THE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 157 | DECEMBER 2004
3 New Dental labs | 4 Profile: Maria Pufulete | 5 175th Anniversary | 6 King's people | 9 Departmental Focus: Wofson Centre for Age-Related Diseaes | 13 Flashback | 14 In the news | 15 Development & Alumni news | 16 Arts
HRH THE PRINCESS ROYAL,Chancellor of the Universityof London, formally opened
the Wolfson Centre for Age-RelatedDiseases on Tuesday 9 November.
Based at the Guy’s campus, thisgroundbreaking centre housesworld experts in brain development,stem cells, neurodegenerativediseases and brain repair. Working
together and sharing their expertisewill help the researchers to answermore complex questions aboutdementia, Parkinson’s and stroke,and enable research findings to bemore rapidly translated intotherapies.
The numbers of people sufferingfrom stroke and dementia continueto rise as the population of the UK
ages, but at present our ability torepair a damaged brain is limited.Now this new centre will bringtogether leading clinicalresearchers and basic scientistsunder one roof, with the aim ofdeveloping treatments for age-related diseases.
King’s Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases opens
Continued on page 2
DOMINIC TURNER
The Princess Royal meeting Dr Rob Williams,member of the Wolfson Centre and Lecturerin Biomolecular Sciences, in one of thelaboratories. To his left is Dr FranciscoMolina-Holgado, a Senior Fellow in the Centre.
News
2 | COMMENT | December 2004
Continued from page 1
Professor Patrick Doherty, Head and co-Directorof the Wolfson Centre is excited about what thenew centre could achieve. ‘We have assembled ateam of outstanding scientists who on their ownmight have had some impact on this problem; butby working together we aim to make a substantialdifference,’ he says.
Professor Clive Ballard, co-Director of theCentre, explains why it is so important:‘Neurodegenerative diseases are a majorproblem in this ageing society. In the UK alone,more than 700,000 people are suffering fromdementia. Many of the current treatments onlycontrol the symptoms of these diseases, but byunderstanding more about the brain we might beable to develop therapies that prevent furtherdegeneration, or even begin repair the damage.’
The Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseasesplaces King’s at the forefront of research intothis area. Funded by a generous £6 milliondonation from the Wolfson Foundation, the state-of-the-art building provides laboratory and officespace for 25 research groups around an atriumentrance hall. The building was designed byWatkins Gray International LLP.
See page 9 for the Departmental Focus on theWolfson Centre.
FOR THE LAST 17 YEARS the Corporationof London has presented the prestigiousLord Mayor’s Dragon Awards to
encourage organisations to become involved inthe local community and recognise sociallyresponsible businesses.
Fifty organisations entered the competition thisyear and 15 finalists were shortlisted for fiveawards.
King’s College Shared CommunitiesProgramme was shortlisted for the ‘LordMayor’s Heart of the City Award for aCorporate Community Involvement Newcomer’on the basis of the staff volunteering andcommunity involvement events which havetaken place over the last year.
In the end the award went to Lloyd’s of Londonfor their new Police Mentoring Programme andthe third finalist for this prize was Clyde & Co.
‘The jury expressed difficulty in reachingtheir decision but commented that they werepleased to see a university reaching this level inthe Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards,’ commentsGjoril Berg, King’s Community Relations Officer.
Professor Roger Jones, Head of theDepartment of General Practice & PrimaryCare, and Gjoril Berg attended the AwardDinner in Mansion House on 21 October onbehalf of the College.
For more information on becoming involvedin volunteering please contact Gjoril Berg, extn8074 or g [email protected]
Dragon Awards
• The Wolfson Centre for Age-RelatedDiseases received coverage in theGuardian’s Education supplement.Reporting on a funding programme forresearch into ageing being set up bythe UK research councils, the articlesaid ‘one way of assuring quality is tobring together experts in a centre ofexcellence, and this is what has beendone at King’s College London’.
• The Centre is also the topic for thelatest Research TV video newsrelease (see research-tv.com). It hasbeen distributed to television stationsaround the world.
Above The Princess Royalunveils the plaque with Lord and Lady Wolfson rightlooking on
Right The Princess Royalmeets the Directors of theWolfson Centre ProfessorClive Ballard right andProfessor Patrick Doherty,with Professors Les Iversonand Bob Hider on the left
DOMINIC TURNER
DOMINIC TURNER
The Wolfson Wing
leading clinical researchers andbasic scientists under one roof
News
December 2004 | COMMENT | 3
Webchanges
THE KING’S WEBSITE hascome closer to having anew look now that the new
design has been chosen. Five design concepts,
developed by web designersBang, were available for viewingrecently at a series ofroadshows and online.
