Comment 202 - February 2013

News

student news

profile

focus

Finishing touch: Art at Denmark Hill

King’s students Go Global

Christopher Coe, Public Engagement

Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning

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For staff, students & friends

David tett

Issue 202 | February 2013

Events

60th Greek Play: Oedipus at Colonus Greg Funnell

13–15 February 2013 Greenwood Theatre, Guy’s Campus

47th Maudsley Debate: The Risk Debate

19 February 2013, 18.00–20.00 Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Denmark Hill Campus

Festival of Food & Ideas: Feed Your Mind 7–22 March 2013

David tett

Exceptional staff & students Outstanding achievements of the College community have been celebrated at the sixth annual King’s Awards. This is the first year that nominations have been welcomed from all students and staff across the College, and winners were selected by an expert panel, chaired by the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor.

One hundred and fifty staff, students and alumni attended the ceremony, which took place in the King’s Building foyer and Great Hall, Strand Campus, on Friday 30 November 2012.

The evening’s entertainment

was provided by King’s students: the Madeleine String Quartet, King’s Jazz Society Quartet, classical pianist Louise Wang and gospel choir True Praise delighted guests with stunning musical performances.

Following the welcome address, a short film, featuring staff and student voices contextualising

the King’s Awards, opened the award presentations.

Adam Boulton, Political Editor of Sky News and College Council member, introduced the 15 award categories and announced the nominees, describing the winners’ achievements and welcoming them to the stage to collect their award from

the Principal. Each winner recieved an engraved glass crystal bowl and personalised certificate.

Closing the evening, the Principal thanked all those who had contributed to the event’s success, and, looking back on the many achievements of the past 12 months, said: ‘None of this could have been possible without the enthusiasm, professionalism and passion of our staff, students and alumni. I would like to thank everyone at King’s for their continued commitment.’

See inside For more details on these events, for pull-out please turn to page 12 poster

More information

Lizzie Riches, The Bridgeman Art Library

Oluchi Oduku (above right) receives her King’s Award for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Professional Services from the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor. Below: the Principal and 2012 King’s Award winners

King’s college london

News A word from the Principal

Rick Trainor, Principal

2 | Issue 202 | February 2013

Image caption: The Principal Professor Rick Trainor and senior team, with King’s students on the UKIERI Study India Programme

The Principal Professor Rick Trainor and senior team pictured together with King’s students on the 2012 Study India programme

King’s delegation visits India In September a senior delegation of King’s staff visited Delhi and Mumbai as part of a major initiative to expand the College’s links in India and broaden overall engagement with strategic partners worldwide.

Engagement with India forms a core part of the College’s international strategy – in order to develop links for research collaboration and encourage mobility of staff and students.

The delegation was headed by the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor and supported by Professor Keith Hoggart, Vice-Principal (International); Professor Sunil

Khilnani, Director of the King’s India Institute; Maxine Taylor, Director of External Relations, and Tayyeb Shah, Director of Executive Education.

The group identified areas for collaboration and partnership with research, government, business and cultural organisations in Delhi and Mumbai.

The visit coincided with the completion of the 2012 Study India Programme – a scheme to encourage UK university students to learn about contemporary India. It is funded as part of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), which

King’s has organised with Delhi University and HR College, University of Mumbai. More than 160 students from King’s and other universities and colleges across the UK spent a month in Delhi and Mumbai to experience studying and working in India and develop connections that will benefit their future career paths.

The Principal said: ‘We are committed to strengthening and deepening our relationship with contemporary India and acting as a bridge for the exchange of information and ideas. Our international strategy

is based on the core principles of mutuality and reciprocity – we are working with India and, more importantly, learning from India, in order to build mutual understanding on both sides.

‘We are encouraging all our students to take advantage of opportunities to study in India, as the country will play an increasingly important role in their future careers. We have also been connecting with our alumni branches in Mumbai and Delhi in order to build connections with the wider King’s community in India and encourage further collaboration.’

Ipsos MORI research partnership King’s and Ipsos MORI, one of the country’s leading research organisations, have formed a partnership to bring together researchers from both institutions to develop new opportunities and enhance the excellence and impact of the work that both do.

The partnership has three objectives: to ensure as much as possible is learned from existing research to develop new research studies to increase the impact of both organisations’ research on policy and public debate.

The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor said: ‘We are very pleased to be working with Ipsos MORI, whose interests overlap considerably with the King’s Policy Institute.

I look forward to the partnership generating a great deal of research which will be academically excellent and of interest to a wide range of people outside as well as within academic life.’

DAVID TETT

Dear Colleagues, I hope you had a good seasonal break and are looking forward to 2013.

The memories of London 2012 and the Diamond Jubilee are still vivid in our minds. It was a momentous year for London. It was also another successful year for King’s.

We have made some excellent senior appointments. I extend a warm welcome to Professor Evelyn Welch who has joined us from Queen Mary, University of London as Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences) and Professor of Renaissance Studies. We will be joined in the spring from the University of Birmingham by Professor Karen O’Brien who will be Vice-Principal (Education) and Professor of English Literature. Also, Professor David Caron of the University of California, Berkeley, will be joining King’s in the early summer as Dean of The Dickson Poon School of Law. Despite changes to the admissions environment, the College performed well in difficult circumstances.

We broadly met our targets for UK and other EU undergraduate entry, without any overall decline in quality.

Work on the review to get a better understanding of our reputation and ‘brand’ is underway. We are seeking to understand what people think of us and whether the College is known for the right things. I hope you choose to have your say and help shape the future of King’s.

The College is making plans to establish a specialist sixth-form state school for talented young mathematicians. It is expected to open in September 2014 and will be in aid of the important national educational objective of increasing the number of young people who are able to study STEM subjects (such as mathematics, physics and computer science) at university.

King’s has received funding from the Department for Education to help establish the school whose governance and finances will be at one remove from the College.

King’s is also part of the new online education initiative called FutureLearn. Led by the Open University, FutureLearn aims to allow students from the UK and around the world to gain online access to courses from some of this country’s leading universities.

The annual King’s Awards ceremony in November paid fitting tribute to the immense talent and achievement that exist within the College community. I’m delighted to see the pull-out poster in this issue.

2013 will be an important year for the College as, for example, we make our submission to the 2014 REF and take the next steps in our efforts to improve the quality of the student experience.

I wish you all the best for 2013.

• • •

Panel members from the Institute of Contemporary British History and Ipsos MORI (left to right: Professor Robert Blackburn, Professor Vernon Bogdanor and Professor Roger Mortimore) discuss ‘The Queen and the Monarchy’ at a collaborative event from the King’s Ipsos MORI partnership programme.

New staff offices Staff based in Melbourne House have moved to their new offices on the first and second floors of the College’s recently leased building on Kingsway.

Professor Jill Manthorpe, Director of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, said: ‘What a difference from Melbourne House – it’s light and airy, and we’re finding it to be a creative and productive thinking space. And we’re very easily found right at the famous Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre.’

Those who have moved include some research staff and doctoral students from the School of Arts & Humanities, the Department of Political Economy, Central Unit for Distance Learning, Technology Advanced Learning, Social Care Workforce Research Unit and International State Crime Initiative (part of The Dickson Poon School of Law).

