|
Summer of fun for U21 students begins!
As this ebulletin goes out, 51 students from around the network,
accompanied by seven faculty, have gathered at the National University
of Singapore for the fourth U21 Undergraduate Research Conference. Over
the week-long conference, participants have heard presentations from
fellow students, as well as had the opportunity to study posters
explaining a range of research topics from journalism and architecture
to veterinary medicine and mechanical engineering. All the presentations
will have had some connection to the conference’s over-arching theme of
“Sustainability” and with perspectives from fourteen different parts of
the world, should provoke some interesting debate.
Meanwhile, at the University of Birmingham, 48 students
from thirteen U21 universities will be half way through the fifth U21
Summer School. This year’s theme is Embracing Diversity through
Creativity, Culture and Innovation and a fortnight of workshops,
roundtable discussions, talks and activities based around photography,
visual art, writing, theatre and film-making looks set to be a
challenging and rewarding experience. During the Summer School the
students will be asked to keep a blog, as well as prepare a digi-essay
for presentation on the final afternoon.
Reports from both these events will be posted on the U21
website over the summer and will appear in a later edition of the
newsletter
Announcing 2nd U21 Design Forum
Following the success of last year’s Design Forum at the University of
Melbourne, a second event is to be held in Hong Kong from 10 to 14
November 2008, to bring together interested people with a variety of
backgrounds in architecture, design, teaching and learning, estates and
multi-media. This workshop will be designed to brainstorm on aspects of
adjacencies of spaces, the relationships between outdoor and indoor
spaces, and the incorporation of heritage structures into new
facilities, building on the fundamentals of the design process learned
in the first workshop. The development of new generation learning
environments and more effective campus settings is an increasing
priority for all U21 institutions. The recent meeting of the U21
Presidents in Dublin specifically addressed this issue and confirmed its
importance. An important aspect of the forum is its aim to promote
inter-disciplinary approaches to the design and development of improved
learning environments and, to this end, the event encourages the
involvement of those with a professional role in this field – including
property and estates leaders, audio-visual and information technology
staff, educational and curriculum designers, professional/faculty
developers and academics.
U21 staff from around the world have a unique bank of
knowledge and experience of these subjects. The opportunity afforded by
the design, from scratch, of a large integrated learning space such as
that envisaged for the University of Hong Kong, is a singular chance to
consult and learn, and to build on and enhance the collective wisdom of
the institutions in the network and our design colleagues from the
private sector.
Further information about HKU’s ambitious building
programme will appear in the forthcoming newsletter.
Details and registration for this workshop can be found
at
http://www.universitas21.com/event/081110DesignFourm.html
Understanding the Anatomy of Power
Universities are changing rapidly in response to the external pressures
variously called globalisation, internationalisation or new public
management. It is time to understand these changes from the perspective
of how the outcomes of higher education are influenced by different
constituencies: governments, legislatures, judiciaries, business,
research bodies, administrators and, of course, scholars and students
themselves. How does the classic university project of knowledge and
enlightenment cope with the pressures of global contacts, innovation
priorities and efficiency criteria of continuous evaluation? In order to
fully grasp the nature of these phenomena it is necessary to understand
those forces in the larger world which impinge on those institutions in
which we work.
Recent debates in the social sciences on new ways of
understanding these shifts in the anatomy of power are important
contributions to the thinking of these wider constituencies who need to
be engaged in the debate. An integrative social science perspective with
a wide scope is necessary. The U21 network provides an ideal platform
for these discussions and a symposium on these issues will take place at
Lund University from 30 to 31 October 2008.
A call for papers has been issued and details of this
can be found on the U21 website at
http://www.universitas21.com/event/081030AnatomyOfPower.html
Water Futures for Sustainable Cities needs your
help!
