Express May 2009

JUNE 2009 | IssUE 2

The Hollywood Invasion

Brunel welcomes three major stars of the stage

RAE FUNdINg BoosT Brunel research secures a 55% funding increase

ThE BIg IdEA Express discusses all things student-related with the new UBS President

Inside this issue…

134656 Express Magazine A4 Iss2 8.indd 1 13/5/09 16:48:53

P14

P4-6 News Round-up

P7 The Rising Stars of Brunel Athletics

Student athletes outclassed the

competition in the BUCS Outdoor

and Indoor Championships

P8 Brunel’s Hollywood Invasion

The University welcomed three

stars of stage and screen onto

campus this spring to debate

Shakespeare and open the

Antonin Artaud building.

P11 RAE Results Prompt Funding Boost

P12 The Big Idea The Union of Brunel Students’

first black female President, Nat

Foster, discusses her plans for the

forthcoming year.

P14 All Their Own Work Staff, students and the public

unite for the annual All Our Own

Work exhibition in the Beldam

Gallery.

P15 Your Brunel: HSBC Meet Denise Burns, HSBC

Manager, to find out what

the branch has to offer the

community.

CreditsExpress is available to read on our website at: www.brunel.ac.uk/news/express

We’d love to hear from you with ideas for news items, stories or features, as well as any feedback. Please email your ideas or comments to [email protected]

Brunel Publications Editor: Jo Dooher Tel: ext 65154 Email: [email protected]

Contributors: Rose Hamada Emma Fitness

Photography: Sally Trussler Neil Graveney Andrew Hill Job King

Print: Brunel University Press

Front Cover: Stephen Berkoff at the opening of the Antonin Artaud building

Brunel Express | Issue 2 |

P7

P12



The guest Foreword Vice-Chancellor, Professor Chris Jenks

As many of you will already be aware, the

recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)

2008 was an enormous success for Brunel. Not

only did we climb 10 places in the UK research

power rankings, we also secured the 9th largest

funding increase in the sector, bringing in an

extra £4.5 million for the next academic year.

In my eyes, that is certainly a considerable

cause for celebration.

However, the influence and benefits of the RAE

are not limited to the realm of academia: our

advances underline Brunel’s status as a research-

intensive institution and cement our position

amongst the top universities in the country. It

will benefit our league table rankings, our

teaching capacity and quality, our ability to

attract the best staff and students, and our

potential to take Brunel research to even

greater heights in time for the next assessment,

the Research Excellence Framework, in 2014.

I congratulate the entire Brunel community

for the immense amount of hard work and

determination that has gone into achieving

this fantastic result. I think you’ll all agree that

Brunel’s future promises to be a bright and

exciting one.

See page 7 for more on the future plans

for RAE funding

BRuNEl PuTS ON ITS BEST FACE This summer, the University and the Students’ Union are joining

together to stage the biggest, most spectacular end-of-term

festival yet.

FACE Festival (or Festival of Awareness, Creativity and Expression)

will take over the campus from 26 to 29 May (also known as

‘Refreshers Week’) to allow students to let their hair down after

the stress of examinations, as well as sending off departing final

year students in style.

Featuring ‘The Beach’ in the Crank Gardens, barbecues, music,

dance and DJ sets in the Quad, as well as workshops in yoga,

various sports and even kite flying held around the University,

the Festival will truly bring the campus to life. Most importantly,

students will have an opportunity to rediscover the many sports

clubs, societies and resources available to them while studying at

Brunel, and encourage greater integration in years to come.

FACE will bring together the vast social demographic of the

University for the four days of the festival, but its content will

be largely shaped by the students. If you have any ideas of how

your club or society could get involved, for example through

workshops or performances, please get in touch with the Festival

organisers as soon as possible. After all, it will be the students

who make the week the success it promises to be.