New back pain gene identified Page 5

The finishing touch: art at Denmark Hill

‘A brighter Hellas’ goes online

The recent Special Collections exhibition, ‘A brighter Hellas: Rediscovering Greece in the 19th century’, is now available to view online. In the early 19th century, Greece waged a war against the Ottoman Empire and emerged in 1833 as an independent nation-state.

The exhibition showcases the works of British writers, travellers and artists who were captivated by Greece before, during and after the struggle for independence, and who dreamed, like the Romatic poet Shelley, of ‘a brighter Hellas’. www.kingscollections.org/ exhibitions/specialcollections Foyle special collections library

Aleksandar Ivetic

to intriguing diagrammatic maps.’

In the WEC Library, which was modernised over summer 2012, a selection of Victorian photographs taken from albums in the library’s collection have been displayed, including imagery of operating theatres and royal visits to King’s College Hospital.

On display outside the Wolfson Lecture Theatre are four works by Dr Aleksandar Ivetic, Senior Lecturer in the Cardiovascular Division, School of Medicine. The series of micrographic images is entitled ‘Transmigration’ and depicts white blood cells passing through a barrier of endothelial cells – a major process of inflammation.

Acropolis, Athens, circa 1810

Fara Berry

Works of art have been installed to encourage a welcoming and stimulating environment at the Denmark Hill Campus. Over 80 pieces are now on display in corridors, teaching rooms, the new Wolfson Lecture Theatre and in the recently refurbished Weston Education Centre (WEC) Library. Contemporary artists, such as Clare Halifax and Jenni Sparks, are showcased alongside pieces by King’s staff and others.

‘The limited edition prints are colourful, modern and give a sense of London and medical study,’ said Robert Hall, Director of Library Services. ‘They range from medical screen prints to iconic building pop art, from architectural photography

News in brief

At the End of the Day

One of four micrographs in Dr Aleksander Ivetic’s ‘Transmigration’ series

A recent report by Richard Roberts, Professor of Contemporary History in the Institute of Contemporary British History, suggests that if lessons had been learnt from the Equitable Life collapse in the late 1990s, the severity of the recent banking crisis might have been lessened.

Professor Roberts assessed the views of 25 industry experts and insiders from across the City of London, including former executives of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), for the report which was commissioned by Equitable Life.

He concluded that while the insurance industry had learnt lessons from the Equitable Life crisis, the banking industry and their regulators failed to do so.

The report found that the core factors that led to the Equitable Life crisis, where it had insufficient funds to pay out all the pensions its members had earned, were subsequently present in the failures of four banks – Northern Rock, RBS, HBOS and Bradford & Bingley.

It identified five key features that contributed to both crises, notably: ineffective board governance;

Equitable life

Lessons from Equitable Life ‘squandered’

Making old muscles young again

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin lands at King’s

In collaboration with Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, researchers in the Dental Institute have identified a key factor responsible for declining muscle repair during ageing and discovered how to halt the process in mice with a common drug.

Although an early study, the finding provides clues as to how muscles lose mass with age which can result in weakness that affects mobility and may cause An expert panel discuss the Equitable Life report. Pictured (left to right): Professor Richard Roberts falls. Dr Albert Basson, Lecturer (King’s), Lord David Owen, Adam Boulton (Sky News), Lord Robert Winston and Alex Brummer (Daily Mail) in the Department of Craniofacial product complexity; risky business in the wake of what happened at Development & Stem Cell model; out of control executives, Equitable Life, the impact of the Biology, said: ‘Preventing or and strength of regulation.

2007-8 banking crisis might have reversing muscle wasting in Professor Roberts said: ‘The been moderated, benefiting taxpayers humans is still a way off but this Equitable Life story was one of and the economy. As Equitable Life finding opens up the possibility the gravest crises in the insurance marks its 250th historical anniversary, that one day we could develop and pensions industry in modern now is an appropriate time to reiterate treatments to make old muscles times around which there was wide a key message – study financial young again. If we could do this, public awareness. If the banks and history.’ Professor Roberts’s findings we may be able to enable people the banking regulators had taken were reported by Sky News, Daily to live more mobile, independent a good look at their own practices Mail and The Times. lives as they age.’

In October Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin visited King’s to meet with senior leaders of the UK civil and defence space programmes and academic staff from the Department of War Studies. Head of Department, Professor Mervyn Frost, said: ‘We were honoured to host a lunch for Buzz Aldrin.

He gave an impressive presentation about both the science and the politics behind current plans in the USA to continue the exploration of space.’

Nasa

‘St Paul’s’ by Fara Berry Designs

In October the College, together with the Christian Evidence Society, hosted a public debate exploring the ethical, moral and spiritual questions raised by end-of-life issues.

Speaking at the event, Lord Falconer, chair of the Commission on Assisted Dying, argued strongly in favour of assisted dying, whilst Professor Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology (Oxford), argued for the law on assisted dying to remain unchanged.

The Dean, Professor Richard Burridge said: ‘It was a privilege to host this event which was an important debate for the College and for the country. I was glad to see that those attending included students from across the College’s various schools and departments.’

The second person to set foot on the moon

February 2013 | Issue 202 | 3

News Greg goodale Greg goodale

Greg goodale

Vibrant Arts & Humanities Festival

Celebrating ‘Collective Spirit’ in the Strand Quad (above) and at the Boat Project concert (top right)

Michael Morpurgo (above right) in conversation Anne Chisholm (centre) and Maggie Fergusson (left)

More than 3,000 people flocked to this year’s Arts & Humanities Festival, at which academics, authors and artists came together to bring research to life through a series of 50 events over two weeks in October.

The Festival explored the theme of ‘Metamorphoses, transformations & conversions’ through exhibitions, performances and discussions, showcasing the breadth and diversity of work in the School.

Highlights included: author Will Self in conversation with Professor Patrick Wright, Department of English; a talk by King’s alumnus Michael Morpurgo and, a premiere of a new work by Professor Silvina Milstein, Department of Music.

The Inigo Rooms exhibition ‘John Berger: Art and Property Now’ received critical acclaim in the national press and was visited by the artist himself.

The ‘Collective Spirit’ yacht, the brainchild of Creative Research Fellow Gregg Whelan, one half of performance duo Lone Twin, was moored at King’s for the duration of the Festival following its Cultural Olympiad maiden voyage. Festival Director Professor Max Saunders remarked on the sailing boat’s presence which ‘transformed the Strand Quad and initiated conversations throughout the Festival.’ kingsahfest.wordpress.com

White Mars mission to Antarctica

King’s opens US office

The Centre of Human & Aerospace Physiological Sciences (CHAPS) will oversee the White Mars Analogue Study on the first ever winter crossing of Antarctica, led by veteran explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt OBE. The expedition will provide an opportunity to carry out studies on how extreme environments affect human physiology, providing insight into the challenge of sending a manned mission to Mars and ensuring its safe return.

In October the College opened its first international office in the USA (near Washington DC) in Alexandria, Virginia, as part of its strategy to build global partnerships for research collaboration and encourage mobility of staff and students. This makes King’s the first Russell Group university to establish a permanent presence in the USA for both outreach and recruitment activities and will enable the College to build links with research, business, government and cultural organisations.

