Comment 158 - February 2005

THE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 158 | FEBRUARY 2005

3 Gray’s Anatomy | 5 Glands from gills | 6 Da Vinci award | 7 Profile: Mike Yianneskis | 8 King’s people | 11 Departmentalfocus: History | 12 Transparency Review 14 eLearning | 17 Flashback | 18 In the news | 19 Student news | 20 Books

COMMENTT

HE WORLD’S MOST devastatingnatural disaster in centurieshas wreaked havoc in the

areas around the rim of the IndianOcean.

King’s has around 500 students

who come from the areas affectedby the tsunami, and thankfully at thetime of going to press no fatalitieshad been reported. That does notmean, however, that they or theirfamilies have not suffered. This partof the world is also popular amongmedical and dental students takingtheir electives, and is a favouritetourist destination.

The College has instigated anumber of initiatives.

WebsiteTo help any students or staff whohave been affected, the College hasestablished a small review groupchaired by the Academic Registrar.One of the results is a dedicatedwebsite: www.kcl.ac.uk/tsunamiwith an email address ([email protected]) for students tocontact the College if their return toKing’s has been delayed.

For those who have practical oremotional concerns, the telephonenumbers of the Counselling Service,Welfare and Advice, StudentFinance, the Health Service, theAccommodation Office andChaplaincy are all listed.

A person within each School has been appointed to act as acontact to advise those who havebeen affected in connection withtheir studies.

The College is aware that thereare a number of examinations,practical assessments and coursesubmission deadlines in the firstpart of this term. The CollegeRegulations permit flexibility forstudents who have been adverselyaffected by their personalcircumstances. They should contact the Examinations Officewith any queries.

ReconstructionLooking to the area’s future, theInternational Policy Institute (IPI) is organising a Tsunami Forum on 10 February at 12.00 in the GreatHall, Strand campus.

College response tothe Asian tsunami

Continued on page 2

webwww.kcl.ac.uk/tsunami [email protected]

View from the clock tower: prize winningphoto of a view from theMaughan Library taken by philosophystudent Roni Pacht, see page 13

a series of media interviewsincluding an interview on the Radio4 PM programme about the effecton India explaining how theGovernment and country would beable to cope with the disaster.

EventsThe College, the Students’ Unionand Unison are jointly organising a fundraising event for the tsunamiappeal. It will be held in Tutu’s,Strand campus, on 22 February at18.30. A wide-ranging programme isplanned including readings, music,dance, etc. If you would like to takepart, contact KCLSU President

Michael Champion at [email protected].

A fundraising event for the reliefeffort organised by Dr SophieFarooque, School of Medicine, washeld on 27 January at the RoyalCollege of Physicians. The eveningconsisted of classical music andpoetry readings by celebrities plus

first-hand accounts of events inAsia. There was an auction run by aSothebys’ auctioneer and a prizeraffle. Proceeds went to CareInternational and the Sri LankanHigh Commissioner’s Appeal.

The Principal, Professor RickTrainor said, ‘On behalf of the entireCollege, I would like to expresssincere condolences andsympathies to all students, staff andalumni affected by the disaster inthe Indian Ocean. This is a tragedythat has touched us all. I am veryproud that all sections of the King’scommunity have responded in sucha positive way.’

News

2 | COMMENT | February 2005

The Chairman ofCouncil writes

Dear Colleagues2004 was a very busy year for

the College. It was marked, inparticular, by the hugelysuccessful celebrations for our175th Anniversary, and by thearrival of a new Principal.

There is no danger that 2005will be any less busy, and I ampleased that the CommemorationOration, which was revived for

This will be a panel discussion, opento all members of the College, todiscuss different aspects of thecrisis affecting Asian countries andto suggest appropriate responsesfor an organisation such as King’s. Itwill be chaired by Professor SirLawrence Freedman, Vice-Principal,with Professor Michael Clarke,Director, IPI; Chris McDowell,Director, Information Centre aboutAsylum and Refugees in the UK; BobPicciotto, Visiting Professor andformerly of the World Bank; andothers to be confirmed.

The College’s extensiveexperience and expertise in theSchool of Social Science & PublicPolicy and Institute of Psychiatryhas been brought together in asubmission to various governmentdepartments. The proposal adviseson managing the resettlement,reconstruction, livelihood re-establishment and the psycho-socialtrauma of the displaced andhomelessness population as aresult of the Asian earthquake.

Dr Robert Bradnock, SeniorLecturer in the Department ofGeography, was quoted in theGuardian and Times about earlywarning systems. He also undertook

Continued from page 1

the anniversary, will continue thisyear and that Rick Trainor hasagreed to deliver it.

King’s goes from strength tostrength. Academically, we arepoised to recruit up to 63 senior

staff – an unprecedented boost toour teaching and researchcapability. In terms of our estate,the redevelopment of the Strandcampus will be mostly completedthis year, the culmination of a £400million investment in our facilities.

We continue to build partnershipswith major national institutions andanticipate an early outcome of ourbid to the Medical Research Councilto house the National Institute forMedical Research on the Guy’scampus. It is sure to be an exciting year!Baroness Rawlings

CommemorationOration

THE PRINCIPAL, ProfessorRick Trainor, will deliver theannual Commemoration

Oration on Thursday 10 Februaryin the Great Hall at the Strandcampus at 17.15. He will addressthe topic of what universities arefor. It is open to all and areception will be held afterwardsat Tutu’s in the Students’ Union.

a panel discussion,open to all members of the College

Eyewitness

King’s medical studentBala Karunakaran wasin northern Sri Lankagaining work experienceat the KillinochchiGeneral Hospital whenthe region was hit.

IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATHof the disaster, Bala writes, ‘I have never seen such chaos.

People were rushed to our hospitalin buses and HGVs. Our mortuariesare overflowing with bodies. Mostof the dead are women andchildren. We have many youngchildren in our wards that are yet tobe identified.

‘By the end of last night [26December], we had more than700 casualties and 120 deadbodies in our hospital alone. Thehospital had run out of space andresources and we had to divertminor injuries to a local school tohave medical students attendthem.’

News

February 2005 | COMMENT | 3

DR JACQUES MIZAN fromthe Department of GeneralPractice & Primary Care

has recently launched an excitinginitiative to design communityhealthcare centres that actuallyhelp patients get well.

The new Healthcare DesignResearch Unit (HDRU) will act as ahub to bring together artists,designers, therapists, patientgroups, GPs and academics to

research and discuss how people-centred design could benefit themental and physical health of bothpatients and healthcare providers.

Much research has alreadyshown how the spatial environmentcan affect patients’ treatmentexperiences, and Dr Mizan believesthat the environment could alsoinfluence the level of communicationbetween health professionals andbetween patients and doctors,

which in turn could improve jobsatisfaction and staff recruitmentand retention rates.

The Government is currentlyinvolved a £1 billion initiative torefurbish and rebuild a largenumber of primary care facilities,which they describe as being‘unsuitable for the provision ofmodern healthcare’.

However, Dr Mizan believes thatalthough the programme is

improving primary care facilitiesnationwide, that these facilities willjust be ‘more of the same’. ‘I hopethat through the HDRU we will beable to encourage keystakeholders to think aboutholistic design at an early stage ofany refurbishment projects, to thepotential benefit of all users,’ hesays.

Further information about theHDRU is available at: www.hdru.org

Healthy interest in design

THE 39TH EDITION of one of the best-known texts in theworld, Gray’s Anatomy, was

published in December by Elsevierand launched at the GordonMuseum at Guy’s. The Editor-in-Chief is Susan Standring, Professorof Experimental Neurobiology, andHead of the Department ofAnatomy & Human Sciences.

The new edition of this definitiveguide to human anatomy has beenrewritten and restructured, and isnow organised by body regionrather than by body system. The number of pages has shrunkfrom 2,100 to 1,600, but the numberof illustrations has increased tonearly 2,000, of which almost 400are new.

Professor Standring comments,‘This is the first time since it waspublished in 1858 that Gray’sAnatomy has undergone suchradical surgery. The editorial teamfor this edition decided that a bookwhich would be of the greatestbenefit to practising cliniciansshould mirror their daily practice

and describe anatomy in the way inwhich they use it, that is, regionally.’

The book is also available for thefirst time as one of Elsevier’s new‘e-ditions’, combining the traditionalprinted text with two CD-ROMs thatcontain all the book’s illustrationsand nine fully rotatable andstrippable images, along with online

access through a dedicated websitethat features weekly updates whichwill reflect the latest advances inthe field.

The text of the e-dition is fullysearchable and allows users todownload and incorporate all theimages to their own teaching andpresentations. In addition, buying

the e-dition will entitle the user todirectly receive regular e-mailupdates on advances.

