Research News - University of Exeter

ISSUE THREE • WINTER 2008
A material future
Fairtrade in focus
Are you being served?
Revisiting the Blitz
welcome
£20 million grant to set up a new research centre
a leading centre for climate change research
University of Exeter Business School
Welcome to the latest edition of Research News.
Six months ago, in the last issue of Research News we announced our commitment
to invest £80 million in science by 2012. Since then we have celebrated some major
successes and taken great steps to advance our research in science, engineering and
medicine.
In May we were awarded a £20 million grant to set up a new research centre
focused on improving care in major conditions including heart disease, diabetes,
mental illness and childhood disability. This major award from the Department of
Health was made to the Southwest Peninsula Clinical Research Collaboration, a
partnership between Peninsula Medical School, NHS South West and the
Universities of Exeter and Plymouth.
In September our reputation as a leading centre for climate change research achieved
a major boost as a result of hosting a major international conference with the
Met Office. 200 of the world’s leading climate change researchers – from physicists
to psychologists – met in Exeter for a three-day conference focusing on climate
change impacts and adaptations.
Over the coming academic year we will be making a number of new academic
appointments to support our five science strategy themes: climate change and
sustainable futures, extrasolar planets, functional materials, systems biology and
translational medicine, personalised healthcare and public health. In this issue
we share with you some of the exciting developments in our functional materials
research.
We are also making strides in our research on business, finance and economics.
We have re-launched the University of Exeter Business School and have appointed
a new head, Professor Richard Lamming.
Professor Roger Kain CBE, FBA
Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Research and Knowledge Transfer, University of Exeter
Research News is written and edited by Liz French, Sarah Hoyle and Esther White, Press & PR Office, University of Exeter.
Design and publication by the Design & Publications Office, University of Exeter. For comments on the magazine, including
suggestions for future issues, please contact the Press and PR Office on +44 (0)1392 262062 or pressoffi[email protected]
Front cover image: Tim Pestridge. With thanks to flybe for page 7 image.
news
RESEARCH NEWS • WINTER 2008
Research shows link between plastics chemical and disease
A research team from the
Peninsula Medical School and
the Universities of Exeter,
Plymouth and Iowa, has found
evidence linking Bisphenol A
(BPA) to diabetes and heart
disease in adults.
This research was published
in the Journal of the American
Medical Association and it is
the first time that evidence has
emerged of the association
between higher BPA levels
and disease in adults.
BPA is a controversial chemical
commonly used in food and
drink containers. It has
previously caused concerns
over health risks to babies,
as it is present in some babies’
bottles.
The research team analysed
information from the US
government’s National Health
and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004,
the only large-scale data
available on BPA concentrations
excreted in urine.
The analysis found that the 25
per cent of the population with
the highest BPA levels were
more than twice as likely to have
heart disease and/or diabetes,
compared to the 25 per cent with
the lowest BPA levels. Higher
BPA levels were also associated
with clinically abnormal liver
enzyme concentrations.
Professor Tamara Galloway of
the School of Biosciences said:
“Our results illustrate how
important human bio-monitoring
programmes such as NHANES
are in providing high quality
information on the extent of
human exposure to common
chemicals such as BPA, allowing
us to explore the relationship
between exposure and health
outcomes more fully.”
While this study has identified
a statistical association between
BPA and adult diseases for the
first time, much more research
is needed. Future work needs
to exclude the small possibility
that the association is due to
some other unstudied factor.
Brisk walk could help chocoholics
avoid snacking
The urge to eat high energy
sugar snacks is common for
many and contributes to
weight gain. Research by
Professor Adrian Taylor and
Anita Oliver (MSc student), of
the School of Sport and Health
Sciences, has found that a walk
of just fifteen minutes can
reduce chocolate cravings.
Following three days of
abstinence, 25 regular chocolateeaters were asked to either
complete a 15-minute brisk
walk on one day or rest on
another. They then engaged in
two tasks – a mental challenge
and then opening a chocolate
bar – that induced chocolate
cravings. During and for up to
10 minutes after exercise, selfreported cravings were lower
than following rest. Exercise
also limited increases in cravings
in response to the two tasks.
Professor Taylor comments:
“Our ongoing work consistently
shows that brief bouts of
physical activity reduce cigarette
cravings, but this is the first
study to link exercise to
reduced chocolate cravings.
Neuroscientists have suggested
common brain processes
between drug and food
addictions, and it may be that
exercise effects brain chemicals
that help to regulate mood and
cravings. This could be good
news for people who struggle
to manage their cravings for
sugary snacks and want to
lose weight.”
