Your Manchester 2005

YOUR MANCHESTER 1YOUR MANCHESTER 1

yourmanchester

New University Unwrapped

Secrets of the Amazon

Earthquake Prediction

Our Literary Elite

Finding Old Friends

Beattie: Big Brother and Beyond

The University of Manchester Alumni MagazineMay 2005

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‘Your Manchester’ is published by Communications and Marketing Services in conjunction with the Development and Alumni Relations Office, The University of Manchester.

For further information concerning any of the articles in this issue please contact:Donna Prince, Co-ordinating Editor/Alumni Officer, The University of Manchester, G9 Christie Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL. telephone +44 (0) 161 306 3066 fax +44 (0) 161 306 8066 email [email protected]

The articles printed here, to the best of our knowledge, were correct at the time of going to press. We cannotguarantee that all articles submitted will be printed and we reserve the right to edit material where necessary.Furthermore, the views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of The University of Manchester, The University of Manchester Alumni Association, or the Editor.

Dear Graduate,

I am pleased to welcome you to this firstedition of “Your Manchester”, the newmagazine for graduates of The University ofManchester.

The past year has been a very exciting one forthe University. The merger between UMIST andthe Victoria University of Manchester washailed by the Prime Minister as one of the“boldest and most ambitious moves” inworldwide higher education and Her MajestyThe Queen offered some very kind words ofpraise and encouragement when she visitedthe campus to present our new Royal Charter on 22 October 2004.

A merger between two research intensive universities has never been achieved before in Britain andit is a tribute to the efforts of all my colleagues – and the two previous vice-chancellors - that sucha major change was negotiated and delivered with so little disruption to our core activities ofresearch and scholarship.

My first year here in Manchester has been spent working with the Board of Governors and mysenior colleagues to devise and begin to deliver a strategy for reconstituting and repositioning TheUniversity of Manchester over the next decade as one of the world’s best universities.

The Inauguration of the new University and our ambitious agenda for the future are covered onpages 18 and 19 of this magazine. The other stories featured in this first edition of “YourManchester” have been chosen to give you a flavour of some of the interesting and exciting workbeing conducted at the University and to illustrate how the campus and the city have changedsince you were a student here.

Our alumni community of more than 180,000 graduates, spread across the globe, represents oneof the University’s greatest assets. Your receipt of this magazine is proof that you have kept theUniversity updated with your contact details and I would like to thank you for your continuingsupport and involvement.

I am delighted that two of our most distinguished graduates, Anna Ford and Sir Terry Leahy, haveagreed to stay on and serve as Co-Chancellors of the University. They are powerful and influentialambassadors for the University and “living proof” of the value of a Manchester education and degree.

I am pleased too that Andrew Spinoza has agreed to serve as the first Chairman of the University’snew Alumni Association. I know that Andrew and the Association have many exciting projectsplanned which should make it easier for you to keep in touch with the University. These include anew website and alumni e-news service for those of you with email accounts. A number of alumnievents and reunions have been scheduled for next few months (see page 33) and many more areplanned for the future.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at one of these events and to welcoming youback to Manchester at some point in the near future.

Professor Alan GilbertPresident and Vice-Chancellor

welcometo your manchester

Contents

The News 4

Decisions 8

Secrets of the Amazon: A Puzzling People 10

Animal Magnetism 12

Aids Breakthrough 14

Not Just a Famous Face:Professor Beattie 16

Royal Launch for University 18

The Manchester 2015 Agenda 20

Traditional with a Twist 22

Ground Breaking Research:Earthquake Predictions 26

A Way with Words 28

Village Life: Owens Park 30

Alumni Association News 32

A Degree of Celebration,Singapore 36

Development News 38

Enriching the Social Wealth of the City 42

GiftShop 44

YOUR MANCHESTER 3

Stamping out Superbugs withEssential OilsEssential oils used in aromatherapy have beenfound to kill the deadly MRSA bacteria, newresearch reveals.

Tests show that three essential oils can killMRSA and E.coli, as well as many other bacteriaand fungi, within just two minutes of contact.

Now clinical trials of the oils are to go aheadthanks to a generous donation from former DJSir Jimmy Saville.

Peter Warn from the University’s School ofMedicine said: “We believe our discovery couldrevolutionise the fight to combat MRSA andother super bugs.”

Dig Manchester!University staff in the Archaeology Unit areworking on the City Council’s hugely successful‘Dig Manchester’ project which is to beexpanded thanks to a £500,000 grant from theHeritage Lottery Fund.

Dig Manchester began in Moston, bringingtogether the local community, schools andbusinesses, in an excavation of Moston Old Hall.

Robina McNeil, Director of The GreaterManchester Archaeology Unit, said the projecthad achieved some impressive results: “Theidea was to involve the local community in adig to uncover some history but also to bringabout a sense of community and pride. Theresults were far more positive than we couldhave imagined.”

Businesses provided lunches for people on thedig, local school children became reallyinterested in archaeology and a sense ofcommunity pride emerged that was not therebefore - the crime rate for the area droppedby 45 per cent whilst the dig was underway!

The scheme has been so successful that theteam applied for funding to begin similarprojects in Northenden and Wythenshawe, andthe award will help to fund two new membersof staff to co-ordinate the project.

The Masters degree in War, Culture and History will investigate the effect of war on the peoplecaught up in conflict. Aspects of the course will run in conjunction with the Trafford- based ImperialWar Museum North, and it is hoped that some of the students work could be shown there.

Students will also have the chance to make a film or documentary about experiences of war,focusing on people in the North West and their memories of conflict.

The course is being led by Ana Carden-Coyne, who recently joined Manchester from theUniversity of Sydney in Australia. She is also one of the Directors of the Centre for the CulturalHistory of War which opened in April 2004. “We are not looking at the facts of war - whatcauses them or how they work - we are more interested in looking at the impact of war onculture,” she said. “This is a socially useful type of history, which looks at a wide range ofsubjects, including the psychological issues of trauma, population movements and recoveryfrom war.”

“I’m particularly excited about the filming aspect of the course, which we hope will help touncover the hidden voices of war and people’s testimonies. We want to involve people from awide range of communities including refugees and survivors of war,” she added.

The course is just one of four new MA programmes which are being developed by theUniversity’s School of Arts, Histories and Cultures. Students will be taught by some of the world’sleading historians, who are based at The University of Manchester. The other MA degrees onoffer are: MA in the History of North West England; MA in Victorian Studies; MA in Colonial andPostcolonial History

Studying People Caught up in Conflict

The world’s first university course studying the impact ofwar - rather than its causes - is being launched at TheUniversity of Manchester.

thenews

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Courtesy of the Im

perial War M

useum

The first of threestate-of-the-artfacilities that willeventually formone of the largestbiomedicalcomplexes inEurope wasofficially opened inMarch.

The new £50 millionMichael Smith Building, named in honour of the lateNobel Laureate, will be home to 800 University ofManchester scientists drawn largely from the Facultyof Life Sciences.

By 2007 the 10,000 sq metre facility will beconnected to two more new developments tocreate a biomedical hub at the forefront ofinternational research.

“The complex is sited at a central location in the University’s biomedical corridor,” said Professor MartinHumphries, Associate Dean for Research within the Faculty of Life Sciences.

“Over the past 10 years, a major programme of cell-biological research has been established herein Manchester and a major benefit of the design of the new building has been to cluster corefacilities and provide easily accessible resources for researchers.”

The Michael Smith Building will house more than 100 research groups including a number of externallyfunded centres, such as The Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, The North of EnglandStructural Biology Centre and The UK Centre for Tissue Engineering.

The complex is named after Dr Michael Smith who was an alumnus of The University ofManchester, graduating in Chemistry in 1953 before continuing his postgraduate studies in thesame department.

He received his PhD in 1956 and then moved to Gobind Khorana’s laboratory in Vancouver,Canada, where, as a postgraduate fellow, he studied the synthesis of biologicallyimportant organophosphates.

In 1966, he was appointed a University of British Columbia Professor ofBiochemistry and received the Nobel Prize in 1993 for developing thetechnique of site-directed mutagenesis. He died in 2000, aged 68.

Dr Smith’s son, Tom, flew in from Vancouver especially for theceremony, to open the new facility.

He said he was honoured to open the new building: “I knowthat my father would be excited about, and proud of, thenew facility named in his honour.

“He had a tremendous passion for new knowledge, and theMichael Smith Building will continue that legacy at his AlmaMater. I speak for my entire family when I say we areespecially happy to see Michael honoured in his own country.

“We all have deep roots in Canada but we also have fondmemories of our visits to the Lancashire region, includingMichael’s birthplace of Blackpool.”

£50 million Research Centre inHonour of Nobel Laureate

Dentist is StarLecturerIain Mackie, a paediatric dental expertin The University Dental School, hasbecome a National Teaching Fellow inrecognition of his exceptional workwith students.

The Higher Education Academy presenteda prestigious Fellowship award worth£50,000 to Dr Mackie, who has worked atthe University teaching dental students for20 years as well as treating patients andcarrying out research in the field.

A Senior Lecturer in the Unit of PaediatricDentistry, Dr Mackie is a national authorityon the management of dental trauma inchildren following accidents. He haswritten books that are used for teaching inother countries and has helped to developstandard professional protocols for dealingwith paediatric dental trauma.

Dr Mackie plans to use his award todevelop the country’s first integratedundergraduate course to be piloted at theDental School. The course will bringtogether dentists, dental therapists anddental hygienists, who have traditionallybeen taught separately, in order toencourage team learning.

Describing the importance of fun instudent learning, he said: “I think it isextremely important to keep the studentsinvolved so that they take an active role inthe whole teaching, learning andassessment process. It is very importantthat the learning process is enjoyable andthe students remain happy andenthusiastic, and I try to maintain ahumourous and practical approach.”

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A team of researchers from The University ofManchester will be asking members of thehigh-IQ society Mensa for DNA samples inwhat will be the world’s most sophisticatedstudy of brainpower.

The research will allow the team to findgenes associated with intelligence andexamine how they interact with each other.“Scientists are interested in intelligence genesbecause high intelligence protects against theonset of dementias such as Alzheimer’sdisease,” explained Dr Tony Payton, whoworks in the University’s Centre for IntegratedGenomic Medical Research (CIGMR) and isleading the research.

Increasing our understanding of the role thatgenes play in regulating intelligence may helpin the development of new diagnostic tests andmore effective treatments to combat cognitiveimpairment in the elderly.

However studying genes in combination witheach other is difficult because, according toDr Payton, the statistical power of theresearch is reduced considerably: “Selectingindividuals who represent the extreme end ofthe IQ distribution increases this powerdramatically. For example, 200 volunteerswith an IQ of 145 is equivalent to using100,000 unselected volunteers.”

The results of the Mensa research willcomplement data collected from an earlierUniversity of Manchester study of some 2,500elderly people. Over the last 20 years theresearch has assessed these volunteers forchanges in cognitive function, creating thesecond largest DNA archive in the world - theDyne Steele DNA bank.

Already the researchers have uncovered twogenes associated with general cognitive ability,while work elsewhere has identified a further10 ‘intelligence genes’.

“The study of intelligence is shrouded byhistorical, biological, ethical and descriptivecomplexities that have made a mockery of itsintended definition to reason and understand,”said Dr Payton.

Although our understanding of the biologicalbasis of intelligence is still at an early stage, DrPayton said a general consensus about the rolegenes play in determining the level ofintelligence had now been reached.

Theoretically, the research with Mensa will bethe most powerful approach ever adopted inthis field Dr Payton said.

“Combining this study with the Mensa researchwill take cognitive genetic research to analtogether new level and maintain TheUniversity of Manchester’s position as a worldleader in the field,” he said.

Researchers turn tobrainpower to beatdementia

thenews

YOUR MANCHESTER 7

First Image ofDying StarA dramatic new image showing a dyingstar surrounded by hailstones 4000 lightyears away has been unveiled byUniversity astrophysicists.

The star is the hottest known toastronomers - at least 250,000 degrees C -and has never been seen before. But nowthe image from the Hubble telescope showsvast walls of compressed gas laced withtrailing strands and bubbling outflows. Adark dusty ring surrounds the inner nebulawhich is something of an enigma toastronomers.

Albert Zijlstra from the School of Physics andAstronomy is leading a team probing thesecrets of this extreme object: “Whatcaught our interest in Bug Nebula NGC6302 was the mixture of minerals andcrystalline ice hailstones frozen onto smalldust grains,” he said. “Very few objectshave such a mixed composition.”

Astronomers believe the nebula wasexpelled some 10,000 years ago but do notunderstand yet how it was formed, or howlong the dust ring can survive evaporation.

The University’s Unit of Art in Medicine has helped to create a unique 3D image of theface of an Egyptian mummy, using virtual computer technology.

Working with the British Museum, a mummy of Nesperennub, a priest from the temple of Khonswho lived in 800 BC, was chosen to undergo the first ever virtual unwrapping using data obtainedfrom a CT scanner.

