28 June 2012
Reporter spoke to a number of prospective students and their parents enjoying a very sunny Science and Engineering Open Day on 28 June 2012, and asked them:
Tags: Open Day
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22 June 2012
With just five weeks to go until the Olympics, Imperial is stepping up its preparations for the biggest games in the world.
Commercial Services is entering one of their busiest periods – hosting two Olympic teams and providing facilities for another seven.
The two teams which Imperial will host – Japan and Switzerland – have booked 330 beds between them and the vacation staff who will be working in the accommodation halls over the summer have received additional training to ensure each team’s stay is as comfortable as possible.
“We have been training our staff to go out of their way to help and be able to deal with the unexpected,” said Assistant Director of Commercial Services and Head of Sport Imperial Neil Mosley. “Essentially we want to ensure the teams aren’t distracted from the reason they are at the College – to train,” he added.
To help prepare for the arrival of the Japanese Olympic team the Department of Humanities has been teaching Commercial Services staff basic Japanese (such as directions and welcoming phrases), as well as translating an information booklet for team members to receive when they arrive which contains details about London including public transport, sights to see and places to visit.
Sport Imperial has also invested in new fencing pistes for the Olympic athletes, and new lane ropes for the Ethos swimming pool to prevent waves. Staff have also stocked up on pool chemicals, bottled water and energy drinks, in case there are any delivery problems during the Games.
Throughout the Olympics Commercial Services plans to screen events on TVs in Eastside and the Queen’s Tower Rooms.
To bring the Olympics even closer to home, the news that Imperial medic Melanie Wilson has been picked for the Olympic rowing team (interviewed in issue 243) caused much celebration in the College and in particular in Commercial Services, who have been involved in Melanie’s progression since she started at the College in 2009.
“We are absolutely delighted Melanie is in the squad and so proud to see Imperial represented in our home games,” confirmed Neil. “It is particularly exciting for us to have a rower selected for Team GB because of our history and tradition of rowing. We can’t wait to support her during the competition.”
Imperial’s Olympic history includes three Imperial College Boat Club rowers, who went on to be a part of the British Men’s Olympic Rowing Team for their gold medal-winning performance at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. They were the first British Men’s 8 team to win gold since 1912 in Sweden.
— Emily Ross-Joannou, Communications and Development
Tags: London 2012
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20 June 2012
From handball to table tennis and triathlon, on 13-15 June over 200 students from four universities including Imperial came to the College to get a taster of what it would be like to participate in the Olympics in London in the annual IDEA league sports event.
The students from Imperial, TU Delft, ETH Zurich and RWTH Aachen got a chance to compete in a range of sports in Ethos (where nine Olympic triathlon teams will be training next month) and in Hyde Park – where the athletes will be competing.
The trip included a visit to various central London Olympic venues – including Lords which will be hosting archery and Horse Guards Parade, where the beach volleyball will be taking place.
This was the twelfth IDEA league sports event,which has grown from an initial volleyball tournament to a two-and-a-half day competition consisting of various activities, decided by the host nation. Imperial last hosted the event back in 2007.
The sporting competition has developed from the existing academic IDEA League which was founded in 1999. The league is a network of five science and technology universities which have joint research and education activities.
Commenting on the event, Assistant Director of Commercial Services and Head of Sport Imperial Neil Mosley said: “With it being the Olympic year in London Imperial were very happy to host it once again. With the theme “Played in the spirit of the Games” very much a focus, there was a really nice atmosphere about the event. The highlight for me was seeing Imperial students winning the men’s handball challenge and Sophie Kirk [Civil and Environmental Engineering] winning the triathlon.”
The Swiss team from ETH Zurich were the overall winners of the event.
— Emily Ross-Joannou, Communications and Development
See a slideshow of pictures from the event
Tags: London 2012
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7 June 2012
While many of us experienced Sunday’s river pageant bunched up along the crowded Thames, staring at the head of the spectator in front, Professor Chris Phillips from the Department of Physics enjoyed the very best of views, from the boat he was rowing near the front of the aquatic procession.