The web team received manyuseful comments from visitors tothese and the chosen conceptwas a clear favourite.
Bang are currently developingthe concept further and workingclosely with the contentmanagement system suppliers,Polopoly, to create templates forthe new design. (See www.kcl.ac.uk/webteam/strategy/newsite.html)
As there are some 150,000pages on the website it will takesome time to migrate thecontent from the current site tothe new content managementsystem driven site.
A plan is being developed sothat the migration is phased withthe top level and most popularpages being migrated first. TheInformation Providers for thosepages have been informed andwill be attending training soon.
Susan Farrell, Director of WebServices, comments, ‘Theproject is going well and we areon track for a launch of the newwebsite early in 2005’.
There were two competitionwinners: one for the roadshowsand one for online. Theroadshows winner was SandyGourlay, Consultancy Manager,KCL Enterprises, and the onlinewinner was Karen Hodge, part-time Doctorate of Educationstudent.
NEW LABORATORIES AT THEKing’s Dental Institute wereopened on 5 November by
Dr Sohaila Rastan, Director ofScience Funding at the WellcomeTrust, and Sir Tim Chessells,Chairman of Guy’s and St Thomas’Charitable Foundation.
The £3.7 million refurbishmentprogramme, financed by theWellcome Trust and the CharitableFoundation, has brought moreCollege dental researcherstogether under one roof on theGuy’s campus.
Professor David Beighton and Dr Gordon Proctor, who werepreviously based at King’s CollegeHospital, have moved theirresearch groups to the new HenryWellcome Laboratories ofMicrobiology and Salivary Researchon the 17th floor of the Guy’s Tower.
The move has already inspiredsome of these researchers tofoster collaborations with academiccolleagues in other departments.For example, the state-of-the artmass spectrometer, that canidentify bacterial proteins importantin tooth decay, is now also being
used to hunt for proteins that play arole in leukaemia and diabetes.
The refurbishment has providedthe Dental Institute with dedicated
facilities for different kinds ofmicroscopy. A new laser-dissectionmicroscope will allow researchersto cut out individual cells fromdeveloping teeth, and a confocalmicroscope means that, for thefirst time, researchers at theInstitute can look at individualproteins inside living cells.
Professor Paul Sharpe, head ofthe new Henry WellcomeLaboratories for CraniofacialDevelopment on the 27th floor,welcomed the refurbishment saying,‘The opening fortuitously coincidedwith the arrival of 15 new PhDstudents to the department. Inaddition the provision of cabinets inthe corridors has allowed us todisplay our collection of animalskulls that provide a valuableresource for studies of craniofacialevolution and development.’
Dental labs bringresearchers together
£3.7 millionrefurbishmentprogramme, financedby the Wellcome Trustand the CharitableFoundation
MARGARET DELANEY
The Principal Professor RickTrainor left with ProfessorNairn Wilson, Head of the
Dental Institute and ProfessorPaul Sharpe at the opening
4 | COMMENT | December 2004
Profile
What is your background?My academic background is 100 per centKing’s. I was an undergraduate here between1989–92 studying Food Science with aspecialisation in Management. I thoroughlyenjoyed the experience, made numerousfriends, had a great social life and travelledextensively.
The down side was that my academic worksuffered and I left slightly disillusioned anddeflated, knowing I had not fulfilled mypotential. I knew I wanted to do research, butthere was a lot of catching up to do in orderprove myself academically. I am grateful tomy tutors, Dr Peter Ellis and Professor SimonRoss-Murphy, who took me seriously andgave me sound advice despite the fact that I
was not the ‘model’ student! I returned to King’s in 1995 to do an MSc in
Nutrition and registered for a PhD a couple ofyears later under the supervision of Dr PeterEmery and Professor Tom Sanders. My PhDwas ten per cent elation and 90 per centmisery. My story will be familiar to many –months in the lab with no results, disasters atevery corner, running out of time and money.It was certainly character building. But thebuzz one gets when results start trickling in isworth every bit of the misery. The experiencecertainly prepared me for life in research.
Why does nutrition interest you?Nutrition makes news headlines almost daily.There are few areas that involve researchacross major disciplines, from basic sciences,cellular and molecular biology to socialsciences, epidemiology and public health. Younever get bored, there is always somethingnew to learn and always something thatchallenges. The range of skills one developsis fantastic.