The research was published
in the journal Appetite.
South West hill farming under threat
The fragile economic viability of
hill farming in the south west of
England, already threatened by
years of poor returns, may be
made worse by the unintended
consequences of the new Single
Payment Scheme (SPS), a new
study has found. The report, by
the University of Exeter, Duchy
College and Cumulus
Consultants Ltd, paints a bleak
picture of the future for the
South West’s sheep and cattle
hill farmers. The report argues
that an uncertain future for hill
farming is also threatening the
future of some of the South
West’s most treasured
landscapes.
Martin Turner of the University
of Exeter, who led the research,
which was commissioned by the
Duchy of Cornwall and
Dartmoor and Exmoor National
Park Authorities, said: “Hill
farmers are rightly expected to
deliver a wide range of ‘public
goods’, to support wildlife for
example, alongside their farming
activities. However, our work
has shown that their current
financial position is already far
from robust, and that the
projected cut-back in public
support over the next few years
will further compromise the
viability of some of these
businesses. Our research calls
into question the longer-term
future of traditional hill farming
systems unless further targeted
support can be found.”
ONE
news
New evidence debunks ‘stupid’
Neanderthal myth
New research has shown that
early stone tool technologies
developed by our species, Homo
sapiens, were no more efficient
than those used by Neanderthals.
Published in the Journal of Human
Evolution, the discovery debunks
a textbook belief held by
archaeologists for more than
60 years.
The UK and US team spent three
years recreating stone tools known
as ‘flakes,’ which were wider tools
originally used by both Neanderthals
and Homo sapiens, and ‘blades,’ a
narrower stone tool later
adopted by Homo sapiens.
The development of blades by
Homo sapiens during their
colonisation of Europe from
Africa approximately 40,000
years ago has traditionally been
thought to be a dramatic
technological advance. Some
believe it helped Homo sapiens
out-compete, and eventually
eradicate, their Stone Age
cousins. The team compared the
number of tools produced,how
much cutting-edge was created,
the efficiency in consuming raw
material and how long tools lasted.
They found no statistical difference
between the efficiency of the two
technologies. In fact, their findings
showed that in some respects the
flakes favoured by Neanderthals
were more efficient than the
blades adopted by Homo sapiens.
Metin Eren, an MA Experimental
Archaeology student at the
University of Exeter and lead
author on the paper comments:
“Our research disputes a major
pillar holding up the long-held
assumption that Homo sapiens
were more advanced than
Neanderthals. When we think of
Neanderthals, we need to stop
thinking in terms of ‘stupid’ or
‘less advanced’ and more in
terms of ‘different’.”
Equal pay
still eludes
women in the
boardroom
New research by the
University’s School of
Psychology and the Centre
for Leadership studies,
presented at the annual
meeting of the US Academy
of Management, has
discovered that female
executives earn smaller
performance-related bonuses
than their male counterparts.
The median total remuneration
of the women in the study –
including bonuses – was
£257,000 a year, 19 per cent
less than the £316,000 paid
to the men. The study showed
that women are rewarded
by a significantly lower bonus
when the company is doing
well but they are also
punished less when company
performance is poor.
Clara Kulich, the lead author
commented “Men tend to
be more confident and will
go for a pay package that
increases a lot when the
company does well, whereas
women don’t want to earn
much less if it does badly.”
This could have a significant
impact on the future prospects
of women directors by
reinforcing a mind-set that
believes because they tend to
earn less, they are somehow
inferior to men in the
boardroom.
Study shows rise in dolphin, whale, and porpoise deaths
A study by Exeter’s School of
Biosciences and Cornwall
Wildlife Trust, published in the
journal Biodiversity and
Conservation, has revealed a
disturbing rise in the number of
whales, dolphins and porpoises
found dead on Cornish beaches.
The frequency of these
mammals, collectively known as
cetaceans, found stranded on
beaches in Cornwall has
increased with a sharp rise in the
last eight years. After analysing
TWO
nearly 100 years of data, the
researchers believe this could, in
part, be due to more intensive
fishing.
The research team analysed
records of 2,257 cetacean
strandings from 1911 to 2006
from around Cornwall’s north
and south coasts and the Isles of
Scilly. They found a marked
increase from the early 1980s,
with common dolphins and
harbour porpoises being the
worst-affected species. In total,
fewer than 50 cetacean
strandings a year occurred in
Cornwall in the 1980s but
numbers since 2000 have ranged
from 100 to 250 per annum.
