The University of Salford Alumni Magazine

Issue 03 Autumn/Winter 2010

The University of Salford Alumni Magazine

yearOne

on... a catch up with our new leaders

Energy Hub

Salford Rocks

Faculty Highlights

plus all the latest alumni news...

a centre of excellence on campus

Delphic, Everything Everything and Kristyna Myles

magazine_Layout 1 17/09/2010 12:38 Page 2

Do you remember the first time?

Have you ever considered taking your learning further? See what postgraduate and professional development opportunities the University of Salford has for you at www.salford.ac.uk/course-finderWhether you’ve just graduated and want to make yourself stand out even more, you’re looking for achange of career, or you want to take the next step up the job ladder, we could have the perfect coursefor you.

And remember, many of our schools offer alumni discounts on their postgraduate programmes. You could get up to 20% off your course fees!

To find out more about these and all our alumni benefits, just go to www.salford.ac.uk/alumni/benefits


Editor’s Letter

Firstly I would like to congratulate everyone who celebrated their graduation in July. You are now part of a worldwide network of over 120,000 alumni – welcome to the Salford Alumni Association!

As the new Alumni Relations and Annual Fund Manager it is a pleasure to welcome you to the third issue of From Salford magazine, which I hope you enjoy reading.

In this issue we have an in-depth interview with the Chancellor, Irene Khan, and the Vice-Chancellor, Martin Hall, who talk about their time so far at the University.

We have a feature on Salford alumni who are experiencing some amazing success in themusic industry on page 5, while you can also read about some of our research projects,such as the Energy House on page 7, which have brought academic acclaim to the University. And as well as all that, there’s the usual roundup of alumni news from around the world on page 20. Keep sending in your stories!

July 2011 marks the end of the Government Matched Funding scheme where all gifts to the University will be matched by the UK Government by up to 50% of the gift. This means that for a gift of £30, the University would actually receive £45 or £53 if you are a UK taxpayer. See page 18 to find out more about the Annual Fund.

Finally I would like to remind you about our online alumni community. By registering with the site, you can network with alumni in your area, find old classmates and gain access to a variety of alumni discounts. Visit www.salford.ac.uk/alumni for more details.

If you have any comments about the magazine, please email me at [email protected] write to Development & Alumni Relations, University of Salford, Room 104 Faraday House, 43 Crescent, Salford, M5 4WT.

Best wishes

Anita Irving

P.S. A new online version of the magazine will be available in November. If in future youwould prefer to receive an online copy only, please email [email protected] with‘Green Magazine’ in the subject line!

From Salford Alumni Magazine

03

12

Inside this issue...05

07

News Roundup 04

Salford Rocks 05

MediaCityUK: the Final Countdown 06

The Energy Hub 07

2009-2010 Faculty Highlights 08

The Pav Closes 10

The Boat Club III 11

Cover Story: One Year On 12

Research Updates 15

Alumni Success Story 16

Annual Fund Update 18

Alumni Notices 19

Where are they now? 20

International Alumni Update 20

Alumni Benefits 22

Careers & Employability 22

Fond Memory Fridays 23

Quiz 23

Editor Anita Irving

Associate Editor Rob Summers

Sarah Beswick, Jamie Brown, Liam Curtis, Julia Damassa,

David Henderson, Lucy Henson, Anthony Hopkinson,

Kristyna Myles, Gareth Pettit, Alan Wall and all our alumni

who have contributed

Thanks to


September 2009Unlocking the body’s defences against cancerA new drug designed and synthesised by University of Salford scientists has helped to discover a way of allowing healthy cells to take charge of cancerous cells and stop them developing into tumours. This could provide a new approach to treating early-stage cancers.

Salford launches first video prospectusSalford became the first university to launch a video prospectus that can be personalised according to the clips people want to see. Prospective students answer questions about what they plan to study, where they willlive, what they plan to do with their spare time and any worries they haveabout coming to the University, and they then have access to their own tailored video prospectus featuring Salford staff and students.

October 2009Archaeology unit comes to the University of SalfordThe University established a new Centre for Applied Archaeology to investigate archaeological sites, historic buildings and industrial heritageacross the North West.

Salford student becomes first deaf male nurseAndrew Maxim became the first deaf male nurse to enter the nursing register using British Sign Language as his first language.

November 2009Salford and Channel M win top TV awardSalford staff and students beat off competition from the likes of ITV Productions and the Crime and Investigation Network to win a prestigiousRoyal Television Society North West Award. Zeitgeist, an arts and culture magazine programme made for Channel M, won Best Low Budget Programme.

December 2009Research network launched at LGBT History MonthThe University launched a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) research network to tie together the wide range of LGBT activity alreadytaking place on campus and in the North West.

MSc in Islamic banking launchedThe University launched a master’s course in Islamic banking to provide the skills for graduates to work in a sector with over $500bn of assets. The MSc Islamic Banking and Finance from Salford Business School willtrain students in the principles which set this sector aside from traditionalwestern banking practice.

January 2010Salford develops innovative ward for nursing studentsThe University developed a state-of-the-art clinical simulation ward with mannequin patients to create real-life, practical experiences for its nursingstudents. Students on the ward work with computerised mannequins thatare programmed to simulate various illnesses and conditions, providing top-quality learning.

Salford’s journalism course one of top four in the UKThe National Council for the Training of Journalists, the training body for the journalism industry, ranked the University’s MA Journalism course as one of the top four in the UK.

February 2010University signs partnership agreement with Sale SharksThe University signed a two-year partnership agreement with Guinness Premiership rugby union team Sale Sharks – providing the team with access to Salford’s state-of-the-art fitness labs, and students with the invaluable experience of working with professional sportsmen.

March 2010University raises over £5,000 for HaitiIn response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Salford encouraged theGreater Manchester contemporary fine art community to pool its resourcesand stage an auction of artwork at the University-owned CUBE gallery inManchester. The auction was a huge success and was able to raise over£5,000 for Unicef’s Haiti Earthquake Children’s Appeal.

Innovative professor named as CIOB presidentProfessor Ghassan Aouad, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovationwas appointed as Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Building. He will take up the role in June 2013.

April 2010Salford celebrates Muslim World Music DayThe University hosted Greater Manchester’s first festival for Muslim WorldMusic Day on 22 April. This free event explored the value of diversitythrough Muslim music and dance, and offered people the chance to take part in workshops, taste different foods and chat with musicians. Performers on the day included The Nile Band and Emad El-Rashidy.

May 2010Salford fashion students the best in the countryThe University’s fashion students won the best portfolio award at the prestigious British Fashion Council Graduate Preview Day Awards. The students had their portfolio of work judged against 27 other teaching institutions by a stellar list of judges at an event attended by some of the biggest names in fashion.

International students vote Salford into the top tenThe University was voted into the top ten for international student experience by students who took part in the independent International Student Barometer survey of more than 50 UK universities. Salford was also ranked in the top five for employability – the perceived value of respondents’ qualifications to future employers.

June 2010University forges new links in Hong Kong and United Arab EmiratesSalford formed two new partnership agreements with the Open Universityof Hong Kong (OUHK) and ALHOSN University in Abu Dhabi. The benefitsof both partnerships include greater research potential, staff exchanges andthe development of additional programmes, while also increasing Salford’s international presence. OUHK will now be able to deliver Salford’s psychology degree, with the School of the Built Environment leading the way in Abu Dhabi.

July 2010Chance to master Google is a UK firstSalford Business School launched a groundbreaking new course in Searchand Social Media Marketing. The course is aimed at both individuals and businesses keen to boost their chances of getting their websites on the firstpage of Google’s rankings. Moreover, delegates will develop skills in usingwebsites as a business tool focusing on delivering return on investment.

August 2010Jason Manford becomes co-host of ‘The One Show’Alumnus Jason Manford (BA Media and Performance, 2004) co-hostedBBC1’s topical magazine programme ‘The One Show’ for the first time this month.

For full details of these stories and more, go to www.salford.ac.uk/news

NEWS ROUNDUP

04

The last year has seen a huge number of mentions of the University in the press, with an average of around 100 articles

in the news each month. Here are just some of the highlights since our last edition of From Salford.


robably the most famous of these right now are James Cookand Richard Boardman (both BA Popular Music and Recording,2005). Their names may not be familiar, but the name of theirgroup should be – they make up half of Delphic. After being

placed third on the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll, Delphic released their debutalbum Acolyte in January this year. It was well received, with glowing reviews in the Times and the NME and reached number eight in the UKAlbums Chart. They sold out their UK tour in January and their songs have been used to advertise Samsung mobile phones and the E4 television show 90210.

Another band who made it onto the same BBC poll were Everything Everything, and again, two of their members are graduates from the samecourse (Jeremy Pritchard and Jonathan Higgs, both 2006). They describetheir music as ‘Bizarre&B’, and their list of influences includes Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Steve Reich and Destiny’s Child. Their debut album Man Alive was released at the end of August to great critical acclaim, with music magazine Q calling them “one of 2010’s brightest new talents”.

From the same course, but making a different type of music, is KristynaMyles. She won BBC Radio Five’s Busker of the Year competition in 2005,and has recently supported Chris de Burgh and Mick Hucknall on their respective European and UK tours. She’s just signed a five-album deal withthe record label Decca and is currently recording her debut album with acclaimed producer Ken Nelson. We asked her about her time at Salfordand how it’s influenced her career.

