CONVERSATION & NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN AUTUMN/WINTER 2012 ENERGISED MINDS British Science Festival returns to Aberdeen for the first time in 50 years ROYAL OPENING HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh open Sir Duncan Rice Library PIXAR’S ‘BRAVE’ SCOT Aberdeen graduate Gordon Cameron makes his childhood dreams a reality at Pixar REACHING NEW DEPTHS More fantastic voyages lie ahead for the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab ALUMNI AND CAMPUS NEWS VOICE ■ EDITORS FEATURES ALUMNI NEWS RACHEL SANDISON Director of Marketing 3 18-23 Student Recruitment & A Word From The Alumni Profiles Alumni Relations Principal Gordon Cameron [email protected] Raj Jutley EMMA BROOKS 4/5 Michelle Watt Senior Marketing Officer British Science Festival [email protected] 24/25 A Roaring Success ALUMNI RELATIONS Alumni News FIONA Urquhart 6/7 Alumni Development Professor Brian Cox 26 Executive on The Importance of Alumni Paralympic Success [email protected] Communicating Science Inspires at Aberdeen Sports Communications Village SHAUNAGH KIRBY 7 Head of Communications Plaque Unveiled to DIGITAL VERSION JENNIFER PHILLIPS Aberdeen Nobel-Prize AVAILABLE AT: Communications Officer Winner WWW.ABDN.ac.UK/voice JO MILNE © 2012 UNIVERSITY OF Communications Officer 8/9 ABERDEEN Reaching New Depths VOICE magazine with Oceanlab WWW.ABDN.ac.UK University of Aberdeen King’s College DESIGNED & Produced BY Aberdeen 10/11 HAMPTON Associates Scotland AB24 3FX Royal Opening for Sir Aberdeen, Tel: 01224 620562 Duncan Rice Library www.hamptonassociates.com Principal & VICE- CHANCELLOR 12/13 PRINTED BY PROFESSOR IAN DIAMOND BGP, Bicester FBA FRSE AcSS Development Trust: Paper sourced from An International Focus sustainable forests SENIOR VICE-principal PROFESSOR STEPHEN 14/15 LOGAN Campus News Secretary TO THE UNIVERSITY 16 STEVE CANNON A Mutual Honour 17 TO KEEP UP TO DATE Events and Exhibitions WITH NEWS FROM YOUR UNIVERSITY: Follow us on twitter: @aberdeenuni Add us on facebook: www.facebook.com/ AberdeenUniversityAlumni or www.facebook.com/ universityofaberdeen Sign up to receive the alumni e-bulletin GAUD:E and check the latest University stories, news archive, and media coverage on the University website: www.abdn.ac.uk WELCOME VOICE A WORD FROM THE Principal Welcome to the Winter edition of Voice. ON ONE LEVEL IT was A CHANCE I say “Winter edition” but as I write this it TO celebrate THE creation OF A is early Autumn here in Aberdeen and the magnificent AND inspirational month of September was dominated by two BUILDING WHICH WILL BENEFIT of the biggest events in the University’s STUDENTS, SCHOLARS AND OUR recent history. COMMUNITIES FOR DECADES TO COME, The British Science Festival in Aberdeen took AND WHICH REPRESENTS A STRIKING place early in the month and proved to be statement OF THE intellectual a huge success. We were blessed with great AND cultural STRENGTH OF OUR weather and I’m delighted to report that the UNIVERSITY, CITY AND REGION. Festival was widely regarded as having been one of the best attended and most successful ever. That is a huge compliment to the many Suttie Centre for Teaching and Learning in staff of the University who were involved Healthcare have been made possible with the but also the strength and effectiveness of the help of philanthropic giving to the University. Professor Ian Diamond partnership working with several organisations It’s also the case that many academic positions FBA FRSE AcSS Principal and across the North-East of Scotland that were and scholarships for students have been Vice-Chancellor key to the success of the week. You can read supported through the generosity of donors. more about the Festival on page 4. Whatever the purpose of a donation, whatever the size, the collective impact has been to make Then towards the end of the month, and as the University ever stronger. you can read more about on page 10, the University had the huge honour of welcoming The challenge ahead is a constant one. HM The Queen to officially open the Sir We are all committed to making your Duncan Rice Library. Large numbers of the University an ever greater seat of learning, University and local communities turned one that you will feel even more proud of your out to welcome Her Majesty. It was also an association with. Equally, the environment opportunity for us to welcome many alumni in which we operate becomes ever more and donors to the Library for what was a true challenging, particularly for a university day of celebration. such as Aberdeen which is competing on On one level it was a chance to celebrate the a world stage but in increasingly stringent creation of a magnificent and inspirational financial times. In this context, the support building which will benefit students, scholars of our alumni community becomes all the and our communities for decades to come, more important