The down side is having to contend withthe number of quack ‘experts’ out there thatliberally give advice not based on scientificfact. It’s also interesting that some of yourpeers think you’re not doing ‘proper science’.This old-fashioned view doesn’t hold muchground today; the line demarcating the lifesciences is rapidly fading with the recentadvances in technologies such as genomicsand proteomics. As scientists we are all part ofthe global village, with different disciplinesconstantly crossing each other’s boundaries.
And this is great, as there is so much to learnfrom each other.
Can you describe your area of research?Nutrigenomics, or the influence of nutrientson the genome, focusing in particular on therole of folate and vitamin B12 on DNAmethylation and gene expression in relationto cancer risk, and how individual geneticvariation affects the response to diet.
How did it feel to win the SET award?Total surprise. I was unaware at the time thatthere was an award for the lecturer of thewinning student; consequently I wasunprepared and slightly phased (which wasprobably evident in my rather perplexedacceptance speech!). My first reaction afterthat was amusement, first because Isometimes still feel like a student myself (Ijoined the Department in May 2002, ninemonths after completing my PhD) andsecondly because I have little experience ofteaching. Then I felt slight guilt at havingcheated a worthier contender out of theaward. But afterwards I was proud that Imanaged to bring out the best in a studentwith great potential (Rhianydd Tarr), not byteaching her facts but getting her tounderstand the basic concepts behindresearch and telling her to believe in herabilities. Everything else she did on her own.
What do you enjoy about teaching and whatmakes a good lecturer?I love supervising research projects, not leastbecause of the prospect of getting some newdata. Good or bad, results give me a real buzz.My definition of a good lecturer is a mixtureof enthusiasm, confidence, knowledge andthat elusive X factor, easy to recognise inothers but hard to put your finger on, and hardto try and bring out in yourself. I certainlydon’t live up to my definition of a good lecturer!
Give us your tips for a good diet?I generally don’t like giving dietary advice asit is not part of my job. So I guess my answerto this question is one that most people knowalready – avoid fads, eat everything inmoderation and enjoy a little bit of what youfancy. Exercise a bit of healthy scepticismabout what you read in the media. It’s assimple as that.
Dr Maria Pufulete, Lecturer in the Department of Nutrition &Dietetics, was the recent winner of the national SET (Science, Engineering & Technology) Student of the Year Lecturer of the Year Award.
MariaPufulete
175th anniversary
December 2004 | COMMENT | 5
AS THE KING’S 175th anniversarydraws to an end, the College can lookback on a busy year that has seen
hundreds of staff and students involved in awide variety of celebratory events.
The theme of much of the year has been toemphasise the College’s work ‘in the serviceof society’, which is echoed in the title of thenew College history book which was launchedat the beginning of the year and provided anhistorical backdrop to the events thatfollowed.
Planning for the anniversary began in 2002and the year was ‘bookended’ by two formalcelebratory events. The CommemorationOration by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on 22January was a revival of a King’s tradition andattracted more than 800 attendees,necessitating video relays to the Chapel andtwo lecture theatres; the Service ofThanksgiving held at Westminster Abbey on 19October was attended by 2,000 staff, studentsand friends of the College in the presence ofthe Chancellor of the University of London,the Princess Royal, and included a sermon bythe Archbishop of Canterbury.
The historical legacy of the College was not
forgotten. A series of lunchtime talks (King’sPeople who Changed the World) on leadingKing’s figures by distinguished biographersproved extremely popular with around 100people attending each session.
In addition, the 50th anniversary of thediscovery at King’s of how muscles contractwas celebrated by the Randall Centre in May(Jean Hanson’s Legacy) and attended by around150 people.
In October and November, a Film Festival(Alumni in Word and Image) was held whichpresented a series of movies with King’sconnections. Exhibitions of historical materialproduced by the Archives Department, bothin situ and on the web, have been extremelysuccessful.
A number of ‘fun’ events were alsoorganised which brought a few smiles to thosewho participated. At the beginning of the yearmore than 400 King’s staff and students tookpart in anniversary ice skating sessions atSomerset House. In April, the Strandcourtyard hosted Beating Retreat whichinvolved 150 performers and was attended byin excess of 600 people. The eveningincluded a recreation of Wellington’s duel atthe foundation of King’s and a spectacularfirework display.
The Alumni Weekend in June, attracted over800 people to an event that included a boatrace, a debate and a ball. In the same month aStaff Volunteering Week was organised by theWidening Participation Office, during whichmore than 150 staff gave their time to work inthe local community.
In keeping with the College’s mission ofadvancing ‘knowledge, learning andunderstanding in the service of society’, aseries of symposia exploring the notion ofCitizenship were organised and addressed by anumber of distinguished speakers.