King’s already has strong links in the USA, with strategic partnership agreements with the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel

Alexander kumar

Organised by King’s alumnus, Dr Alexander Kumar, the White Mars study will be the first of its kind in using a hostile environment on earth to simulate conditions in space.

The team will experience a prolonged period of isolation and an altered day-night cycle, including up to four months of complete darkness.

They will also encounter altitudes of 3,200 metres and be exposed to extreme cold. The expedition offers a unique opportunity to study the

effects of these conditions on the human body.

Professor Steve Harridge, Director of CHAPS, said: ‘We are very excited to be part of this challenging expedition which is going to push the boundaries of human physical and mental endurance. Hopefully important information will be obtained which will increase our understanding of the limits of human performance, in particular those relevant for future trips to Mars.’

Hill and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). There is also a joint MA programme with Georgetown University in the School of Arts & Humanities.

The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor said: ‘The USA is one of the most important countries in our wider strategy to build partnerships for global collaboration. Our Institute of North American Studies is playing an important role by forging new research links and our Summer School is increasingly popular with American students. King’s also has an incredibly strong alumni community in the USA and we hope that the new office will enable further engagement with these networks.’

Understanding what King’s stands for

King’s alumnus Dr Alexander Kumar on an Antarctic expedition

4 | Issue 202 | February 2013

King’s is undertaking a project to help understand the College’s identity and how its academic reputation can be best projected in the higher education sector and beyond. In August 2012 the College retained the services of global consultancy Saffron to assess the distinctive qualities of King’s and propose a way forward.

Divided into four phases, the project is supported by substantial qualitative and quantitative research, including an online survey and a series of interviews and workshops with staff, students and faculty across

the College to ensure input from a wide variety of internal audiences.

The next phases will include the development of a final strategy, visual identity and guidelines.

Maxine Taylor, Director of External Relations, commented: ‘The most important factor is the quality of the research and education we provide at King’s and, as our academic reputation is paramount to us from both a student and research perspective, we want to ensure that the entire King’s experience is captured.’

King’s students Go Global

Tate Modern robot installation

Andrew youngson

Together with Dr Vahid Aminzadeh and other roboticists from the Department of Informatics, Professor Kaspar Althoefer, Head of the Centre for Robotics Research, collaborated with Ruairi Glynn, Interactive Architecture Workshop (Bartlett, UCL), on ‘Fearful Symmetry’, a recent installation at the Tate Modern, which formed

part of a series of events inaugurating the gallery’s architectural extensions.

‘Fearful Symmetry’ is the world’s largest delta robot which was mounted on a motorised rail under the ceiling of one of the newly built Tate Tanks. The robot carried a glowing tetrahedron through the darkness of the new gallery space

and was guided by computer systems that monitored the movements of visitors. Moving the light across the ceiling as well as moving it up and down and rotating it towards the closest visitor, an illusion was created that the robot under the ceiling was observing people and showing an interest in their movements.

Brunei Ministry of Defence teaching collaboration

MLC wins European Medicines Agency contract

As announced in the Official Journal of the European Union, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has awarded the College’s Modern Language Centre (MLC) another four year contract in recognition of the MLC’s capacity to deliver language training of the highest standards to its staff. In addition to its EMA language training programme, the MLC will also be offering language courses to the European Banking Authority (EBA) from January 2013.

The Centre for Defence Studies, Department of War Studies, supported by King’s Professional & Executive Development, has won a major tender to develop and deliver an executive Public Policy & Management programme for the Brunei Ministry of Defence.

Led by Professor John Gearson, Director of the Centre for Defence Studies, the 13-week programme will be delivered by staff from across the School of Social Science & Public Policy and will include a visit to the UK and classes at the Strand Campus. Students on the programme will include senior officers, officials from the Brunei Ministry of Defence and other government departments.

Professor Gearson said: ‘There can be few programmes that bring officials together from six different countries and from seven different ministries to think about the challenge of public policy, leadership and governance.

‘The Department of War Studies, with its interdisciplinary approach, supported by colleagues from across the School, is well placed to support this programme and its objectives.’

New back pain gene identified

Researchers from the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery have developed a groundbreaking range of garments, Skinnies WEB™, for Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) patients which are making a real contribution to reducing the burden of EB wounds and dressing changes.

EB is a rare inherited skin condition that affects around 1 in 17,000 people in the UK. EB sufferers have extremely sensitive skin – the slightest trauma can cause blisters and open wounds. In more serious cases, patients have wounds all over their bodies which

Researchers from the Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology have identified a gene linked to age-related degeneration of the intervertebral discs in the spine, a common cause of lower back pain.

Costing the UK economy an estimated £7 billion a year, the causes of back pain are not yet fully understood. Until now, the genetic cause of lower back pain was unknown, but the study, conducted

by King’s scientists, has revealed an association with the PARK2 gene. The research compared MRI images of the spine in 4,600 individuals and mapped the genes of all the volunteers.

Whilst more research is now needed, this finding could aid the development of future treatments.

Quadrangle architectural competition winner

ISTOCK

EB garment invention can lead to infections, scarring and disability.

Dr Patricia Grocott (pictured), Reader in Palliative Wound Care and lead researcher, said: ‘EB patients face a daily routine of applying creams and patchworked dressings, secured with bandages. It takes hours and the soggy dressings provide an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.

The patients asked us to design a replacement for the bandages, hence the garments. They keep the dressings in place, with less restriction and look much better than bandages too.’

News in brief

Commercial opportunity for coral

King’s has entered into an agreement with skincare company Aethic to develop the first sunscreen based on mycosporinelike amino acids (MMAs), produced by coral.

Dr Paul Long, Reader in Pharmacognosy, said: ‘If our further studies confirm the results we are expecting, we hope to develop a sunscreen with the broadest spectrum of protection.

Aethic has the best product and philosophy with which to proceed this exciting project.’

Back pain costs the UK economy £7 billion a year

£500k for human trafficking research Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, have been awarded £449,990 by the Department of Health to carry out research into human trafficking.

The project is due to be completed in March 2015.

The overarching aim of the PROTECT (Provider Responses, Treatment and Care for Trafficked People) project is to provide evidence to inform the NHS response to human trafficking, specifically in the identification and referral of trafficked people, and the safe and appropriate care to meet their health needs.

Louise Howard, Professor of Women’s Mental Health and King’s

Project Lead, said: ‘Trafficked men, women and children frequently experience extreme physical, psychological and sexual violence and social marginalisation, and many suffer from acute and long-term health problems. Currently, we know very little about their healthcare needs, nor how they access NHS services and how healthcare professionals should respond optimally. Our findings will address

Belfast architects Hall McKnight have won the competition to redevelop the Strand Quad, fighting off strong competition from Estudio Barozzi Veiga; Estudio Carme Pinos with Soto-Lay Architects; Eric Parry Architects; Henley Halebrown Rorrison, and Zaha Hadid Architects.

Ian Caldwell, Director of Estates & Facilities, said: ‘I am confident that Hall McKnight will develop a detailed design and create an innovative learning and social space for King’s students, staff and the wider community.’

this evidence gap and, ultimately, help trafficked people receive safe and appropriate healthcare.’