The U21 project Water Futures for Sustainable Cities was funded by the
network in 2006 to promote collaborative research on urban water with
the objectives of integrating the diversity of skills in the Universitas
21 water community; preparing a connected portfolio of externally funded
research projects focused on the water sustainability challenges of
cities; developing the external recognition of Universitas 21 as an
independent contributor of knowledge and expertise in city water
planning and innovation. As this project evolves we realise that the
inclusion of new and different expertise will be of significant benefit.
Specifically, specialist skills in the areas of social science, water
policy and water economics could make very useful contributions to
current and future WFSC projects.
What we propose to do is conduct an audit of all
relevant water-related expertise that is available in the U21 network of
universities. If you or your colleagues are interested in being listed
in this audit, with a view to being involved in truly international
collaborative WFSC research projects, please contact the project
co-ordinator, Graham Steed at
gsteed@albury.net.au.
In addition we are also keen to develop a list of
potential funding sources that have an interest in international
collaborative projects focussed on sustainable water use by cities in a
range of environments. If you have suggestions about such funding
sources please also contact Graham Steed.
http://www.universitas21.com/water.html
Energy
Technologies Conference
There is little doubt that the world is undergoing a period of global
climate change and that human activity is contributing significantly to
the problem. This activity is resulting in increased emissions of carbon
dioxide and methane well known greenhouse gases. It is a matter of
international importance that technological solutions can be brought to
bear to alleviate the problem as well as providing alternative sources
of power and energy. All the universities of Universitas 21 have
significant research activity in energy related topics. Therefore
Universitas 21 can make a real impact if it collaborates on priority
areas. It is with this in mind that the International Conference on
Energy Technologies and Policy is being organised. The purpose is to
bring together academics from around the world to debate the issues,
find common ground for collaboration and to propose solutions that can
make a difference on the global scene. It is intended that this
conference will lead to significant collaborations amongst partner
institutions and that the conference will become a major event in the
U21 calendar.
Progress in these areas continues to be driven by an
ever increasing demand for products with enhanced functionality. Key
developments and emerging applications in this field will be addressed
at this important conference.
Further details can be found at
http://www.universitas21.com/event/080910Energy.html
Invitation to U21 Health Sciences Millennium
Development Goal workshop
Universitas 21 Health Sciences, in collaboration with United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs AIFOMD (a global organisation
involved in the training of trainers for the United Nations’ Millennium
Development Goals), and International Association of Humanitarian
Medicine (IAHM) would like to jointly invite you to participate in a 1 ½
day workshop to explore how we can harness global synergy for the
education and training of the UN MDG and the progressive attainment of
their targets through academic-policy maker partnerships.
Workshop Objectives: To engage like-minded U21 academic
members to participate in shaping UN MDG education for their health
professional trainees; to liaise with UN, AIFOMD, and other interested
global partners to explore collaborative opportunities and optimal
contributions of academic partners towards this synergy; to examine
current global approaches to UN MDG training and education, and how
collectively we can add value through participation, innovation, and
evaluation.
Further details and registration forms can be found at
to
www.u21health.org/meetings/virginia2008/index.html
New VC appointed at Birmingham
The University of Birmingham has announced that Professor David
Eastwood, currently Chief Executive at the Higher Education Funding
Council for England (HEFCE), has been appointed as the University’s next
Vice-Chancellor. Professor Eastwood will take up the role when Professor
Michael Sterling retires in April 2009.
Professor Eastwood has been Chief Executive at HEFCE
since September 2006. Former posts include Vice-Chancellor at the
University of East Anglia and Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities
Research Board. An historian by academic background, Professor Eastwood
previously held a Chair in Modern History at the University of Wales
Swansea, where he was also head of department, Dean and
Pro-Vice-Chancellor.