An anniversary Student Debate, organised byKCLSU in March, considered the future ofuniversity funding. A symposium entitledGlobal Partnerships for Science and Health was
held at the Guy’s campus in June andattracted over 160 delegates from 16countries, including a large number of seniorstaff from other universities. The DentalInstitute organised a major event entitledGlobal Perspectives of the GKT Dental Institute inSeptember that emphasised the academic,clinical and scientific contributions ofdentistry at King’s.
This overview of activity is by no meanscomprehensive, and does not include speciallectures, or musical events (or the CollegeChoir anniversary CD) that have come underthe 175th ‘umbrella’.
Overall, the anniversary has hopefullyprovided a focus for a large number and rangeof people to learn more about the College andits achievements over the past 175 years. Wehope you enjoyed it!
The 175th anniversary yearChris Coe, Director of Communications, reflects on the year’s activities.
Left to right April Theceremony ofBeating Retreat
June Staffparticipate in avolunteeringproject
October Finalrehearsals for theService ofThanksgiving
TOM WHIPPS
COLIN WHYMAN
6 | COMMENT | December 2004
King’s people
Andrew Coyle
The terms of reference andpanel members for inquiriesinto three the controversial
murders of Robert Hamill, BillyWright and Rosemary Nelson,have been announced by theSecretary of State for NorthernIreland Paul Murphy.
Professor Andrew Coyle,Director of the InternationalCentre for Prison Studies, hasbeen appointed as a panelmember to the Billy Wright inquirywhich will be chaired by LordRanald MacLean. Wright, the LVFleader, was targeted andmurdered inside the Maze Prisonby jailed members of the IrishNational Liberation Army in 1997.
President
Allan R Thom has been electedPresident of the BritishOrthodontic Society.
Dr Thom is a ConsultantOrthodontist/Honorary SeniorLecturer at Guy’s, King’s & StThomas’ Dental Institute and he isalso Consultant Orthodontist atQueen Victoria Hospital in EastGrinstead.
Dr Thom was formally treasurerof the Society and Chairman of the
International Committee. HisPresidential year will coincide withthe World Orthodontic Conferenceto be held in Paris September 2005.
The British Orthodontic Societywas formed in 1994 with theunification of all UK orthodonticassociations and societies. Dr Thomis the 11th President.
RCGP Award
This year’s Royal College ofGeneral Practitioners’ GeorgeAbercrombie Award has been
won by Professor Roger Jones,Head of the Department of GeneralPractice & Primary Care andWolfson Professor of GeneralPractice and Primary Care, Guy’s,King’s & St Thomas’ School ofMedicine. It is awarded for specialliterary work in general practice.
Professor Jones is a prolificresearcher and has publishedwidely in peer-reviewed journals inthe areas of gastro-intestinaldisease, medical education, ethics
and academic policy. He was editorof Family Practice from 1990–2004and strived to make the journal oneof the leading medical publicationsof its time.
New Director
Professor Simon Biggs hasbeen appointed as the newDirector of the Institute of
Gerontology, taking over fromProfessor Janet Askham, who isnow working at the Picker InstituteEurope in Oxford.
Simon Biggs was previouslyProfessor of Social Gerontology at
Keele University. He has worked asa community psychologist and as apolicy adviser and has writtenwidely in the areas of ageingidentity, social policy, inter-professional relationships and theuse of psychotherapy andcounselling with older people.
He is currently an ExecutiveCommittee member of theEuropean Masters Programme inGerontology, sponsored by theEuropean Union. His latest booksinclude The Mature Imagination: TheDynamics of Identity in Midlife andBeyond (1999), Social Theory,Social Policy and Old Age (2003)and Ageing and Diversity (2004).
Research projects have included:The Health Impact of Age-segregated Housing for OlderPeople; Ageing and Identity; NewLifestyles in Old Age. He is currentlyworking on an ESRC project lookingat the baby-boomers generation.
Roger Higgs
Included among seven senioracademics appointed to thecouncil that advises UK Biobank –
Britain’s first DNA databank – isEmeritus Professor Roger Higgs,Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’ MedicalSchool. The ambitious project isdesigned to help scientistsunderstand how genes interact withlifestyle factors to create disease.
Mayor
The new Mayor of the LondonBorough of Hillingdon(2004/05) is Dr David Payne.
Dr Payne was, until recently, alecturer in Life Sciences at theFranklin-Wilkins Building, Waterloocampus, and is now a part-timelecturer in the Foundation Course inNatural Sciences at the Guy’s, King’s& St Thomas’ School of Medicineand Dentistry at the Guy’s campus.