The forensic investigation involved facial reconstruction made possible by a new computer systemdeveloped by facial anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson, Manager of the Unit of Art in Medicine.

Dr Wilkinson said: “This unique computerised facial reconstruction system allows us to feel as wellas visualise the skull of an ancient Egyptian without unwrapping the mummy. Our work hasrevealed the facial appearance of this priest and I am privileged to have been involved in thisremarkable investigation.”

The virtual sculpture uses haptic feedback which is a touch-based application of 3D design allowingthe practitioner to feel the skull depicted on the computer screen and to examine it interactively in3D stereo.

Mummy’s Face Unwrapped

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Whether it’s BMWs or biscuits,consumers have never had somuch choice. But how can wemake sure we make the rightbuying decisions? Newresearch in the Business Schoolcould signal the end of the roadfor dithering

Decisions, decisions…

YOUR MANCHESTER 9

Jeremy Clarkson’s days as a motoring gurucould be numbered with the development of anew computer programme that can makeinformed decisions when it comes to buying anew car.

Of course, the software cannot compete withthe Top Gear presenter’s legendary charm andwit but it could help you choose between anX-Type and S-Type by making intelligentcomparisons, just like the TV presenter himself.

The software package, developed by a teamled by Jian-Bo Yang at the Business School, isso advanced it can tailor its decision making toan individual’s needs, preferences and personaltastes - unlike existing expert systems whichnow seem crude by comparison. “It can eventake into consideration the size of your walletor whether you have any preconceivedprejudices, like Jeremy’s dislike of diesels,”Professor Yang said.

The programme is unique, he added, becauseof its ability to analyse and assess subjectivehuman judgements. “Themethodology behind thesoftware enables it to refinequalitative information anduse it, together withstatistical data in thedecision-making process.”

The software, which iscurrently being patented, willbe particularly useful tocompanies when justifyingdecisions - like choosingtheir car fleets for example -because the programme cando all the leg work andexplain why one type of carwas chosen over another.

But as well as threatening to make Clarksonredundant, the software has numerous other uses.

The food and drinks industry for example isalready showing an interest as the system couldhelp manufacturers to select flavours which willappeal most to buyers, offering significantsavings on product development time.

The software is currently being tried as a wayof analysing customer preferences for differentfizzy drink flavours, making judgments aboutwhether customers would prefer sweet, acidic,bitter, peely, zesty, fruity, juicy, limey or floraltasting drinks.

A biscuit company is also using the system as away of selecting different biscuit shapes,smells, textures and flavours to attract thebiggest audience.

“There have been statistical-analysisprogrammes before but they have their limits,”said Professor Yang. “For example in flavourselection, individuals taste and grade food

samples but the results can vary widely and arecompletely subjective.”

The software is able to make use of suchjudgemental information in the decision-making process – “That is what makes itunique,” he said.

Applications in a number of other fields arealready in the pipeline, including the analysisof human errors in engineering equipment,food-quality analysis and even a comparison ofthe productivity of nations.

Indeed, the Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council has hailed the researchbehind the new programme’s methodology as“internationally leading” in its potentialscientific impact, with possible “outstanding”benefits to society.

The concept behind the software is known as‘evidential reasoning’ (ER), which Professor Yanghas been researching for more than 20 years.

“The ER approach allowssubjective judgments andnumerical data to bedescribed side by side underthe same framework,” hesaid. “The strengths andweaknesses of each optioncan be recorded and theinformation processedthrough reasoning that has itsroots in artificial intelligence.”

Personal preferences areimbedded into the reasoningprocess which then mimicshow people reach aconclusion while dealing withmore complicated decision-

making problems in a systematic andtransparent fashion.

Professor Yang says the software’s uses aremanifold, and as well as new productdevelopment future research projects couldinclude risk and safety analysis; performanceassessment; resource allocation;environmental impact analysis;organisational performance measurement;and supply chain modelling .

“Many decision problems are characterised bymultiple criteria of both a quantitative andqualitative nature,” Professor Yang said.“Decision information can often be random,incomplete and vague, possibly due to thedecision maker’s inability to provide precisejudgments. Such uncertain information createshuge complexity in preference modelling anddecision analysis, which poses a significantchallenge to today’s businesses.”

Professor Yang is now hoping to findcollaborators from inside and outside theUniversity to put the programme to good use.

The software iscurrently beingtried as a way ofanalysingcustomerpreferences fordifferent fizzydrink flavourssions…

After living with the Pirahã people for someyears Professor Everett, a renowned linguist,has concluded that theirs is the only knownlanguage not to contain numbers or even aconcept of counting. Furthermore, Pirahã isthought to be the only language withoutcolour words, and its people do not draw,except for extremely crude stick figuresrepresenting the spirit world.

The Pirahãs have become a much sought aftersource of investigation by linguists in recentyears, but there is little agreement on thereasons behind the Pirahã’s seemingly uniquelanguage evolution.

Professor Everett, who says he came intolinguistics serendipitously, got hooked: “I havealways been interested in languages, largely dueto hearing Spanish spoken all around me when Iwas growing up on the Mexican border wheremy dad worked as a cowboy, bartender, andmechanic. But I really wanted to be a musician.”

All that was to change when, on a trip with theschool band to Hollywood, he went to see the filmMy Fair Lady and became transfixed by the workof fictional linguist Henry Higgins. A few years laterhe met Keren, a young woman later to becomehis wife, who had been raised in a tribal village inBrazil. And so began a life long fascination withthe Amazonian people and its languages.

So what are the Pirahã like, and what can welearn from them?

They are a technologically primitive river peopleliving as hunters and gatherers with very littleagriculture, according to Professor Everett. Theyeat mainly fish, wild fruit and nuts, dependingon the time of year. They sometimes boil theirfish and make a soup, but mainly they justthrow the bigger fish directly on to a fire.

Professor Everett found that despite knowinghow to preserve meat by smoking, drying, andsalting, the Pirahã never did this except to

A puzzling people

Courtesy of Julia Reinbold

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Dan Everett has spentalmost his entire careerstudying the cultureand language ofAmazonian people,focusing lately on asmall group of huntergatherers who forsome reason cannotlearn to count

trade meat with outsiders. They say, 'I store mymeat in the belly of my brother', because theyshare with those who need meat, never storingup for the future.

They produce beautiful, strong, bows and arrowsfor hunting. They also make very crudely wovenbaskets for transporting material from the fields.“They wear necklaces from seeds and homespun cotton string, using teeth, feathers, beads,beer can pull-tabs or other objects that showlittle symmetry and are very crude andunattractive compared to the artefacts of othergroups in the region,” Professor Everett said.“Their primary purpose is to ward off the evilspirits they see almost daily.”

The men wear leather loin-cloths and the womengo naked when there is no supply of cloth. Whilethe men will wear gym or Bermuda shortsreceived from trade deals with outsiders, womenrefuse ready made dresses, making their owngarments following a universal pattern.

Toys for children are normally not found, thoughthey will play with dolls andother toys from the outside.The people know how tomake spinning tops,whistles, toy canoes, andcarved dolls, but theynever do so unless asked.

In 1980, at the Pirahã’s urging, Professor Everettand his American wife began a series of eveningclasses in counting and literacy to see whetherthe people could learn to count. “My entirefamily participated, with my three children (9, 6,and 3 at that time) sitting with Pirahã men andwomen and working with them. Each evening foreight months my wife would try to teach Pirahãmen and women to count to ten in Portuguese.They wanted to learn this because they knewthat they did not understand trade relations andwanted to be able to tell whether or not theywere being cheated - or so they told us.”

After eight months of daily efforts – without everneeding to call the Pirahãs to come for class - thepeople concluded that they could not learn thismaterial and classes were abandoned. Not onePirahã learned to count to ten in eight months.None learned reliably to add 3+1 or even 1+1.

“Similarly we were never able to train a Pirahã toeven draw a straight line without seriouscoaching and they are never able to repeat thefeat in subsequent trials without more coaching.The concept of a correct way to draw isprofoundly foreign.”

Professor Everett says he is deeply concernedfor the future of the Pirahã thanks to theever more intrusive presence of settlers:“Their language is not endangered bytheir own attitudes but it isendangered, as are many others,because the Pirahã themselves areendangered by Western diseases,alcohol, and the inexorablechanging world that we live in.”

“This beautiful language andculture, so fundamentally differentfrom anything the Westernworld has produced, has much toteach us about linguistic theory,about culture, about humannature, about living for each dayand letting the future take careof itself, about personalfortitude, toughness, love, andmany other values toonumerous to mention. And thisis but one example of manyother endangered languagesand cultures in the Amazonand elsewhere with 'riches' ofa similar nature that we maynever know about because ofour own shortsightedness.”

Professor Dan Everett

Courtesy of G

erald Silke

YOUR MANCHESTER 11

Courtesy of K

eren Everett

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Flying frogs and real-lifespidermen may soundlike science-fiction, butin the last five yearsAndre Geim has turnedfantasy into reality -and managed toconvince colleagues thathis work is not a hoax

Professor Geim is one of the world’s leadingmeseoscopic physicists, studying andconstructing electronic devices on a minutescale. On paper you’d expect him to be yourarchetypal physicist. He talks about ‘matter’ andscientific terms trip off his tongue, but what setshim apart is his extraordinary ability to not onlyproduce research which consistently breaks newground, but also to capture the imaginations ofthe media and the general public - as well asother scientists.

Professor Geim’s work first caught the media’sattention while he was investigating the conceptof diamagnetism - the idea that objects whichare believed to be non-magnetic, like plastic orwood, actually have magnetic properties.

“Forces associated with diamagnetism are soweak that it is never on people’s minds,” hesays. “Such things as water or, say, an apple

are thought to be completely non-magnetic.Even scientists routinely working with thestrongest magnetic fields perceive them asvirtually non-magnetic.”

“But what we discovered was that a magneticfield of 10 Tesla - which is only 100 times strongerthan the field of a fridge magnet – was strongenough to lift "nonmagnetic" substances.”

The concept of diamagnetism has been aroundfor over 150 years, but no one had everdemonstrated it, which is exactly whatProfessor Geim and his team set out to do.They levitated drops of water, bits of plasticand even pizza, but their findings were metwith scepticism by the scientific world whodubbed the experiments a hoax. In the end itwas their decision to levitate a small frogwhich brought their work, and what they hadachieved, to light.

“When I first told my colleagues that we couldlevitate water no one believed it. They thought Iwas pulling their leg,” he said. “We needed aprovocative picture to demonstrate the importanceof magnetism and we chose a small frog.”

“We had initially aimed the experiments atschool children, but the greatest impact of theexperiments was on the scientific community. Asa result of what we demonstrated, people nowextensively use magnetic fields in research andthere are now around ten different groups withlevitation facilities across the UK.”

In 2000 Professor Geim went on to win theIgNobel Prize – awarded for something that firstmakes people laugh, then makes them think -for his levitating frog experiment. Three yearslater he would again capture the world’simagination, but this time, not using frogs, buta small lizard called a Gecko.

AnimalMagnetism

Professor Andre Geim

In June 2003 Professor Geim’s research hit theheadlines – ‘Spiderman Becomes a Reality at TheUniversity of Manchester’ - when it wasannounced that he, and his research team at theUniversity, had developed a new type ofadhesive which was sticky enough to allowpeople to hang from ceilings and walk up walls.

Professor Geim and his team had developed anew micro-fabricated adhesive, based on thesame principle which underlies the amazingclimbing ability of the Gecko. Many academicsand researchers had been working on the elusive‘Gecko Tape’ concept for years. This was aworld-first.

Both the media and the public soaked up thehype surrounding Gecko Tape, and as time wenton, the story appeared in more and morenewspapers and websites around the world.Media Relations Officer Jo Grady, whocoordinated the publicity for the announcement,recalls: “Media interest in Professor Geim'sresearch always reaches fever pitch. His work on'Gecko Tape' was featured across the board,from the FT, The Times, Nature and TheEconomist, to the BBC, Channel 4 and ITN.”

The success of Gecko Tape came as a surprise toProfessor Geim, mainly due to the fact thatadhesion is not his field of expertise. But itwould be his uniquely open-minded approach toexploring related fields of research that wouldlead him on to his next big discovery.

In 2004 Professor Geim’s work was back in theheadlines when he and his research team inRussia announced the discovery of the world’sfirst one atom thick fabric – Graphene. The teamhad succeeded in producing the thinnest fabricever made - with incredible potential for use infuture ultra-fast electronics. It was also verypromising for the development of a whole range

of other products including ultra-safecar chassis and thin, flexible bulletproof vests.

“The potential for the fabric is huge,”he said. “At the moment we are at thedevelopment stage, and there is quitea bit to be done before we know howmuch impact there will be, but I hopethat Graphene, in terms of science,will be as important a discovery as thefrog was in terms of visibility,application and education.”

Professor Geim insists that whatappears to be an uncanny knack forproducing publicity-friendly researchisn’t deliberate, but at the same timehe is also very aware of theimportance of making science moreaccessible to a wider audience.