For more information on FACE visit the Students’ Union website:

www.brunelstudents.com/FACE


The Brunel Estates team has been nominated for

two prestigious awards – Outstanding Estates

Initiative and Outstanding Estates Team – in the

Times Higher Education (THE) Leadership and

Management Awards 2009. The nominations

were made for the recent transformation of the

boilerhouse into the multipurpose Antonin Artaud

building, and for the spectrum of work that has

gone into delivering the Brunel Masterplan over

the last few years. The winners will be revealed at a

gala dinner in London on 9 June 2009.

Paul Thomas, Managing Director of Resources and

Operations, said: “The vision behind the Masterplan

and the transformation of the University was

far-sighted, and the scale of the construction

programme was daunting. It is a mark of the

professionalism and determination of the Estates

team that business has carried on successfully.”

Two ‘ThE’ Award Nominations for Estates Team

RECORd FuNdRAISINg FOR COmIC

RElIEF



Dr Bryan Taylor, research associate in the Centre

for Sports Medicine and Human Performance,

has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright

Fellow Scholarship. The award, which will be

administered by the Fulbright Commission and is

one of only three awarded to UK researchers this

year, will enable Dr Taylor (pictured below) to

perform a mentored 10-month research project

entitled “Work of breathing in patients with

chronic heart failure: implications for exercise

tolerance”.

The project will investigated the role of the

respiratory system in limiting exercise tolerance

among heart-failure patients. The intended

outcome is a therapeutic aid to alleviate the

debilitating symptoms of discomfort.

The Scholarships are designed to promote

the transatlantic cross-fertilisation of medical

research. The expertise of his mentor, a Professor

of Medicine based at the world-renowned Mayo

Clinic, Minnesota, can scarcely be matched on

these shores, which means that Taylor’s work will

raise the knowledge base within the UK.

Dr Taylor explained what a special opportunity

it represents: “It will give me the chance

to perform world-class research in a world-

renowned centre of research excellence with a

world-class mentor.”

Dr Christine Riefa, lecturer in

the Brunel Law School, has

also received a Fulbright EU

Scholar-in-residence award,

which aims to strengthen the

US’ expertise in EU affairs.

She will spend five months at

Cleveland-Marshall University,

Ohio, from January 2010

and she will be teaching

European Consumer Law and

conducting research on the

protection of consumers in

virtual environments (such

as Second Life) as well as

taking an active part in the

local legal community.

Two Academics win Prestigious Fulbright Awards

Brunel University staff and students made a huge effort to

raise money for Comic Relief this year, with events ranging

from a three-course gourmet meal cooked by Pro-Vice-

Chancellor Rob Macredie, and organised local walks and

food stalls, through to leg waxing, cross dressing and

pyjama wearing! As a result Brunel recorded nearly £4,000

in donations. Here are just a few highlights of the day’s

fundraising activities:

• ProfessorRobMacredieraised£730forhismealraffle,

which was won by Pam Holloway in the School of Social

Sciences;

• TheSchoolofInformationSystems,Computingand

Mathematics raised over £500 for a suite of activities,

including curry and cake stalls, clairvoyancy and creating

balloon flowers;

• TheStudents’Unionraised£1,500throughawholehost

of student activities and events;

• TheBishopandLancasterresidencesraised£455;

• Cateringraisedover£400fromactivitiesincluding

pyjama-clad Rococo’s staff.



Team reveals breakthrough

in new air hybrid engine

Standard petrol engines can be

turned into eco-friendly, cost-

effective hybrids without the need

for major redesigns, the School

of Engineering and Design has

revealed. The Advanced Powertrain

and Fuels research

team’s simulations

show standard

combustion

engines could

economically

be adapted into

air hybrid engines,

which would

produce fewer carbon

emissions and be cheaper to run.

The hypothesis is that when a car

uses its engine’s natural compression

cycle to brake, the piston could also

compress air and drive it into an

air tank, which could later be used

to power the piston and provide

compressed air for turbo charging.

Only small alterations

would be needed to

adapt a normal

combustion engine

into an air hybrid,

with no need to

redesign the engine.

