Autumn 2011 Issue - University of Central Lancashire

More documents

Recommendations

Info

4 Breaking News UCLan to support regional economic growth Hailed as a business-friendly university, UCLan is to receive £2.25 million per year from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF 2011- 15) over four years to help it deliver business support services into the region. The maximum given to any university in the UK from this funding stream is £2.85 million and UCLan has been awarded one of the biggest allocations. HEIF funding has been allocated after a review of the track record on each university’s work with businesses, public sector and not-forprofit organisations. It has received an increase of 50 per cent from its previous allocation of £1.5 million and was awarded on the performance of businesses and organisations UCLan has helped. Bede Mullen, Director of UCLan’s Knowledge Transfer Service, said: “This is a fantastic result for the University and the Knowledge Transfer Service. Not only have we received the largest increase in funding but it places UCLan in the top quartile of universities in the UK for the work we do. This funding enables us to carry on our work in helping businesses grow or existing organisations improve their products or services through innovation.” The Higher Education Innovation Fund is designed to support and develop a broad range of knowledge transfer activities which result in economic and social benefit to the UK. It provides incentives for higher education institutions to work with business, public sector bodies and third sector organisations, and to support staff and student entrepreneurship. UCLan welcomes Secretary of State for Business In a drive to promote manufacturing in the North West, the Secretary of State for Business, Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, visited UCLan’s Advanced Digital Manufacturing Centre in June. The tour formed part of a visit to Burnley College where Dr Cable opened the UK Manufacturing Dialogue: North West Summit, hosted by local MP Gordon Birtwistle, part of a programme of events seeking to highlight the value of the sector as a major part of the UK economy. Dr Cable viewed Advanced Digital Manufacturing facilities in which UCLan has invested over £500,000 with further support from leading private sector companies. UCLan’s Phil Tranter from the School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences explained to Dr Cable that the focus of the facility is on the collection, processing and use of data within manufacturing environments. “The lab is able to demonstrate technology that is already being used in other industries that are not currently being well utilised within manufacturing,” he explained. The Advanced Digital Manufacturing Centre, is now fully operational and being used extensively by final year degree students in Manufacturing as well as one PhD student. Strong link with BAE Systems underpins the development and a link with Cisco Systems has enabled UCLan to incorporate the latest communications technology into the centre. Finalist in national award for outstanding knowledge transfer UCLan has once again been recognised for its outstanding knowledge transfer aptitude after being shortlisted as a finalist in the 2011 Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award. UCLan has been praised in the Knowledge Exchange / Transfer Initiative of the Year category. The outstanding project that was identified was in the healthcare sector. The School of Health at UCLan has worked on six Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) designed to share knowledge and expertise between the University and the NHS. This project has helped improve processes within the NHS North Lancashire and NHS Blackpool helping the trusts save over £2.9 million in the past three years. Dr. Andrew Kenney, Knowledge Transfer Partnership Adviser for Lancashire commented, "I am delighted that UCLan's School of Health has received this recognition for its outstanding Knowledge Transfer performance. These Knowledge Transfer Partnership programs have been part funded by the Technology Strategy Board, the Economic and Social Research Council and others and have made a significant and tangible improvement to the NHS in the North West region. It has been a pleasure to work with such a talented and committed team.” This isn’t the first time UCLan has been recognised in this category with the University picking up this award in 2010 as part of a project working alongside Northumbria University, Manchester Metropolitan University and The University of Salford.