“You can make any piece of researchappear boring or mediocre,” he says.“Most papers which are publishedstruggle to explain how the researchapplies to real-life situations, but youhave to work at it to make yourmessage understood by the widercommunity. If something is of interestwe will never miss the opportunity topublicise it.”

Andre Geim is Professor of CondensedMatter Physics in the School of Physicsand Astronomy. He has published over100 peer-refereed research papers,including six articles in prestigiousNature and Science and more than adozen papers in Nature Materials andPhysical Review Letters.

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14 YOUR MANCHESTER

Life Sciences researcher Curtis Dobson hasrecently uncovered chemicals that can block theHIV virus in a completely new way. “The waythese compounds react with the virus could,theoretically, lead to a potential cure for HIV,”said Dr Dobson, who works on the interactionbetween human proteins and viruses. “The bigquestion is whether a vaccine will be found inthe meantime. By all accounts, we are still a verylong way off.”

Dr Dobson stresses that the research is in itsinfancy, and it could be many years before thecompounds, known as apolipovirs, aredeveloped into drugs to fight a virus thatthreatens the lives of some 38 million people.

HIV, which was discovered following the firstAIDS diagnosis in 1981, works by invading a celland taking over its nucleus. The virus thenmakes copies of itself and infects other cells inthe body.

There are currently four types of drugs used tocombat the virus and prevent sufferers fromdeveloping AIDS, which to date has claimed 20million lives worldwide.

Two types of drug – known as reversetranscriptase inhibitors – prevent the virusreplicating its genetic material, while the thirdtype – protease inhibitors – stop new virusparticles from being put together before theycan leave the infected cell.

The fourth group of drugs are known as fusioninhibitors and act much earlier against the virus,at the point where it fuses with the cellmembrane or surface.

Dr Dobson has discovered compounds that acteven sooner, stopping the bug before it attachesitself to the cell. “In theory, if the virus cannotenter the cell, it will die,” says Dr Dobson. Andcells infected by HIV prior to treatment with thenew compounds would also eventually die,hopefully taking the virus with them.

This way of fighting viruses outside the cell hasbeen overlooked in the past and a lot moreresearch is needed, he said.

“Whether antiviral drugs will provide a cure ontheir own remains to be seen but that will be afocus of the next stage of our work. Thecompounds are certainly a potential new form

Chemical quest signals Aids breakthroughNew anti-viralcompounds beingdeveloped by scientistsat the University couldlead to a future curefor HIV

Dr Curtis Dobson

YOUR MANCHESTER 15

of treatment for HIV and other viruses, likeherpes and hepatitis.”

In the first nine months of the research Dr Dobsonsaid the team developed compounds 10 timesstronger than their original parts. Three patentapplications have been filed and a programme offurther tests are being put together as the finalstage of the pre-clinical work.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimatesthat nine out of 10 people in urgent need ofHIV-beating drugs don’t currently receive them.“Access to antiretroviral treatment and otherHIV-related disease care remains low,” it says.“Around five to six million people in developingcountries will die in the next two years if theydo not receive treatment.”

Rates of infection, says WHO, are on theincrease in many countries including in theUnited States and Western Europe.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the worst affectedregion, three million people became newlyinfected in 2003 alone.

And with new epidemics advancing uncheckedin Eastern Europe and Asia, there are huge

challenges to turning the tide of what NelsonMandela referred to as a “tragedy ofunprecedented proportions”.

Recent concerns about a new, more virulent strainof HIV which is resistant to current drugs haveheightened fears of a new wave of infections.

But hope may lie in the apolipovir compoundswhich Dr Dobson believes could prevent drug-resistant strains from taking hold.

“In addition to preventing the virus entering thecells, the chemicals may actually damage partsof the virus which are fundamental, and cannotbe changed in future generations of HIV,” hesaid. “ This might prevent development of viralresistance. But, again, not enough research hasbeen carried out and so it is only a theoreticalpossibility at the moment.”

Dr Dobson’s research stems from work heoriginally carried out with colleagues at theUniversity looking at the role of viruses incertain forms of dementia.

Professor Ruth Itzhaki who is leading thatresearch believes the herpes virus plays a part inthe onset of Alzheimer’s and it was through

examining the interaction of human proteinswith the virus that the apolipovir compoundswere developed.

Dr Dobson’s research also found that some ofthe chemicals have anti-bacterial properties andcould help prevent the spread of other sexuallytransmitted diseases, like chlamydia and syphilis,which are both on the increase in the UK.

Research in this area is investigating the use ofthe compounds alongside contraceptives toprevent the spread of infection.

The project’s first active application, however,looks set to be in the coating of contact lensesto prevent infections of the eye, and the coatingof medical equipment more widely is anotherpossible use.

The University’s intellectual property company,UMIP, is managing the work, which gainedinitial, early-stage funding from the GeneticsInnovation Network. The research was alsorecently voted Project of the Year at the annualNorthwest Biotechnology Awards ceremonyhosted by the Northwest Development Agencyprogramme, Bionow.

nals Aids breakthrough

16 YOUR MANCHESTER

If you’re one of the7.7 million peoplewho watch BigBrother, Channel 4’stop-rated reality TVshow, GeoffreyBeattie will be afamiliar face. Butthere is a moreserious side toManchester’snumber one mediadon

Thanks to his expertise in the micro-analysis ofbehaviour, especially non-verbalcommunication, Professor Beattie is residentpsychologist to Big Brother. But becoming amedia star – he has also appeared on TheSalon, Diet Trials, Child of our Time, Tomorrow’sWorld, even Richard and Judy - has notdimmed his academic reputation. Far from it.

His own “reality” is his work as an academic withan international standing, being Dean of theSchool of Psychological Sciences and author of ascore of books. His writing spans from hisprotestant working-class upbringing in Belfast, toan analysis of speech and non-verbalconversation through to the world of professionalboxing. He is an entertaining writer and speakerand, yes, he does use his hands a lot.

Professor Beattie is responsible for a new theoryof human communication suggesting that thebrain sends messages not just to the speech

stream, but also to the accompanying gestures.He is the man responsible for introducing thetelling phrase “iconic gesture” to the nation.

Having a conversation with him is lively, good-humoured and enlightening, if a littledisconcerting. After all, you’re facing an expertwho can interpret what your hand movementsare communicating which may not be the sameas what’s coming out of your mouth. He says:“The research has demonstrated that particulartypes of hand movements displayed during talk,called iconic gestures, carry crucial aspects ofmeaning. These movements are much less undereditorial control than speech itself and offer anextraordinary window on the human mind inaction.” His recent book, Visible Thought: TheNew Psychology of Body Language (Routledge2003), tells this fascinating story.

His ground breaking work on the theory hasattracted not only TV producers but more

recently advertising moguls have realised itssignificance. For Professor Beattie hasdemonstrated that when a complex advertisingmessage is split between speech and gesture,viewers take in considerably more informationthan from speech alone.

His BBC TV programme, Family SOS, takes hisanalysis into the family setting, applyingpsychology in a pragmatic, sympathetic andconstructive way to help families deal withproblems from dysfunctional behaviour tobereavement.

There is no doubt Professor Beattie enjoys hismedia status and, to be honest, the startreatment. He is not afraid to be popular – orpopulist. But there is no danger of his losingtouch with his academic base. And he clearlymanages to hold the balance between mediaacclaim and academic respectability. Beingawarded the prestigious Spearman Medal by the

Famous FaceNot just a

Professor Geoffrey Beattie

YOUR MANCHESTER 17

British Psychological Society for “publishedpsychological research of outstanding merit”reflects that. He is also a Fellow of the BritishPsychological Society and President-elect of thePsychology Section of the British Association forthe Advancement of Science. Powerful stuff.

“It is very important to me that my academicwork and my research are first class –and that’swhat I enjoy doing,” he says. “The two gotogether very well, one informing the other.”

He also enjoys talking to audiences, whetherthey number 7.7 million or a more normallecture hall-full. And Professor Beattie is verymuch in demand around the world, receivingsome unlikely invitations and finding himself inexceptional company. Recently, he was invitedto lecture on a cruise out of New York harbour,along with George Martin and “Stormin”Norman Schwarzkopf of Gulf War fame.

That sort of celebrity status is all very enjoyable,but he does not allow it to detract from hisfocus and real enthusiasm for his university role.“This is a very exciting time,” he says. “We areprospering by being part of Medical Sciences,bringing together departments with Grade 5research ratings into a strong School ofPsychological Sciences. We have just carried outthe biggest staff recruitment programme in ourhistory – and we have a young age profile.”

The School has five inter-related researchgroups: Clinical and Health Psychology,Language and Communication, Audiology andDeafness, Clinical Neuroscience and LanguageDisorders, and Cognition and CognitiveNeuroscience. Professor Beattie is Head of theDivision of Psychology and leads the Languageand Communication Group. “I am rathergreedy, I suppose,” he says disarmingly. “But Iam deeply committed to our research drive.”

He is also very much looking forward to theSchool having a unified base, coming togetherin a refurbished Dover Street building in 2007.

“When I arrived just over ten years ago, I wouldnot have believed that we would be in theposition we are today - and that I would havethe privilege of leading all this development,”he says.

There is also a reassuring thread of continuityin his work as well as a secure attachment tohis roots. He has followed up his immenselyreadable autobiographical book, We Are thePeople: Journeys through the Heart ofProtestant Ulster (Heinemann 1992), whichwas runner-up for the Ewart-Biggs LiteraryPrize, with a sequel – Protestant Boy (Granta2004). “It’s a much darker book, in a way, andsadder,” he says. “But it also realises anotherambition – ever since I was at Cambridge, Ialways wanted to be published by Granta.”

His debut novel, The Corner Boys (Gollancz1998, Klett-Cotta, Berlin, 2000), was alsorunner-up for the Ewart-Biggs Prize.

Professor Beattie has also followed up his earlierwork on boxing, On the Ropes: Boxing as a Wayof Life (Gollancz 1996), hailed as a boxingclassic and short-listed for the William Hill SportsBook of the Year. In order to write that book, hefamously took up boxing for a while – and hestill has a lot of friends at ringside and in thering itself, including champion fighter PrinceNaseem Hamed, the subject of his sequel: TheShadows of Boxing: Prince Naseem and thosehe left behind (Orion 2002).

Being fond of first-hand experiential research, inwriting this book he signed on anonymously witha Salford-based employment scheme. Havingturned up at 5 am to do a multiple-choice testabout work on a building site he scored 65%.The young man behind the counter pointed outthat he got today’s date wrong. “I’m sorry,” hereplied. “I get dates mixed up sometimes. I’veoften got a lot on my mind.”

He can say that again. It seems appropriate thaton his office wall there is a large colourfulcartoon of Homer Simpson, with the speechbubble “Every time I learn something new, itpushes some old stuff out of my brain.”Somehow, I doubt it.

e

In October 2004, The University ofManchester became Britain’s firstchartered university of the twenty-first century and the largest highereducation institution in the country

18 YOUR MANCHESTER

YOUR MANCHESTER 19

The launch was the culmination of two years ofplanning and hard work to bring together theVictoria University of Manchester and UMIST tocreate a single, distinctive, research-ledUniversity in the north of England with the size,reputation and ambition to compete with thebest universities in the world.

The Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the launchof the new University as “a bold andambitious move that promises to open upmajor new opportunities in the fields ofresearch and learning”.

Presenting the University with its Royal Charterat a glittering Inauguration Ceremony held inthe Whitworth Hall, Her Majesty The Queensaid: “In creating this new institution, you arebuilding on a rich academic heritage and a finetradition of excellence in both teaching andresearch. By combining the talents of two suchhighly rated institutions, I feel sure that you willincrease the chances of making your positionmore powerful, not only in the UK, but acrossthe world.

An unprecedented £300 million investmentprogramme will make Manchester an academicgiant in terms of facilities, staffing levels andresearch capacity.

The President and Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity, Professor Alan Gilbert, said thestrategy was ambitious: “Our aim is to makeThe University of Manchester one of the finestuniversities in the world, occupying a place inthe top 25 research-led institutions in theworld. This is a one-off opportunity to changethe landscape of higher education.”

Through a multidisciplinary approach, agrowing number of the world’s leadingresearchers will be based in Manchester seekingout solutions to, for instance, Parkinson’sDisease, world poverty and global warming.

Professor Gilbert added that the new Universitywas doubly blessed, he said: “Genuinely new, itis, like all new institutions, free to beinnovative, creative and nimble, but it also hasinherited a rich legacy of scholarly achievement,

research, performance, educational excellenceand community engagement from itsdistinguished predecessor institutions. Thiscombination of freedom with a great legacy isuniquely empowering.”

During the ceremony, Co-Chancellor Anna Fordstressed the importance of opening up learningto a more diverse student body: “We placewidening participation in higher education highon our agenda and continue to forge highlyproductive and mutually beneficial links withyoung people, with the help of our manypartners in the region.”