The research revealed that since
1990, at least 61% of incidents
in Cornwall are the result of
fishing activity, with animals
being caught up in nets in a
phenomenon known as
‘bycatch’. The seas around
Cornwall are known to be a
major hotspot for large scale
fisheries, with many vessels
coming from other EU nations.
Dr Brendan Godley of the
University’s Cornwall Campus
said: “Strandings have increased
in recent years and the majority
are attributable to bycatch in
marine fisheries. This is clearly a
major issue that needs to be
addressed by all stakeholders
from Government and the
fishing industry in addition to
conservation organisations.”
news
RESEARCH NEWS • WINTER 2008
Tree rings reveal impact of past
climate change
Tree rings are helping scientists to
unlock 10,000 years of climate
change history.
Using 7,500 year-old Irish bog
oaks, Exeter’s Professor Chris
Turney worked with a team of
scientists to measure changes in
the radioactive version of carbon
preserved in the tree rings.
These records from trees
preserved in peat bogs give a
precise record of the amount of
sunshine each year.
The researchers mapped the
records from bog trees against
Ireland’s comprehensive
archaeological records. This
revealed the dramatic impact of
climate on past human
populations, which were forced
to radically change their lifestyles
during times of climate change.
This included not only mass
migration but also groups of
people building defences to
protect themselves through
difficult times.
Professor Turney said: “This is
a fantastic example of how we
can get lessons from the past.
Relatively small changes in
climate seem to drive massive
changes in people’s behaviour.
When the chips are down, people
become more defensive and look
to protect what few resources
they have. It’s not a very positive
omen for the future.”
Digital Islam
The University is helping to
drive the Government agenda to
make more of the UK’s Islamic
texts available online.
This research found that around
10,000 Arabic and Persian texts
are available online, but are
difficult to retrieve and access.
The report recommends
creating a central portal on the
internet, leading scholars and
students to a broad range of
Islamic Studies texts. It also
suggests that more material
from Islamic websites is
archived. Ahmed Abu-Zayed
of the Institute of Arab and
Islamic Studies World
Documentation Unit said,
“It would help academics to
accurately reference what is
a growing subject, as well as
benefiting the UK’s Muslim
community.”
Researchers identified existing
digitised resources available for
Islamic Studies. They analysed
how they were used by looking
at reading lists from libraries and
universities around the country
and examined recently
completed doctoral dissertations.
University Librarian Paul
Auchterlonie said, ‘If areas were
searchable by author and title
with links to web- sites it would
eliminate the need to digitise
the texts and exploit underused
research material.’
The project was funded by Joint
Information Systems Committee
following the Government’s
designation of Islamic studies as
a strategically important subject.
b, c and d are planets orbiting the star HR 8799
Astronomers capture first
images of multi-planet system
around another star
A team of researchers from
Canada, the US and the UK
has become the first to
capture images of a multiplanet system around a
normal star, much like our
own solar system. Their
findings were published
online by the leading journal
Science.
More than 200 planets orbiting
stars other than the Sun have
been detected indirectly in
the past decade. However,
this is the first time that
astronomers have been able
to capture an image of a
system of planets outside
our solar system (known as
extrasolar planets).
The images show three
planets, each several times
larger than Jupiter, orbiting a
star known as HR 8799. The
star is 130 light years from
the Earth in the constellation
of Pegasus. It is faintly visible
to the naked eye and is
encircled by a ring of dust.
With a mass of 1.5 times that
of the Sun, it is intrinsically
brighter than the Sun and, at
around 60 million years old,
significantly younger.
Dr Jennifer Patience of the
Astrophysics Group at the
University of Exeter and coauthor on the paper, said:
“We’ve been trying to
capture images of extrasolar
planets around stars for many
years and now we have
pictures of three at once.
This is an incredibly exciting
moment for astronomy and
a key step in the journey
towards understanding what
is out there, beyond our
own solar system.”
THREE
A material future
We are looking at
ways of replicating
nature’s structures...
Imagine a single CD-sized disk that can store
the entire collection of the British Library,
new dental techniques learned from a beetle’s
shell and a curtain that could save people
from the devastating effects of an explosion.
Bizarre as they sound, these possibilities are
fast becoming a reality through research at
the University of Exeter.
Photonic Materials – taking inspiration
from Nature
Iridescent butterfly wings and a super-white
species of beetle might not seem to have much
in common with TV screens, DVDs or lasers.
But in each case, understanding the way they
operate is dependent on the study of the
elemental particles of light known as photons.
Artificial bone, solar panels, computers,
mobile phones and data storage; all rely on
functional materials – materials whose
properties derive from and are controlled by
their underlying design.
