Annual Review, 2006-2007
People
Professor Sir Nigel Rodley KBE of the
Department of Law was appointed by the
President of Sri Lanka, on recommendation
of the UK government, to serve on the
International Independent Group of Eminent
Persons (IIGEP). IIGEP was tasked with
observing the work of a national commission
of inquiry into a number of well-known
unsolved killings following the effective
breakdown of the ceasefire between the
government and the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam. Professor Rodley, who is also
Chair of the Essex Human Rights Centre,
continued to serve as a member of the
United Nations Human Rights Committee.
Professor Leon Rubin became the new
Director of East 15 Acting School in 2007.
Since joining the University, he has led the
opening of East 15 at the University’s
Southend Campus. He came to Essex from
Middlesex University, and has previously
been Artistic Director of three major UK
theatre companies. A Fellow of the Royal
Society of Arts, in 1997 he was awarded an
Honorary Professorship of GITIS Russian
Theatre Academy, Moscow. He is former
Associate at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, was
Assistant Director at the Royal Shakespeare
Company, and has directed plays for theatre
companies worldwide.
Professor Phil Mullineaux of the Department
of Biological Sciences has been awarded an
£850,000 grant from the BBSRC to conduct
research with Professor Neil Baker on how
plants adjust the expression of gene networks
in response to multiple environmental stresses.
Since arriving at the University in June 2004,
Professor Mullineaux has been building a
research programme which is aimed at
uncovering common responses by plants to
challenges as diverse as drought and infection
by pathogens. In this new project, a ‘Systems
Biology’ approach will be employed to explore
the collective properties of gene networks that
govern such responses.
Dr Holger Breinlich, a lecturer in the
Department of Economics, was awarded
a 2006 European Economic Association
(EEA) Young Economist Award for his paper
‘Trade liberalization and industrial restructuring
through mergers and acquisitions’. The
award is bestowed on young authors of
outstanding papers submitted to the EEA’s
Annual Congress, and who are studying for
or have recently completed a PhD. Dr Breinlich
joined the Department from the London
School of Economics in September 2006.
His research interests lie in the areas of
international trade, economic geography
and applied econometrics.
Professor John Scott, of the Department of
Sociology has been elected as a Fellow of the
British Academy. His co-edited book, Models
and Methods in Social Network Analysis, was
awarded the prestigious 2006 Harrison White
Outstanding Book Award by the American
Sociological Association’s Mathematical
Sociology Section. He is currently an
Honorary Vice-President of the British
Sociological Association and is editor of the
journal European Societies, the official journal
of the European Sociological Association.
Professor Kimmy Eldridge, Director for
Health Partnerships and a member of the
Department of Health and Human Sciences,
was awarded the OBE in 2007 for services
to healthcare. Trained as a nurse, Professor
Eldridge has spent 40 years working in
healthcare and the education of healthcare
professionals. She came to the University in
1994 to establish the unit as the lynchpin for
a new partnership between the NHS and the
University. Professor Eldridge’s ability to
translate health policies into innovative
programmes for the education of health
professionals has seen her establish a variety
of Masters and Professional Doctorate
programmes at Essex.