Exeter magazine 2014/15

Driving change Supporting students

Peer to peer

The Chancellor’s work

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND SUPPORTERS

2014/15 ISSUE

EXETER

A MATTER OF DEGREES: EXETER’S INFLUENCE

EXETER

2014/15 ISSUE

The toughest part about creating this magazine is only being able to select just a few of the stories about University life, both on our campuses and among our graduates and supporters. There are hundreds more tales to be told (and if you sign up for our regular enewsletter at alumni@exeter.ac.uk you’ll receive updates every couple of months) but we hope you’ll enjoy the ones we’ve brought together for this edition of your magazine. As always we’d like to thank everyone who has given up their time to take part. If you have a story of your own or any feedback on the magazine, please contact me at alumni@exeter.ac.uk or by post Development & Alumni Relations Office, University of Exeter, Northcote House, The Queen’s Drive, Exeter, EX4 4QJ, United Kingdom.

Best wishes Jo Cole, Editor

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EXETER magazine is a University of Exeter publication.

Cover shot: Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina ©iStock.com/bbuong

Editorial team: Jo Cole, Charlotte Gooding, Rachel Jones, Kieran Miyamoto, David Watson.

Design: University of Exeter Design Studio. 2014DARO008 Photography: Our thanks go to Shella de Mar, Steven Haywood, Julien Marcetteau, Tim Pestridge, Niklas Rahmel, James Ramm, Smith and Scholey and Jim Wileman.

Proofing: Thanks to Jane Chafer, Sarah Jarman, Rachael Magee, Julie Passmore, Josh Papanicola, the University of Exeter Press Office.

Thanks also to: Rose Cohen, Martin Cook, Toby Crewes, Richard Foord, Nicolas Forsans, Rachael Green, Jane Harding, Janice Kay, Duncan Sandes.

The views expressed are not necessarily those of the University of Exeter.

Details correct at the time of going to print (Sept 2014).

Large print: Please visit www.exeter.ac.uk/ magazine to view a version of this magazine that you can enlarge onscreen.

Alternatively contact us at: alumni@exeter.ac.uk or +44 (0) 1392 723141 if you would like a copy in large text.

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Professor Sir Steve Smith Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive

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strategies is to succeed in this environment, by supporting academics to collaborate with colleagues around the world. This means my role as Exeter’s international ambassador continues to grow and develop. I have recently explored these trends in keynote speeches in Singapore, Japan and the US. Each time, what is clear is that our competitors are grappling with the same issues.

ice-Chancellors have long had

the honour of representing their institutions overseas. In the past these visits were chiefly an opportunity to meet with other likeminded individuals around the world.

Today, as leading research universities like Exeter operate within a globalised market for higher education and an increasingly international research environment, these visits have become crucial.

At the same time the world has become “smaller” allowing students to choose the best universities wherever they might be in the world, so we also have a growing number of alumni living outside the UK. The economic and social role of higher education is rapidly changing in response to global economic change. Nations around the world are talking about the importance of winning the ‘Global Race’, particularly in the face of the economic development of China and India. The UK must improve its international standing on a range of measures in order to be in that race for jobs and wealth. The good news is that education generally, and universities specifically, are acknowledged as having a central role to play. This really is our time.

The UK’s future is as a knowledge economy.

It’s astonishing to think that by 2020, 82 per cent of newly created UK jobs will require a degree. The top 10 ‘in demand’ jobs in 2010 were in industries that did not even exist in 2004 and two thirds of UK growth between 2000 and 2007 came from knowledge and innovation intensive 4

sectors. Fortunately, only 2 per cent of job losses since 2008 have been in knowledge intensive industries. So a good education is going to be more important than ever.

In addition, the success of individual universities is increasingly linked to having a large number of international research collaborations – what Jonathan Adams writing in his Nature paper published last year refers to as ‘the fourth age of research’.

Adams argues that research has progressed through three ages: the individual, the institutional and the national, but that today we are entering a fourth age, driven by international collaborations between the best research groups. Studying citation data from around 25 million articles, Adams found that papers with at least one international co-author got about 50 per cent more citations on average.

There is no doubt that international research collaboration has become one of the defining characteristics of world- class universities. At Exeter, central to our research and internationalisation

When I was a child my parents’ generation talked about ‘jobs for life’ but those days are gone. School pupils today are likely to have had many different jobs by the time they are 30 years old, perhaps across many countries. Traditional skills that an education provides will still be valued, but above all will be the ability to change and adapt. Employers are regarding a degree as a proxy for these skills and the entry pass to the competition.

As alumni and supporters, your willingness to share your experience and expertise, fund research, and support the academic and student experience here at Exeter, makes a truly tangible difference to the outlook and future success of today’s students. In the world we are moving into, this will matter more than ever before. So thank you for your continued support of Exeter. By working together we can succeed in addressing future challenges and seizing the opportunities they provide.

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Students’ Happy Times

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xeter’s students are amongst the happiest in the UK, according to the prestigious Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014.

The University rose to 7th place in the survey where institutions are rated in everything from staff and lecture quality, to social life and accommodation.

Provost Professor Janice Kay said: “Creating the best possible student experience is at the heart of all we do and we are delighted to enter the top ten for the first time.

“I’d like to thank all those alumni who have contributed to this success.”

WORLD DEMENTIA ENVOY OPENS HEALTH INNOVATION HUB

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n award-winning centre which is cementing Exeter’s global reputation for health innovation was officially opened by the World Dementia Envoy and graduate, Dr Dennis Gillings, CBE. The £27.5 million Research, Innovation, Learning and Development (RILD) building (pictured), embodies a pioneering partnership between the University of Exeter Medical School and the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RD&E).

The new development will promote a multi-professional approach to training and education, and will streamline the process from discovery to patient care.

Guests at the launch included Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust, and Sir David Weatherall, Trustee of The Wolfson Foundation, who jointly unveiled a plaque acknowledging the generous donation the two organisations made towards the award-winning building.

Dennis, who is founder and Executive Chairman of Quintiles, the world’s leading provider of biopharmaceutical services, is an Exeter alumnus who was named as World Dementia Envoy by Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this year.

He said: “I’m delighted to launch this world-class centre, which has one ultimate goal in mind – to improve patient care. This partnership between the University and the RD&E encourages dialogue between academics and health professionals, to ensure research is addressing important clinical questions which are relevant to the needs of the NHS. This fresh approach is exactly the kind of innovation we need to tackle some of the greatest global health problems of our time, including dementia, diabetes and obesity.”

Read more about his World Dementia Envoy role on page 22.

Exeter also broke into the top 150 in the most recent Times Higher Education World University Rankings. This league table judges universities across the core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

BOARD PLANS FOR US FOUNDATION

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he membership of a US board of advisors is being finalised, which will help facilitate fundraising for the University.

During a visit to New York in May, the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Professor Sir Steve Smith informed alumni of plans to submit an application to create an American tax-exempt non-profit organisation. The University of Exeter US Foundation will enable US residents and companies to support Exeter’s research and teaching in a more tax efficient manner.

Sarah Jarman, Director of Development and Alumni Relations said: “We are fortunate to have very experienced alumni and supporters keen to join the Foundation’s Board.

“We realise that many graduates living in the US would like to support their University and the Foundation will make it far easier for them to do so.” exeter.ac.uk/alumni

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SW Universities’ huge contribution to region

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report from Universities UK for the first time quantified the economic benefit generated by the region’s 12 universities.

Using cutting-edge, more accurate modelling tools, the total revenue of South West higher education institutions was an enormous £1.7 billion in 2011-12. Universities also provided 20,522 full-time equivalent jobs.

In total, when added to the expenditure of international students and students from the rest of the UK who study in the South West, the universities generated 51,780 jobs in the region.

Another study by independent economic analysts, Oxford Economics, confirmed that Exeter and Falmouth University, who share and jointly manage the Penryn Campus, have contributed £491 million to the economy of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly between 2002 and 2012.

Sophie and Jackie Tasker

“Miracle treatment” families at Exeter centre of excellence

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t five years old, Jack Neighbour’s neonatal diabetes health complications meant he had never spoken a word.

Yet just six weeks after a genetic test by a team at the University meant he could switch from insulin injections to tablets, he delighted his family by uttering his first words: the simple phrase: “Hello, Mummy”.

Family life was transformed from a “living nightmare” to a home filled with laughter, after Jack, now 14, was given a genetic diagnosis by the team at the University of Exeter Medical School.

Jack’s mother, Emma Matthews, attended an event which brought together 34 families from across the world who have benefitted from the Exeter group’s research into genetic causes of neonatal diabetes, with support from the Wellcome Trust and Diabetes UK. Nick and Jackie Tasker were first told their daughter Sophie had diabetes when she 6

was just three months old. Life became a carefully scheduled cycle of insulin injections and blood tests which left her thighs covered in bruises, and family pleasures such as eating out or taking a holiday were out of the question.

At 18, Sophie was one of the first people in the country to be diagnosed by the Exeter team. Switching from insulin to tablets made a dramatic difference to her health. Now 25, Sophie said: “It’s fantastic – I feel much more relaxed and I can be far more independent because we don’t have a risk of collapsing with low blood sugar.”

Nick said: “When Sophie was a baby, we had to weigh her food to the nearest gram – now she can eat what she likes, when she likes. We’re really proud to be part of this research, and particularly that a change in international guidelines means young children around the world will never have to go through what Sophie endured.”

Business School develops ACCA MOOC

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he University’s Business School has developed the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to be accredited by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

Called Discovering Business in Society the eightweek FutureLearn course is aimed at anyone interested in learning the principles of business, including prospective undergraduate students, working professionals without a background in business, those interested in entering the finance profession, or seeking a route to ACCA membership.

Professor Robin Mason, Dean of the Business School said, “With two-thirds of our research rated as world-leading or of an internationally excellent standard, we are perfectly placed to deliver a course that is both engaging and informed by cutting edge thinking.”

The University’s first MOOC on Climate Change was led by Professor Tim Lenton earlier in the year (see page 16).

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Invention could banish car parking pressure and reduce emissions

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tudents from Exeter won a national competition with their innovative system which could reduce the headache of searching for a parking space and help reduce vehicle emissions.

Computer Science students Nicholas Sanders and Humphrey Shotton secured victory in the undergraduate category of the prestigious Raspberry Pi programming competition.

Their pioneering system, called PiPark, allows motorists to see whether spaces are available in car parks. The device uses a camera attachment that periodically relays parking-space availability data to a central server. This server stores and presents the information on a webpage, showing users where they can park.

By pre-warning drivers if spaces are empty or full, the system helps radically reduce waiting times during busy periods and, more importantly, reduces vehicle emissions expended while vehicles queue to park.

LIVING SYSTEMS CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES

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onstruction work is well underway on the pioneering new research facility; the Living Systems Institute.

