socio-economic status and the mother’s age. Older age among mothers was not associated with autism after researchers factored in the effect of the father’s age.

‘Although further work is necessary to confirm this interpretation, we believe that our study provides the first convincing evidence that advanced paternal age is a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder,’ commented Dr Reichenberg.

The research was the lead story in The Times and covered in nearly all the UK papers, as well as in many international publications including The Age and USA Today.

and girls are held in prisons throughout the world according to the first World Female Imprisonment List, published by the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s.

The study provides information for 187 countries on the female prison population and the percentage of the total prison numbers they comprise.

It shows that about a third of these women are in the USA (183,000) and a further third in China (71,280), the Russian Federation (55,400) and Thailand (28,450). No other country reports a female prison population as high as 15,000.

Female prisoners generally constitute between two and nine per cent of the total prison population. The few exceptions include Hong Kong (China) with 22 per cent, Myanmar (18 per cent), Thailand (17 per cent) and Kuwait (15 per cent).

The 4,392 women and girls

locked up in England and Wales constitutes 5.7 per cent of the total prison population – a higher percentage than in Scotland or in Northern Ireland and well above the European average.

Rob Allen, Director of the International Centre for Prison Studies, comments: ‘Given the high financial and social cost of imprisoning women, the data should prompt policymakers in every country to consider what they can do to limit the numbers of women locked up. Excessive use of imprisonment does nothing to improve public safety.’

October 2006 | Comment | 21

Obituaries UNA PADEL OBE 1956-2006

her personal qualities however that made her so special to so many people. Her integrity was evident.

She never wavered from a strongly held set of values. Never one to seek the limelight, nonetheless, Una spoke out powerfully on behalf of those without much of a voice or influence.

Una conducted her small and multi-talented team with skill and sensitivity. She attracted enormous loyalty from colleagues at CCJS and elsewhere. She was a fighter for justice and decency who contributed to the last.

Tony Pearson, Chair CCJS Council

Una Padel was Director of the

Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) at King’s from 1999 until her death in August this year. Throughout her adult life she demonstrated an unselfish, single-minded commitment to penal reform.

Una came to King’s with a tremendous record of achievement. Her four years as a probation officer in Newcastle was an experience she never forgot and the background against which much of her work was set.

She then moved on as deputy at the Prison Reform Trust at a turbulent time for the prison system in the mid 1980s. From there she led work on providing HIV education in prisons at a time when AIDS was provoking near hysteria in the system.

Successfully improving facilities for families visiting prisoners, especially in London, was Una’s next project. And then on to setting up CLINKS, a national organisation to encourage and facilitate involvement of the voluntary sector in delivering services in prisons, as founding director for a year.

Una also found time to write and serve on committees and advisory groups, evidence that her knowledge was highly valued. It was measure of her standing that she was invited to become Chair of the Penal Affairs Consortium in 2003, a post she held until her death.

Professionally without doubt she led a full and fruitful life. It was 22 | Comment | October 2006

FRANCIS ROSE MBE 1921-2006 royal botanic gardens, kew

to relate their distribution and air pollution and advance plant ecology.

Perhaps most famously, he rejoiced in the fact that human management could be a positive factor in enhancing the floral mix.

Ancient native trees, set in manmade pastures, were in effect refugia for a cross-section of the floral diversity of Britain, which had changed across the millennia of natural climate change.

He was co-author with Lady Anne Brewis and Paul Bowman of The Flora of Hampshire (1996), one of the most acclaimed local floras of recent times.

A founder of the Kent Wildlife Trust, Francis was an active member of the British Bryological Society, the British Lichen Society and the Botanical Society of the British Isles, and was elected as a life member of all three, the only British botanist to be so honoured.

He was made an MBE in 2000, and received the Wildlife Trust’s Christopher Cadbury medal in 2001. Two years later the Francis Rose Nature Reserve was set up by the Royal Botanical Gardens at Wakehurst Place in West Sussex.

100 technical papers.

He also wrote two texts on quantum mechanics and quantum electronics and was editor of the International Journal of Electronics.

After his retirement in 1985 he continued his research at King’s, supported by industry and the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research. In 1998 he moved to Queen Mary, University of London, as a Research Professor.

Shortly before his death, at the age of 86, he presented a paper at a major conference in the USA, where he was a frequent visitor.

He was awarded the DSc degree by London University, and was a Fellow of both the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Physics.

