june
Strongbox
SIMBIOS
Centrifuge
Royal Visit
Sports
An innovative new programme was launched to help talented students with outstanding sports potential to realise their ambitions. The Excel Sports Scholarships are awarded by the institute of sport and exercise. Director, Mr Brian Ewing explained: "Many outstanding sportsmen and women at the university struggle to combine their academic programme with the fulfilment of their true sporting potential. The Excel Sports Scholarships aim to support these students who have the potential to represent their country in their sport by easing the other pressures of academic life."
A strongbox of papers lying undisturbed in a Dundee bank vault for more that 30 years was handed over to the University Archives. The hand-written parchments in Latin and English contained the original Royal Charters for Dundee Royal Infirmary dating back to 1819, 1877 and 1898, each parchment was attached by a scarlet ribbon to a plate sized seal, contained in a protective tin.
A major new centre to apply mathematical modelling techniques to biomedical and environmental processes was established following a £950,000 award by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council under their research development grant scheme. The new centre - the Scottish Informatics Mathematics Biology and Statistics Centre (SIMBIOS) - will help scientists and other professionals make predictions about complex processes such as the growth of tumours or the dispersal of pollutants. It is a collaboration between the Universities of Dundee and Abertay.
The first of its kind in Scotland and one of only 12 in Europe - a massive centrifuge seven metres in diameter, lined with concrete and sandwiched between sheets of steel - was given its inaugural spin at the University's new Geotechnical Centrifuge Centre within the department of civil engineering. Professor Michael Davies who leads the University's geotechnical team explained: "Centrifuge modelling is being recognised increasingly as a powerful experimental technique in both geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering design. To have such a facility at Dundee puts the University's department of civil engineering on the international map."
Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra opened a new cancer centre at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School named after her. The Princess Alexandra Centre, which brings together first class patient facilities - including a dedicated entrance for cancer patients and pleasant surroundings - with state of the art research laboratories, has been a major beneficiary of the Ninewells Cancer Appeal which has so far raised well over £5.3 million.