Chris and the rest of the crew, the Vineyard Voyagers, made up of dads from his children’s school, were powering a modern facsimile of a nineteenth-century Thames waterman’s cutter – the ‘white van’ of the Victorian Thames, according to Chris. Their prime position saw them helping to set the pace for the whole flotilla in the front row of cutters, behind the pageant’s flagship the Gloriana, and ahead of over 1,000 boats.
The Vineyard Voyagers in a race
Chris says the crew increased their training before the jubilee weekend: “We already take part in races but this time we had the challenge of both keeping our speed up and rowing in formation so we tweaked our training schedule. We went from spending some time on the river and most of our time in the pub, to doing the opposite. Knowing you’ll be watched by a million people and have several hundred boats bearing down on you will have that effect!”
In total, including the trip to get into position for the start of the Flotilla, the crew covered over 22 miles in the cutter over six hours. The highlight, however, came upon reaching central London.
Chris said: “Hearing all of the cheers from the banks of the Thames was fantastic. When we’re racing we always get a lift from the crowd and this was a similar experience, except massively magnified, and of course we had front row seats for the whole thing.”
The flotilla, in celebration of the Queen’s 60 years on the throne, is thought to have been one of the largest ever assembled on the river, and consisted of rowed boats, working boats, pleasure vessels, boats from the armed and emergency services, and historic vessels including some of the boats that took part in the D-Day landings.
Chris and the rest of his crew had been invited to take part thanks to their association with the Worshipful Company of Watermen and Lightermen. The Company was established in 1555 to police transport on the Thames, and now also supports activities for river rowing enthusiasts, including the river races that Chris takes part in.
— John-Paul Jones, Communications and Development
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28 May 2012
New Scientist, 14.4.2012
Shining infrared light on cancer could speed up diagnoses for patients, reported New Scientist. Current methods use staining to highlight DNA and protein in cytoplasm. Cancer cells contain a higher ratio of DNA to protein and a larger nucleus, making it possible to judge whether cancer is present. The new technique enables the team to measure the way in which the chemical bonds in each molecule absorb infrared light. By measuring the level of absorption, the amount of DNA and protein in a sample can be calculated and an image generated to highlight areas with a cancer-like ratio. “You put in the tissue and you can get an image in 10 to 20 seconds,” said Professor Chris Phillips (Physics).
New Scientist, 25.4.2012
The Tûranor PlanetSolar entered the record books to become the first solar-powered boat to circumnavigate the world. The project demonstrates the potential of zero-emission transport, commented Dr Gregory Offer (Mechanical Engineering). “Solar power is a game changer for marine propulsion, and these guys have shown it can be done,” he added. The boat is a 95-tonne carbon fibre catamaran fitted with more than 530 square metres of photovoltaic panels capable of generating 90 kilowatts, which powers an electric motor connected to a propeller. The yacht also carries 10 tonnes of lithium batteries to store electricity.
Daily Mail, 25.4.2012
Financial incentives exist for internet service providers (ISPs) not to create filters that block pornographic material from home PCs, said Imperial academic, Professor Tommaso Valletti (Business School). “Watching films, including pornographic ones, uses more bandwidth and that way ISPs can sell you costlier broadband packages,” he told the Daily Mail. “Having a filter turned automatically on, with the ability to switch off if you enter a password, is a very good idea for families,” he said. He added that ISPs already had the ability to filter out other illegal websites, such as child abuse sites, and that there was no excuse to not filter out pornography.
The Daily Telegraph, 11.5.2012
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has decided against allowing the use of prostate cancer drug cabazitaxel by the NHS, sparking criticism from some UK experts. The drugs funding watchdog claims that cabazitaxel only extends the life of patients by three months and, at £22,000, is too expensive. “The cost argument on which NICE bases their decision is false, giving a much higher estimate of true cost than applies in reality,” Professor Jonathan Waxman (Surgery and Cancer) told The Daily Telegraph. “As a result, yet another successful and effective cancer treatment is denied to our patients, a mortifying blow to cancer care in England,” he added.
Tags: Business School, Mechanical Engineering, Media Mentions, Physics, Surgery and Cancer
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11 May 2012
On 3 May eight teams of schoolchildren came to Imperial to compete in the live final of the London Schools’ Chemistry Challenge, battling it out using posters, drama, music and presentations to a present their case for the greatest discovery in Chemistry in the last 100 years.