Co-Chancellor Sir Terry Leahy praised theUniversity’s staff for their contribution. He said:“They have worked tirelessly over the past twoyears to ensure that the dream of the singlegreat institution became a reality. They shouldbe heartily applauded for their determinationand the sheer hard work, not only for whatthey have done already, but for what I knowthey will continue to do to make the Universitya world-class institution.”

Royal Launch for University

20 YOUR MANCHESTER

The Manchester 2015 Agenda

The Manchester 2015 Agenda is an ambitiousStrategic Plan for reconstituting andrepositioning The University of Manchesterover the next decade as one of the world’sbest universities.

Premier international universities are thepreferred destinations for the best students,teachers, scholars and researchers in the world.They are exemplary employers, placing greatvalue on supporting, developing and rewardingtheir staff. They provide students with a superblearning experience, support excellence inteaching and provide researchers with state-of-the-art research facilities and efficient, effectiveadministrative, financial and technical support.

The best international universities are iconicinstitutions. Their brands are synonymous withexcellence; their leading scholars are highprofile public intellectuals; they are centres ofartistic and aesthetic virtuosity; and for theirgraduates, their names and reputations opendoors to the world’s most prestigiousprofessional workplaces.

Such universities are able to invest immenseresources in the vital functions they perform,whether because of enlightened public funding,massive endowments, major fee-based orindustry-linked revenues, or some combinationof these and other income sources. They arekey national and international institutions, notonly in advancing education, discovery andinnovation, but also more broadly in enriching

the culture and enhancing the quality of publiclife in the communities they serve.

The University’s Manchester 2015 Agendaoutlines the plans to bridge the gap betweenthe institution formed in October 2004, withthe unification of the Victoria University ofManchester and UMIST, and the institution ithas the potential to become by 2015.

As an exercise in strategic planning, theManchester 2015 Agenda begins, not with thestatus quo, but rather with a ‘preferred future’visualising Manchester in 2015 as one of theleading 25 universities in the world. The fullplan contains not only our corporate goals, butdetails of the key strategies for achieving thisand a comprehensive list of key performanceindicators.

Implementing the Manchester 2015 Agendawill demand energy, vision, courage andtenacity – and superb planning. The size of thegap to be bridged between the very goodinstitution created by the merger and thevirtuosity of the world’s first rank universities,means that success will require not only finely-calculated effectiveness in the pursuit ofambitious goals, but also high levels oforganisational and financial efficiency.

The University operates through an annual cycleof planning and accountability that will persist,year-in, year-out, at all levels of the University,until the Manchester 2015 vision has become a

reality. The cycle involves inter-lockingprocesses of strategic and operational planning,budgeting, implementation, performancereview and accountability to stakeholders.

There are cognate planning processes in everyFaculty, School and Administrative Directorateand in key functional areas such as Research,Teaching and Learning and Estates whichtranslate the high- level vision, values,objectives, strategies and performancemeasures of the Agenda into more focuseddocuments of their own. At all such levels,strategic planning generates annual OperationalPlans designed to break longer-term goalsdown into shorter-term targets.

The realisation of the Manchester 2015 visionrepresents an enormous challenge for allmembers of the University, but it is a challengethat we are approaching with great confidenceand enthusiasm.

Professor Alan GilbertPresident and Vice-Chancellor

Our Mission – tomake The Universityof Manchester,already aninternationallydistinguished centreof research,innovation, learningand scholarlyinquiry, one of theleading universitiesin the world by 2015.

YOUR MANCHESTER 21

Goal OneHigh International StandingTo establish The University of Manchester by2015 as a world renowned centre of scholarshipand research, able to match the leadinguniversities in the world in attracting andretaining teachers, researchers and “criticalmass” research teams of the highest quality, andas a higher education brand synonymous withthe finest international standards of academicexcellence, and with pioneering, influential andexciting research and scholarship.

Goal TwoWorld Class ResearchTo establish the University of Manchester by2015 among the 25 strongest researchuniversities in the world on commonly acceptedcriteria of research excellence and performance.

Goal ThreeExemplary Knowledge and TechnologyTransferTo contribute to economic developmentregionally, nationally and internationally, andgreatly to increase opportunities for theUniversity and its staff and students to benefitfrom the commercialisation and application ofthe knowledge, expertise and intellectualproperty (IP) that they develop in the University.

Goal FourExcellent Teaching and LearningTo provide students with teachers, learningenvironments, teaching and learninginfrastructure and support services equal to thebest in the world.

Goal FiveWidening ParticipationTo make the University of Manchester the UK’smost accessible research-intensive university byproviding international students fromeducationally deprived backgrounds and homestudents from traditionally under-representedsections of society with a supportive learningenvironment in an inclusive and welcominguniversity community.

Goal SixEmpowering CollegialityTo maintain The University of Manchester as acollegial community to which staff of thehighest calibre are attracted, and within whichall staff, whatever their roles or functions, maybe proud of their University, are able to identifywith its aspirations and are informed, enabledand encouraged to take appropriateresponsibility for its direction, development andmanagement.

Goal SevenEfficient, Effective ManagementTo maintain management systems, processesand services at all levels of the University thatare open, supportive and empowering,responsive to academic needs, strategicallyfocused and exemplary in meeting all internaland external obligations and responsibilities, andable to provide the University with a competitiveadvantage in its pursuit of the Manchester 2015Agenda.

Goal EightInternationally Competitive ResourcesTo ensure that the University acquires therecurrent and capital resources necessary to becompetitive at the highest international level.

Goal NineMore Effective Community ServiceTo contribute to the social, cultural andeconomic development of North West England,and in a broader national and internationalcontext to the development of a secure,humane, prosperous and sustainable future forhuman society.

Goals

22 YOUR MANCHESTER

If you haven’t visitedManchester lately, youmight be surprised howmuch has changed. Butit’s not all about barsand designer labels. TheRoyal Exchange Theatrehas dispensed withechoing gloom andgone pastel and neon.And those dreadfullavatorial tiles havegone from the Arndale

YOUR MANCHESTER 23

Some things will never change. Manchester’stown hall, a riot of neo-Gothic civic pride, stillstands in Albert Square. Hard-up students stillward off starvation in Rusholme’s curry mile.Wilmslow woman still shops at Kendal’s.

But much has changed in Manchester (not leasttwo universities becoming one) and differentgenerations will have their own perspectives,depending on how long it was since each waslast in the city (whose rainy reputation theUniversity’s new President and Vice-Chancellorurges us to play down).

So let’s say you were here in the Madchesterera, when New Order grabbed the ears and theHaçienda the imagination of the world.

A pilgrimage to Whitworth Street to revivememories of nights of dance and chemically-fuelled love would end in disappointment: theHaçienda is no more, demolished in 1997 tomake way for 130 apartments as developerstried to keep up with the new passion for city-centre living.

But perhaps you are older, with fond memoriesof John Barbirolli leading the Hallé in Elgarwhen the Free Trade Hall was rebuilt afterwartime bomb damage. You make yoursentimental pilgrimage down Peter Street andfind behind that Victorian-Florentine facade,not a concert hall, but a five-star hotel withpublic rooms named after Hallé maestros.

Symphonies are now heard round the corner atthe Bridgewater Hall, whose interior is by farthe most beautiful of Britain’s new concertvenues. If you don’t know where to look, it’snext to Tommy Duck’s, that pub which hadknickers stuck to the ceiling of the bar. Exceptthat Tommy Duck’s was demolished years ago.

If the shock of that loss is too great, then boththe Briton’s Protection and Peveril of the Peak,two classic Manchester pubs, remain close athand for a reviving drink. Or you could ventureinto one of the hundreds of bars that havegraced, and sometime quickly disappearedfrom, the city’s streets, some of them withoutside tables in defiance of that stuff thePresident says we mustn’t mention.

Traditional with a twist

Arndale Centre Manchester Piccadilly

24 YOUR MANCHESTER

Central Library - St Peter’s Square

Music apart, there were not too many happyMondays in Manchester in the 70s and 80s asthe city shivered through the economic ice ageof industrial decline. But things startedhappening in the early 90s, helped greatly bya large bomb the IRA parked in a white vanoutside Marks and Spencer in 1996 and by therush to look good in time for the wonderfullysuccessful Commonwealth Games in 2002.(And there’s another change: Maine Road isno more; Manchester City now play at thesaddle-shaped stadium built for the games ineast Manchester).

The bomb brought a determination to realignthe city, to link the well-tramped core to theforgotten medieval quarter by the cathedral. Sothat hideous concrete square across the roadfrom St Ann’s Square bit the dust and a newpedestrian route was constructed withSelfridges and a new M&S on one side andHeals and Harvey Nichols on the other.

To clear the ground, two famous pubs, the OldWellington and Sinclair’s, went walkabout andwere re-erected side by side near the Cathedral.They both hope that is where they will now stay.

The old Corn Exchange, with its tarot cardreaders and medal sellers, suffered badly in thebomb blast. It reopened as the upmarketTriangle shopping centre, just as the oldcomplex across the road where RobertMaxwell’s Daily Mirror was printed became thePrintworks, with still more bars and a multiplexcinema with an Imax screen.

The bomb, much to everyone’s disappointment,missed most of the Arndale Centre. But as acontribution to the new urban excitement, itsowners have removed thousands of lavatorialtiles and are extending the building in a lessutilitarian fashion.

The new Manchester is not all shops anddesigner labels. The Royal Exchange Theatre,much damaged by that IRA blast, has dispensedwith echoing gloom and gone pastel and neon.

The City Art Gallery has added an extension todouble its size and become the Manchester ArtGallery, more welcoming and less forbiddingthan it was before. The wonderful Pre-Raphaelites are still there but so is an interactivegallery, providing fun for children (and adults).

Trams passing the door will whisk you toSalford Quays, a mass of office block styles thatwill amaze anyone who last came when thiswas a mighty inland port. The ships have gonebut culture, in the shape of a glass and steelpalace of varieties, has come. The Lowry, thenational millennium project for the arts, openedin some chaos in 2000 but its galleries, withchanging exhibitions of LS Lowry’s work, andtwo auditoriums have since blossomed. This isthe place, with vibrant orange and purple walls,for opera, dance, drama, comedy and the LadyBoys of Bangkok.

Across the Manchester ship canal lies perhapsthe greatest building of the Manchester

renaissance (although it is actually in Trafford):the Imperial War Museum North, designed byDaniel Libeskind in the form of a globeshattered into aluminium shards.

This could not be more different from Urbis, thecool, sensuous glass ski slope designed by IanSimpson for Manchester’s new museum of thecity, now establishing itself behind theCathedral after a very shaky start.

Between Urbis and Chetham’s School of Musiclies Cathedral Gardens, a grassy space with asoothing water feature that has proved popularwith sandwich munchers looking for lunchtime

tranquillity. This is new; but Piccadilly Gardenshas been part of the city for ages, although inits pre-revamp days quite a shifty one. It hasnow been transformed, with a fountain thatdelights children and a long concrete wall thatannoys adults. You can’t please everyone but atleast it feels safer.

Manchester has changed and keeps changing.But the biggest change of the last 15 years hasbeen a return of confidence. Manchester hascome to love itself again, to enjoy andcelebrate its differences from London ratherthan regret them.

YOUR MANCHESTER 25

Urbis

Piccadilly Gardens

Imperial War Museum North The Lowry

Printworks

26 YOUR MANCHESTER

Ernie Rutter of the School’s Rock DeformationLaboratory is taking part in an ambitiousCalifornia-based project which is the biggestand most expensive earthquake investigationyet devised.

“This is very complicated science and themechanics of what actually goes on during anearthquake is only just beginning to beunderstood,” he said. “What we are trying to dois unravel the physics and the chemistry of faultzones. But it is early days and at the moment weare still a long way away from reliable earthquakeprediction, despite large expenditure by the USand Japan over the last 30 years.”

That said, Professor Rutter does expect hisresearch to play a valuable role in infrastructureplanning in known earthquake zones byimproving the accuracy of statistical earthquakerisk assessment. This will help communities decidehow much to invest in measures to minimise theimpact of any future earthquakes, he said.

An Earthquake is a sudden tremor or movementof the Earth's crust, which originates naturallyat, or below, the surface.

Scientists know that there are two main causesof earthquakes. Firstly, they can be linked toexplosive volcanic eruptions and can proceed oraccompany eruptions. Secondly, and mostcommonly, they can be triggered by tectonicactivity associated with plate margins and faults.

Imagine the effect when a stone is thrown intowater. After the stone hits the water a series ofconcentric waves will move outwards from thecentre. The same events occur in an earthquake.There is a sudden movement within the Earth’scrust or mantle, and concentric shock wavesmove out from that point.

Geologists call the origin of the earthquake thefocus. Since this is often deep below the surfaceand difficult to map, the location of theearthquake is often referred to as the point onthe Earth surface directly above the focus, calledthe epicentre.

But there are still many unanswered questionsand Professor Rutter is currently participating inthe Californian ‘Safod’ project which aims tounderstand much more about the notorious SanAndreas Fault.

Professor Rutter’s expertise lies in being able tomeasure the strength of a fault based on thepressure of fluids inside the rocks themselves.