The new edition of Gray’s willprove invaluable not only to thewide range of medical andhealthcare clinicians, but also tobiologists, artists, lawyers,teachers, fashion designers, andsculptors, in fact, to all those forwhom a knowledge of functionalanatomy is essential in theirprofessional lives.

Professor Strandring was alsointerviewed on Radio 4’s TodayProgramme about the book.

King’s professor applies radicalsurgery to famous medical tome

DOMINIC TURNER

Professor Susan Standring with Erik Engstrom(CEO Elsevier), Fiona Foley (Executive VP GlobalMedicine, Elsevier), Professor Harold Ellis, MrAndrew Williams, Drs Jeremiah Healy, DavidJohnson, Caroline Wigley and Patricia Collins (allon the Editorial Board of 39ed)


News

TOWARDS THE END of last yearUK physics departments cameunder fire from the media,

most notably The Sunday Times,which claimed that many of thedepartments were likely to beclosed.

Physics at King’s, however, isgoing from strength to strength. For example:• there has been massive

investment with half of thecurrent academic staff appointedin the last three years, andseveral already promotedfollowing external vetting.Currently two posts are beingadvertised for new academics,and a new technician has justbeen appointed who will be muchinvolved in supporting teaching

• there has been major investmentof more than £1 million in newequipment through SRIF (the

THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORYachieved remarkable successin the latest funding round of

the Resource Enhancement schemefrom the Arts and HumanitiesResearch Board.

The Department was involved inthree separate bids, all of whichreceived funding. Collectively theywere awarded almost £1 million (outof a total of £2.9 million availableunder the scheme), and in two casesbuild on awards made in 1999 with atotal value of more than £1 million.

A grant of £317,246 over threeyears was awarded to phase 2 ofThe Prosopography of Anglo-SaxonEngland Project, co-directed by twoKing’s medievalists, Professor JanetNelson and Dr Stephen Baxter, withProfessor Simon Keynes ofCambridge.

The second grant, of £303,378,was awarded to the continuation ofthe Clergy of the Church of EnglandDatabase, 1540-1835, a jointinitiative between Dr Arthur Burns,Head of King’s History, Dr KennethFincham, Kent, and Dr StephenTaylor, Reading.

Professor David Carpenter was

Science Research InvestmentFund), and independently theDepartment have been fundedfor two parallel computers

• The Royal Society and WolfsonFoundation have funded a newresearch laboratory whichopened in January

• research output in the world’sleading journal in physics,Physical Review Letters, is higherthan it ever has been

• the demand for postgraduatetraining is running high, with halfof this year’s PhD studentscoming from outside the UK

• undergraduate applications forentry in 2005 are currently 26per cent up on last year, and at ahigher level in the major degreeprogrammes than for the lastfour years

• a new teaching laboratory wasopened two years ago.

Physics’ fortunesawarded £311,963 over three yearsto digitise and calendar the FineRolls of the Reign of Henry III to 1248in a collaboration with Harold Shortof the Centre for Computing in theHumanities (CCH) and Dr DavidCrook of the National Archives.

For more information seewww.kcl.ac.uk/phpnews/wmview.php?ArtID=742

Fundamental to the design andimplementation of all three projectshas been the involvement of CCHunder the leadership of HaroldShort: technical innovation anddevelopment is as important totheir success as the scholarship ofthe historians involved.

The Principal, Professor RickTrainor, said: ‘These awardsrepresent an extraordinaryachievement for the King’sDepartment of History. They are atribute both to the very highreputation of the Department andto its ability to blend the latesttechnology with traditional scholarlytechniques.’The Departmental focus for this edition features History, see page 11.

Historical grant successGORDON DAVIES

The Physics BiophotonicsLaboratory at the Strand

ANUMBER OF ALUMNI andpeople associated withKing’s were recognised,

including:Professor Andrew Haines

(KCSMD), Dean, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine,was knighted for services to medicine.

Dr Jonathan Michael (St Thomas’), Chief Executive,Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHSFoundation Trust, was knighted forservices to the NHS.

The Rt Hon Dame Elizabeth

Butler-Sloss (FKC and formermember, College Council),President, Family Division of theHigh Court of Justice, was made aKnight Grand Cross.

Michael Hedges (KCL, Law),former Chief Constable of theSouth Yorkshire Police, wasawarded a CBE for services to the police.

Sister Bernadette Porter (KCL,PhD Educ), former Chief Executive& Rector of RoehamptonUniversity, was awarded a CBE forservices to higher education.

New Year’s Honours List

News


THE HUMAN PARATHYROIDgland, which regulates thelevel of calcium in the blood,

probably evolved from the gills offish, according to ProfessorAnthony Graham and Dr MasatakaOkabe from the MRC Centre forDevelopmental Neurobiology at King’s.

Writing in Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences, theresearchers suggest that the gills ofancestral marine creatures, whichwere also used to regulate calciumlevels, were internalised rather thanlost when land-living, four-limbedanimals – the tetrapods – evolved.This research was also featured inan article on BBC Online.

‘This interpretation would alsoexplain why the parathyroid gland ispositioned in the neck. If the glandhad emerged from scratch whentetrapods evolved it could, as anendocrine organ, have been placed anywhere in the body andstill exert its effect,’ explainsProfessor Graham.

STEVE MCMAHON,Sherrington Professor ofPhysiology and Head of the

Centre for Neuroscience,together with colleagues in theSchool of Biomedical Sciencesand Cambridge University, havedeveloped a new technology thatcould bring hope to peopleparalysed by spinal cord injuries.

The researchers supported theirtheory by showing that fish gills andchick parathyroid gland developfrom the same type of tissue in theembryo; that both structuresexpress a gene called Gcm-2, andthat both need this gene to develop

By inhibiting molecules that blocknerve-cell regeneration, which areproduced around the injured spinalcord, the technique allows somedamaged nerves to re-grow andsome surviving nerves take overthe function of lost nerves. Togetherthese changes could help bring backmuscle function and sensation thatwere lost in the injury.

Professor McMahon says, ‘This isan optimistic time for spinal cordinjury research. Experimental workfrom a number of laboratories,including our own, is beginning toconverge on a realistic strategy totreat patients.’

KCL Enterprises and CambridgeEnterprise worked together tonegotiate a licensing agreementwith the American pharmaceuticalcompany, Acorda Therapeuticswhich will allow the company todevelop products based on thetechnology, which, it is hoped, willlead to new treatments. In return

New hope for spinalinjuries

for this licence the researchersare receiving funding and stand tobenefit from staged payments thatdepend on the company achievingvarious clinical milestones and aroyalty on future product sales.

Dr James Fawcett fromCambridge comments, ‘This newtechnology could lead to the firstsuccessful treatment for spinalcord injury and should increasethe chance of patients regainingsome of their lost function afteran injury has occurred.’

This pioneering work wascovered by BBC Online.

correctly. In addition, they found agene for parathyroid hormone infish, and this gene is expressed in the gills.

‘Our work will have greatresonance to all those people whohave seen Haeckels’ pictures, which

show that we all go through a fishstage in our development,’ saysProfessor Graham. ‘This newresearch suggests that in fact, ourgills are still sitting in our throats –disguised as our parathyroidglands.’

Glandsfrom gills

FREDI TEALE

News


AN E-LEARNING PROJECT led by theDepartment of Medical Engineering &Physics in the School of Medicine has been

awarded one of the first ever Leonardo da VinciAwards for excellence in vocational educationand training by the EU Commission.

EMIT (European Medical Imaging Technology),a consortium of universities and hospitals fromSweden, France, Italy and the UK won the awardfor its pioneering work in developing Europe’sfirst structured e-Learning programmes fortraining and education in ultrasound and

magnetic resonance imaging technology.Leonardo da Vinci is the EU’s action

programme on vocational education and trainingdesigned to promote transnational co-operation.The awards were introduced this year tocelebrate successful initiatives and have alreadybeen described by EU ministers as the future‘Oscars’ for education.

EMIT was chosen as one of three award-winners from a shortlist of 32 projects acrossEurope identified by Leonardo da Vinci NationalAgencies as the very best examples of vocational

Women’s Networklaunch

KCL’S WOMEN’S NETWORK will hold itsfirst meeting, aimed at launching thenetwork, on 14 February from 12.00 to

14.30, in the Sodexho Function Room at Guy’s. Why have a KCL Women’s Network? Virginia

Wainwright, King’s Director of Equality &Diversity, explains that women’s equality issues,particularly those relevant to careerdevelopment, remain very much on the agendafor the higher education sector.

‘Women face many challenges still in effective

participation and progression in employment –those issues raised back in the 1970s have notnecessarily ‘gone away’. There is a resurgence ofinterest in women’s networks in higher education,and on a strategic level, King’s has much to gainfrom being a front-runner in setting up asuccessful Women’s Network.

