Promote your research to the BBC as part of BBC North's University Challenge
Science and Technology academics have been invited to participate in BBC North's University Challenge, an initiative that aims to expand the pool of academics the BBC can call on for expert opinion, as well as generate ideas for new features and programmes.
The BBC are looking for applications in the form of short 'talking head' films - no more than two minutes long - that cover these four questions:
- Who are you and where do you work?
- Why do you love your subject?
- Tell us a story you think the world should know?
- Who's your broadcasting hero?
To support this, Science and Technology will be filming staff on Tuesday 4 December. Films will also be useful for other purposes, such as staff web pages and social media. If you're interested in taking part, please contact Alex Gordon to book your slot. The deadline for submitting films is Friday 7 December.
Business Partnerships and Enterprise
£600,000 'Impact Acceleration' award for Lancaster
Lancaster University has been awarded a £600,000 EPSRC 'Impact Acceleration Account' for 2012-2015 as part of a recently announced £60m investment in UK universities. The funding is intended to help the most pioneering scientists and engineers create successful businesses from their research, improve industrial collaboration and foster greater entrepreneurship.
Lancaster's winning bid proposes a strategic focus on accelerating impact from EPSRC funded research in Physics and The School of Computing and Communications, and includes funding for industry and academic secondments, follow-on funding for grants that have finished, and flexible allocations of funds to stimulate university-business partnerships.
FST Employability Forum
The inaugural meeting of Science and Technology's Employability Forum on will be held on Tuesday 11 December. The creation of this forum follows a recommendation from the Faculty Wilson Review group, which met during the last academic year to discuss the implications of the review in relation to work experience and placement provision for our students.
The new forum is made up of representatives from across Science and Technology, and will be chaired by Dr Mark Bacon, Director of Business Partnerships and Enterprise. It will consider the need for students to gain meaningful work experience during their time at Lancaster University through paid internships. Student course representatives will be included for subsequent meetings. The aim of the forum is to support the doubling of Science and Technology student placements from the current annual figure (approximately 200) to over 400 by the year 2015.
Environment: International MSC Programme
A two-year MSc programme has been established in partnership with Guangzhou institute of Geochemistry and the Institute of Urban Environment in Xiamen, both part of CAS.
This new course follows the creation of The International Research and Innovation Centre (IRICE) between Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Lancaster University. To foster collaborative research, the second year of the MSc will be spent on a research project for a UK business interested in developing business in China.
Dr Ruth Alcock, Head of Enterprise and Business Partnerships, comments:
"This is a perfect example of how businesses can benefit from our global partnerships. The MSc acts as a platform for collaborative research and as a business and innovation conduit between two countries."
New Staff
Dr Mark Rushforth, former Programmes Manager within the Business Development Group at Coventry University has been appointed Head of Business Partnerships and Enterprise for the physical sciences. His role will include the management of the new impact acceleration account from the EPSRC and support for the development of proposed ERDF investments in physics, chemistry and engineering. Mark and existing members of the faculty team will also work to increase the number and value of research and teaching partnerships with businesses working with Energy Lancaster, the Quantum Technology Centre and our Advanced Manufacturing academic expertise.
Security Lancaster: Small Business Cyber Security Survey Film Now Live
Five films of the Small Business Cyber Security Survey launch event earlier this month are now online. The survey gathered information about the security concerns of small businesses. The exclusive event included a presentation from Eric Ollerenshaw OBE, MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood:
"I'd like to thank Daniel (Daniel Prince, Associate Director of Security Lancaster) in particular... for me, as a member of parliament, the fact that Lancaster has been established as a centre of excellence on this is just fantastic news for the whole district... and businesses round here."
The highlights film includes interviews with businesses and partnerships such as Gary Lovett, Regional Chairman for Cumbria, Federation of Small Businesses, the UK's largest campaigning pressure group promoting and protecting the interests of the self-employed and owners of small firms. He commented:
"There are far too many small businesses out there that really don't understand the full impact of IT and cyber attacks. That's why the Federation of Small Businesses, with the University, will come together to get this information out to lots more businesses."
News
Recent stories from Science and Technology:
Lancaster researchers demo 3D screens of the future
Researchers at Lancaster University, Bristol University, and Nokia Research have built a prototype 3D display which tilts and moves to reflect the shape of objects appearing on screen - whether they be the contours of a mountainous landscape or the petals of a flower.
Foetuses yawn in the womb, according to new research
We know that unborn babies hiccup, swallow and stretch in the womb but new observational research concludes that they also yawn.
Homeless health check prototype to be launched
Homeless people who have been working with Lancaster University academics and citizen scientists to dream up new technology have developed a prototype which could improve their lives.
School of Computing and Communications Secures €650k for Future Internet Research
Lancaster University's School of Computing and Communications has secured funding for three new projects worth over €650k through the EU Future Internet Research & Experimentation (FIRE) programme.
Innovation experts collaborate to promote healthy ageing
World-leading innovation experts from industry and academia gathered in Liverpool on 21 November to create new ideas and concepts to encourage healthy and active ageing - one of the biggest issues and opportunities facing society today.
Lancaster Authors Dominate IEEE Computer Special Issue
3 of the 5 papers in the October issue of IEEE Computer Magazine (a special issue on Dynamic Software Product Lines) are by Lancaster or former Lancaster Authors.
Prize for electron-neutrino research
The Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) experiment in Japan, that involves Lancaster University particle physicists, has recently been awarded the prestigious "Le Prix La Recherche". The prize, awarded by the French journal "La Recherche", one of the top popular science journals in France, honours the top research in 2011 across all sciences based upon a criteria of scientific discovery and deepening understanding. T2K's 2011 paper on...
£3m for particle physics research
The Physics Department has been awarded a £3 million grant by the Science and Technology Funding Council (STFC) to continue its programme of particle physics research over the next five years.
Lancaster shares in £39 million for UK energy efficiency research
Lancaster University is leading one of only five new research centres in the UK that will look into the complexities of energy use across society.