Speaking about his appointment Professor David Eastwood
said “The Vice-Chancellorship of the University of Birmingham was an
irresistible opportunity. The University of Birmingham is a
distinguished university in a great city. Its eminent history, financial
strength, and recent restructuring will enable it to enhance still
further its national and international reputation. In a period of change
and challenge in the higher education sector, Birmingham will prosper as
one of the country’s leading universities, will be a university of
choice for students and staff, and will shine as a beacon of excellence
in research, teaching, and impact. I will relish playing my part in
building on the achievements of Michael Sterling’s Vice-Chancellorship,
and working with colleagues to position the University in the vanguard
of English higher education.”
We look forward to welcoming him to the network and
working with him in the coming years.
http://www.newscentre.bham.ac.uk/press/2008/06/Vice_Chancellor_Appointment_16_06_08.shtml
Virginia’s Roman Forum website named best online
resource for humanities
The University of Virginia’s Digital Roman Forum web site (http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Forum/)
has been selected for inclusion on the National Endowment for the
Humanities (NEH) EDSITEment list of the best online resources for
education in the humanities (http://edsitement.neh.gov/). Digital Roman
Forum was nominated for inclusion in the EDSITEment project in response
to an open call for nominations. It was then reviewed by a Peer Review
panel composed of teachers and leaders in education and non-profit
organizations. Panellists determined that the site met the EDSITEment
criteria for intellectual quality, content, design, and most
importantly, classroom impact.
This web site will be used as the model in one of the
modules in the forthcoming U21 Digital Humanities workshop, which takes
place in Virginia in September.
Speaking of the announcement, Professor Bernie Frischer,
Director of IATH (Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities)
commented “I would like to thank everyone involved on the team for
contributions to the project. I must single out five people for
particular praise. Ewan Branda's tireless and inspired work in web and
database design made it all possible; Jane Crawford selected, edited,
and (when necessary) translated the ancient texts used on the web site;
Lawrence Richardson, jr gave us permission to include articles from his
invaluable New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Baltimore
1992); Dean Abernathy and Chris Johanson made critical contributions to
3D modelling and to project design and management generally. As my co-p.i.
Diane Favro put it with typical eloquence in a related context, "they
began the project as twentieth-century students and ended it as
twenty-first century scholars."
http://www.universitas21.com/event/080924DigitalHumanities.html
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/index.html
Making U21
Fellowships count
Following a successful trip to the University of Melbourne on a
University of Birmingham U21 Fellowship, Professor Chris Skelcher from
Birmingham’s School of Public Policy has been able to continue his
research with some promising tangible results to follow.
The purpose of his Fellowship Project was to establish
the potential for creating virtual research communities amongst U21
doctoral students, in order to enrich their learning experience and
develop their academic and transferable skills. The particular focus of
the Project was to explore whether on-line research communities can be
created for doctoral students in public policy, as a test-bed for its
wider application to other disciplinary fields that the University of
Birmingham shares with U21 partners.
Following his Fellowship, Professor Skelcher and Dr Jo
Barraket from the University of Melbourne will jointly host a doctoral
student virtual conference in mid September 2008. They have identified
students to undertake the presentations, and will follow the proposed
protocol described in his report. On the basis of the first event, we
will discuss the possibilities for engaging with other U21 universities
with a public policy specialism. Within the College of Social Science at
the University of Birmingham, Professor Skelcher plans to draw this
initiative to the attention of the College PGR committee, and explore
ways in which doctoral student activity in this area can be
strengthened.
The report will be available to the U21 network after
the initial conference has taken place.
Farewell but not goodbye to U21 Student Mobility
Co-ordinator
We are sad to announced that Clare Harper will be stepping down from her
role as Student Mobility Co-ordinator at the end of July to concentrate
on her role as Student Experience Manager at the University of
Melbourne. Clare is very much a U21 person, having previously worked at
McGill and Nottingham universities, with U21 Global and recently with
the network as well as at Melbourne. She will be sorely missed by
colleagues in the Secretariat, as well as more widely among network
members. We are sure, however, that she will continue waving the U21
flag in her new role!
Click here for
previous news stories
Click here to subscribe to the U21 ebulletin and newsletter |