Photonics is now a major research specialism
of the University’s School of Physics. Founded
by Professor Roy Sambles FRS in 1983, the
team now comprises about 20 research
scientists. One exciting area of research is that
of photonics in nature, including the iridescence
created in some butterfly wings and the
Cyphochilus beetle’s bright white shell. Evolution
has produced complex surface structures in
the butterflies’ wings and the beetles’ shell
which interact with photons to produce very
intense colours without the aid of pigment.
Professor Sambles explains: “We are looking at
ways of replicating nature’s structures by using
novel fabrication techniques, such as additive
layer manufacturing, to open up a wide range
of possible applications from fabrics to
camouflage, dentistry to paper production
and even new forms of makeup.”
Functional materials contribute to
information and communications technology,
transport, healthcare, defence and energy
production. e Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) commits £200 million a year to
its development and last year the Engineering
and Physical Research Council spent £56.3
million funding materials research. But in
a recent report the DTI identified a lack of
interdisciplinary research as an issue that is
preventing the UK from fulfilling its potential.
To help the UK play a lead role in developing
functional materials, the University is investing
heavily in this area as part of its new £80
million science strategy. is involves bringing
together research expertise from blue-skies
research in Physics to new manufacturing
techniques being developed in Engineering.
Professor Ken Evans, Head of the School of
Engineering, Computing and Mathematics
comments: “e value of functional materials
lies in their enabling capabilities – their
economic impact comes from the effects of
the devices, products and systems that result
from them. ey also provide a fascinating
arena for study in which much of the
underlying science has yet to be explored.
is is a very exciting time for us to be
building on this area of our research.”
FOUR
Exeter engineers use metamaterials
to create bomb-proof ‘curtains’
Exeter engineers are developing blast curtains
made from a ‘smart’ material that could
minimize injuries inflicted by a terrorist
attack. e team is led by Professor Ken Evans
in conjunction with spin-out company Auxetix
Ltd, to create special ‘auxetic’ materials to
catch glass fragments and debris blown
through windows by an explosion.
Bomb blasts cause damage by generating a
pressure shockwave, which shatters materials
in its path. e majority of those injured in an
attack are injured by the flying debris that
results. e fibres in conventional fabrics react
RESEARCH NEWS • WINTER 2008
to this pressure by stretching and tearing as
the pressure pulls them taut, which prevents
them from catching debris effectively.
However, when auxetic materials stretch they
show a unique property; they get fatter rather
than thinner. is means that under tension
a large number of pores open up across the
surface of the material allowing the shock
wave through, but leaving it intact to catch
glass and other debris.
Nanomaterials to provide ‘memories
of the future’
Imagine a video of your whole life from birth
to death on something as small as a creditcard. Exeter's engineers and physicists led by
Professors David Wright and Rob Hicken are
working together to develop new nanoscale
materials that could make this a reality.
Engineer Professor David Wright says: “e
amount of data generated and stored in the
world is ever-increasing, so we need to build
the capacity of memory devices and at the
same time, for environmental and portability
reasons, make them smaller and consume less
power. Conventional approaches to data storage
such as magnetic hard-disks, DVDs and 'Flash'
memory sticks are facing difficult technological
barriers to further progress. Exeter is working
with research laboratories from around the
world to develop new materials and
techniques, such as scanning
probe based memories and
magnetic random access
memories that circumvent
the limitations of
conventional storage
technologies.”
FIVE
Fairtrade
Buying coffee, tea, chocolate, bananas and
other goods bearing the fairtrade logo has
become a habit for many. However, little is
known about what drives consumers to choose
fairtrade products. Research by the University
of Exeter’s Department of Sociology and
Philosophy is helping to shed light on the
motives of fairtrade shoppers.
is Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
funded project has enabled sociologists to examine
fairtrade promotional material and conduct
interviews with people buying fairtrade products in
England and Germany. It is the first international
qualitative study of fairtrade consumption.
e researchers found that through fairtrade
people were able to perceive and express
themselves as morally responsible citizens. Buying
fairtrade was not just about achieving a better life
for producers in the developing world but also
about the consumers reassuring themselves and
others of their personal integrity.
Project leader, Dr Matthias Varul comments:
“ere is a general feeling that not buying fairtrade
would seem ‘out of character’. is is an important
indicator that these consumers have already made
fairtrade a habit and will be unlikely to be put
off by the current rise in the
cost of living.”
e research also found that
opting for fairtrade products is
embedded in a wider set of
lifestyle choices associated with
academically educated liberal
middle-class culture. ese social
networks also tend towards
other ethical and political
concerns such as green issues
and human rights.