California sits upon two plates, he explains; thePacific Plate and the North American Plate. ThePacific Plate consists of most of the PacificOcean floor and the California Coast line. TheNorth American Plate comprises most of theNorth American Continent and parts of theAtlantic Ocean floor. The primary boundarybetween these two plates is the San AndreasFault which is more than 650 miles long andextends to depths of at least 10 miles. Many

There has been muchtalk about early warningsystems following lastyear’s devastating AsianTsunami which claimedso many lives. But willwe ever be able topredict earthquakes withany accuracy? Researchin the School of Earth,Environment andAtmospheric Sciencesaims to find out

Ground breaking research

The San Andreas Fault

Courtesy of Jam

es Balog/Getty Im

ages

YOUR MANCHESTER 27

other smaller faults like the Hayward (NorthernCalifornia) and the San Jacinto (SouthernCalifornia) branch from, and join, the SanAndreas Fault Zone.

The Pacific Plate grinds northwestward past theNorth American Plate at a rate of about twoinches per year. Parts of the San Andreas Faultsystem adapt to this movement by constant"creep" resulting in many tiny shocks and a fewmoderate earth tremors.

But in other areas where creep is notconstant, strain can build up for hundreds ofyears, producing a great earthquake when itis finally released.

The Safod experiment involves drilling a seriesof holes 5km down into the San Andreas faultnear a small town called Parkfield – known asthe earthquake capital of the world. The aim isto collect samples of rocks from deep inside thefault and analyse them.

“Where we come in is measuring how quicklyfluids flow through the rocks and what controlsthe flow of fluid through these rocks,” ProfessorRutter said. “The reason that is important is thatthe pressure of fluids in a fault zone affects howstrong a fault zone is, its resistance to slidingand the amount of stress that is required tomake it slip and cause an earthquake.”

On Boxing Day 2004, the largest earthquakesince 1964 (when a magnitude 9.2 earthquake

struck Alaska) occurred as a result of theconvergence of the Indian and Asian tectonicplates. The Indian Plate was movingapproximately northeast at a rate of around 6 cmper year at an oblique angle to the Java Trench.As the Indian Plate was sub-ducted, a thrust zonewas created along the plate boundary. Thisthrusting motion along the interface between thetwo plates generated the earthquake.

The aftershock zone extended from NorthernSumatra to the Andaman Islands, some 1000km to the north and the largest aftershockmeasured 7.1, in the Nicobar Islands. And thedevastating tsunami was a direct consequenceof the earthquake, which caused movement ofthe seafloor all along the length of rupture,displacing a huge volume of water andgenerating the tsunami wave. The vertical upliftcould have been as much as several metres.

Professor Rutter was presenting his research inApril this year at the prestigious EuropeanGeosciences Union meeting: “The big questionwhich we are trying to answer is whether thereis something fundamentally different about bigfaults like this which penetrate the Earth’s crust,and the small faults which do not. There is agreat deal of controversy around the questionbut until we have an answer we cannot fullyunderstand how earthquakes work and we willremain a long way from reliable prediction.”

No scientists have ever predicted a majorearthquake. They do not know how, and they do

not expect to know how in the near future.However based on scientific data, probabilitiescan be calculated for potential futureearthquakes. For example, scientists estimate thatover the next 30 years the probability of a majorearthquake occurring in the San Francisco Bayarea is 67%, and 60% in Southern California.

Meanwhile most scientific work in the fieldfocuses on the long-term mitigation ofearthquake hazards by helping to improve thesafety of structures, rather than by trying toaccomplish short-term predictions which are stilllittle more than guess work.

The University of Manchester would like to sendthe following message:

Dear Friend

We were saddened to learn about staff andstudents who have lost friends and family in theAsian earthquake disaster. Our thoughts arewith you during this difficult time.

The University of Manchester is concerned forthe welfare of its alumni, and is particularlyconcerned to hear from any former studentwho has been directly affected, via thefollowing email [email protected]

Sincere condolencesThe Alumni & Development Office

Professor Ernie Rutter

The University of Manchester isn’t oftenrecognised as having a literary elite - neither doesit exhibit any pretensions towards creating oneeven though the ‘Manchester Movement’ has acertain alliterative allure. Yet amongst the alumniis a long and distinguished line of novelists.

Anthony Burgess, George Gissing, Alison Uttley,Barry Unsworth, Louis de Berniéres, SophieHannah and Alex Garland are amongst thosewho have achieved international status andhuge critical acclaim for their writing.

Alongside them are Meera Syal, Ben Elton,Mark Radcliffe and Adrian Edmondson whohave all added popular fiction to theirachievements as entertainers.

Perhaps there’s a certain reluctance on behalf ofsome former students to proclaim themselves asgreat writers. Certainly, Anthony Burgess haddesigns on being a composer, rather than anovelist and he definitely wasn’t too overjoyedto be remembered for the cult classic ‘AClockwork Orange’.

But one suspects he would be rather flattered bythe new ‘shrine’ that has opened in Withingtonthat will be home to the Anthony Burgess

Foundation. Director Alan Roughley explains thatthe Foundation in Tatton Grove has been set upwith the backing of Burgess’s widow, LianaBurgess, to encourage and support research intothe life and works of her husband.

If Burgess himself didn’t envisage himself as awriter of note, many others beg to differ,including Dame Antonia Byatt, Umberto Eco,Harold Bloom and Martin Scorsese, who have allbecome honorary patrons of the Foundation.

Look out too for the big names gearing up forthe first Anthony Burgess Symposium which willbe held in Manchester this July.

“Harold Bloom has said there are some verysignificant works in the Burgess cannon,”reveals Professor Roughley. “Particularly hisEnderby novels, which he believes will stand thetest of time.”

A rather thrilling addition to the journals, papersand libraries of Burgess is a film script writtenfor A Clockwork Orange before Kubricktransformed it into a controversial movie.

Professor Roughley says Burgess took quite anactive part in university life during 1937-40. But

A waywithwords

28 YOUR MANCHESTER

Ben Elton

Barry Unsworth

Anthony Burgess

Sophie Hannah

What does Little GreyRabbit have in commonwith The ClockworkOrange? Both werecreated by Manchesteralumni. The Universityhas produced adistinguished cast ofwriters over the yearsand can be justly proudof its novel tradition

Courtesy of Robin M

atthews

it wasn’t a very auspicious beginning, accordingto the author. “I was never a good student,” hewrites in his autobiography Little Wilson and BigGod. “...a native laziness still revolts against thelearning of facts and vocabulary. A J P Taylorlectured to a hundred or so of us and earnedmy enmity by scoffing at James Joyce’s ‘Work inProgress’. He wrote on the blackboardambidextrously. On my first term paper, whichwas awarded a fail mark, he wrote ‘bright ideasinsufficient to conceal lack of knowledge’.”

His view of fellow female students was uncharitable:“Literature is all, or mostly about sex, but the girls inour seminars were natural disinfectants of it.” Yet itwas at Manchester he met his first wife Lynne andembarked on his literary career. He didn’t get a first,but a credible 2:1.

Writer Alison Uttley preceded Burgess atManchester, gaining the distinction of becomingthe second - not as is sometimes claimed thefirst - woman to receive a physics honoursdegree in 1906. “I was the second girl to takehonours physics. I was the first to work at itfrom the start, but a graduate BSc returned andtook the third year of the examination to be thefirst,” she explained.

She claimed at the end of her life that shedidn’t care a button about English while atManchester, but on another occasioncontradicts this with the recollection that “Iwasted a lot of time at college, that is, I didmany things not connected with my work,dipping into other subjects and joining all thesocieties that I could.”

Sometimes discussions took place at ‘cocoaparties’ in Ashburne Hall where she lived andshe contributed to the Ashburne magazine. SoManchester stimulated her artistic nature morethan she cares to admit, although she didn’tstart writing properly until her husband ArthurJames Uttley died in 1930.

It was only then and to support her son thatshe went on to create endearing childhoodcharacters like Sam Pig and Little GreyRabbit. Not exactly literary salon stuff, butenough for her to be awarded a D Litt by theUniversity in 1970.

If Manchester is about to get its own literarymafia, then its largely because of its successfulnovel writing course, which is 10-years-old thisyear. Sophie Hannah, who studied for adegree in Combined Studies at the University

in 1993 was amongst the first recruits to theMA course in 1995.

“At the time it never really occurred to me that Icould do writing properly,” she confesses. “ Ialways did it as a hobby, so when I finished mydegree I had a moment of panic about what Iwas going to do next, then I found out mycreative writing tutor was setting up this courseand I thought it sounded good fun - a nice wayto spend the year.”

Ms Hannah, who was already a published poetbefore she did the year long course, now hasthree novels to her credit - but it might not havebeen if she’d listened to one American student onthe course who’d said she should stick to poetry.

This led to a huge feud between them for therest of the year. “Part of what’s good abouthaving a group of writers together is theintrigue and gossip that goes on as well,” sheadds. “It’s as important as having themcomment on each others’ work.”

Suzannah Dunn, a published novelist who is oneof the tutors who runs the course reports thatthe future is looking bright for The University ofManchester’s storytellers.

Former student Jonathan Trizell had his book ‘Boy A’ well received by the critics when it waspublished by Serpent’s Tail in 2004 and this yearuniversity student Susan Barker struck a six figuredeal with Doubleday for her first two novels.

“I’ve read the novel and it’s fantastic,” says MsDunn. “It’s set in a Japanese bar and is aboutthe girls who work there. It’s a really good read.I was delighted.”

Ms Barker, now aged 26, reveals that the bookwas originally called the ‘Tsunami Lounge’, butafter the terrible tragedy in Asia a whole printrun was pulped by the publishers. Now re-titledthe ‘Sayonara Bar’, it hit the bookshops on March 1, 2005.

“I was in Japan teaching English for two yearsand wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, eitherjournalism or creative writing,” she says.“So Ijust looked on the internet at courses and gotinto Manchester. It was great, the people therewere very supportive - there were only eight ofus, so it was a very close knit group.”

And of course she was one of the lucky ones,who managed to get published. “As part of thecourse they brought agents up so you couldlearn how to present your work to them and Igot talking to one in the bar, who said ‘send meyour work.’”

“I had just finished in Manchester and wasleaving after a summer working in a vegetariancafé in Fallowfield when I learned that I had gotpublished. It’s very exciting, but every second Iam wondering whether it will be something I’llbe able to do for the rest of my life.”

So is Susan the new Zadie Smith? Whatever thecritics’ verdict will be it looks like The University ofManchester can be justly proud of its noveltradition.

YOUR MANCHESTER 29

Alison Uttley

Courtesy of Yevonde Portrait A

rchive

30 YOUR MANCHESTER

Owens Park changed thestudent landscape insouth Manchesterforever and sparked aliberal revolution instudent housing. Fiftyyears on the Friday nightbop is still unmissable

When plans for Owens Park were first unveiledin the late 1950s, they were seen asgroundbreaking stuff. A “student village” inwhich male and female undergraduates livedtogether was a pretty revolutionary idea.

Oxbridge still had its resolutely single-sex collegesystem and elsewhere students lucky enough tolive in the traditional Halls Of Residence (asopposed to grotty digs) were subject to strictrules and regulations.

Wardens were there to keep an eye on thingsand woe betide anyone who broke the rules.Owens Park, or OP, as it later became known,changed the student landscape in southManchester forever.

The scale of the project was awesome. This 14-acre site two miles south of the city centre hadroom for over 1000 students. Housed indifferent buildings sub-divided into House“units”, each had 40-50 rooms, a commonroom, utility room and tutor's flat. Bathroomfacilities and a kitchen were shared by groups of10-12 students. A 19-storey tower blockdominated the complex, which had all kinds ofmodern facilities to make life more pleasant forthe new student generation.

There were several dining rooms, a large assemblyhall, library, laundry, sewing room, and of course abar for serious socialising. Owens Park was abrave experiment in treating young people asgrown-ups and there was a mission to fulfil.

Looking back through the archives, they revealthat “informality and absence of rigidity” was theaim of the University and its architect in designingthis community, the first of its kind in England.

An official document of the time states: “Weasked ourselves what ideals of student and tutorlife could we look forward to in this atomic halfof the 20th century? Certainly a desire to try foroneself, a willingness to take responsibility and adefinitely improved capacity in young people todischarge new responsibilities successfully.”

In 1959, when these proposals were firstmooted, Britain was just waking up from theharsh austerity of the post-war period - rockand roll had been invented and suddenly theuniversities were in a position to expand andopen their doors to the baby boomersbenefiting from increasingly egalitarianattitudes. It was a time of dufflecoats andAldermaston marches against nuclear weapons.But striped college scarves were still a badge ofhonour and the heady days of studentradicalism a few years away.

Owens Park officially opened in 1964 and asecond phase of building was completed in 1965.In 1966 it won an award from the Civic Trust.

Chemical engineering student Geoffrey Fox,now 60, was one of the first undergraduates tolive there.

