Author: Dave Prichard

The city of Lincoln will host a series of free exhibitions showcasing work from talented young artists as part of the Ballard Arts Festival, which takes places next month.

Inspired by the novels of author J.G. Ballard, the festival invites art-lovers to visit six distinctive demonstrations by students from the University of Lincoln.

The week-long festival will take place from Monday 6th – Sunday 12th May 2013 and will inhabit various locations around central Lincoln, including Stokes of Lincoln and the Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory, with displays spanning a vast variety of media, from performance, painting and sculpture, to digital and sound design.

Andrew Bracey, Senior Lecturer at the Lincoln School of Art and Design, explained: “The Ballard Arts Festival represents a really exciting part of the University of Lincoln’s Fine Art course, when second year students take over venues in the city to put on exhibitions of their artwork. This year each exhibition is also the title of a J.G. Ballard novel and new art has been made by each student in relation to the themes and ideas explored in his books.”

J.G. Ballard was an English 20th Century novelist and short story writer, who became renowned for the literary distinctiveness and dystopian modernity of his work. His best-known works include the semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun (1984), which was later made into a film by Steven Spielberg.

Andrew Bracey said: “Ballard was selected as the uniting theme for the exhibitions as I believe his interests mirror a lot of the work that the students were making in the studios, such as entropy, dystopia and utopia, the modern landscape and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments. This series of exhibitions and events promises great ambition by the students, with lots of exciting and surprising developments currently taking place in the studios ready for the festival launch.”

The artists will display their work in six venues throughout the city, with each location hosting a private viewing event to celebrate the artists and their work. For more information visit http://ballardartfestival.wix.com/ballardartfestival.

The University of Lincoln is supporting a new arts festival which will take place in venues throughout the city.

Lincoln Inspired is a community-focused arts festival that is set to run from 7th to 12th May.

The festival will see a range of acts, shows, music, comedy, film, theatre and events take to the stage at a multitude of locations around Lincoln, including venues across the University of Lincoln’s Brayford Campus.

The Lincoln Performing Arts Centre (LPAC) will play host to several audio ‘Radioramas’ including The War of the Worlds, The Mighty Boosh and Talking Heads as well as a performance of Commuter Jazz.

Julie Ellerby, LPAC Marketing Manager, said: “Lincoln Inspired is a festival with the community at its heart, and here at LPAC we are very proud to be contributing to the festival programme. It has given us the opportunity to explore and experiment with something a little different by hosting a series of radio dramas in our Zing Café Bar.

“The festival is supported by a fantastic mix of theatres, cafes, pubs and arts organisations in the city, which we hope will encourage the people of Lincoln to visit places they may not have been to before, and try or see something which they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to without Lincoln Inspired.”

The University is also hosting a Twitter Breakfast on Friday 10th May, where a panel of Tweeters from local companies will discuss the most inspiring things about Lincoln. The breakfast will take place from 8am – 10am at the Book and Latte in the University’s Business and Law Building.

Zoe Homes, Marketing, Intelligence and Recruitment Officer at the University of Lincoln who has been selected as a panellist, said: “Lincoln is great for many reasons and our Twitter Breakfast aims to find out what people love most about our city. Anyone can join in on Twitter using the hashtag #LincolnInspired, or come along in person and get involved.”

On Saturday 11th May, street art will be showcased at the University’s Rotunda, and local artists and students will be exhibiting their work for the public to enjoy in the Atrium of the Main Admin Building.

Terry Hooley, a Lincolnshire artist who will be exhibiting his work at the University, said: “I jumped at the chance to get involved in the festival when I was approached by John Byford, who is running the exhibition. My work is Steampunk, which is quite abstract and something that Lincoln already has a close affinity with. I find Lincoln very open minded, especially the young talent at the University, and actually Lincoln Inspired is a very apt title. Lincoln has a very relaxed, creative flow and I am delighted to be involved with the festival – there really is something for everyone.”

The main aim of the festival is to support local artists, encourage new talent and to give the Lincoln community an opportunity to be inspired and celebrate creativity together.

The University is sponsoring the festival programme brochure which is currently being distributed around the city. Well-known names taking part include broadcaster and writer Lord Melvyn Bragg, comedian Mitch Benn and a special Doctor Who 50th anniversary celebration panel featuring writer Terrance Dicks, director Graeme Harper and actor Richard Franklin, who have all worked on the series.

Arts consultant Sara Bullimore, who is running the event with a team of volunteers, said: “The festival is not just about the big headline events, although we are delighted to have secured names like writers John Boyne and Simon Scarrow in our first year. It’s about inspiring people to come along, listen, join in or even have a go at writing and performing themselves.”