“For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to sing and write music. When applying to universities I was looking for the courses that wouldallow me to develop my performing and composition, and Salford had thebest range of modules out of all the courses I looked at. I loved Salford – it was an invaluable time of my life. I loved meeting loads of people who

were passionate about music and it was great being surrounded by music24/7. My time there has had a huge impact on my career. For example, I’dstill be straining my voice if it wasn’t for Clare Hogan Taylor, my singingteacher at Salford. Performing as the singer with the Salford University Big Band was a great experience for me too. And I also met my band at Salford. I wouldn’t have the amazing musicians I perform with now had I not studied there.

“There’s an amazing atmosphere at Salford and everyone is so supportiveof each other. There’s no pressure to compete with anyone but yourself, tobe the best that you can be. The lecturers are incredible too, which helps!”

As well as those mentioned above, there are many other Salford alumniwho are making waves in the music industry. These include singer-songwriters Dan Lyth (BSc Music, Acoustics and Recording, 2005) andYamit Mamo (BA Popular Music and Recording, 2004), and members ofHurts, Ten Bears and The Travelling Band. All of them either have albumsout now or have one coming out soon.

We asked Kristyna if she could offer some advice to any other alumni whoare hoping to be successful in the music industry. She said that alumnishould “take each opportunity that comes your way. Perform with as manybands as you can, enter every competition and gain as much experience aspossible in the areas you want to go into. I’ve wanted to do this for so longand have been working hard since I graduated in 2005 and it’s paid off.”

And we hope it pays off for everyone we’ve mentioned above, as well as anyone we may have missed. It’s an exciting time for music at the moment,and we’re so proud that so many of our alumni are right at the heart of it.

To read the full interview with Kristyna Myles and to find out more about all the bands mentioned above, please go towww.salford.ac.uk/alumni/publications

Welcome 2010 Law Graduates!We would like to congratulate our new graduates from the Salford Law School. You are the first

cohort of students to graduate from the school and, as such, your future success will be an

inspiration to everyone else who studies law at Salford. Also receiving an honorary degree

that day was Lady Hale, the UK’s most senior woman judge, so you are in great company.

Good luck for the future, and make sure you keep in touch!


05

The Student Factor Top: Everything EverythingInset: Kristyna Myles

P

Salford has always been associated with music. Famous musicians from the city include Graham Nash, New Order’s Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook, and the Ting Tings, and several Salford alumni look set to join this stellar list.


he BBC are moving thousands of theirstaff from London including Sport, Five Live, Children’s and, recently announced, BBC Breakfast.

In the future you’ll be able to wake up to BBC Breakfast live from Salford and then go to bedwith Match of the Day which will also be madeat the Quays.

MediaCityUK is one of the biggest projects thatthe University has been part of for years. And it’sone of the biggest things to happen to the citysince the industrial revolution. For that reasonthe University has leapt at the chance to be theonly higher education institution with a presencethere.

We’ve got 103,000sq ft of space in a buildingright next to the main BBC studios and right onthe waterfront. We’re going to fill it with someof the most high-tech equipment that any university has – HD TV studios, a digital performance lab, dubbing theatres and radiostudios – giving students and researchers thebest possible facilities.

During the year 2011-2012 we’ll be moving over 1,500 students to the site. Currently, we’re planning to teach 39 courses there, and we’ll continue to add new ones to respondto the changing demands of the media and creative industries.

Being at the centre of such a large industry centre gives students a great opportunity to mixwith media professionals. In practical terms, this will mean that they will have guest lecturers,

placements and access to special one-off projects.

A start has been made already, with Alex Connock, the CEO of Ten Alps, signing on as a visiting professor. Ten Alps is a multimedia production company which Alex founded withSir Bob Geldof in 1999.

Research will also be an important part of theUniversity’s work at MediaCityUK. We’re collaborating with organisations like BT, the BBC and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a wide range of media and digitalprojects. One of these is ‘Fascinate’ – a projectwhich involves Salford researchers developing TV where you can move the focus of the camerain any way you want.

There will be plenty for the community to get involved in as well. The University building willhave a large public space which will be used fora range of events. We are currently planning atimetable of exciting activities and events forboth alumni and the local community which willbe announced next year. Businesses will have thechance to hire the University facilities and workwith our academics on product design and other collaborations – making the Universitybuilding a hub for technological and economic development.

By the time you receive the next edition of FromSalford, we will have started delivering courses at MediaCityUK. For all the latest news, keep an eye on the MediaCityUK websitewww.salford.ac.uk/mediacity

UPDATE

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06

We’re only a year away from the opening of our site at MediaCityUK and the excitement isbuilding almost as fast as our site at Salford Quays is being constructed.

MediaCityUK:the Final Countdown

One of the features of the foyer at the University’s MediaCityUK building will beThe Hive – a web-based community thatcan be used to enhance collaboration andshowcase the work of staff, students andalumni. It is the brainchild of MA CreativeTechnology student Alex Fenton, and willallow people associated with the Universityand beyond to set up a web space, blogand share their creative ideas. One of thegreat things about the Hive is that it willallow students to participate acrosscourses, universities, continents and beyond their graduation for lifelong learning. Anyone joining the Hive will havethe chance to have their work displayed at MediaCityUK and within Second Life.

For more information or to join the Hive,please visit www.the-hive.org.uk


rawing on the expertiseof over 25 academicsfrom 13 different departments, the

centrepiece of this project is the ‘Energy House’. This is a traditional style terraced house built inside a sealed testing chamber to gauge how its energy consumption varies depending ondifferent factors and conditions.

In addition to its original brickworkand roof, the world's first EnergyHouse will also be fully furnishedand fitted as a typical workinghome with fully functioning water,gas and electricity supplies.

Once completed next spring, theCoronation Street-style house –built in the same style as 4.5m pre-1920 UK homes – will be subject to some of the most advanced energy experiments everconducted on a residential property.

The testing chamber will feature aunique climate system which will generate different weather types sothat University experts can conducta huge range of tests under asmany conditions as possible.

By studying the different ways thehouse consumes energy, the University will be able to deviseways to improve its efficiency. But,beyond simply testing new types of insulation, double glazing and low-energy appliances, Salford'sunique cross-discipline approach to the study of energy will see the University's psychologists, health experts and sociologists workingalongside designers, engineers and scientists to devise sustainable solutions.

Some of the areas these researchersare keen to explore include the useof certain colours and wall-coverings and whether they affecthow we perceive temperature;whether smart meters showing the real-time cost of energy use inthe house change consumer behaviour; or if, in the future, a games console like the NintendoWii could be powered by physicalenergy generated by the user.

Salford's ground-breaking approachis a response to the sustainabilitychallenge presented by the UK'sageing housing stock. 70% of thecountry's current residential

property will still be inhabited in 2050 and 91% of all UK homeswould benefit substantially from improvements in energy efficiency.Improved insulation and boiler upgrades alone could see heatingemissions reduced by 22%.

The country's least efficient properties were predominantly constructed prior to 1920. These currently make up 15% of UKhomes but actually account for23% of total notional CO2

emissions. Of these dwellings, more than 2m are the two-up, two-down terraced-style that theUniversity will be studying closely.

The project has been warmly welcomed by many other organisations, including the EnergySaving Trust and the BRE Group.Tony Juniper, former director ofFriends of the Earth said: “If we are to have any chance of meeting targets to cut greenhouse gas pollution from UK homes by 29%

by 2020, we must focus on improving energy efficiency in allkinds of properties, including themillions of terraced houses like thisone. The Energy House offers the opportunity to measure energy-saving measures, but it willalso address behavioural change.”

The Energy House is due to be completed by February 2011. Its unveiling will also mark the opening of the UK's first ever retrofit conference, organised byUniversity of Salford.

The University's Virtual Environments centre has created a 3D flythrough of how the housewill look. To view the video on YouTube, go tohttp://smlr.mp/energy


07

Our House in the Middle of Our LabThe University has recently launched the ‘Energy Hub’:a multi disciplinary research centre, which should become a centre of excellence for energy research in the UK.

Time to give something back?

The University is investing in its students, campus and facilities in order to become one of the top universities in the UK. You can help us achieve this by supporting the Salford Annual Fund.

This year, the Annual Fund has been raising money for the Crisis Fund, which helps students who are in financial difficulties throughno fault of their own, enabling them to stay at Salford and get the education they deserve. You can read more about the Annual Fundon page 18.

There’s never been a better time to give – until July 2011 all donations will be worth almost double to the University at no cost to you. Read more about Matched Funding on page 21.

To help young students follow in your footsteps, please complete and return the enclosed donation form or make a donation online at www.salford.ac.uk/donate

Your gift will make a difference.

RESEARCH NEWS

Laying the foundations for the Energy House

D


Faculty of Arts, Media & Social Sciences

School of Art & DesignFive students from the Graphic Design course

won YCN prizes at this year’s student awards.

Now in their eighth year, the YCN Student

Awards exist to unearth and showcase

emerging creative excellence, with a number

of briefs that students can pick to submit

work from. The students who won were Matt

Frodsham, Mike Holmes, Louise Parker,

Samantha Carter and Melissa Ingham.

School of English, Sociology, Politics &Contemporary HistoryTwo members of research staff from the

School have received prestigious Marie Curie

Fellowships from the European Commission.