The Institute, which is being built on the Streatham Campus, represents a new means of understanding how diseases evolve, with the aim of improving diagnosis and creating effective cures.

Leading mathematicians, physicists, cell and molecular biologists, biomedical scientists and engineers will all be brought together within the facility, which at £52 million represents the single biggest investment in science ever made by the University.

Its aim is to move beyond the current biological models to accurate, predictive control engineering of whole living systems.

This has the potential to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of human, animal and plant diseases.

The Institute will be completed in 2016.

Professor Debra Myhill (left) receives the ESRC award

NEW APPROACH TO WRITING CHANGES POLICY AND PRACTICE

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decade of research into the development of writing in schoolaged children by the University has shaped classroom practice in the teaching of writing and informed national and international policy.

This has resulted in measurable improvements to children’s writing abilities and has changed ways of thinking about writing.

the research clearly shows policy makers and educationalists of its importance.

During the ceremony, the ESRC rewarded researchers for their outstanding economic and social impact, with Debra securing first place in the Outstanding Impact in Society category.

The research was celebrated by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) who awarded the Centre for Research in Writing with the 2014 ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize.

In one ESRC-funded study, researchers found that when grammar was linked meaningfully to the writing being taught, children’s writing scores improved at double the rate of children not taught in that way. This was measured (by Cambridge Assessment) in line with National Curriculum KS3 standards.

Embedding grammar in the teaching of writing can have a positive impact on children’s written work. Based on a ten-year programme of research led by Professor Debra Myhill, Dr Susan Jones, Dr Helen Lines and Dr Annabel Watson at the University’s Graduate School of Education,

Debra explained: “The key is using grammar to open children’s eyes to the infinite repertoire of choices which are available to them as writers. Used in this way, grammar helps children understand how language works and how to express themselves with greater craft and creativity.” exeter.ac.uk/alumni

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Artist’s impression

New app brings to life tenth century Exeter Book

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he Department of Modern Languages has been working in collaboration with Antenna International to create the Exeter Manuscripts app which will reveal the secrets of medieval literature to a new audience.

The initial stage is based around Exeter Cathedral’s famous Exeter Book which features the Exeter Riddles, a collection of 96 literary mysteries. Unlike in a library, where books are freely accessible, people rarely see these manuscripts as they have to be kept in secure storage. This is partly due to their fragility and high value.

The project aims to reverse the historic invisibility of these books, and help Devon to rediscover its written heritage. The app has been developed only for iPads so far but it is hoped to expand it across other platforms.

NEW £5.5 MILLION DEVELOPMENT AT THE PENRYN CAMPUS

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new £5.5 million facility at the Penryn Campus will provide another home for the University’s Business School which is expanding into Cornwall in 2015. This new facility will also provide space for the Marine Renewables team, and growing Centre for Ecology and Conservation (CEC).

The facility, currently named the Science and Engineering Research Support Facility (SERSF), will provide a base for the Business School. The building will also feature a specially designed area for business engagement called ‘The Collaboratory’ from which dedicated staff, along with the University’s Knowledge Exchange team, will lead a number of longterm research projects with selected local business partners.

The new Business School will initially offer a BSc Business programme, an honours degree course providing students with a rigorous grounding in business management. This

leading programme will incorporate many of Cornwall’s attributes, with innovation, sustainability and social enterprise running through the curriculum.

Laboratories for offshore renewables and biosciences will enable an expansion of the research led by the Marine Renewables team and CEC. As with previous investments at the campus, the aim is to grow the economy of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, creating jobs and wealth by building on existing education and research assets, and supporting the development of high-value businesses, people, knowledge, investment and research.

Professor Mark Goodwin, Deputy ViceChancellor said: “Following the opening of our Environment and Sustainability Institute last year, this latest investment marks an important next step in our provision of academic skills and research excellence in the county.”

MIDDLE EAST EXPERT HONOURED

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he University awarded an honorary degree to one of its most distinguished academics, Professor Tim Niblock, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Politics.

The ceremony was hosted by His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi (PhD History 1985, Hon DLitt 1993), in

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Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

The Honorary Doctor of Laws marked Professor Niblock’s retirement from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University, and his contribution to academia within the Gulf.

Professor Niblock’s work on the politics of the Gulf has been influential since the 1980s, with writings on Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the relationship between the Gulf and Asia. He has also written extensively on Sudan and Libya. His advice has been sought by government institutions in the UK and across Europe.

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HUGH STUBBS (1946-2014) HIS LEGACY CONTINUES

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xeter is fortunate to have benefitted from gifts in Wills for many years. Indeed our beautiful Streatham Campus was a bequest from Alderman W H Reed in 1922.

Hugh Stubbs (History 1968) established our Legacy Giving Programme in 2006 whilst serving on the University’s Council.

Until this time, the University had not been proactively asking alumni to consider this wonderful way of giving something back.

Hugh sadly passed away in January 2014.

A dozen of Hugh’s Exeter contemporaries and 300 other friends attended his Service of Thanksgiving in London, which was also attended by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Steve Smith who said: “Without Hugh Stubbs there would not be the Legacy Giving Programme we have at Exeter today.

He was a truly exceptional alumnus who did so much to benefit others. We will always be grateful and proud that he gave his time and expertise to the University.”

Hugh, an accomplished lawyer and judge, personally dedicated a great deal of his time to raising awareness of how gifts in Wills could have a long term impact on the vital work of the University. He even hand signed 500 letters to graduates, inviting them to consider joining him in remembering the University in their Will as part of our first fundraising campaign – which trebled the number of bequest pledges.

Legacy gifts continue to sustain the growth of our Exeter endowment, enhance research, develop our campuses and support the next generation of students.

You can read more about our Legacy Giving Programme on page 13.

Lecture by Head of Santander UK

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na Botín, CEO of Santander UK, visited Exeter to deliver a lecture on the future of banking to more than 150 alumni, students and staff.

During her lecture entitled: The Future of the UK Economy and the Role of Entrepreneurs, Ms Botín spoke about the importance of education, SMEs and banks in creating sustainable economic growth.

She also visited the University of Exeter Santander branch.

Santander, through its Santander Universities Global Division, has been funding scholarships, travel grants, awards and entrepreneurial activities at Exeter for the past four years. The University is also receiving funding for part-funded internship opportunities with local SMEs through the agreement with Santander.

Since the partnership began Santander has donated and pledged more than £900,000 in philanthropic support.

Artist’s impression

ST LUKE’S REFURBISHMENT PROJECT

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onstruction is under way on a £10.5 million refurbishment of South Cloisters at St Luke’s.

The work will see a new storey added to the building and four storey extension constructed. The project is being driven by the Medical School and will benefit the entire campus.

It will mean new teaching and learning space and high-quality study areas available to all students.

Professor Steve Thornton, Dean of the University of Exeter Medical School said: “I’m absolutely delighted this refurbishment is under way. It will help accommodate our plans for growth and will provide a modern facility for medical research and for teaching and learning across all Colleges.”

The research areas are expected to open in February 2015, and the new teaching space is scheduled to open in September 2015.

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Humanities subjects among world’s best The University of Exeter features in the world’s Top 200 institutions in 15 of the 30 subjects featured in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2014.

Humanities subjects did particularly well in the new rankings. The College was delighted to announce that English was recognised amongst the Top 50 in the world, ranked at 43rd.

Modern Languages and History were also in the Top 150 globally.

GOLF CENTRE OPENS The Vic Ambler Golf Centre was opened at the Streatham Sports Park. The new facility includes a large chipping/ pitching green, putting green, eco-bunker, chipping mat and driving nets that can incorporate video analysis. The Centre is named in honour of Vic Ambler, former Chair of Physical Education and University Sports Advisor, who has been instrumental in the development of sport at the University.

International Cyber Expert Joins Exeter

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ith cyber terrorism an everpresent threat, the Law School has appointed world-renowned expert Professor Michael Schmitt.

Michael, who is a Senior Fellow in NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, is also working closely with Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute.

“Having the opportunity to work with senior government cyber operators and policy makers from NATO states reflects the Law School’s new emphasis on international law

outreach to security affairs practitioners,” he said.

“In this regard, we are proud to partner with the Strategy and Security Institute.

Clearly, Exeter is fast becoming the UK’s leader in practice-focused international security studies.”

Earlier this year Michael delivered the keynote speech at NATO’s Allied Command Transformation’s TIDE Sprint Conference, a think-tank for information, decision and execution superiority.

Professor Jane Spencer, Head of English said: “This is a fantastic boost to all of us in English.

We’ve made huge strides in the last three years as a result of the enormous efforts of a very strong group of academics and support staff on the Exeter and Cornwall campuses.

“The English team has been expanding its world-class research within a number of international partnerships, and we are passionate about bringing the benefits of work in the humanities to the widest possible community. We combine these endeavours with a constant dedication to improving our students’ experience, knowing that it’s when excellent research and a commitment to education go together that university life thrives.”

Professor Nick Kaye, Deputy Vice-Chancellor praised the outstanding quality of staff within the College: “This international recognition will help create new opportunities for us as we continue to build our collaborations with leading universities across the world.”

3,002 universities were evaluated for the third edition of the QS World University Rankings

by Subject, and 689 institutions ranked in total.

Graduate Simon Timson (third from left), Director of Performance at UK Sport, returned to the St Luke’s Campus and gave an inspiring speech to 180 students as part of the Graduate Futures Event.

As head of the Performance Directorate, Simon’s role is to create a stronger and more sustainable system for British Olympic and Paralympic high performance sport – with the ultimate goal of winning more medals in Rio 2016 than were won at London 2012.

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Philanthropist and businesswoman Dame Stephanie Shirley gave a keynote speech at the latest Exeter Impact Awards. The bi-annual event celebrates the diverse range and world-wide benefits of the research taking place right across the University. The awards focus on high-level research which has successfully benefitted the wider economy and society.

BBC RADIO 3 SELECTS EXETER ACADEMICS AS NEW BROADCASTERS

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wo of the ten academics named as part of the New Generation Thinkers 2014 scheme for BBC Radio 3 are from the University.

English lecturer Dr Daisy Hay and medical historian Dr Alun Withey were chosen to be involved in the partnership between BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council which supports academic broadcasters of the future.

The ten winners are spending a year working with Radio 3 presenters and producers to develop their research and ideas into broadcasts. They made their debut appearances on BBC Radio 3’s arts and ideas programme, Free Thinking, this summer and are making regular contributions throughout the year. They will deliver talks at Radio 3’s annual Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at the Sage, Gateshead in November.

GRANT AWARDED TO SUPPORT GREEK CULTURE RESEARCH

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he University of Exeter’s Department of Classics and Ancient History has been given over £260,000 to support research into the impact of Greek culture, and postgraduate students.