Dr Varul sees this as a potential
problem for further growth. He
explains “It may be difficult to
SIX
convince working class people to buy Fairtrade as it
still tends to come across as a thing for middle-classdo-gooders.”
UK fairtrade sales are three times higher than in
Germany. In 2006 the UK imported more than two
thirds of the world’s fairtrade tea – and our market
share of fairtrade coffee was an extraordinary 20
per cent. In part this is likely to be a result of the
much higher price of fairtrade products in
Germany. However, the study revealed further
factors: in Britain, fairtrade’s largest sales are
through supermarkets whereas in Germany
networks of ‘world shops’ (Weltläden) are the main
outlets. ese specialist shops are deeply associated
with particular activist lifestyles. Dr Varul adds:
“It is easier in Britain to buy fairtrade products
without being associated with ‘green politics’ or
feel too closely aligned to an activist subculture
that you may not wholly identify with. is plays a
major role in widening the market appeal of
fairtrade whereas Germany’s niche outlets hamper
the development of fairtrade overall.”
e researchers recommend that for fairtrade
organisations to grow in the UK, they need to go
beyond targeting individual consumers and to
establish fairtrade as a standard requirement in
supermarkets and other institutions. In
Sainsbury’s all bananas, including the
supermarket’s own budget brand, are fairtrade.
e study suggests that German fairtrade should
try to grow from its established base. ey need to
translate their growing political support into a
commitment from mainstream retailers.
Dr Varul concludes: “Fairtrade in the last few years
has become a success story, particularly in Britain.
Our research encourages the fairtrade movement
to reflect on the best ways to drive future growth
of fairtrade both in terms of economic and moral
sustainability. Both countries need to constantly
monitor how they live up to their moral
credentials.”
RESEARCH NEWS • WINTER 2008
Are you being served?
Service exists everywhere. Each time we
walk into a bank, make a call on our mobile
phone, dine at a restaurant or stay in a
hotel, we are participating in a service.
Despite this, few people realise that more than
70% of western economies are now service led.
It is a sector that is growing rapidly, and global
organisations are increasingly defining what
they do in terms of the service they provide,
rather than the products they make.
Professor Irene Ng, Director of the University’s
Centre for Service Research and AIM Lead
Service Fellow, is carrying out major research
into this area. Along with a team of three
research assistants, she is investigating various
business-to-business (B2B) contracts from a
diverse set of service organisations in the UK
and abroad. e research focuses on
Performance-Based Contracting (PBC), a new
concept, and is funded through a combination
of grants from the Economic and Social and
the Engineering and Physical Sciences research
councils.
Professor Ng says, “ere is a perception
that ‘service’ is all about the ‘soft, flaky stuff’.
ere isn’t an obvious recognition of the fact
that Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematical (STEM) tools and techniques are
useful in understanding service delivery,
particularly for industries where people (rather
than widgets) deliver value to the customer.
In addition, there is an attitude amongst
organisations that ‘service just happens’.”
Professor Ng continues: “Service depends
critically on people, technology and the cocreation of value between the firm and the
customer. Firms need to recognise service as
a deliberate and organised system, not merely
the ‘front end bit’ that ‘just happens,’ and that
service performance is about service delivery
in a systematic, scientific manner. It is a
contracting mechanism that allows the
customer to pay only when the firm has
performed, and it is starting to re-shape
how service contracts are being formed.”
To explain what PBC is, Professor Ng says:
“Imagine contracting (and being paid) to
deliver English lessons to a student not in
terms of the number of training hours, but
on the basis of how many English words are
used by the student after the lessons are over.
For a firm to be confident in delivering such
a performance, it must possess the ability to
understand and deliver co-created value with
the customer. It must be able to manage the
customer as well as themselves. e ability to
do that would distinguish excellent service
providers from the mediocre ones”.
An example of PBC in industry is Rolls Royce,
which provides services to support the
engines it manufactures. is service is
remunerated on the basis of how many
hours the engine is in the air – a concept
known as ‘power by the hour’.
Professor Ng’s research will uncover the
critical attributes of service co-creation that
will change the way organisations structure
themselves towards delivering on
performance. Such attributes will enable
the provider to be responsible for the
customer’s behaviour and relationship in
service delivery and performance. It will also
be able to separate good service providers
who can provide performance through value
co-creation from those who do not know how
to do it. Ultimately, Professor Ng’s research
in service value co-creation in PBC could
move industry from being static and
product-centric to having the ability to
deliver performance in a service economy.
