AUTUMN 2013 AUTUMN News andand viewsviews forfor the the people people of of Glasgow Glasgow Caledonian Caledonian Universit University y LILY COLE On education and achieving her impossible dream. PAGE 04. Creating the fashion leaders of tomorrow GCU British School of Fashion is launched. PAGE 10. Brighter futures begin with GCU. Why have a strapline of ‘brighter futures begin with GCU’ if we don’t live by it? That’s why GCU, in partnership with the Open University, offers all staff the opportunity to undertake a language course, to expand upon their existing skills and open up the global opportunities available to them, through research, exchanges and beyond. Visit www.gcu.ac.uk/oulanguages Brighter futures begin with GCU GCU 27094 Caledonian Magazine Ad 3.indd 1 19/09/2013 10:28 Welcome from the Principal and Vice-Chancellor I am delighted Contents to introduce this new and 04 Nothing’s impossible for Honorary Graduate Lily revamped edition Model and actor Lily Cole talks to The Caledonian about her social business of The Caledonian ambitions. magazine. 07 How young people make ‘sense’ of male violence Our University is Researcher Nancy Lombard takes her work to the US and the United Nations. embarking on a 08 Fringe benefits of laughing and learning series of exciting Professor Keith Stevenson and tutor Eddie McKean hit the comedy stage projects, driven at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. forward by the passion of our staff and 10 Creating the fashion leaders of tomorrow students, with an impressive array of Professor Christopher Moore on how the British School of Fashion has external partners. This is why I am so inspired the industry. pleased that this new expanded format 14 Helping to close the digital divide for our in-house magazine will provide A look at GCU’s vital role in bridging the e-skills deficit. the scope for in-depth features that can explore these developments with the 16 Advanced thinking helps bridge education gap GCU’s unique approach brings Glasgow’s ambitious pupils on to campus. added detail and rigour they deserve. This new edition’s lead feature 18 Why Richard is game to enter Uncharted waters certainly lives up to that billing, Top games designer Richard Lemarchand reveals how academia has brought new opportunities. an interview with a recent honorary graduate of the University, Lily Cole. 20 Business case for the common good Lily is an inspirational young woman, Professor Lesley Sawers talks to The Caledonian about how GCU is rising to business challenges. and her range of accolades and achievements has seen her personify 22 News Briefing: Iranian President is GCU alumnus in her actions the values espoused by The election of Dr Rouhani was just one of the GCU news stories that hit headlines across the globe. Chancellor Yunus and the University. Since becoming an Honorary Doctor of 25 Global watch: GCU launches campus in New York Letters, she has returned to deliver this Groundbreaking initiatives and partnerships have heightened the University’s international profile. year’s Freshers’ Address, and has had positive discussions with our Students’ Association about her 28 Dispensing with innovative gift economy website the need for daily impossible.com. The combination of injections commitment to social business, and her A £4million research project could roots in the fashion industry, are just pave the way for first human trials of diabetes treatment. two of the many reasons I am so looking forward to working with her in the coming year. This interview is just one part of the new range of features in the refreshed magazine, and with the opening of our 30 Surveying the future New York campus and the launch of the Douglas Little ensures that the student experience is key to the £30m Heart GCU British School of Fashion, I look of the Campus transformation. forward to reading some outstanding 31 Thinking differently: GCU’s new Strategy for Learning coverage of the great strides that we How the University is meeting the expectations of a new generation of learners. are making, and will continue to make, as a University. 32 Lifelong learning and the accidental academic Dr Nicola Andrew discusses the importance of real world experience and lifelong learning. 