University of Lincoln – Student News

The work of two student conservators from the University of Lincoln will soon be in public view after they were selected to take part in an exclusive scheme to preserve pieces by some of the UK’s leading textile artists, housed on the Parliamentary Estate.

Kathryn Stamper and Abigail Tyler, both postgraduate students on the MA Conservation of Historic Objects programme at the University of Lincoln’s School of Art and Design, have been working throughout the summer on the Emerging Conservators Training Scheme, launched earlier this year by the Parliamentary Curator’s Office.

The scheme provides students with a unique opportunity to work with the Parliamentary Art Collection, one of the UK’s largest public collections of contemporary textiles, while developing practical skills under the guidance of experienced textile conservators.

The results of their work will be unveiled to the public from 21st September 2013 as part of Open House London, an annual event that opens the doors to some of the capital’s most significant buildings and invites people to understand, explore and appreciate architecture in London.

Alongside two other students from the University of Glasgow, Kathryn and Abigail have helped to conserve the renowned Portcullis House Contemporary Textile Collection, which forms part of the Parliamentary Art Collection and is one of the largest collections of contemporary textiles in public ownership.

The works of leading UK textile artists Kate Blee, Allegra Hicks and Jennie Moncur are included in the collection after they were selected as part of the original building design for Portcullis House, which opened in 2001. The building’s architect, Sir Michael Hopkins, selected textiles for their decorative and practical use as they soften the acoustics in Select Committee meeting rooms.

Also in the Collection are two important sets of tapestries from the West Dean Tapestry Studio, which were commissioned by the House of Commons. All the textiles have been in situ since the building opened, and after more than ten years they are now in need of care to ensure they survive in good condition for future generations to enjoy.

Dr Lynda Skipper, Programme Leader for MA Conservation of Historic Objects at the University of Lincoln, said: “The chance for our students to work on live projects such as this provides an excellent opportunity for them to learn new skills and really enhance their understanding of working on site.”

Kathryn Stamper said: “The scheme offered a great opportunity to improve my knowledge of the techniques used for conserving. The experience has improved my practical ability and built up my confidence when working with large and really challenging materials.”

Throughout the scheme, the conservators receive training in surface cleaning, minor repairs, attachment of linings, improvement of existing mounting and hanging systems, and re-installation. They also learned about the history of the Parliamentary Art Collection and the commissioning of its textiles.

For more information on the scheme and to find out more about viewing the collections, visit (www.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/ukvisitors/open-house).

The Student Daily Alert has been replaced by a new and more engaging news service

Following feedback from students, we have launched a new student news service which replaces the Student Daily Alert.

The new system, which is hosted on WordPress, feeds directly into the Blackboard homepage and features news, research and events.

If you have a news story you would like to feature, please click on How to take part above.

If your news story concerns classified advertising, please use the Classified Advertising section on the Portal (https://portal.lincoln.ac.uk/C2/Classifieds/default.aspx).

Internal Communications

Students are invited to the welcome talk by School of Life Science lecturers Dr Enrico Ferrari  and Dr Alan Goddard.

For more information, please see the poster below.

Post supplied by Deborah Hart, President, Society of Life Sciences (lifesciences@lincolnsu.com)

Students from Schools of Psychology and Health & Social Care required to be participants on up and coming interesting research

Ideal for students with an interest on learning disabilities, communication problems, pain and distress. participants will watch a short video while completing a distress tool followed by completing a questionnaire.

Participation will take around one hour. This is a great opportunity for students with interest in this area and to understand how research can be conducted at the University. The research is taking place on Wednesday 25th September in MC0025 (media, humanities and technology building) at 10:30am, 12 noon, 1:30pm and 3pm.

For more information please contact researcher Aaron Burgess via  aaron.burgess@students.lincoln.ac.uk

 

A number of exhibitions from postgraduate artists, designers and conservators will be open to the public throughout September, showcasing the future of UK creative talent from the University of Lincoln.

The Postgraduate Art and Design 2013 Degree Shows will feature final collections from students of MA Fine Art, MA Design, MA Conservation of Historic Objects and MA Contemporary Curatorial Practice, many of whom have already displayed their work across prestigious international platforms.