‘One of the outcomes of the workshops onEquality Issues for Women Staff and the Women’sAction Learning Programmes, which we’ve runover the past two years, has been a desire for aKCL Women’s Network, open to all womenemployed in the College, to be established.Women involved so far feel that networking willbe valuable in many ways, including personalsupport and development, identifying issues of

importance to women in the College, andcomparing experience.’

The outline programme is as follows:12.30 Lunch13.00 Introduction: the King’s context13.05 Speaker: Erica Halvorsen, Deputy

Director, Equality Challenge Unit, What wecan learn from women’s networkingacross the sector

13.20 What are the top three issues for theNetwork? Discussion groups

14.00 Taking the Network forwardIf you would like to attend the Women’s Network

Launch, telephone Kal Kohli on ext 3398 or [email protected] with your name and contactdetails, including details of any special requirements.

and educational training. Its e-Learning materialswere described by the assessors as ‘unmatchedin their innovation, breadth and depth’.

The King’s team of EMIT Consortium includes:Dr Andy Simmons, Dr Colin Deane, Dr CorneliusLewis, Dr David Goss, Ms Gillian Clarke, Dr SlavikTabakov (Co-ordinator), Professor V ColinRoberts (Contractor), and Dr Victoria Aitken.

Dr Tabakov and Dr Lewis received the awardat a ceremony in Maastricht on 15 December,also attended by then-Education Minister Charles Clarke.

‘This prestigious award is the crown of tenyears’ hard work in pioneering and developingthese unique e-Learning materials which are nowused in hundreds of universities and hospitals insome 70 countries,’ says Dr Tabakov.

EMIT is a continuation of a previous projectEMERALD (1995-2000), which developed the firste-Learning materials for training and education inPhysics of X-ray Diagnostic Radiology, NuclearMedicine and Radiotherapy. All these materialsinclude e-books and Educational ImageDatabases with a volume of 900 MB.

In order to facilitate their international use aDigital Dictionary of Terms has also beendeveloped. The Dictionary cross-translatesbetween any of its seven languages: English,French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German and Swedish.

King’s consortium wins inaugural EU award

the very best examples ofvocational and educationaltraining

Former Secretary of State for Education,Charles Clarke with Dr Slavik Tabakov rightand Dr Cornelius Lewis

Profile


What are your priorities as Head of School?Following a period of extensiverestructuring and/or re-alignmentof research activities, the Schoolhas started to reap the benefits ofits Strategic Plan. The appoint-ments of many young research-active staff in Engineering andPhysics (see page 4) have alreadyresulted in a vibrant teaching andresearch environment; senior aswell as junior appointments inComputer Science haveconsolidated the significantstrengths of the Department,while the established reputationof Mathematics at King’s willbenefit from the new appoint-ments to be made in 2005.

One of my main priorities is toencourage cross-disciplinaryresearch and the plannedappointments in biomedicalengineering and bio-informatics,as well as the increased synergyof Physics with the HealthSchools, are all aimed atfacilitating this.

Describe your ambitions for the SchoolThe School has many researchstrengths, with world-leading

activities across all its Depart-ments. My main ambition is tohelp improve the excellentquality, impact and reputation ofall School activities and to helpfulfill their potential to becomeoutstanding in both teaching and research.

I am also keen to encourageinvolvement in the numerousemerging inter- and multi-disciplinary science areas, a taskthat is assisted by my involve-ment in various EPSRC, MRCand international panels such asthe Board of Experts of theItalian Ministry of Education.

On the teaching side, increasedinterlinking of the courses onoffer and provision of newcourses bridging the traditionaldiscipline boundaries arepriorities, taking internationaldevelopments such as theBologna Process into account; inthis respect, useful insights areprovided by my membership ofthe Cyprus Council for HigherEducation Degree Recognition,through which I had theopportunity to familiarise myself with a wide range ofhigher education systems andapproaches.

What are the greatest challenges?The School is at present in astrong position with upwardtrends in research income,student entry grades and the totalnumber of applicants to ourtaught programmes, in particularapplicants for MSc courses haveincreased by 150 per cent overthe last three sessions. The mainchallenge is to improve studentretention as well as the quality ofour student intake from thepresent level (which is identicalto the College average) to thoseof our top competitors in the UKand worldwide.

In research terms, the mainchallenge is to successfullyencompass in our activitiesemerging science areas to helpincrease further research incomeand build on the College’sstrengths as a multi-facultyinstitution.

What can be done to improve thepopularity of physical sciences?As far as the School is concerned,student recruitment trends lookpromising, notwithstanding thenational trends. The School hasan urgent need for better andmore contiguous space and the

new accommodation that will become available uponcompletion of the Strand projectshall undoubtedly help improverecruitment further, as shall theintroduction of new programmesand courses in, for example,Bioinformatics and nanoscience.

We are also very active inpromoting science in schoolsthrough the professional bodiesand the student ambassadorsscheme.

What is your background?I graduated in mechanicalengineering from UMIST andobtained my MSc and PhD inheat transfer and fluid mechanicsrespectively from ImperialCollege where I was a ResearchFellow before joining King’s.

I have since been working onfluid mechanics topics relatedprimarily to mixing processes inchemical reactors. The multi-disciplinary nature of King’s hasprovided an excellent catalystand springboard to apply myexpertise to health-related topicssuch as inhalation flows andhaemodynamics.

Can you describe your researchinterests?My main area of interest isturbulence, which involvesmathematically complex andchallenging fluid mechanics andis encountered in applicationsranging from large-scaleenvironmental to small-scale bio-fluid processes. I am delightedwith the progress my group and Ihave made recently on improvingunderstanding of small-scaleturbulence processes, particularlyin relation to fluid mixing instirred reactors. Most recently, we have been studying the fluidmechanics of blood flow andespecially red blood cell aggreg-ation, that have added a mostfascinating dimension to our work.

Mike Yianneskis FIMechE FIChemE FRSA FKC,joined King’s in 1985 and was appointed Professorof Fluid Mechanics in 1996. He became Head ofthe School of Physical Sciences & Engineering lastsummer.

MikeYianneskis

HELENA TKALEZ


King’s people

Prizes

American book prize

Reader in Early ModernHistory, Dr Laura Gowing, hasbeen awarded the Joan Kelly

Memorial Prize by the AmericanHistorical Association for her mostrecent book Common Bodies:Women, Touch and Power inSeventeenth-century England. (SeeComment 149).

This prize is awarded annually forthe book in women’s history and/orfeminist theory that best reflectsthe high intellectual and scholarlyideals exemplified by the life andwork of Joan Kelly (1928–1982),demonstrating originality of

research, creativity of insight,graceful stylistic presentation,skilful use of analysis, and arecognition of the important role ofsex and gender in the historicalprocess.

Poster Prize

The first British GeriatricsSociety United in CareConference was held at the

Royal College of Physicians on 1 December. First prize for theposter presentation was awardedto Dr Jo Fitzpatrick, Dr JuliaRoberts, Dr David Cowan andProfessor Alison While, members ofthe Florence Nightingale School ofNursing & Midwifery.

The poster entitled ‘Caring forOlder People in the UK IndependentCare Home Sector: Enhancing the

Contribution of Healthcare SupportWorkers’, reported on the findingsof a European Social Fund Projectaimed at widening access to lifelonglearning in the independent carehome sector.

International book prize

Dr Arthur Burns, Head ofDepartment and SeniorLecturer in History, has won

the 2004 William M B Berger Prizefor the History of British Art.

The £5,000 prize is awardedannually for an outstandingcontribution to the history of Britishart in the categories of exhibition,exhibition catalogue and book. Dr Burns received the award alongwith co-editors Derek Keene and

Andrew Saint for the recently-published book St Paul’s: TheCathedral Church of London1604–2004. The book wascommissioned to celebrate St Paul’s1,400th anniversary and featuresthe work of 44 experts on thecathedral and its historical context.(See Comment 154).

‘We are delighted and surprisedto see St Paul’s emerge as thewinner from such a strong field. It is a tribute not only to thescholarship of the contributors(including both Dr Mark Smith andDr David Crankshaw from the King’sTheology & Religious StudiesDepartment), but to Sally Salvesenof Yale University Press, ChristineFaunch, our indefatigable researchassistant, and our pictureresearcher Julia Brown,’ says Dr Burns.

Awards

IEEE Fellowship

Professor Hamid Aghvami,Director of the Centre forTelecommunications

Research in the School of PhysicalSciences & Engineering, has beenelected a Fellow of the Institute ofElectrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) for his‘contribution to the advancementof multiple access protocols formobile communications’.

The IEEE Fellowship is one ofthe most prestigious honours ofthe IEEE, and is bestowed upon avery limited number of SeniorMembers who have madeoutstanding contributions to theelectrical and informationtechnologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession.

Leverhulme Trust

Two Leverhulme Trust MajorResearch Fellowships havebeen awarded to King’s

academics: M M McCabe, Professorof Ancient Philosophy and Dr HenrikMouritsen, Reader in Ancient History.