SEVEN
Revisiting
the Blitz
by Professor Richard Overy
What does heavy bombing from the air do to the
societies that suffer it? is is a question often
asked in the context of contemporary areas of
conflict in the Middle East or central Asia, but it
has hardly been explored for much of the
bombing during the Second World War, which in
Western Europe alone accounted for an estimated
650,000 dead between 1940 and 1945. is
shocking figure comprises those killed in the
bombing of Britain (60,000) and Germany
(c490,000), but also around 60,000 killed in
Italy and a further 60,000 in France. e sheer
scale of these losses - and they do not include the
injured or the dispossessed – suggests that there
is room for a proper political, cultural and social
survey of the direct impact of bombing on those
who survived it.
Our Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
funded project on ‘Bombing, States and Peoples in
Western Europe 1940-1945’ is a three-year
programme of research involving investigators in
the Universities of Exeter, Reading and Newcastle.
ere are a number of key objectives, but one of the
most important is to draw effective comparisons
between the experience of bombing in the four
different states. ey are now all key members of
an increasingly integrated European Union and it
is difficult to imagine now the intensity of conflict
70 years ago that led to widespread civilian deaths
and urban destruction from the air on an
unprecedented scale. We want to explore the
common features in the response to bombing as
well as highlighting some evident differences.
In Italy and France, whose bombing story has been
almost entirely forgotten; the issue of ‘friend or foe’
was at the centre, for these were states being
bombed by their potential liberators. After Italy
surrendered and then joined the Allies in 1943,
half the country was still being bombed by US
and British air forces and most of the damage
and victims date from the last two years of war.
In France bombing was directed at German
production and military installations, but there
was also concentrated bombing of towns such as
Le Havre, Caen, St. Nazaire and Lorient where
again the local population had to accept the costs of
bomb attack as the price of liberation from German
occupation. Not surprisingly, the reactions were
often ambiguous and sometimes hostile,
capable of producing unpredictable political or
cultural responses.
In Britain and Germany there has been more
research on bombing, though much less than
might be expected on the impact of the Blitz.
e traditional image of a country pulling together
because of the bombing, crossing class divides,
strengthened in resolve, although not simply myth,
disguises a number of social phenomena which
paint a rather different picture. Looting and petty
crime increased substantially; in many cases class
conflict was likely to be intensified by bombing
rather than reduced. Tension between authorities
and local residents took many forms (including
the famous storming of the Savoy Hotel in
London’s Strand by an angry crowd demanding
proper air-raid protection). e German case also
reveals a patchwork of reactions, and a greater
propensity to complain or show dissent than
the familiar image of a totalitarian state has
suggested. e political reactions in Germany
are particularly complex since, for at least some
Germans, bombing also represented a form of
liberation or a form of retribution and not
mere victimhood.
ese many issues form the core of our project.
e end result will be a better understanding of the
full range of the bombing experience and of its
diverse, ambiguous and often paradoxical expression
at the point of bomb attack, rather than the often
mythologised version presented by the story of
memory and memorialisation after the war.
Professor Richard Overy is based in the Department of History, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
EIGHT
RESEARCH NEWS • WINTER 2008
People
Philip Hensher Associate Professor of English was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Northern
Clemency, published by Fourth Estate.
Professor Pete Vukusic of the School of Physics gave a
prestigious Lord Kelvin Award lecture at the BA Festival of Science.
He shared his knowledge of photonics in nature with a packed hall
at the University of Liverpool in September.
New Director of the University of Exeter Business School
Dr Hugh Roberts, Senior Lecturer in French, has been jointly
awarded the first annual Malcolm Bowie Prize, for the best article
in French studies by an early career researcher published in 2007.
e University of
Exeter Business School
has appointed Richard
Lamming as its new
Director. Professor Lamming officially
took up the post at the start of the new
academic year, on 1 October 2008.
Management with Economics just
outside the Top 10. And, in the
Independent, Exeter ranked 7th for
Business Studies and 11th for
Accounting and Finance. is was
out of more than 100 institutions
nationally.
Previously Professor Lamming was
Director of the School of Management
at Southampton University.
Professor Lamming comments: ‘‘I am
delighted to be moving to Exeter at
this exciting time and look forward to
enhancing the ambitious plans for the
Business School which are already in
place. I am honoured to have been
asked to lead the School through this
very significant growth phase: there
are clearly great opportunities ahead
for staff and students alike.’’
e University had already announced an
unprecedented investment programme
of £25 million in the Business School
infrastructure. e School also celebrated
some excellent results in the recently
published league tables. e Guardian
placed Exeter 4th for Business and
Professor Nick Groom of English was appointed a Fellow of the
Royal Society for Arts.