These were awarded to Dr Christian Kaunert

and Dr Sarah Leonard and means they will

conduct research over the next two years into

issues of international security.

School of LanguagesLast year, the School celebrated its 45th

birthday and the 25th anniversary of its

postgraduate programmes in translation.

To celebrate these milestones, a series of

high-profile lectures were held on the theme

of the importance of language within society.

The four lectures were delivered by: Michael

Rosen, the former Children’s Laureate;

Baroness Jean Coussins, chair of the all-party

parliamentary group on modern languages;

writer and broadcaster, Professor David

Crystal OBE; and The Times Iraq

Correspondent, Deborah Haynes.

The lectures covered topics such as the role

of interpreters in military conflict zones,

the decline of creative writing and reading

within school curricula, the importance of the

study of modern foreign languages, and the

changing role of English as an international

language. This lecture series was supported

by alumni donations to the Annual Fund.

This academic year, the School has piloted

a project which aims to enhance the

student experience, support student learning

and improve students’ confidence.

The Peer-Assisted Support Scheme (PASS)

focused on the School’s first-year cohort of

linguistics students, who received support

and guidance from their second-year peers

who had taken the same modules the

previous year. As well as supporting first-year

students, this scheme has helped the second-

year students develop new skills. PASS will be

rolled out to a wider range of students next

year. As with the lecture series, this project

was supported by the Annual Fund.

School of Media, Music & PerformanceThe incoming Level Four students in the

Performance Directorate participated in a

collaborative project with the acclaimed

theatre company Slung Low at the Lowry.

Slung Low had already worked with Level

Five students in building Beyond the FrontLine, a large scale outdoor drama in

collaboration with The Lowry and the

Imperial War Museum. This was an interactive

and menacing experience for the audience,

who were given a sense of military

occupation on the streets of Manchester

and the demands that soldiers face daily.

Faculty of Business, Law &the Built Environment

Salford Business SchoolIn September 2009, the School achieved

AMBA accreditation for its MBA. In achieving

accreditation, a major revision of the MBA

was undertaken to ensure it met the very high

standards required by AMBA. It is generally

acknowledged that AMBA accreditation

represents the highest standard of

achievement in postgraduate business

education and is only awarded to the best

MBA programmes throughout the world.

This is the first time the University of Salford

has ever had an AMBA accredited MBA

and marks a key milestone in the School’s

evolution following its creation in

August 2006.

School of the Built EnvironmentThis year, students from the School worked

with Salford City Football Club to redesign

their club house, which was burnt down in

an arson attack last October. More than 350

second year students took part in the

competition and the three finalists were

awarded at a special dinner chaired by

local MP Hazel Blears.

The School’s Centre for Disaster Resilience

that was mentioned in last year’s From Salford has been selected by the United

HIGHLIGHTS

Faculty HighlightsAs always, some great work has taken place in our Schools and Faculties over the last 12 months. Read on for a few of the highlights.

2009-2010

08

Design Students


Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster

Reduction as one of only five academic

partners worldwide.

The School has also established the Centre for

Applied Archaeology this year, working closely

with local communities to unravel the secrets

of our past.

Salford Law SchoolIn June 2010, the Law School hosted its first

major international conference on Human

Rights. Contributors included Irene Khan,

Lady Hale, Justice Kirby (formerly of the High

Court of Australia) and Peter Tatchell.

Faculty of Health & Social Care

School of Social Work, Psychology & Public HealthThe School has developed a partnership with

the Royal Society for Public Health, working

to scope and evidence the work done in

public health and the arts. This partnership

will support community engagement through

the delivery of art projects to help those with

health problems.

The School has won a highly prestigious

national bid to develop the ‘Step up to Social

Work’ Master’s programme. This has been

commissioned by the Children’s Workforce

Development Council and has led to more

opportunities to work with Greater

Manchester partners.

School of Health, Sport & Rehabilitation SciencesThis year, the School has formed new

partnerships with La Trobe University in

Australia, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority

and the Sindh Institute for Urology and

Transplantation in Pakistan. Each of these

partnerships will assist the growth of the

School’s postgraduate and research portfolios

as well as providing opportunities for

undergraduate students and staff.

The School’s on-site radiography facility

became operational in September 2009 and,

in addition to providing a high quality clinical

simulation experience for students, the facility

is also attracting many collaborative research

projects and commercial opportunities.

The School has recently secured funding from

UK Athletics to support elite athletic

development for the 2012 Olympic Games

in London.

School of Nursing & MidwiferyThe School has been placed in the top third

of Schools of Nursing in the UK by the

Times 2011 University Subject League Table.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council

awarded the School four ‘Goods’ and

one ‘Outstanding’ for the quality of their

pre-registration nursing programmes.

The outstanding award reflected the work

achieved in widening the access to these

programmes, in particular for deaf students.

Faculty of Science, Engineering & Environment

School of Computing, Science & EngineeringProfessor Trevor Cox from the Acoustics,

Audio and Video team has been elected to

the prestigious position of President of the

Institute of Acoustics (IOA). The IOA is the

UK’s professional body for those in acoustics,

noise and vibration, with more than 3,000

members worldwide. Joining Trevor at the

IOA is Senior Lecturer Dr Bill Davies, who has

been elected Vice-President (International),

while another member of Acoustics staff –

Dr Olga Umnova – has had her work

recognised by being presented with the

Tyndall Medal for Best Young Researcher

in Acoustics Worldwide.

Researchers at the School have been given

£1m to develop software which is able to

accurately analyse images of documents that

are often stained, yellowed and written in

obsolete typefaces. This ground-breaking

technology will help major libraries convert

millions of pages of newspapers and books

into digital records, preserving them for

posterity. The most important benefit of the

new technology is that it allows text to be

searched reliably – a major advantage for

historians or people researching their

family trees.

School of Environment & Life SciencesA number of staff in the school have received

prestigious awards and honours this year:

> Professor Chris Miller has been awarded a

Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship for his

groundbreaking research into occupational

diseases

> Professor Philip Craig was honoured by the

Chinese Government for his research into a

life-threatening parasitic disease affecting

people living on the edge of the Tibetan

Plateau and has had a new species of

parasitic ringworm named after him by the

Paris Museum – it’s called Heligmosomoidescraigi

> Professor David Collins has been awarded

€3.3m for research into climate change in

the Himalayas, and £1m to look at water

resources in India

> Professor Richard Knowles has received the

2010 Alan Hay Award from the Royal

Geographical Society for his outstanding

contributions to Transport Geography.

2010 has also seen the 25th anniversary of an

exchange partnership between Salford and

the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. Each year

students studying biology and biochemistry at

Salford have the opportunity to spend their

second year in Toledo, with students from

Toledo coming here. A special celebratory

event was held earlier this year in Ohio.


09

Acoustics Reverberation Chamber

Food Preparation Practical, Environmental Health


As you may have heard, it’s the end of the road for the Pav. After almost 30 years of drinks, DJs and debauchery, the Pavilionclosed for good at the end of May.

t was the end of an era, but the

University’s licensed premises went

out with a bang: New Order’s Peter

Hook was the DJ for the last event, the Too

Many DJs musical festival. Over 700 students

attended, and they raised hundreds of

pounds for charity as well as partying the

day away!

The University of Salford Students’ Union

announced the closure at the start of May,

to the disappointment of hundreds of Salford

students. In a statement, the Union said that

more and more students were not living on

campus, or were no longer interested in

late-night licensed venues and entertainment,

and that seemed to be true. The Pav was

expected to make a loss in the next financial

year and, with the additional costs of building

maintenance, the Union felt that it was no

longer a sustainable business and made the

decision to close it down. A minority of

students had voiced their displeasure with the

Pav online, leaving comments on Facebook

like “queuing about 35 mins for a drink is

beyond ridiculous” and “I don’t care that this

dive is closing”. But plenty of alumni from

across the ages are left with fond memories

of 30 years of going to the Pav, and

disappointment at its closure.

David Smith (BSc Modern Languages &

Marketing Studies, 1992) told us about the

Culture Club nights: “Aside from the

infamous alcohol promotion nights, which

didn’t so much encourage me to drink the

likes of Strongbow cider or Beaujolais

Nouveau as much as warn me off them

for life, my main memory of the Pav is the

delights of the Culture Club. No, not

Mr O’Dowd and his chums, but a twice-

weekly film on the big screen. Except we

weren’t exactly talking digital multiplex here!”

David remembers watching projected VHS

films of Crocodile Dundee and Three Men

and a Baby, and the 1980s ‘Saturday Video

Disco’. He added: “I seem to remember that,

come 1990, this was re-christened with the

unfathomable and apparently misspelt

moniker Decadedance.”

Francesca Slater (BSc Business Studies, 2000)

met her future husband at the Pav in 1999:

“We married 10 years later in November

2009. We got together with the help of a few

pints of Diesel aka Snakebite and black and a

few tunes from the infamous DJ Jonty!”

The Pav is still loved by some of the students

of today. Over 1,300 people signed a petition

to save it, and its organisers said they refused

to let it go without “one hell of a fight.”

The University of Salford Students’ Union

President Ricky Chotai said he has enjoyed

the last year: “I was heavily involved in the

Student Union radio station Shock Radio. The

best memories were the opening and closing

of the radio station and the live broadcasts we

did from the Pav but also the famous Shock

Awards. It is a shame to see the Pavillion go.”