The A. G. Leventis Foundation has awarded the gift, which funds the Leventis Lectureship on the Impact of Greek Culture for a further four years and reaffirms their support for the Leventis PhD studentship.

It will be the fifth such PhD studentship at Exeter since 1998. The gift is part of on-going research support for The Leventis Initiative, which has led to international conferences, teaching and research posts and the publication of books into the influence of the Greeks on non-Greek culture in antiquities. Study of this influence is now an integral part of the curriculum for third year Classics students at Exeter.

It brings The A. G. Leventis Foundation’s support over the last 16 years for the University to £730,000.

Professor Chris Gill, Emeritus Professor of Ancient Thought said: “We are extremely grateful to The A. G. Leventis Foundation for their generous support, which will further our knowledge of the very real impact ancient Greek culture had on the world.

“Our Classics department has a reputation for excellence around the world and is currently rated third in world-leading research in the UK after Oxford and Cambridge. The support of an organisation such as The A. G. Leventis Foundation only serves to enhance that.”

The Foundation is a member of the College of Benefactors, the highest honour the University can bestow upon its donors.

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1. Alumna Becky John featured in our International Women’s Day celebrations.

Her social business Who Made Your Pants? employs women who’ve “had a hard time” and recycles unwanted offcuts from the lingerie industry 2. Researchers from the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the Penryn Campus, have been surveying on Dartmoor to identify places that shelter wildlife from climate change, known as refugia. Photo: Julien Marcetteau 3. BBC Security Correspondent and alumnus Frank Gardner OBE (Arab and Islamic Studies 1984, Hon LLD 2007) gave his expert analysis on the Arab Spring as part of the Global Uncertainties programme 4. The Expedition Samloem team conducted surveys of Koh Rong Samloem, an island off the Cambodian coast. They received £15,000 from the Annual Fund for the expedition and worked with students from the Royal University of Agriculture 5. The Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Professor Sir Steve Smith, met Professor Chen Jining, President of Tsinghua University, as part of a visit to consolidate links with leading Chinese universities and meet with alumni 6. Some of the University of Exeter Medical School’s first Medicine students

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advert

Will you leave a lasting legacy to Exeter…?

“The thought that I can help someone achieve their potential, give them Bettina Rigg (Law 1978) the same opportunity I had is hugely satisfying.”

There is a long tradition of philanthropy at the University of Exeter. Our Streatham Campus in Exeter was founded thanks to a legacy gift of Reed Hall and its 11 acres. The generous support of our alumni and friends has helped lay the foundations of a worldclass University with impact beyond our campuses, to communities across the UK and around the world which have benefited from our teaching and research.

A gift in your Will could be a wonderful opportunity to help sustainably support the University’s students and researchers of the future, through helping us to build an endowment with real impact, investing in the power of an Exeter education to continue changing lives for the better, tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues – famine, diseases and climate change.

A gift in your Will Please help us to continue to inspire future generations through considering a gift in your Will. If you would like to find out more, then please contact: Clare Pearce Development Manager for Legacy Giving Tel +44 (0)1392 722235 Email legacies@exeter.ac.uk www.exeter.ac.uk/legacies Development and Alumni Relations Office, University of Exeter, Northcote House, The Queen’s Drive, Exeter EX4 4QJ

exeter.ac.uk/alumni

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special feature

SPECIAL FEATURE:

TACKLING THE TEMPERATURE 2

00 faculty across the University of Exeter work on climate change and sustainability, making Exeter a global leader. They are found within every discipline, from humanities and social sciences to maths and engineering.

There are also specialist units such as Earth System Science on the Streatham Campus and the Environment and Sustainability Institute at Penryn. All have a common aim – to seek real solutions which society can use to help achieve a more sustainable future.

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xeter has more researchers and scientists contributing to the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) than any other city on the planet, thanks to the University and our neighbours the Met Office, which share an in-depth research partnership. The IPCC is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change.

Thanks to Exeter’s standing, many of the IPCC’s Report Authors (including some from the University itself) met on the Streatham Campus earlier this year, to share insights with fellow academics and the wider public.

Exeter is currently 4th in Europe for Earth and Environmental Sciences in the prestigious European Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) Leiden Ranking 2014.

With all this expertise you’d be forgiven for thinking there is little to learn. But the direction is clear – the University’s work is about collaboration; sharing information with communities and individuals, who in turn feedback their own experiences. The end result is a better informed knowledge base, offering real solutions to one of the leading challenges of our time.

This two-way street of learning was clearly in evidence with the University’s first ever MOOC (Massive Open Online Course – under the FutureLearn platform) on climate

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Photos © Unboxed Media Australia

Professor Tim Lenton in Greenland with the Tipping Points television series

change. Led by Professor Tim Lenton, Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science, 16,000 signed up for the course.

“Our purpose as a University is to help people learn,” Tim explained. “We were trying to offer everyone a chance to engage with climate change, including those who would like to know a lot more about it and might be wondering if the science is sound.”

As the eight-week course developed, participants used social media including two Facebook groups, to contribute their own knowledge and experiences.

“As the educator I’m also the learner too,” said Tim. “I have never done anything like this before. We had a lot of debate on social media. People were using online platforms and we are capturing all of that information to feed into our research.

“We don’t just diagnose the problem, we have a style of research which works with society to help solve the problem. We don’t want abstract solutions – there’s no traction in that generally. I’m really keen we should put a lot of emphasis on delivering those solutions and there are case studies where Exeter is doing that already.”

Some of those case studies include: the collaborative work between Exeter’s Centre for Energy and the Environment and Devon County Council, to create the UK’s first zero carbon in-use, PassivHaus certified school. The landmark “Climate Change Ready” Montgomery Primary School is designed to respond to future impacts of climate change, using probabilistic future weather scenarios developed by the Centre.

The European Centre for Environment and Human Health (part of the University’s Medical School) is based in Truro, Cornwall and works with local businesses to examine the links between environment and human health. In one example, they’ve teamed up with digital company Buzz Interactive to develop a mobile application that records the symptoms of Ménière’s disease – providing an insight into factors that exacerbate symptoms.

Meanwhile on Exmoor, peat bogs are being restored as a direct result of collaborative work between Professor Richard Brazier and researchers from Geography, alongside South West Water. Richard’s research into the hydrology, water quality and carbon storage of the bogs showed that restoration work would result in two thirds less water leaving the moor in heavy rainfall – improving water storage, water quality and accumulating more carbon in the soil.

The IPCC event was another example of sharing knowledge, both between leads and with the public (including alumni), through an evening event. Such was its prestige that it attracted the academic leads of all three IPCC working groups.

The difference for many researchers working within the fields of climate change and sustainability is that this isn’t just about work – this is personal.

As Tim, who has young children himself, explained: “It’s not exactly a matter of life and death for society, but it is about vitality and well-being going into the future.

“We feel we can make a difference. It’s very exciting.”

special feature

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We don’t just diagnose the problem, we have a style of research which works with society to help solve the problem

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TESTING THE WATERS The Flood Forecasting Centre, a partnership between the Environment Agency and Met Office, was established five years ago and is based at Met Office headquarters in Exeter.

The head of the centre is one of the University’s own graduates. Jo Cole visited the Flood Forecasting Centre after it had faced its biggest test to date; coping with four months of winter storms, torrential rain and extensive flooding. tidal surges on a serious but less severe event. These happen infrequently, so they made sure that they learnt all they could from that experience. Little did they know that their learning would be applied to a much bigger surge just a few months later, when 18,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. The authorities and emergency responders on the ground rely on FFC guidance to help them make their decisions to move people away from danger.

he Met Office is looking

resplendent in the summer sunshine, its great arcs of glass shimmering in the heat.

It’s as if the weather has added its own touch of irony to the meeting with the Head of the Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC), alumna Dr Crystal Moore. It’s a far cry from the winter that’s just passed – four months of flooding which saw the team of 24 working around the clock throughout.

© JIM WILEMAN

Crystal remembers vividly going into the centre for a night shift on December 5, 2013 when tidal surges, combined with spring tides and high winds were predicted (and indeed arrived) along the east and west coasts of the UK. It was the 60th anniversary year of the 1953 floods, which had cost lives.

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“The last time a flood of that scale had happened was in 1953 and 307 people died,” she said.

A few months earlier, the FFC team had already experienced flood forecasting for

“

We had a conveyor belt of storms coming over… they seemed to be never-ending

“

T

“The authorities and emergency services make key decisions, including whether to evacuate homes. They trust us to supply clear information about the forecasts and how confident we are that a set of scenarios will happen,” said Crystal. “That trust is hard won and easily lost”.

Last winter was the biggest test of the FFC since it was formed in 2009; as a successful working partnership between the Met Office and Environment Agency.

This collaboration enables hydrological and meteorological expertise to be combined, to provide longer lead times for emergency planning and response and to

more accurately forecast the flood risk on a national scale across England and Wales.

It’s a complex business with geology and other factors playing their part too. The FFC covers all natural forms of flooding including the sea, rivers, surface and ground water.

Crystal, whose own PhD from Exeter is in environmental toxicology, is full of praise for her team. She sees her role as leader and facilitator, giving colleagues the confidence and space to do their specialist work.

“They were consistently able to produce that peak performance. I am particularly proud of what the team delivered; they really punched above their weight.

“We had a conveyor belt of storms coming over from the US and hitting places time after time,” she said. “They seemed to be never-ending.”

That service included personally briefing the Prime Minister David Cameron and the UK Government’s Emergency COBR Committee.

With climate changes expected to bring more storms in future, the FFC is continually working to improve its models and methodology. The super-computer at the Met Office is being used to develop highresolution flood forecasting for hydrological models, which was made possible because of the collaborative approach of the FFC. “We are seen as world leaders. Ours is one of the few flood forecasting services that has co-located staff, cross trained in two scientific disciplines. It is a true partnership,” said Crystal.

© Paul J Martin / Shutterstock.com

special feature

Anniversary event for Water Systems To celebrate their 15th Anniversary, the University’s Centre for Water Systems held an industry awareness day.

The Centre for Water Systems has long been recognised for its pioneering research and consultancy work in the fields of urban water management and hydroinformatics, with core skills from a range of disciplines in hydraulics, systems analysis, modelling and optimisation. The team works in all parts of the urban water cycle with expertise in water distribution, sewerage and urban drainage, urban flooding, asset management, water efficiency, water quality, decision support, real-time management, sustainability, climate change resilience and sustainable drainage systems.

Co-Director of the Centre, Professor Dragan Savic said: “The work we carry out is of direct benefit to businesses and society and we’re always seeking to raise awareness of what we can offer.

“So when we looked at how best to mark our anniversary the team was keen that we should showcase our work and how we can help the industry. We also designed an event where people from industry could feedback their research and training needs to us.”