Professor Craig Williams of the School of Sport and Health
Sciences has been made a Fellow of the British Association of
Sport and Exercise Science (BASES). The award acts as a marker
of recognition for ‘esteemed professional achievement, skills,
knowledge and service to BASES and the sport and exercise
community.’ There are now six BASES Fellows in the School.
Emeritus Professor of French Malcolm Cook has been
promoted to Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.
Dr John Hunt has been awarded a prestigious Royal Society
University Research Fellowship, bringing the total number of
Royal Society Research Fellows in the School of Biosciences to
seven. The School has also appointed two new NERC fellows,
Dr Alastair Harborne and Dr Tom Pike.
Dr David Roesner, Head of Drama, has been awarded the
Thurnau Prize for Music Theatre Research 2007 in Germany.
Senior Lecturer in Politics, Dr Alison Harcourt has been
appointed Jean Monnet Chair in the Information Society by the
European Commission (2008 - 2013).
Cornwall based University of Exeter PhD student and former
Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Robert Lambert has
been awarded an MBE for his services to the police.
Interview by email
Name: Melanie Williams
Age: 50
Job: Head of Law,
Cornwall Campus
Education: University of
Cambridge BA and MA
Laws, University of Sussex
MA English Literature
Based in: School of Law,
Tremough Campus,
Penryn, Cornwall
What has been the most rewarding moment of
your career so far? Coming to Cornwall and being
involved in developing a new branch of the School of Law
in such a fantastic setting. The whole process was pretty
hairy to begin with - for the first months, I had no
colleagues and no building. It was a real delight to see the
whole thing take shape, students going to their first
lectures, setting up the student law society and also to see
the professionalism and dedication of new colleagues in
making the whole thing ‘work’ - quite magical really.
We have a terrific, lively and inspiring 'team' of legal
academics here in Cornwall.
What has been your major research
achievement?
I entered the profession pretty late and within a couple of
years won an AHRC research leave award. Attached to a
one term sabbatical, this gave me approximately nine
months research time and I saw it as a kind of 'make or
break' opportunity, given my late entry into the profession.
With three young children at home, I realised I would need
some 'space', so I bought a second hand static caravan,
moved boxloads of research material into it and did a full
5 day week there for the whole period. This resulted in
my book, Empty Justice - One Hundred Years of Law,
Literature and Philosophy, which received very
good reviews.
What do you hope to achieve within the School of
Law in Cornwall? Apart from delivering the qualifying LLB we
are in the process of developing a diverse range of specialist UG
modules and hope to create some innovative PG opportunities.
We also hope to develop opportunities for 'knowledge transfer' in
the local and wider community - for example through a series of
public lecture and debates.
If you had not been an academic, what would
you be? I am interested in everything, from philosophy to
psychology to science, art, journalism - there aren’t enough
lifetimes. I might have enjoyed being a novelist or poet or
painter if I thought I had the talent!
What do you like to do in your spare time? I love
walking in the wilds with my family when I get the chance
I also have a great love of gentle cycling. Sometimes we go
camping as we are possibly the most incompetent campers in
the world and find the absurdity of placing ourselves in that
position, where brewing a cup of tea is a major challenge, a
refreshing diversion. I do enjoy making attempts at writing
poetry as well as reading good poetry sometimes too.
What do you like best about living in Cornwall?
The views, the sea, the evocative atmosphere. I am half Cornish
but have only lived here since joining the University of Exeter.
All but a couple of distant relatives are dead - but I am aware
of all sorts of associations with names and places and some
tragic family stories in wild landscapes, very Hardyesque.
NINE
Research Briefs
Dr Tim Coles of the Business
School has led a team that has
won the funding to establish an
Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC) Capacity
Building Cluster in Sport,
Leisure and Tourism. The grant
is worth £1.4 million and
establishes Exeter as the leading
university for ESRC funded
research in this vital area, ahead
of the 2012 Olympics. The grant
is divided into a number of
different areas yet every
element involves the University
working in partnership with
businesses both locally and
nationally.
The Mood Disorders Centre
(School of Psychology) has been
awarded £3.6 million to create a
new, internationally-competitive
research facility aimed at
improving psychological
interventions for mood and
personality disorders, such as
depression and bipolar disorder.
Led by Professor Ed Watkins,
the project is one of nine to
receive awards totalling almost
£30 million under the Wellcome
Trust's Capital Awards in
Biomedical Sciences initiative.