He is not alone in that: over 650 students are

10

I

DanceLastThe

MA Journalism student Lucy Henson investigates the closure of the Pav and looks

at the plans the University is making to replace it.


The Boat Club IIIDavid Henderson (BSc Social Studies, 1973) remembers his final year in Salford’s Boat Club

When I returned to Salford for my final yearin 1972, I was appointed Captain of theBoat Club. We’d lost the first Two Cities’Boat Race – the only pennants we won the previous season were courtesy of ournovices – but the Boat Club had now gathered unto itself a bit of class.

ne of the freshmen intake was Richard

Salter (BSc Mechanical Engineering

Science, 1975), who had been in the

Radley 1st eight selected for the

World Juniors in 1969. He even brought his own

sculling-boat. Another experienced new member

was Andy Probert, who was every captain’s

dream – a cox with no aspirations to row.

He eventually picked up a couple of GB caps,

and still has the distinction of being the oldest

ever competitor in the ‘other’ boat race (38, in

1992). But none of this did much good on Boat

Race day. Run on the same lines as the previous

year, the outcome was very similar and the

distances, if anything, slightly greater.

An addition to the race day programme was

the womens’ fours. They didn’t win on the day,

but they did provide the Boat Club with all its

silverware that year. Their cox was so quiet,

we got the Electrical Engineering people to build

us an in-boat communications system (the first

cox-box?), which we then had to install between

races into the boat. They were a good crew,

so they probably would have won something

anyway, but the effect of all that technology

on the opposition was devastating.

My total immersion in the Boat Club had taken its

toll on my academic achievements. I had not

written an essay all year, so realised it was time to

really pull my finger out. I graduated with a 2:2

– it turned out that if I’d spent more time on my

dissertation, I would have got a 2:1.

After leaving Salford, I only ever went back once

– for the 1974 Boat Race. The outcome was the

same – defeat for SUBC in both mens’ eights and

womens’ fours – but there was a new mens’

sculls event. Here Salford was represented by

John Shackleton of Agecroft Boat Club, not

SUBC. He was the first ringer, and Salford’s

first winner.

concerned about what will happen in the

future, and have showed this by joining the

Facebook group ‘Salford University Your

Students Want a New Nightclub’.

Even though the Pav is gone, the University

and the Students’ Union plan to work

together to ensure that students still have a

host of events to attend across the city.

Higher education funding cuts have meant

that no solid replacement has yet been found,

but Vice-Chancellor Martin Hall said students

would not miss out. He said: “The University

is committed to working with the USSU to

provide the best possible student experience.

As we are the university closest to the heart

of Manchester, this includes taking advantage

of everything that a great city like ours has

to offer.”

Bar Yours, on campus, will host more

evening events, and students will be given a

range of off campus activities, including

Freshers’ and Christmas Balls. The Union is

also looking into a partnership with

Manchester nightclubs in the hope of

providing a weekly club night.

Ricky Chotai said that he is currently involved

in sending out proposals to city centre clubs.

He told us: “It is a shame that we will no

longer have a nightclub on site, but this gives

us a real opportunity to look at what the

Union is providing for students, and ensuring

what they really want from their Students’

Union. I really do believe that students will be

pleased with the future plans, as we will be

asking them what they want us to do.”

It might be the end of an era, but today’s

students will still get to appreciate some good

Salford nightlife!


11

O


ince the last issue of From Salford, Dr Irene Khan and Professor

Martin Hall have been confirmed as the new Chancellor and

Vice-Chancellor of the University respectively. They bring with

them a wealth of experience and ideas, and are keen to achieve as much

as possible at Salford.

Martin Hall started working at South Africa’s University of Cape Town in

1983 and was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor there 19 years later. His

background is in archaeology, and much of his research as an academic in

South Africa was based around challenging some of the racist historical

assumptions brought on by apartheid in the country, such as the idea that

black and white people arrived in South Africa at the same time. He says

the most interesting artefact he’s ever found was a “very ordinary looking

piece of pottery on the Zulu coast, which proved that people had settled

there around 1,000 years earlier than others had previously thought.”

Irene Khan was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and has lived and worked all

over the world. She was a student at the University of Manchester in the

1970s – she lived just off Wilmslow Road in Rusholme – so knows the area

well. She says if she could change one thing about Greater Manchester, it

would be its image: “I think there is a hangover from the past about what

it was, and I think people need to see it as it is now.” She has recently

stepped down after serving two terms as Secretary General of Amnesty

International and has spent her whole career campaigning for human

rights. As well as taking up the role of Chancellor of the University,

Irene is also a board member of the Manchester International Festival.

They’ve each been here about a year now, so we thought it would be a

good idea to catch up with them to see how they’ve been getting on.

We managed to get a few minutes with them both between graduation

ceremonies at the Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays.

2009 marked the start of a new era for Salford, with the appointments of a new Chancellor and

Vice-Chancellor.

S

COVER STORY

12

yearOne

on


What made you decide to take up your posts at Salford?Martin Hall: “I think Salford’s a very interesting challenge. It’s an

institution that’s got a long history of doing really interesting things that

go right back to the 1890s. It plays a very important role both regionally

and nationally and, particularly at a time like this, there are a lot of

opportunities for doing things differently.”

Irene Khan: “I think a university education is very important in creating

equality and opportunity in society and as Chancellor I can make a

contribution to that work. Salford is going through a period of very

interesting and exciting change, including issues like equality and diversity

in its University-wide theme, and that fits in very much with my vision;

a vision I share with Martin.”

By appointing the former Secretary General of Amnesty International as Chancellor, what message do you think Salford is giving out to the wider community?MH: “A Chancellor is a symbolic appointment and I think the qualities of

a Chancellor are particularly important in indicating what the University

wants to be and where we want to go. One of our key themes is human

rights, social justice and security, and Irene’s experience with Amnesty

International and the United Nations before that made her ideal for the

role. I think her appointment is already having a major impact because she

brings a global network to bear on the University. She works all over the

world and is very well known for her human rights work, so I think it’s a

huge advantage.”

IK: “I think Salford is saying that it has a broad perspective on the world.

It sees human rights as a cross-cutting issue and, no matter what you’re

studying or where you’re from, it’s all about equality, opportunity for

everyone and creating an inclusive society. Salford’s sending the message

out that it wants to see that right around the University.”

It’s obvious that human rights and equality are important issues for

both Martin and Irene, which can only be good news for the increasing

number of students who are finding it more and more difficult to afford

a university education. And they understand how important a good

education can be, with Irene telling us how proud she is of her daughter,

who graduated this summer, and Martin extolling the distinct qualities of

Salford graduates:

“I think that employability sets Salford graduates apart from those of other

universities. Our qualifications have a high professional standard and a

high degree of practical application. What we try and do is look for a

quality that gets students really ready to go once they graduate.”


13


What have you achieved during your first year at Salford, and what do you want to achieve over the next few years?MH: “I’ve spent a lot of time in the first year listening to people and

finding out where our strengths and areas of potential really are.

You can’t walk into a university and pinpoint the real qualities

immediately, but I think I’ve got a much better sense of what they are

now. We’ve also moved to complete our strategic planning process

and we’ve been concentrating very hard on financial sustainability

because we’re in a position of rapid change. I’m also really pleased with

our equality and diversity work over the last 12 months.

“The next few years will be amongst the most challenging for any higher

education institution due to the radical change in the nature of public

funding, and I think the main issue is going to be to protect the University

in the face of that, but also to look for the new opportunities that may

arise from any changing situation. We need to position ourselves as

strongly as we can, and be distinctive in the combination of teaching and

learning, research and engagement that we carry out at the University.”

What kind of role do you think alumni can play in the developmentand the future of the University?MH: “I think alumni are absolutely crucial. We tend to neglect alumni in

Britain because we’re artificially stuck on the American model of thinking

that alumni are basically just about donations. The tradition in this country

is not to give money in the same way that Americans do, and I think that

detracts from the real value of alumni.

“The interesting thing about a university degree is that it sticks to you for

life. So it’s not the reputation of the university when you were there that

counts so much, but its reputation once you’ve left. So our alumni are

particularly important because they’re our reputational ambassadors and

I want us to really build them as a network of people who hold and value

our reputation.”

Finally, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?IK: “The best piece of advice that I’ve ever been given has been not to

follow the beaten path. My advice to students and alumni would be to

take the opportunities that come along.”

MH: “Rather than trying to plan out what you do in the future on a

strictly organised basis, the trick is to identify great opportunities when

you see them. You have to be flexible and seize these opportunities,

evaluate them and take risks about how they’re going to turn out.

This is really what has brought me to Salford.”

And with that, we leave them to prepare for the next ceremony.

In total, they’ll give out degrees to over 6,500 incredibly deserving

graduates before the week is out.

It’s great that the leaders of your University are so keen to pass on their

experiences and advice, and it proves that they understand how important

you, our alumni, are. Many of you have already supported us financially –

and you can find out more about the Annual Fund on page 18 – but there

are so many other ways you can help out too. The opportunities are

always there for you to come and give career talks, offer student

placements or participate in activities organised by international

associations. We’re really keen to get as many of you involved as possible.

You can find out more about our international associations on page 20.

If you want to get involved in other ways, check out our website at

www.salford.ac.uk/alumni or email us at [email protected].

To read the full interviews with Martin and Irene please go to

www.salford.ac.uk/alumni/publications

14

Who is your favourite singer?