He recalls: “The thing I remember most isrushing into the refectory to bolt down your

VillageLife

food so you could go and watch the TV. TheMagic Roundabout had a big following, we allloved it!”

Mr Fox, who went on to work at Ferrantis inWythenshawe, now lives in south Derbyshire.He met his wife while resident at Owens Parkand confesses: “The Owens Park tower hasmany happy memories for both of us.”

Though much more liberal in many ways thanwhat had gone before, the Owens Park regimewas still designed to ensure that its youngpeople were protected. A team of tutors wasappointed to look after the students and as theyears went by, the Owens Park Students'Association was able to voice its concerns andpress for improvements to life on campus.

One man who has seen lots of changes is MikeAspden, now General Manager, who has beenthere for 23 years.

The japes and pranks of Rag Day were anannual highlight when he first arrived asCatering Manager and he remembers live sheeprunning riot on the 18th floor of the towerblock. Another occasion saw a blow-up dollcausing havoc, and in more serious vein herecalls a series of political campaigns from anti-apartheid to calls for rent rebates.

“In many ways, I do miss those times,” he said.“There was a lot of excitement - and a lot offun. But if my kids were going to universityagain, this is the sort of place I would want

them to live. We don't actually tuck them up atnight but we do look after them.”

As General Manager, Mr Aspden helpedprovide sustenance for the athletes who stayedin Owens Park during the CommonwealthGames in 2002. Acquiring status as a gamesvillage also meant Owens Park acquired a£750,000 security system, which is still payingdividends in curbing crime.

Back in the early 1970s, things were not quiteso hi-tech. Ophthalmic optics student MargaretLyne, who graduated in 1971, recalls: “Thingslike computers, mobile phones and microwavesmay have been unheard of but Owens Park wasstill pretty groundbreaking. Up till then, halls ofresidence had been for either men or womenand the very idea that you could share the sameliving space was pretty extraordinary. There werevery few of us women, about 250.”

“The first year was pretty frenetic and you wouldbe down the Friday night bop every week butonce you had made your friends or met yourboyfriend then it all settled down. There was aseparate room for each of the three TV channelsand we would all sit there in great big gangswatching Star Trek. The western series AliasSmith and Jones was another big favourite.

“We also had the midnight rule, which meansyou weren't supposed to have any overnightguests from outside Owens Park. But it didn'tquite work like that. I remember once there wasa fire scare in the middle of the night and lots

of rather sheepish couples were hanging aroundoutside. Pretty scandalous stuff."

As the 1970s progressed and then the 1980sthe “Midnight Rule” still existed - albeit in moreliberal guise. In practice, times had changed.

By 1982 the Owens Park Student Associationwas a force to be reckoned with and theFallowfield area had become a hotspot ofstudent life. The OP Handbook for 1982 offerslong lists of pubs and places to eat, including thelegendary “Plaza” with its Suicide Special curries.

At the Friday night bop, video screens were nowplaying footage of pop heroes like Adam Ant andSoft Cell. “Tainted Love” was the most requestedrecord of the day. A new service, Nightchat,offered a counselling service to studentinsomniacs or those troubled with other worries.

Almost 30 years later, Owens Park is still goingstrong. And so is the Friday night bop. It hashuge competition from the many bars andrestaurants which have sprung up on WilmslowRoad but the weekly opportunity for studentsto strut their stuff is still as popular as it was allthose years ago.

First-year geography student Patrick Hamilton,20, says: “The Owens Park bop is still the bigevent of the week. It’s always really crowdedand at only £1.30 for a pint of lager or beer itbeats sitting in a pub any day of the week. Mostof my mates wouldn't go anywhere else.”

YOUR MANCHESTER 31

Mike Aspden

32 YOUR MANCHESTER

Alumni Association

In 1983, Andrew Spinoza founded City Life, a what's on magazine for Greater Manchester,which is now owned by the Guardian Media Group.

After six years as publisher and editor, he enjoyed five years as a freelance journalist for thenational and Manchester media. In 1993, he was appointed Diary Editor of the ManchesterEvening News.

In 1998, he founded Spin Media, a national Public Relations consultancy based in Manchester. Theagency's first accounts were in leisure and entertainment, including PR for the Alex Fergusontestimonial year. The agency has grown into one of the top five independent agencies based in theNorth West, and now also specialises in regeneration, property, finance and public sector work.

Retained clients include Co-operative Bank, Spirit Group, GWR, The Lowry, ManchesterEnterprises and Liverpool Vision, and recent projects include launching Cirque du Soleil,restaurants for Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White, and the biography of Chelsea managerJose Mourinho.

Chair of the interim Alumni Advisory Board

Andrew Spinoza (BA Hons Combined Studies 1982)

The word ‘alumni’ is taken from the Latin‘alum’, loosely translated as ‘former student’.Essentially the Association is an exclusive cluband you automatically become a member onceyou have studied at the University for at leasta year. Currently, we have 180,000 membersall over the world but we aim to increase thisdramatically over the next few years and traceall our members whose addresses havebecome lost.

The aim of the Alumni Association is topromote links between the Association’smembers and The University of Manchester sothat members take an active interest in the lifeof the University - at local, national andinternational levels.

We offer a benefits package to all ourmembers giving discounts on a variety ofproducts and services (see page 34 for details).We are also in the process of developing thealumni website pages.

You are the best ambassador for studying hereat Manchester – you can inspire and encourageothers to follow in your footsteps. In addition,you are a rich source of feedback helping toshape the future of the University. Our studentsand younger alumni can also learn from yourexperience and you can help them with adviceand mentoring support.

Alumni Association ConstitutionThe new Alumni Association is constituted towork closely with the University. ItsConstitution and details of the nominationprocess for membership of the University’sBoard of Governors and General Assembly canbe found on the alumni website –www.manchester.ac.uk/alumni - or bycontacting the Alumni Relations Office.

Annual General MeetingThe Annual General Meeting of the AlumniAssociation will take place at 5.15 pm onThursday, 3 November 2005, prior to theCockcroft Rutherford Lecture. Please contactthe Alumni Relations Office if you would liketo attend.

The University Alumni Association is not just about collecting names and addresses of formerstudents, it is a partnership which we hope you will find useful - and fun. We look forward tomeeting as many of you as possible in the near future

Why not take up our offer to share somememories, catch up with news and rekindlefriendships? The Alumni Association workshard to bring members together and is settingup an exciting programme of events over thecoming months. We can even link you up withalumni who share your particular interests,either social or professional. Our growing rangeof Special Interest Groups currently comprisesAccounting and Finance; Business Networking;Drama and Music; Law; Media; Medical;Optometry; Teaching; Textiles; and YoungGraduates. Most groups send out newslettersand run a series of social events throughout theyear. We also have a number of establishedalumni groups overseas especially in Cyprus,Turkey, Greece, Singapore and Hong Kong.

If you would like contact details for theoverseas groups please talk to our dedicatedInternational Alumni Officer, Jackie Furby: tel+44 (0)161 275 2484 or [email protected]. For specialinterest groups or other reunion enquiriesplease contact Alex McAlinden on tel + 44(0)161 306 3066 or [email protected].

Chemical MixThe Alumni Relations Office and the School ofChemical Engineering and Analytical Science isorganising a major reunion event on Friday 1and Saturday 2 September 2006. The eventwill celebrate fifty years of chemicalengineering in Jackson’s Mill and will involve amix of academic and social activities including a

reception, dinner, tours of The Mill and thecampus, a lecture on the history of chemicalengineering in Manchester and much more. Ifyou are interested in more information pleasecontact Alumni Relations.

Social EngineeringThis year, we are planning one of our largestreunions ever to coincide with our prestigiousCockcroft Rutherford Lecture on 3 November2005. The lecture will be given by MichaelParker, Chief Executive of BNFL, and will beentitled ‘Nuclear Power: Consigned to Historyor a Future Source of Sustainable Energy’.Don’t forget we can help you to meet up withgraduates who share the same year, degreecourse, or interests as yourself, or withgraduates who are from the same area.Alternatively, you may prefer to bring alongyour own friends or family. The lecture willcommence with a drinks reception and will befollowed by a dinner. Further information canbe obtained from the Alumni Relations Office.

Grammar School Get Together Manchester Grammar School is organising adinner at the school in May for Old Boys whostarted their career there in 1950 or before. Ifyou are an alumnus of the school from that eraand have not received an invitation, you mustbe one of the so-called Lost Owls and theschool would be delighted to hear from you.Please contact Carole Pemberton atManchester Grammar School, M13 0XT ([email protected]).

YOUR MANCHESTER 33

One of our aims is toencourage as many alumniget-togethers as possible andto help put you in touch withold friends

Ready to beReunited?

The University Alumni Reception in LondonApril 2005

Young Alumni Event

The Victoria University of ManchesterAlumni Weekend 2004

The University of ManchesterAlumni Association Event (Singapore)

January 2005

34 YOUR MANCHESTER

Benefits for AlumniEDUCATION

LibraryYou are entitled to free membership for the JohnRylands Library and the Joule Library – justremember to show your membership card asproof of identity.

Postgraduate CoursesThe University of Manchester Loyalty Bursaryscheme is to be extended to all postgraduateprogrammes for the 2005/06 session. Thescheme offers a discount to home andoverseas, and full and part time students whoare graduates of the Victoria University ofManchester or UMIST. Eligible students areentitled to a reduction of 20% on any portionof the tuition fee that they pay from their ownresources. There is no application procedure forthe scheme – the 20% discount is madeautomatically during the registration process.For more information please contact theStudent Services Centre on 0161 275 5000 oremail [email protected]

ACCOMMODATIONDiscounted rates are available to all Manchestergraduates in many city centre hotels if they arebooked through The University of ManchesterConference Office. Please telephone themdirectly quoting ‘alumni’ on 0161 306 4068 oremail [email protected].

Cottages 4 YouA 10% discount is available to members of theAlumni Association on over 14,000 fabulousproperties from castles to cosy cottages in theUK, Ireland and France.For more information telephone 0870 3362833 and quote MAN10 or visit www.cottages-4-you.co.uk/ManUni

HEALTHCARE

Norwich UnionThe University of Manchester has teamed up withNorwich Union and is able to offer you affordablehealthcare at a 15% discount on all individualschemes. To receive further information onindividual, family or company Private MedicalInsurance please contact Kath Grimshaw,Norwich Union Senior Regional Sales Manager,on: 01254 279686 or 07800 696477 or [email protected]. You will need toquote AF4970.

Norwich Union Healthcare Limited. Registeredin England Number 2464270. RegisteredOffice Surrey Street Norwich NR1 3NG. ThisInsurance is underwritten by Norwich UnionInsurance Limited. Registered in EnglandNumber 99122. Registered Office Surrey StreetNorwich NR1 3NG. Authorised and regulatedby the Financial Services Authority. Member ofthe Association of British Insurers. Member ofthe Financial Ombudsman Service.

RESTAURANTS

Le Mont, Urbis, Cathedral Gardens, ManchesterAlumni are entitled to a discount of 10% offtheir final bill at one of Manchester’s premierrestaurants, Le Mont, the Urbis Manchester.The discount is valid from Monday to Fridaylunch and from Monday to Wednesday dinner.Please note that it is subject to availability andexcludes special dates. Bookings must be madein advance, quoting ‘the Manchester graduatediscount’ tel: 0161 605 8282.

Market Restaurant, Northern Quarter, ManchesterThe Market restaurant is offering Manchesteralumni a 15% discount off the total billexcluding Saturday nights and special dates.Please make all bookings in advance, quoting‘the Manchester graduate discount’ tel: 0161 834 3743.

TRAVEL/TRANSPORT

AvisAvis is pleased to offer great car rental ratesworldwide to The University of Manchester AlumniAssociation members. For further information orto make a reservation please visitwww.avis.co.uk/premierpartners or call 0870 6060 100 and quote U606753. Terms andconditions apply: please check at time of booking.

UrbisCottages 4 You

Chancellors HotelJRLUM

By now you will have all received a letter from the President welcoming you to The University ofManchester Alumni Association along with your membership card. Please keep this safe asproduction of the card entitles you to the following benefits and services.

Britannia Movers InternationalMarket Leaders in UK and InternationalRelocations. Members of the Alumni Associationcan take advantage of a discounted serviceoffering a £200 discount on relocations and a10% discount on baggage. For more informationplease call 0800 068 8504 and quote ‘Alumni’

BSMMembers can take advantage of some greatsavings and benefits, including a free one hourdriving lesson. For more information please call08457 276 276 and quote ESO500. Calls maybe monitored and recorded.

FlyparkA 5% discount is available to members on carparking options at 15 UK airports, includingHeathrow and Manchester. Please visitwww.flypark.co.uk/discount or telephone 0870733 0545.

RACMembers of the Alumni Association can saveup to 18% on RAC membership. To join, pleasecall 0800 581 077 and quote GE0301. ExistingRAC members can take advantage of thediscounts at renewal, by phoning 08705 722722 and quoting GE0301. Terms andconditions apply – calls may be monitored andrecorded.