34 Back Story – Whistle while you work Senior lecturer and referee John McKendrick talks about his love for the beautiful game . COVER PICTURE: Lily Cole in the Fashion Factory at GCU Glasgow. Picture: Bill Fleming Professor Pamela Gillies CBE BSc PGCE MEd MMedSci PhD FRSA FFPH AcSS Hon FRCPS (Glasg) Published by: Communications and Public Affairs, Glasgow Caledonian University.Designed and printed by: Print Design Services, Glasgow Caledonian University. Photography by: Peter Devlin, Paul Hampton, Josh Tucker, Gary Morrison, GCMB. Principal and Vice-Chancellor © Glasgow Caledonian University 2013. [email protected] 03 COVER STORY Nothing’s impossible for model student Lily Model, actor and social entrepreneur Lily Cole on the value of honorary doctorates, creating fashion that lasts and how we can all do the impossible. Peter John Meiklem reports n the mix of tradition and excitement that But more of that later. For now, Lily is The glamorous façade of the model Iis the university graduation ceremony, simply another graduate with big dreams, world fades after an hour in Lily’s company Lily Cole knows the role of the honorary and worries about whether she’s really got as she reveals her real-world passions, doctor is to inspire the audience as much what it takes to make them come true. including the pursuit of social justice. as be recognised for her own achievements. “Being handed the doctorate felt kind of Having used her fame since day one to Yet, at only 25, there is no hiding the weird. I don’t mean that in a negative way, promote a number of social causes, similarities between the young model, actor but it was a surreal experience to stand she’s given some serious thought to her and social entrepreneur and the 2000 there and have your autobiography read place in what can be a tough industry. other students who graduated alongside out while people are watching you. I spent “I was working in fashion and her in the summer. most of my time during the ceremony simultaneously I was working with a “Mum,” shouts Lily, fresh out of the looking at my mum. number of charities. I knew I wanted to post-ceremony lunch in GCU’s Britannia do something else, but I didn’t know what. Building, “where’s my bag? The one they I was contacted by loads of different gave me after the ceremony. Do you I know that sustainable charities at the start – and they all appealed have it?” It’s a conversation that could fashion is a paradox – to me,” she laughs. be happening in any one of hundreds of “I mean of course I want to save those homes and restaurants across Glasgow and there are lots of animals, and of course I don’t want the and beyond as new graduates gather “problems – but why not planet to blow up. Through that process with their loved ones to celebrate. I stumbled on the idea of how impactful Dr Cole – though it’s doubtful she’ll be try to find solutions? companies are.” using her Doctor of Letters honorific too “The way our world is structured right often (she comes across more down to “I’ve really got to earn that doctorate now, business and economics dominates earth than airs and graces) – is delighted now. I can see how all the things I’m much of the natural human landscape. with her GCU goodie bag and wants her working on are going to map together. I started to see a whole lot of problems mum, the artist and writer Patience Owen, That said, it’s all in the sky, until I can make with that. And whether I’m advertising for to help her track it down. it real, so it still seems kind of crazy.” a company, or buying things, I’m complicit The University, on the other hand, Judging by her CV to date, it shouldn’t in those problems. But I also have lots of is more than a little impressed by Lily’s be too much of a problem. Born in Devon, power, not just through modelling, but as renaissance woman credentials, a career Lily was first spotted while walking in a consumer too – the power to suggest path which has included a Vogue magazine London’s Soho district as a young teenager what kind of business I’d like the world to cover at 16; a double first in art history from and went on to sign with the prestigious move towards.” Cambridge at 23; roles in major movies; Storm modelling agency. Voted model It’s another cliché – the supermodel charity campaigning work and, most of the year at the 2004 British Fashion who just wants to ‘save the world’ – but Lily recently, becoming the driving force behind Awards, she’s worked with the world’s breaks the mould, having thought carefully a number of social businesses, including top luxury brands including Chanel, about her place within it. Fashion parody an ethical knitwear company, The North Louis Vuitton and Jean Paul Gautier, ‘Blue Steel’ she certainly isn’t, being more Circular, and a soon-to-launch project and was one of nine British supermodels likely to quote 19th century German writer which could revolutionise the way we do chosen to bring last year’s Olympic Goethe than any fashion luminary. ‘business’ with each other. Games to a close.