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The Newcastle University Alumni Association Magazine Issue 14 / Summer 2011 Arches Enough, for all, forever: in pursuit of sustainability Tuition fees: the facts The true cost of dementia Visit: Arches Contents www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni Development and Alumni Relations Office Newcastle University King’s Gate Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 7250 Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 5905 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni Contents Contributors: Dan Howarth (editor); Frankie Clarke (deputy editor); Sam Wood; Anne Burton; James Johnston; Matt Ridley; Alexis Forsyth; Ian Wylie; Fran Infante; Lindsay Mackenzie; Hannah Wood; and Newcastle University Press Office. Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Anne Buckle, Anne Coxhead, Sanchia Coatsworth, Kelly Deary, John Mathers, Lynne Corner, Nina Laurie, Meena Poudel, Jennifer Harrison, Paul Bilsborrow, Anne Maule, Vikki Rimmer, Melanie Reed, Umbereen Rafiq, Clare Byatt and Vikki Wilkinson at Admiral PR, Nina Laurie, 05 Meena Poudel, and The Courier. Very special thanks to Shirley Tindle, Marion Wilson, Lindsey Crawford and the team at Granville, Charlotte Ball, Chris Pilkington and the team at Infinite Design, Jonathan Clark and the team at Potts, and all the staff in DARO, who have helped to make this magazine possible. Picture credits with thanks: Alexander Wilson, Lindsay Mackenzie, Darryl Ibbetson, Richard Kenworthy, Shruti Shrestha, Keith Ducatel, Samuel Aranda, David Bell, Jack Fallows, John Watson, Keith Pattinson, John Donoghue, The Courier, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Keith Bernstein and Universal Pictures. 12 24 04 News 16 Life after trafficking 26 The green age Keep up to date with the latest Fighting for equal rights to of cinema news, straight from campus citizenship in Nepal Arches meets Teresa Graham, whose work with London’s Lexi 08 Enough, for all, forever 18 The true cost Cinema supports a community in South Africa Cover illustration: Newcastle University and the Newcastle University and of dementia pursuit of sustainability. By Darryl Ibbetson. the pursuit of sustainability More funding needed to address this national emergency, 28 Covering Cairo 12 The sustainability say Newcastle scientists MA student Lindsay Mackenzie paradox was inside the Egyptian protests Matt Ridley shares an alternative 20 Tuition fees: view on saving the planet everything you 30 The Courier need to know Highlights from the official 14 Live well and prosper A report on the changes to tuition voice of Newcastle students How a Mediterranean diet fees from 2012 onwards, and the can improve your physical support available at Newcastle 32 What is the ACG? and mental health A chat with Mark Scrimshaw, 24 Walking the Amazon outgoing chair of the A chat with Ed Stafford, the first Alumni Association man to navigate the length of the Amazon on foot Arches 2 The Newcastle University Alumni Association Magazine Foreword Professor Paul Younger (BSc Geology 1984, PhD Civil Engineering 1990) Director, Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability (NIReS) There are many definitions of sustainability, but most fail to identify that the economy, society and nature are not largely separate domains that intersect only in the space we label ‘sustainability’: rather these domains are concentric, so we need to devise economic measures that respect 28 34 societal needs and environmental limits. ‘Enough, for all, forever’ is Newcastle University’s pithy crack at the proverbial nut. ‘Enough’ fulfils needs without creating waste. ‘For all’ encompasses all the Earth’s beings. And ‘forever’ means exactly that. We need to become good ancestors as well as good neighbours. Newcastle upon Tyne has been named the UK’s most sustainable large city for the second year running, which is a huge achievement considering our industrial roots – don’t forget it was our Tyneside forefathers who gave the world ‘carboniferous capitalism’. Now the challenge is to change one of the world’s oldest industrial cities into one of its most sustainable, 30 44 and to make it a global exemplar of best practice. This issue of Arches looks at the work of the University and our alumni in the pursuit of sustainability. The article on page 8 looks at the solutions- led research on campus, from modelling the effects of rainfall on crop yields, 34 Two minutes 40 Bookmark to green forms of transport, and the drilling of a borehole two kilometres with Ella Ritchie Reviews of books from the beneath the centre of Newcastle in search of geothermal energy. Arches has a brew with the alumni community Elsewhere, celebrated author Matt Ridley warns of the unintended University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor negative outcomes of well-intentioned desires to ‘go back to nature’ (page 42 Snapshots 11); Geography graduate Ed Stafford walks the entire length of the Amazon, and witnesses the effects of deforestation (page 24); and Arches looks at the 36 Careers Alumni news in pictures work of an independent cinema in London which supports an ecovillage in News from the University’s South Africa (page 26). award-winning Careers Service 44 Classnotes If you live in the UK, you can’t have missed the media frenzy around Catch up with the latest news the 2012 student fees proposals. Arches provides a full report on page 20. 