There are 25 Major Research

Fellowships appointed annually. Theawards enable well-establishedresearchers in the Humanities andSocial Sciences to devotethemselves to a single project ofoutstanding originality andsignificance appropriate for aperiod of concentrated researchand capable of completion withinthe duration of two to three years.

ASE LifetimeAchievement

Paul Black, Emeritus Professorin the Department ofEducation & Professional

Studies, has been awarded a specialLifetime Achievement Award fromthe Association for ScienceEducation. These are rarely awardedand has only been given twice before.

The citation reads that:‘Professor Black has made amajor contribution to all aspectsof science education, has a world-wide reputation and is highly sortafter for his advice, guidance andinspirational presentations. Hisresearch over many years hasbeen of the highest quality and hispublications are essential readingfor vast numbers of trainees andteachers. His influence in theclassroom has been furtherextended through his leadershipof major curriculum projectsfunded by The Nuffield Foundation.’

Professor Hamid Aghvami

JO WORTHINGTON


King’s people

RAE sub-panels

Three King’s academics will head sub-panels for the 2008 Research AssessmentExercise. Professor Peter McGuffin,

Director of the MRC Social, Genetic &Developmental Psychiatry Centre, will chair thePsychiatry, Neuroscience & Clinical Psychologysub-panel; Professor Bob Hider, Head of theSchool of Biomedical Sciences, chairs thePharmacy sub-panel and Margaret Brown,Professor of Mathematics Education, leads theEducation sub-panel.

Select Committee

Anthea Tinker, Professor of SocialGerontolgy, gave evidence on behalf ofherself and Claudine McCreadie, Resarch

Fellow, both of the King’s Institute of Gerontology,to the House of Lords Select Committee onScientific Aspects of Ageing. The focus was ontechnology and ageing and followed up their earlier written evidence.

London 2012

Professor David Cowan, Director of the DrugControl Centre, was invited by RichardBudgett, Director of Medical Services of

the British Olympic Association, to be part of oneof the bid panels presenting the London Bid tothe International Olympic Committee.

Trust role

Professor Robert Lechler, Head of the Guy’s,King’s & St Thomas’ School of Medicine,has been appointed as a new Non-

Executive Director of the Guy’s and St Thomas’NHS Foundation Trust.

Legal appointment

David Hayton, Professor of Law and,arguably, the leading authority in the UKand the Commonwealth on the law of

trusts, is one of the six judges appointed by theCaribbean Community Judicial ServicesCommission to the new Caribbean Court ofJustice (based in Trinidad). This Court is toreplace the Privy Council as the ultimateappellate court for the CARICOM countries. Heis the only judge from outside CARICOM.

Presidency

Professor Newell Johnson, Head of theOral Health Research Group in the DentalInstitute, has been appointed President of

the Section of Odontology of the Royal Societyof Medicine. He has also been has beenappointed Dean and Head of School at GriffithUniversity’s School of Dentistry and Oral Healthin Australia. He will take up the position at theuniversity’s Gold Coast campus in March.

Appointments

Who’s Who 2005

Once again King’s staff and alumni featureamong the 900 new names in the 2005edition of Who’s Who, described by The

Times as the ‘bible of the British Establishment’.Twenty two of the new entrants are alumni whilestaff include:Christopher Dandeker Professor of Military

Sociology and Co-Director of the King’s Centrefor Military Health Research

John Deathridge King Edward VII Professor ofMusic and former head of the Department of Music

Terrie Moffitt FBA Professor of Social Behaviour& Development, MRC Social, Genetic &Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry

John Moxham Professor of Respiratory MedicineCharles Wolfe Professor of Public Health

Medicine

HELENA TKALEZ

DOMINIC TURNER

Professor Christopher Dandeker leftand Professor John Deathridge

Professor Bob Hider


King’s people

ACELEBRATION OF THE life of MauriceWilkins (1916-2004) CBE HonLLD FRSFKC Nobel Laureate, will take place on

Wednesday 23 February in the Great Hall at theStrand campus from 15.00-17.00.

Presentations will look at Professor Wilkins’role in DNA research, his role as a teacher andhis concern for science in the context of socialresponsibility. An open discussion on the themeof the social responsibilities of science willfollow the speeches.

The event will be opened by Professor RickTrainor, Principal, and chaired by ProfessorJonathan Glover, Director, Centre for MedicalLaw & Ethics. Speakers will include ProfessorWatson Fuller (a member of the original King’sDNA research team working with MauriceWilkins), Dr Christopher Smith (Head ofBiomedical Science degree programme atKing’s), and Professor Dot Griffiths (Science &Society Trustee).

If you wish to attend, please contact AlisonThompson in the Development Office [email protected] or 020-7848 3396.

Memorial Event

KING’S TOOK OUT THREE FULL PAGESin The Times Higher on 28 January toadvertise 63 posts. These positions are a

mix of new – 32 – and existing – 31 – jobs. All tenof the College’s schools of study are included in this recruitment initiative.

Nineteen chairs, 11 of which are new posts, were advertised along with 44 readerships and lectureships.

Principal Professor Rick Trainor, comments.‘The recruitment of this considerable number ofnew staff – not only in science and medicine butacross the full range of subjects offered at King'sincluding the humanities and social sciences –clearly demonstrates the College’s commitmentto providing outstanding research and teaching. I have every expectation that recruitment tothese posts will make King’s a truly global player.’

The adverts follow a thorough strategic reviewof King's research profile. A £4.5 million strategic

investment fund is being used to build upon areasof strength and comparative advantage.Particular emphasis is being placed onreinforcing King’s ability to work acrosstraditional academic boundaries and exploit thepractical applications of research.

The College is attaching particular importanceto Bioinformatics and Chemical Biology as areaswhich provide vital links between the physical andbio-sciences.

The College is also demonstrating itscommitment to public policy, by establishingthree new chairs in this area, with a special

emphasis on health and the environment.Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Vice-

Principal (Research), says, ‘This new investmentis the latest stage in a process of restructuring inthe College that began four years ago. We expectto be continuing to invest in key areas over thecoming years. We are not just thinking of the nextResearch Assessment Exercise but seeking toensure that we sustain and improve our strongresearch performance over the long-term.’

King’s has an annual research income of £100million and is one of the UK’s top universities. It isa member of the Russell Group – a coalition ofthe country’s major research-based universities.

More details about these posts can be foundby clicking on the link ‘Job opportunities’ from thefront page of the College website (through towww.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/pertra/sijobs/). The jobsare also being adversitied on www.jobs.ac.ukwhere the College has the ‘Spotlight on’ feature.

King’s makes major investment in new staff

‘recruitment to these posts will make King’s a truly global player’


Departmental focus

OVER THE PAST 150 YEARS King’shas harboured a remarkable numberof distinguished historians: in the

19th century S R Gardiner and the navalhistorian J K Laughton; in the early 20thcentury R W Seton-Watson and NormanSykes; and more recently A G Dickens, SirJohn Elliott, Sir Michael Howard (Lecturer inMilitary Studies from 1947 before becomingKing’s – and the country’s – first professor ofWar Studies in 1964), Richard Overy and thelate Conrad Russell. It has furnished the lasttwo presidents of the Royal HistoricalSociety: Peter Marshall and Jinty Nelson, whohas just retired from office.

ResearchThe Department achieved the top ranking inthe Research Assessment Exercises of 1992,1996 and 2001, despite being considerablysmaller than other rival leading researchdepartments. All its 19 permanent staff arefully active researchers, and the Departmentprides itself on supporting high-qualityresearch regardless of field or methodology.

Many members of the Department focustheir efforts on monographs, volumes ofessays and articles in the humanities traditionof ‘lone scholarship’. Recent volumesemerging from the Department treat suchvarious themes as Laura Gowing’s CommonBodies: Women, Touch and Power in Seventeenth-century England (see page 8), Andrew Porter’sReligion versus Empire? British ProtestantMissionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700-1914, Stephen Lovell’s Summerfolk: A Historyof the Dacha, 1710-2000 (awarded the 2003Alec Nove Prize by the British Association forSlavonic and East European Studies), DavidCarpenter’s The Struggle for Mastery 1066-1284,a volume in the new Penguin History ofBritain, and St Paul’s: The Cathedral Church of

London 604-2004, co-edited by head ofdepartment, Arthur Burns (see page 8); theywill shortly be joined by Anne Goldgar’sstudy of 17th century Dutch floralspeculation, Tulipmania.

In recent years the Department has alsodeveloped a distinguished record infostering large-scale collaborative projectsin which King’s scholars work closely withcolleagues in other institutions, and withimportant input from the King’s Centrefor Computing in the Humanities.

