news & views

THE UNIVERSITY OF WORCESTER MAGAZINE January 2011

Braving the elements

Campus views of the coldest December in 120 years p.4-5

In this issue:

Aiming for number 1 Students signed by record label p.6

From the playground to the classroom p.8

Czech Republic honours Lecturer honoured for work with blind football team p.9

Life behind the lab coat Our new monthly staff interview p.11

Brings Worcester Arena A Step Closer

£250,000 grant

The UniversiTy of WorcesTer has been aWarded a granT of £250,000 ToWards iTs campaign To bUild The WorcesTer arena. The Trustees of the foundation for sport and the arts have granted the University its maximum award after being impressed by the University’s record of stimulating participation and promoting inclusion in sport and education. The arena will enable the further development of this important work.

a planning application has recently been submitted for the £10m development, on the site of the former fruit and vegetable market in hylton road.

professor david green, University of Worcester vice chancellor, said: “This is the first substantial grant we have secured towards the construction of the arena. it will, i am sure, help the University to further success in the considerable fundraising effort which is now underway.

“very positive meetings have now been held with a number of sports national governing bodies, trusts, corporations, alumni and others interested in supporting this work. a number of applications have been made or are under preparation and we hope to be able to report more good news in the early part of 2011.”

as part of the University’s fundraising campaign for the arena, a successful ‘race night’ took place at the end of last month.

almost £4,000 was raised at the event, which saw more than 120 local people turn up for a fun night of virtual horse racing at the University.

personal donations to the campaign now total more than £40,000 and a growing number of bricks and plaques are being purchased.

The Worcester arena will increase sport participation from grass roots to elite level across the region and make a real difference to people’s lives. it will be available for the whole community to use, as well as students, and will be the new home of the Worcester Wolves basketball club.

The 12-court arena will provide facilities for a full range of indoor sports and become a centre of excellence for international level basketball, netball and badminton. it will be highly inclusive and cater for major disability team sports, with all areas and changing rooms designed for independent wheelchair access.

for more information on the arena and how you can get involved with the fundraising campaign, visit www.worcesterarena.com

ipad WinnerThank you to all who purchased raffle tickets to support the Worcester arena fundraising campaign. congratulations to Judith elkin who won the ipad. an excellent total of £615 was raised for the arena, thank you to all colleagues who contributed.

2 / JANUARY 2011 / newsandviews@worc.ac.uk

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welcomeWelcome to the first news & views

of 2011, featuring a roundup of news, achievements, launches and milestones from the past

month at the University of Worcester.

While most of us will remember last month as the coldest december in 120 years, travel disruption and plummeting temperatures still haven’t stopped the University of Worcester featuring in the news.

The University appeared in more than 150 articles in december 2010 including five radio broadcasts and two Tv broadcasts, including appearances of professor david green on bbc news, bbc radio 4 and bbc radio Wales, discussing the tuition fees rise.

a few of the 150 articles are mentioned here, including a £250,000 grant for the Worcester arena and a couple of stories of how staff and students are raising money for our charity of the year, The Worcester snoezelen.

The new year brings a new regular feature to news and views. each month we are turning the spotlight on a member of staff to learn more about their life outside of work. We may soon be knocking on your office door for an exclusive interview!

please keep sending your news to newsandviews@worc.ac.uk

With all best wishes for a very happy and successful new year.

CONteNtS

£250,000 Worcester arena grant 2

pupils mark World disability day 3Water births on the increase 6students signed by record label 6University completes its first Knowledge Transfer partnership 7rowers hand over cheque to charity 7 pilates class 7innovative course aims to improve modern foreign languages in the primary classroom 8former lunchtime supervisor swaps playground for classroom 8lecturer and a former student honoured in czech republic 9cyclists prepare for charity Trip to amsterdam 9open evening 9new project aims to Train staff Working with Terminally ill children 10schoolchildren explore past, present and future of University’s city campus 10dr Tim shakesheff 10

NEWS

FEATURE

Youngsters from a Worcester school took part in wheelchair basketball coaching to mark World Disability Day

pupils from christopher Whitehead language college were coached by students from the University of Worcester and members of Worcester Wolves basketball club; taking part in exercises and relays, and learning tips on how to play the game.

lea pankhurst, a University student and Wolves player who was coaching the pupils, said:

“Wheelchair basketball is not a widely available sport for everyone and now we’re qualified to teach the sport, we can go into schools and give able-bodied kids a chance to do something different.”

World disability day aims to raise awareness of disabilities around the world through activities and events such as these.