NHS staff have an essential role in identifying and referring trafficked people to other services and receiving and treating people referred for healthcare. Reports estimate there are 2,600 sex-trafficked women in England and Wales, but measuring the true scale of human trafficking is difficult.

Australian Institute of Marine Science

Vahid aminzadeh

Page 6

February 2013 | Issue 202 | 5

Valerio Pareno

Student news

King’s students Go Global

Tom Hingley

6 | Issue 202 | February 2013

study abroad as part of the College’s joint PhD programme which enables students to pursue their doctoral research in two different countries.

Alvin Lim, a PhD student whose research focuses on popular religious practices in Singapore, is cosupervised by King’s and the National University of Singapore (NUS).

He commenced his research two years ago in Singapore and is now based at King’s and expecting to complete his studies in 2014.

Alvin said: ‘The joint programme has given me the perfect opportunity to work with different cultures, institutions, paradigms, research methodologies and, most importantly, different people. I think these interactions will benefit not only my work, but me as a person. Now that

I’m at King’s I hope to meet people from all walks of life and learn from them. Living in a foreign environment, I have to learn to adapt and adjust.

Overall it has been a really humbling and enriching experience.’

Sara De Benedictis, a PhD student in the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, also chose to study abroad and has been continuing her research studies at the University of Sydney since September 2012.

She was thrilled to have the opportunity to study in Australia’s most iconic city. ‘When an opportunity to go to Sydney arose, I jumped at it!’ she said. Sara particularly enjoyed gaining a new perspective on her research interests.

‘My focus is on the representation of birth in popular culture.

Sara De Benedictis

and hear about their experiences.

One new Peer Advisor, Tarika Gidwaney, spent a year at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), as part of her BA Classics degree. Tarika said: ‘I leapt at the opportunity to study abroad.

While at UCSB, I participated in many extracurricular activities, including tennis and surfing. I had the chance to go hiking and camping in the Grand Canyon, as well as visiting San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.’ She added: ‘I gained a lot from being so far out of my comfort zone. I experienced a different way of life, I became more independent and I made lifelong friends from around the world!’

A growing number of postgraduate research students are also choosing to King’s college london

King’s students are now living, travelling and studying across five continents at over 150 institutions worldwide. Students at all levels of their academic careers have the opportunity to study abroad, gaining invaluable life experience and a significant boost to their employability in the global marketplace.

Go Global 2012, a week of international-themed activities organised by Study Abroad & Internships, showcased the many opportunities available to both students and staff at King’s. A key event in this year’s Go Global programme was the launch of the Peer Advisors network which provides current students with the opportunity to meet other students who have studied abroad

The Department of Gender & Cultural Studies at Sydney draws on similar theories but applies them in very different ways. This has been a fantastic opportunity to learn about what another department is researching.’

Tom Atterson, Academic services Manager, Study Abroad & Internships, emphasised the many benefits of studying overseas: ‘Students who study abroad develop a huge range of skills, such as adaptability, greater independent thought, confidence in their own decision-making abilities and cultural sensitivity towards other people.

‘Our students will graduate with not one but two transcripts, immediately making them stand out from the crowd when applying for jobs.’

New staff appointments around the College Page 8

students enrolling in the same year.

The scholarships are available to all students regardless of background.

Of the 75 undergraduate scholarships, 25 will cover full home/ EU fees for all years of study, while the remaining 50 are worth £18,000 each over three years.

The five Law PhD scholarships are worth £90,000 each over three years – this is understood to be the largest amount awarded to individual legal research students.

Mr Dickson Poon commented: ‘The scholarships will help to enable exemplary students with academic agility and unlimited ambition to develop into future global leaders in all areas of law, business, education and civil society.’

News in brief History students learn from policy makers

In October History & Policy, based in the Institute of Contemporary British History, launched ‘History & Policy in Practice’, a free, extracurricular course that provides postgraduate students with a solid grounding in the realities of applying their historical studies to ‘real world’ issues in public life.

The course featured debates with high-profile speakers, including Sir John Chilcot, former Permanent Secretary, Northern Ireland Office, and Richard Bartholomew, Chief Research Officer, Department for Education. The course will run again in Spring 2013, with fresh speakers addressing new policy themes.

Find out more: historyandpolicy.org istock

The Dickson Poon School of Law has launched the biggest ever scholarship programme for Law in the UK and rest of Europe aimed at the brightest and best students from around the world.

An unprecedented 80 scholarships, worth over two million pounds in total, are being offered in 2013, the first full year of The Dickson Poon Scholarship Programme for students who wish to study Law. Uniquely, the scholarships focus on students who demonstrate not only academic excellence, but equally as important, outstanding leadership potential and life ambition.

Up to 75 scholarships may be awarded to the best undergraduates enrolling in Law in 2013 and up to five scholarships for Law PhD

Karen Robinson

Dickson Poon Scholarship Programme launched

Mr Dickson Poon in Somerset House East Wing

Making it big in business King’s students are joining the ranks of young people in the UK putting their entrepreneurial skills into action.

Joshua Whole, an undergraduate student in the Department of Informatics, is one of many working on his first business start-up alongside his degree. He said: ‘I chose to study at King’s because of its international reputation. I love the dynamic life in London and I enjoy meeting up with entrepreneurs and professionals across the city.’

Joshua is using his technological expertise to start ‘Targetz’, a professional matchmaking application. He explained: ‘It’s the first professional networking platform

that connects people based on their professional targets. It analyses your objectives and matches them to those around you. We want to take the sting out of non-effective networking.’ Joshua has big plans for Targetz’s future, which is already generating interest from organisers of industry and networking events.

Joining Joshua in the business world is fellow Computer Science student Marcus Longmuir who is soon to launch his first venture ‘FusionCloud’. ‘It’s a hosted platform that provides a variety of services to web developers and users,’ Marcus said. ‘FusionCloud makes up the fundamental

Henry Schein Leadership Scholarship

Grassroots film screening & political debate

Katie Ernst and Neel Panchal, flexible-learning postgraduate students at the Dental Institute, have been awarded 2012 Henry Schein leadership scholarships.

The scholarship scheme aims to support continuing educational development by recognising emerging leaders in dentistry. Awardees must demonstrate their career goals and demonstrate how these are facilitated by their studies at King’s.

Neel, an MSc Aesthetic Dentistry student, said: ‘I am delighted to have been recognised as an emerging leader. This award is also a testament to the exceptionally high standard of postgraduate teaching offered by the distance learning team at King’s.’

Katie, who is studying for the MClinDent in Fixed & Removable Prosthodontics, said: ‘I am very grateful to have the support of Henry Schein and the Dental Institute to enable me to complete this invaluable degree and progress my career.’

Students in the Department of Political Economy attended an exclusive screening of the film Grassroots in October, organised by the Politics Society and Dr Ami Abou-bakr, to coincide with the premiere of the film at the BFI London Film Festival.

Directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, Grassroots is a political comedy set in Seattle about a young man who runs against the 15-year incumbent for city council and deals with issues of activism, the power young people can exercise and grassroots politics.

The screening was followed by a discussion between director Stephen Gyllenhaal, youth activist Joseph Hayat, and Dr Abou-bakr, Lecturer in Politics at King’s.

