Focus on events and developments at the University of Essex

A lot has been going on at the University of Essex while you have been deciding and preparing to study here. Below is just a brief summary of some events and activities across the University:

Accounting, Finance and Management | Art History and Theory | Biological Sciences | CCFEA | Computer Science | East 15 Acting School | Entrepreneurship and Business | Government | Health and Human Sciences | History | Human Rights Centre | Language and Linguistics | Law | Literature, Film and Theatre Studies | Mathematical Sciences | Philosophy | Psychology | Sociology

Accounting, Finance and Management

Professor Prem Sikka of the Department became the first living UK academic to receive the "Accounting Exemplar Award" from the American Accounting Association (AAA), an organisation that represents accounting academics in the USA. This award was sponsored by the Public Interest Section of the AAA and conferred at a luncheon in Washington DC.

In addition to numerous scholarly journals, Professor Sikka's work has also featured regularly in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Most recently he appeared on British television in the Channel 4 programme Dispatches, to shed light on the government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Accounting, Finance and Management website.

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Art History and Theory

Matthew Poole, Acting Director of the MA in Gallery Studies, travelled to the US to co-curate an exhibition at the Sheppard Fine Art Gallery at the University of Nevada in Reno.

Matthew organised the exhibition with artists Amanda Beech, of Chelsea College of Art, and Jaspar Joseph Lester, of Sheffield Hallam University. The show united video works by internationally recognised artists as well as by emerging figures: Beech and Joseph Lester as well as Mark Leckey, Pierre Bismuth and Roman Vasseur.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Art History and Theory website.

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Biological Sciences

The Department passed an important milestone after its annual research funding exceeded £3 million for the first time. The diversity of work within the Department was evidenced with two research projects, one by Professor David Nedwell, who received £366,000 from the Natural Environment Research Council for his study on the formation of nitrous oxide in tropical estuaries, and another by Dr Andrew Harrison, who was awarded £474,000 by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to determine how alternative splicing decisions are co-ordinated between different genes.

Professor Jules Pretty, Head of the Department of Biological Sciences, said: "In the past five years, research income has averaged about £2.1 million per year. We are delighted to see that it passed £3 million for the last financial year. This is a great credit to all members of staff in the Department."

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Biological Sciences website.

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Centre for Computational Finance and Economic Agents

An international conference, co-hosted by the Centre for Computational Finance and Economic Agents at the University's Colchester Campus, proved a huge success, attracting delegates including academics, and regional and national policy-makers.

Entitled Design and Public Policy: Markets for Congestion and Carbon Trading examined the pros and cons of government versus market oriented solutions for the problems of control, and pricing the negative economic impacts of road congestion and industrial environmental pollution.

For more information on your Centre, please visit the CCFEA website.

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Computer Science

The Department’s innovative project to develop robotic fish was one of just five UK research projects short listed for a Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) award.

Professor Huosheng Hu and the Human Centred Robotics team developed the world’s first autonomous robotic fish as part of the ‘Robot City: Capturing the Imagination for Public Awareness of Robots’ project funded by the London Aquarium. The aim of the initiative was to increase public understanding of science and technology.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Computer Science website.

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East 15 Acting School

For an impressive seven times in eight years, an East 15 student won a Laurence Olivier Bursary - the most prestigious national award available to UK drama students.

Emma Garritt is a second-year acting student from Hastings, East Sussex. The award provides financial support for her during the final-year of her studies.

For more information on your Department, please visit the East 15 Acting School website.

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Entrepreneurship and Business

The University's School of Entrepreneurship and Business hosted a two-day conference to mark the completion of a research study on entrepreneurship in the county.

The Entrepreneurship Research Project examined key factors that determined and influenced the culture of enterprise and innovation in south Essex. The conference gave delegates a change to discuss the outcomes of the project and examine regional entrepreneurship and innovation with leading figures from the UK and overseas.

For more information on your School, please visit the School of Entrepreneurship and Business website.

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Government

As Essex research project from the Department of Government featured in a book celebrating 100 major discoveries, developments and inventions made by academics at UK universities over the last 50 years.

Eureka UK covered the Department's contribution to political science, documenting the University's involvement in the British Election Study that is currently being lead by Professors Paul Whiteley and David Sanders.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Government website.

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Health and Human Sciences

The Department played host to seven US nursing students from Capital University in Ohio. The visitors lived on the University's Colchester Campus for seven weeks while working in a programme of clinical placements provided by the Essex Rivers NHS Trust at Colchester General Hospital.