The day showcased some of the excellent research outcomes and training opportunities, and colleagues from industry also explained how they had benefitted from collaborating with the Centre.

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THE WORLD’S OUR BUSINESS The challenges of climate change are going to impact on every part of society, including the world’s business and finance sectors. Will they be a part of the global problem, or help find the solutions? We asked two Exeter experts – alumnus Martin Cook, Commercial Managing Partner at EY, and Nicolas Forsans, Director of the One Planet MBA programme and Associate Professor in International Strategic Management – to assess the issues facing businesses and the future role they have to play, through an email exchange.*

Nicolas Forsans Director, One Planet MBA Nicolas leads the development of the One Planet MBA, an innovative MBA at the forefront of thinking, emphasising financial, social and environmental sustainability aimed at preparing managers for the demands of global business in the 21st century in a resource-constrained world. The One Planet MBA is AMBA accredited, and ranked by the Aspen Institute USA‘s “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” 2nd in the UK, 9th in Europe and 47th in the world (2012).

Prior to joining Exeter, Nicolas created the MSc International Business at Leeds University Business School.

He is an Associate Professor in International Strategic Management, with expertise in the fields of international business and corporate strategy, and in the disruption of business models by emerging technologies. *in July 2014

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Martin Cook Commercial Managing Partner, EY Martin is the Commercial Managing Partner at EY UK & Ireland and Global Client Service Partner. In addition to client work, Martin is responsible for marketing and brand as well as Corporate Social Responsibility.

Martin is an alumnus (History 1979) and was initially a civil servant after university, responsible amongst other things for introducing Sunday Trading reform. Since then he has interspersed being a Partner at EY, with nine years with Capgemini, Europe’s largest IT services company, where he was ultimately Group Strategy and Transformation Director.

He is married with three children. His hobbies include playing various instruments “extremely badly” and “irritating people” with his “terrible” songs.

Follow him on twitter @martincook_ey

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Dear Martin,

Although business today faces many global challenges, extreme weather caused by climate change and limits on resources are having an unprecedented impact, threatening corporate profitability and global prosperity. We are seeing increasing prices for commodities that business and society rely on while non-renewable resources are also becoming scarce. Growing populations and new wealth, primarily from China, are further driving up demand and prices for scarcer resources.

Those challenges are unprecedented and will require companies to re-think every aspect of their value chain. The corporate sector, because of its ownership and control of financial and material resources, but also because of its capacity to drive change has a huge role to play, therefore, in redefining itself and the way societies consume and prosper in a globalised world.

But many firms have yet to wake up to the significance of those challenges. While sustainability has, slowly, made it into the boardroom, most companies are still following an agenda driven by short-termism – aimed at maximising short-term profitability by minimising today’s costs at the expense of the longer term sustainability of their business.

Instead of the drastic improvements in firm’s efficiency, what we see is incremental improvements to their value chain. In your experience to what extent are your clients aware of the dangers of focusing on short term gains? To what extent are your clients becoming increasingly concerned by the threats climate change and limited resources pose to their business? Businesses are agents of change with the power to positively impact on the livelihood of billions of people around the world and contribute to better and healthier societies. Is their reliance on the financial markets, pension funds and private equity the main hurdle to their aiming for sustainable growth?

We need a new generation of business leaders armed with a sustainability mindset, capable of developing new business models that will help those companies thrive in a world where resources are finite and where never-ending growth is impossible.

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Dear Nicolas,

In the last few years the level of boardroom awareness of sustainability has increased, which in turn has driven real action at the operational, commercial and business process level.

Whether this is good enough progress and points optimistically to what can be achieved in the future, depends in part on what we mean by sustainability.

On the one hand, and I think I am in this camp, sustainability can mean overall a better balance between, and more consideration of, social and environmental / natural capital alongside financial / economic capital. This presents a frame of reference within which incremental progress is a good thing. And there are lots of ‘good things’ happening, with leaders in each industry emerging to drive things forward. Where there is a collision between new thinking and old business problems – water usage in emerging markets as part of an international supply chain problem, for example – progress can indeed be transformational, not just incremental.

There is cause for some optimism, albeit tinged with a high dollop of healthy impatience.

On the other hand, to some, the issue fundamentally is that ‘human progress’, driven mainly by corporate / economic growth, is now resulting in a dangerous overshoot of planetary system boundaries such as CO2 levels, ecosystem health, biodiversity etc.

This overshoot will inevitably wreak havoc as populations grow and resources become scarcer, and then everything starts to fail in various apocalyptic ways. Whilst this is presented as a call to arms, this is more accurately described as the latest in a series of updates of Marx’s dissection of the causes for, and ultimately the prediction of, the failure of capitalism. Whilst it may well be right, (when I was younger I would probably have been in this camp myself), it would be very unlikely to see business leaders emerging with the imagination and courage to lead the charge to some bright shiny “Green Marx” tomorrow.

I wonder, too, if the emphasis on total disaster if everyone doesn’t instantly “get” the need to change everything, hinders rather than helps? At heart, business leaders are great at solving business problems. We need to frame the question that way if we want them to best answer it.

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Dear Martin,

Although we still have a way to go, it is clear that sustainability today is increasingly represented at boardroom level, and when consideration is given to sensitive issues improvements can be transformational in specific contexts.

However, it is also clear to me that the model that underpins capitalism today tends to promote over-consumption of goods and services (and therefore natural resources) – witness for example the better deal a consumer can get by purchasing two or three copies of the same product (so-called “2 for 1 offers”) which they never intended to consume – and often end up being wasted.

The pursuit of scale economies and the chasing of quarterly growth targets can have a very negative impact on our stock of capital (other than financial). While some argue capitalism needs reinventing, I do think those calls are unnecessary and counter-productive. A more productive approach might be to call for increased levels of investment and innovation and the reduction of entry barriers created over time by large, established players to foster the entry of new players that will disrupt the status-quo – and the way business gets done.

If we believe the market will generate the solutions to our problems, what can we do to accelerate the rate at which new entrants can raise capital and disrupt the business practices of incumbents and whole industries in the process? And should governments leave this to the market or have they got a role to play, for example through taxation?

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Dear Nicolas,

Yes, governments could do more to incentivise innovation, encourage “good corporate practices”, finance clean technology and so on. The finance and corporate sectors also have a key role to play in stimulating, financing and accelerating the adoption of innovative technologies, practices and business models that help deliver more sustainable outcomes.

What I see is the rise in new businesses, designed to create more social and financial wealth by tackling sustainability issues rather than perpetrating them. And the evidence too is that increasingly large businesses adapt their production and supply chains in favour of more sustainable ways, including investing in new businesses themselves – think of Centrica’s investment vehicle for doing just this. Some businesses, and EY is firmly in this camp, commit themselves to a different style of business in future, in our case by adopting as our purpose to build a better working world.

That our current system needs to be adapted or disrupted to deliver more sustainable outcomes is, I agree, beyond doubt. To deliver these changes requires action at many levels and across different elements simultaneously.

The reality is we all carry some responsibility, in how we buy, how we conduct ourselves, manage our businesses and educate our children; to keep thinking, to keep agitating and to define solvable problems and have executable ideas.

I would still argue it is better to risk complacency than despair and to get on with what we can do, rather than indulge in raging against what we cannot fix. Maybe I am the pompous but optimistic Captain Mainwaring to your canny but gloomy Private Frazer?

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World Dementia Envoy:

THE BIG INTERVIEW lumnus, donor and volunteer Dr Dennis Gillings CBE is the first World Dementia Envoy. He was appointed by the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Prime Minister David Cameron, following a conference of the G8 nations. Dennis (Mathematics 1966, PhD Mathematics 1972, Hon DSc 2011) is the founder and Executive Chairman of global pharmaceutical company Quintiles, which is the largest provider of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services in the world. Dennis, whose own mother had dementia, met Provost of the University of Exeter, Janice Kay, who is also a Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology. They discussed his vision for the role of World Dementia Envoy.

This interview has been edited for this article.

You can listen to the full conversation at: www.exeter.ac.uk/alumnisupporters/news/ onlinemagazine/gillingsinterview 22

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DG: With ageing populations dementia

is going to impact society enormously. It impacts not only the need for healthcare but also the need for family support. It can be devastating, both emotionally and to the quality of life of people. Also, it doesn’t receive the investment that other diseases do, such as cancer.

JK: At this point what does success look like?

DG: I think it’s two-fold: firstly caring for

people, through using technology and higher standards and secondly preventing the disease and delaying the onset. We would like to prevent dementia hitting people as early as it does.

JK: Regarding investigations in terms of Alzheimer and other dementia diagnosis, what do you feel are the most promising lines?

DG: The reality is there hasn’t been very

much of a breakthrough and that is a real problem. Part of the reason may be that we don’t know enough about the biology of the brain. The good news is that brain science is getting more and more investment and the whole molecular biology of the human being is being better understood. I think an analogy is cancer. We now understand the real root causes of cancer and how it gradually grows in the body and the processes whereby that happens much better than we did many years ago. It means we are able to treat cancer much better.

There is another analogy with cancer; that is treating dementia may well involve multiple therapies. It may not be just one magic bullet; I think it more likely we will evolve to a bigger and bigger cocktail of therapies for, first of all the different types of dementia, and secondly the different stages of its evolution.

I think the evidence certainly points to (and it also makes common sense) that a healthy lifestyle, keeping very physically active and trying new challenges, are all very important as you get older, not only when you are younger. There is a strong belief and some evidence to suggest they delay the onset of dementia, or may even prevent it for a longer period of time.

JK: What are the drivers to actually get drug companies to think more about where they need to invest and to move away from the view that you can’t cure it?

DG: There are a lot of patients who would love to be a part of clinical research, either directly because they still have the right degree of cognition, or because their families would be very comfortable with it.

I’d have been very comfortable participating in clinical research with my mother, where demonstrated safe products were involved.

I do believe the population wants more clinical research and more testing.

I use another analogy with HIV/AIDS. That got a lot more attention because of activism. Patient activism. The activism which was associated with AIDS in the middle 1980s was very, very substantial.

Not to be ignored. Almost violent, vociferous, challenging.

JK: This is our problem, this is your problem!

DG: That’s not a bad example

because probably activism, greater community awareness, greater community and political support, would likely create the incentives to attract much more investment in clinical and translational research.

JK: One of your biggest challenges is the perception of dementia, that people try and push it under the carpet.

DG: The stigma is a difficult thing. It’s a

stigma for an individual coming to terms with it and for a family. Yes that’s very hard.

Of course, as it becomes more common (and remember once upon a time doctors didn’t tell cancer patients they had cancer!)