The discussion highlighted many of the key themes that emerged from the film, including the merits of grassroots activism, the role of social media as a tool for generating debate within the student community and

proposed business plan.

Dr Omotosho said: ‘Happerture is a mobile health app recommendation platform which provides quality reviews of current and future health apps. It is difficult for both health professionals and the general public to find the best health apps, so we have set a criteria upon which every health app will be reviewed.’

Dr Omotosho hopes to launch Happerture as soon as possible.

‘We are currently preparing the ground by generating interest in the business. We are publishing news about the mobile health industry interviewing health companies around the world.’

Carnival comes to CMCI

Nicole Ferdinand, a PhD student in the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, hosted a one-day symposium on the entrepreneurial legacies of the Notting Hill Carnival in October.

The day featured a key note speech from Dr Suzanne Burke (University of the West Indies) and presentations from both academics and practitioners.

International dental research prize

At the sixth meeting of the Pan-European Division of the International Association for Dental Research in Helsinki, undergraduate students Ashvin Babbar and Sadhvik Vijay from the Dental Institute won the first and second prizes in the Junior Robert Frank Award Competition. Ashvin and Sadhvik carried out the winning research projects as part of their intercalated BSc in Regenerative Medicine, supervised by Dr Sanjukta Deb, Reader in Biomaterials Science.

Dr Sanjukta Deb

Temenuga Stoyanova

building blocks of modern web application development.’

Marcus plans to move to California after graduating from King’s, to further pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. He said: ‘It’s the perfect place for a start-up such as FusionCloud due to the density of business customers.’

Alumnus Dr Bamidele Omotosho (Medicine, 2007) is also aiming for success with his new business ‘Happerture’. Whilst completing his Clinical Fellowship at King’s College Hospital in 2012, Dr Omostosho was a finalist in the King’s ‘Lion’s Den’ competition (together with Law student Michela Menting) and has since continued to develop his

Left to right: Dr Ami Abou-bakr, Stephen Gyllenhaal and Joseph Hayat

the US presidential elections.

Ramtin Hajimonshi, a second year Political Economy undergraduate student and President of the Politics Society, said: ‘It was a very unique opportunity. The movie was not

only entertaining, it was also inspiring. Many of us left the event excited and motivated, thinking how we can and should get involved in politics to shape the future.’

Sadhvik Vijay (left) and Ashvin Babbar (right) pictured with their supervisor Dr Sanjukta Deb

February 2013 | Issue 202 | 7

King’s people Profile

Christopher Coe

Director of Public Engagement, External Relations Directorate

I joined the College in 1999 as Director of Communications and served in that role until 2011 when I was asked to focus on public engagement. Until quite recently, public engagement was not something that universities paid much attention to. Now it is seen increasingly, both in this country and abroad, as a vital way of validating the social contract between universities and society: by demonstrating the value of HE to the taxpayer, by sustaining the impact of research, by informing research and raising the profile of the university to a host of audiences, not least potential students. And, of course, the mission of King’s is to work in the service of society.

Where did you work before that?

I worked for an international cancer charity and, prior to that, as Director of Communications at King’s College Hospital... so I have had a long association with King’s!

What is the role of public engagement in the higher education sector?

Public engagement describes the many ways in which universities and their staff and students can connect and share their work with the public. This could be through such activities as public talks, taking part in science or arts festivals, panel discussions or debates.

What is the long term vision for Public Engagement at King’s?

I hope to see public engagement embedded in the culture of King’s to

Public engagement is seen as a vital way of validating the social contract between universities and society

the point where it is regarded as a core activity, incorporated into business plans and seen as both an integral part of academic career progression and as part of the student experience. My current role is to develop these strands, facilitate activity by such things as publicity and grants, and provide a focus for public engagement both within the College and externally.

I strongly advise staff who are thinking of undertaking public engagement activity to get in touch via pe@kcl.ac.uk. We manage some small grants to cover areas such as travel, promotion and so on.

Dominic Turner

When did you come to King’s?

What do you enjoy most about your work?

The infectious enthusiasm of our academics, often some of the world’s experts in an extraordinarily wide range of subjects; and, being at a place like King’s, getting to hear first-hand some of the most remarkable individuals of our times, people like Desmond Tutu, Maurice Wilkins, Peter Higgs and Kofi Annan.

Is there a particular challenge for you now or in the near future?

A university based on five campuses with a huge diversity of interests is always going to present challenges.

I am particularly interested in using public engagement activity to bring parts of the College together, through activities celebrating anniversaries, for instance, or through such projects as the King’s Festival of Food, called ‘Feed Your Mind’, which I am organising together with my team (Public Engagement Officer Richard Palmer and Executive Assistant Gaby Wright) for March 2013 (see page 12 for details). This event gives the opportunity to showcase a range of cultural and scientific research in areas that are in some way related to food.

The response from the College community to this project has been hugely enthusiastic!

Of course getting involved with public engagement activity is often

outside of a member of staff’s contractual remit, but the rewards are self-evident in terms of raising the profile of research, and, in some cases, such activity can inform the research itself.

There is so much happening at King’s that it can at times be a challenge to get to grips with the range of activities that are taking place! Space is also an ongoing challenge – we simply don’t have sufficient space for all the activity that King’s could offer.

What is your proudest work achievement?

Most probably it was keeping a number of damaging stories out of the press, but you will have to wait for my

autobiography to find out more!

In the dim and distant past I was very proud of the College’s 175th anniversary celebrations, not least the recreation of a Napoleonic battle in the Strand Quad (!) and the Strand window display of famous alumni, developed with Christine Ayre (Head of Corporate Design) and Dr Christine Kenyon-Jones (Writer, External Relations).

The most successful event I have been involved in recently was the celebration of the work of two King’s men – James Clerk Maxwell and Peter Higgs – which was organised with the Department of Physics, and saw queues forming outside the venue 90 minutes before the event began!

What is your favourite holiday destination and why?

I lived in Greece for some years so have a particular affection for the country, and the island of Antiparos in particular, but India is my favourite place.

The abandoned city of Hampi in Karnataka is the most magical spot I have ever visited.

to join the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies.

Professor Karen O’Brien has been appointed new Vice-Principal (Education) and Professor of English Literature, joining the College in the spring. Professor Susan Lea (left), Vice-Dean (Education) at the Institute of Psychiatry, is Acting Vice-Principal (Education) until Professor O’Brien joins King’s.

Professor Anna Reading will join the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries at the end of January and will take over as Head of Department in April 2013.

Professor Steve Tee has been appointed Associate Dean for Education in the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery.

Professor Evelyn Welch (right) has been appointed Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences) and Professor of Renaissance Studies.

What’s the current book on your bedside table?

I am currently reading Nine Lives by my favourite historian and travel writer, William Dalrymple, and Trampled Underfoot, Barney Hoskyns’ analysis of Led Zeppelin and a frightening dissection of postmodernist hubris.

New staff appointments around the College •

In the Marketing Department Liz Broadbent has been appointed Head of Product Marketing (maternity cover), Paul Dorney as Marketing Communications Manager and Charlotte M’Doe as Head of International Marketing.

Daniel Cremin has joined the External Relations Directorate in the newly created role of Public Affairs Manager, and is also working outside the Directorate

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8 | Issue 202 | February 2013

in close partnership with King’s Policy Institute.

