Su Issue fourtecen autumn c 2013 www.essmmu.ac.uk The University for World-Class Professionals Dame Joan Bakewell OBE Broadcaster, journalist, campaigner s Board of Governors Class Act Research Meet Our Alumni e r u t c i P Education, manufacturing, Actress and comedienne How a caffeine spray Philippa Hallworth on C business and finance Debra Stephenson B B could enhance her year as a newly : t i leaders take up their remembers her d e sports performance qualified teacher r c new roles student days e r u t c i P Contents Foreword P1 Professor John Brooks, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University News P2 Round-up of news from across the University Opinion P5 Dianne Thompson CBE, Camelot Group of Companies CEO and University Chancellor Graduations 2013 P6 Honorary awards 2013 P8 Interview with honorary graduate Dame Joan Bakewell P10 Graduate Angus McFadyen discusses how he went about P10 creating our new ceremonial mace P11 This year’s Success prize winners talk about their work Building for the Future P12 The latest on the University’s £350m investment in new facilities Board of Governors P14 Meet the new Chairman and Deputy e v i h Chair of the Board of Governors c r A e P16 The new independent Governors r u t c reveal what attracted them to the role i P P20 V T Postgraduates in Focus I P19 Graduate Philomena Chen explains how the Executive MBA benefitted her career Class Act P20 Actress and comedienne Debra Stephenson remembers her student days Working with Business P22 Knowledge Exchange Awards Research P14 P28 P23 Innovative research at the University P24 Psychology senior lecturer, Su cc ess Editor - Rachel Charnock Dr Geoff Bunn, on lie detectors Issue fourteen autumn 2013 Writers - Kat Dibbits P26 Research into the use of a caffeine Success is published by Manchester Gareth Hollyman spray to improve sports performance Metropolitan University Chris Morris Design - Steve Kelly Vice-Chancellor Meet Our Alumni Photography - Ade Hunter Professor John Brooks P28 Teaching graduate, Philippa Mike Frisbee Hallworth, on her first year as a Contact us - [email protected] primary teacher No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission from Manchester Metropolitan University Foreword Our Academic Vision his edition of Success for World-Class Professionals, it is vital T introduces readers to new that we can demonstrate outstanding members of our Board, achievement in each area. including our new Chairman and Deputy Chair, and reflects upon the The Academic Vision for MMU builds success of this year’s graduation upon the success of the 2020 Vision ceremonies and our honorary and sets some ambitious, but graduates. It also showcases our achievable, targets. It is based upon achievements in research and sound evidence, and seeks to position enterprise across the University and the University within the ‘free market’, features an interview with graduate which the government’s policies have Debra Stephenson – with whom I was created. In summary, our aim is to delighted to present our first Staff become a top 50 university for both Awards ceremony at the end of term. teaching and research. The move from raise the bar of both expectation and ‘good to great’ which this Vision achievement still further. Of course, the In my foreword, I want to concentrate on requires will demand a co-ordinated sector is not standing still and we are in the ‘Academic Vision’ for the University and sustained effort across the entire direct competition with many other high and to emphasise the core ‘business’ of University. It will determine how we performing universities in the UK and a modern university. MMU primarily recruit our staff, how we reward their worldwide. Nevertheless, I am confident engages in the three closely related achievement and how we make longer- that we can raise our game and achieve activities of: term strategic investment decisions. our ‘top 50’ aspiration. 1. Creation of new knowledge – Much of the foundation has already been However, we will need your help, so Research laid very effectively. From 2014, our two- please keep in touch. 2. Communication of knowledge – campus University will have world-class Teaching facilities for teaching and research; our infrastructure to support teaching and 3. Commercialisation of knowledge – learning is sector leading; and our Enterprise innovative use of MOODLE is beginning We believe that the ‘three-legged stool’ to set us apart from other universities. of R,T and E is made stronger by the Professor John Brooks interaction between activities. Indeed to The challenge now is to work with our Vice-Chancellor achieve our aim of being the University staff, our students and our alumni to Manchester Metropolitan University 1 News UK's greenest university n a i d r a u G e h T / d n o m o h T Students from the Urban Gardening Society tending r