I do believe that will gradually change. I think the stigma will gradually lessen, particularly as we get famous people who say: “Yes, I have it…”

It’s difficult when you are going to have a problem in 10, 20 years’ time. We’ve seen that with climate change. But this is a very, very clear cut case and I think the benefit to society of spending money now on research to get more cures, or more prevention, will be hugely beneficial.

Exeter’s Dementia Research The University has a wide range of cutting-edge research improving dementia understanding and treatment, including: Professor Andy Randall and Dr Jon Brown lead a team researching what goes wrong in the brain when dementia develops.

Professor Jonathan Mill’s team focus on the epigenetics of Alzheimer’s: that is, how non-genetic factors influence the way genetic differences contribute to the disease. A group led by Professor David Melzer focuses on analysing genetic aspects of dementia in human populations. Recent work has focused on impact of inflammation in the brain on dementia. Dr David Llewellyn (working in the Melzer team) explores neglected areas of dementia research in human populations – for example, they published the first paper identifying that vitamin D deficiency was associated with subsequent cognitive decline in a population of individuals aged 65 years and older (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2010). Work at the most applied end of the dementia research spectrum is based in PenCLAHRC, the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for the South West Peninsula.

The work of this team focuses on evaluating and implementing projects that will improve health services for people with dementia and improve quality of life.

JK: People are living longer but they are not necessarily living higher quality lives.

DG: Well, I think that’s the biggest

issue here. That’s why we need to use technology and better standards of care.

I think technology with smart phones can help a lot with dementia care. However, as one extends further the life of people, and if the onset of dementia occurs at roughly the same time, you get a longer span with more people who have to be cared for. I think that’s the most powerful reason why we’ve got to up the effort on research and development, to provide more cure and more prevention. Otherwise, we will in the end, break the bank I think.

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Professor Eugene Mullan (right) and Professor Patrick Leung are working in partnership to replicate a UK success story

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International Exeter

GLOBAL RESEARCH LOCAL SOLUTIONS

A

ground-breaking programme to train a new psychological workforce to treat low-level depression and anxiety before it reaches a more severe stage was developed in 2008 and is now in widespread use across the UK. The University of Exeter has been at the forefront of training the new Psychological Wellbeing Practictioners. Now these clinical skills and expertise are being delivered to colleagues at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and are expected to make a significant difference to mental health care in the principality. By Rachael Green.

The training programme is just one example of the way in which Exeter’s impactive research is crossing international boundaries, with technological improvements allowing academics to improve the quantity, quality and scope of their work.

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. In Hong Kong resource pressures mean only around 20-30 per cent of that number can access treatment. This can lead to acute symptoms developing within the remaining population, increasing their suffering and culminating in the need for more intensive treatments and interventions.

The low-intensity treatment programme has been further developed by the team at the University of Exeter, and involves training a greater number of Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) to identify and treat low-level anxiety and depression quickly, thus easing pressure on clinical psychology practitioners allowing them to concentrate on more severe needs.

Three years ago the Exeter PWP programme came to the attention of Professor Patrick Leung at CUHK and working together with Professor Eugene Mullan, the two academics and their teams are now replicating the UK success story.

“Our joint project has the potential to change the way mental health referrals are made in Hong Kong and help thousands of

sufferers,” said Eugene. “This is what sharing research globally is all about – being able to spot a need within society somewhere in the world and respond effectively together.

It’s very exciting and we are confident that by working with CUHK we can make a real difference for people in Hong Kong, just as we have in the UK.” CUHK and University of Exeter’s Clinical Education Development and Research Centre (CEDAR) are now working in partnership to create a training programme in Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy suitable for Hong Kong. CEDAR is the sole training provider for PWPs for the NHS in the South West and helps train tomorrow’s healthcare leaders from undergraduate level through to doctoral level of clinical practice. This programme will train and create a workforce of Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners in Hong Kong and once proven, it could be rolled out into mainland China too.

Patrick explained: “A good analogy is if a person has flu. It’s possible you might go to see your GP but you certainly wouldn’t go straight to hospital. Through this system Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners can provide a good service for those who are starting to suffer with depression or anxiety, rather than visiting a specialist which may take a lot longer.”

Already Exeter academics are training Clinical Psychology colleagues at CUHK,

who in turn will train the PWPs in a pilot area in Hong Kong. This new workforce will also share those skills with other practitioners and CUHK is also committed to the adaptation of an undergraduate programme to include PWP training.

The sharing of teaching and training also allows academics and students to complete international work placements and study abroad programmes. Together the teams are overcoming the challenges of working internationally – with different time zones, different first languages and a lack of face-to-face conversations. Technological improvements, coupled with sheer enthusiasm for the project are ensuring any problems are resolved. This unique opportunity has also created the platform for Patrick and Professor Ed Watkins (Professor of Experimental and Applied Clinical Psychology) to work on research collaboratively.

The pilot will continue for a year, delivered

by Exeter academics Marie Chellingsworth and Faye Small, adapting along the way to ensure it helps as many people as possible.

“Ultimately this is about doing all we can to address the burden of depression and anxiety for people, wherever they might live in the world,” said Eugene.

Find out more about CEDAR and the project at www.exeter.ac.uk/cedar

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Feature

lifestyle

EXETER LIFE...

Š Niklas

Rahmel/Exeter Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Guild

Students celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi in the Ram Bar garden.

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DRIVING NEW BUSINESS The Annual Fund is made of generous donations given by alumni to support student experience projects. We feature the work of two projects which have had a huge impact on the lives of the students taking part.

Exeter’s Formula Student team

T

he chance to compete on the hallowed race track at Silverstone is something many just dream of. For a 17-strong team of engineering students, standing trackside at the home of British motorsport became a reality.

They were taking part in Formula Student, the world’s largest student motorsport competition, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. It’s the chance for Exeter’s BEng and MEng students to pit their skills and ingenuity against 114 other teams, from 38 countries worldwide.

Their weekend at Silverstone followed months of hard work, building the car from scratch: “Being on the side of the track at Silverstone was an incredible experience for all of us,” said Pippa Stockdale, a member of the team.

“It made all the work we had put into the project worthwhile.”

This was the second time that Exeter students have competed in the prestigious competition. Last year’s team won the

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Allan Staniforth Award for the best new team in the competition. This year’s team has made some changes.

“We made a lighter car than last year and also made improvements to steering and handling,” said team member Tim Williams (main picture, left). “We have also completely redesigned the chassis to remove some weight and improve the driver’s position. It’s been an incredibly exciting project.”

Dr Stephen Childe, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and who oversees the project said: “Equally important are the additional skills they’ve learned along the way from marketing, to business modelling, as well as the engineering itself. These are the sort of skills they will need in the workplace.”

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FUNDING

INITIATIVES

The Annual Fund is awarded to student experience projects which would not otherwise receive funding and is made up of donations given by alumni and supporters. The projects cover every discipline and campus.

Each year, a team of students calls our graduates to talk about current University life and ways in which alumni can support Exeter through our Telethon.

In the academic year 2013/14

£174,000

was donated for the Annual Fund Projects supported include:

DIVERSITY MONTH

an annual celebration with performances, competitions, debates and quizzes

SUSTAINABLE SURF

Hannah Brown reads to pupils from Kennall Vale School in Cornwall

N

ot many people know about the dragons that live in Cornwall.

Or the spriggan with a penchant for stealing banjos from the lighthouses scattered around the county’s coast.

The myths and legends which make up part of Cornish culture were brought alive by a new publishing house, Penryn Press Ltd.

structures right, working to a budget and juggling University work. It was an invaluable experience.”

As its name suggests it’s based on the campus there – started by five students (company directors) keen to celebrate the vibrancy of the South West by publishing fresh and innovative literature.

The team, helped by around 35 others who took on roles from graphic design to finance, published a collection of short stories and poems for children called: Did You Know There Are Dragons in Cornwall? which enthralled children from Kennall Vale School (pictured). They sold half the print run within a couple of weeks of the launch.

With a start-up grant from the Annual Fund their learning curve got underway.

“It’s been an incredible project and we’re very proud of the book. Of course, we also encountered all the stumbling blocks and difficulties of a new business, which fellow entrepreneurs will be only too aware of,” said Marketing Director Piers Henrique.

“That included working our way through a huge amount of research to get our legal

The directors also received advice from alumni through the Career Mentor Scheme and those links have led on to career opportunities.

Penryn Press Ltd was set up to be run exclusively by current students, so a new cohort has now taken over.

providing lifeguard training and equipment for the club

LOVE AT THE LEMMY

community project by the Evangelical Christian Union, supporting students as they leave the Lemmy on Saturdays

XTV

upgrading essential TV equipment

STUDENT PARENT SUPPORT GROUP

broadening the reach of support currently available to student parents

Sarah Jarman, Director of Development and Alumni Relations said: “Often the Annual Fund is transformational to the students it supports. We’d like to thank everyone who has generously supported the Fund because it makes a huge difference.”

A panel of alumni, students and staff meets termly to review applications and make awards to those it feels are most deserving. For more information visit www.exeter.ac.uk/annualfund

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ASK...

Hilary Mantel

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feature Honorary Graduate Dame Hilary Mantel CBE (Hon DLitt 2011) is an award-winning author who has sold millions of books worldwide.

She is the first woman and first British author to have won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction twice, for her best-selling novels Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. She is also the only author to have won for two consecutive books. An acclaimed stage version of the two books ran in Stratford-uponAvon last winter and is on at the Aldwych in London until early October 2014. She is working on The Mirror and The Light, the final book of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy.

A new book of short stories written by Hilary is called The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories. Her first novel was published in 1985 and her work includes Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, Vacant Possession and Every Day is Mother’s Day. She lives in East Devon and was made a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2014.

Here she answers questions suggested by alumni.

I very much enjoyed ‘Eight Months on Ghazzah Street’ and wondered how much of it was autobiographical?

I did live in Saudi Arabia for four years, with my husband, a geologist. For 18 months I lived in a city centre block of four apartments, and for much of that time one of them was empty and the focus of rumour and curiosity. On the expatriate ‘compounds,’ where you were surrounded by people like yourselves, life was calmer and easier, but less interesting. I’m not Frances: I’m more circumspect. But many of her observations are mine, and some of the traumatic events did occur, in a slightly altered form.

Firstly, many congratulations on your amazing achievements. My question is, how does one grab the attention of a publisher/agent? As recently my work was rejected by an agent who then admitted he had never even read it.

I remember finding it impossible, when I began, even to get my work read, so I have every sympathy. There is an element of luck in it; you need to be in the right intray, at the right moment. A conscientious, well-connected and enthusiastic agent is a great help. But there are many nontraditional routes to be explored. If you have interests outside fiction, blogging is a way in; you build up a readership, and contacts, and can get noticed that way.

Self-publishing has no stigma now. Many books that were originally self-published are taken up by mainstream publishers.

