Spring/Summer 2011 THE MAGAZINE OF IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON WAR ZONE Where innovation is forged? GENERATING GENIUS The summer schools changing lives SPRAY ME Haute couture chemistry DAVID WARREN The maker of the black box spring/summer 2011 18 inside > issue 36 Staff • Editor-in-Chief: Tom Miller (Biology 1995) • Creative Director: Beth Elzer • Editor-at-Large and Features Editor: Natasha Martineau (MSc Science Communica- tion 1994) • Alumni Editor: Zoe Perkins • News Editor: Laura Gallagher • Sub Editor and Production: Saskia Daniel • Mailing and Subscriptions: Elizabeth Atkin • Contributors: Anna Codrea- Rado, Tanya Gubbay, 24 Behind the scenes Colin Smith, Simon Watts, LIQUID ASSET Katie Weeks Civil engineers simulate the ocean in a wave basin The magazine for Imperial’s 12 friends, supporters and alumni, 26 Going public including former students of OPEN AIR LABS Imperial College London, the Nearly half a million citizen former Charing Cross and West- 3 Rector’s welcome 18 Picture this scientists sign up to help minster Medical School, Royal SPRAY-ON SCIENCE monitor urban and rural Postgraduate Medical School, 4 Inbox Science goes out in style as environments St Mary’s Hospital Medical Editorial and contributors spray-on technology goes School and Wye College. from lab to catwalk and 28 Travel 5 In brief chemical engineering meets INTO AFRICA Published twice a year by the Spotlight on recent events haute couture Beate Kampmann’s open lab Communications and Develop- and discoveries straddles nearly 3,000 miles ment Division. imperialmagazine 20 Feature from London to the Gambia @imperial.ac.uk 10 Product pipeline TECHNOLOGIES OF ATTENTION TO DETAIL WAR AND PEACE 29 Alter ego Subscriptions Spin-out technologies for New thinking from David LIGHT FANTASTIC If you would like to subscribe to seeing in new ways Edgerton reassesses the Theoretical physicist Imperial magazine please email relationship between war and Martin McCall puts in some imperialmagazine@imperial. ER LL I 11 Question time innovation and the role that out-of-hours fancy footwork ac.uk M EN EN ON THE MOVE Imperial has played on the dance floor LL A K Transport experts advise on Online R MA future priorities for getting 30 Good reception www.imperial.ac.uk/ N: O I around London Staff, friends, supporters and imperialmagazine at R T alumni get social at recent US ILL 12 Careering ahead College events Opinions, beliefs and view- C JEVI FROZEN MOMENTS points expressed by authors L V A Photographer and explorer 31 Obituaries in Imperial magazine do not S Phil Wickens describes his necessarily reflect those of RADO N N wild career on ice 32 In memoriam the College. Sloboda No part of Imperial magazine E) 13 Campus life 34 Alumni noticeboard C IEN SOCIAL SCIENCE may be reproduced in any form C Felix editor Kadhim Shubber without permission. S N 35 Calendar O Y- writes on social networking A and life in the Library ©Imperial College London 2011 ENS, (SPR ENS, CK WI 14 Feature L I GENESIS OF GENIUS PH ) ) C I Equal access to higher ct AR education is a priority for T N A financial analyst alumnus ON THE COVER ( S: David Pollard 20 Illustration by Post Typography Photo 2 | IMPERIAL | SPRING/SUMMER 2011 WELCOME | FROM THE RECTOR We’ve taken a long, hard look at our existing alumni magazine and have overhauled its content and design. Imperial’s readers already all have something in common: we are members of an extended family. Whether you are an alumnus, parent, supporter or just count yourself as an interested friend, I hope you will findImperial a good quality read and that it will strengthen the links between us. Your letters and comments are very welcome. DOMESTIC AFFAIRS During my first twelve months as Rector significant changes to the UK’s higher education system came into view. We are without question moving into a new world. Public expendi- ture on research is relatively unchanged for an institution of Imperial’s global quality, but of our education (which for Both visits herald a new approach to keeping from 2012 there will be a big our science, engineering and College links around the world in good shift in the balance of funding medical subjects is expensive) health, and more are planned for later this for undergraduates. Direct and giving all who can benefit year (see inside back cover). government support will largely from our courses the opportu- A champion for Imperial’s inter- end and UK and EU students nity of an Imperial education. national outlook has been our Chairman, will instead pay for their univer- A clear implication of these the former diplomat Lord Kerr. John retires sity tuition (£9,000 per year at changes is the need for Imperial this summer as Chairman of Court and Imperial) through