THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH AUTUMN 2013 bulletinTHE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH STAFF MAGAZINE Building on the legacy Nobel Prize delight for Peter Higgs, and a boost for physics at Edinburgh – page 3 One to A vision Labelled Competition watch shared for life? & giveaway We meet the University’s Dr Sue Rigby on how staff Groundbreaking research Your chance to win a new Writer-in-Residence, and students can work from School of Law pampering spa treatment Jenni Fagan – page 8 together – page 12 experts – page 16 or a meal for two – page 27 editorial... bulletin editorial This edition of bulletin is another reminder of the diverse fields of work in which PUBLICation detaiLS University staff continue to make their mark – and perhaps none more so recently Published by: Communications and than Peter Higgs, Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics. Being named the Marketing, The University of Edinburgh joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics has brought him the highest accolade ContaCT US in science and helped focus global attention on physics and the University’s bulletin achievements in the subject. Read more about his success opposite and overleaf. Communications and Marketing The University supports new voices as well as established talent. On pages 8–9 The University of Edinburgh C Floor, Forrest Hill Building we hear from novelist and poet Jenni Fagan, who has taken over from Alan Warner 5 Forrest Hill as the University’s Writer-in-Residence. Ms Fagan describes the response to her Edinburgh, EH1 2QL critically lauded debut The Panopticon, and her hopes for nurturing creative talent E: [email protected] around the campus. T: +44 (0)131 650 9747 Edinburgh’s remit reaches beyond the academic sphere – on pages 10–11 we profile a unique Widening Participation programme that sees staff working SUBMISSION DETAILS with football clubs in local communities to improve outcomes for teenage boys. If you would like to submit an idea for an article, please contact us at the In 2013 there is a renewed concentration at Edinburgh on ensuring that the student email address above in advance of the next deadline. The next edition will be experience is as good as it possibly can be. On pages 12–13, Dr Sue Rigby, Vice- published in April 2014. The deadline Principal Learning and Teaching, observes that student expectations are changing is 31 January 2014. – but that the quality of interaction between student and staff remains as important as ever. As Dr Rigby states, it’s important to remember that University staff can For regular updates, visit Staff News at www. make “all the difference in the world”. ed.ac.uk/news/staff. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/UoE_staff. Nearly 12,000 digital images can now be viewed online at the Centre for Research If you require this document in an Collection’s Images alternative format (eg large print, on Collection. Turn to coloured paper, etc) please get in touch pages 14–15 for more by using the contact details above. details on this archive, The University of Edinburgh is mindful of the and for a round-up of environmental impact of producing this magazine exhibitions and events and seeks to minimise resources wherever possible. This magazine has been printed on around the campus. on recycled, uncoated stock, which contains 100 per cent post-consumer waste and is manufactured at a mill that is certified to the (2006), Oil on canvas © The artist’s estate environmental management system ISO14001. wo Girls by Harbour Cover: Callum Bennetts/Maverick Photo Agency T John Bellany, 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH STAFF MAGAZINE AUTUMN 2013 news... bulletin Graham Clark I hope this recognition of fundamental science will help raise awareness of the value of blue-sky research. – Peter Higgs, Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics Nobel Prize for Peter Higgs brings boost for physics As Emeritus Professor Peter Higgs shares his delight at receiving science’s top accolade, plans are unveiled to build a dedicated new home for the research centre bearing his name. ollowing the award of a Nobel Prize to develop and apply new mathematical that contributes to our understanding of in Physics to Professor Peter Higgs, and computational approaches to solving the origin of mass of subatomic particles, Fthe University is to further enhance the complex challenges we face,” the and which recently was confirmed its expertise in theoretical physics. Principal said. through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the Atlas and At a press conference that was webcast The Principal confirmed the Scottish CMS experiments at CERN’s Large live shortly after the announcement, the Government had committed to back the Hadron Collider.” Principal, Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, project, “which will allow us to support a launched a fundraising campaign for a new generation of Higgses to do The prize is shared