SeaFranceMembers are able to take advantage of a 10%discount on all fares.Please telephone 08705 711 711 and quote113016UNI

THEATRES

Royal Exchange, ManchesterMembers of the Alumni Association can takeadvantage of a £3 discount off anyperformance in the Main Theatre. This

excludes Saturdays and is subject to availability.For further information please call 0161 8339833 or visit www.royalexchange.co.uk.

The Lowry, Salford QuaysThe prestigious Lowry, in Salford Quays, willoffer certain concessionary prices toManchester graduates. For more details pleasetelephone: 0161 876 2000. Also, please notethat the Lowry is always looking for casual barstaff if you need some part time work!

Contact TheatreMembers can take advantage of concessionarypriced tickets on production of their AlumniAssociation membership card. For moreinformation please contact the Box Office on0161 274 0600 or visit www.contact-theatre.org

LEISURE

Jodrell BankAdmit one person free of charge whenaccompanied by one full paying person.Excludes entrance to the 3D Theatre. For moreinformation please contact the Visitor Centreon 01477 571 339

The London PassJump the queues and spend more timeexploring! The London Pass is London’s onlyinclusive sightseeing ticket that also offers fasttrack, queue jumping entry at key locations,restaurants and shopping offers. To takeadvantage of a 10% discount, please visitwww.londonpass.com and quote the codeAluman04 or call 0870 242 9988 and quote‘The University of Manchester’.

Please note that there will be morebenefits and services to follow and themore we are growing in numbers thegreater our bargaining power!

Alton TowersSave 20% off admission. To book call 0870 4003095 and quote ‘The University of Manchester’.Tickets must be booked at least 5 working daysbefore the date of your visit.www.altontowers.com

Chessington World of AdventuresSave 15% off admission plus one child goesfree with every paying adult. To book call 0870400 3070 and quote ‘The University ofManchester’. Tickets must be booked at least 5working days before the date of your visit.www.chessington.com

InterfloraInterflora are pleased to offer members of theAlumni Association a 10% discount on flowersand finishing touches when ordering online atwww.interflora.co.uk using voucher codebusact0310. This offer excludes funeral items,overseas delivery and Interflora delivery. Formore information please call 0870 904 5459

Madame Tussauds LondonSave 20% off admission. To book call 0870 4003001 and quote ‘The University of Manchester’.Tickets must be booked at least 5 working daysbefore the date of your visit. www.madame-tussauds.com

Thorpe ParkSave 20% off admission. To book call 0870 4003060 and quote ‘The University of Manchester’.Tickets must be booked at least 5 working daysbefore the date of your visit.www.thorpepark.com

Warwick CastleSave 20% off admission. To book call 0870 4422385 and quote ‘The University of Manchester’.Tickets must be booked at least 5 working daysbefore the date of your visit. www.warwick-castle.co.uk

YOUR MANCHESTER 35

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36 YOUR MANCHESTER

Singapore is a sophisticated and discerningcountry whose high quality education system hasdeveloped along British lines. The Englishlanguage is spoken widely and today, despitefierce competition from around the world, asignificant proportion of Singaporeanundergraduates still consider the UK their first

choice for degree level study. Unsurprisingly TheUniversity of Manchester brand is well knownand respected.

Currently The University of Manchester is incontact with almost 2,000 Singaporeangraduates of whom it is extremely proud.Amongst them are: Rear Admiral Teo Chee

Hean (Minister of Defence), Mr Hang CheongTan (formerly Deputy Director Ministry ofEducation) Brigadier General Boey Tak Hap, DrChia Teck Khiam Christopher (Chief Executive,National Library Board), Mr Mueen Ud Deen(Managing Director, JP Morgan Chase & Co) aswell as many senior academics.

Both the Victoria University of Manchester andUMIST have a long history of links withSingapore and for a number of years now havebeen holding alumni events in Singapore. Thisyear is no exception and 2005 was successfullykicked off with an annual dinner in January onthe 69th Floor of the Raffles Convention Centre.

Professor Alan Gilbert, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester,attended with more than 160 alumni who weregenerous in their support for the Tsunami appeal.In addition a degree ceremony has been held inSingapore for the last four years for Manchester’sBSc Management taught programme degree.This year the ceremony – also presided over byProfessor Gilbert - included graduands from thedistance MBS programme too.

For more information about the SingaporeAlumni Association please visit:www.uomalumni.com

Both the Victoria Universityof Manchester and UMISThave a long history of linkswith Singapore. Amongstthe distinguished alumniare a Rear Admiral, aDefence Minister and aBrigadier General.Thousands of otherSingaporeans haveenjoyed their studies inManchester including,right, Neil Humphreys andTay Loy Kee who sharesome fond memories

A degree of celebration

YOUR MANCHESTER 37

Tay Loy Kee, BEng Mechanical Engineering1994, is President of the Alumni Association inSingapore which was formed last year tocontinue the work of the highly activeSingapore Students Society which has beenbringing Singaporeans in Manchester togethersince 1977. He is a senior first officer forSingapore Airlines.

What did you do after graduation?I worked as an engineer first before moving to Singapore Airlines butthe interest in flying has always been there for me. The minimumrequirement age for Singapore Airlines is 26 so I had to wait some timeafter graduating before I could apply.

Is there any advice you would give to graduates wanting to dosomething similar?Although you don’t need a degree for my job, I’d say that it has been areal help to my career. The experience of living and studying in anoverseas country has also been invaluable. To be successful in aviationyou need to have passion. There is much responsibility and the trainingprocess is long – but if you have enough desire to fly, then it makes itall worthwhile.

What made you join the Singapore Alumni AssociationCommittee?My initial plan was to involve other people and not actually be thePresident myself. My job as a pilot has also come in extremely handy asit means I can keep popping back to Manchester!

The Committee is there to steer the Singapore Alumni Association andthis group is a brilliant way for Singapore graduates to link up withManchester. There are lots of advantages to joining the SingaporeAlumni Association – it offers networking, a little nostalgia and theopportunity to socialise. It can also help alumni with their career,especially if they are pro-active.

What are your lasting memories of Manchester?Cold walks to classes – Moberly Hall seemed a long walk awayfrom UMIST!

Finally do you have any advice for Singapore students studyingat Manchester?Don’t just study, enjoy yourselves too!

Neil Humphreys, BA Hons History 1996, is a best-selling author in his adopted home of Singapore.A full-time journalist on the island’s Todaynewspaper, he has written two books: ‘Notesfrom an Even Smaller Island’ and ‘Scribbles fromthe Same Island’, which poke gentle fun at theidiosyncrasies of Singapore life.

What did you do after graduation?Well, I was rather tired of being poor so I took a temporary job atstockbrokers BZW, who paid me a rather obscene amount of money tomove one set of figures from one column to another (a first classdegree from Manchester really does open doors for you). The job wasabout as exciting as root canal surgery, but I earned enough money tobid Dagenham, my hometown, a fond farewell and moved toSingapore, a country I knew nothing about. Kept my head down,worked hard and ended up using those analytical skills honed inManchester’s Department of History to write two best-sellers and workfor a national newspaper.

What advice would you give to alumni wanting to follow yourcareer path and get a book published?If you want to get a book published, write something original. If youcan’t do that, imitate someone who was original somewhere else. Ithought Bill Bryson’s ‘Notes From A Small Island’ was marvellous.

What are your views on the Singapore Alumni Association - howcan it benefit alumni? I think it’s a great idea and I’ve just convinced my old Grosvenor Placemate, David Chan, ( a UMIST graduate and the Singaporean whochanged my life byinviting me over to hiscountry in the firstplace), to also getinvolved. I attended arecent Alumni dinnerand I was genuinelysurprised by thenumber of prominentbusiness people,media figures, civilservants and so on inSingapore who areManchester graduates.

What are yourlasting memories ofManchester?Playing cricket in thecorridor of GrosvenorPlace; eating chips for50p in the refectory;spending many, manyhours in the JohnRylands Library (I’vecarved my name ontoseveral desks inobscure places - justkidding); the odd tripto Manchester Citywhen West Ham cameto town; being drunka lot.

“Don’t just study,enjoy yourselves too!”

“A first class degree fromManchester really does opendoors for you”

Tay Loy Kee

Neil Humphreys

Could you tell us something about yourbackground and where you studied? I was born in the south, but my parents movedto the north-west and then the north-east whenI was young. I studied History at UniversityCollege London (UCL) in the late 1980s. I wasthe Alumni Officer at UCL for five years beforemoving to Newcastle in 1996, where I haveworked over the last nine years developingalumni relations, the annual alumni fund andmajor gift programmes.

What made you decide to work inDevelopment/Alumni Relations?It was a very young and evolving area of workfifteen years ago in the UK, so it was a chanceto be involved in something from the start. Theopportunity to work in a people-centredenvironment in support of the benefits of highereducation was very attractive, and remains so.I’ve had the chance to meet and work withsome extraordinary people and have neverregretted it.

How do you feel about moving toManchester?In discussing this post the President, ProfessorAlan Gilbert, advised me that I would need todecide whether I was daunted or excited by thescale of the University and the task in hand. A

week or so in it can still seem daunting at threein the morning, but I’ve always been impressedby the calibre of academics, support staff andalumni of Manchester and UMIST when I’ve metthem informally, so I’m relishing what will be achallenging and exciting opportunity .

What are your aspirations for the new job?People tend to think ‘this is all just aboutmoney’. They’re right to the extent that wecan’t build a genuinely great internationaluniversity for Manchester by relying on statefunding, so philanthropy at all levels will alwaysbe important where we can identify projectsand priorities that motivate donors.

Giving is an important means to an end, but ifwe focus too narrowly on the financial side we’llonly scratch the surface of what could beachieved.

There is now a real opportunity to engagealumni and other friends in promoting andpositioning the combined university as an agentfor change in addressing issues in wider societythat are important to all of us. It’s not astanding start as both previous institutions havebenefited from strong alumni and fundraisingprogrammes in different ways.

What are your hobbies and interests?Classical music, sport (football and golf),cooking and acting like a one-year-old to try toentertain our two-year old Ella (our second babyis due in June).

We understand that it is through aManchester alumna that you met your wife. Yes. I met Katie in Newcastle in 1996 for thefirst time. We were both brought up in thenorth-east at schools down the road fromeach other, both studied history at differentLondon colleges (sitting several final exams inthe same hall at the same time), and bothspent six further years in London beforeheading to Newcastle independently within ayear of each other, still not having met. Wewere clearly destined to avoid each other, sowere reliant on a mutual friend (theManchester graduate you mention – thanks,Sarah!) holding a dinner party.

Do you have any special message foralumni?Only that I look forward to meeting as many ofthem as possible in the near future and to sharingideas as to how we can build effectiveprogrammes together to support this extraordinaryand potentially exceptional new institution.

38 YOUR MANCHESTER

Chris Cox has just joinedus from the University ofNewcastle upon Tyne asDirector of theDevelopment and AlumniRelations Office. And hewants to hear from you asManchester developsplans to become one ofthe world's most soughtafter universities

New Director Launches Facelift for Fundraising Campaign

The University has someambitious plans toenhance its position asone of the world’s leadingand most sought afterinstitutions (see page 20).Involving and engagingalumni in those plans willbe critical if the Universityis to realise its potential

Several thousand alumni have providedenormously important support for students andUniversity facilities in recent years - partlythrough the two Alumni Fund programmes -for which the University remains deeply grateful.

The success of the Victoria University ofManchester and UMIST’s Annual Fund istestament to the generosity of former students.Our alumni, professional community,colleagues, parents and friends havedemonstrated their determination to give thisuniversity sufficient resources tomake a significant difference.

Over the years, more than6500 donors have respondedto causes we havechampioned, donating morethan £2.4 million. It is atribute to the depth andwarmth of feelingtowards Manchester.

In total 60 themedprojects,departments andsocieties havebenefited fromyour generosity.Core areas ofsupport are; thelibrary, computerfacilities, specialneeds andhardship funds.However, specialprojects such asAluminate andManchesterGold, organised by theCareers Service, have alsocaptured the attention ofmany donors. Our sportsprogrammes have reaped

many benefits including a further grant of£5000 which was awarded this year to enablea new Campus Sport Rugby Union League tobe established.

Extra curricular activities are an importantpart of the university experience and sogrants are made to individual clubs andsocieties, as well as to individuals hoping totravel for educational purposes.

This year the Annual Fund chose to support aninnovative and ambitious student organisedproject known as MANMUN (Manchester ModelUnited Nations). A team of student organiserstook it upon themselves to hold the first eversimulated United Nations conference in theNorth West. The aim was simple – to create aninterest in world affairs. The conferenceinvolved four days of heavy debating, alongwith social interaction, and was also attendedby representatives from overseas institutions.

Another extremely fulfiling area this year hasbeen the Local Students

Awards.

The awardswere set up

in May2000 tooffer£1,000to themost

deserving students from the GreaterManchester area to help them with their firstyear of study. The successful students wereselected using recommendations from headteachers. Nominations were sought on the basisof academic achievements and personalcharacter within difficult study conditions orfamily circumstances.