Simon Gaunt, Professor of French Language & Literature, has been appointed interim Head of the School of Arts & Humanities from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013.

Dianne Harper (left) has joined the External Relations Directorate in the newly created role of Head of Internal & Change Communications.

Her remit is to support the senior

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leadership team in managing and evolving the internal communications strategy and channels across King’s and to develop and support Collegewide staff and student engagement activities.

Smoking cessation expert Professor Ann McNeill has joined the Institute of Psychiatry, making King’s the 10th university

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Flashback: Kinnier Wilson Page 11

Bill Bryson joins honorary alumni

News in brief

John Ellis FRS, Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics, was an invited speaker at an official reception in September at the Palace of Westminster celebrating the UK’s involvement in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland.

Professor Ellis urged a concerted effort by government, funding agencies, universities, researchers and schools to develop a ‘Higgs Legacy’, leveraging the recent discovery of a new particle resembling the long-awaited Higgs boson. He outlined his aspirations for a new generation of young people inspired to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

King’s college london

H tempest photography

Ellis speaks to parliament

Bill Bryson OBE (second from the right) was one of four distinguished recipients to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Chairman and Principal at the College’s 2012 Honorary Degree Ceremony, held in the Strand Chapel in November.

Bill is not only the UK’s highest-selling author

of non-fiction, he is an acclaimed science communicator, historian and man of letters.

His unique contributions to British life include those as a Commissioner for English Heritage and as President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Also awarded doctorates at the honorary ceremony were (from left to right): Christopher Dobson FRS, John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Chemical & Structural Biology at the University of Cambridge and Master of St John’s College; The Right Honourable Lord Judge, Lord Chief

Justice of England & Wales, Head of the Judiciary and President of the Courts of England & Wales, and Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, a distinguished renal physician, President of the National University of Singapore and Chairman of the Board of the National University Health System.

ERC funds young researchers

‘Instead of a honeymoon, I ran 100 mile road race’

King’s has been awarded eight 2012 European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants. These grants support young investigators to develop independent careers and make the transition from working under a supervisor to being independent researchers in their own right. The College’s grant recipients are: Dr Sophie Ulrike Eggert, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Biology, Randall Division of Cell & Molecular Biophysics, Biomedical Sciences Dr Aikaterini Fotopoulou, Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience & Neuropsychology, Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry Dr Humeira Iqtidar, Lecturer in Politics, Department of Political

Rather than going on a traditional honeymoon with new wife Jenny, Martin Blazeby, Research Fellow in the Department of Digital Humanities, took part in the Cotswolds Ultra 100 mile road running race, successfully raising £2,500 for Myeloma UK. Martin’s father Anthony, who was diagnosed with myeloma, died

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before Martin and Jenny got married.

Martin ran in his honour, with Jenny driving alongside him in the support car. Jenny said: ‘We generated a lot of attention with the car’s ‘just married’ flags flapping!’ Despite picking up a knee injury en route, Martin came fourth, completing the race in 18 hours, 40 minutes.

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Pioneering new diabetes nursing partnership

The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery has agreed plans for a new clinical academic centre for diabetes nursing, in partnership with King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Foundation of European Nurses in Diabetes. The centre will develop vital research into caring for and supporting people with diabetes, bringing together clinicians and academics so that research can be put into practice more swiftly and effectively. jo mieszkowski

Choose your challenge in 2013 The Fundraising & Supporter Development team is looking for cando members of staff to get involved and raise money by taking part in the following activites in 2013: Brighton Marathon – 14 April London Marathon – 21 April Tandem Skydive – 28 April

King’s Brazil Institute has won a prestigious Brazilian International Press Award for promoting the nation’s culture in the UK. The event was a culmination of a highly successful summer season for the Brazil Institute – more than 3,000 people visited its inaugural photography exhibition and it played a key role in welcoming Casa Brasil to London during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Rory Coleman

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Economy, Social Science & Public Policy Dr Tara Keck, MRC Career Development Fellow, MRC Centre for DevelopmentalNeurobiology, Biomedical Sciences Dr Dario Martelli, Reader in Theoretical Physics, Department of Mathematics, Natural & Mathematical Sciences Dr Lawrence Moon, Senior Lecturer, Wolfson Centre for Agerelated Diseases, Biomedical Sciences Dr Sukhi Shergill, Reader in Psychiatry, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institue of Psychiatry C Alberto Figueroa, Senior Lecturer in Computational Modelling, Division of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, Medicine.

Brazil Institute wins media award

London 10,000 – 27 May • BUPA Nightrider – 8 June • Abseil – 7 July • To find out more, contact: 020 7848 7431 giving@kcl.ac.uk www.alumni.kcl.ac.uk/ eventsandreunions

Martin Blazeby ran the Cotswolds Ultra 100 mile road race, raising £2,500 for Myeloma UK

February 2013 | Issue 202 | 9

King’s people Focus

Technology Enhanced Learning Talk to Professor Mark Russell for just a few minutes and you will soon realise his interests reside in thoughtful and learning-oriented curriculum design, rather than new technologies per se. Whilst this is arguably an appealing and refreshing approach for a Director of Technology Enhanced Learning, Mark is keen to emphasise that the Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) which he leads, has ‘enhancing learning’ at its core.

The Centre for TEL, which was established in March 2012 by former Vice Principal (Education) Professor Eeva Leinonen, currently has a team of five people (Ian Calder, Elena Hernandez-Martin, Bernadette John, Nabila Raji, Professor Patricia Reynolds). The Centre works closely with colleagues in the King’s Learning Institute (KLI) and, like KLI, from 2013 onwards will report directly to the new Vice-Principal (Education) Professor Karen O’Brien.

The Centre’s primary interactions are with staff across King’s and it is these interactions that will help the College bring significant benefits to students, such as greater opportunities for ‘any-place any-time’ learning and extending and enhancing the more traditional teaching, learning and assessment interactions via KEATS (the College’s virtual learning environment).

‘Similar TEL centres exist elsewhere in the UK,’ observes Mark, ‘nevertheless, the vision and creation of a Centre for TEL at King’s is helpful and provides a focal point in which we can draw together our expertise in TEL, keep up to date with current practice and help the College to accelerate its endeavours and build a reputation for being world leading in TEL.’ As a starting point, Mark is keen to ensure that an excellent TEL experience becomes the norm for all

Alfredo falvo

The Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) at King’s was established last year, with the arrival of its Director Professor Mark Russell

The use of technology in social environments can facilitate discussion and enhance learning outside of more formal taught settings, such as the lecture theatre and seminar room

King’s students. ‘Arguably it’s an easy task in an institution such as King’s to support and motivate innovation.

The real challenge lies in sustaining the innovations and diffusing them for wider benefit.’ Fortunately, such a challenge is precisely what motivates Mark in his work.

To help facilitate innovation and diffusion, as well as other important aspects of TEL, the Centre has identified five ‘activity areas’: Identifying, supporting and sharing TEL excellence within and beyond King’s (Stimulating and supporting innovation in TEL); Developing King’s TEL capacity and

culture (Embedding, diffusing and enterprising TEL work); Futureproofing the King’s experience through TEL (2012 and beyond); Enhancing the digital literacy and digital professionalism of staff and students (Skill and employability development), and Stimulating and contributing to research vibrancy in TEL. Through these activity areas, colleagues in the Centre hope to develop a rounded response to the support they offer teams in Schools and departments, enabling them to work with the College’s Learning & Teaching Strategy and associated

Technology Enhanced Learning Strategy.