Norah Jones

What is your favourite film?

Trainspotting

What football team do you support?

Bafana Bafana (South Africa)

What’s your favourite city?

Cape Town

What one thing could you not live without?

My laptop

What would your last meal on earth be?

Fish and chips

Which four people would you invite to your ideal dinner party?

Peter Sellers; Helen Mirren; Nelson Mandela; and Mrs Berry who has purple

hair and taught me in infant school, just to prove that I could do something

in the future, because she probably thought I couldn’t.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

I don’t know which actor, but the director would have to be Steven

Spielberg because, for some reason, people seem to think I look like him.

How do you relax?

I tend to relax by working, if you want the honest truth!

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Everybody wants to be a fireman at some stage! I grew up at a time when I

had no automatic expectation of going to university, so I wanted to join the

Navy or something like that because you got the training. I didn’t have any

aspirations to go to university because at that time there wasn’t necessarily

the possibility of doing so.

Professor Martin Hall

Questions

Answers

COVER STORY

Who is your favourite singer?

John Lennon

What is your favourite film?

Chariots of Fire

What football team do you support?

Manchester United – no hesitation!

What’s your favourite city?

To be honest, I don’t like cities – I’ve lived in far

too many of them. I prefer the countryside.

What one thing could you not live without?

Books

What would your last meal on earth be?

Anything with mangoes

Which four people would you invite to your ideal dinner party?

Arundhati Roy, the author of the God of Small Things; Mozart;

Nelson Mandela; and Bertrand Russell.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

Meryl Streep

How do you relax?

I cook and hike in the mountains

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I wanted to be a judge because I thought that would put me in a great

position to tell everyone else what to do!

Dr Irene Khan


15


RESEARCH NEWS

alford will be collaborating with six

other universities to conduct the

three year, €1m project ‘Rhythm

Changes: Jazz Cultures and European

Identities’. It will look at how jazz culture

operates in Europe, to what extent national

cultures can be found in the music and how

they are changing. Dr Tony Whyton, Reader in

Music at Salford, is leading the project: "Since

it first arrived on this side of the Atlantic, jazz

has been at the centre of discourses about

European identity, politics and cultural value,"

he said.

Uniquely, Rhythm Changes will see academics

working with performers, the industry and

national funding bodies across the five

partner countries to investigate and map their

distinctive contributions to the genre, and to

see how jazz has evolved. It will also look at

the way in which new media technologies

have eroded these geographical boundaries.

Dr Whyton said: "One of the reasons the

funding panel was so positive about Rhythm

Changes was the way the project will use jazz

to investigate changes in European culture.

Our research on jazz cultures will be a way in

to addressing larger issues – are we still

distinct nations or has technology, cultural

change and political collaboration made

people across the continent more similar?"

Salford is home to an extremely active team

of jazz researchers and performers, a thriving

postgraduate culture, several student bands,

and an acclaimed conference programme.

The project is funded by the Humanities in

the European Research Area's Joint Research

Programme theme 'Cultural Dynamics:

Inheritance and Identity'. The other

universities involved in the project are

Amsterdam, Birmingham City, Copenhagen,

Graz, Lancaster and Stavanger.

For more information please email the press

office on [email protected]

S

The University has been awarded the largest ever grant for jazz to lead a ground breaking trans-national research programme

into the European jazz scene and the ways in which the music and the culture of Europe are changing.

All that Jazz

he project is called ‘Advanced

Design and Control of Active and

Passive Metamaterials’ and is led by

the University’s Professor Allan Boardman,

who is working with colleagues from the

University of Surrey and Imperial College

London. Funded by the Engineering and

Physical Sciences Research Council, the team

are designing structures which, when a beam

of white light is shone on them, can stop and

store individual colours of the rainbow.

This has the effect of being able to transmit

and process huge amounts of data. The new

technology, which is still in the development

stage, will mean that computer speed can be

increased thousands of times, and images

such as surgeons working on patients can be

projected into rooms in a clarity and depth

which far exceeds current 3D capabilities.

The materials the team are working on are

called ‘metamaterials’, which use artificial

atoms just nanometres in size. The Salford

team have developed a new range of

computer simulations that permit the trapped

rainbow to appear in many different

environments. This involves power-driven,

magneto-optic metamaterials.

Professor Boardman said: “Up until now,

methods to achieve this effect have required

super-cooled gases, crystals or haven’t been

able to slow light enough to produce a useful

effect. The metamaterials we’re developing

could sit inside a desktop computer or in a

hospital theatre – they have the potential to

revolutionise the way we use machines.”

Since being published, the research paper

has taken the scientific world by storm –

obtaining almost 100 citations around the

world – and Professor Boardman has received

many invitations to speak at different

institutions all over the globe. Most recently,

he has been in Cairo and is set to deliver an

address to the world-renowned Optical

Society of America in San Jose, California

in May.

To request a copy of the paper or to discuss

the ongoing research with Professor

Boardman, please email the press office

on [email protected]

T

Chasing RainbowsA University of Salford research project is investigating ‘Trapped Rainbows’ as a way to stop light from travelling – giving the potential to revolutionise computing, medical science and virtual reality.


SUCCESS STORY

16


n this feature, Julia talks about what makes Salford so special andhow her time here contributed to her life and career since she leftthe University.

“I found my way onto the Modular Master’s Course in 1990, aged 23. I was a recently qualified Drama teacher, teaching by day at Mandley ParkSchool and performing in the evening with Salford Open Theatre. It wasn'tjust the course, with its flexible modular structure, that won me over, butalso the opportunity to become a member of Salford University TheatreCompany (SUTC). Within days of signing up and deciding on the Britishand European Theatre Courses that I would study, I started making plans togo with the SUTC to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which, as it turned out,was to be a momentous event in my life.

A few months passed and, with my dissertation developing nicely, I took off to Edinburgh with Guy Holloway, Bill Hopkinson and the rest ofSUTC to perform Bill’s interpretation of Coleridge’s poem ‘Christabel’. As well as performing, I met two very important people on this trip: JohnTobin (BEng Aeronautical Engineering, 1991), who would later become myhusband, was visiting Edinburgh to watch his friends perform with SUTC;and Zofia Kalinska, who is still my teacher and mentor today. Zofia is the director of Poland’s Ariel Theatr and a former actor with Kantor's Cricot 2Company. I knew that she was performing in Edinburgh at the same timethat we were there, and as research for my dissertation I had requested an interview with her. Not only did she grant me an interview but she also invited me to become her student. Later on, I was most fortunate to become a part of Ariel Theatr, performing with Zofia in Krakow, Londonand Edinburgh. My last performance with Zofia was in ‘Dybbuk’ at the Edinburgh Festival in 2001, when, pregnant with John's and my son, Iplayed the ‘expectant bride’!

Our son William is now eight, and I am 43. It would be enough to say thatI met my husband and my mentor as a result of choosing to study at Salford. I certainly did not dream of getting a family when I considered getting an MA: all these wonderful ‘other’ things that happened! There is a palpable spark about studying in a city like Salford, isn't there?The spark of creativity, the spark of fighting spirit, of endeavour, of graft, of dogged determination to ignite and enlighten. This is what I believe Salford passed on to me – a tiny spark, just ready to be kindled, when thetime was right.

My career spans over 20 years in teaching and the theatre. It is a long time,full of a variety of experiences and yet many of these highlights are frommy time at Salford. While studying for the MA, I was able to write and direct my first play, ‘FACE’, as part of my course and have it performed inthe beautiful theatre there. An academic exercise of writing in the style ofBrecht became ‘The Company of Souls’, successful in the 1992 ContactTheatre's Young Playwrights Awards, with productions in London and

Germany. As both a teacher and actor, with a love of learning, my wholeself, personally and professionally benefitted from this period of intensecreative thinking.

Which brings us to today. I took a career break to raise my family. While ‘resting’ I developed a story making and sharing method whichI called ‘Storyshaping’. I wanted to encourage my son to be a confident communicator, to help him develop his speaking and listening skills from an early age. Together we made a set of symbols that represented a simplestory structure and we used them to help us remember our stories. I passedthe technique and symbols onto his grandparents and they began storyshaping with all their grandchildren. We created new and unique stories inspired by what we already knew, had experience of and by ourmemories, with the added magic of imagination – the Salford spark!

I developed the storyshaping concept into a small rural business called Storyshapes Limited in February 2008. The company makes and sells my storytoys and delivers training in the multi award-winning tools and techniques of storyshaping. True to my nature as an actor and teacher, I enjoy training teachers, teaching assistants, library teams, nursery leaders, writers and even sales teams in how to discover their inner storyteller. Storytelling is undergoing a huge revival, with educators worldwide recognising the amazing learning and teaching benefits of using story in the classroom.

In order to fast-track business growth and make global progress in terms ofpartnership, distribution and export, I applied to the BBC’s Dragons Den inFebruary 2010. I sparked huge interest from potential investors wishing toinvest in StoryShapes' innovation, creativity and invention. By telling mystory, I slayed the dragon.

So this has been my story, or at least a part of it. The spark (of creativity, ofingenuity, of passion, whatever quality you assign to your spark) is given tous by the centres of education, of academic excellence where we study andare taught. It is passed on from a teacher to a student, from a book to areader, from a director to an actor, from a journey to an explorer, from aparent to a child. And then passed back! So my advice to anyone thinkingof setting up in business is to find or re-find your spark, and shape this into your USP – your unique selling point or, as I like to call it, your UniqueSelf Point.”

