News & Events

Theatre Studies Open Day

Prospective students on a unique Theatre Studies course here at the University were able to take a peek behind the curtain at exactly what it can offer at an open day held on the 3rd May.

The MLitt in Theatre Studies, which has been given the seal of approval by Holywood star and University Rector Brian Cox, provides the opportunity to study theatre design, writing for the stage and screen, directing, theatre criticism and a range of other modules in what is a highly distinctive programme.  Bringing together the University's School of Humanities and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, the programme is also run in association with the award-winning Dundee Rep Theatre.

Starting at 10am, potential students were provided with the opportunity to meet the University tutors and staff from Dundee Rep and heard about the design of the course, the methods and modules of study as well as getting a backstage tour of the rep and a chance to see the afternoon performance of 'Further than the Furthest Thing' by Zinnie Harris, which is currently running in the Rep.

The MLitt in Theatre Studies commences in September 2012 and anyone who would like further information regarding this innovative programme and the possibilities it can afford it's students should contact the School of Humanities at humanities@dundee.ac.uk or tel: 01382 388927 or 388625.

 

Entrepreneurial Exchange Event

'An Interview with The Right Honourable Lord Smith of Kelvin'

This event is to celebrate the launch of an ambitious plan for growth for The Entrepreneurial Exchange in Tayside.  This is a great activity to support and should provide an interesting and stimulating evening for people throughout the University. 

Lord Smith of Kelvin is one of Scotland's most influential business leaders.  He joined the Board of Scottish & Southern Energy as a non- Executive Director in June 2003 and became Chairman in January 2005. Lord Smith is also Chairman of the Weir Group PLC joining the Board in February 2002 and being appointed chairman in July of the same year. In addition he is a non-executive director of 3i Group plc, Standard Bank Group Ltd and Aegon. He also chairs Glasgow 2014 Ltd, the organising committee for the Commonwealth Games.  He is currently a member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the First Minister of Scotland, Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland and patron of the Scottish Community Foundation.

It takes place on Tuesday 22 May 2012 at 5.45pm in the D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre.  For further information, or to book a place at the event, please contact Karen McTaggart at the Exchange Office on 01698 285650 or email karen@entrepreneurial-exchange.co.uk.

 

H2Oil Research Seminars

The H2Oil Research Seminars are jointly hosted by the two academic Centres of the University's Graduate School of Natural Resources Law, Policy & Management - The Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy and the IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science (under the auspices of UNESCO).

The seminars, which are free to attend, take place throughout May on Wednesdays at 11am in the UNESCO Boardroom and last approximately one hour.  This includes at least 20 minutes of open debate and discussion.  A full programme of events can be found on the seminar website at http://www.eisourcebook.org/937_H2Oil.html

Should Humanities be Taught at University?

Tuesday 1 May, 6pm

The McManus Cafe

The Humanities tradition in British Universities is facing a serious challenge with regard to it's relevance and financial viability within contemporary society.  This talk, by Professor Nicholas Davey, offers some crucial reflections on how the Humanities have become so badly misunderstood and what might be done to remedy this. 

Further Education and Skills System Reform Plan: Building a World Class Skills System

In partnership with colleagues from Bradford College and Askham-Bryan College in York, Carey Normand from the School of Education, Social Work & Community Education has been successful in securing £60,000 in funding from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service for a project entitled 'BlendEd: Enhancing initial teacher education through flexible elearning'.  The project, which sees the money split equally amongst the partner institutions, will use interactive elearning technologies to create a new and sustainable model of initial teacher education (ITE) which will not only achieve excellence in teaching and learning, but increase the flexibility in, and delivery of, a more attractive operational model for both in-service and pre-service trainees.

Carey's role in this project is to act as a consultant and mentor for the creation of the new online curriculum development, modelling the developments and skills accrued as a result of developing the fully online TQ(FE) programme in 2006 here at the University.  She will also design the evaluation tools for the programme participants and the prioject.

The intention is that providers will be able to deliver these new models of ITE from September 2012.

Child Protection Seminar

The School of Education, Social Work and Community Education is hosting a seminar entitled 'Haringey: From Victoria to Peter and Beyond' on 2 April 2012 with Professor Graham Badman, Chair of Haringey Local Safeguarding Children's Board (LSCB).  Professor Badman will be joined by Sarah Peel, former Performance and Business Development Manager at Haringey LSCB and Alyson Leslie from the School, to reflect on events in Haringey since the Victoria Climbie Case and explore the background to the death of baby Peter Connelly.  They will each review what went wrong and describe the multi agency approach adopted to improve practice and morale following these tragic events.