Two of these, the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England, co-directed by Jinty Nelson,and the Clergy of the Church of England Database1540-1835, of which Arthur Burns is a projectdirector, are among the most ambitiousprojects in historical computing everattempted in Britain. Both are producingremarkable public resources that will beavailable to both scholars and the generalpublic through publication on the web, andthus maintain the Department’s commitmentto fostering a wider research culture.

Many King’s historians conveneinternationally important evening researchseminars at London’s Institute of HistoricalResearch or serve on the editorial boards ofleading journals, and they have been closelyinvolved in important collaborative nationalinitiatives such as The Oxford Dictionary ofNational Biography, British Documents on theEnd of Empire, and the Royal HistoricalSociety’s historical bibliographies.

TeachingAlongside its research, the Department pridesitself on the quality and distinctiveness ofboth its undergraduate and postgraduateteaching. The Department has about 300undergraduates, some pursuing joint-honoursdegrees or European Studies, but the majority

following thesingle-honours History BA.

This degree is unusual in that it is a finalsdegree, and together with the fact that muchof the teaching is delivered in supervisions ofno more than four students focused on aweekly essay assignment, this gives it adistinctive appeal to the large number ofapplicants it attracts. Another attraction is theoption for second- and third-year students totake courses at other colleges in theUniversity of London, affording themunrivalled opportunities to pursue theirparticular interests.

The Department also teaches four MAs.Well-established programmes in Medievaland Imperial and Commonwealth Historydraw on concentrations of expertise that havegiven King’s a long-standing reputation as acentre of excellence in those fields. New MAsin Early Modern and Modern History reflectthe fact that the strength and depth of theDepartment extends far beyond theseparticular areas. The Department also makesa significant contribution to the MA inEuropean Studies. Between them theseprogrammes accommodate some 50 taughtMA students, and from them emerge many of the roughly equal number of postgraduateresearch students currently working in the Department.

The Department of History is celebrating several recentachievements, including success in the latest AHRB funding round(page 4) and book prizes (page 8).

HistoryThecover of From Reich toState, joint winner of the 2003Gladstone History Book prizeawarded by the Royal HistoricalSociety, by Michael Rowe, Lecturerin Modern European History in theHistory Department


News

Partnership Award

THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE has won a TowerHamlets Education Business Partnershipaward for the contribution made by the

Access to Medicine Project in providing healthcareers information to young people in TowerHamlets schools and arranging the annual HealthCareers conference for secondary schools.

At an event to celebrate a decade of educationbusiness link achievements, Bob Doe, editor ofthe Times Educational Supplement, said in hiskeynote address, ‘Partnerships like these play avital part in the dialogue between schools andbusiness to prepare children for adult life.’

The King’s Access to Medicine Project exists toencourage and enable young people from localboroughs to study at medical school or to pursuetraining leading to other careers in the healthservice and biomedical sciences. A wide range ofactivities have been developed for local students,their parents and teachers.

OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS nearly allacademic staff and many other staff inacademic departments have been

required to complete ‘Time Allocation Survey’(TAS) forms. These provide an analysis of activityon a percentage basis in relation to teaching,research and other activities. It has beenrequired as part of the Government CostingTransparency initiative.

Mike Yeomanson, Costing Review Consultant,explains what it is and why it is important.

The TRansparent Approach to Costing (TRAC)is a process set up by Hefce to satisfy specificrequirements of the Treasury to identify the costof teaching, research and other activities, andprovide reassurance that public funds are notbeing used to subsidise commercial activities.

Although largely considered as an accountingexercise, the TRAC process has persuaded theTreasury that university infrastructure is in poorrepair and that the funding model for research isnot sustainable.

Central government has taken these messageson board and has begun to address decades ofunder-investment in higher education through:• Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) –

increasing to a permanent stream of £500 million per year

• extra QR (extra funds for high qualityresearch)

• extra money for research councils of £120 million from 2005/06 rising to £200 million in 2007/08.The College is a direct beneficiary of all of

these additional funding streams.However the additional funding alone will not

address the structural problem where muchresearch is priced on a marginal cost basissimply recovering the additional direct cost ofundertaking the research without contributing to

to identify the cost of teaching,research and other activities

the institutional infrastructure. In order to putuniversities on a more sustainable financialfooting there is a need to fundamentally changethe way that they cost activities. This has movedthe sector towards recovering full economiccosts.

Full Economic Costing (fEC) relies heavily onhaving robust data derived from the TAS formsbeing accurately completed and returned,together with up-to-date and accurate space,staff and student data. This data, if satisfactoryto external QA Audit, will enable the College tocharge research councils and governmentdepartments at an economic cost rate, initiallyslightly above the current rate that we areallowed to charge, but increasing to a rate of 100 per cent of full economic cost by 2010.

If this is achieved, and the College can maintainits current level of research council grants, thereis a potential to improve our income from thisarea by some £10 million, providing much neededadditional financial resources.

This will require robust staff time data to becollected, however there is money attached tothe implementation of fEC underpinning this newinvestment, and therefore, it is important thattime and other information requested is given theimportance and consideration that it deserves.

The Transparency Review

KING’S HAS BEEN PLACED FOURTHin the UK and 47th in the world forscience-based excellence in a new league

table compiled by The Times Higher. This latesttable examines data on science. (See page 9, 10 December 2004.)

The principal measure used is peer reviewinformation from 1,300 active academicsacross the world. They were asked for theiropinions about the top universities in subjectareas and regions of which they have expert knowledge.

The data was weighted by area and subject,and the resulting scores were normalised to amaximum of 200 for the top institution.

The top five universities were Cambridge,Oxford, Harvard, California University, Berkleyand Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The top ten UK universities were: Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College London,King’s, Manchester & UMIST, Edinburgh,

University College London, Bristol, Leeds and Durham.

The Times Higher also displayed a numericalmeasure of the influence of the researchundertaken at the top-rated institutions. The figures used highly cited papers in a rangeof disciplines.

To do well in these tables institutions had tobe strong in a number of areas. In this citationranking King’s is the top university in the UK andjoint 14th in the world. The top university wasHarvard. In this listing Durham would be rated17, Cambridge 18, Oxford 21 and Edinburgh 22.

In the coming months, tables for biomedicine,arts, humanities and social science will be published.

King’s fourth for UK science

a new league table compiled by The Times Higher


News

News inbriefTop inventions

The Times ran a survey to findBritain’s greatest invention. In

the field of medicine the discoveryof the structure of DNA, workcarried out at King’s andCambridge and for which King’sProfessor Maurice Wilkins jointlyreceived the Nobel Prize, was inthe top five.

Ministerial moves

In the most recent reshuffle Ruth Kelly was appointed as

Secretary of State for Educationand Skills, Kim Howells remainsthe Minister of State withresponsibility for LifelongLearning, Further and HigherEducation, and Stephen Twigg was promoted to Minister of State for School Standards.

New UUK head

Professor Drummond Bone,Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Liverpool, will be thenext president of Universities UK.He will succeed Professor IvorCrew, Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Essex, on 1 Augustand will hold the post for the nexttwo academic years.

Name change

The Guy’s and St Thomas’Charitable Foundation has

changed its name to the Guy’s andSt Thomas’ Charity. The Charityawards grants to NHS Trusts inLambeth and Southwark includingGuy’s and St Thomas’ NHSFoundation Trust, Lambeth and

Southwark Primary Care Trustsand South London and MaudsleyNHS Trust. It also awardsresearch grants to King’s andother university institutions linkedwith the beneficiary Trusts.Between 1999-2004, King’sreceived £20 million – 35 per centof all the Charity’s funding.

Writing science

The Daily Telegraph and BASFScience Writer Awards invite

entrants to write an article, nolonger than 700 words, on anyscientific or science-relatedsubject. The winning articles willbe published in the paper and thefirst prize winners will share cashand prizes worth more than£7,000. For more information seewww.science-writer.co.uk. Theclosing date is 30 April.

Mandela at FWB

Graça Machel, wife of NelsonMandela, is to give the

Gilbert Murray Memorial Lectureon behalf of Oxfam on the themeof Africa’s role in overcomingpoverty in the Franklin-WilkinsBuilding on 2 February. Previousspeakers include ArchbishopDesmond Tutu and ChancellorGordon Brown.

Jubilee Gardens

Jubilee Gardens on the SouthBank is being redeveloped to

create a world-class public park.To understand how the park isused now and how people wouldlike to use it in the future, an on-line questionnaire has been setup. Go to www.csclondon, click onthe blue ‘log in’ button under ClientZones on the right, enter theusername JubileeGardens, enterthe password JGusers04 andfollow the instructions.

THE RECENT PHOTOGRAPHICcompetition to mark the end ofthe College’s 175th anniversary

celebrations proved a great success,attracting more than 500 entries.

The event was organised byArchives & Corporate RecordsServices, and photographs werereceived from students and staff onevery aspect of life at the Collegeranging from lectures to field trips,student social and sportingactivities, religious worship andviews of London.