The initiative began last year, also marking the International Year of Chemistry, which celebrated the contributions chemistry has made to society.
The competition saw over 1,000 school students registered to take aprt, with academics from the Department of Chemistry selecting eight teams for the final.
With an open remit on how to make their case the GCSE and A Level students had to present in front of a panel of judges including Imperial’s Professor of Science and Society Lord Winston; David Philips, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Head of the College’s Department of Chemistry Professor Tom Welton.
The winning entry, highly commended by the judges, came from team “Notre Bam”, a group of students attending Notre Dame School in Surrey. They won for their presentation on polymers, which involved drama and music as well as chemical knowledge. The team received an iPad each, together with a tour of a leading research facility in the future.
Pictured right: Notre Bam with judges and organisers.
Team member Elizabeth said: “As a group we have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and our knowledge of chemistry has been enhanced by studying the subject outside of our syllabus. We have really benefitted from the experience and look forward to the day at a research centre…and our iPads!”
The event’s was arranged by the Department of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Chemistry, supported by Imperial’s Outreach Office. One of the organisers, Dr Oscar Ces, said:
“This was a fantastic evening where teams of students from across London showcased their talent and demonstrated the impact that Chemistry has had on society over the last 100 years. It’s been a wonderful way to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry”.
Organisers hope to run a similar event in the summer.
— John-Paul Jones, Communications and Development
Tags: Chemistry, Outreach
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9 May 2012
Over 2,500 Imperial students from around the world graduated in Postgraduate Graduation ceremonies today. Reporter spoke to some of the new graduates to find out what they felt about living in the the Olympic city.
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8 May 2012
On Wednesday 9 May postgraduate students and guests from over 65 countries will be taking part in Imperial’s 2012 Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies at the Royal Albert Hall.
Congratulations to all our new graduates, and welcome to the Imperial alumni community. We hope you, your friends and family have a very memorable day. Follow the day’s events here, and share your tweets, videos and photos, using the hashtag #ImpCol.
Tags: Awards and Honours, Students
Posted in Alumni, College, Students, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
18 April 2012
Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, officially opened Imperial’s newly refurbished Hamlyn Centre on 16 April. Guests were able to see the latest developments in robot assisted microsurgery – minimally invasive surgery with micro-scale imaging and manipulation – made possible by funding totalling £5 million from the Wolfson Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) underpinned by the Helen Hamlyn Trust endowment.
The Hamlyn Centre, which is split across three Imperial campuses – South Kensington, St Mary’s and Northwick Park- has been refurbished with cutting edge new technologies and a pre-clinical imaging suite for clinical trials to enable clinicians and technicians to validate new surgical robots in the patient. The long-term hope is that the robots in the Hamlyn Centre will be integrated with imaging and sensing technologies to perform microsurgery, for example, on cancerous cells.
Rector Sir Keith O’Nions, said: “We are very grateful to the Wolfson Foundation and NIHR for their generous contributions to the College. It is with their help that the Hamlyn Centre, through its multidisciplinary approach, continues to be at the forefront of innovation in surgery.”
Janet Wolfson de Botton, Chairman of the Wolfson Foundation, said: “The Wolfson Foundation has a long tradition of funding excellence in science and technology and we are very pleased to support the Hamlyn Centre in advancing robot assisted microsurgery.”
Lord Darzi, Chair of the Institute and co-director of the Hamlyn Centre, said: “We are very grateful to the Wolfson Foundation and the NIHR for their generous contribution to the refurbishments of the Hamlyn Centre. This will allow us to build on our unique strengths in research and clinical application of minimal invasive surgery and allied technology by enhancing both scientific discovery and translation into clinical practice with clear benefit to patient recovery and quality of life. The new lab will also enable our multidisciplinary team to create micro-surgical tools for new surgical procedures with improved accuracy and efficacy.”
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Hamlyn Centre
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2 April 2012
Imperial College Union has announced that this year’s sabbatical elections achieved the best ever turnout, propelling it to number one among student university unions in England and Wales.