38 The Big Market from old friends, classmates and And in the field of health, little presents such a challenge to healthy old age A virtual marketplace of fellow graduates as the onset of dementia. You can read about the University’s pioneering alumni businesses research on page 18. 47 Events Finally, on behalf of the University, I’d like to thank Mark Scrimshaw, who stands down as chair of the Alumni Association after 10 years this Notice of upcoming events summer. Mark talks about his experiences on page 32. I hope you enjoy this issue of Arches. Professor Paul Younger 3 Visit: Arches News www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni For more information about any of these features, and to keep up to date with the very latest news from Newcastle University, News visit: www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni Mothers’ obesity increases risk of foetal and infant death Women who are obese during early pregnancy 18.5–24.5 kg/m2. The total (absolute) risk among have a significantly increased risk of their obese women was 16 in every 1,000 births (1.6%) baby dying before, during or up to one year compared to nearly nine per 1,000 births (0.9%) after birth, according to Newcastle University in women of recommended weight. researchers. Dr Ruth Bell, clinical senior lecturer in Publishing in Human Reproduction, a the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle journal of reproductive medicine, the researchers University and associate director at the Regional studied 40,932 single-baby pregnancies at five Maternity Survey Office (RMSO), said: ‘It’s maternity units in the North of England between important to remember that most women will 2003 and 2005. They found the risk of foetal deliver a healthy live baby, regardless of their death (in which the baby dies in the womb) or weight at the start of pregnancy. What’s key is infant death (up to one year after birth) to be that women should be helped to achieve a healthy double in women who were obese in early weight before they become pregnant or after the pregnancy than those of recommended weight. baby is born. Our research shows that this will Obese women were categorised as having give the baby the best possible start in life. Women a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or more; should not try to lose weight during pregnancy, but recommended weight is a BMI of between should ensure they eat a balanced healthy diet.’ £30,000 worth of recycling containers so no Recycling efforts one would be more than 20 seconds away from a recycling bin. And one of the most colourful are not wasted and effective methods of encouraging recycling has been the introduction of a ‘recycleometer’ of foam balls, which reflects each University Newcastle University has increased its building’s recycling rates. recycling rate to almost 93 per cent in just Increased recycling has cut the University’s three years – and is no longer sending any spending on waste by £90,000 in the last general waste to landfill. financial year alone. Daniel O’Connor, waste manager, said this Professor Tony Stevenson, Pro-Vice- remarkable achievement was down to dedicated Chancellor for Planning and Resources, said: staff and students, good communications, ‘If someone had told me three years ago that easy-to-use recycling facilities and new waste we could hit an almost 93 per cent recycling treatment technologies. target, I would not have believed it. However, In 2008, the University’s recycling rate we have shown that with good communications, was around 20 per cent. Now most items can great infrastructure and a ‘can do’ attitude, be recycled – including more unusual ones any organisation can divert hundreds of tonnes such as keys, bubble wrap and DVDs. of waste from landfill, save carbon, get more A ‘Let’s recycle more’ campaign was value out of waste, and even save money at introduced in early 2010, which included the same time.’ Arches 4 The Newcastle University Alumni Association Magazine Academic puts historical NEWS inaccuracies to the sword IN BRIEF A Newcastle archaeologist has helped to ensure a new Roman biopic, set in ? Newcastle University announced its North East England and Scotland, is true to history. intention to charge a fee of £9,000 per Lindsay Allason-Jones (BA General 1974, MLitt 1988) served as an academic adviser to year for new UK and undergraduates who the production team behind The Eagle, which stars Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell and Channing start university in September 2012.A Tatum.