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!
 

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