The winner of the £500 prize for aseries of five images of student lifewas Jack McDonald. A £250 prize forthe best single photograph, of a

student dentist operating on a‘phantom head’, was awarded toAmiras Chokshi. Five runners-upprizes of £50 were also awarded toSarah Thornley, Karina Gopaul, SamGibbins, Owen Jones and Roni Pacht.

‘The judges were impressed bythe generally high standard ofphotographs and the winningphotographs and a selection of thebest of the unsuccessfulcontributions will be displayedonline and in physical exhibitions inlate January,’ explains Dr GeoffreyBrowell of Archives & CorporateRecords Services.

Visit www.kcl.ac.uk/archives/photographs for more information.

Photographic competition

Music after university: the title ofone of the five images that made

law student Jack McDonald theoverall winner of the competition

News


AGROUP OF JAPANESE journalists visitedthe Department of Geography at King’s inNovember to gather information on

environment-related degree programmes, whichhave proved increasingly attractive to Japanesestudents studying abroad.

They attended lectures and tutorials, visitedthe Maughan Library, shared lunch with theDepartment’s Japanese students, and followedup career successes with graduates working inJapan. The visit was organised by the BritishCouncil in Tokyo and Dr Richard Wiltshire for theSchool of Social Science & Public Policy.

IN 2004 THE COLLEGE agreed to invest in aCollege-wide eLearning platform, WebCTVista, for use across the College from the

start of the autumn term 2005. The first phaseof implementation has now begun withinstallation of a development system.

Chair of the eLearning Project Board,Professor Jeremy Ward explains, ‘This will beused for sorting out interfaces with otherCollege systems,running pilot studies,and very importantlyfor training technicaland support staff, inparticular those whowill in the future be teaching the rest of us howto use the system! We hope to start our in-house training for other staff in March, thoughthis will initially be limited mostly to peopleworking on the pilots.’

These pilot studies include modules ofdifferent types from Law, Education, theInstitute of Psychiatry, and ISS itself; moredetails are available on the Web. They will run

until June, when they and the system as a wholewill be evaluated and tweaked. Towards the endof July the full production service should startto come on-line, with full implementation for thestart of the 2005-2006 session.

Professor Ward continues, ‘During thesecond half of this year we will institute a seriesof workshops to show what benefits the systemcan provide to staff and students, how it can be

used, and what support isavailable for those of uswishing to develop or adaptmaterial for our owncourses. Every opportunitywill be provided to assist you

and your students to use the system to itsfullest! Eventually, we hope that the eLearningservice will become central to all programmesand courses within the College.’

More details can be obtained from theProject Manager Paul Street,[email protected], or from Professor Ward.Regular bulletins on progress are also postedon the web, www.kcl.ac.uk/elearning

Dr Richard Wiltshire with some ofthe Department of Geography’s

Japanese studentsJapanesepress visitKing’s

eLearning at King’s: an update

2008 RAE

HEFCE HAS JUST published its Guidance toPanels. Professor Sir LawrenceFreedman, Vice-Principal (Research) has

written a briefing note which has been sent to allHeads of School and is available for consultation.All involved are encouraged to read it. Copiesare also available from External Relations, ext 3004.

Citations

CITATION INDEXES are of growingsignificance in the evaluation of researchperformance, including league tables. In

other areas as well, including research grantsand contracts, King’s needs to present itselfeffectively. It is therefore vital that whensubmitting material for publication or researchgrant applications when providing an affiliation,‘King’s College London’ is always part of theaddress field.

News


Freedom ofInformationAct

ON 1 JANUARY 2005, theFreedom of Information Actcame into force giving the

public extensive rights to obtaininformation from public bodiesincluding King’s and other highereducation institutions.

‘From that date any writtenrequests received for access toinformation the College holds, forexample, a set of minutes, a policydocument, an old prospectus, mayfall within the remit of thislegislation,’ explains PatriciaMethven, Deputy Director of ISS.

To help ensure the Collegecomplies with the law, informationon the Act can be found by clickingon the link from the front page ofthe College website, and then on thelink ‘Information and advice formembers of staff’. This detail wasalso contained in an email sentround before Christmas.

She continues, ‘It is important tonote that the Act does provide anumber of ‘exemptions’ which allowus to refuse to provide informationwhich has been requested.Examples include a possiblesecurity risk, or because theinformation is due to be publishedat some future point in time, orbecause the information is about aliving individual. However thesemust be applied carefully asenquirers will be able to appealagainst a decision by the College torely on one of these.’

If you are in any doubt about thenature or content of a request toaccess information held by theCollege submitted after 1 January2005, or how you should respond,please contact the LegalCompliance team at [email protected].

AN EXCITING SERIES ofseven lectures under thetitle ‘Literature and

Medicine’ has begun this term.Brian Hurwitz, D’Oyly Carte

Professor of Medicine and theArts, comments, ‘Literaryscholarship values medical andscientific awareness today morethan in previous periods andmedicine has opened itself up tothe arts and humanities and ofcourse to the sciences – to anextent hardly imaginable ageneration ago. But what purposedoes such openness serveprofessionally, academically, or forpatients? How can such radicallydifferent disciplines and humanactivities converse with eachother? What contribution canliterary scholarship make to theeducation and practice of doctorsand nurses and what contributioncan health carers make to thestudy of literature? In taking onand exploring many of thesequestions, this series of lectures,given by leading scholars andpractitioners in the field, willappeal to both students of thehumanities and of medicine!’

Lectures will take place in theWeston Room, Maughan Library,beginning at 18.00 (except the lastat 17.00). They are open to all butplease register in advance withthe Central Enquiries Unit (020-7848 2929).

The lecture series will beaccompanied by an exhibition ‘TheRhetoric of Medicine’ based onthe holdings of Guy’s HospitalMedical School’s library.

This lecture series has beenorganised by Brian Hurwitz andNeil Vickers, Lecturer in English,and is generously supported by agrant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Literature and Medicine

3 MarchOliver Sacks: Narrative andmedicine: on the importance ofthe case history

17 MarchRita Charon: What can medicinelearn from literature?

28 AprilRonald Britton: What canpsychoanalysis and psychiatrylearn from literature?

12 MayRichard Horton: Clinicalhermeneutics: a slippery butnecessary art

19 MaySally Shuttleworth: Childhood in19th-century fiction andpsychiatry

26 MayShlomith Rimmon-Kenan: Whatcan narrative theory learn fromillness narratives?

Illustration from ‘Noubeau recueild’ostéologie et de myologie’ by

Jacques Gamelin (1779)

WITH KIND PERMISSION OF THE WELLCOME LIBRARY, LONDON


Development & Alumni news

Annual Fund: call forapplications

THE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE once againinvites staff to submit funding applicationsfor consideration at their next meeting in

April. The Committee disburses funds raisedfrom alumni, staff and friends through the King’sAnnual Fund and the GKT Annual Fund.

The Committee will be delighted to receiveapplications from across the College that will beof great benefit to departments, or will benefit asignificant proportion of the College as a whole.

The Committee is particularly keen to receiveany proposal designed to enhance the overallquality of student life and resource provision.

An application form and further informationcan be found at: www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/admsup/devoff/funding.htm. We are happy to discusspotential applications prior to the deadline.

If you experience any problems downloadingthe form please contact the office on 020-78483005, email [email protected]. The deadlinefor applications is 23 March.

Sir Roy GriffithsChair

ANEW CHAIR HAS BEEN NAMED in memoryof Sir Roy Griffiths, the former head ofSainsbury’s who was knighted in 1985 for

his servces to the NHS, after influencing healthpolicy through his membership of the NHS policyboard, and as an advisor to successivesecretaries of state.

The establishment of this chair was led byProfessor Sir Cyril Chantler (former Vice-Principal of King’s and Principal of UMDS) and SirRoy’s own son, Professor Christopher Griffiths,

and generouslysupported bythe Sainsburyfamily, whowere greatadmirers of SirRoy’s work.

Alison Wolf,from theManagementCentre in theSchool of SocialScience &

Public Policy, is to be the first holder of the SirRoy Griffiths Chair in Public Sector Management.

A new MSc programme in Public Sector HealthManagement will also be set up as part of this initiative.

Calling alumni

THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE is pleased toreport on another successful telephonefundraising campaign

for the King’s AnnualFund and the GKTAnnual Fund. During afive-week campaignjust beforeChristmas ourstudent caller team contactedsome 4,000 alumni who together pledged inexcess of £37,000.

This campaign also saw two late night callingsessions to the US for the first time in four years.Twelve intrepid students called the east coastfrom 23.00 until 02.00, chatting to US alumni whotogether pledged more than £2,000 which willhelp support a Masters’ student from the US inthe next academic year.

Elaine Martyn has joined the DevelopmentOffice as Senior Fundraiser for GKT. Shehas worked in medical communications,

fundraising, and policy development in the US,UK, and Australia and joins King’s following apost at the British Medical Association.

