COOKING UP apex A BUSINESS Alumni Magazine Catering for a food intolerance Issue 20 Autumn 2007 NEWS FROM YOUR SCHOOL Latest research from Aston WHERE ARE THEY NOW? you must remember this... RAG goes out into the City in a bath to raise money for charity! Send in your photos and share your memories of your time at Aston. 2 AUTUMN 07 autumn ’07 apexfeatures 5 Aston honours CONTENTS 9 Graduate recruitment: a new generation 1 0 Get involved! 1 1 A sustainable future? 1 2 Cooking up a business 2 1 An artful message apexregulars 4 Profile on… 8 Alumni discounts 2 0 News on development activities 2 2 Where are they now? 12 21 2 8 International alumni reunions and events 3 0 News from Aston Graduates’ Association 3 1 Intouch 3 2 Gifts apexnews 1 4 School of Engineering & Applied Science World’s first robotic micro-drill developed at Aston Highest honour for Aston Professor 1 5 Aston Business School Understanding behaviour: the new cognitive research centre National schools business competition 1 6 School of Life & Health Sciences 27 An OSCAR for Aston Aston scientists join fight against MRSA 1 7 School of Languages & Social Sciences Forensic linguistics gathers strength Meet the team... 1 8 Combined Honours Working with the Combined Honours family apexplus All the latest news from the Alumni & Development Office, the Guild and benefits for Aston alumni. How to contact the Alumni Sarah Pymm Caroline Broome Farzana Sayani & Development Office: Alumni & Development Office Head of Alumni Relations Alumni Relations Assistant Marketing and Events www.aston.ac.uk/alumni Aston University Administrator Freepost BM2599/13 [email protected] Birmingham T +44 (0)121 204 3000 B4 6BR F +44 (0)121 204 4783 Special thanks go to everyone who contributed to this issue of Apex. Apex is published twice a year for alumni of Aston University. Letters, photographs and news are very welcome but we reserve the right to edit any contributions. Please address all correspondence to the Alumni & Development Office. The opinions expressed in Apex are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Alumni & Development Office or Aston University. Apex is also available via the website in pdf format, but please contact us if you experience any difficulties accessing the publication. Katy Barry Lara Fleming Emmy Pong Designed by Linney Design. Printed by Linney Print. ABS Alumni Executive Development Manager: Development Assistant Photo credits: Huw Meredith page 16, 17, 27 and 30 Trusts and Research Ed Moss page 14 and page 16 Rod Wylie front cover, page 12 and page 13 AUTUMN 07 3 Aston retains its place in top 15 universities Aston university has been ranked 15th in this year’s times Good university Guide. this ranking puts Aston ahead of universities such as Manchester, Birmingham and nottingham. The Times Good University Guide is the most authoritative “We are particularly proud of this placing as it builds on our and widely-respected guide to universities in the UK and is an success overall in The Times rankings last year and the recent essential and comprehensive tool for students and parents in Good University Guide. Aston scored particularly well on the UK and abroad. It ranks 113 UK universities according to criteria such as graduate employment, spending on facilities, eight criteria, including student satisfaction, research quality student support and staff:student ratios. These factors are and degree results. extremely important to our students and have a positive impact on their experience with us as well as their futures as Prospective students can access the Guide online at successful graduates.” www.timesonline.co.uk/gooduniversityguide James Seymour, Head of Schools Liaison, said: “This ranking, yet again, This good news for Aston came just a week after the publication confirms Aston’s position as a top UK university. of a new university guide which ranked Aston 12th in the UK. Aston 12th in new UK Quality experience continues university guide for Aston students Aston University has come 12th in a new UK Universities guide. Aston achieved very positive satisfaction ratings from students The Interactive Guide was compiled by Bernard Kingston and who responded to this year’s National Student Survey. We Mayfield University Consultants (who previously compiled the gained an overall satisfaction score of 87% for undergraduate highly respected Times Good University Guide) and is degrees* against an 81% score for the UK overall.** sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The new rankings can be found at www.thegooduniversityguide.org.uk Aston took top place among West Midlands’ universities for overall satisfaction (above Warwick, UCE, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, This good news came just a week after it was announced that the Coventry, Staffordshire and Worcester universities) and was rated University has a higher percentage of state school pupils than any extremely well on the overall ‘personal development’ criteria. other Top 20 UK university, according to a new report. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) figures show that Professor Graham Hooley, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor said: “It is 89% of students starting full-time first degree courses at Aston in extremely encouraging to hear that our students are very satisfied 2005-6 came from state school backgrounds. Furthermore, it means with their studies and their overall experience at Aston, but we are that Aston has surpassed its 86.8% benchmark for intake of state not complacent. We are working hard to improve every area of our school pupils – a target which is set each year by HEFCE. To put this service at the University with the aim of scoring even higher in the achievement into context, only three other top 20-ranked institutions survey next year.” in the Times Good University Guide 2007 had state school *Aston’s score is up from 84% in 2006. participation rates of over 80% and only two of those – Leicester **Taking out specialist colleges, part-time/distance learning institutions (for example the and Cardiff – exceeded their benchmarks. Open University, Birkbeck College) and private institutions (University of Buckingham). Many of our readers must recognise The worst aspect of the job is telling people Miranda Cleal. She’s been working at Aston you can’t offer them a place. It’s awful to hear for the last 17 years, having started in the their disappointment and you need a certain Nelson Building in 1990 on a two-week amount of tact and discipline to deal with placement from Secretarial College. At the such cases. On a lighter note, I have recently end of the placement she was offered full- experienced my first trip abroad, travelling to time employment as a course secretary, Kazakhstan to recruit students. I really enjoyed progressing to the Business School this opportunity and learned a tremendous Undergraduate Programme and then to amount from it – it has certainly enhanced Mechanical Engineering. For the last five my work with international students. I hope years Miranda has been working for it will be the start of many trips to come!” Combined Honours as Admissions Officer/ Departmental Secretary. Out of work, Miranda trained and taught in karate for a number of years to black belt “My role in Combined Honours involves a lot of third Dan level. “I entered a number of contact with both staff and students – through competitions and competed abroad for my club admissions, open days and enrolment. I really in countries such as Brazil. Unfortunately, due enjoy my work and love hearing how happy to injury, I had to retire so nowadays I do more students are when they find out they have a light-hearted exercise such as jogging. profile on... place on the course they want and to see all I completed the Great North Run in 2001. MIRANDA CLEAL their hard work come to fruition at graduation. I am also a keen supporter of Aston Villa!” 4 AUTUMN 07 At this year’s Degree Congregations, Aston ’welcomed new honorary graduates as members of AST Convocation, acknowledging N their achievement and contribution to their H respective fields. NOURS 7 He is currently the Deputy Chair In 2006, she joined the Executive sits on the Press Complaints of the Commission for Racial Committee of the World Lotteries Commission, and is a member of KHURSHID AHMED Equality and Chairman of the Association and she now chairs its the CBI President’s Committee. In British Muslim Forum, the Dudley Responsible Gaming Committee. February 2006 she was appointed Muslim Association and the She also chairs Camelot’s Social as a Non-Executive Director of Dudley Community (Strategic) Responsibility Board. Camelot is Domino’s Pizza UK & IRL plc. Partnership. He is a former Chair in the top 30 in Business In The Dianne received a CBE for of the National Association of Community’s Social Responsibility services to business in the 2006 British Pakistanis and a Non- Index. The company is also ranked New Year’s Honours List. executive Director of the Dudley 13th in the Sunday Times 100 Best Group of Hospitals NHS Trust. Companies to Work For 2007 list. He is a member of the Attorney Dianne has personally raised SIMON TOPMAN General’s Diversity Advisory funds for ChildLine as Chair of the Group and was a member of ChildLine Foundation, reaching the Khurshid has had extensive the Government’s Preventing landmark figure of £1 million in involvement in community Extremism Together Task Force. December 2006. She received a development. His interest BA (Hons) in French from London burgeoned from his own University and started her career community as Secretary of the DIANNE THOMPSON as a marketing trainee at the Dudley and Sandwell Pakistan Co-operative Wholesale Society.