More information can be found by visiting the School website at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/eswce/news/2012/haringey.htm

Masters of Education

The Masters of Education in the School of Education, Social Work and Community Education has been recognised unconditionally as meeting the requirements of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Teacher Awards at Masters level.

The Programme is the first Masters programme in Scotland, and only the second in the UK, to be recognised as meeting the IB quality assurance standards at Masters level.

The recognition process involved an extensive written application followed by a two day recognition visit.  On the final day of the visit the International Baccalaureate team made a number of commendations which included; the high quality of the application and rigerous preparation for the visit, the knowlwdge and understanding of the International Baccalaureate showm by the team of tutors, the strong alignment between the School, the principles and values of the MEd programme and the International Baccalaureate awards and the emphasis the programme places on reflection, reflexivity and inquiry and its approach to engaging teachers with 'big ideas'.

'One Thousand Talents'

Professor Patricia Wouters, Director of the Dundee UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, will join the international law programme at Xiamen in China to help prevent future water conflicts in the Far East and promote research collaborations between the UK and China.  She will remain in post at Dundee in addition to her appointmetn at Xiamen, which has been made as part of the Chinese Government's 'One Thousand Talents' initiative - a programme aimed at enhancing China's research expertise.

Professor Wouters said she was looking forward to the opportunity to increase the understanding of the many complex issues surrounding transboundary resources in China and to further Dundee's standing in the country.  She said "I am honoured to have been chosen under the One Tousand Talents initiative and am delighted to have the chance to make a difference in China as well as developing research partnerships that will benefit both Dundee and Xiamen.  Because China has a huge population with growing economic, social and environmental demands the challenge is to manage its limited water resources, especially its transboundary waters, in the best way possible."

Japanese Delegation Visits Business School

Economic studies held a series of lectures for a delegation of 13 student ambassadors from Chuo University in Tokyo led by Professor Nobuhiko Sugiura, Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Strategic Management at Chuo.

This was the third visit to the University by Professor Sugiura who has been discussing a formal collaboration with the University of Dundee.  Professor Catia Montagna, Deputy Dean of the School of Business, said "While in Dundee the student ambassadors were impressed by the quality and breadth of our programmes, by the warm welcome they received from our staff and students and by the first rate facilities at the University.  The Graduate School of Strategic Management at Chuo offers an interesting suite of degrees that integrate business, marketing, human resource management and corporate legal issues with a strong professional emphasis.  The success of this visit is an important step towards formalising a collaboration that will enable us to expand the international reach and attractiveness of our taught postgraduate programmes."

Research Fellowship

Dr Beth Lord, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, has been awarded a two year Research Fellowship at the Centre for Arts and Humanities Research at the Natural History Museum in London.  The Fellowship is funded by Kingston University which runs this unique interdisciplinary research centre exploring the cultures of natural history.  As a Fellow Beth will make regular visits to the museum to develop philosophy projects that make use of the unparallelled collections of natural history specimens and documents. 

  http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/departments/cahr/index.html

SIRE/Scottish Government Policy Forums

Professor Catia Montagna is now leading the SIRE/Scottish Government Policy Forums that regularly bring together academic and government economists to discuss issues of high policy relevance.  Professor Montagna says "the forums were introduced in 2008 and have received a very positive feedback from all involved.  I presented some of my work at these events in the past and saw the obvious opportunity they offer in terms of our ability to have an impact on policy.  I am now tasked with trying to ensure a greater continuity of communication and engagement that can underpin sustained collaboration with the Scottish Government economists.  I am thrilled by this opportunity that will take our expertise to the heart of policy making."

Welcome to the Dean of Humanities

We are delighted to announce that a new Dean has been appointed within the School of Humanities.  Professor David Finkelstein will join us on 1 February 2012.

Professor Finkelstein is a distinguished scholar who is currently Research Professor of Media and Print Culture at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.  He was educated at Columbia (NY), Oxford and Edinburgh Universities.  Professor Finkelstein has written and edited many important books in his field and has an impressive list of chapters and articles in refereed journals and a host of other outputs to his name.  A recognised leader within his various positions, he has a first-class track record in terms of external grant getting, outreach and impact.  Prior to his time at QMU, David has worked in the National Library of Scotland and at Edinburgh and Napier Universities.