International AlumniSome 18,000 former studentswho are in touch with theAlumni Office currentlylive outside the UK.Distance, however, doesnot diminish loyalty andcontinued interest in thelife of the College.

International alumnialready support a numberof scholarships and help localstudent recruitment. Ouroverseas alumni will be an increasingly

significant resource in supporting King’sinternational objectives, as influencers,volunteers and donors, and as a global networkadding value for students who choose King’s.

Claire Pearce joined the Alumni Office inJanuary as the first International Alumni Officer.This new role will develop and deliver an

international alumni strategy, supportingoverseas alumni groups and building

relationships with leading alumni inbusiness, government and

academia in target marketareas. Claire joins the teamfrom the Public RelationsDepartment where she wasinvolved

in organising the 175thcelebrations. The international alumni focus will

be the theme for the next issue of InTouch magazine and will be celebrated at a

special event during the 2005 Alumni Weekend(10-12 June), bringing together alumni andcurrent students from around the world.

The Alumni Office would like to hear from anystaff travelling overseas who may be interestedin meeting alumni or are in touch with formeroverseas students.

Ruth Eldridge is the new first point of call foralumni enquiries and services and co-ordinatingalumni reunions and events, covering formaternity absence. [email protected]

New staff

Forthcomingalumni eventsDental Dinner 4 MarchGKT Dental Clinical Day 5 MarchFormer Staff Lunch 11 MarchUS Alumni events 31 March–2 April

Roy Griffiths


Flashback

AFTER THE FIRSTWorld War there was formany years an annual

custom of students entertainingdisabled ex-servicemen at theCollege. In the 1930s and thenagain after World War II until themid 1960s King’s students gavesupport to the Lion Club inHoxton in the East End.

The club was founded in 1931by two King’s alumni, curates inthe local parish church, to providefood and clothing for local boys,some of whom were living on thestreets. It was originally led bytheological students, buteventually staff and studentsfrom other faculties wereinvolved in providing activitiesfor the boys including cricket,football, gym, boxing, carpentryand summer camps.

In 1959-60 the Students’Union raised the then huge sumof £10,000 for rebuilding the clubwhen the original was demolishedto allow redevelopment of the area.

Happy hoppersFrom 1945 until the 1960sstudents from the Collegeconducted the ‘King’s CollegeHopping Mission’ to the hoppickers who, every autumn,moved out from the East End tospend their ‘holiday’ hand-picking hops in the fields

between Maidstone andTonbridge in Kent.

Again the ‘theologs’ wereinitially to the fore in this activity,which lasted for a month inSeptember, providing churchservices and Sunday schools. Butstudents from many otherfaculties became involved, withmedical students running a clinic,treating ailments such as ‘hopeye’, ‘hop gout’ and ‘hop rash’,while others provided refresh-ments, childcare and entertain-ments. Eventually, mechanicalpicking took over, the hop-pickers were no longer neededand the mission was disbanded.

Community actionBy the end of the 1960s it was nolonger fashionable for universities

and public schools to sponsor‘missions’ for working-classpeople, and in the 1970s theKing’s Organization for StudentCommunity Action (KOSCA)turned its hand instead tocollecting money for charities byproviding help on flag days andcarol singing around the WestEnd before Christmas.

From the 1960s the violent ragsof the past were declared (by SirPeter Noble, Principal from 1952to 1968, amongst others) to beout of place. Rags became insteadan opportunity for raising charitymoney, and typical exploitsincluded climbing Nelson’sColumn with balloons and a banner.

By the 1990s ‘Rag’ had beenreinterpreted as an acronym for

2005 is the Year of Volunteer, but volunteering is not new to King’s, and manypast students have ‘served society’ in notable ways through this kind of activity.

Rags, hops &volunteering

‘Raising And Giving’: providing(according to the Students’ Unionhandbook) ‘a chance for studentsto get involved in charityfundraising whilst having a lot oflaughs and drinking copiousamounts of alcohol’. In 2004 theGKT Schools’ rag raised morethan £103,000 for charity.

Volunteering nowSince 2002 financial support fromthe Higher Education FundingCouncil has enabled the Students’Union and the College’sWidening Participation Office toemploy full-time staff to organiseand support volunteering by bothstudents and staff.

KCLSU Community Action isa student-led volunteeringprogramme which enablesstudents to get involved in thelocal community throughactivities such as helping withliteracy, numeracy and ICT skillsin local primary schools, co-ordinating youth activities andholiday events with a localcommunity group, and workingwith groups involved withdisability, with homeless people,with mental health, refugees, theelderly, and the environment. Forfurther details see: www.kclsu.org/student_volunteer.php

On the staff side, SharedCommunities gives King’s staffopportunities to develop theirskills, experience and personalinterests while volunteering inlocal organisations or schools.Both students and staff areencouraged to see volunteering asan opportunity for learning newskills, meeting new people,enhancing their CVs andproviding experiences andcontacts not normally availablethrough work. For further detailssee: www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/erd/wp/SVindex.htm

Christine Kenyon Jones

King’s students among the‘Happy Hoppers’ in the Kenthop-fields in the early 1960s

In the news


CathedralAnne Duggan, Professor Emerita ofMedieval History featured in‘Cathedral’ a new BBC2 series thattells the history of five of Britain’smajor cathedrals. She spoke aboutCanterbury Cathederal.

Edge of lifeProfessor Andrew Shennan of theDepartment of Women’s Healthwas interviewed for Is this baby’slife worth living?, a BBC2programme that followed twofamilies as they faced thetraumatic consequences of anextremely premature birth.

Policing problemsIn The Daily Telegraph and TheGuardian, Professor Mike Hough,Director, Institute for Criminal PolicyResearch, challenged the claim of anew study by right-wing think tankCivitas that the UK’s police areamong the world’s worst. Hiscomment ‘This is nonsense’ was TheGuardian’s ‘Quote of the Week’.Ben Bowling, Professor ofCriminology and Criminal Justice,was interviewed on BBC 1 LondonNews about the Morris Report, anindependent inquiry into professionalstandards within the MetropolitanPolice.

Born to be bad?Professor Ian Craig of the Instituteof Psychiatry was quotedextensively in The FinancialTimes about the role that genesplay in human behaviour.

Employer rightsThe Financial Times quoted researchby Professor Brian Bercusson of theSchool of Law, about the effect ofthe treaty on UK worker rights in anarticle on the Institute of Directors

and its plans to poll its members fortheir views on the new Europeanconstitution so that they canformulate a common position.

Diabetes hopeA new vaccine against the mostserious form of diabetes is to betested on humans this year forthe first time by Mark Peakman,Professor of Clinical Immunology,and Dr Colin Dyan, Head ofClinical Research at BristolUniversity. Their work wasfeatured in the lead story of TheTimes and discussed in theComment section as well as onBBC Online, the TelegraphOnline, London Tonight, TheEvening Standard and CBS.

RegimentalwondersProfessor Michael Clarke, Director,International Policy Institute, wasquoted in The Economist and Dr Andrew Dorman, SeniorResearch Fellow, Defence StudiesDepartment, was interviewed onBBC Radio 5 Live and Grampian’sPolitics Now programme about thegovernment’s plans to reorganisethe Army. Dr Dorman also appearedon BBC Breakfast News and Radio 5Live about the return of the BlackWatch from Iraq.

Stem cell Dr Stephen Minger, Head of theStem Cell Biology Laboratory,featured in the latest programmein the BBC2 IF series. If...Cloning Could Cure Us combineddrama and documentary toexplore the moral dilemma andbig questions surrounding stemcell research. Dr Minger’spredictions for stem cell researchalso featured in The Times’ lookahead at the future of science in 2005.

GadetryThe Radio 5 Live programme Livingthe i-Life included a contribution byTony Thorne, Director of theLanguage Centre. He said we werebecoming hypnotised by hardwareto the extent of offloading humanfunctions like memory ontomachinery and impoverishing theway we communicate by over-reliance on emails and texting.

Business brainsKing’s spin-out companyProximagen is just the sort ofventure Gordon Brown wants toencourage according to TheGuardian. The company was setup a year ago by King’s and PeterJenner, Professor of Pharmacology,and is developing treatments forParkinson’s disease andAlzheimer’s.

Who wrote theBible?Dr Edward Adams, Lecturer in NewTestament Studies, appeared in aChannel 4 documentary about thehistorical origins of the Bible and themotives behind its creation.

It’s all in a gameProfessor of Strategic Studies,Philip Sabin, describes his MAoption in Conflict Simulation inthe New Statesman. Mathematicalmodelling is combined withdecision simulation in a way thatcaptures the essence of a war as acontest of opposing wills as muchas a physical collision of armedmasses.