Tickets are available from the festival Box Office at Lincoln Drill Hall (01522 873894) or online at www.lincolndrillhall.com. Programme copies can be downloaded from the festival website at www.lincolninspired.co.uk.

For more information on sponsoring and supporting the Lincoln Inspired festival, please contact the team at hello@lincolninspired.co.uk or follow them on Twitter to stay up-to-date with the latest information @lincolninspired.

Visually impaired children could benefit from a revolutionary new computer game being developed by a team of neuroscientists and game designers.

Academics from the University of Lincoln, UK, are working with WESC, one of the UK’s most respected specialist schools for visually impaired children, to create and evaluate a new ‘visual search rehabilitation game’.

There are around 25,000 children in Britain – equating to two children per 1,000 – with a visual impairment of such severity they require specialist education support. The causes of blindness in children are extremely varied, but cerebral visual impairment (damage to areas of the brain associated with vision, rather than damage to the eye itself) is among the most common.

Researchers from Lincoln’s School of Psychology and School of Computer Science will work with staff and children from WESC – the specialist centre for visual impairment. The school and college, based in Exeter, has been providing education and care for young people with visual impairment since 1838 and is a designated High Performing Specialist School.

Together they have been awarded a grant worth around £130,000 for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) which will apply the very latest research in visual neuroscience to the rehabilitation of childhood cerebral visual impairment and special education.

Timothy Hodgson, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln, will lead the project.

Roger Mosey is the Acting Director of Vision, responsible for all of the BBC’s TV output and an Honorary Graduand of the University of Lincoln. He was the BBC’s Director of London 2012 – responsible for planning coverage of the Olympics across all genres and platforms. This included the Cultural Olympiad; major events in the build-up to the Games; and co-ordinating the BBC’s activities locally, nationally and globally. Roger’s previous roles include being Editor of Today on BBC Radio 4; Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live; Head of BBC Television News; and Director of Sport. Roger was born in Bradford in 1958 and educated at Bradford Grammar School, followed by Wadham College, Oxford, where he received a degree in Modern History and Modern Languages. After university he joined Pennine Radio, Bradford, as a Community Affairs Producer; and his BBC career began in 1980 when he joined BBC Radio Lincolnshire as a reporter.

Roger’s first job in network radio was on The Week In Westminster, and he then moved to Today as a producer and to the BBC’s New York bureau before becoming editor of PM in 1987. He was editor of Radio 4’s Today programme from March 1993 until his appointment as Controller of 5 Live at the beginning of 1997. Under Roger’s editorship, Today won Sony Gold Awards in 1994 and 1995, a British Environment and Media Award and was named Radio Programme of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild in 1995. Radio 5 Live was named the Sony National Radio Station of the Year 1998; and BBC Television News won a number of Royal Television Society awards for journalism – including Programme of the Year for Newsnight(2002) and the Ten O’Clock News (2004). The Ten O’Clock Newsalso received Bafta awards in both 2004 and 2005. Roger recruited James Naughtie to join the Today presenting team and introduced Nicky Campbell, Victoria Derbyshire and Richard Littlejohn to 5 Live. In his time in Sport he oversaw the coverage of the 2006 World Cup and the Beijing Olympics, as well as the return of Formula 1 to the BBC.

Roger led the Sport Creative Future project that put greater emphasis on digital media and which has delivered considerable growth in audiences online and through interactive services. His interests include football – he is an Arsenal season ticket holder – music and politics. He is a trustee of the National Media Museum in Bradford and of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was elected as an executive board member of the European Broadcasting Union in 2011-12. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Lincoln in 2011, and is a fellow of the Radio Academy.

Taking place in the Jackson Lecture Theatre, on the Brayford Campus, Lincoln University, starting at 6.15 pm.

They are free and open to the public.  There is no need to book.

Climate change could lead to dozens of lizard species becoming extinct within the next 50 years, according to new research published this week.

Globally it has been observed that lizards with viviparous reproduction (retention of embryos within the mother’s body) are being threatened by changing weather patterns. A new study suggests that the evolution of this mode of reproduction, which is thought to be a key successful adaptation, could, in fact, be the species’ downfall under global warming.

Dr Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln (UK), is the lead author of the paper detailing these amazing predictions, published in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Researchers, including academics from the University of Exeter, investigated the hypothesis that historical invasions of cold climates by Liolaemus lizards – one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates on earth – have only been possible due to their evolution to viviparity (live birth) from oviparity (laying eggs). Remarkably, once these species evolve viviparity, the process is mostly irreversible and they remain restricted to colder climates.