This year Professor Alan North, Vice-Presidentand Dean (Faculty of Life Science), presentedthe awards to Hosea Esdaille and Lubna Aslam,both optometry students. Hosea is the first inhis immediate family to go to university and hasbeen determined not to allow financialdifficulties to affect this ambition. Similarly,Lubna has shown unswerving commitment toher studies, despite financial constraints andtime spent caring for her younger siblings on adaily basis.

Your Views and Comments

Changes in student finance from 2006, andthe need to address major regional, nationaland international issues, means that supportwill become still more important over thecoming years.

The Development and Alumni Relations teamare planning a major re-launch of the AlumniFund programme for the Autumn of 2005,alongside wider fundraising programmesacross the University. Feedback and ideasfrom previous, current and potential futuredonors will be critical in arriving at aprogramme that brings maximum benefit tothe University, its students and thecommunities it serves, while also meeting theinterests and priorities of donors.

If you would like to pass on your suggestions,or to take part in a planned series of face-to-face and on-line discussions, please also let usknow by emailing [email protected], please contact the Director of Development by [email protected] or telephoning +44 (0) 161 306 2620

YOUR MANCHESTER 39

MANMUN

elift for Fundraising Campaign

40 YOUR MANCHESTER

Victor Sayer left a bequest in his recent will to supportpostgraduate scholarships for students studying music, to beknown as the Victor Sayer Awards. Mr Sayer has expressed a wishto see the awards set up in his lifetime and has been able toprovide sufficient funding for a modest version of the awards tobe implemented in the coming academic year.

Born in Blackpool, Mr Sayer moved toLevenshulme at the age of nine and attendedBurnage Grammar School before training as ateacher at Didsbury Training College which wasaffiliated to the University. Whilst most of hisfriends were students at the University, MrSayer remembers being disappointed when hewas turned away from the Student’s Union asstudying at the Training College did not qualifyhim for membership.

He taught Science at the Technical High Schoolin Ardwick, which later became Nicholls HighSchool, but it was through his life-long friendCosmo Rodewald that he became involved withthe University. Mr Rodewald was a SeniorLecturer in the Department of History and theyboth shared a common interest in music. Theyattended many concerts and performances atthe University, particularly enjoying the LindsayConcert Series.

Mr Sayer says he feels fortunate that he lives in acity with such a rich musical culture:“Manchester has much to offer the music lover,with the University and the Royal NorthernCollege of Music to the BBC and theBridgewater Hall all being in close proximity andthat is why Manchester remains my home.”

When Mr Rodewald passed away in 2002 heleft a generous bequest to the University tosupport the refurbishment of the Coupland 2Building with new facilities for music anddrama. The Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall isnamed in his honour.

“I was inspired by Cosmo’s gift to the Universityand when I was discussing my own will withmy solicitor I decided to do something similar,”Mr Sayer said, “ I was getting a bit stuck andmy solicitor suggested a grand gesture (hiswords!) and that’s how the idea for the Awardswas born.”

After discussing various options with theDevelopment and Alumni Relations Office, andwith John Casken in the Music Department, hedecided to establish a bequest to support the‘Victor Sayer Awards’ for postgraduate musicstudents. The awards will be used to enhancethe students’ study and development, and willalso bring added benefit to the departmentthrough seminars and performances.

Mr Sayer’s generosity will provide excitingopportunities for future music students andhelp to ensure that Manchester continues to bethe home of outstanding musical talent.

By leaving a legacy to the university, nomatter how large or small, you will beinvesting in future learning. The Universityhas ambitious development plans inalmost every academic area and yourcontribution can make a real difference.

We would encourage you to consider an‘unrestricted’ gift to the University or to specifya broad subject area as this will provide theflexibility needed to ensure that your supportbrings maximum benefit long into the future.Or, if you have something specific in mind, wewould be delighted to work with you todevelop a mutual proposal in a way that willsafeguard your intentions for the long term.

If you have already committed to help theVictoria University of Manchester or UMIST inyour will, please be assured that this legacy willstill be valid and The University of Manchesterwill receive, in due course, your valued gift.

If you would like to speak to someone aboutleaving a legacy to the University, pleasecontact Louise Hancock on Tel: +44 (0) 161265 7230 or by writing to the Developmentand Alumni Relations Office. All enquiries will,of course, be handled in complete confidence.

RememberingManchesterthrough aLegacy

Musical Gift RewardsOutstanding Talent

YOUR MANCHESTER 41

The North American Foundation for theUniversity of Manchester (or NAFUM forshort) is an association for all Manchesteralumni living in North America. It is aregistered US charity and, through thegenerosity of our North American alumni,supports a number of postgraduatescholarships for North American studentsstudying in Manchester, including aManchester-Fulbright Scholarship.

Directing this scholarship programme isNAFUM’s Board of Trustees, the majority ofwhom are fellow Manchester alumni who nowlive in the US or Canada. They meet twiceyearly to review fundraising activities, approvephilanthropic support for the University andencourage alumni events and reunions.

For further information please contact LesleyJones telephone +44 (0) 161 275 2373 oremail [email protected]

North AmericanFoundationsupportingscholarships

What made you chose to study Economicsand why at Manchester in particular?The decisions we make when we are 17 arenot always the most logical and informed.However, economics was the A Level subjectthat interested me most because it seemedscience-like but greatly influenced by theimponderables of human behaviour.Manchester had a good economicsdepartment, and, more importantly, theyoffered me a place.

What did you do after graduation to getyou where you are today?There was a family background in engineeringand manufacturing and I finished up taking ajob with Ford, working there for five yearsbefore taking two years out to attend businessschool. I wanted to study in the US because ofthe excellent reputation of their businessschools and I was accepted at Harvard. Whilstin the US, I met my future wife, who lived inCalifornia, and after graduation I worked inSwitzerland and Paris before being transferredback to the UK where I got married.

I had seen the self storage business inCalifornia and realised that no-one had yetintroduced the idea to the UK. I encouragedmy wife to open Europe’s first, in London,whilst I ensured that the bills got paid bykeeping my corporate job and workingevenings and weekends in the fledglingbusiness.

We then built up a chain of storage centresand are now are semi-retired, based largely inCalifornia, but still active in the UK market.

What advice would you give to fellowalumni who want to follow in yourfootsteps?There are endless opportunities forinnovative new businesses. The US,particularly California, is a ready source ofsuch ideas, and my advice to anyone seekingto be an entrepreneur would be go toCalifornia for three months, look at all thenew businesses and find one that you feelwould work in the UK.

Why do you donate to the University?I give to the University because I feel I owe it adebt of gratitude and because I am proud tobe associated with it. I want to helpManchester succeed in its objective ofbecoming a world class institution.

What are your lasting memories ofManchester?My memories are a little hazy after all theseyears (coming up for forty). I rememberexcellent economics teaching in the early daysof econometrics, but all of these memories area little overshadowed by recollections of goodtimes at the Students Union.

Doug Hampson graduated inEconomics in 1967 and has sincebuilt a successful businessempire on both sides of theAltantic. He has showntremendous generosity of spiritby putting something back intothe life of the University today

Paying the University a Debt of Gratitude

42 YOUR MANCHESTER

Enriching the Social Wealth of the CityThe University's newBusiness, Careersand CommunityDivision will bereaching out beyondthe campus to raiseaspirations in aninnovative newdirection An important part of the mission of the newUniversity is a commitment to enrich thecultural, economic and social wealth of the cityand region by promoting learning and raisingeducational aspirations in our community.

The new Business, Careers and CommunityDivision (BCCD) aims to developpartnerships between the University,businesses and the wider community, as wellas continuing to promote the employabilityof students and graduates.

A range of community based initiatives arecurrently underway, for example the Universityhas donated 180 digital cameras, recorders andweb cams to primary schools in disadvantagedareas, representing the 180 years since theUniversity was first founded in 1824. The aim ofthe project, called Primary Vision, was tosupport teaching and learning using technologyand to establish stronger links with schools andcommunities in deprived areas.

The BCCD has also worked in partnership withManchester Local Education Authority tosponsor the My Manchester‚ initiative. This city-wide project challenges the pupils ofManchester to investigate and find out abouttheir Manchester - its history, geography andenvironment. We would like to invite alumni tojoin in the project and share their memories ofManchester and their time studying at theVictoria University of Manchester and UMIST.We hope many of you will be able to spare alittle time to jot down a few thoughts to sharewith current staff and students, and with thechildren and members of the local community.

As part of our new engagement with thecommunity we are also re-establishing our linkswith The University of Manchester Settlementand we would really appreciate input into theproject from anyone with memories of theSettlement. For more information please visitwww.manchester.ac.uk/community/mymanchester

In addition we are developing a strategy tofund a University Discovery Bus‚ to help schoolsand communities visit the University and othercultural venues. We hope that alumni will bekeen to support this initiative by sponsoringseats on the bus which will then bear a plaquewith their name, or perhaps by suggestingnames of corporate sponsors who may wish toget involved.

Another major project, due to be launched in2006, is The Children’s University ofManchester, an interactive website for childrenaged 7-11 years and their teachers and parents.The website will connect the University’sresearch and teaching to the Key Stage 2curriculum.

If you are interested in receiving regular updateson our community work, please [email protected].

YOUR MANCHESTER 43

al Wealth of the CityBusiness linksIn addition to community work the BCCDworks closely with the four Faculties of theUniversity to help develop strategicrelationships with business and externalagencies. Recently, the division’s RegionalBusiness Team was involved in helpingpersuade the Bank of New York to establishan office in Manchester. Key to theirdecision in chosing Manchester above otherpossible global locations, was the highquality of graduates at the University as wellas the professional recruitment and businesssupport services offered by the BCCD. Theopening of the Bank of New York’sManchester office will create 1,000 newjobs including 350 graduate positions.

The BCCD also has a team of BusinessDevelopment Managers who work withFaculties to develop strategic collaborationswith large multinational companies. Wehave produced a number of keypublications showcasing the University’srelevance to business called Innovation inAction. Whilst the emphasis is onpromoting research excellence, thepublication also highlights other parts of theUniversity’s potential in continuingprofessional development, graduaterecruitment and community engagement.Innovation in Action is available fordownload from the Business website at:www.manchester.ac.uk/innovationinaction

For more information about our work withbusiness, please [email protected].

“I used the Careers Service when Igraduated from my Masters in 2000. Nowas a recruiter for a leading motor-hireorganisation, I find the support andenthusiasm of the Careers Serviceindispensable to my role. I use thementoring scheme, Manchester Gold, toput our organisation in touch with brightstudents, and the student businessprojects have delivered some reallyeffective results for us.” Abul Shama, Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

Useful Links for Further Information:Business www.manchester.ac.uk/business Aluminate www.aluminate.org.uk Careers www.manchester.ac.uk/careers Graduate Fair www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/events/fairs/graduate/ Community www.manchester.ac.uk/community Innovation in Action www.manchester.ac.uk/innovationinaction

CareerssupportNaturally the University is stillcommitted to continuing along and fruitful relationshipwith its former students.Through the BCCD it aims toprovide on-going careersadvice and support to alumnithemselves while allowingalumni to help currentstudents as well.

For example, its flagshipAluminate programmeenables alumni to getinvolved with currentstudents through a wide range of activities. There are opportunities to contribute ‘A Day in theLife of’‚ career profiles for the Careers Service website, or to provide student mentoring activitiesthrough the Manchester Gold programme.

Since its launch in 2004, more than 2,500 graduates have registered on the Aluminate website,over 200 of whom are available to be contacted on the Aluminate Network by other graduates.For those graduates who have yet to register it’s not too late. Whether you have recentlygraduated, are thinking of a career change, want to market yourself more effectively or justwant to make contact with fellow alumni working in similar career sectors, log on to thewebsite today. Registering is free and simple and you can opt to receive the latest job vacanciesand careers news. Visit the Aluminate website at: www.aluminate.org.uk

In 2005, the BCCD is offering a range of events and services for alumni seeking to develop theircareers, find new career directions or simply interact with fellow graduates. The GraduateRecruitment Fair, held in June at GMEX, provides opportunities for graduates, both new andold, to speak to graduate recruiters directly. With more than 160 recruiters and organisationsattending, it’s a great opportunity to check the current job market as well as pick upinformation and advice on improving your job search. More information on the GraduateRecruitment Fair is available at: www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/events/fairs/graduate

In November 2005, BCCD are hosting a collaborative event with the British Council and UKTrade & Investment. The event will bring together the University’s brightest internationalgraduates with businesses in the North West. If you are an employer, or run your own businessand are looking to expand internationally, you could benefit from the key contacts and localinsights of our graduates. The University has a large cohort of high-calibre students from all overthe world and many come with their own business experience and networks.

Supporting the career development of our international students is important, and during thissummer the BCCD is organising a series of discussion forums to enable international alumni andcurrent overseas students to get in touch with each other. BCCD is looking for people to sharetheir experiences and stories with students through online support and our website. For moreinformation please contact [email protected]

44 YOUR MANCHESTER