The shows will open with a preview evening on Friday 13^th September, and will be free to view from 14^th – 20^th September and 23^rd – 25^th September 2013, from 10am – 4pm.

Under the title Menu, an exhibition from 23 MA Design students will be the first to open in the Lincoln School of Art and Design Building on the University’s Brayford Campus.

The showcase will offer the public an exclusive chance to view a new genre film taking the movie industry by storm. Created by MA Design graduate and Lecturer in Creative Advertising at the University of Lincoln, Justin Tagg, the short feature film has already secured significant financial backing after being presented at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Mouse-X is set for official release next month, with Lincoln’s Postgraduate Degree Shows representing its first UK public screening before it goes on tour to film festivals worldwide throughout 2014.

Other works on show will include a successful graphic design project that formed part of the innovative Portas High Street Project in Market Rasen, a unique costume design for a contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare’ s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, proposals for a system of urban farming in Thailand and a collection of jewellery made from rubbish and detritus.

John Stocker, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for MA Design, said: “Here at Lincoln, we have an extremely dynamic group of students and we are very much looking forward to celebrating their hard work at our 2013 Degree Show. We look forward to welcoming staff, students and the public to enjoy our Menu.”

Postgraduates completing the MA Fine Art programme will showcase their work at Thomas Parker House alongside Ashleigh McDougall, the first student to graduate from the new MA in Contemporary Curatorial Practice programme. In a celebration of their study, the Strata exhibition will demonstrate a range of media, from installation and sculpture, to photography and drawing. There will also be a unique performance on Friday 13^th September, when a preview evening will take place from 6-9pm.

Andrew Bracey, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for MA Contemporary Curatorial Practice and MA Fine Art, said: “These final exhibitions represent a vital part of the journey for our postgraduates, as they mark an important transition from student to artist. The Degree Shows offer an important opportunity for our students to demonstrate the results of their hard work, and we are looking forward to showing the public how many talented up-and-coming artists we have here at the University of Lincoln.”

Also showing in Thomas Parker House will be work from students of the MA in Conservation of Historic Objects. Alongside a display of current research being undertaken as part of the students’ final dissertations, the exhibition will include a series of images and photographs charting the progress of their practical conservation projects on historic landmarks.

For more information on the Degree Shows, visit the blogs for the Lincoln School of Art and Design (www.lincolnschoolofartanddesign.blogspot.co.uk) and the Strata exhibition (www.strata2013.tumblr.com).

 

The University Shuttlebus service to Riseholme Campus will resume running on Monday 23rd September 2013.

It will run to the same timetable as previous years, link to timetable below:

https://portal.lincoln.ac.uk/C7/C7/Parking-and-Transport/Document%20Library/Timetable.pdf

The University of Lincoln has been shortlisted for a national award in recognition of its growing reputation as one of the UK’s most entrepreneurial universities.

The University is one of six higher education institutions nominated for the title of ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ in the Times Higher Education Awards 2013. The THE Awards, now in their ninth year, are a celebration of excellence across the UK higher education sector.

The Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award category “recognises a university that has developed an environment and culture that fosters enterprising attitudes among all members of its community and delivers significant entrepreneurial impact at regional, national and international levels.”

The University of Lincoln was shortlisted based on the enterprising environment it has developed through its award-winning Sparkhouse business incubation centre, and the innovative partnerships it has forged with major employers such as Siemens plc and Lincolnshire Co-operative.

Professor Mary Stuart, Vice Chancellor at the University of Lincoln, said: “We are very proud to have been shortlisted for ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ in the THE Awards 2013. Universities are the engines of modern knowledge-based economies, and innovation and creativity are the fuel. At the University of Lincoln we aim to challenge the status quo and continually ask how we can better foster the culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship which is so fundamental to economic growth.”

Last year the University of Lincoln announced plans to establish a multi-million pound science and innovation park in collaboration with the Lincolnshire Co-operative and its new School of Pharmacy will move to the site in summer 2014.

The University’s relationship with Siemens plc, which in 2009 led to the creation of the first dedicated new school of engineering to be built in the UK for more than 20 years, has already been acknowledged as an exemplar of university-industry collaboration, cited in the 2012 Wilson Review of Business-University collaboration and securing a Lord Stafford Award in 2011.