The panel will be asked not to justconsider allegations of securityforce collusion that have beenmade, but also to consider theissue of possible negligence.
Professor Coyle is also a special
adviser to the House of CommonsSelect Committee on Educationand Skills in their inquiry intoprison education.
Responsibility for education inprisons was passed from thePrison Service to the Departmentfor Education & Skills last year. Asa result, the Education and SkillsSelect Committee decided, for thefirst time, that it wanted to carryout an inquiry into prisoneducation. Professor Coyle isadvising the committee beforeand after each public evidencesession about the major issues itshould be inquiring into andmaking recommendations aboutquestions that should be asked.When all the evidence has beenheard, early in 2005, he will helpdraft the Committee’s report.
December 2004 | COMMENT | 7
King’s people
Stephen Lovell, Lecturer inModern European History, isone of 22 academics to win a
prestigious 2004 Philip LeverhulmePrize. Dr Lovell, a Russsianspecialist, joined the King’sDepartment of History in 2002following a postdoctoral researchfellowship at St John’s, Oxford and aPhD at the School of Slavonic andEast European Studies.
The prizes recognise theoutstanding research achievementsof young scholars of distinction andpromise based in UK institutions.Each prize is worth £50,000,representing an investment by theLeverhulme Trust of £1.1 million inthe following five disciplines:Anthropology, Earth, Ocean andAtmospheric Sciences, Economics,Maths and Statistics and Medieval,Early Modern and Modern History.
‘I plan to use the prize to spend
Stephen Chadwick, theSchool Registrar for theFlorence Nightingale School
of Nursing & Midwifery, hasrecently completed a rare anddifficult double. He travelled toNew York to run in the marathonand finished in a very creditablefour hours and 12 minutes. This ison top of the London marathon,which he ran earlier this yearwhere his finishing time was threehours, 58 minutes.
Stephen said, on his return,‘The NY marathon was a fartougher ordeal than its Londoncounterpart as the course is morehilly and NY was experiencingunseasonably warm weather. I stillhave some some catching up to doon my father who has so farmanaged to run 33 marathons’.
David Cull
David Cull has retired after 15years as a campus attendanton the Strand campus. In
that time he proved a valuablemember of the Site Services team.He was well known for being in theCollege at the crack of dawn tobegin his morning’s work, which hedid with a happy disposition.
Peter Davies
King’s Electrical Engineeringalumnus (1971), Rear-AdmiralPeter Davies CBE, has spent
the past 35 years in the Navy. Hehas now left to take up a post asprincipal and chief executive of theCity Literary Institute in London.
more time in Russia. Research inRussian libraries and archivesalways seems to take longer than itshould, so this really is a fantasticopportunity,’ says Dr Lovell.
The award citation reads: ‘Stephen Lovell has taken a fresh
approach to Russian social andcultural history, writing with flairand imagination about a variety ofinnovative topics. The RussianReading Revolution (London:Macmillan, 2000) charted the riseand fall of a ‘Russian reading myth’,showing how the Russians came tothink of themselves as the ‘best-read people in the world’ by the1970s and 1980s, and why their owncarefully projected image of ahomogeneous reading public,reinforced by a monopolisticsystem of book production, wasundermined by cultural andeconomic change in the 1990s.
‘A second book, Summerfolk(Ithaca, NY: Cornell UniversityPress, 2003), explored the changingfunctions of the dacha – the Russiansummer house – as a place forleisure and relaxation in time ofplenty and a source of subsistencein time of hardship. Now Lovell isworking on an ambitious history ofgenerations in Russia, anotherproject that covers more than 300years. Unusually for such a youngscholar, his work is both admiredand published in Russia itself,particularly by prestigious literaryjournals whose editors haverecognised the genuinelyinterdisciplinary nature of hiscontribution to scholarship.’
Last year Dr Peter Adamson ofthe Department of Philosophy andDr Rebecca Flemming of theDepartment of Classics wereawarded Philip Leverhulme Prizes.
Stephen with his NYcompletion medal
Marathon effort
Philip Leverhulme Prize
King’s people
8 | COMMENT | December 2004
THE COLLEGE Remembranceceremony took place at theGuy’s Memorial Arch, on
Armistice Day, 11 November at 11.00. Professor Rick Trainor,
Principal, Michael Champion,KCLSU President, and AshwinKumaria, Medicine, laid wreaths,in honour of those who died in war.
The ceremony was led by GKTChaplain the Revd James Buxton,and prayers were said by JoanTierney (Roman Catholic LayChaplain) and Zita Manjaly(Medicine). Professor NairnWilson (Dean of the DentalInstitute) led the Act ofRemembrance, and RichardWarren (Computer Services)played the trumpet before andafter the two minutes’ silence.