Julia has kindly offered a discount of 10% off Storyshaping training and workshops for Salford alumni. If you are interested in taking her up on thisoffer or finding out more about Storyshapes, then please visit the websiteat www.storyshapes.com or email Julia on [email protected]

You can also network with Julia as ‘Storyshaper’ on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace,

LinkedIn and e-Blogger.


17

I

We continue our series of alumni guest features with Julia Damassa (Modular Master’s, 1992),Founder and Creative Director of Storyshapes Ltd, a company that creates products to help

children develop their communication skills through storytelling.

Shaping

Stories


ANNUAL FUND

Every year, since 2005, Salford has run an Annual Fund telephone campaign, where current students phone alumni and ask them if they’d like tomake a donation to the University. This year’s was the most successful yet, raising over £24,000 in the first year towards the University’s CrisisFund – a fund that students who are struggling financially through no fault of their own can apply to for help.

he amount we’ve raised so far is

good, but with many of the

donations received being direct

debits, we can expect to raise approximately

£75,000 over the next five years from this

year’s campaign alone. Add this to gifts made

in previous campaigns, along with gift aid and

Government Match Funding, and we’re well

on target to raise more than £250,000 for

the University by 2012. And it’s all thanks

to donations from our alumni.

To gain an insight into how the Annual Fund

telephone campaign works and why it’s so

important to Salford and its alumni, we spoke

to a student fundraiser and an Annual Fund

donor, both of whom had their first

experience of the Annual Fund in this year’s

campaign.

Sarah Beswick has just started her final year

of a BA Journalism course. As a mature

student, she recognises the importance of

a degree and how it has the potential to

change someone’s life. And her work as

a volunteer presenter at a local community

radio station means she is comfortable

speaking to a wide variety of people.

“I loved talking to alumni and hearing their

happy memories of Salford. I didn’t initially

enjoy asking them for donations, but once I

realised that most of the people I spoke to

were delighted to be given an opportunity to

help students at Salford, I really relaxed into

the role.

“I think it’s really important to stay in touch

with alumni because the University can

benefit vastly from their experience. It’s not all

about raising money: some alumni who can’t

give are still able to offer student or graduate

placements, careers talks, or other advice. All

of this is just as valuable to us as donations

are. If people feel Salford had a positive

influence on their lives, then it’s great if they

can give something back, whether it’s money

or experience.”

Alan Wall (BSc Joint Honours in Physiology

and Biochemistry, 1969) chose to give in this

year’s campaign after the student he spoke to

“seemed genuinely interested in listening to

the reminiscences of an old Luddite, and

brought back many memories.”

He said: “I was moved to make donations to

the fund when I heard of the hardships

experienced by some of the present students.

I am happy, now that I am towards the end of

my career, to make small regular donations to

try and help some of these students.

“Without my degree from Salford I would not

have had the career I have enjoyed for the

past 40-plus years. Although I have neither

kept in contact with my student colleagues

nor revisited the University, I have never

forgotten my time there and will always be

grateful for the education I received.”

Alan also told us how it is so much harder for

new graduates to get jobs now than it was

when he graduated. “If I advertise for a

trainee technician or graduate today I can get

up to 100 applicants, all of whom are poten-

tially excellent people. I find it very distressing

when I look at some of these kids who are

unlikely to ever get the positions they have

studied for.

“If I was ever able to offer £1m to the

University, I would like to see it used to help

these students in their quest for jobs. I would

want the money used to make Salford

graduates stand out from the crowd in the

job market.”

Alan’s hit the nail on the head here. The Crisis

Fund isn’t just about making sure students

stay at Salford for the sake of it. It’s about

making sure these students complete a

degree and gain the skills that will give them

the best head-start possible in their careers.

Sarah sums it up best: “I truly believe

someone’s financial situation should not

hamper their prospects and their ability to

study. When I leave the University, I will

definitely give in whatever way I can,

to help make sure students get the education

they deserve.”

You can help give students the best education

possible by filling in and returning the

enclosed donation form. You can also

find out more and donate online at

www.salford.ac.uk/donate

We are now able to accept donations from

alumni who reside in the USA through the

British Schools and Universities Foundation,

Inc (BSUF). BSUF has been approved by the

United States Treasury Department as an

exempt charitable organization under Section

501(c)(3) and is classified as a domestic

charity as defined in Sections 509(a)(1) and

170(b)(1)(A)vi) of the Code. For more

information on how to make a donation,

please go to www.bsuf.org/donorinfo.htm

Everything counts - if everyone who reads

this magazine gave £10 to the Crisis Fund,

we would raise £800,000. With matched

funding and gift aid that would be about

£1.5m. Just imagine how much of a

difference that would make!

The GiftGivingthat keeps

T

18

Annual Fund student caller Sarah Beswick



19

BirthsOn 3 February 2009, Pamela Clegg (née Davies,BA Business Studies, 1997) and Jamie Clegg(BA Business Studies, 1997) became the proud parents of Elliot William Clegg. Pamela andJamie got married in New York City in October 2005.

MarriagesOn 11 July 2009 at Sparth House Hotel in Lancashire, Samantha Oldham (BA PerformingArts, 2000) married Paul Stenton(BA Performing Arts, 2001). Present at the wedding was former Salford student Adrian Connor.

Chris Pearce (BSc Business Studies with GeneralManagement, 2004) married Elizabeth Faribrother (BSc Applied Biology and Geography, 2003) on 12 September 2009. The wedding took place at St Peter’s Church in Newton-le-Willows and was followed by a reception at Doubletree by Hilton Chester. They were joined by other Salford alumni at thewedding: Rob Gallagher (BSc Business Studies,2003), Kate Whitehouse (née Leach, BSc Business Studies, 2003 and PostgraduateDiploma in Human Resource Management2009) and Nick Whitehouse (BSc Building Surveying, 2002).

ObituariesDr Harkirtan Singh-Raud OBE (BSc Biochemistry, 1984) died in May 2010, aged 46, after a short illness.

Dr Singh-Raud was born and brought up inManchester. He was the youngest of ten childrenborn to parents who were some of the first immigrants to arrive in Manchester from India inthe 1950s. Once he had graduated from Salford,Dr Singh-Raud spent the 1980s and 1990s working at various schools in South Manchester.He then achieved a Master’s degree from Cambridge and a PhD from Liverpool JohnMoores University, where he worked as a senior lecturer until his death. In 2005 he wasawarded an OBE for his services to education.

Dr Singh-Raud had been standing as a Labourcandidate for the local elections in Stockport but died two days before the count took place. More than 1,500 mourners from all over thecountry lined the streets of Manchester to sayfarewell to a man who was described as a ‘kingpin’ of the community.

He leaves behind his wife Rani Kaur and their two young daughters, eight-year-old Harsimran and Aman, seven.

Lord Leonard Steinberg (Honorary Doctorate,1999) died of a sudden heart attack in November 2009. He was 73 years old.

Lord Steinberg was born in Belfast in 1936 andwas educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He moved to Manchester in 1977with his family after he was threatened and shotby the IRA. Upon the death of his father, he tookover the family bookmaking business andfounded Stanley Leisure in 1958. He was executive chairman of the company for 45 years,during which time it experienced huge growth, becoming the largest casino operator and fourth largest bookmaker in the UK. He wasfounder and Chairman of Trustees of the Steinberg Family Charitable Trust, which hasgiven around £200,000 every year to almost 100charities since 1995. He also served as Presidentof the Manchester Jewish Federation. Lord Steinberg was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Salford in 1999, and was made a Conservative peer in 2004.

He is survived by his wife, Lady Beryl Steinberg,his two children and grandchildren.

This year we found out that Professor MaryBowerman (née Kinnaird, BSc Social Studies,1980) sadly died in 2003. Before she died shewas a Professor of Public Sector Accounting atthe University of Sheffield.

Glenn Fletcher (MSc Management Practice,2007) December 2008; David McCormick(MSc Chemical Engineering, 1967) March 2009;Stephen Lomax (BSc Electrical EngineeringScience, 1971) April 2009; Frederick Franklin

(BSc Chemical Engineering, 1972) May 2009; Denis Regan (MSc Biological Sciences, 1984)May 2009; Kenneth Hunt (Postgraduate Certificate in Accessibility and Inclusive Design,2008) June 2009; Brenda McDonald (ModularMaster’s, 1991) June 2009; Philip Le Vesconte(Certificate of Higher Education in Art and Design, 2003) July 2009; Dawn Boswell (BSc Physiotherapy, 2004) July 2009; Leora Kuhillow(BA Design Practice, 1998) August 2009; Dr David Fishlock (Honorary Doctorate, 1982)September 2009; Ronald Bispham (BA Politicsand Contemporary History, 1991) January 2010.

Staff ObituariesProfessor Deborah Baker died on 14 October2009 of lung cancer.

Deborah was the Director of the Centre for Public Health Research at the University of Salford. She was appointed as Professor of Public Health in 2003, after five years working at the University of Manchester. Born in Londonin 1949, Deborah studied at Brunel Universitybefore qualifying as a psychologist in 1973. Shecompleted a Doctorate at the University of Bathin 1985, while bringing up her three children.Her research was some of the first of its kind to analyse the factors in identity formation in young mothers. Her first full-time academic postwas as a lecturer at Bath, before she moved tothe University of Bristol, where she took up the position of Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Child Health. Here she worked on the influential Avon Longitudinal Study ofParents and Children before taking up her postat Manchester.

