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Lord Coe appointed
as pro Chancellor
Sebastian Coe,
Lord Chairman of the
London Organising Committee
of the Olympic and Paralympic
Games (LOCOG) and one of
Britain’s greatest athletes,
has been appointed as a Pro
Chancellor of the University.
As Pro Chancellor, Lord Coe is a member of the
University’s Council (its governing body), which
is comprised of leading figures from local and
national organisations and businesses, as well
as elected University staff and representatives
from the Students’ Union.
Lord Coe is an alumnus of Loughborough,
having graduated with a BSc in Economics
and Social History in 1979. He was made an
Honorary Doctor of Technology (Hon DTech)
by the University in 1985.
As a sportsman he was part of the golden era
of British athletics.
Initially coached by his father, who designed
workouts specifically for his son, Coe won his
first major race in 1977 – an 800m event at
the European indoor championships in San
Sebastián, Spain. At Loughborough, he met
athletics coach George Gandy, who developed
revolutionary conditioning exercises to improve
his running.
Coe won gold in the 1,500m and silver in the
800 metres at both the 1980 Moscow and
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He also won
gold in the 800 metres at the 1986 European
Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, and set
a total of eight outdoor and three indoor world
records.
Following his retirement from athletics in 1990,
he served as a Conservative MP and, in 2000,
was made a life peer. In 2006, Lord Coe was
appointed a Knight Commander of the Order
of the British Empire.
Lord Coe played a leading role in winning
the bid for the London 2012 Games, with his
inspirational presentation to the International
Olympic Committee a key moment in the
bid’s success.
Of his appointment, Lord Coe said:
“I have always had very strong links with
Loughborough, and I am looking forward
to being able to contribute to the future of
the University which provided me with such
support, as both a student and graduate
and also in my athletics career.”
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reinvent the Toilet
Challenge awarded
prize by bill gates
Loughborough
has won a
prestigious
prize of $60,000 in an international competition
organised by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
to develop a reinvented toilet.
The challenge was to create a toilet that is clean,
safe, durable and affordable for the poor without
the need for connection to electricity or a sewer.
The toilet had to be a viable solution in wealthy
nations as well as in the developing world, where
2.5 billion people lack access to safe and affordable
sanitation.
The prize was awarded to the Loughborough team
for its prototype toilet which aims to convert
human waste into carbonised material to provide
heat, minerals for soil conditioning, and water for
flushing and hand-washing. It uses a process called
Continuous Thermal Hydrocarbonisation which kills
all pathogens to create safe to handle, valuable
material and uses power from heat generated during
processing. The toilet is designed to work in both
single-family and multi-user contexts with daily
running costs of just a few pence per person.
Three prototype technologies were recognised
for most closely matching the criteria for the
Loughborough climbs
up ‘Table of Tables’
The
University has risen a further two places
to be ranked 13th in the Times Higher
Education (THE) ‘Table of Tables’, placing it firmly
among the very best universities in the country.
The THE table is based on the combined results of
the UK university leagues compiled by The Times,
The Guardian and the Complete University Guide.
Loughborough’s continued high rankings in national
league tables is a reflection of the commitment of
everyone at the University to providing the highest
quality learning environment and an outstanding
all-round student experience.
Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. Loughborough was
awarded second prize, with the California Institute
of Technology and the University of Toronto
respectively receiving first and third prizes.
“Innovative solutions change people’s lives for the
better,” said Foundation Co-chair Bill Gates. “If we
apply creative thinking to everyday challenges, such
as dealing with human waste, we can fix some of
the world’s toughest problems.”
Almost one year ago, the Foundation challenged
universities to design toilets that can capture and
process human waste without piped water, sewer
or electrical connections, and transform human
waste into useful resources. Eight universities from
around the world were chosen for the challenge.
Loughborough was the only UK university to be
awarded a grant, receiving $400,000 for research.
Professor M. Sohail, Loughborough’s project lead,
said, “It was the opportunity of a lifetime to present
our research to Mr Gates and we are extremely
honoured to receive this prestigious award.”
“Loughborough University has an outstanding
reputation for applying its cross-cutting research
to tackle global issues,” added Professor Myra
Nimmo, the University’s Pro Vice Chancellor for
Research. “This challenge has brought together our
experts in sanitation, chemical, materials and water
engineering and design. I am delighted that their
expertise has been recognised with this prestigious
award.”
professor
awarded Cbe
Harriet
Ward, Professor of Child and
Family Research at the University,
was awarded a CBE for services to children and
families in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Professor Ward is Director of Loughborough’s
renowned Centre for Child and Family Research
(CCFR), which she co-founded in 2001. She also
co-directs the government-funded Childhood
Wellbeing Research Centre – a partnership between
the Institute of Education, University of London,
Loughborough University, and the Personal Social
Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the University
of Kent.
The work of Professor Ward and her CCFR colleagues
is influential both nationally and internationally,
providing the evidence base for the development of
a wide range of policy initiatives, particularly those
relating to children in need.
Her leadership of the Looking After Children
programme, from which much of the CCFR research
programme originally derived, has influenced
government policy and practice in the UK and
abroad. It also led to a number of research initiatives,
which informed the development of the CCFR
programmes of research on outcomes for vulnerable
children and exploring costs and outcomes.
She is currently directing a major research study
on young children who are suffering, or are likely
to suffer, significant harm, and has recently
co-authored Safeguarding Children Across Services:
Messages from Research on Identifying and
Responding to Child Maltreatment, the overview
of the Department of Health- and Department for
Education-funded Safeguarding Children Research
Initiative.
Speaking about her CBE Professor Ward said: “I am
delighted to have received this prestigious honour.
The work that we undertake at the Centre for Child
and Family Research has a real impact on society
and I think all the CCFR team should share the credit
for its many achievements.”
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