The Centre’s small team is soon set to expand through recruitment activity. New recruits will include a full-time academic and two full-time E-Learning Content Developers.

‘Building a team that complements existing expertise of the team is great,’ notes Mark, ‘but so too is working in the education sector when some of our ways of engaging students and supporting them are being gently (or otherwise) challenged by the use of technologies.’

A number of initiatives are quietly gaining interest in the

sector, including freely using and sharing resources (open educational resources) mediated through technology, ‘massive open online courses’ – these are large scale national and international learning groups where the groups are provided with free access to world leading experts – and e-learning via students’ own mobile devices (mobile learning). Mark said: ‘These initiatives represent wonderfully exciting times for us and it’s important we are learning with and from others, and use these new opportunities to help drive education forward at King’s.’

Biology, and the launch of a clinical trial to test the new vaccine, was reported by BBC News, ITV News, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and ABC (Australia).

addition to international coverage in the Times of India, CNN and O Globo (Brazil), among others.

with post-natal depression.

Professor Howard also warned that women should discuss the risks and benefits of antidepressants with their doctor, in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today. Professor Howard was also interviewed on BBC News, Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio London.

Media watch End, Professor Max Saunders (left), A poll by King’s and Ipsos MORI has English, discussed the life and works revealed that Prince William is the of the distinguished author on BBC most popular royal in recent history Two’s The Culture and that people think The Queen is Show. doing a good job as Monarch. The poll results were reported by the Evening New hayfever vaccine Standard, Daily Express, Daily Mail, The development Huffington Post, and Asian Age (India) of a more effective among other international outlets. and less invasive Ford Madox Ford treatment for In addition to acting as hayfever, led literary consultant for the

by Dr Stephen BBC’s adaptation of Ford Till, Asthma, Madox Ford’s Parade’s Allergy & Lung King’s Ipsos MORI

10 | Issue 202 | February 2013

Ageing brain

Research led by Dr Alex Dregan, Translational Epidemiology & Public Health, has identified several cardiovascular risk factors which may be associated with the accelerated decline of brain function in older adults. This story was reported by the Daily Express, Guardian and BBC News, in

Post-natal depression

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Professor Louise Howard (below), Institute of Psychiatry, wrote that antidepressants are sometimes the only option for women

Depression and discrimination

Professor Graham Thornicroft, Institute of Psychiatry, spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Today about his latest research which found that over three quarters of people

Dr Elisabeth Kelan’s Rising Stars: Developing Millennial Women as Leaders in the Books section Page 12

Flashback

Wilson’s disease – a century on Born in the USA to a Scottish mother and an Irish father who was a missionary Presbyterian Minister, Kinnier Wilson returned to Scotland for his education. He trained in medicine at the Edinburgh Medical School, graduating in 1902. With a Carnegie Fellowship he studied neurology under two distinguished French neurologists, Pierre Marie and Joseph Babinski, in Paris, with an additional few months in Leipzig.

He was appointed house physician at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic in Queen Square, London, in 1904, and remained there as, successively, registrar, pathologist, assistant physician (1912) and full physician (1921). During the First World War King’s College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital served as a neurological centre for wounded soldiers, and in 1919 Kinnier Wilson was also appointed as junior neurologist at King’s College Hospital, the first-ever purely neurological post in the UK, later becoming senior neurologist in 1928. He was a brilliant clinical observer, researcher, teacher and writer, constantly seeking the causes and concepts underlying disorders of the nervous system.

Kinnier Wilson obtained his MD with a gold medal at Edinburgh in 1911 for his thesis on progressive lenticular degeneration, soon and still known as Wilson’s disease. Later it was discovered that this is a genetically determined disorder of copper metabolism affecting the brain, liver and other tissues. This seminal work, published in the journal Brain in 1912, opened up the whole field of clinical disorders of muscle tone and movement and of diseases of the basal ganglia, of which he became the leading authority in the world.

His interests embraced every aspect of neurology, however, including

hysteria and the borderlands with psychiatry, and this is reflected in his founding in 1920 the Journal of Neurology and Psychopathology (now the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry), which he edited until his death in 1937; in his appointment as Consulting Neurologist to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and in his two-volume textbook Neurology published posthumously in 1940.

This book is widely regarded as the greatest single-author text on the subject ever written, certainly in the English language, enhanced by Kinnier Wilson’s fluency in French and German and his encyclopaedic knowledge of the neurological and psychiatric literature.

At the invitation of the famous neurophysiologist and later Nobel Prize winner, Sir Charles Sherrington, Kinnier Wilson participated in a symposium on muscle tone at the first International Congress of Neurology in Berne, Switzerland, in 1931. At that Congress Sherrington and Kinnier Wilson were elected as President and Secretary-General respectively of the second International Congress of Neurology in London 1935. He was President of the neurological section of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1933 to 1935, and in 1933 he was proposed for the Fellowship of the Royal Society by Sherrington and fellow Nobel Laureate Lord Adrian, but died before election.

With his wife Annie Louisa Bruce, daughter of a distinguished Edinburgh physician, Kinnier Wilson had a daughter and two sons. At a symposium held at King’s in 1987 to honour him on the 50th anniversary of his death I met James Kinnier Wilson, their youngest son, an Assyriologist at Cambridge University. Since that time he and I have collaborated on the translation and publication of Babylonian texts on epilepsy, stroke and psychiatric disorders, some from

with depression experience some form of discrimination. Professor Thornicroft was also interviewed by the Independent and LBC Radio.

the Taliban are ‘open’ to a general ceasefire. The paper received widespread media coverage in the UK and internationally, including the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, BBC News, BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 News, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and China Post.

Taliban ceasefire?

Academics from the Department of War Studies, Professor Anatol Lieven, Professor Theo Farrell (right) and Dr Rudra Chaudhuri, published a report suggesting that

Everyday drugs for dementia

Medications used to treat hypertension, diabetes and skin conditions could be doubling as treatments for Alzheimer’s within 10 years, according

King’s college London archives

A brilliant clinical observer, researcher, teacher and writer, Kinnier Wilson constantly sought the causes and concepts underlying disorders of the nervous system

Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson

the British Museum and the Louvre.

Dating from the 2nd millennium BC, these are thought to be the oldest detailed accounts of these disorders.

More recent contact with a grandson of Kinnier Wilson has brought to light a unique 20-minute film made by Kinnier Wilson in 1924, showing 14 patients with movement disorders, including a patient with

Wilson’s disease. This is the oldest neurological film from the UK and includes a shot of Kinnier Wilson himself. Since he was friendly with Charlie Chaplin, it is possible that Chaplin may have facilitated the making of this film, which may now be seen on the internet in Movement Disorders 2011; 26: 2453-9.

This year is the centenary of the

to a study led by Professor Clive Ballard, Age Related Diseases. He said: ‘Defeating dementia is one of the biggest challenges facing both medicine and society as a whole.