By analysing this evolutionary transition in the lizards’ reproductive modes and projecting the future impact of climate change, the scientists discovered that increasing temperatures in the species’ historically cold habitats would result in their areas of distribution being significantly reduced. As a consequence, if global warming continues at the same rate, viviparous lizards are facing extinction in the next few decades.

Dr Daniel Pincheira-Donoso is one of the few people in the world who works on the ecology and evolution of these lizard species.

He said: “Lizards’ reproduction is largely linked to climatic temperatures and viviparous species are usually found in cold environments. When reptiles initially moved to colder areas they needed to evolve emergency measures to succeed in these harsh places, and we believe viviparity is one of these key measures. However, this transition is mostly one-directional and unlikely to be reversed. Rapid changes in the environment’s temperature would demand rapid re-adaptations to secure the species’ survival. Through the research we found that over the next 50 years nearly half of the area where these species occur may disappear, causing multiple extinction due to climate change.”

Overall the conclusion is that although viviparity allowed lizards in the past to invade and adapt to live in cold environments, and was therefore a key trait for evolutionary success, it will now ultimately lead to multiple events of extinction.

Dr Pincheira-Donoso said: “These lizards are one of the most diverse groups of animals, and are able to adapt to remarkably diverse conditions. Unfortunately, a reduction in cold environments will reduce their areas of existence, which means that their successful evolutionary history may turn into a double-edged sword of adaptation. Their extinction would be an atrocious loss to biodiversity.”

Dr Dave Hodgson, from the University of Exeter, said: “Climate change must not be underestimated as a threat to modern patterns of biodiversity. Our work shows that lizard species which birth live young instead of laying eggs are restricted to cold climates in South America: high in the Andes or towards the South Pole. As the climate warms, we predict that these special lizard species will be forced to move upwards and towards the pole, with an increased risk of extinction.”

The work formed part of Dr Pincheira-Donoso’s post-doctoral work, which was funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

The paper ‘The evolution of viviparity opens opportunities for a lizard radiation but drives it into a climatic cul-de-sac’ is published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Dr Pincheira-Donoso will now continue his research at the University of Lincoln by developing projects to investigate the ecology of evolutionary adaptations and its interactions with human-induced climate change.

To read the full paper go to http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12052/abstract

With renowned folk such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Sir Isaac Newton and George Boole shaping Lincolnshire’s history, the University of Lincoln would like to rename campus buildings to reflect this rich heritage.

From the first brick laid in 1996, the University has grown at an exponential rate. Officially opened by The Queen it was the first new city centre campus to be built in the UK for decades.

To signify its impact on the city and wider region, the University of Lincoln is now looking for suggestions on what its main buildings should be called.

Vice Chancellor Mary Stuart said: “The first building created on the Brayford Campus marked a unique point in history and shaped the idea that Lincoln would be a university with a difference. Since my arrival in 2009 the University has driven forward its reputation as being an institution of innovation and enterprise with an emphasis on research and research-engaged teaching. It is only right the names of our building reflect the incredible talent contained within.”

The former Becor House building, which is being refurbished as part of the University and Lincolnshire Co-operative’s world-class science and innovation park, is the first to be re-named Joseph Banks House.

Banks, who grew up in Revesby, near Horncastle, was a naturalist and botanist who took part in Captain James Cook’s first great voyage and has approximately 80 species of plant named after him.

Some of the buildings in the running for a name makeover are the Main Administration Building, Bridge House, AAD, MHT and the Science Building.

And with such a plethora of Lincolnshire talent, there are plenty of options to choose from.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, born in Somersby, was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland and remains one of the most popular British poets. Considered one of the best poems of the 19th Century many people will have heard the well-known phrase from ‘In Memoriam A.H.H’, ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all’.

Lincolnite George Boole was an English mathematician, philosopher and logician. He is now best known as the author of The Laws of Thought and in hindsight is regarded as a founder of the field of computer science.

And of course there is Sir Isaac Newton, the physicist and mathematician who ‘discovered’ gravity. Born at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham, he is one of the greatest scientists who has ever lived.

Other leading lights include Captain Matthew Flinders, who was the first to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent; virtuoso violinist Sir Neville Marriner and Dam Busters hero Guy Gibson.

So, whose name do you think should stand the test of time? Please send any suggestions and the reasons why to internalcommunications@lincoln.ac.uk