The team’s director,

Professor Hua Zhao, said:

“Significantly reducing the cost

of driving through reducing fuel

consumption and lowering carbon

emissions for commercial vehicles is

an ongoing battle. Our simulations

prove that we have achieved a major

breakthrough.”

Public Lecture Series

proves a big hit

Brunel’s first Public Lecture Series,

which delved into the theme of

‘Exploring Tomorrow’s World’, proved

to be a tremendous success. Each of

the 18 featured academics provided

fascinating insights into their area

of expertise, while the

six lectures averaged

audiences of over 200.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor

(Development), Professor

Steve Dixon, who was

responsible for organising

the events, commented:

“I’m delighted that Brunel’s first

Public Lecture Series has generated

so much public interest and has been

such a popular success. The lectures

have been absolutely outstanding,

but what is particularly gratifying is

that the Series has attracted so many

local people who had never been

onto the Brunel campus before, and

who then returned night after night

and actively participated in the

discussions.

“The lectures

have generated

some real public

excitement, and

the speakers

have consistently

provided brave views

and fascinating

insights into some

of the most

important issues of

our time.”

Library extends opening hours

The Library has extended its opening

hours again for the revision and

examination period this year. It

will be open from 8.40am to 2am

seven days a week, until 2am on

the morning of Friday 22 May. Once

again, users of the Library during this

period will be supported by teams of

postgraduate students.

Creative Writing student

honoured by leading

literary agent

MA Creative Writing: the Novel

student Kerry McKeagney has been

awarded the Curtis Brown Prize for

her novel, Tubing. Curtis Brown, one

of London’s foremost literary talent

agencies, has pledged to endow

an annual prize of £1,500 on the

School of Arts’ postgraduate course

to recognise Brunel’s up-and-coming

literary talents.

Kerry’s novel, a dark,

sexually-charged thriller

set in London, was

praised for its high-

concept originality.

MA graduates

Geraldine Terry,

a company

director from

Buckingham-

shire, and

Simon Robb, a

film journalist

who lives

in Brighton,

were also

shortlisted for

the Prize.

News in Brief



ThE RIsINg sTARs of BRUNEl AThlETICs

At the Indoor event in Sheffield in March, Brunel were easily the

dominant force, outclassing the big names, Loughborough, UWIC

and Bath, to win both the men’s and women’s competitions. The

team’s performance at the Outdoor competition over the May Bank

Holiday weekend was also impressive, with the women’s team

finishing second – just behind Loughborough – and securing five gold

medals, while the men’s team finished sixth with one gold medal.

Although the whole team have put in an array of superb

performances in the last few months, it is the female track athletes

who have truly excelled. One such athlete is Emma Pallant, a middle-

and long-distance runner who secured golds in the 3000m and

1500m and a silver in the 5000m over the two events. Other names

to watch include Joey Duck (pictured right), Tara Bird, Lucy Sargent,

Shelayna Oskan, Dominique Blaize and Katia Lannon, who between

them won a clutch of golds, silvers and bronzes in every single sprint

and relay event.

This season, the strengths of the men’s team lie primarily in the field

events. Sports Scholar and the Scottish record-holding pole vaulter

Scott Huggins won gold at the Indoor event and silver at the Outdoor.

Our javelin throwers are also on top form, with Chris Hughff winning

golds at both events and Neil Crossley a bronze. Hughff’s throw of

76.92m at the Outdoor championships also placed him second in the

UK senior rankings.

Athletics at Brunel has gone from strength to strength in recent years

and the current crop of athletes promise a bright, medal-winning

future. It is beyond doubt that many of our young athletes will

eventually become household names in the years to come. Expect

Brunel domination at the 2012 London Olympics!

Any lingering notions that Brunel athletics still stood in the

shadows of other university sporting giants have been

comprehensively dispelled after magnificent performances

at the Indoor and Outdoor British universities and

Colleges (BuCS) Championships this spring.

DAtEs to WAtCh 10-12 July } Aviva UK Championships and World Trials, Birmingham (BBC) 16-19 July } European Under-23 Championships, Lithuania (Eurosport) 15-23 August } IAAF World Championships, Berlin (BBC) Photo: Joey duck by MARk SHeARMAN.