The sport proved popular amongst pupils with most wanting to try the sport again, agreeing that anyone could give wheelchair basketball a go.

PUPILS MARK WORLD DISABILITY DAY WITH WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL COACHING FROM UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Wintery Worcester 4

COVER STORY

STAFF FEATURE

life behind a lab coat: Tracey richards 11

newsandviews@worc.ac.uk / JANUARY 2011 / 3

COVER STORYWELCOME

Thermometers hit -19c in pershore in the early hours of 19 december, which was one of the lowest temperatures recorded in the UK. While we all reach for our woolly hats and thermals here’s a few more chilly winter tales. looks like we’re not out of the woods yet!

The harsh winter weather which began in december 1962 lasted until march the following year, when temperatures finally climbed above -5c.

The winter of 1947 was not the coldest of the 20th century, but certainly one of the snowiest, with the white stuff falling somewhere in the UK every day from 22 January to 17 march.

Picture postcard campus

4 / JANUARY 2011 / newsandviews@worc.ac.uk

newsandviews@worc.ac.uk / JanUary 2011 / 5

COVER STORY

Water births on the increase, Says Worcester Academic

Three aspiring musicians from the University of Worcester have had their

work signed by influential record label Universe media.

Joe coghill, 21, sian griffin, 20, and patrick molloy, 20, are in their second year of an hnd in Urban and electronic music production at Kidderminster college, a course run in conjunction with the University. They won a competition masterminded by the course staff to remix the track ‘Joseph come home’ by el sam and dave droid.

“They couldn’t ask for a better opportunity for exposure to the music production world,” said course leader damian Wilkes.

The whole class took up the challenge but in the end three remixes stood out over others and were announced winners. The winning tracks are to be released by the independent music label, Universe media. The tracks are anticipated to be available for purchase this month via iTunes and beatport.

The winning students hope that this break will give them a much needed ‘leg-up’ in what is a highly competitive industry.

The course is highly practical in nature, with a strong emphasis on current music and studio production techniques, integrating technology and creativity, giving students every opportunity to explore their creativity by giving them real music industry opportunities and projects. students also have the advantage of having access to current industry-standard resources, including music facilities for composition, recording, production, mixing, post-production and mastering. Together with experienced and hard working music staff to guide and inspire students.

The highly innovative course is ideal for those with an interest in electronic-based music, which is now a substantial part of the music industry.

Women in labour are not being encouraged to give birth in water because midwives lack confidence and workloads are too high, according to research being carried out by a University of Worcester lecturer.

Under government legislation, every woman in normal labour should have access to a birthing pool if she wishes. however, in reality, just over 1% of all births in england and Wales take place in water.

Kim russell, a registered midwife and senior lecturer at the University of Worcester, said: “Water births are relatively new and many midwives just don’t have the skills or knowledge to feel confident in facilitating childbirth in water.”

“There are many benefits to water births,” she added. “a woman is far more likely to achieve a normal birth, with no intervention, in water. The water provides excellent pain relief and comfort.”

mrs russell said women in labour looked to their midwife for guidance and midwives should be offering the choice of a water birth, or at least the use of a pool for pain relief, upon admission to the labour ward.

mrs russell has been working with Worcestershire acute nhs hospitals Trust on her research, and in the past 18 months water births within the Trust have doubled.

“The maternity unit have been fantastic,” she said. “managers recognised rates were low and therefore were keen to collaborate with the project and have introduced a number of actions since i started working with them.

“The maternity unit has introduced training for all midwives on water births and has purchased an additional two birthing pools.

The choice of water for labour and birth is now discussed with all low risk women on admission to the labour ward.”

in 2009 the number of water births in Worcestershire doubled with many others using the birthing pools for pain relief during labour. however, mrs russell said there was still a long way to go, as the number of women accessing this type of care was still very small considering that more than 3,500 women give birth each year in the maternity unit. future research will focus on ways of addressing the barriers to water birth practice.

mrs russell has recently been awarded a research grant of £5,000 from the royal college of midwives (rcm) (ruth davies bursary) which will be used to support completion of her phd research.

NEWS

6 / JanUary 2011 / newsandviews@worc.ac.uk

Students signed by record label

students celebrate record signing

University completes its first Knowledge Transfer Partnership

a specialist service to survey membership organisations has been developed through a scheme to help

businesses increase their performance.

The University of Worcester has completed its first Knowledge Transfer partnership with malvern-based firm cargyll, who specialise in helping organisations with their people performance.

Knowledge Transfer partnerships (KTp) is a UK-wide programme enabling businesses to improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance by teaming up with an academic institution and recent graduate.