We are pleased that we have managed to appoint an academic of such high standing, both nationally and internationally, to this important post and look forward to his arrival here at Dundee early in the New Year.

Student Work Published

Well done to BA Social Work Student Kaye McMahon who has recently had an article published in Rostrum, the Scottish Association of Social Worker's magazine, outlining her view of social work and promoting the profession.  Commenting on this achievement, Linda Walker (Associate Dean for Social Work) said "it is heartening to see such an informed and enthusiastic contribution to this professional journal at this stage in her career and we would encourage other students to follow suit."  The journal, and Kaye's article, can be viewed here: http://cdn.basw.co.uk/upload/basw_65340-4.pdf

Young Thinker Award

Congratulations to Kirsteen Shields, a lecturer from the School of Law, who has been named Scotland and Northern Ireland Young Thinker of the Year for 2011.  

Kirsteen was awarded the title by the Young Scotland and Northern Ireland Programme for her ideas on hot to re-think the recession.  Her presentation to the judges focussed on how a four day working week could distribute the hardships of the recession and create a fairer society.  On awarding her the honour the judges praised her for an intellectually impressive paper, distinguished by its authority and good writing.  Kirsteen impressed them by showing how a four day working week could restore full employment and how that might be managed.

Kirsteen commented "I am always glad to discuss my ideas and it is great to have been given an award for doing just that.  I firmly believe that in order to weather the recession and come out the other side as a humane society we must apply creative problem solving to manage the consequences of the recession.  My proposal presented the recession as an opportunity to redress inequality and to restructure society for the better."                                                                                                          

Macleod Annual Memorial Lecture

On the evening of 11 November 2011, Professor Rob Duck, Dean of the School of the Environment and Deputy Head of CASS, presented the Dr John MacLeod Annual Memorial Lecture at the invitation of ‘Comann na Mara’, the Western Isles ‘Society of the Sea’ which is based in North Uist.  Rob’s recent book, ‘This Shrinking Land: Climate Change and Britain’s Coasts’, published by Dundee University Press, was the focus of the talk delivered to a capacity audience in Lochmaddy Hall in the island’s ‘capital’.  Earlier in the day, Rob delivered a master class on coastal processes to around 70 fifth and sixth year pupils in Sgoil Lionacleit, the Secondary School at Liniclate in the neighbouring island of Benbecula, which serves the island communities of Berneray, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay.  This curving chain of the Outer Hebridean islands acts like a giant offshore breakwater that protects Scotland’s mainland coast from the ferocity of the Atlantic Ocean winter storms and thus is no stranger to wave attack, erosion and, sadly, to tragedy as a result of coastal flooding.

The Challenges of Working with Complex Trauma

Alexandra Richman

The School of Education, Social Work and Community Education continues to provide world leading seminars on trauma, attachment and resilience.  The penultimate seminar of their second seminar series, led by the School’s Dr Ian Barron and Mike Naulty, Associate Dean, has just been successfully completed.  The seminar was presented by Alexandra (Sandi) Richman, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist who, until recently, headed up the EMDR service within the Traumatic Stress Service at the Maudsley Hospital in South London.  Sandi was trained by Francine Shapiro, the founder of Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR).

 

Sandi presented on the challenges of working with complex trauma (and dissociative experiences) compared to incident trauma.  Case material was used to illustrate diagnostic issues in identifying traumatic experiences rooted in childhood and differentiating these from traumas experienced by otherwise healthy adults.  Professionals from a wide range of agencies and voluntary organisations attended the event which was sponsored by Eighteen and Under, a survivor of abuse organisation based locally in Dundee.  Stephanie Vander Lugt (18U) spokesperson commented “this was a seminar of the highest quality. Sandi is clearly immersed in the field and presented in a relaxed and accessible manner. There was so much to learn. We are proud to have been part of sponsoring such an event”.

International Workshop

IUCN Distinguished Scholar

Council of the College of Teachers

Science Learning Institute

Arts & Humanities Network Award

History Student Joins National Steering Group

Child Exploitation: Legal Responses to New Challenges in Child Protection

Law School Tops National Student Survey

Carnegie Centenary Professorship

RSE Young Academy

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