Research by academics from Lincoln Business School into entrepreneurial learning has informed and influenced national and international policy on enterprise education, including the Quality Assurance Agency’s 2012 guidance on enterprise and entrepreneurship in higher education.

Students also play a leading role in fostering a culture of enterprise through membership of clubs and societies and engagement in the ground-breaking Student as Producer initiative, a national research project funded by the Higher Education Academy and led by the University of Lincoln.

Earlier this year Sparkhouse celebrated its 10th anniversary. In the past decade it has enabled more than 230 start-ups to establish themselves, creating almost 400 jobs.

Over all the University of Lincoln is estimated to be worth up to £250m to the region’s economy and to support around 3,000 jobs.

Winners of the THE Awards 2013 will be announced on 28th November 2013 at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London.

A British Academy Fellow recognised as a leading scholar on post-Holocaust poetry has joined the University of Lincoln’s College of Arts, as part of a major investment in the humanities.

Professor Antony Rowland was granted a coveted British Academy Fellowship in 2012, and is now one of an elite group of scholars elected for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The British Academy elects to its Fellowship scholars who have achieved academic distinction, which is reflected in their scholarly research activity and publication.

Professor Rowland was recognised for his pioneering research which considers Holocaust poetry, and how poetry more widely can be understood as a form of testimony. His investigations focus on the work of poets including Primo Levi, Wilfred Owen and the ‘Oasis’ poets of World War Two, and highlight that, once testimony is prised away from a historico-juridicial context, other forms of writing – such as poetry – can be fruitfully analysed as testimony.

His findings will be detailed in a new book, entitled Poetry as Testimony, soon to be published by Routledge. This publication follows the success of his most recent title, Holocaust Poetry, which represents the first ever critical study of post-Holocaust poetry in the UK.

Professor Rowland is also a Fellow of the English Association, a member of the AHRC Peer Review College and a former Executive Board Member for the European Periodicals Network. He joins the University of Lincoln’s School of Humanities from the University of Salford, where he held the positions of Chair and Professor of Modern Literature, Head of English and Senior Lecturer.

On his appointment as Professor of Contemporary English Literature at the University of Lincoln, Professor Rowland said: “I am delighted to be joining a university that is actively investing in the arts and humanities. The Vice Chancellor and senior management team have also made some excellent strategic decisions in the last few years, such as the inauguration of the School of Engineering and the creation of the new Science Park.

“I am looking forward to building on the research activity within the School of Humanities and College of Arts, which will not be difficult in a place that was once one of the biggest centres of culture and civilisation in Western Europe.”

Professor Rowland was the first critic to discover the correspondence between Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin in the Emory University archive, and was also elected onto the editorial board of the journals Critical Survey and the Journal of Literature and Trauma Studies.

He has organised conferences and panels at universities around the world, including Strasbourg, Turin, Aarhus and Istanbul, and is also a celebrated poet, having been awarded the prestigious Manchester Poetry Prize in 2012.

Professor Rowland joins the Lincoln School of Humanities at a time of significant investment. He is one of a number of new appointments in English and History, which together highlight the University of Lincoln’s commitment to supporting staff, students and research within the humanities sector.

Award-winning journalist John Sergeant and former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Blair are among the Honorary guests joining the University of Lincoln’s largest ever cohort of graduating students, as they collect their degree certificates during a week of celebrations.

The ten Graduation ceremonies, which take place at Lincoln Cathedral from Monday 2nd – Thursday 5th September 2013, will be attended by more than 14,000 people and will see 3,000 students graduate from the University.

This year’s ceremonies will also include the first cohort of bachelor’s degree students to graduate from the University of Lincoln’s new School of Engineering, which was the first dedicated facility of its kind to be created in the UK for more than 20 years. The School was built in collaboration with the global engineering company Siemens, and nine of this September’s graduates will go on to employment with the company, as they join the renowned Siemens Graduate scheme.

The students will be joined by a number of famous faces, who have been invited to accept honorary degrees in recognition of their outstanding contribution to their given fields.