Brunel’s

Hollywood InvasionBrunel university has welcomed

no less than three internationally

acclaimed actors onto campus

since April. Between them, they

celebrated the opening of the

new School of Arts building,

received an honorary degree

and debated the ‘real’ identity of

Shakespeare…



steven Berkoff opens

the Artaud Building

By Rose Hamada

Legendary Hollywood actor, playwright and

director Steven Berkoff opened the doors of a

newly refurbished boilerhouse – now named the

Antonin Artaud building – for Brunel’s School of

Arts in February.

Berkoff, who is best known for his portrayal of ice-

cold villains in films such as James Bond, Rambo and A

Clockwork Orange, was decidedly more amiable at the

opening, praising the new facilities and professing he

had enjoyed the modern performances staged by the

students and staff. The day’s performers included new

noise, an improvisatory ensemble of undergraduate

and postgraduate students directed by Brunel Professor

Peter Wiegold, while Brunel Drama students performed

an adaptation of Artaud’s surrealist text, Nerve Scales,

directed by Brunel’s Barry Edwards.

The Artaud building is the result of a £3 million

refurbishment and will be primarily used by the School

of Arts. It now contains drama and performance studios,

a music room, a public performance venue and radio

recording and video editing suites for students studying

journalism and film and television. The building was

named after Antonin Artaud, a leading French actor and

director in the 1920s, whose visionary theories influenced

generations of directors like Steven Berkoff.

Professor Steve Dixon, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Development),

who worked with Berkoff as an actor 25 years ago,

said: “We are really proud of the School of Arts and it’s

wonderful that Steven Berkoff gave up his day off for the

occasion. If anyone embodies Artaud, it’s Steven Berkoff.

As a writer, director and actor, he is so influenced by

Artaud’s work that there was only ever one person we

wanted to ask to open the event.”

Berkoff added that universities like Brunel were heading

in the right direction: “If you have a university studying

people like Artaud, it is quite remarkable. It will encourage

people like myself and is very valuable.”



the spring Debate:

Who was shakespeare?

The question of Shakespeare’s identity, or more precisely,

the identity of the author of the works that bear

Shakespeare’s name, has been a matter of contention

for centuries. This April, Brunel fanned the flames of the

controversy during the annual Spring Debate, where two

heavyweights of the stage, internationally-renowned

Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi, and playwright,

actor and the first artistic director of the Globe Theatre,

Mark Rylance, joined Head of the School of Arts Dr

William Leahy to discuss the true identity of the Bard.

The three gave fascinating insights into just why doubt

should be cast on the credentials of the ‘Man from

Stratford’, such as the lack of surviving original texts, his

limited education, his other ‘career’ as a loan-shark and

the fact that no one in the literary world marked his death

in 1616.

Sir Derek Jacobi argued that the then Earl of Oxford,

Edward De Vere, was in fact the most likely candidate for

the works, in part due to the Earl’s uncanny biographical

similarities to the character of Hamlet. Mark Rylance also

drew attention to the theory that the true author was the

philosopher, statesman and lawyer Sir Francis Bacon, who

had referred to himself as a “concealed poet” and had the

education, class and background required to create works

of such remarkable variety and depth.

The University has a well-established reputation in the field

of Shakespeare authorship, following the formation by Dr

Leahy of the world’s first Master’s programme dedicated

to studying the question in 2007. Dr Leahy, along with

Mark Rylance and Sir Derek Jacobi, also established the

‘Declaration of Reasonable Doubt’, which states that

there is room for reasoned discussion of the identity of

William Shakespeare, and that his identity is an important

question for anyone seeking to understand the works, the

formative literary culture in which they were produced,

or the nature of literary creativity and genius. So far the

declaration has attracted well over 1,500 signatures.




Our impressive 54.5% increase in QR funding is a

direct result of our excellent performance in the

recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 and

was the 9th largest in the whole Higher Education

sector(whichaveragedatjust7.8%).Thefunding

is provided by HEFCE, the public body responsible

for financing higher education research, who will

inject nearly £8 billion into the sector for the next

academic year.