This year 58% of undergraduates took part, a rise of 13% on last year, while 19% of postgraduates voted, up 4% on 2011. In all, 6539 student voters took part in deciding the new Union sabbatical team and officers.
Outgoing Deputy President (Finance & Services) Michael Foster, who was the Returning Officer for the elections said he was delighted by the results:
“A high turnout in the elections is vital for the democratic process. As it is the students’ biggest opportunity to effect change in their Union, a high turnout ensures that the new team represents as many students as possible. It also gives them a larger mandate to further legitimise their presence, opinions and decisions on key College committees.”
For these elections the Union sought to engage voters with a live statistics page, using graphics to track voting activity by Faculty and Department, gender and even Halls of Residence.
Michael added: “A lot of things came together to help us achieve such a high turnout. The live statistics, especially the competitive aspect, got students interested, and the high quality and enthusiasm of candidates encouraged voters. Most importantly, we have a very engaged student body, keen to make sure their views and interests are represented at the highest levels.”
The elected student team includes students who take a year out of their studies to hold a Sabbatical position or continue with their studies, taking up an officer position. This year most of the positions were chosen in one big election for the first time.
A particularly close race saw Paul Beaumont, an undergraduate from the Department of Mathematics, triumph as Imperial College Union President. Paul previously served as RCSU Vice-President.
For the full results of this year’s elections see http://union.ic.ac.uk/marketing/elections/results.php. For more statistics see: http://union.ic.ac.uk/marketing/elections/index.php
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22 March 2012
Imperial College’s rugby first XV ended a decade of defeats last night to finally lift the JPR Williams Cup. In an historic night at the Twickenham Stoop Stadium, College scored an outstanding win against the Imperial College School of Medicine, running away to a 31-0 victory.
Despite a strong start with both teams enjoying equal possession, the scoreboard remained untroubled until Syarif Hertog broke through after 23 minutes to cross the line and break the deadlock. Four further tries followed as more than 1,000 students, staff and alumni witnessed a fine display of rucking, running and kicking which the Medics had no answer for.
Charlie Esberger, Imperial College Captain said: “It’s a great feeling and a monkey off the back for the whole club. I think we were better organised, we got into pattern really early on, began dominating the game, and pushed on from there. We thought a win was on the cards, but we did expect it to be a tight game.”
Man of the Match, Jack Flanagan, added: “It feels amazing. Just to look up at that scoreboard and see 31-0. We’ve waited ten years for this – it’s such a good feeling.”
The JPR Williams Cup is named after former Welsh rugby captain and St Mary’s Hospital Medical School alumnus John Peter Rhys Williams, and first began in 2003. The evening topped a victorious day for College teams, who ran out 13-5 winners in sports including football, waterpolo, hockey and tennis.
— Simon Watts, Communications and Development
Tags: Sport Imperial
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21 March 2012
Athletes representing Imperial Medicals and Imperial College are squaring up to one another this week in their annual sporting battle.
The two historic rivals will be clashing in ten different sports, with battlegrounds ranging from the hockey pitch to waterpolo pool, with this evening’s rugby match between the two first XVs being the trophy prize.
After nearly ten years of the Medicals triumphing in the JPR Williams Rugby Cup spectators will be on the edge of their seats to see whether the tide can finally turn in the College’s favour, at the Twickenham Stoop stadium, home to the Harlequins Rugby Union team.
The JPR Williams Cup is named after former Welsh rugby captain and St Mary’s Hospital Medical School alumnus John Peter Rhys Williams, and first began in 2003. Over 1,000 staff, students and alumni will fill the stands to cheer on captains Charlie Esberger (Imperial) and Jonny Fisher-Black (Imperial College School of Medicine) and their teams.
While the JPR Williams Cup will be hotly contested the overall victors of Varsity will be decided by points from 28 different games, with other sports represented including lacrosse, basketball and netball.
The College’s Twitter account @imperialcollege will be tweeting from this evening’s game, while student newspaper Felix has a live page to keep people updated on scores from around the grounds. Keep track of all the news and results on the Felix live feed here: http://felixonline.co.uk/varsity/
— John-Paul Jones, Communications and Development
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17 February 2012
Reporter met up with Hannah Bryars, Olympic fencing hopeful and 5th year medic, to find out about her training and her determination to make the grade.