Professor Charles Turner, Centre for Telecommunications Research

JOHN PRICE 1942-2006

PROFESSOR PETER LINDSAY 1920-2006

In 1994 John Price joined UMDS’

Francis Rose, Reader in

Biogeography at King’s, was regarded by many as the greatest British field botanist of his time, possibly the greatest of the past century. He coupled an encyclopaedic knowledge of flowering plants, lichens and mosses with an exceptional sense of ecological awareness.

In 1964 he became Senior Lecturer in Biogeography in the Geography Department at King’s. Eleven years later he was appointed University Reader in Biogeography, a post he held until his retirement from teaching in 1981.

In the 1980s he used his extensive knowledge of lichens

Peter Lindsay joined King’s from

industry in 1964 as a Lecturer in the Electrical Engineering Department and was promoted to Reader in 1970 and to a Personal Chair in 1974. He was an internationally respected authority on high power microwave electron tubes and published more than

Estates Department following an exemplary career in industry.

He was quickly commended for his technical ability and praised for bringing jobs quickly and efficiently in on time.

In 1998, following the merger of UMDS with King’s, he transferred to the Denmark Hill Campus bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and a quite fantastic practical approach to dealing with problems. He became Senior Site Supervisor in the Estates Department.

John’s willingness to offer assistance at any time, whilst never neglecting his duties, proved him to be a person of rare quality.

Peter Bishai, Rayne Institute and Access Unit Manager

Student news KCLSU sabbatical officers

KCLSU’s four full-time sabbatical officers took office on 1 August. From left: Ed Drummond (VicePresident Communications), Daryn McCombe (President), Adam Farley (VP Participation & Development) and Jo Williams (VP Representation).

SET Awards The Science, Engineering &

Technology Student of the Year (SET) Awards are Britain’s most important awards for science and engineering undergraduates.

They are supported by British industry and leading scientific and technical institutions.

Two King’s undergraduates were shortlisted for this year’s Awards placing them in the top 45 science students in the UK. Medical student Gregory Philp was one of the three finalists in the Biology and Biotechnology category.

He was selected on the basis of his research project, Using the zebrafish to understand human

Kallmann’s syndrome, which was supervised by Professor Ivor Mason in the MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King’s.

Kallmann’s syndrome is a developmental defect characterised by anosmia (lack of the sense of smell) and sterility.

Gregory used state-of-the-art gene interference approaches to inhibit the function of a key gene identified as central to the human disease in order to model how both the olfactory and reproductive systems are affected.

He undertook the research project as part of an intercalated BSc for which he was awarded First Class Honours. He has now returned to complete his medical training.

Sally Tucker, also an intercalated greg funnell

medical student, was one of three students shortlisted in the Nutrition category.

Sally was supervised by Tom Sanders, Professor of Nutrition & Dietetics and Dr Sarah Berry.

Dr Berry commented: ‘I am incredibly proud of Sally’s success in being shortlisted. She was a pleasure to supervise and a model student – hardworking, dedicated and very resilient.

‘Together with her colleague, Radhika Banerji, she managed a human postpranidal dietary intervention study looking at the effect of dietary fat on vascular function.

‘This was a particularly challenging study to run and she executed it excellently. We now hope to publish the results in a vascular journal and plan to continue with additional research in the area.’

Travel scholarship PhD student Malcolm Bovey,

Department of Mathematics, recently won the London Mathematical Society’s 2006 Cecil King Travel Scholarship.

The London Mathematical Society makes the award of up £5,000 annually to a young mathematician of outstanding promise, to support a period of study or research abroad for a typical period of three months.

Malcolm will use the Scholarship to fund a trip to the University of California, San Diego, during the 2006-7 academic year. During his visit he hopes to investigate a new Congruence conjecture, which gives a new p-adic approach to understanding the properties of Stark units through the use of local Hilbert symbols.

Student inductions greg funnell

International students take part in a Culture Shock workshop.

International Orientation events have been run by the Welfare and Advice Service for a number of years at King’s. Their purpose is to facilitate successful study by equipping newly arrived international students with the information required to fully incorporate themselves into UK student life.

Students receive a thorough introduction to the variety of support services available at King’s and are given vital information covering a range of practicalities. The events also provide opportunities for international students to meet others at social receptions.

In addition to the main orientation (13-15 September) the programme was expanded this year to offer events specifically focused for postgraduate research students, study abroad students and those studying at the Institute of Psychiatry.