The celebrated photographer
Hugo Glendinning has won a
prestigious Fellowship in the
Creative and Performing Arts
worth £237,000 from the Arts
and Humanities Research
Council. He will work with the
Centre for Intermedia in the
School of Arts, Languages and
Literature over the next three
years on a photographic project
entitled ‘Watching the
Detectives’.
Professor Gero Steinberg of the
School of Biosciences has been
awarded £401,175 from the
Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council for
research on a fungus linked to
crop disease. The study is
entitled ‘The Role of Myosins in
Targeting of Chitin Synthases to
Apical Growth Regions during
Growth and Infection of Ustilago
maydis.’
TEN
Dr Elias Avramidis of the School
of Education and Lifelong
Learning has been awarded
£175,000 by the Economic and
Social Research Council to
investigate the social position of
pupils accredited with significant
special needs and their perceived
self-concept. The study will also
identify teaching strategies
conducive to the promotion of
social interaction between
heterogeneous pupils and the
development of friendships.
Dr Stuart Bearhop of the School
of Biosciences is investigating the
interactions of migratory birds,
from individuals to populations,
thanks to a £299,831 grant from
the Natural Environment
Research Council.
Professor Alan Gregory and
Professor Ian Tonks of the
Business School have been
awarded £78,135 by the
Leverhulme Trust to undertake
work into why, despite all the
evidence on acquisition failure,
UK firms continue to engage in
takeover activity. Using data on
directors’ share trading history
and their remuneration, the form
of payment for the target
company and the subsequent
performance of the merged firms,
they hope to provide an answer.
Professor David Butler of the
School of Engineering, Computing
and Mathematics is undertaking
research that could help improve
the way we manage water
systems in the future. He has
been awarded £437,733 by the
Engineering and Physical Sciences
Council for a project entitled
‘Regional Visions of Integrated
Sustainable Infrastructure
Optimised for Neighbourhoods’.
Professor Roger Eston and Dr
Ann Rowlands of the School of
Sport and Health Sciences have
won a £22,090 Unilever
Research grant to continue with
their studies to develop and
validate a physical activity
monitor to identify physical
activity signature patterns.
Dr Richard Noakes, Professors
Alan Booth and Joseph Melling
of the School of Humanities
and Social Sciences have secured
£300,000 from the Arts and
Humanities Research Council
with Porthcurno Telegraph
Museum on an 18-month project
to explore the social and cultural
history of telecommunications in
late nineteenth and early
twentieth century Cornwall.
Scientists from the Peninsula
Medical School and School of
Psychology are part of a UK
team investigating the
effectiveness of Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
The project has been awarded
£1.2 million by the National
Institute for Health Research
Health Technology Assessment
programme for a clinical trial
to investigate the effectiveness
of CBT for patients with
depression who do not
respond to treatment with
antidepressants.
Dr Frédéric Pont of the School
of Physics has won £476,725
from the Science and
Technology Facilities Council
to help advance our
understanding of planets outside
our solar system – extrasolar
planets. His project is entitled
‘Discovery, Characterisation
and Understanding of Extrasolar
Telluric and Ice Planets with
Transits’.
Researchers in archaeology,
maritime ethnography and
Islamic history have secured
a three-year project entitled:
‘Maritime Ethnography of
the Gulf and the Red Sea
(500-1500): people, trade and
pilgrimage in the Western
Indian Ocean’. £749,301
from the Golden Web
Foundation has been awarded
to Professor Dionisius Agius
from the School of Humanities
and Social Sciences leading
the research.
CHARTER will develop an
e-repository and e-learning
module populated with digital
images from Special Collections
and the Bill Douglas Centre.
The Joint Information Systems
Committee awarded £77,049
to Ahmed Abu-Zayed, Jessica
Gardner, Sue Milward and
others (Academic Services,
with the Schools of Arts,
Languages and Literature,
Humanities and Social Sciences
and Geography, Archaeology
and Earth Resources).
Dr Felicity Matthews of the
School of Humanities and
Social Sciences has been
awarded £62,312 by the
Economic and Social Research
Council for ‘Steering the
British State - Emerging
Patterns of Governance and
the Public Service Agreement
Framework’. Drawing upon
literature within the field of
governance it will consider
the extent that the strategic
and operational capacity of
British government has been
transformed.
Professor Nicholas GoodrickClarke, School of Humanities
and Social Sciences, has been
awarded £490k over seven
years by the Blavatsky Trust to
Chair the Exeter Centre of
Esotericism (EXESESO). The
purpose of EXESESO is to foster
advanced research into historical
and comparative aspects of the
esoteric traditions from the
Hellenistic period in late
antiquity through the
Renaissance and early modern
period to the present.
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