Developing new drugs to treat the condition is incredibly important.’

Professor Ballard’s comments were reported by the Press Association, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Independent and BBC Breakfast.

Westminster Hour about the increasing presence of tsars in government policy-making, of which there are now ‘more than 260’. Dr Levitt’s comments on a study into tsars, carried out by researchers at King’s, appeared in the Independent, Daily Telegraph and i.

Government tsars

Dr Ruth Levitt, Political Economy, spoke to BBC Radio 4’s The

Human enhancements

Technologies that enhance memory, hearing and mobility ‘could impact significantly on the way we work, in the near future,’ said Professor Genevra Richardson

publication of Kinnier Wilson’s famous thesis in the journal Brain in 1912. This milestone in the history of neurology was recently marked by a two-day symposium on Wilson’s disease at the Royal College of Physicians in London.

Dr Edward Reynolds Department of Clinical Neurosciences

(below), Law, in comments that were widely reported by Reuters, the Press Association, Independent, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, BBC News, CNBC, Washington Post and O Globo (Brazil).

Professor Richardson was also interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today.

February 2013 | Issue 202 | 11

Books

For more news from around the College, visit King’s intranet INTERNAL.KCL.AC.UK

What’s on 60th Greek Play: Oedipus at Colonus 13–15 February 2013, 14.30 & 19.00 Greenwood Theatre, Guy’s Campus

Computational Intelligence and its Applications

Rising Stars: Developing Millennial Women as Leaders

Edited by Dr Hak Kueng Lam, Department of Informatics, S H Ling and H T Nguyen (University of Technology Sydney)

Dr Elisabeth Kelan, Department of Management

This book focuses on computational intelligence techniques and its applications – fast-growing and promising research topics that have drawn a great deal of attention from researchers over the years.

It covers neural networks, support vector machines, fuzzy logic and evolutionary computation, and covers a wide range of applications from pattern recognition and system modelling to intelligent control problems and biomedical applications.

Imperial College Press

This book explores gender and generation through the lens of millennial women. Drawing on original research, it shows organisations how to understand professional women in their twenties and thirties so that the business can develop these employees into future leaders. Featuring signature practices from global businesses, it aims to help organisations set the parameters for change and is invaluable for generation Y women.

Palgrave Macmillan

Contractors & War: The Transformation of United States' Expeditionary Operations

Dr Christopher Kinsey, Defence Studies Department, and Dr Malcolm Patterson (University of Sheffield) A transformation is occurring in the way the US government expects the military to conduct operations – with much of that transformation contingent on the use of contractors to deliver support to the armed forces during military campaigns and afterwards.

This book explains the reasons behind this transformation and evaluates how the private sector will shape and be shaped by future operations.

Stanford Security Studies

Political Economy of Statebuilding: Power after peace

Edited by Mats Berdal, Department of War Studies, and Dr Dominik Zaum (University of Reading) This volume examines and evaluates the impact of international statebuilding interventions on the political economy of conflict-affected countries over the past 20 years.

It focuses on countries that are emerging, or have recently emerged, from periods of war and protracted conflict. This book is pertinent for anyone with an interest in statebuilding, humanitarian intervention, post-conflict reconstruction and political economy.

Routledge

Directed and performed by King’s students, the 60th Greek Play will be Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus. Parricide and incest were his sins. But now, Oedipus is old. He has wandered through Greece for most of his life with his daughter, carrying the burden of his curse. Then, in the grove of Colonus, word arrives from the god Apollo, and Oedipus understands: he has come to Athens to die. All performances in Ancient Greek with English surtitles.

Further details: www.kcl.ac.uk/classics 47th Maudsley Debate: The Risk Debate 19 February 2013, 18.00–20.00 Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Denmark Hill Campus

The 47th Maudsley Debate at the Institute of Psychiatry brings together a distinguished panel of speakers to debate the dogma of risk in psychiatric practice.

The need to make judgements about the risks of harm posed by an individual to themselves or others, and to minimise these, has become a cornerstone of psychiatric practice. Why has this emphasis arisen, and is it justified? Speakers include Professors Tom Fahy and George Szmukler from the Institute of Psychiatry, and Dr Matthew Large (University of New South Wales). A reception will follow the event. Further details: hannah.1.baker@kcl.ac.uk.

Festival of Food & Ideas: Feed Your Mind 7–22 March 2013

Bad Education: Debunking Myths in Education

Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism

Contemporary Carioca: Technologies of Mixing in a Brazilian Music Scene

A Secular Europe: Law and Religion in the European Constitutional Landscape

Professor Philip Adey and Professor Justin Dillon, Department of Education & Professional Studies

Dr Paolo Gerbaudo, Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries

Dr Frederick Moehn, Department of Music

Dr Lorenzo Zucca, The Dickson Poon School of Law

We all know that small classes are better than large classes; that children are best taught in groups according to their ability; that some schools are much better than others, and that we should teach children according to their individual learning styles…or do we? In this book, the authors ask awkward questions about these and many other sacred cows of education. It is essential reading for anyone involved in educational policy making or management.

Open University Press

From the Arab Spring to the ‘indignados’ protests in Spain and the Occupy movement, this book examines the relationship between the rise of social media and the emergence of new forms of protest. Activists’ use of Twitter and Facebook does not fit with the image of a ‘cyberspace’ detached from physical reality. Instead, social media is part of a project of re-appropriation of public space, which involves the assembling of different groups around ‘occupied’ places.

Pluto Press

This book introduces a generation of Rio-based musicians who collaboratively have reinvigorated Brazilian genres, such as samba and maracatu, through juxtaposition with international influences, including rock, techno and funk.

It highlights the creativity of individual artists, including Marcos Suzano, Lenine, Pedro Luís, Fernanda Abreu, and Paulinho Moska, in the context of nationalist discourses and neoliberal models of globalisation.

Duke University Press

How to accommodate diverse religious practices and laws within a secular framework is one of the most pressing and controversial problems facing contemporary European public order. In this provocative contribution to the subject, Lorenzo Zucca argues that traditional models of secularism, focusing on the relationship of state and church, are out-dated. Only by embracing a new picture of what secularism means can Europe move forward in the public reconciliation of its religious diversity.

Oxford University Press

Organised by the Public Engagement team, a Festival of Food & Ideas will showcase areas of the College’s expertise that are related to food. The festival will feature lectures and discussions on a diverse array of subjects, including the science of chocolate, food labelling, the history of whisky, food security in emerging economies, the cost of eating healthily, superfoods, the medicinal properties of Chinese food and much more. All events are open to staff, students and the public. Further details: www.kcl.ac.uk/kingsengages More events at King’s

12 | Issue 202 | February 2013

Find out about events in and around the College by visiting: kcl.ac.uk/newsevents/events internal.kcl.ac.uk/news-andevents

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Comment is the College’s quarterly newsletter, edited by the Public Relations Department and designed by Esterson Associates. Comment is printed on paper that contains materials sourced from responsibly managed forests. Articles for Comment are welcomed from staff, students and friends of the College. The Editor reserves the right to amend submissions. Suggestions and copy for the next issue can be sent to the Internal Communications team by emailing internalcommunications@kcl.ac.uk by Friday 15 February 2013.