So how does the University plan to use this extra

funding? The primary goal will be to support

initiatives that allow Brunel to achieve its vision

of being a world-class research community. One

ofthekeyschemesistheintroductionof30

new studentships, called the Isambard Research

Scholarships.

These are already being advertised, with an

application closing date of 19 June 2009. The

studentships will help ensure Brunel’s strategy

of inclusivity and sustainability is maintained

and nurtured, as well as encouraging the further

development of Early Career Researchers.

In addition, money will be invested in establishing an

Open Access Publishing Fund, which will enhance the

impact of Brunel research by both encouraging staff

to publish in Open Access journals and to cover the

costs associated with doing this. This is a technique

that has been successfully used by other research-

intensive universities in the US and UK to ensure their

research has the widest possible dissemination and is

published in the most respected journals.

Other initiatives Brunel plans to support include

research training and staff development for

Early Career Researchers, as well as focusing on

bringing all research within the University up to an

internationally-excellent standard.

How the extra QR funding continues to be used

will, of course, be reviewed periodically, as the exact

amount Brunel receives each year will vary (the pot of

money HEFCE can distribute to universities is revised

every year). However, we can be sure that the boost

to the University’s research budget is a significant

step in our move towards being one of the UK’s elite

research establishments.

Since the last issue of Express, Brunel university has been awarded an extra £4.5 million in Quality-related (QR) research funding for 2009/10, raising our annual grant to nearly £12.9 million.

RAE Prompts Substantial Funding Boost


The Union

of Brunel Students’

elections took place before Easter,

clocking up one of the best student

election turnouts in the UK and a

fourth annual consecutive increase in

voters. We catch up with Nat Foster,

the next UBS President (and the

first black woman to hold the

role), to discuss her plans for the

Union in the coming year…

thE Big

iDEA



on deciding to run for PresidentI am currently the Union’s VP for Education and

Welfare and it didn’t feel right to leave when I had

just got into my stride, nor when I still had many

more goals to achieve. The role of President felt

like the logical next step, plus everyone kept saying

to me: “Go on, Nat, go for it – no one else could

do the role”, so I did!

on plans for the next yearBrunel has really moved up a gear in the last year,

especially with the RAE results being such a huge

success. So, top of my agenda is to ensure the

students’ academic experience of Brunel matches

this high standard.

One of my other main priorities will be to continue

to campaign for 24-hour library access, something

that has been extremely high on our students’

agendas for years. The Library has recently secured

funding to open until 2am during exams, which

is a big step forward, but I won’t be satisfied until

this is the case throughout the entire academic year.

Many other universities open their libraries around

the clock, or for significantly longer than Brunel. I

think it is a shame that such a fundamental tool to

the continued success of Brunel is not as high on

the University’s agenda as it is for the students.

on the Brunel communityHaving just one campus makes our university

pretty unique and we should capitalise on the

benefits this brings. I want to focus on celebrating

all the diverse cultures and communities we enjoy,

and create a friendly, family atmosphere. Small

changes make a massive difference to our sense

of community; for example, turfing over the quad

immediately created a whole new space where

students now mix and socialise. I’d like to see more

of those small-but-effective changes.

on students’ issues Speaking to students every day, it’s clear that one

of their big concerns is gaining employment after

graduation. In this climate you really need more

than just a degree to get a job and strengthening

other skill sets is vital if you are to succeed.

Thankfully, there’s lots of amazing opportunities

available at Brunel, from clubs and societies to

volunteering or the Job Shop, and it’s one of my

challenges to make sure as many students as

possible are aware of all the options.

on the National student surveyOverall, the NSS has been really beneficial to

us. Although I might not fully agree with its

methodology, it has highlighted both areas where

Brunel excels and the problem areas in Schools.

Rob [Macredie, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Student

Experience] has done a great job in tackling these

issues and you can definitely see an improvement.