These days you’re no longer helpless, waiting for agents and publishers to come to you; you can, in a sense, go to them.

You need to be pro-active, your own publicist and marketing manager. Don’t lose faith. Good luck.

Dear Hilary, I am most envious of your mind but very glad you employ it in writing as your books have given me hours of pleasure, thank you. My question is, what do you do to nurture your imagination?

Sometimes you have to get away from the written word. I find a visit to an art gallery or just looking at pictures and photographs draws a powerful response which soon translates into words. If words are your medium, and you’re fluent, that very fluency can sometimes stop you accessing deeper layers of work: it’s all babble and chatter, whereas you want to listen to your inner voice. Sometimes to slow myself up I write with my left hand.

It sounds bizarre but you get interesting results: compacted sentences, like poetry.

And I pay attention to my dreams.

Was there a particular story or book that you would attribute to inspiring you to become a writer?

I didn’t think of becoming a writer when I was a child but the first novel I remember reading with great attention was Kidnapped, when I was about eight.

Stevenson was very modest about it and described it as just an adventure story for boys, but I still think it is a perfect novel, technically, and I often re-read it. It is, of course, a historical novel, and based on a real incident. The themes, I now see, were themes that would come to preoccupy me and emerge in my own work, and the strength and vigour of the language fired up my imagination.

I wondered what prompted you to feature the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in your book of short stories, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories? Had you started (or completed) them before her death last year?

Mrs Thatcher features only in the title story. I have been trying to write that particular story since 1983, the year it is set. I finally succeeded earlier this year.

What inspires you to write or focus on a particular story?

Attraction to a theme (see answer above) often happens long before the story becomes a reality on the page. Many ideas audition, and don’t seem particularly special or workable, but sometimes they take time to mature; if they keep coming back to you, you eventually find a way. I’m interested in everything, more or less, so ideas can come from other books, from things seen or heard, from dreams, or simply from the atmosphere of a place, or from some tiny, puzzling detail. If there’s a puzzle there’s usually a story.

What is the one piece of advice you would give to aspiring writers?

The most important thing is to read widely to feed your talent and technique.

After that: be tenacious. It’s a long game.

Keep faith with your vision. Listen closely to any advice you’re given, but don’t necessarily take it. And don’t go anywhere without a notebook. Your future success is all around you, if you look and listen hard.

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Chancellorâ&#x20AC;Ś A day in the life of the

Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE DL, Hon DLitt (Exeter) is a broadcaster, actress, writer and television producer. Throughout her career, she has worked for a number of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s charities and organisations. Floella was made a Baroness in 2010 and has used her position in the House of Lords to promote the needs of children, women, diversity and education. She is married to Keith Taylor and they have two children, a daughter Alvina and a son Aston (Sociology 2003).

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feature

Floella describes a typical working day: THE DAY AHEAD

I start the day with a cup of tea, brought to me by

my lovely husband Keith. I then have a quick workout, as health and fitness are very important to me and I think prevention is always better than cure. I have breakfast with Keith and we discuss the day’s schedule.

SCHOOL VISIT

I try and do at least one school visit per week.

When I give an inspirational talk to children, I want to ensure they feel good about who they are and are motivated to love learning. I wrote a book called Coming to England, based on my early life, and it is used in schools to help children understand about life skills and how to overcome adversity.

If I had to make a choice and decide to do just one thing in life, I would choose to visit schools and talk to children every day of the week.

‘50 YEARS OF BBC2’ RECEPTION, HOUSE OF LORDS This particular reception was held to celebrate 50 years of BBC2. It was great to be part of the celebrations and to see the promotional film about Who’s Who on BBC2. I appeared with Humpty and it made me feel very nostalgic.

FIT AND HEALTHY CHILDHOOD ALL-PARTY GROUP, HOUSE OF LORDS I’m Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group and the guest speaker Andy Burnham MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, outlined his ideas on how we can create healthier food for children. It was a really interesting debate, with contributions from psychologists, scientists and food manufacturers. This is such an important issue and I’m really confident that together we will find a solution.

VOICEOVER WORK

CHAIRING THE NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL’S EVENT

I arrive at a studio in Soho, London to do a voiceover for the character of Mayor Pullman, in the children’s animated TV programme Chuggington. When the programme was created, the producers took pictures of me and all my expressions so that the animated Mayor would look exactly like me...it’s quite surreal!

I am Chair of the committee for the National Film and Television School’s Gala: Striving for Diversity Nirvana, and I have been asked to finalise the brochure. The purpose of the event is to raise money for scholarships – for disadvantaged young people to attend the film school and bridge the social mobility gap.

LUNCH RECEPTION WITH HRH PRINCE CHARLES, CLARENCE HOUSE

SUPPER WITH KEITH

The purpose of this lunch was to talk with Prince Charles about all kinds of issues. He is a great believer in giving young disadvantaged people opportunities and you can see that through the work of the Prince’s Trust.

This gives us a chance to talk through the day’s events and relax for a few moments.

usually in the House of Lords

BAND PRACTICE

ORAL QUESTIONS, HOUSE OF LORDS

with Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues featuring Exeter Honorary Graduate, Ken Follett (Hon DLitt 2008), on bass guitar.

I love being in the House of Lords, I find it an

exhilarating place. I’ve had quite a few successes over the last year, changing policies and getting Government Ministers to think differently – all for the benefit of children and families.

I love being in a rock band and we have had several gigs this year, including the Graduation ball at Exeter. My dad was a great jazz musician and he encouraged me to sing when I was young. Singing is the most thrilling thing anyone can do and it’s so exhilarating!

OFFICE WORK

FINAL TASKS

This is when I check all my emails and letters.

I receive hundreds a week, asking me to help and support a variety of deserving causes. Unfortunately I just don’t have the time to lend my support to all of them, and so I try to dedicate my time to issues and causes related to children, families, diversity, women and education.

I spend some time on Twitter. I especially like to retweet the Exeter Guild’s posts.

I always plan what I’m going to wear for the following day. I meet so many different people and always try to look my best. My mum used to say, ‘If you’re going somewhere, show people that you have respect for them by the way you dress.’

I usually get to bed about midnight and I sleep contented and peaceful, knowing that I’ve done everything in my power to try and change the world and make a difference.

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CareertakesMentoring

Centre Stage The Career Mentor Scheme started in 2008 and has been matching experienced professionals with students to provide support and a unique insight into their world of work ever since. The Scheme began by welcoming just eight mentors and now supports 228 mentees in the UK and overseas. The six-monthly programmes cover all campuses, with students from all disciplines and year groups taking part.

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Pam Eaves (Geography 1970) and mentee Tracey Le

DISTANCE NO BARRIER TO GLOBAL MENTORING With Exeter alumni based around the globe and many volunteers keen to take part in student mentoring it made sense to make the scheme international.

Five volunteers were recruited in 2013 and now more students have the chance to be matched with someone based outside the UK. So far physical distance isn’t proving to be a barrier to the programme’s success.

Caitlin Robbins, an undergraduate Business Management with Sustainability student, is mentored by James Leaver, Director of Commercial Partnerships at Microsoft, based in Seattle, USA.

S

pring in Exeter and at a reception above the Old Library there’s a mood of celebration in the air. Gathered together are just some of the alumni, staff and supporters who make up the University’s career mentors.

Joining them are students who’ve been given a helping hand through the programme. There’s a real buzz about the place and a whole lot of laughter – which sums up the Career Mentor Scheme.

The special event on campus was to thank the volunteers for their hard work and enthusiasm and to hear some of the stories of mentoring success.

James explained what attracted him to the Scheme: “I found I could provide some unique insights into my own career experiences. I also feel that increasingly graduates need to have a truly global perspective as they look for jobs and this is something I can help them develop.”

“Despite the distance and my mentor’s extremely busy schedule, James has encouraged me to push forward with my start-up business ideas and helped me with contacts for bringing these ideas off the ground,” said Caitlin.

“As a mentor the support and guidance James has given me has exceeded my expectations and I have found the experience on the mentor scheme so far, to be life-changing!”

James Roberts and Renate Samson (Drama 1998)

Find out more about becoming a mentor: Website: www.exeter.ac.uk/ careers/employers/mentor Email: careermentorscheme@ exeter.ac.uk Telephone:+44 (0)1392 722034 “On a personal level it’s hugely rewarding, you get to learn a lot about yourself, but also to help somebody and have fun.”

James was equally enthusiastic.

“I don’t think you can get the type of support you get from the Career Mentor Scheme anywhere else,” he explained.

“You can get people to look at your CV, or teach you skills, but you can’t get the same type of support you receive from being mentored. It really opens your eyes; you learn things about the jobs you want to go into that you don’t get from reading about them. It was great to also find a friend in my mentor Renate.”

Among them is alumna, Renate Samson, Chief of Staff at the House of Commons, who has been reunited with her mentee James Roberts, an undergraduate History and Politics student.

“One of the great things about the Career Mentoring scheme is that both mentors and mentees seem to gain enormously from the project,” said Paul Blackmore, Head of Employability and Graduate Development.

“I found the mentoring experience fabulous,” she said. “It allows you to give back to the University in a different way and also make a friend. I was very lucky to be partnered with James, he knew exactly what he wanted to do in the future, he asked me lots of questions, he listened to me and I listened to him, so I think we worked well together as a team.

“It takes a considerable commitment on the part of volunteers to take part and we wish to thank them for all they do.”

The celebration event is drawing to a close, but the laughter continues as mentors and mentees share stories from the past year and the volunteer mentors start to look forward to new experiences next year.

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Service FROM THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

A Century

“

It’s hard to remember that when the last of our magazines appeared Europe was at peace […]

We have a daily reminder of it in the College […] in the absence of Lieutenant Jarvis and our Territorial […] they will most of them have arrived in India where they go to take the place of regular troops set free for service at the Front.

“

The Students’ Magazine, December 1914

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Hope Hall

of

The Registry

100 years ago the First World War broke out. It was conflict like no other before and its impact was felt across Europe, including Exeter. The University’s forerunner had to play its part in the British war effort and it was a similar story in the Second World War. These were testing times and yet some student life continued, as Charlotte Gooding discovered.

A

ugust 2014 marked the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. During that conflict, sixteen students and two members of staff of the Royal Albert Memorial College (the precursor to the University of Exeter), were killed.

Throughout the Great War, as it came to be known, many buildings across the city were used in support of the war effort.

The Deanery was vacated to make room for the Red Cross and the College’s accommodation building on Gandy Street became a military hospital.

What remained of the College’s students – with many of the men called into service, were moved into accommodation at Hartwell House, which was later renamed Hope Hall.

It was shortly after the end of the First World War, that the College began to pursue its ambition of achieving University status. In 1922, it was incorporated as the University College of the South West of England, and Alderman W H Reed, a former Mayor of Exeter, donated Reed Hall and the surrounding land to the College.