‘The Remembrance ceremony isan opportunity for people of allfaiths and traditions to standtogether for peace, justice andreconciliation in the world, and tohonour the memory of men, womenand children who have died in theconflicts of the passed century,’explains James Buxton.
The Guy’s Memorial Archcommemorates former membersof Guy’s Hospital, the MedicalSchool and the Dental Institute,many of whom died whilstexercising their vocation as medicalprofessionals during the First andSecond World Wars. In the lastthree years, the Arch has becomethe focus for a College-wide event.
Next year’s ceremony will takeplace at 10.50 on Friday 11 November.
Remembrance ceremony at Guy’s
KATE KIRWAN
KING’S ACADEMICS werewinners in the 2004 BMAMedical Book Competition.
The BMA Medical Book Competitionhas been held annually since 1996. Itaims to encourage and rewardexcellence in medical publishing,patient information and medicaljournalism.
Primary Care Book AwardThe winner of this year’s BMAPrimary Care Book Award is TheOxford Textbook of PrimaryMedical Care, principal editorProfessor Roger Jones (see page 6).The textbook, published by OxfordUniversity Press (2003), is a fullycomprehensive guide to primarycare including sections on practicemanagement and clinical practice.The book comes complete with a
CD-Rom, which contains the full textof the publication (see Comment 153).
The book was heralded by itsreviewer as a ‘mouth-wateringtextbook’ and ‘a joy to behold foreveryone with a love of primarycare’.
Illustrated Medical Book ofthe Year AwardFirst Prize for the IllustratedMedical Book of the Year went to Dr Pat Reynolds, Senior Lecturerand Deputy Director for Education(Distance Learning), Guy’s, King’s &St Thomas’ Dental Institute, forMcMinn’s Atlas of Head and NeckAnatomy. The co-authors are BariLogan (University Prosector fromCambridge) and Ralph Hutchings(Photographer for imagingbody.comformally Chief Medical Laboratory
Scientific Officer of the of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons). The book ispublished by Elsevier.
Dr Pat Reynolds rightwith her co-authorsBari Logan and RalphHutchings
BMA Book of the Year Awards
Staff and students gatherround the Guy’s Memorial Arch
Departmental focus
December 2004 | COMMENT | 9
HOUSING Acombination of basicscientists and clinical
researchers, the Wolfson Centrefor Age-Related Diseases is wellplaced to achieve the aim ofunderstanding more aboutdiseases affecting the nervoussystem, and using this knowledgeto identify drug targets and todevelop and test new treatments.Such remedies will be ofincreasing importance as thepopulation continues to age, anddiseases of the brain, includingstroke and dementia, becomemore prevalent.
Other aims of the Centreinclude developing strategies torestore function to damagednervous systems, for exampleafter spinal cord injuries, andfinding ways to providesymptomatic relief from chronicpain through understanding hownerves receive and send signals ata molecular level.
The core activity of the Centretakes place in a new building onthe Guy’s campus, bestapproached from Borough HighStreet. Funded by a £6 milliongrant from the WolfsonFoundation and designed byarchitects Watkins GreyInternational, it consists ofspacious laboratories, offices andnumerous communal seatingareas around a glass atrium whichwill foster collaborativediscussion between staff.
The Centre is headed byProfessor Patrick Doherty,
previously Head of the Depart-ment of Molecular Neurobiology,and his co-Director, ProfessorClive Ballard, who is also ResearchDirector of the Alzheimer’sSociety and continues to practiceas a clinician.
‘People are living longer and sothe diseases of later life arebecoming more frequent,’explains Professor Ballard. ‘Asolder people are just us in thefuture, I think we all have astrong vested interest in trying todevelop better treatments thatprevent, resolve and reduce theconsequences of these commondiseases.’
Research at the Centre issupported by numerousorganisations including theresearch councils, the WellcomeTrust, charities and industry.Together, and, as part of largerconsortia, the principalinvestigators hold research grants
totalling around £23 million. Staffat the Centre also contribute toteaching programmes in theSchools of Biomedical Sciencesand Medicine and supervisemore than 35 PhD students.
Research activity, led by 20HEFCE-funded group leadersand ten senior fellows andresearch associates, is organisedinto three main groups:
1 Degenerative diseasesSeveral people in the Centre areinterested in a particular disease,such as Alzheimer’s disease ormultiple sclerosis, and some areclose to the stage when they canapply or evaluate novel diseasetreatments. They collectivelyform the NeurodegenerationGroup, headed by ProfessorBallard. Professor Ballard himselfis currently engaged in a multi-centre clinical trial that comparesthe effectiveness of a number of
drugs in treating the agitationexperienced by people withAlzheimer’s.