The partnership enables organisations to access skills and expertise to help their business develop.

in its first KTp the University worked with cargyll to develop a service for surveying and measuring membership retention rates. phd student helen Watts, who had already carried out research in membership retention in commercial settings with cargyll, was employed as the associate for the 16-week project, supervised by dr Jan francis-smythe, director of the University’s centre for people at Work.

she said: “cargyll work with a range of organisations, some of which are membership-based. Therefore, to help cargyll to be able to better advise its clients about how they could

improve retention of members, they needed to better understand why people cancel or retain their membership”

The KTp is part-funded by the business and part-funded by the Technology strategy board through the University.

by participating in Knowledge Transfer partnerships businesses can access qualified people to spearhead new projects to take their business forward; develop innovative solutions to help their business grow; improve their performance/business operations; and ultimately increase profitability.

projects can vary in length from 10 weeks to three years depending on the needs of the business and the desired outcomes.

howard skerry, head of the University of Worcester’s business development office, said: “KTps are about matching graduates and companies with a shared benefit. They can be in pretty much anything, from developing services, as in this case, to developing physical products.”

carl graham, partner at cargyll, added: “We realised that a niche market was untapped, and following on from the match-funded phd project between cargyll and the University, we had the means to develop such a product. We plan to roll out the new service to existing and new clients.”

pilaTes classesa new block of pilates

classes starts in the Thomas Telford building week commencing 4th

January 2011.

lunchtimes Tuesdays 1:15pm and Thursdays 12:30pm

evenings Wednesdays 7 and 8pm

for more information or to book a place please ring mindy davey on:

01905 857 521

newsandviews@worc.ac.uk / JanUary 2011 / 7

NEWS

World record rowers hand over cheque to charity

World record rowers from the University of Worcester have handed over a cheque for £1,000 to a local charity.

The University’s men’s and women’s teams smashed three world records earlier this year, which saw them row non-stop for 11 days.

The record attempts raised money for Worcester snoezelen, which has been chosen as the University’s charity of the year.

The charity provides people with sensory and learning disabilities with appropriate relaxation and leisure facilities situated within the grounds of the University.

nicky White, captain of the men’s team, said: “We are delighted that not only did we manage to break three world records but we also raised £1,000 for Worcester snoezelen.

“We have now collected all the sponsorship money in and have handed over the cheque to the charity, which we hope will make a real difference to its users.”

World record rowers presenting cheque to the charity of the year, Worcester snoezelen

Innovative course aims to improve Modern Foreign Languages in the primary classroom

former lUnchTime sUpervisor sWaps playgroUnd for classroom

a former lunchtime supervisor who barely spoke any english

when she came to the UK has completed a foundation degree and is now well on her way to achieving a full honours degree in education studies.

nandini gill, 37, is a mother-of-two from erdington in birmingham. she was nominated for a national Teaching award in 2008, a remarkable achievement since coming to england in 1992 when her knowledge of the english language extended to just ‘yes’ and

‘no’.

in 2004 she started a job as a lunchtime supervisor at Queensbury school in birmingham. her supervisor, margaret van es, encouraged her to learn english and suggested the nvQ (national vocational Qualification) level 2 test. after mrs gill finished level 2, mrs van es encouraged her to complete level 3.

mrs gill started to work in the classroom, alongside her studies, assisting the children. she said: “I found that working and studying at the same time was quite a challenge. Slowly I picked up the skill of time management.”

before long the school hired mrs gill as a teaching assistant. “I read a lot of books and my husband helped me with my studies,” she said. mrs gill signed up to a foundation degree in learning support at sutton college, validated by the University of Worcester, and graduated from the course this year.

she said of her graduation in november: “it was an amazing moment as i had been waiting for it for a very long time. it felt great to graduate in front of my family as they had been supporting me the whole way throughout my studies.”

mrs gill is now topping-up her foundation degree to a full ba (hons) in education studies at the University of Worcester.

“The studies are going really well,” she said. “The tutors have been very supportive here and believed in me.”

mrs gill is hoping to under take a postgraduate certificate in education (pgce) once she has completed her undergraduate degree, with the aim of becoming a fully-qualified teacher.

a unique new course has been launched to prepare primary school teachers for the introduction of modern foreign

languages to the curriculum.

from this year all children in Key stage 2 will have the right to learn a foreign language. however, many primary teachers lack the skills to deliver mfl.