But there’s still more to be done on issues like

Assessment and Feedback ratings, which still score

poorly. The teaching is generally fantastic here, but

how can students progress if they are not shown

clearly how and where to make improvements?

The Union team

Alongside Nat, the student body also elected three other new faces to fill the key student officer posts. These are (from left to right):

VP Academic Representation Priya Pallan

VP Student Activities ‘Greenwood’ Joel Brasher-Jones

VP Community Welfare Teresa Sam



All Our Own Work is a remarkably diverse collection of

work produced by Brunel staff, students and members

of the public, including ceramics, sculpture, painting

and jewellery, all created through the Arts Centre’s open

access courses. The exhibition’s launch evening kicked off

with a prize giving ceremony for the best examples of 2D

and 3D work, as well as student arts achievement awards.

Jay Wilkinson, director of the Arts Centre, began

the ceremony with a speech, exclaiming she was

“overwhelmed at the wealth of talent of everyone who

attends the classes.” Jay also announced the introduction

of the student Certificate of Achievement, which

recognises the commitment and personal development of

those students who have dedicated non-academic time

to improving their artistic or performing skills throughout

their studies, as well as showing progress in their artform.

The prize for the Most Outstanding Work went to Mary

Clarke (pictured below right), a member of the public,

for her painting, ‘Waterfall’. Mary was clearly shocked to

have won, and her acceptance was moving to hear: “I’ve

been coming to these classes for quite a long time. I’ve

given up my day job to focus on my art so this is great! As

you could see I was very surprised.”

Anthony Piper, a third year mechanical engineering

student, was one of four to receive a Certificate of

Achievement. Anthony has been taking the Centre’s

pottery classes for three years: “Of my first 50 bowls only

two of them were ok – it takes practice.” When asked

how he came up with the idea for his recent project, a

series of ceramic-thrown fountains, he said: “My mother

bought a hand-built one for about s240, and I thought,

‘I could do that’! My grandmother also wanted one, so

one of these is for her.”

All Our Own Work is on display until 17 June 2009,

from 9.30am to 5pm, Mon-Fri. Entry is free.

The winnersOutstanding Work: Mary Clark, member of the public 3D Exhibition: Maria Rayment, member of the public; Oyindamola Showole, Business School student 2D Exhibition: Rebecca Richardson, member of the public; Jasdeep Rai, Biomedical Sciences student Certificates of Achievements: Antony Piper, Hiren Kotadia, Anusha Choolun, James Lovett

All Their Own Work

Staff, students and members of the

public all united this April for the

opening of the All Our Own Work

exhibition at the Beldam gallery.

Emma Fitness reports on the

exhibition’s opening and meets some

of this year’s prize-winners.




“I have been the Branch Manager at the ‘new’ HSBC Bank since

January and I work with a dedicated and professional team who

support me in the day-to-day running of the branch.

What many people don’t realise is that the Brunel HSBC is actually

a fully operational retail branch, and is by no means just a service

for students: we cater for everyone in the Brunel community,

as well as those from the local area. We have a team of fully

qualified advisors who can help provide financial solutions to all

of your needs, and we offer a complete suite of products and

services that you would expect to find in any high street branch,

including mortgages, savings, insurances and financial planning.

We also offer an extensive suite of modern equipment that allows

you to complete transactions and manage your finances on-site.

I am very excited that I have been given the opportunity to re-

launch our Brunel branch and, to mark the occasion, I will be

holding an Open Day for staff and students in May, where you

will have the opportunity to meet my team of advisors, plus our

Financial Planning and Premier Managers.

However, you are welcome to drop in at any time and my team will be delighted to discuss exactly what we have to offer. I look forward to meeting you.”

In the first in a series of features highlighting and promoting the services that benefit our staff and students, we meet denise Burns, Brunel HSBC’s new manager, to find out what the branch has to offer and to mark its Open day re-launch in may.

Your Brunel: HSBC


132181 0209

26-29 MAy 2009


Express May 2009

Documents

Transcript of Express May 2009