5 National enterprise tour hosted by UCLan As one of the top ten incubators in the UK, The National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) hosted one of its research tour sessions at UCLan. The UK-wide consultation, which is the largest ever of its kind is supported by Lloyds Banking Group and the event at UCLan brought together more than 30 regional key stakeholders. Delivered in UCLan’s creative facilitation facility, Sandbox, the session explored how local communities can develop a coherent student-centred enterprise and how universities and the local business community can best collaborate to achieve these goals. UCLan was chosen because of its work in entrepreneurial support, which has helped 160 student businesses start-up in the past year, far higher than the national university average of 28. Many of these businesses are housed at the University’s business incubators at the Preston, Burnley and Westlakes campuses, which offer young entrepreneurs mentoring, advice clinics and networking opportunities. Leigh Taylor, Area Director for Lloyds TSB Commercial in the North West, said: “Helping more businesses to start up and grow is fundamental to the UK’s continuing economic recovery. Key to that is understanding the needs of entrepreneurs and the support they require. "It is hoped that this project will lead to the improvement of enterprise-focused education and support at universities to match budding entrepreneurs’ needs and that as a result more will progress with their new business idea and turn it into a reality.” Findings from this event will be presented at a major economic policy conference in London later in 2011. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships at UCLan Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a UK-wide programme enabling businesses to improve competitiveness, productivity and performance. Forming a partnership between a business and an academic institution (such as UCLan) enables a business to access skills and expertise to help them develop. Typically lasting for between one and three years the KTP project should be of shorter-term tactical or longer–term strategic importance to the business; require expertise from the partner university; and have demonstratable impact. Part-funded by a Government grant, a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) would be expected to contribute about a third of the costs involved in the KTP project. UCLan has been successful in winning a number of KTP projects supporting a range of industries including the health sector, construction and manufacturing. A recently approved project is with Autism West Midlands. Due to UCLan’s expertise and commercial knowledge in the health sector this two-year KTP led by Dr. Christina Lyons in the School of Health will develop a comprehensive communication programme toolkit for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) focussing on improving service delivery and assisting the organisation to become a market leader. Academics Alastair Roy and Jez Buffin from the School of Social Work will lead on a recently approved three-year KTP with the charity, Crime Reduction Initiatives. The KTP project will design, develop, implement and embed a whole system recovery model of substance misuse treatment. The project will also include commissioning and implementing a realistic evaluation framework and monitoring system. Cancer research and teaching at UCLan A new collaborative research group has launched at UCLan that is dedicated to raising awareness and positively affecting the lives of cancer patients through informed research and teaching. Pulling together expertise across a number of disciplines the research and teaching group hopes to illuminate the innovative, internationally excellent research work being undertaken at the University and the potential impact this work will have on patient care and cancer services. By developing opportunities for collaborative work between academics, colleagues in the health care industry and service users, the group aims to transfer vital knowledge from the research laboratories to the treatment facilities in order to benefit patients. The Cancer research and teaching group was successfully launched at a conference held at the University, more than 140 key stakeholders were in attendance, including NHS professionals, cancer service users and students. Keynote speakers included Kathy Elliott from the National Cancer Action Team who highlighted the Department of Health’s main priority to save 5,000 lives from cancer through promoting cancer awareness and early detection – which exactly pinpoints the aspirations of the group. The event was followed with a poster session highlighting the range of high quality research undertaken by students across the University. Mark Hendrick MP attended the event and commented; “Thanks to outstanding research facilities like the one here at UCLan we are able to improve diagnosis, develop better treatments, provide effective screening programmes and increase survival rates amongst cancer sufferers.”
Page 1 and 2: Excellence in Research and Knowledg
Page 3: 3 Contents Breaking News 4 Feature
Page 7 and 8: Feature Articles 7 conversations be
Page 9 and 10: Feature Articles 9 Nursing Children
Page 11 and 12: Feature Articles 11 accustomed to t
Page 13 and 14: Feature Articles 13 the drug become
Page 15 and 16: Feature Articles 15 them. The idea
Page 17 and 18: Feature Articles 17 Employability i
Page 19 and 20: Feature Articles 19 ...and the winn
Page 21 and 22: Funding, Awards and Recognition 21
Page 23 and 24: Funding, Awards and Recognition 23
Page 25 and 26: Conference Reviews 25 History of fo
Page 27 and 28: Conference Reviews 27 company busin
Page 29 and 30: Conference Reviews 29 Graduate Rese
Page 31 and 32: Book Launches 31 Creating Memorials
Page 33 and 34: Book Launches 33 Deconstructing Dig
Page 35 and 36: 35 Editorial team Professor Mike Ho

Autumn 2011 Issue - University of Central Lancashire

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?