Spanish terrorismDr Diego Muro, Lecturer in EuropeanStudies, was interviewed on the BBCWorld Service Analysis programme,giving an overview of ETA’s recenthistory, membership and tactics anddiscussed the fading hopes for aceasefire in the wake of a newbombing campaign in Spain.

ProfileAndrew Coyle, the UK’s first-everProfessor of Prison Studies andDirector of the InternationalCentre for Prison Studies, wasprofiled in The Times Higher.Professor Coyle also contributedan article on prison education.

Keep taking thetabletsThe Institute of Psychiatry’sProfessors Simon Wessely and EricTaylor were quoted in a feature inThe Independent by Virginia Ironsideabout depression and how to treat it.

Medical fundingProfessor of Diabetic MedicineStephanie Amiel, gave her views inThe Guardian’s report into theeffects of increasing bureaucracyfrom new European regulationson medical research in the UK.

The ‘Polymeal’Tom Sanders, Professor of Nutrition& Dietetics, was interviewed on theITN News and Radio 5 Live’s DriveTime on the ‘Polymeal diet’ which, itis claimed, prolongs life expectancyby up to six years.

See www.kcl.ac.uk/headlines for a summary of the latest media coveragefor King's and higher education generally with links through to the fullarticles. The Public Relations Department is keen to know of any stafffeatured in the media, contact us on 020-7848 3202 or email [email protected]


Student news

New British talent

AKing’s music PhD student wasprofiled in a recent Guardianfeature highlighting the new

generation of performers andartists who have yet to be‘discovered’. In a week of specialarts coverage Cheryl Frances-Hoad

appeared in the musicians’ section.Currently studying for a

doctorate with George Benjamin,Henry Purcell Professor ofComposition, and composer SilvinaMilstein, Cheryl began studying thecello at the age of eight at theYehudi Menuhin School andcomposing. Since winning acompetition at the age of 14, she

has never been without acommission of one kind or another.

‘Writing pieces for the openstrings has gradually become moreand more important; it was the onlyway I could express myself. Now it’sworld music and jazz that have themost influence on what I write,’Cheryl comments.

The Guardian noted that‘Frances-Hoad’s approach isindividual, quirky perhaps, butdistinctly special.’

Student of theYear

Stuart Steele, a Life Science’sEnvironmental Health 2004graduate, has been awarded

the coveted ‘Student of the Year’Gold Medal by the CharteredInstitute of Environmental Health.

A serving member of HM Forces,who undertook his professionaltraining with Woking BoroughCouncil, Stuart saw off stiffcompetition from graduatesrepresenting the ten otheruniversities offering theprofessionally accreditedEnvironmental Health degreeprogramme.

A second King’s graduate whoalso gained a First Class Honoursdegree in Environmental Health in2004 – Anne Rowland – was includedin a shortlist of five and received aletter of commendation.

At the Awards Dinner inDecember, Stuart was joined bycolleagues from the Army,representatives from Woking BCand the lecturing staff at King’s incelebrating his success.

He joins an elite group of King’sgraduates who have had theiracademic and professionalcompetencies recognised by theprofessional body since theprogramme had its first cohort ofgraduates in 1993.

Top UK midwiferyprize

Anna Rawlinson, who is on adirect entry midwiferycourse at King’s, was

awarded the Royal College ofMidwives Award for Student Travelat the Royal College of Midwives’third annual celebration of UKmidwifery.

This is one of the UK’s mostprestigious professional awards andwas given in recognition of Anna’splans to observe maternity careand sexual health projects inTanzania. The ceremony, hosted bytop comedian Jo Brand, is designedto celebrate the unique andvaluable work of the country’s37,000 midwives.

Dental gold

THE THIRD ANNUALPresidential Address andPrize Evening organised jointly

by the Dental Society and theDental Institute was held on 30November at the Guy’s campus.

Highlights of the evening includedthe society’s inaugural speech by DrPat Reynolds, delivered by video linkfrom Melbourne, Australia and thepresentation of the University ofLondon Gold Medal to Miss KrishnaSuchak (see above). The guest ofhonour was Dr Anthony Kravitz,President of the British DentalAssociation. Also present at theevent were former Deans,Professor A H R Rowe and Dr AlexInglis, alumni, staff, students and parents.

have compared him to All Blackssuperstar Jonah Lomu. Hegraduated from King’s in 2003.

Physiotherapy student DavidSandler is also making his mark inprofessional sport. The formerEngland Under-18 schools soccercaptain went on to becomeHinckley United’s all-time leadinggoalscorer with 80 goals from 170appearances before joiningCambridge City at the start of thisseason. David is currently in hisfinal year at King’s.

FORMER KING’S PHARMACYstudent Ayoola Erinle is beingtipped as one of the UK’s

next rugby union stars and apotential British Lion.

The 24 year old Wasps centrewas featured in The DailyTelegraph after scoring seventries in 13 matches and winninggenerous praise from rugbyexperts. ‘He’s one of the mostfantastic players I think I’ve everseen,’ said former England andLions coach Dick Best. Others

Sporting stars

Dave Sandler in action forCambridge City

IAN PETTENGELL


Books

COMMENT is the College’s regular newsletter, produced by the Public Relations Department | Articles, and/or photographs are welcomed from allmembers of the College, but please note that the Editor reserves the right to amend articles | Copy for the next issue can be sent to the Public RelationsDepartment (ext 3202), James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA, or emailed to [email protected] by 16 February 2005

WHAT IS THE WEST?Why does it need tobe defended? From

what, by whom, and how? Theseare thorny questions thatinternationalsociety mustgrapple with inorder to meet thesecurity challengesof the 21stcentury. Thisbook providesanswers to thesequestions. In it,James Gow sendsout a clarion callfor a radical re-interpretation ofthe right of self-defence within the terms ofinternational law andinternational politics.

The world is a wonderful, butdangerous place. There are anynumber of threats to peace and

security, ranging from new formsof terrorism and the proliferationof weapons of mass destruction toenvironmental degradation,famine and disease. Defending

the West matters toeveryone, regardlessof colour, creed, ornationality. It mattersto those who areseeking to destroy itas much as it does tothose seeking toprotect it. Defence ofthe West requires pre-emptive action, but itcannot be undertakenon a unilateral basisand outside the law.Instead of outlawing

pre-emptive action, we mustacknowledge that it is necessaryand ensure that it can be taken ina framework of partnership andlegitimacy.Polity Press

VARIATION IS Afundamental musicalprinciple, yet its most

naked expression – variation form– resists all but the broadestdescriptions.

This book offers listener,performer, analyst and composeran eclectic array of approaches to‘Theme and Variations’, including:patterns of departure and return;real versus perceived time;strategies of propulsion andclosure in an intrinsically cyclicand open-ended form; the interplayof authorial voices deriving fromdialogue between the ‘self’ ofvariations and the ‘other’ of theirtheme; critique of a themethrough a set’s generic references;drama and narrative achievedthrough textural and tonalcontrol; and the intrinsic sound ofa variation, so different from thatof a freely composed work.

Brahms wassupremely awareof his place inmusic historyand wasuncommonlyself-conscious inhis manipulationof differenttechniques ofcomposition. His variation sets –some of the most well-craftedand beloved examples – place theinterplay of forms and styles atthe heart of their identity.Moreover, in their stunningbreadth and diversity they offer amicrocosm of Brahms’s entireoutput, a succinct revelation ofhis life-long concerns. Throughthem we marvel at his technicaland poetic mastery, and journeyto the heart of his creativecharacter.Plumbago

THAT THERE AREgreater numbers ofolder adults around

than at any other time in historyis now becoming well known. Itis less well understood that asthe population ages it becomesmore diverse. Individuals havehad time to develop a moreintegrated and particular senseof self, and are exposed to manymore cultural pathways thanpreceding generations, makinglife appear richer and with

substantially more options thanhas traditionally been the case.Diversity is also, however, aconsequence of cumulativeinequalities that have beenaccrued across a lifetime and nowaccentuate difference in later life.Each of these trends contributesto a widening variety of experie-nces of ageing in contemporarysocieties, for good and for bad.

Drawing on a wide range oftheory, original research andempirical sources, the authors

examine the idea that tounderstand contemporary ageingit is necessary to recognise itsdiversity.

Individual pathways areexamined, then some of thesocial sources of identificationavailable to adult ageing. Next,the key questions of globalageing, migration, trans-national community andcitizenship are used tosharpen key issues that areincreasingly influencingcontemporary ageing.Finally, they examine thetension between socialstructures and possibilities forpersonal and social agency.

ThePolicy Press

Defending the WestJames Gow, Professor of International Peace and Security

The Variations of Johannes BrahmsBy Julian Littlewood, former King’s PhD student and edited by ChristopherWintle, Senior Lecturer, Department of Music

Ageing and DiversitySimon Biggs, Director of the Institute of Gerontology, King’s and SveinOlav Daatland, Norwegian Social Research