a loan that to have greater independent and Council after more than six years of steering they will pay back when they are sustainable sources of financial through a period of considerable change, not earning enough to do so. support for students. This year least establishing Imperial as an independ- In response we have created alumni have responded to our ent university in its own right in 2007. a financial aid package that appeals as never before – more Fortunately for us, the Deputy Chairman, will support our twin objec- and more of those who have Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, has tives of maintaining the quality benefited from an Imperial been appointed to succeed John. We are T education themselves are delighted that a person of such talents is able UNI C C I H assisting future generations of to follow him. P A students. For all your donations Wishing you an enjoyable and fulfilling GR I am enormously grateful on summer. HOTO P E behalf of the College. /TH Best wishes, GE D RI GLOBAL EFFECTS TT GU This year I have been delighted VE to meet many proud Imperial alumni and supporters in the UK and across the globe. Along- EY, (LAB) DA (LAB) EY, lc side the October signing of our agreement with Singapore to E FINN-KE E K INTERNATIONAL LINKS new medical school I develop a SIR KEITH O’NIONS FRS is Rector of Imperial College M Sixty Taiwanese alumni R) R) we had a wonderfully attended London. He is a geologist who has worked at Oxford, Cambridge cto gathered for a reception E reception, and visits to China and Columbia Universities, and has served the UK government R hosted by the Rector in S: ( S: and Taiwan at Easter have led as Chief Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Defence, and as Taipei on 27 April. to many positive exchanges. former Director-General of the Research Councils. Photo SPRING/SUMMER 2011 | IMPERIAL | 3 | LETTERS INBOX As Imperial magazine emerges from its makeover and CONTRIBUTORS replaces Imperial Matters, we reflect on the making of this publication, and invite your thoughts and ideas on ← NIC FleminG is a journalist, rock future stories. climber and former street performer. He A NEW MAGAZINE FOR IMPERIAL unusual requests along the way. began his journalism This issue is about exploration of one sort or Thank you to those interviewees career on the Daily another. Some articles feature new ways of whom we tracked down in the Express show business getting about; others focus on where people Antarctic (page 12) and the desk. More recently have come from, where they are going to, or Gambia (page 28). Please take he was science and medical correspondent at what they get up to along the way. a bow all those who endured The Daily Telegraph. As a keen but not particularly Our own exploration has been in extreme wind chill to transform competent climber, he thoroughly enjoyed inter- charting a new course for this magazine for Dalby Court into a dance floor viewing explorer Phil Wickens (page 12). Imperial’s alumni, supporters and friends. one winter weekend (page 29), We aim to bring you the most interesting and everyone who helped with and thought-provoking stories and images the Genesis of genius photoshoot LEE Elliot → from this university community, and to (page 14) when College was Major feed your brains with the latest discoveries, closed for the extended Easter writer of the Genesis creativity and thinking coming out of the break. We would like to raise a of genius feature College. To help us meet this challenge, we special glass to Noah, our (page 14) is Director have taken a new editorial approach by over- Creative Director’s newborn, of Research and hauling design and content, and tapping into who (almost) managed to time Policy at the Sutton the talents of a new group of writers, artists his arrival until after we went Trust, which supports and photographers from all over the world. to press. educational opportunities for able young people A lot of people have kept us travelling We hope that you will find from non-privileged backgrounds. He was previ- hopefully, especially those who said yes to things that surprise and amuse ously an education journalist at The Guardian you amongst these pages, and and THE. He graduated from the MSc in Science that you will share your discov- Communication at Imperial in 1994 and holds a eries more widely, whatever PhD in theoretical physics. your connection with Impe- rial. In future issues, this page will feature your observations, ← Sonia Van suggestions and challenges to Gilder Cooke, us, so please get in touch and an environmental let us know what you think, or journalist, investi- what you would like to see in gates the power of future issues. citizen scientists for Going public (page 26).