with François Englert, second phase of development of the world-quality research.” Private support a retired professor at the Free University Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, has also been offered, including a of Brussels, who separately produced a including a dedicated new home for the £100,000 pledge from Edinburgh theory about how fundamental particles centre at King’s Buildings. alumnus Professor Walter Nimmo. achieve their mass, at around the same time as Professor Higgs. “Our plans centre on a new building that Professor Higgs, Emeritus Professor of creates a unique environment to bring the Theoretical Physics, was awarded the Professor Higgs said: “I’m obviously brightest students from around the world Nobel Prize on 8 October. The Royal delighted … I’m overwhelmed to receive together with academics, international Swedish Academy made the award for researchers and innovators from industry “the theoretical discovery of a mechanism >>page 4 AUTUMN 2013 THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH STAFF MAGAZINE 3 news... Austin Smith Lord Callum Bennetts/Maverick Photo Agency An artist’s impression of the new centre. <<page 3 this award and thank the Royal Swedish Academy. I would also like to congratulate all those who have contributed to the discovery of this new particle and to thank my family, friends and colleagues for their support.” Author JK Rowling talks to the University’s Chancellor, HRH The Princess Royal, at the official opening of the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic at Little France. He added: “I hope this recognition of fundamental science will help raise awareness of the value of blue-sky research.” Chancellor opens Professor Higgs’s links with Edinburgh date back 60 years. In 1954 he moved to the University for his second year as a Royal Commission for the Anne Rowling Clinic Exhibition of 1851 Senior Student. He took up a lectureship at the Tait A multiple sclerosis (MS) research clinic Ms Rowling, whose mother, Anne, died of Institute of Mathematical Physics in founded by author JK Rowling has been MS aged 45 as the author was beginning 1960. Four years later, his paper opened at the University. work on the Harry Potter novels, thanked “Broken Symmetries and the Masses those who were involved in the creation of of Gauge Bosons” demonstrated how The Anne Rowling Regenerative the clinic. elemental particles achieved mass by Neurology Clinic was officially opened by identifying a new particle, which went the Chancellor, HRH The Princess Royal. An estimated 10,500 people living in on to acquire his name. Scotland have MS. The disease causes The clinic will research new The announcement in 2012 that a treatments to slow the progression of myelin, a protective layer surrounding particle consistent with the boson had neurodegenerative conditions including nerve cells in the brain, to break down, been found ended the decades-long MS, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s leading to symptoms that can include hunt for a ‘missing piece’ of the disease and Huntington’s disease. It fatigue and numbness. Standard Model of particle physics will also study autism and early-onset Professor Charles ffrench-Constant, and sealed Professor Higgs’s Alzheimer’s disease. Clinic Co-Director and Director of the worldwide reputation. The facility is located in the Chancellor’s University’s Medical Research Council The Nobel Prize in Physics will be Building at the University’s Little France Centre for Regenerative Medicine, said officially awarded in Stockholm at a medical campus, alongside the Royal the clinic’s location at the Little France ceremony on 10 December. Infirmary of Edinburgh. campus would allow it to draw on the University’s world-class strength in Watch a video of the recent “I am moved and elated to see the Anne neuroscience, stem cell research and press conference: www.ed.ac.uk/ Rowling Clinic formally opened,” said regeneration. news/2013/higgs-091013. Ms Rowling, who donated £10 million towards establishing the facility. “Because of the Anne Rowling Clinic’s A seven-week Massive Open Online unique capacity for bench-to-bedside Course (MOOC) about the discovery “Having observed the plans for the clinic research, in time we expect to be able to of the Higgs boson has been develop and expand to fulfil the needs translate laboratory discoveries into real developed by the University and will of patients, clinicians and researchers, benefits for patients,” he said. become available to subscribers I am now very proud to see the building around the world in February 2014. finished and operating as the beating 8 For more information, visit heart of this centre for excellence.” www.annerowlingclinic.com. 4 THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH STAFF MAGAZINE AUTUMN 2013 bulletin Edinburgh rises Douglas Robertson to 17th on global rankings table The QS World Rankings has placed the University 17th in the world, the highest position Edinburgh has ever reached in the table.