The American students also visited local GP surgeries during their stay and gave a presentation to University and NHS staff that compared health care in Britain to the United States.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Health and Human Sciences website.

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History

A series of events at the Colchester Campus marked Holocaust Memorial Day, with Dr Rainer Schulze, Head of the Department of History, speaking on his work to develop a permanent exhibition at the site of the Nazi concentration campus Bergen-Belsen.

Dr Schulze explained: "More than 120,000 people are believed to have died at Bergen Belsen, many of whom remain unnamed. Our priority has been to give back some individuality to the victims of the camp - by naming the nameless."

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of History website.

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Human Rights Centre

An Essex human rights graduate, Mandira Sharma, achieved the highest honour from the New York-based international monitoring group Human Rights Watch.

Mandira helped found Advocacy Forum while studying at Essex. This Nepali human rights organisation has played an instrumental role in defending the rights of Nepali people caught in the civil war between Maoist rebels and the Royal Nepali Army. Despite threats and harassment by government forces, Mandira continued to file lawsuits on behalf of victims of torture, investigate deaths in government custody, and file petitions to free illegally detained prisoners.

For more information on your Centre, please visit the Human Rights Centre website.

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Language and Linguistics

Dr David Britain, from the Department of Language and Linguistics, was awarded AHRC research leave to complete the writing up of his research examining vowel changes in Southern British and the Southern Hemisphere Englishes of New Zealand, Australia and the Falkland Islands.

Dr Britain has examined linguistic data from a number of historical and contemporary sources in Southern England, as well as from Australia, New Zealand and the Falklands. This leave gave him the opportunity to write three articles to complete this project.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Language and Linguistics website.

Law

Professor Geoff Gilbert, of the Department of Law, was appointed Specialist Advisor to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights in relation to its inquiry into the treatment of asylum seekers.

The Committee, comprised of Members of Parliament and members of the House of Lords from all the major political parties, carries out reviews of legislation for human rights compatibility, as well as thematic reviews such as this.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Law website.

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Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

Audiences gave constructive feedback after seeing Middle Ground, a play written and directed by a current Essex student, Eleanor Barton, at the University's Lakeside Theatre.

Middle Ground is based on the ancient Greek tragedy of Tereus, Procne and Philomela. It covers issues such as rape, mutilation, metamorphoses and love. In adapting the play, Eleanor drew on a number of versions of the story that have been told by several writers and poets over the centuries including Metamorphoses: Tereus, Procne and Philomela by Ovid, Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare and Ted Hughes’ Tales from Ovid.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies website.

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Mathematical Sciences

Sudoku puzzles have become a popular pastime oand here in the Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Professor Peter Higgins, has developed a new variant called circular, or target, sudoku which now appear in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

Professor Higgins explained: "The idea of Sudoku is based on that of a so-called Latin Square. There have been sporadic attempts to introduce variants but I found they invariably involved just a bigger and more complicated version of the same array."

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Mathematical Sciences website.

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Philosophy

The Department held its tenth International Graduate Conference in Philosophy at the University's Colchester Campus.

The conference, entitled G.W.F Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit after 200 years, featured papers by a visiting keynote speaker Dr Karin de Boer from the University of Groningen and Dr Wayne Martin of the University of Essex. 

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Philosophy website.

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Psychology

Staff in the Department of Psychology are leading a multi-disciplinary team which includes researchers from Computer Science and Electronic Systems Engineering, to establish if there are any short-term health risks to exposure to TETRA mobile radio masts.

Senior Research Officer, Dr Stacy Eltiti, said: "Our studies will help to provide conclusive evidence about whether these technologies have a direct effect on health and well-being."

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Psychology website.

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Sociology

Professor Diane Elson joined the Chief Economist at the World Bank for a panel discussion of the World Bank’s 2006 development report. The report states that inequality of opportunity, both within and among nations, sustains extreme deprivation, results in wasted human potential and often weakens prospects for overall prosperity and economic growth.

Professor Elson’s research has examined gender inequality in relation to global social change and the realisation of human rights. She welcomed the World Bank’s acknowledgment of the importance of equality, but argued that it is essential to reduce inequalities in outcomes, not just in opportunities.

For more information on your Department, please visit the Department of Sociology website.

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See also:

• Graduate Admissions Office - for advice on admissions matters
• International Office - for advice to overseas students
• Accommodation Office - for details about accommodation
• Student Support - for confidential guidance, advice and support
• University news releases - what has been happening at Essex!