You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2008.
Bethan (second from the left) and her friends
Six students from Middlesex University’s Theatre Arts course undertook a volunteer project with a difference when they travelled to Uganda in East Africa to work on educational projects organised by UK-registered charity Soft Power Education.
The students helped renovate school properties and created spaces where teaching could take place. One of the projects at Murchison National Park involved converting an old building into an education centre which will work with local school groups promoting the importance of ecology and guarding against threats to wildlife.
The theatre arts students put skills learned on their degree courses into practice, organising dance, singing and drama workshops, and a puppetry workshop for deaf children. Each student worked with a different year group, helping the groups to devise their own stories about health issues such as malaria and Aids.
The trip was inspired by one of the volunteers, Bethan Dear, who had volunteered in Uganda previously. Bethan and her fellow students raised over £5,000 to help finance the trip and aim to repeat the trip next year with a larger group of volunteers.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Liver disease death rates are rising in the UK
A new £1m clinical research facility dedicated to tackling liver disease recently opened at Imperial College London. The new Robert Hesketh Hepatology Clinical Research Facility will accommodate fifty researchers, doctors and nurses.
The unit will provide the best possible care for thousands of patients who will be offered the opportunity to participate in the unit’s clinical research programmes and enrol in clinical trials.
Blood, liver and DNA samples taken from patients will be used to develop methods of predicting which patients will develop severe complications of liver disease. Researchers will also study patient genetics to identify why some people are more susceptible to liver disease than others.
Simon – www.studylondn.ac.uk
A team of eight students from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication were invited to the first ever World Architecture Festival in Barcelona.
Ravensbourne's Environment Design students
At the Festival the MA Environment Design students competed in the Student Charette, an intense 36-hour session in which the students worked to answer a brief and were given 10 minutes to present their idea for immediate judging.
The students’ brief centred on the regeneration of a disused industrial complex in a Barcelona suburb and presented challenges on reworking old buildings for new uses, particularly around the community and public spaces.
Lord Norman Foster, architect, said of the event, “Barcelona is the ultimate model of regeneration and pioneer for the world, which is critical to the future of cities. The younger generation have made their mark in a very serious and inspirational way.”
Ravensbourne students impressed the judges and the college has been invited to return and participate in next year’s event.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
London students dominated this year’s HSBC Student Bursaries. Three students beat more than 3,000 entrants, each winning one of four £30,000 bursary awards given by HSBC to support talented students.
HSBC's London headquarters
The winners were:
- Chandni Patel, Medical Genetics student, Queen Mary, University of London
- Mira Athanassouli, Languages student, King’s College London
- Zac Imam, Geophysics student, Imperial College London
Students were asked to explain why they should be considered for a bursary and they read out their winning entries at an awards reception held at HSBC headquarters in Canary Wharf.
The winners will receive £10,000 every year for three years to contribute towards their living and studying costs. HSBC will also keep in contact with the students to encourage them to achieve their goals.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
University College London (UCL) is opening its first overseas campus in Adelaide, Australia.
University College London
Students will be able to study for a two-year Master’s degree in Energy and Resources at the UCL School of Energy and Resources, Australia. The new campus will also offer executive education programmes to companies across the Asia-Pacific region.
The campus has been created in partnership with the government of South Australia and will receive substantial financial support from Santos, one of Australia’s largest energy companies.
The collaboration will help address the increasingly complex economic, management, legal and engineering challenges arising from the development and use of energy and resources.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
King's College London
King’s College London has announced it is offering 50 PhD scholarships to help students in the College’s health schools pay for living costs and cover tuition fees. The 50 awards will be available to healthcare students across a range of disciplines including biomedical and health sciences, medicine, dentistry, nursing and midwifery.
The scholarships last for up to four years and will be funded by King’s in association with the Medical Research Council; Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council; the British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK, and other leading charitable organisations and industrial sponsors.
King’s is the most successful university in the country for PhD completion rates. Its health schools also run an innovative Researcher Development Programme which provides students with highly valued skills for careers in business, government, academia and the healthcare professions.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Graduates from Middlesex University Dubai
Middlesex University celebrated the graduation of its largest cohort of students from its Dubai campus. This year, 158 students graduated from Middlesex University Dubai which opened in 2005 and now boasts 1,000 students from 50 countries. Students study a range of programmes from social sciences and arts to business and information technology.
At the graduation ceremony, His Excellency Sultan Bin Sulayem was awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition of his dedication and commitment to the economic development of the United Arab Emirates. Mr Bin Sulayem is the chairman of Dubai World and one of the region’s leading businessmen.
On awarding the honorary doctorate, Professor Michael Driscoll, Middlesex University’s vice-chancellor, said, “His exceptional talent for business and the ambition and success of his projects must surely be a real inspiration to our students in Dubai.”
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Students from London universities dominated this year’s Guardian Student Media Awards, winning four categories, including the top prize of student journalist of the year.
Less Common More Sense - University of the Arts London Students' Union Magazine
Tom Roberts, the editor of Felix, the student newspaper of Imperial College London scooped the top prize and was name student journalist of the year by the judges. Tom has won a much sought after placement with the Guardian newspaper. His newspaper, Felix, also won the student newspaper of the year category.
Students at the London School of Economics won student travel writer of the year, while the University of the Arts London won student publication design of the year for its magazine, Less Common More Sense.
Past winners of the awards include the former editor of the Financial Times Andrew Gowers, former Heat magazine editor Mark Frith, photographer Rankin and journalist and author, Emily Barr.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
The Wellcome Collection continues its series of challenging and thought-provoking exhibitions with War and Medicine – focusing on the breakthroughs that have taken place in medical science in times of war.
Surgeons, doctors and nurses have to cope with the worst that humans can inflict on one another during wartime. The exhibition contains 200 exhibits ranging from the Crimean War, which took place in 1850s and brought Florence Nightingale to the public’s attention, through to the present day conflict in Afghanistan.
A sculpture based on the pioneering skin-grafting techniques of Sir Harold Gillies (Source: Wellcome Collection)
While shocking in places, especially the opening panels listing the number of dead and wounded from the six wars that the exhibition focuses on (Crimean; World War I; World War II; Vietnam; Falklands; and Afghanistan) the development of increasingly sophisticated weaponry meant medicine had to adapt quickly, often on the field of conflict.
In the exhibition you can read about New Zealand born plastic surgery pioneer Sir Harold Gillies who developed plastic surgery techniques during World War I to treat facial wounds. At a specially built faculty at London’s Queen’s Hospital, more than 11,000 operations were performed on over 5,000 men during the war. His legacy lives on with the publication in 1957 of ‘The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery’ which is still a major work on the subject.
The exhibition is full of the personal experiences of surgeons, soldiers, civilians, nurses, writers and artists and brings home the stark realities of war and the miracles of medicine.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
“London is a city where different cultures and thoughts meet. Living in this city, I never feel bored.