At Salford, Deborah used her extensive links tosecure funding from a variety of sources to provide support for many different health-related projects, and much of her work had a direct influence on health policy in Greater Manchester.Her colleague Ruth Wright, Head of the Schoolof Social Work, Psychology & Public Health, said that Deborah’s research was “of great practical relevance to people struggling withhealth inequalities and in raising awareness.Making a difference was the central thrust of her work.”

Deborah is survived by her husband Matthew,their three children and two grandchildren. Shewill be greatly missed by her family, friends and colleagues.

Mr B Wilde, February 2009; Mr BernardMitchell, May 2009; Ms Kathy Curtis, October 2009; Mrs SJ Ellis, January 2010; Mr CT Wright, July 2010.

The University extends its sincere condolences tothe friends and families of those listed above forwhom we have received notification of death.

Elliot William Clegg

Chris and Elizabeth Pearce

AlumniNotices


Eddie Griffith (BSc Social Sciences, 1982)

has been elected as Mayor of Haringey for

2010/11. It is the second time Eddie has taken

on this prestigious role, having also served as

Mayor in 2005/2006. His role is non-political

and will involve representing the community

of Haringey, attending civic functions and

chairing full council meetings. He also hopes

to promote Haringey and meet as many local

residents as possible, while raising money for

the Cardiac Unit at Whittington Hospital.

Eddie is currently trying to get back in touch

with old classmates. If you were on Eddie’s

course with him and want to make contact,

please email him on [email protected]

John Joyce (BSc Electrical Engineering, 1969)

now resides in Vancouver, Canada, and is

President of Jerome & Francis Co. Ltd – a

high-tech manufacturers’ agent specialising

in oceanographic equipment.

Imtiaz Ali (Master of Business

Administration, 2002) is currently working

for NEXUS Chemical Systems – a textiles

and industrial chemicals company – as their

Country Manager for Pakistan.

Sarah Gall (née Fraser, BSc Biochemistry,

1976) has written a booklet about her

recovery from arthritis using techniques

including drinking a mixture of cider vinegar,

honey and hot water four times a day.

She was virtually housebound after being

struck with arthritis in 2005, but her recovery

has been so successful that she can once

again play the organ at her local church near

Bolton. Her story has been featured in

the national press and she has set up a

website at www.arthritisrecovery.co.uk

Pamela Savic-Jabrow (MSc Counselling

Studies, 2008) is a Counsellor in private

practice and is currently in her second

year on a Professional Doctorate Course

in Health and Social Care at the University

of Salford. Her research interest is in

writing ethnographically about

Counsellors’ congruence.

Left: Andrew Schofield - Inventor of

the hugely successful RoofBLOCK.

Above: Eddie Griffith - Recently

appointed Mayor of Haringey for

the second time.

Since the last issue of From Salford, we have been working hard to develop our international alumni networks. In autumn last year, the Vice-Chancellor and other senior members of University staff travelled to Asia to meet alumni in Beijing, Shanghai, Malaysia and Brunei. We have since launched Alumni Associations in each of those places.

Our International Alumni Associations are there to help Salford graduates in the region meet and network with each other. They also exist to support prospective and new students, assist new graduates to research local job opportunities and promote Salford’s reputation. All the associations have theirown sections of on our alumni website, www.salford.ac.uk/alumni. So sign up now to find out what’s happening in your area! As well as the placeslisted above, we have an association in Hong Kong and we’re in the process of setting them up in India, Abu Dhabi and Libya.

If you want to get involved, or are interested in setting an Alumni Association up in your country, then please email us at [email protected]

The Vice-Chancellor will be visiting India in November 2010 and Hong Kong in March 2011. If you live in either of those countries and want to find outmore about his proposed visit, please go to www.salford.ac.uk/alumni/international

International Alumni Update

20

Where are they now?Here’s a roundup of what some of our alumni are doing now. Many of those below responded to amessage we sent out on Twitter (www.twitter.com/salfordalumni), while others filled in our updateform at www.salford.ac.uk/alumni/share

ALUMNI UPDATES



Andrew Schofield (BSc Civil Engineering,

1978) has successfully invented a product and

set up his own business to promote it, with

great commercial success. RoofBLOCK, an

internationally patent protected masonry

roof overhang product, won the Chartered

Institute of Building International Award

for Innovation. The sustainable and

environmentally ethical product helps solve

many problems involved in roof building while

simplifying the building process, and its

success has led Andrew to sign a multi-

million pound manufacture and distribution

deal with Lignacite Ltd, a leading UK building

products company. Andrew partly attributes

his success to his degree from Salford,

and we’re delighted that he has used the

knowledge he gained here to create such

an impact.

David Smith (BSc Modern Languages and

Marketing Studies, 1992) is currently working

as a television subtitler for the deaf and

hard-of-hearing – a job he has been doing

for 16 years. He spent some time writing

questions for the Weakest Link and often

takes part in TV quiz shows – most recently

The Chase with Bradley Walsh. In September

2009 David took part in Antony Gormley’s

One & Other project by stepping onto

Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. He used his

hour in the spotlight to remember his time

at Salford by reciting the text of Molière’s

“Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme”, the first play

he took part in at the University 21 years ago.

A video of his performance can be found at

http://tinyurl.com/35sd8ya

Dr Stuart Campbell (BSc Physics, 1994 and

PhD Physics, 1998) is now working as Lead

Scientific Software Engineer at the Spallation

Nutron Source situated at Oak Ridge National

Laboratory in Tennessee, USA. This is the third

major international research facility he has

worked at since he graduated.

Dr Richard Brittain (BSc Pure and Applied

Physics, 1980) has recently been admitted as

a Lawyer of the Supreme Court of New South

Wales in Australia. The ceremony was the

culmination of almost eight years of part-time

study, which Richard commenced in 2003

while working at the former National

Standards Commission. While he is now a

fully qualified lawyer, Richard will continue

to work at the National Measurement Institue

– part of the Commonwealth Department of

Innovation, Industry, Science and Research –

and his expertise in science is sure to be of a

huge benefit to the Supreme Court.

Ross Henderson (BA Performing Arts, 2005,

stage name Ross Adams) played the part of

Jeff Bowyer in BBC3 comedy series TheGemma Factor. Although he has appeared

in several television dramas and comedies

before, this is Ross’s first lead role in a

series, and we hope he goes on to star in

many more.

Professor Peter Edwards (BSc Chemistry,

1970, PhD, 1974 and Honorary Doctorate,

2007) was recently elected as a member of

the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

The Leopoldina is the oldest German-speaking

society of scholars and has a duty to provide

science-based advice to both politics and

society and to carry out a representative

function in international organisations and

bodies assembled from national academies.

Our congratulations go to Professor Edwards

on this prestigious appointment.

Alok Sharma (BSc Physics, 1988) was elected

as MP for Reading West in this year’s General

Election. He gained the seat with 43.18% of

the vote, and campaigned on issues including

over-development, Gurkha rights, Post

Offices, the environment and helping small

businesses.

Dato Hj Abdul Wahab Juned (BSc Biological

Sciences, 1975) has been appointed Deputy

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office in

Brunei Darussalam. This is an incredibly

prestigious position and means he will be

working regularly with both the Sultan and

the Crown Prince of Brunei Darussalam. He

was previously Chairman of the Public Service

Commission before being promoted to his

current role.

After he left Salford, Dr John Wells (MSc

Radiological Health and Safety, 1972) went on

to study for a Doctorate in cancer research at

Oxford University and spent the rest of his

career working in the Health Physics Research

Section of Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories in

Gloucestershire. In 1986 he was awarded the

Founders’ Prize of the Society for Radiological

Protection for contributions of distinction to

radiological protection. A year later he was

nominated by the UK government as an

advisor to the International Atomic Energy

Agency, for meetings with the Russians in the

aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Since

retiring, John and his wife have moved to

Scotland and have set up the West Lothian

Archaeology Group. You can find out more

about this and their other community projects

at www.armadale.org.uk

Donations from alumni towards Salford’s Annual Fund have continued to increase this year, and we’re well on target toraise more than £250,000 for the University by 2012. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far – your gifts meanthat we can continue to provide our students with the best opportunities possible and keep building for the future.

Even better news is that we can use alumni donations to take advantage ofa Government Matched Funding scheme. The scheme allows the Universityto claim 50p from the Government for every £1 donated at no extra cost tothe donor or the University. This free money is added after we’ve claimedgift aid so, until July 2011, all donations will be worth almost double!

We are now in the final year of this scheme, so it is vital that we makethe most of it while we can. To help us get as much Matched Funding as possible, please complete and return the enclosed donation form or make a donation online at www.salford.ac.uk/donate

This table shows how much of a difference Matched Funding canmake to your gift.

Your donation £15 £50 £100

Your donation plus gift aid at 28% £19.20 £64 £128

Government Matched Funding £9.60 £32 £64

Total benefit to the University £28.80 £96 £192

Matched Funding

21

From Salford, please get in touch.

in next year’s edition of

If you would like to be included


Below are just some of the benefits wehave on offer:

University Services – discounted fees on a number of postgraduate courses, as well as reduced rates for a range of short courses and professional services, such as conference hosting and translation and interpreting.

