RISE May-June 2009 - University of Salford

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RISE! Research Innovation and Internationalisation News FACULTY TV NEW RESEAR ON HOMELES SEE Faculty TV is the ‘on demand’ television channel established by Professor Steve Donnelly and implemented by Dr Wilfred Darlington from the School of Computing, Science and Engineering (CSE). The channel’s original function was to showcase Faculty activity in research, teaching and enterprise and to reflect academic life in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Environment: all of this is showcased in the ‘Salford Science Spotlight’. Programme subject matter includes an insight into life at Salford, from both academic and social perspectives and a series of films profiling successful SEE Faculty graduates at their places of work. The concept of SEE TV has been further widened by the development team of students and staff, who recognised that SEE TV offered a unique teaching and learning opportunity in television engineering. The teaching and learning dimension of SEE TV matured within six months of its inception with the transmission and recording of Graduation 2008. From the Graduation ceremonies of 2008 SEE TV students and staff worked in support of BBC Television Outside Broadcasts (now SIS) to provide live coverage from the Lowry of the thirteen graduation ceremonies, and recorded material for the issue of DVD. The live transmission exercise was repeated on a smaller scale when Sir David Attenborough came to the University in October 2008 to give a lecture at the inauguration of the MSc in Wildlife Documentary Production. Smart City Futures, a wide-ranging co-operative of industrialists, academics and community groups, led by Professor James Powell, is also supported by SEE TV. You can view SEE TV at: www.fsee.salford.ac.uk/tv or on YouTube by entering ‘salford science’. If you would like more information on SEE TV please contact Steve Donnelly at: s.e.donnelly@salford.ac.uk or Wilfred Darlington at w.darlington@salford.ac.uk Dr Phil Brown from the University’s Research Institute for the Built & Human Environment is working on a new £692,000 project looking at the causes of, and solutions to, the problem of homelessness – research which could have a major influence on Government policy. In partnership with a number of local voluntary and community groups the University will be interviewing people who have been, or currently are, homeless in Stoke-on-Trent to find out what has led to them to being homeless as well as looking at underlying life experiences. As one of four national studies funded by a range of bodies including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Department of Health, Salford’s researchers will examine not only a lack of adequate housing as a cause, but also problems with drugs, domestic violence, mental illness and other factors that lead to social exclusion. making a major difference Salford’s study will form part of a major national campaign which seeks to look at a range of causes and solutions to homelessness, and present findings to the Government in an attempt to eradicate the problem. Dr Brown’s research will conclude in 2011, at which point he aims to have a set of case studies which, combined with the results of the other projects, make a major difference in how government bodies and charities deal with the homeless. If you would like more information on Dr. Brown’s work please contact him at: p.brown@salford.ac.uk 14
RISE! Research Innovation and Internationalisation News DARWIN’S DECLINE As Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday approaches, new research from the University of Salford has identified a decline in references to the pioneering scientist in ‘A’ level textbooks - despite the continuing presence of creationist theory. Dr Paul Rees, a lecturer in biology and former ‘A’ level teacher, examined textbooks and syllabuses used in the UK since the sixties, and found that textbooks currently in use sometimes completely fail to mention Darwin, and often only deal very sketchily with the theory of evolution. On the other hand, creationism gets several references in current textbooks, including Hall et al 2006 which says the idea that all living things are descended from a common ancestor is a minority view among the people of the world. CH SNESS SYSTEM DYNAMICS SOCIETY Dr Rees of the Research Institute for the Built & Human Environment, said: “While the historical context of important theories, and the names of their proponents, are commonplace in textbooks written for some other subjects, such as psychology, in biology textbooks Darwin is sometimes not deemed important enough to mention. “If people are giving space to nonsense like creationism, then they should certainly be mentioning the most important figure in our understanding of the natural world. Role models and icons are important to help young people become inspired by science. It’s a shame that biology examiners and therefore textbooks don’t always recognise this.” If you would like more information on Dr. Rees’ work please contact him at: p.a.rees@salford.ac.uk Professor Brian Dangerfield, Professor of Systems Modelling, Salford Business School, has recently been appointed as President of the UK Chapter of the System Dynamics Society for 2009. The International System Dynamics Society has 16 national Chapters and one Student Chapter (see www.systemdynamics.org). The UK Chapter has the largest membership excluding the USA. The UK Chapter hosts an annual conference in February and a number of networking meetings during the year in the evening. It is hoped to convene one of these evening events in the North-West in May or June. The annual conference now includes a PhD symposium which allows doctoral students to present their work in poster form and receive feedback from experts (mainly academics but also from those who work in the consultancy sector). The UK Chapter offers two prizes annually: The Steer Davis Gleave Prize for the best piece of work which applies the system dynamics methodology to a significant problem of wide public interest in the UK and a Student Prize for the best student project report using system dynamics. To find out more about the System Dynamics Society please contact Brian at: b.c.dangerfield@salford.ac.uk 15
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