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WW100

1914 2014 This was the beginning of the Streatham Campus as we know it today.

The Streatham estate played an important role during the Second World War. The newly completed Washington Singer building became the workshop and testing laboratories of the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Mardon Hall, which has been home to generations of students, was at that time used as a rest centre for American Troops. With a need to feed a nation under rationing, the land on the estate was used to grow food.

The first bombs of the Second World War to fall on Exeter landed on 7 August 1940, with the most significant damage to the city occurring during the Baedeker Raids by the Luftwaffe in 1942. The College was not spared during the raids with the Registry building, located on Gandy Street, and all of the College records, completely destroyed.

Despite this, academic life continued – and there was certainly no let up for exams, as former student Una Cutts who graduated in French in 1945, recalled: “Some of us took our turns in night-time fire watching at Exeter Cathedral until the blitz, after which it was deemed too dangerous for us,” she said. “We had to travel to London for our French orals in the summer of 1945 when the V bombs were coming over.”

But Una also remembered the happiness, celebrations and antics which marked the end of the conflict.

“On VE day, after a hop at Reed Hall, a group of students used a stirrup pump to spray Buller’s statue with whitewash.”

ALUMNI INCLUSION IN NEW MEMORIAL

T

he University is seeking information about Exeter alumni who have died in war since 1945.

It coincides with plans to set up a new reflective area of remembrance and prayer in the Mary Harris Memorial Chapel on the Streatham Campus. The original plaques housed in the chapel only contain the names of personnel who were killed in the First and Second World Wars.

“We want to ensure all Exeter alumni who have been killed in war are recognised,” said Richard Foord from the International Office, who is helping with the project. “For example, we know of Exeter alumni who were officers from the British Army who were killed in Afghanistan and we want to ensure their sacrifice is also remembered.”

The Lazenby Chaplain, James Theodosius, oversees the Mary Harris Memorial Chapel:

“The new memorial will be in keeping with the Grade II Listed status of the Chapel and will be a fitting tribute and a mark of honour from the University to those alumni who have died in conflicts since 1945.”

Two of the servicemen who were killed in Afghanistan – whose details are already held by the University and whose names feature on other memorials in the City of Exeter – were: Daniel Clack (Geography 2008) died in August 2011 avid Boyce (International Relations 2009) D died in November 2011 If you know of other Exeter alumni service personnel who have died in conflicts since 1945 and should be included in the new memorial, please contact alumni@exeter.ac.uk.

“We hope to commission a new area for memorial and want to include all the names, so wish to do all we can to ensure we have everyone listed,” he said. exeter.ac.uk/alumni

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MY EXETER, YOUR EXETER

N

o matter where you are in the world, you’re never too far away from a fellow graduate. In the outback in Queensland, Australia – a three hour flight from Brisbane and nine hour drive from the nearest town, a group of alumni works together. They are based at the Glencore Mount Isa Mines, one of Australia’s largest zinc and copper operations.

Gareth Parkinson, who organised the group for My Exeter, Your Exeter said: “It’s great that even though we are now across the other side of the world and in the middle of nowhere, so many of us share that connection with Cornwall.”

The Camborne School of Mines (CSM) is one of the world’s best known mining schools and is based on the Penryn Campus.

Founded in 1888, CSM combines scientific and engineering expertise in geology, mining and minerals processing. Its graduates work right across the mining industry.

Phil Morton, who is currently a Mine Production Engineer, said his degree was the “greatest experience.”

“I was fortunate to be based at both the Camborne and Penryn campuses where the locals welcomed us ‘emmets’ with open arms, enjoying and giving generously during such events as our ‘Crazy’ or charity weeks,” he said.

Phil has attended several CSM reunion dinners: “We come from far and away to reconnect with friends and become those debaucherous students once more; just this time we have the money to do it!”

Eileen Rowe, a Mining Engineering graduate who is now a Planning Engineer described her experience as “awesome.”

“It presented me with opportunities I didn’t think possible.”

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Joshua Moran, Mining Engineer, described it as the “time of my life” and Rock Mechanics Engineer Jack Pilkington recalled how “doing the ERASMUS EGEC course all around Europe was fantastic.” David Matthews, a Project Rock Mechanics Engineer remembered his time as “work hard, play hard.”

Daniel Woolmer who graduated in Applied Geology recalled: “Spending time in one of the best places in the UK learning Geology.”

Laura Parkinson graduated in Conservation Ecology and Biology from the Penryn Campus. Her husband Gareth works at Mount Isa mine.

Laura is currently setting up her own business having worked for an environmental science organisation in the area.

“You couldn’t find a better place to study conservation biology than Cornwall,” she said.

“The campus was intimate and friendly, the staff experts in their fields and the uni surrounded by nature.

“I made some amazing friends, whom I live near now in Mount Isa, and I met my husband at uni. So all in all it was the perfect university experience for me.”

Gareth is a Rock Mechanics Engineer, responsible for the stability of underground excavations and safe ground support systems. “I stop the roof from falling in,” he explained.

“I had an amazing time at university and made lifelong friends,” he said.

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MOUNT ISA MINES

Exeter down under. From left to right: Josh Moran, Phil Morton, Dave Matthews, Simon Jackson, David Lafferty, Anna Ogle, Richard Ogle, Gareth Parkinson, Laura Parkinson, Jack Pilkington, Tom Lynne, Eileen Rowe.

“Studying at CSM was a lot more intensive than at other universities, but it was certainly worth it with the depth of knowledge in a vital industry and strong reputation and network of ‘old boys’ already established throughout the world.”

Another husband and wife team is Anna Ogle (née Chase) who is also a Rock Mechanics Engineer and Richard Ogle who is currently working as a Production Supervisor.

“My first three years were a steep learning curve of Geology and Geotechnics,” said Anna. “During this time I had the opportunity to coordinate events for FXU in the second year, and in the third year had the pleasure of being CSM Student Society President.

“The Masters in the fourth year was fantastic, being able to utilise all the metallurgical facilities on site.

With a worldwide reputation for producing high-quality graduates the CSM has alumni across the mining industry.

“The highlights of being at university in Cornwall were the surrounding area, exploring the UK through Geology fieldtrips, lifelong friends (some of whom I work with now) and meeting my husband.”

“This was a key contribution for me personally in finding work at Mount Isa Mines (through Nick Slade and Bryony Andrew) and was a key consideration when choosing Camborne School of Mines and the University of Exeter,” said Mine Planning Superintendent, Simon Jackson.

The traditional Bottle Match between the Camborne School of Mines and the Royal School of Mines in London is a key part of CSM life.

The first recorded game was played in December 1902 making it the second oldest rugby varsity match in the world.

Richard Ogle was part of the team which won the Bottle for the first time in ten years and colleague Phil Morton said: “I was a member of the CSM rugby team throughout my time at uni and will forever remember the pre Bottle Match excitement and nerves experienced before each of the games that we played against RSM.”

David Lafferty, Area Mine Planning Engineer for four of the orebodies at the X41 Mine, believes the impact of its network is something the CSM can be proud of: “Just prior to leaving CSM, during the final weeks of term, I was approached by the same gold mining company in Western Australia I had done my industrial placement with the year before, with an offer to come back and take up a graduate role at one of their mines,” he said. “Within a month of graduating I was over in Australia starting work!”

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PITCH PERFECT

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TURF’S UP Sport has always been a key part of university life at Exeter. With sports membership and success on the rise, a dedicated team of staff is busy keeping the pitches in tip top condition, as Jo Cole discovered.

“

Getting the pitches right and seeing the students playing...that’s the fulfilling part.

“

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I

t’s a breezy Wednesday on the edge of the pretty Devon village of Topsham.

The clouds which are skidding across the sky occasionally threaten – but never quite deliver – a deluge; their darkness in stark contrast with the vivid green below.

There, the sound of leather on willow echoes across the fields, as the Exeter Men’s 1st Team takes on Cardiff in what is turning out to be an action-packed cricket match.

Working, and occasionally watching, from the boundary is the University’s Sports Ground Foreman, Kevin Byrne.

“I tend to watch it if possible because I like to see how the wicket plays,” he explained.

“I usually have a chat with the umpires afterwards too. With all of the sports I gladly look for feedback because it’s through that we can improve the facilities.”

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NEW LIMES FOR PENRYN The grounds team on the Penryn Campus has used a special technique to try to replace gaps in Lime Avenue which leads to Tremough House.

Lime Avenue is believed to be unusually intact for its age (c1720) but there are two spaces, understood to have occurred when trees came down during the Great Storm of 1987.

Propagating from the old trees has proved difficult but there has now been a breakthrough.

Limes shoot freely from the base, so the gardeners boxed in the entire base of one of the more vigorous trees. They then filled the box with compost and left it in place for almost three years. The newly rooted shoots were then very carefully and cleanly sliced from the parent tree and will be grown on, to be planted out in the gaps next year.

And there are plenty of facilities. Kevin and his team of seven look after four sites, including this High Performance playing area at Topsham, with its rugby pitch, lacrosse pitch, two football pitches, two cricket squares and a number of practice nets.

At the 45-acre Duckes Meadow, on the edge of Exeter by the river Exe, there are 16 winter pitches for football and rugby, alongside lacrosse facilities. They also host rugby league, archery and American football there. Kevin’s team also looks after the gardens at St Luke’s and other smaller grounds.

Each pitch requires different maintenance.

While the soil is sandy loam overlying clay which doesn’t require any special treatment, there are challenges – such as the occasional flooding when spring tides and heavy rains coincide at Duckes Meadow. As well as the natural grass, the team is also responsible for the new artificial turf, including the new water-based hockey pitch and the golf facility.

Summer is a busy time for the team, with the grass on each pitch needing to be kept to a different height – 25mm for football, 40mm for rugby and 13mm for cricket. It

means cutting the vast acreage at least twice a week.

The team also follows the University’s sustainability policy; limiting the use of chemicals, spot weeding instead of blanket spraying wherever possible, and tolerating a degree of pests and weeds. The water they use to irrigate the Topsham site comes from a local borehole. There are areas of land which are allowed to grow naturally, to encourage wildflowers and wildlife to thrive. They are also starting to use seaweed-based supplements, which helps their fertiliser programme.

Increasingly the facilities are available to community clubs and sports membership among students is also on the rise.

“I’m impressed with the students,” said Kevin. “Whenever they are here they are polite and friendly. They play sport to a high student level and it is good to be a part of that. That’s the sort of interaction I was looking to work in when I came here – that was the sort of environment I was looking for.”

“We are extremely lucky to have grounds staff who are passionate about their job and take great pride in what they do,” said Alex Powell, Athletic Union President.