because it can give us the and which represents a striking statement of competitive edge we need to succeed, to make the intellectual and cultural strength of our the investment in the great facilities, scholars university, city and region. and students that distinguish a world-class university from the rest. On another level it was also a celebration of the strength of our global University community, The Library is a great example of what we which has been crucial to our fundraising can achieve with your support. We have many in support of the Library. It’s important to more exciting plans for our beautiful campus, remember the difference that alumni and for new investment in staff and in supporting supporters of the University have made to the our students that you will hear more about in institution over the years, the Library being just the years to come and which, with the support the latest example. Major new buildings such of the University family, will help us to take ■ as the Institute of Medical Sciences and the Aberdeen to even higher levels of success. 3 VOICE ■ A ROARING SUCCESS Photo: It was a dinosaur invasion as a giant T-Rex roamed campus on the penultimate day of the Festival. 4 FEATURES VOICE King’s Campus and venues across The festival also saw the largest number of “OVER THE COURSE OF THE WEEK WE Aberdeen city and shire were returning alumni since the Quincentenary HAD MORE THAN 250 EVENTS spanning transformed in September as the celebrations of 1995 with more than 300 THE COMPLETE RANGE OF SCIENCES British Science Festival returned attending exclusive Festival events, some AND crossing WITH MANY OTHER for the first time in almost 50 years. travelling from as far afield as Europe, Canada SUBJECTS. THE attendances have SET and the USA. Tens of thousands of visitors attended more A NEW standard FOR THE Festival than 250 events ranging from debates and The parallel alumni programme, which WITH MANY EVENTS BOOKED OUT AND A discussions to hand-on workshops and events included a dolphin watching trip, special ‘trace SIGNIFICANT proportion OF audience for children during the week-long celebration, your roots’ event, food lab experiments and MEMBERS COMING from OUTSIDE THE which ran from September 4 to 9 and was campus tours, was the largest initiative of its north-EAST AND SCOTLAND.” supported by principal sponsors BP and Shell type in the British Science Festival’s history. UK alongside a host of others including the Dr Ken Skeldon, Head of Public Engagement Scottish Government, Aberdeen City Council, “We were overwhelmed by the support shown with Research at the University and local chair by the University, our alumni and wider The Society for Petroleum Engineers and of the Festival Programming Group describes Marathon Oil. communities as well as our sponsors and the British Science Festival, which was supporters, without which the Festival would The famous Spiegeltent used at the Edinburgh co-organised with the British Science not have been the great success that it was.” Festival was erected on King’s Lawn, creating Association and TechFest-SetPoint, as a a festival vibe with science themed cabaret, “fantastic success not only for the institution Dr Skeldon says that the success and legacy stand-up comedy and speed dating all taking but for Aberdeen city and Aberdeenshire.” of the British Science Festival will further energise public engagement in the region. place against its ornate backdrop. He adds: “We couldn’t have asked for any Big name speakers including the physicist more – even the Aberdeen weather was on side “Moving forward the University is one Professor Brian Cox and author Bill Bryson for the full six days. Given that the ‘grapevine’ of eight Research Councils UK (RCUK) addressed capacity audiences, with Cox is usually an honest reflection of peoples’ views centres of excellence for public engagement making a surprise appearance at the lunchtime post an event like this, we are delighted to with research, allowing us to drive forward X-change – a ‘best-of-the-fest’ showcase held have gathered extremely positive reflections an innovative set of initiatives. This includes in the Spiegeltent. from across the UK. We are confident that the diversifying our community café engagement Aberdeen experience was second to none in programme, already the biggest of its kind in Other highlights included a giant T-Rex, the Festival’s recent history. the UK. which intrigued gathered crowds with its life- like appearance, prowling around the academic “Over the course of the week we had more “The British Science Festival has also helped square outside the University library as part of than 250 events spanning the complete range achieve a step change in our audience reach the British Science Association’s 2012 Charles of sciences and crossing with many other and increased the depth and extent of our Darwin Award Lecture.