The innovative virtual learning course at the University of Worcester consists of a blend of face-to-face and online teaching. Through the use of a ‘virtual classroom’ participants will be able to see, talk and text chat to the tutor and other members of the class.

course leader Judy barker said: “The course has been designed to support the development of language upskilling for primary teachers and teaching assistants in order to move them from beginners to intermediate and in some cases advanced.”

eleven primary school teachers from across the West midlands are the first to sign up to the University’s french upskilling course. most have been funded on the course by links into languages, which is funded by the department for education, and Worcestershire county council.

although the course is mainly aimed at primary school teachers, it is equally valid for teaching assistants or other suitably qualified adults. no special software is required, although participants will need access to a computer with an internet connection, a headset and microphone; webcams can also be used but are not compulsory. The fee per course is £250 for 30 contact hours.

for more information please contact Judy barker at j.barker@worc.ac.uk or 01905 855492 or visit www.worc.ac.uk/languagesonline

NEWS

8 / JanUary 2011 / newsandviews@worc.ac.uk

virtual classroom goes online

nandini gill

Innovative course aims to improve Modern Foreign Languages in the primary classroom

Lecturer and a former student honoured in Czech Republic

a lecturer and a former student of the University of Worcester have been honoured for their work with the czech republic’s blind football team.

david mycock, a lecturer in sports coaching science, and Keryn seal, who graduated last year, were part of a team given a special achievement award during a blind football development week in the country.

Their work was named the czech republic’s best disability sports project.

for the past 18 months david has developed a teaching and coaching link with colleagues from masaryk University and the wider czech republic. The initial disability focused erasmus teaching agreement has continued to grow and david has extended this role to establish, coach and develop blind football with teams from prague (fc praha) and avoy mU brno.

The czech football association is now using david’s ideas and experiences in blind football to develop a national programme for its first paralympic blind football team. The czech national team is also aiming to attend its first tournament at the european championships in moscow in the summer of 2011.

“being able to learn and develop knowledge in disability sports alongside players and coaches from europe has widened my horizons and dramatically improved my own teaching and coaching,” he said. “it is also nice to think that the work glyn harding [lecturer at the University of Worcester] started here seven years ago is now coming to fruition as the University of Worcester and institute of sport and exercise science are becoming internationally renowned for a high level of excellence in coach and player development in blind football.”

having developed wider international links in central europe the University of Worcester is now involved with disability teams from germany, greece and the czech republic which are continuing to help evolve these countries national blind futsal leagues.

The eU has now granted a 30,000 euro funded ‘youth in action’ european blind football development project. This project will see czech republic host the first of these european blind football networking tri-nation tournaments in august 2011. University of Worcester blind football club will represent the UK as england’s current national futsal champions.

Open Evening: Tuesday 11th January 2011, 5-7pm.for further details, please contact annabel Kray on 542294 or email: a.kray@worc.ac.uk

newsandviews@worc.ac.uk / JanUary 2011 / 9

NEWS

david mycock (centre) teaching students

Cyclists prepare for charity trip to Amsterdam

four intrepid cyclists will

undertake a gruelling 400-mile trip to amsterdam to raise money for a Worcester charity.

Worcester students’ Union vice presidents liam hughes and sam lewis will be joined by University of Worcester students fraser carter and matt shepherd for the fundraising cycle ride.

They will leave Worcester on may 23 2011, cycling around 70 miles a day for seven days, in aid of the University’s charity of the year, Worcester snoezelen.

The Worcester snoezelen centre is a small independent charity that offers people with severe learning disabilities an environment they can explore through sight, hearing, smell or touch. every week, over 400 people enjoy and benefit from the centre.

liam, vice president sports & societies, said: “We wanted to do something to raise money for charity and chose Worcester snoezelen because it is such a worthwhile cause. The money we raise could make a real impact to its users.”

The four will be accompanied on the trip by sports Therapy students from the University, who will be giving massages at the end of each day.

liam said: “We are hoping to raise about £2,000 over all, but if we can go over that it would be fantastic. We are also asking if any businesses or members of the public are willing to donate small prizes that will be raffled off.”

To donate to the cycling challenge visit http://www.justgiving.com/liam-hughes0

cycling for Worcester snoezelen

schoolchildren explore pasT, presenT and fUTUre of UniversiTy’s ciTy campUs

children from two Worcester schools have been working with professional artists to produce a series of work celebrating the re-birth of the former Worcester royal infirmary.

commissioned by the University of Worcester, local artists alison ogle and petr horacek have been working with more than 200 children at st barnabas and st george’s ce schools on a project called making your mark on the future.

They have been exploring the history of the castle street buildings and their transformation into a second campus for the University.

steve boffy, arts co-ordinator at the University, said: “We wanted to get the children thinking more widely about education and university and the life journeys they can make. They explored where they want their own lives to go in the future and different aspects of their families’ pasts.”