“They face significant challenges, especially in ensuring our pitches are playable in the winter, and it is a testament to their efforts that we’re able to accommodate the high levels of sports participation that Exeter students enjoy.”

Sports standards, as well as participation, are on the up. Exeter has risen through the British Universities and Colleges Sports league table over recent years – reaching their highest ever position in 5th place last year and 6th this.

Kevin and his team experience a sense of pride when they see the results: “I think we all feel like a part of that. We all feel like we are contributing to the success,” he said.

“Getting the pitches right and seeing the students playing and watching them – that’s the fulfilling part.”

In turn, their efforts are appreciated by the sports teams. exeter.ac.uk/alumni

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Suffragette being filmed in the Houses of Parliament – it is released on January 16 2015. Courtesy of Pathé

COMETH THE HOUR From suffragettes, to The Hour to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – it’s all part of life for award-winning screenwriter and playwright Abi Morgan. As she explained to Jo Cole, it’s a career which began right here at Exeter.

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“Ultimately, I think your job as a writer is to be an artist and to interpret, reflect and comment on the world,” she explained. “That is quite difficult to do in the purest factual form. So that’s what art does really – it allows you to interpret and reinvent. That’s its great joy.”

She was the only British winner of a 2013 Emmy Award in the US, for BBC production The Hour. In 2012 she was nominated for a BAFTA for the film The Iron Lady, about the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

When we caught up Abi had recently finished on the set of the film Suffragette and was simultaneously writing a new TV drama called River, a Hollywood blockbuster version of Little House on the Prairie and an Italian 50s-style film version of The Taming of the Shrew.

“I’m often running away from one thing into the arms of another, so I quite like the diversity of different worlds and different escape routes for me,” she said.

Suffragette covers a significant and emotive time in British history and Abi has mixed some artistic licence with facts, to bring it to a modern audience.

The particular group of suffragettes featured is fictional but she’s used real events to give an insight into what life was like for women at the time.

“

W

riter Abi Morgan is looking forward to taking a break. Come January she plans to take time out to think about what she might like to write next.

It’s hardly surprising, for the past few years she’s been flat out. As her star has risen, so has demand from TV, theatre and film.

“

Ultimately, I think your job as a writer is to be an artist and to interpret, reflect and comment on the world So what did Abi think a suffragette would make of today’s society?

“I think they may initially be pleased that they get the vote and they have equal rights within their marriage, but actually I think if you dig a bit deeper there is still a level of latent sexism and often very overt sexism, which takes place in the workplace,” she said.

“I do think that the more we stay engaged, the more equal we will become as a society. For me what was exciting about doing a film like this was that you felt that you were adding to the continued debate, which is really important.”

While women feature in many of Abi’s works, what interests her are the lives of the characters she portrays.

“Look at something like Margaret Thatcher’s career. For me that is about the loss of power and the power of loss, which was the thing which captivated me. With The Mistress Contract and

The Invisible Woman, which are both about two very different types of mistress, I felt there was something very interesting about what it’s like to have been invisible in society and what it’s like to be in very emotional positions where you are invisible in the lives of the men that you live with.

“The suffragettes felt very important.

It felt really fantastic to engage with the fury and the passion and the drive and commitment and sacrifice of these women.”

Abi’s memories of studying at Exeter (English and Drama 1991) are of heady summers and a supportive department.

When she first started she thought she might follow in her family’s footsteps and become an actress, but an early production put paid to that.

“I did a show in my first year and my mum came to see it and I said: ‘Mum what do you think, do you think I could be an actress?’ and she said: ‘Absolutely no!’

“Actually, that was the best piece of advice she gave me I think, because I really wasn’t an actress.”

However, her time at university proved transformative.

“I attribute Exeter to the place where I first discovered writing. I wrote a monologue in my third year and it was the first time I realised that people sort of noticed me,” she said.

“It was the first time I could see that you could write something and an audience listened. I wrote a poor man’s Alan Bennett monologue, but it was good to feel that.

“But if I had any illusions about becoming an actor I definitely stripped myself of that by the time I left!”

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A SPORTING CHANCE 38 talented sports men and women were supported by our Sports Scholarship Scheme this year. It enables them to complete a degree whilst making the most of Exeter’s leading coaches and facilities. Combining study at a top University with hours of training and competitions requires dedication but many go on to represent their country. Toby Crewes caught up with one Scholar in training.

I

t’s 8am and whilst the rest of the world is having breakfast or commuting to work, Golf Scholar Laurie Potter is already hard at work.

An early morning strength and conditioning session in the University’s Athlete Development Centre, followed by a full day of lectures, then evening training have become the norm.

Balancing a Masters in International Management with captaining the Golf Club’s first team for the third year running can add up to “some seriously long hours in the library”, but Laurie takes it in his stride.

“I’ve had an absolutely amazing four years here,” he said. “Coming to Exeter was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. It’s been tough at times, but I’ve loved it.”

Coming from a long line of golfers, Laurie (pictured top) first picked up a club aged six.

So what’s the secret to success?

“Golf’s a hugely psychological game. It’s all about confidence, belief and your ability to stay consistent,” Laurie added. “You can play 17 great holes, then have one where you score a quadruple bogie or lose the ball and

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sport

It takes all sports In 2013/14, the University’s 49 Sports Clubs attracted a combined membership of 6,362 members, a record number. Since the Russell Seal Fitness Centre opened in September 2013, gym usage has seen a big increase, with the total number of visits up by 72%.

Carson’s Calling Alumnus Tom Carson (Management and Marketing 2012) helped England to an impressive campaign at the Rabobank Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands. Tom had already won 39 international caps going into the tournament, which saw England lose to a talented Dutch team, (ranked third in the world), at the semi-final stage.

your whole round is gone. You can’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes. It’s about your consistency and playing well at the right times, and for me I just love that.”

Now playing off a +3 handicap, Laurie has helped solidify Exeter’s position as a top three golfing University, winning a number of individual events, becoming 2013 AU Sportsman of the Year and guiding the team to a BUCS Premier League title. For him the highlight was winning the BUCS Team Championships in 2013.

“Winning as an individual is great, but I don’t think it ever gets as good as winning as a team with your best mates,” he said.

On that day Laurie was joined by a team of fellow Scholars on the University’s golf programme. Aided by the Annual Fund, the R&A, and Talented Athlete Scholarship Programme, the scheme provides a support network for athletes and travel funding. It also supports new facilities like the new Vic Ambler Golf Centre.

“Exeter has built a formidable reputation for sport over the past decade and our Scholars have played a crucial role in this,” said Jon Wills, Assistant Director of Sport.

“The presence of Sports Scholars, who are the best at what they do, not only drives up the standards of our teams but also encourages fellow students to enjoy sport, whatever their level.

“Many of our scholarships are supported by alumni and local businesses and we’d like to thank everyone who has generously given to the programme.”

“The Scholarship has been huge for me,” added Laurie. “I couldn’t do what I do without the funding. It can help pay for events or pay for equipment, it’s very flexible.”

In the long-term Laurie’s plan is to go into sports events management, but first there is plenty more golf to get through.

When we met he was preparing for the World University Golf Championships in Switzerland, ready to compete for Great Britain alongside fellow Scholar Katie Bradbury (pictured above).

“It’s very exciting,” Laurie said. “It’s going to be a great event and the perfect way to end my career at Exeter.”

A good walk ruined? Certainly not.

BUCS Trends The University of Exeter finished in 6th position of 150 institutions in the overall BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport, formerly BUSA and UAU) table. Last year was the highest ever finish of 5th. This year Exeter won BUCS Championships in Women’s Rugby 7s, Men’s Indoor Cricket, Snooker, Pool, Boxing, Sailing and Windsurfing.

Netting Selection Sports Science graduate Bethan Zeidler, who played 1st team Netball throughout her time at Exeter, has been selected for the Team GB Sprint Canoe training squad through UK Sport’s Girls4Gold talent ID programme for Olympic hopefuls. Fellow Sports Scholar Sam Blanchet represented the senior England Rugby 7s side and has earned a full-time playing contract with England after graduation.

Wave of Success Four Exeter alumni won medals for Great Britain at the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Miami, boosting hopes of alumni representation at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. At the time of writing, Exeter is the number 1 ranked UK University for Sailing in the BUCS standings.

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EXETER OCCASIONS...

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round the world and across the year a wide range of exciting alumni events are taking place â&#x20AC;&#x201C; linking and supporting Exeter graduates. Alumni events include professional networking sessions at top companies, receptions in prestigious venues, bespoke lectures by leading academics and purely social events. Here we feature some from the past year. Find out about forthcoming events at www.exeter.ac.uk/alumnisupporters/events We can also help you to arrange your own events for alumni; get in touch by telephone on +44 (0) 1392 723141 or email alumni@exeter.ac.uk

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1. The Honorary Degree Ceremony for Professor Tim Niblock, in Sharjah hosted by His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi (PhD History 1985, Hon DLitt 1993) (September 2013)

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2 & 10. New York Alumni Reception (May 2014) 3. Shanghai Alumni Reception (November 2013) 4 & 7. B usiness School Alumni Reception welcoming Exetra, with Sir Anthony Salz. (London, November 2013) 5. The panel at the Alumnae Group’s Exe-X:Women and Leadership Reception. Women on Boards – the How and the Why (London, May 2014) 6. The House of Lords Reception (London, November 2013) 8. Alumni Golf Day (Surrey, September 2013) 9. The Alumnae Group’s Exe-X: Women and Leadership Reception (London, May 2014)

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exeter.ac.uk/alumni

49

KEEP IN TOUCH! WHY? We love to hear from our alumni.

Let us know your contact details so that we can: • keep you informed of what’s happening at Exeter • invite you to our events • let you know about your alumni benefits, ranging from discounts on accommodation on campus and in the local area, access to journals, to careers support after graduation

HOW? There are lots of ways to contact us: @ alumni@exeter.ac.uk

www

+44 (0)1392 723141 www.exeter.ac.uk/alumni

@exalumni /exeteralumni /groups/University-Exeter-109267 Development and Alumni Relations Office, Northcote House, The Queen’s Drive, Exeter EX4 4QJ

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keep in touch

ALUMNI FACTS

VOLUNTEERED

Last year, over 700 alumni volunteered to help students at Exeter through providing a career profile, giving a talk or mentoring a student. You can support from home, work or on campus and it could take as little as 15 minutes! For more information please visit www.exeter.ac.uk/alumnisupporters/volunteering

1,776 people made a donation to support students, totalling over £3m! Gifts ranged from £1 to £366,000 and have supported a wide range of projects across all three campuses, from new sports equipment to bursaries, to medical research. Thank you to everyone who supported Exeter – every gift, of every size really does make a difference.

To make a donation, please visit: www.exeter.ac.uk/donate

exeter.ac.uk/alumni

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