Accommodation – a discount on new homesand great offers on hotels and holiday accommodation, including 5% off bookings at Umi Hotels.

Lifestyle – a wide-range of offers from legal services, credit cards and private healthcare, to shopping and up to 70% off magazine subscriptions.

Travel – money off SeaFrance ferry fares, car rental and luxury car hire.

Sport and Leisure – discounted spa and holistic therapy treatments, gym membership

and sports tickets, including Rugby Leaguematch tickets for £10 at our community sportspartner Salford City Reds.

Theatre – deals and discounts at local theatres The Lowry and The Royal Exchange.

Professional – career coaching, training and workshops for teaching staff and childcare providers and special rates on membership of the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) at the most prestigiousgrade of Fellowship.

To view details of these and many other benefits, you must be a member of our onlinecommunity. To take advantage of many ofthem you will need your University of SalfordAlumni Membership Card. If you don’t haveyours already you can easily request one via our website. We regularly update our benefits, so make sure you keep checking www.salford.ac.uk/alumni/benefits to getthe most out of your alumni membership.

Alumni BenefitsOne of the many advantages of keeping in touch with Salford is the continueduse of our facilities, such as the Tom Husband Leisure Centre, the libraries andthe student bar. What’s more, we also have a number of limited edition, money saving offers exclusively available to our alumni.

Careers & EmployabilityDid you know that as a Salford graduate, youcan use our Careers & Employability Service foras long as you need after you’ve graduated?If you need help getting to where you want tobe, you can book an appointment with a careersconsultant by calling 0161 295 5088 or [email protected]. You can use our careers library if you need information on where to lookfor graduate jobs. Just go to www.careers.salford.ac.uk for more information.

Our new Graduate Gateway programme hasbeen designed to help you develop employabilityskills and manage your career direction. You can sign up for a free training and development programme and/or apply for workplacement opportunities with local companies at www.careers.salford.ac.uk/page/ggateway.We can also help you if you are thinking of starting your own company by offering free advice, support and guidance. To find out howwe can help enhance your skills and get yourbusiness get off the ground, please email LouiseKenworthy on [email protected]

If you are able to help us, we would like alumnito participate by being panel members for theStudent Life Award presentations. This award isdesigned to encourage students to acquire arange of employability skills. By taking part inextra-curricular activities, students boost their career prospects and show a commitment totheir personal development. If you are interested in being a panel member or have any suggestions for volunteering opportunities,please send an email to [email protected]

And finally, we are always on the lookout forsuccessful alumni who are interested in passingon their experience to our students and graduates by delivering a careers talk. If youwould like to help other Salford alumni by sharing your knowledge, please email SuzanneEtheridge on [email protected]

Remember, whether you’re just starting on thecareer ladder, thinking of a change, or just looking for some advice, our Careers & Employability Service is always here to help!

Throughout the year, the University runs a range of innovative and professional events

to which alumni are invited.

These include public lectures, music recitals, business seminars and open evenings.

To find out about events that are happening at the University soon,

please see our events calendar at www.salford.ac.uk/alumni/events

Forthcoming Events

22



Fond Memory FridaysOver the last 12 months, many of you have been back to Salford with your old friends and classmates on our Fond Memory Friday tours.

Wina nigh

t’s free bed

& breakfast a

t

The Marriott

Hotel

Now that you’ve read From Salford,

we’d like to test you on how much

you’ve picked up in our quick quiz.

Please email your answers to [email protected], typing ‘QUIZ’ in the subject heading, to be in with the chance of winning one night’sfree accommodation and breakfast at the Manchester Marriott Victoria & Albert Hotel for you and a guest before 30 June 2011.

All submissions must be received by Friday 26 November 2010. The winner must have answeredall questions correctly and will be selected at random. We will notify the winner during theweek commencing 29 November.

1. Which famous local musician was the DJ atthe last event at the Pav?

2. How much did our Annual Fund telephonecampaign raise in the first year for the Crisis Fund?

3. What is the name of alumni Julia Damassa’scompany?

4. What is Professor Martin Hall’s favourite film?

5. Students from the School of the Built Environment took part in a competition to redesign the club house of which local sports club?

6. How many courses are we planning to teach in our building at MediaCityUK?

7. Which two theatres offer discounts to ouralumni?

8. Which alumnus has recently become co-hostof ‘The One Show’?

9. This year, the School of Health, Sport & Rehabilitation Sciences formed new partnerships with three overseas institutions.Name all three.

10. When is the building of the Energy House dueto be completed?

e are always delighted to welcomealumni back on to the campus, andwe are usually able to help people

get back in touch with each other, so make sureyou let us know if you are planning a reunion!Here are a few of the groups who have beenback to Salford this year.

On Wednesday 16 September, Peter (BSc Applied Physics, 1965) and Delia Caswell cameback to the campus to celebrate the day theyfirst met 50 years ago. As they did back whenthey were students, they rode on the number 26bus and were given a free lunch and a tour tosee how the University had changed since theywere here. Their story was even picked up by theManchester Evening News!

A month later, on Friday 16 October, MalcolmBatt and Michael Brewer (both BSc Economics,1972) returned to Salford to celebrate 40 yearssince the start of their friendship.

On Friday 23 October, two groups came back to relive some old memories. The first was thefollowing group of MSc Environmental Resourcesalumni, all of whom completed their course in1978: David Britt, Dorothy Casey, Jerry Cooper,Ken Heap, Christine Leon, Richard Lewis, Graham McLearie, Sally Moore, Roger Payne and Peter Regan. The other reunion group that day was celebrating 40 years since they graduated from Salford: Roger Ainsworth, Anthony Beach, Alan Bennett, Tom Brown, Ronnie Burgess, Ged Horner,John Kerrigan, Dave Knight, Ian Lowther, Mac Poulton, Mel Watts and Kevin Winstanley (all BSc Chemical Engineering, 1969).

On Friday 5 February, Jon (BSc Mechanical Engineering, 1986) and Catherine Rushton (néeMather, BSc Mechanical Engineering, 1987) hada tour of the University as part of their visit tothe UK from the USA where they now live. Anda week later we had another international visitor,this time from Germany. Penny Thompson (BSc

Modern Languages, 1978) came back to Salford while she was in the UK visiting familyand friends.

Tuesday 9 March was the date of the next tour,with Chris Boon and Ian McConaghie (both BScCivil Engineering, 1975) coming to see how the University had changed since they were here.They both brought their wives Sue and Paulinewith them too.

On Tuesday 1 June, a group of W.I. memberscame to look around our facilities in the Schoolof Computing, Science & Engineering. Over 50ladies travelled by coach from the Wirral to learnabout acoustics, aeronautical engineering andfractal feedback. The trip was organised byPenny MacDonald, who is not an alumna, butwas married to Donald Malcom MacDonald(MSc Civil Engineering 1981), who sadly passed away in 2007.

A few days later, on Friday 4 June, a group offriends marked the tenth anniversary of theirgraduation by visiting Salford. On the tour wereJenny Eldridge (BA Geography, 2000), SeemaKachiwala (BA English and Cultural Studies,2000), Helen Mitchell (BA English Literature,2000), Francesca Slater (BSc Business Studies,2000) and Claire Sutton (BSc Business Studies –Human Resource Management, 2000). They’reall pictured above, outside the Peel Building.

And finally for the summer, we had another international visitor. Boris Mann (a graduate ofthe Royal Technical College in 1947) visited the campus with his old friend Conrad Drogie (MADemocratisation Studies, 2007) when he cameover to the UK from California, where he nowlives. It was the first time Boris had been back tothe campus since he was a student here – onlythe Peel Building and Museum are still here!

If you want to get back in touch with old friends,visit the campus or both, please go to www.salford.ac.uk/alumni/reunions

W

23

www.marriott.co.uk


Missing Salford? Want to get back in touch with old friends?

Now it’s so much easier to reconnect!

The Salford Alumni Association is exclusive to graduates and supporters of the University and now

there is a dedicated and interactive new website just for you – www.salford.ac.uk/alumni

The website has been built with you in mind and is not only a great way to maintain links with the

University and a potential global network of over 120,000 Salford graduates, but users also enjoy

a wide range of exclusive benefits and services. To find out more about these benefits, please see

page 22.

From staying in touch with old classmates and planning reunions, to event registrations and exciting

University news updates, to continuing professional development and career networking, you can

maintain your relationship with Salford in the way that suits you best. Registering with the website

is also the quickest and easiest way of updating your contact details and staying in touch with

the University.

So why not login to the Salford Alumni Association website today and access the wealth of benefits

available to you? It takes less than a minute to gain free unlimited access for life – all you need to

do is visit www.salford.ac.uk/alumni

You can also keep up to date with all alumni news and events on Twitter and Facebook.

Connect with us at www.twitter.com/salfordalumni and www.facebook.com/salfordalumni

the design team 0

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Left to right: Salford graduates Mike Brewer, Eric Connor, Malcolm Batt and Tony Galloway, pictured outside University House in 1972

Development & Alumni RelationsThe University of SalfordRoom 104, Faraday House43 CrescentSalford, Greater ManchesterM5 4WT, UK

T +44 (0) 161 295 6538F +44 (0) 161 295 5496E [email protected]

www.salford.ac.uk/alumni


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The University of Salford Alumni Magazine