2 Nerve functionA group of researchers underProfessor Doherty is working tounderstand how nerves send andreceive signals, with a view tomodifying this process.Receiving too high a level ofcertain signals can kill neurons:thought to be the primary way inwhich stroke, epilepsy and, to adegree, Parkinson’s disease, havetheir damaging effects.
3 RestorationWhile prevention of diseasesremains the ‘holy grail’ ofmedicine, nevertheless,investigations into how functioncan be restored to alreadydamaged nervous systems remaina high priority. Professor SteveMcMahon, who heads theNeurorestoration Group, iscurrently evaluating thetherapeutic potential of drugsthat can help damaged nerves torepair themselves, as well asinvestigating the molecular basisof chronic pain. The work of Dr Stephen Minger’s Stem CellBiology Laboratory, which hasattracted considerable publicity,also falls within this group.
One of the ‘across-group’projects in the Centre will studythe possibility that existing stemcell populations in the braincould be manipulated to repairdamaged areas. ‘I am excited bywhat the new Centre couldachieve,’ says Professor Doherty.‘We are fortunate that we have anumber of outstanding scientistsat King’s who are interested inthe brain and the diseases thataffect it. Through this centre wehave brought these researcherstogether to work as a team, totackle the major problem that isage-related disease.’
Wolfson Centre for Age-Related DiseasesAs advances in science and medical research mean people live longer, King’slatest international research centre looks at illnesses that come with old age.
After an injury, damaged sensory nervefibres (green and blue) start to grow backtowards the spinal cord (right) but areblocked by cells of the central nervoussystem (red). Dr Isabella Gavazzi issearching for ways to encourage nerveregeneration through this region, to allowpatients to recover their mobility.
10 | COMMENT | December 2004
News
Georgian PM atKing’s
THE PRIME MINISTER OF GEORGIA, Mr ZurabZhvania, was a guest of the Caucasus PolicyInstitute on 12 November at a policy Round
Table on The Rose Revolution One Year On. TheRound Table, run under ‘Chatham House’ rules,included academic experts on the region fromKing’s and from other universities plusrepresentatives from a number of Governmentdepartments and commercial organisations.
The Caucasus Policy Institute started work on 1November and is one of the units of theInternational Policy Institute within the School ofSocial Science & Public Policy. The Institute’smain aim is to provide research on political,economic and security issues affecting the Northand South Caucasus regions.
Denis Corboy, the director, is a former EUAmbassador and EU Special Envoy to Georgiaand Armenia.
CLARE PEARCE
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvaniaright with Vice-Principal,Professor Sir LawrenceFreedman, and Caucasus PolicyInstitute Director, Denis Corboy
Star lecturers
THE BA (British Association for theAdvancement of Science) is now acceptingnominations for its Award Lectures, given
each year at the BA Festival of Science.Each year the BA honours five outstanding
communicators with the opportunity to presenta prestigious award lecture at the BA Festivalof Science. The award lectures aim to promoteopen and informed discussion on issuesinvolving science and actively encouragescientists to explore the social aspects of theirresearch providing them with reward andrecognition for doing so.
Nominations are now invited for the followingaward lectures: Isambard Kingdom Brunel Lecture: Engineering,Technology, IndustryCharles Darwin Lecture: Agricultural, Biological& Medical Sciences Lord Kelvin Lecture: Physical Sciences andMathematicsJoseph Lister Lecture: Social SciencesCharles Lyell Lecture: Environmental Sciences
All nominees must include a science in societyelement in their lecture. Nominees should beprofessional scientists or engineers under 40 (inSeptember 2005) who show outstanding skills incommunicating to a non-specialist audience.Winners will be invited to give a one-hour
presentation at the BA Festival of Science atTrinity College Dublin next September.
To nominate individuals with a passion forcommunicating their work, visit www.the-ba.net/awardlectures and complete thenomination form.
Fame lab
SCIENTISTS will have the chanceto leave their laboratories andstep into the spotlight when the
research equivalent of Pop Idol hits the streetsnext year. FameLab, the brainchild of theCheltenham Science Festival, is a nationalcompetition to discover the new faces ofscience communication.
Entrants will be given three minutes toimpress a panel of judges, including fertiltiyexperts and television old-hand RobertWinston. They will be assessed on their abilityto engage and entertain a non-scientificaudience.