e h planters at John Dalton, in a previously unused p o t s courtyard that they transformed into a garden and i r seating area with funding from the University h C © anchester Metropolitan High marks were also given in areas like The ‘Student Switch Off’ campaign M University hit number one ethical investment, fair trade, and water encourages reduced energy use in halls in the People & Planet and energy management. of residence and has already saved Green League Table 2013 of 140 266 tonnes of carbon dioxide (2009-12), universities, after rising spectacularly Annual carbon emissions are down to with a probable 100 more tonnes saved from 91st when the annual tables were below 20,000 tonnes, which is a fall of in 2013. first produced in 2007. nearly 20% from 2005/6 and which amounts to some 16,000 tonnes. Another campaign, ‘Zero Waste - Give Vice-Chancellor Professor John Brooks it don’t bin it’, where students donated said: “The whole University community MMU has a target to cut carbon unwanted items to local charities has is thrilled with this recognition from emissions by 35% by 2016 and it is reduced waste being sent to landfill by People & Planet. We try to be one of the few institutions with specific 50 tonnes since its launch in 2009 and sustainable in everything we do and policies to reduce indirect emissions has proved so successful that it has have spent £350m rebuilding our from staff and student travel and been adopted by Manchester City campuses along eco-friendly lines. how the goods and services it buys Council. Last year alone, 954 bags of are made. clothing, crockery and other general “In partnership with our students, we household items were donated. are working to create a sustainable It has also invested hundreds of University which goes beyond being thousands of pounds in solar energy When asked whether they were satisfied carbon neutral and actually has a and green roofs at its All Saints campus with MMU’s eco-friendly attitude, 94% positive environmental impact.” on Oxford Road. A further £110,000 is of our students said they were satisfied being invested in solar energy at the or very satisfied – a rise of 11% on the The annual survey audits systems, Crewe campus. previous survey in 2009. performance and attitudes to green living, with MMU scoring 59.5 out of 70 All University buildings are strictly www.mmu.ac.uk/environment and maximum marks in: monitored by an energy rating scheme, Twitter: @MMUEnvironment while the University’s new £75m n Environmental Policy Business School and Student Hub n Environmental Staff incorporates many new ‘green’ n Carbon Management technologies including rainwater n Staff and Student Engagement recycling, borehole cooling and heating, and the new Birley Fields n Sustainability in the Curriculum campus will be zero-rated in waste, n Waste Management water and heating. 2 Studying things that go bump in the night hosts, ghouls and things that As well as providing a home for G go bump in the night... and researchers, the Centre will be home to how these terrors have the University’s hugely popular Gothic affected our culture will be the focus strand of the MA in English, and the new of the new Manchester Centre for online MA which is launched this year. Gothic Studies. The staff will also organise public events, The Centre was launched in October by host a research conference, and the the Lord Mayor of Manchester during Centre will house an online journal, Dark the Gothic Manchester Festival. Arts: An Online Journal of Gothic Studies. Dr Linnie Blake, of the Department of Dr Blake added: “To us, studying the English, said: “The public interest in the Gothic is an intellectual adventure on Gothic has never been greater. Books, the dark side and we want to share this films, television, video games and not only with other academics but also graphic novels all illustrate this. with members of the wider world.” “But the Gothic isn't simply a popular Follow the Manchester Centre for Gothic mode of entertainment. It is a powerful Studies on Twitter at @gothicmmu. form of storytelling that tells us something about our deepest and www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/gothicmmu/ darkest fears, about who we are as about-the-centre Xavier Aldana Reyes and Linnie Blake people and how our society works.” Successful applicants can start their business careers with little or no debt plus three years’ work experience under their belt with one of the world’s best- known brands. Tony Collins, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Trains, said: “This is a great example of partnership between education and the business world, and for Virgin Trains it makes great economic sense as we are investing in 12 future leaders of the business.” Virgin is offering a three-year, fixed-term job and a place to study a BA (Hons) Business Management degree.