On 9 September Student Services also ran a Mature students’ induction event. Fiftyfive undergraduates from across eight Schools attended this event which is now in its second year. The event is self selecting and aimed at those with no recent experience of higher education.

From left: Professor Ivor Mason, Gregory Philp, Sally Tucker and Dr Sarah Berry.

October 2006 | Comment | 23

Books Three favourite... eateries near the denmark hill Campus As recommended by Camilla Saunders, Press Officer, Institute of Psychiatry. willow ( 1 denmark hill)

This would be my smarter restaurant recommendation. brb (26 Camberwell Grove)

King and Country: Monarchy and the Future King Charles III

Shoot the Puppy: A survival guide to the ridiculous jargon of modern life

robert Blackburn, professor of Constitutional Law

Tony Thorne, former Director of the english Language Centre

Frontiers: Histories of Civil Society and Nature Michael redclift, professor of international environmental policy

grove.barroombar.com This is the Denmark Hill offshoot of the 26-bar group.

Everyone eats here as it’s down the hill from the IoP and does two pizzas for the price of one on Tuesdays.

The Phoenix (windsor walk)

When Prince Charles succeeds to the throne he is likely to become involved in politics in a manner quite unlike his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Undoubtedly there will be opportunities for modernisation but there is also danger that the new King will become embroiled in political controversy.

Will the reign of King Charles III prove a new dawn or troubled twilight for the institution of the British monarchy?

Professor Blackburn examines these issues and other royal questions such as what the constitutional powers and duties of the future King will be and what would happen if King Charles felt unable to give Royal assent to a government bill at odds with his own views and beliefs?

King and Country also offers a prescription for bringing the monarchy into the modern age. Professor Blackburn was interviewed on GMTV about King and Country discussing the constitutional position of the monarchy. The book was also discussed in an article in the Daily Express.

Are you a bobo or a wombat? Have you ever been tempted to open the kimono or kick dead whales down the beach? If your answer to any of these questions is ‘I’m not sure’ or ‘What are you talking about?’, then you definitely need a copy of Shoot the Puppy.

Amusing and informative, it guides the reader through the ever-growing heap of workplace jargon and lifestyle buzzwords from around the English-speaking world, showing where these new terms come from, what they mean, and what they tell us about the contemporary world.

The book takes a light-hearted approach, but has a serious subtext, functioning also as a collection of challenging ideas and innovations. The alphabetical entries, in the form of mini-essays, apply scholarly principles from lexicology, semantics, etc but expressed in accessible language.

Tony Thorne undertook interviews for BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, the World Service and 20 local radio stations about this book. The book was also featured in the Times Literary Supplement and extracts printed in The Sunday Telegraph.

In Frontiers Professor Redclift examines the relationship between nature and society in frontier areas – contested zones in which rival versions of civil society vie with one another, often over the definition and management of nature itself.

He presents five cases in which civil societies emerged in frontier areas to manage common property or to legitimise private holdings.

He describes a dialectical process in frontier regions in which human societies and their environments influence and illuminate one another: the frontier can be seen as a crucible in which both nature and civil institutions develop and coevolve. In each of the five case studies, he argues, migration and land settlement gave rise to ideologies of nature that reflected not only the social and ethnic characteristics of the settlers but also the effects of market forces on the natural environment. In most of these areas the natural environment was transformed by the pressure of the market, especially global markets.

Frontiers deepens and broadens our understanding of the role of the frontier.

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This pub is next to Denmark Hill tube station. This is popular for drinkers and does good food too.

Please let us know your three favourite things related to a King’s Campus for example three favourite…sandwich shops near Guy’s, museums near Waterloo or parks not far from St Thomas’ and they could appear in a future issue of Comment and provide colleagues with useful tips.

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Question? wouldn’t university life be more productive with a four-semester academic year?

This is a new feature to encourage debate on the pages of Comment so please let us know what you think about this question (or if you have a question you’d like to pose) and we will publish as many of your views as possible in the next issue of Comment. Email your thoughts to: julie.munk@kcl.ac.uk

Comment is the College’s regular newsletter, edited by the Public Relations Department and designed by the Corporate Design Unit | Articles are welcomed from all members of the College, but please note that the Editor reserves the right to amend articles | Copy for the next issue can be sent to Julie Munk, Public Relations Department (ext 3075), James Clerk Maxwell Building, Waterloo Campus, or emailed to julie.munk@kcl.ac.uk by 15 november.

24 | Comment | October 2006