Hannah’s training as a member of the GB fencing team took a hit last year when she suffered from a painful knee injury and had to take time out to help reduce the inflammation. As her condition improved, rather than give up on her goal to compete in the Olympics, she returned to training with a renewed sense of purpose, switching coach, turning to a gluten-free diet and strengthening her knee through physiotherapy and Bikram Yoga.
(more…)
Tags: Ethos, Faculty of Medicine, London 2012, Sport Imperial
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15 February 2012
“This Glaswegian has something to shout about,” reported the Financial Times about Professor David Begg, and indeed how right they were. With nine years as Principal of the Business School under his belt, David has seen the School’s income double, rise 45 places in the Financial Times rankings and establish a world-class reputation in innovation and entrepreneurship. With a determination to bring the School into the heart of what Imperial does, he has ensured close working with other faculties and has aimed to bring the wisdom of business to all of the College’s work.
Reporter caught up with him on the eve of his retirement:
I think I leave the Business School in a much better place than I found it. Imperial has bought into our significance, not just as a Business School, but working for and behalf of the rest of the College. We are very proud of having beaten Oxford and Cambridge in the last Research Assessment Exercise and of the staff we have hired as a consequence. Our reputation is well established and our operational and academic staff continue to do a fantastic job.
Imperial has been increasingly and magnificently supportive. Quite rightly, they were a bit sceptical at the beginning, but as we have proved ourselves, they have seen the benefits of the Business School and as a result, created the space and opportunities for us to be able to achieve our aims.
We now have a highly ranked Business School that is going to grow and become more successful in the future. When I started, we had to take more risks, as there was a lack of certainty about what we were able to achieve. We now know what we can do and how to make it happen.
The 6am starts! No, seriously, in this job, you build a community of colleagues and friends – it’s really more like a lifestyle then just a job – and that will certainly be a very big change for me when I am no longer Principal. Though rest assured, I will not be looking to take it too easy in my retirement – I will be keeping an eye out for my next challenge!
Head of English cricket or Governor of the Bank of England perhaps?! I haven’t had a chance to consider my options yet. Everyone says take your time and don’t rush into things, so I’m following this advice and am quite relaxed about what’s going to happen. Indeed, for the immediate future, I am going to make myself available to the Business School on a part-time basis, so I can support Dot [Griffiths] in her role as Acting Principal and ensure a smooth transition.
I think it will be integrated even more closely with the rest of the College and conferring on Imperial students a unique business advantage whatever faculty they happen to be in. I also see our executive education offering growing and a strengthening of our capability in economics. Indeed, this would prove useful for the rest of Imperial where more and more areas are in need of economic evaluation. I also think risk is another huge area of opportunity. At the College, we have experts who cover risk in a number of areas such as train crashes, earthquakes and drug failures but we don’t yet have a means of integrating all of them in an Institute for Risk Management. Nor do hardly any other universities in the world. Imperial could be a real international leader in that field and the Business School should and would play a large part in that.
Go for it! Imperial is a community, so having good relationships around the College is as important as having a clear vision of what you are trying to do. You need to be able to motivate other people to believe in your vision and crucially, be able to execute it. By and large, academics are great at strategising but hopeless at execution! Strategy is not the hard part, it is the details of making it happen. A Principal cannot achieve much single-handedly and a great part of the effectiveness but also the pleasure of the job, is the team you build around you. I’ve been very fortunate, Dot has been a rock during my time here, as have all the other people we have recruited as we’ve gone along. A new Principal will eventually be responsible for building a new team, and we’ll see how that transpires. It’s a great job because there are so many positives. With a School that is in great shape, it should be a great challenge for whoever follows.
— Tanya Gubbay, Communications and Development
Tags: Business School, Staff
Posted in Alumni, College, Research, Students, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
3 February 2012
ScottishPower has announced its renewed commitment to scholarships for UK Masters students at Imperial College London in 2012. The Fundación IBERDROLA, the charitable arm of ScottishPower’s parent company, has launched a new round of scholarship and research grant programmes focussed on energy and environmental studies for the 2012/2013 academic year.
(more…)
Tags: prospective students, scholarships
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