In a career spanning five decades, John Sergeant has become one of the nation’s most distinguished journalists. John has reported from more than 25 countries for ITV and the BBC, for whom he was Chief Political Correspondent for 12 years. In 2008 he was a much-celebrated contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, and now he is a regular contributor to popular TV panel shows. On Tuesday 3rd September 2013, John will become an Honorary Doctor of Letters.

On the same day, Lord Ian Blair of Boughton will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in recognition of his significant contribution to the Metropolitan Police Force. Lord Blair was the most senior police officer in Britain from 2005-2008, and during this time was widely regarded as a leading exponent of police reform.

They will be joined by other honorary graduates, including Chief Executive of the British Library Roly Keating, architectural historian Anne Coltman OBE, organist at Lincoln Cathedral Colin Walsh and Graham Secker, Pro Chancellor at the University of Lincoln.

Among the students graduating is Kristina Key, who will collect her degree in Health and Social Care and has particular cause for celebration after overcoming a major challenge to complete her course. Kristina suffered a debilitating head injury in 2008, just two months before she was due to begin her university career. The accident caused deterioration in her speech, weaknesses in both hands and intolerance to light. Kristina was determined to complete her degree, and she will join her peers to celebrate their shared success.

Ahead of the graduation ceremonies, Vice Chancellor Professor Mary Stuart said: “Graduation is a moment of great celebration for our students, and their friends and families, as it represents the culmination of years of hard work.

“This year we are delighted to be recognising the first cohort of graduates from the University’s new School of Engineering, who along with their peers throughout the University, have exciting prospects ahead of them. There can be few more spectacular settings to recognise their accomplishments, and those of our honorary graduates, than Lincoln Cathedral. We very much look forward to celebrating with all of our guests.”

Ceremonies take place between Monday 2nd – Thursday 5th September 2013 at 10:30am, 2:30pm or 7:30pm.

The ancient closest relatives of mammals – the cynodont therapsids – not only survived the greatest mass extinction of all time, 252 million years ago, but thrived in the aftermath, according to new research published today (28th August).

The first mammals arose in the Triassic period, more than 225 million years ago. These early fur balls include small shrew-like animals such as Morganucodon from England, Megazostrodon from South Africa and Bienotherium from China.

They had differentiated teeth (incisors, canines, molars) and large brains and were probably warm-blooded and covered in fur – all characteristics that stand them apart from their reptile ancestors, and which contribute to their huge success today.

However, new research suggests that this array of unique features arose gradually over a long span of time, and that the first mammals may have arisen as a result of the end-Permian mass extinction – which wiped out 90 per cent of marine organisms and 70 per cent of terrestrial species.

The research was conducted by the University of Lincoln, UK, the National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and the University of Bristol, UK, and has been published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Lead author Dr Marcello Ruta, evolutionary palaeobiologist from the University of Lincoln’s School of Life Sciences, said: “Mass extinctions are seen as entirely negative. However, in this case, cynodont therapsids, which included a very small number of species before the extinction, really took off afterwards and were able to adapt to fill many different niches in the Triassic – from carnivores to herbivores.”

Co-author Dr Jennifer Botha-Brink of the National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa, said: “During the Triassic, the cynodonts split into two groups, the cynognathians and the probainognathians. The first were mainly plant-eaters, the second mainly flesh-eaters and the two groups seemed to rise and fall at random – first one expanding, and then the other.  In the end, the probainognathians became the most diverse and most varied in adaptations, and they gave rise to the first mammals some 25 million years after the mass extinction.”

Co-author Professor Michael Benton, of the University of Bristol, UK, added: “We saw that when a major group, such as cynodonts, diversifies, it is the body shape or range of adaptations that expands first. The diversity, or number of species, rises after all the morphologies available to the group have been tried out.”

The researchers concluded that cynodont diversity rose steadily during the recovery of life following the mass extinction, with their range of form rising rapidly at first before hitting a plateau. This suggests there is no particular difference in morphological diversity between the very first mammals and their immediate cynodont predecessors.

The paper ‘The radiation of cynodonts and the ground plan of mammalian morphological diversity’ by Marcello Ruta, Jennifer Botha-Brink, Steve Mitchell and Michael J. Benton is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B 20131865 on 28th August, 2013.