QM News 63 (pdf 752KB) - Queen Margaret University

NEWS - PAGE 01
QUEEN MARGARET RESEARCH
PROFESSOR RECEIVES
SCIENTIFIC HONOUR
Professor Bill Hardcastle, Director of
Queen Margaret’s Speech Science
Research Centre, has received a
prestigious award for his work with
technology to aid speech disorders.
Each year, the Foundation for Science
and Technology gives the Lord Lloyd of
Kilgerran Award to an individual who has
made a positive contribution to society.
Previous recipients include Tim Berner-
Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
and Ian Wilmut, leader of the team that
created Dolly the sheep.
Professor Hardcastle is responsible for
internationally renowned work in the
development of electropalatography
(EPG), a technique which records
contact of the tongue with the roof of
the mouth during speech.
“I’m delighted and honoured to receive
this award in recognition of our work
with EPG,” said Professor Hardcastle.
“The award and associated lecture
which I have been invited to give to the
Royal Society will do much to raise the
profile of our work among senior policy
makers and other important
stakeholders. I’m very much looking
forward to this unique opportunity.”
Professor Bill Hardcastle demonstrates EPG
technology to a young patient.
ENDOWMENT HELPS STUDENTS
ADDRESS SPEECH DIFFICULTY OF
UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN
A former member of staff at Queen
Margaret has created a generous
endowment which will allow students to
study speech and language therapy for
underprivileged children.
Carol Spragge, a former member of the
speech and languages department, has
gifted a very generous endowment to
support the work of the department.
This will be used to pay for an ongoing
optional lecture series for fourth year
speech and language therapy students
which concentrates on therapy for
underprivileged children in areas of high
social deprivation and social exclusion.
Professor Fiona Gibbon, Head of
Speech and Hearing Sciences at Queen
Margaret, said: “This is a very generous
gift that will improve our students'
knowledge about the most effective
interventions for underprivileged children.”
Carol Spragge and Professor Fiona Gibbon
SCOTTISH BOOK CULTURE STUDY
GETS FINANCIAL BOOST
Professor David Finkelstein, Research
Professor of Media and Print Culture at
Queen Margaret, has been awarded a
research leave grant of £27,000 from the
Arts and Humanities Research Council
(AHRC) to edit and complete writing on
an authoritative guide to the past 120
year history of Scotland’s book culture.
The Edinburgh History of the Book in
Scotland, 1880-2000 is the 4th volume
in a series being published next year by
Edinburgh University Press, co-edited by
Professor Finkelstein and Professor
Alistair McCleery of Napier University.
Professor Finkelstein will begin final work
on the project in September 2006, with
the results published in December 2007.
“This is a major coup for Queen
Margaret,” said Professor Finkelstein. “It
is the first AHRC grant of its kind ever
awarded to the institution. I am very
excited by this opportunity to complete
work on what is an important and untold
story of twentieth-century Scottish
culture and history.”
When published, the volume will cover
topics as diverse as Scottish readers
and reading habits, the Gaelic book,
publishing infrastructures, Scottish book
design and illustration, Scottish literary
publishing and new media.
CARERS’ QUALIFICATION GETS
BACKING FROM SCOTTISH SOCIAL
SERVICES COUNCIL
The Higher Education Certificate in Care
run by Queen Margaret has been
recognised by the Scottish Social
Services Council as a means for carers
and support workers throughout
Scotland to become registered.
Those involved in providing or delivering
social care services require to be
registered within the next few years and
completion of the course is one way in
which individuals working as carers, or
employed in a caring capacity, can
become eligible for registration.
The course has been designed to meet
the educational needs of carers and
support workers employed in a variety of
health and social care settings. It was
developed as a result of demand from
the health and social care professions
for a formal programme of education for
those who wished to be better informed
about their caring role.
Martina Balaam, joint course leader,
said: “Scotland depends heavily on
carers to provide for the vulnerable in
society and qualifications like this will
enhance the status and value of this
significant workforce. Registration for
this group will allow a demonstration of
the close and important relationship
between practice and theoretical
knowledge which will improve the quality
of care in line with the national care
standards.”