The children have created pictures and stories, which will be used to produce a series of banners to be displayed in and around the University’s city campus in January.

The banners will be put together and digitally printed by the University’s digital arts students.

The schools project is part of a number of arts projects to celebrate the history of the former Worcester royal infirmary and its future as part of the University.

in november the dance development agency for herefordshire and Worcestershire, performed a unique piece of live dance at the city campus.

The University also commissioned vamos Theatre company to create a piece of drama last year, which drew on former nurses’ recollections of their time working there.

The art project has been supported by The elmley foundation and Worcestershire county council.

Dr Tim Shakesheffit is with great sadness that the University announces the death of dr Tim shakesheff. a member of the institute of humanities and creative arts, Tim’s teaching interests were in 18th and 19th century english social history, particularly the history of crime and local history. Tim made a wonderful contribution to the University and he will be very greatly missed.

schoolchildren creating work for city campus

New project aims to train staff working with terminally ill childrenHospital staff who care for terminally ill children will benefit from additional training, thanks to a new project from the University of Worcester and Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital.

The £140,000 project is being funded by a grant from the department of health and will involve taking a mobile skills unit out to hospitals in order to train staff on site.

The University of Worcester’s mobile unit will be transformed into a specialist laboratory with a variety of up-to-date clinical equipment, including remote-controlled child and baby mannequins to simulate scenarios faced by staff.

University of Worcester senior researcher dr sonya Wallbank, who is leading the project, said: “The aim is to up-skill health professionals across the West Midlands with the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary to deliver quality paediatric and end of life care – taking the classroom to the staff.

“The mobile unit will give staff a safe learning environment to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence, which in turn will improve patient care and safety.”

The facility will mean staff will not have to travel to attend training sessions, and training can be delivered to whole teams without taking them off site.

Training will be delivered by paediatric specialists from the University with expertise from birmingham children’s hospital and from coventry University.

it is estimated that 37 nhs trusts and three hospices in the West midlands could benefit from the project, which could then be rolled out nation-wide.

The project will be piloted with birmingham children’s hospital in march before being taken out to other trusts.

NEWS

10 / JanUary 2011 / newsandviews@worc.ac.uk

This month we are launching a new regular feature delving into the lives of University staff.

Just what do staff get up to when they leave the Campus?

Life Behind a Lab Coat:

by day Tracey richards spends her time supporting science staff and students at the University, as a Technician in the institute of science and the environment.

however, when she leaves work she puts on her dancing shoes. Tracey is training to be a ballroom and latin american dance tutor, teaching three nights a week at venues around the two counties with ‘dance at 8’.

Tracey began dancing four years ago when she attended an evening class run by ‘dance at 8’ in malvern. she really enjoyed it and picked up the steps so quickly she was eventually asked to teach. “Dancing is great,” she said. “It’s good fun, keeps you fit and is very addictive.”

around her work and dancing commitments Tracey also manages to fit in her 24-year-old pure bred arabian horse, samyr - sam for short.

a keen rider, Tracey has successfully competed sam in many showing and dressage competitions over the years.

“I bought Samyr in 1993 when he was a six-year-old stallion,” she said. “I had always enjoyed riding and working with horses since I was a child, but my parents could never afford to buy me a horse. Being my first and only horse Sam has taught me a lot over the years and I feel privileged to own him.”

“It is difficult trying to fit everything in sometimes. I get up early, go to see Sam, then come to work. After work I go straight to the horse or dance classes and often arrive home late.”

Tracey’s active lifestyle was even busier until recently. she competed for great britain on the ladies sabre fencing Team for a number of years and until two years ago was coaching others to fence.

“I started Fencing when I was 15,” she said. “I did it as an after-school activity and then joined Worcester Fencing Club. Gradually I improved and progressed and represented Worcester in competitions on numerous occasions.”

Tracey was one of a few women to pioneer the way for women to compete at sabre fencing. she was the first woman to compete against and beat men to win the county sabre championships in the 1980s.The highlight of Tracey’s fencing career came in the 1990s when she won the bronze medal at The british ladies sabre championships and later the silver medal in europe at liege, belgium, being one of the first women to represent great britain in sabre internationally.

Tracey says she relaxes in her spare time (“what spare time?” she says!) by playing the piano and listening to music.

newsandviews@worc.ac.uk / november 2009 / 11

COVER STORY

11 / JanUary 2011 / newsandviews@worc.ac.uk

STAFF FEATURE