Regional heats will be held in spring and thewinning scientists will go on a UK tour of
speaking events, as well as getting airtimeon Channel 4 and £2,000.
Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Laureate and theevent’s patron said, ‘There’s a lot a stake,if the public does lose confidence, then
support will be lost. If we don’t talk aboutscience, there may be no science to
talk about.’For details see
www.famelab.org
‘If we don’t talk about science,there may be no science to talkabout.’
Promoting science
December 2004 | COMMENT | 11
News
SCHOOL CHILDREN aged tenand 11 took part in an excitingweek of London-wide events
culminating in an award ceremonyat King’s.
The pupils, from Oxford GardensPrimary School in LadbrookeGrove, were taking part in the ‘IntoUniversity’ scheme run by the St Clement and St JamesCommunity Project.
During the week they undertook arange of visits including the CabinetWar Rooms, HMS Belfast and theRoyal Geographical Society.
On their last day, Dr DebbieAndrews of the Widening Participation(WP) Office, arranged for them tohave a backstage tour of the RoyalOpera House, who are currentlyworking in partnership with the WPOffice on a number of schemes forlocal school and community groups.
Following that the children cameinto King’s where they took part in aquiz about the College and attendeda workshop on university life run by
King’s WP student ambassadors.The week’s proceedings
concluded in an award ceremony inthe Franklin-Wilkins Building whereVice-Principal Professor PhilWhitfield presented them withcertificates for project workundertaken during the scheme.Parents, carers, teachers andfriends joined the children for theceremony and tea afterwards
where a specially-made cake byCollege chef, Jim Kemp, was quicklydevoured.
Professor Whitfield comments, ‘Ihave heard it said that it is onlyreally worth talking to sixth formersabout the idea of going to university.This event shows that this is simply
not the case. The children hadclearly had a fantastically stimulatingweek and that week was linked intheir minds with the idea of going touniversity. One father said to me, aswe were brushing cake crumbs offour clothes, “You've converted thisone, she'll be back in eight yearstime”.’
Debbie Andrews adds, ‘Childrenwho do not have family experienceof university often feel intimidatedby the idea of it, however brightthey may be. Finding that a Vice-Principal of a prestigious universitysuch as King’s is someone whotakes an interest in their activitiesmeans a great deal.’
The St Clement and St JamesCommunity Project provides acommunity education programme inan area of inner-city deprivation –the Notting Barn and Avondalewards of the Royal Borough ofKensington and Chelsea. The ‘IntoUniversity’ scheme is an innovative,free service providing welfare and
LEAP intoEnterprise!
LEAP 2005 is Simfonec’sannual £50k business plancompetition which provides
aspiring entrepreneurs with agreat opportunity to turn theirideas into successful businessventures.
If you have a business ideawith a science, engineering ortechnology basis then LEAP isfor you. Entering will not onlygive you the chance to get yourhands on part of the £50k butwill also allow you to build upnetworks with establishedentrepreneurs, industry expertsand business advisers.
The prizes, mentoring andworkshops make LEAP aninvaluable experience for theentrepreneurs of tomorrow.
Simfonec is London’s largestscience enterprise centre – acollaboration led by CassBusiness School, City of Londonwith King’s, The Royal VetCollege, and Queen MaryUniversity of London.
Deadline for entries 10February 2005. For furtherdetails visit www.leap2005.comor email [email protected]
King’s hosts WP award eventlearning support for young peoplemost at risk of failing to realise theiracademic potential due to social,economic, cultural and educationaldisadvantage. Its purpose is toencourage and support young peopleto work towards entering highereducation. It is run by Rachel Carr, aKing’s English alumna (MA, PhD).
DOMINIC TURNER
support for youngpeople most at risk offailing to realise theiracademic potential
Professor Phil Whitfieldwith the children and theircertificates, project workand cake!
12 | COMMENT | December 2004
News
News inbriefChinese connection
Anews item in the Financial Times(16 November) erroneously
reported that King’s wasestablishing a campus in China.
NIMR latest
The future of the MRC’s NationalInstitute for Medical Research
(NIMR) was investigated by theHouse of Commons Science andTechnology Committee on 1 December under thechairmanship of Dr Ian Gibson.Both King’s and UCL are possiblesites for the NIMR.
Stem cell seminar
Following the Stem Cell Mission tothe Far East reported in last
month’s Comment, the results ofmission team – which not only relateto scientific excellence, but alsoindicate how, in the future, stem cellscience could be profitablyexploited – will be reported at anevent on 24 January at OneBirdcage Walk. The sessions will bechaired by Dr George Szmukler,Head of the Institute of Psychiatryand Professor Robert Lechler, Deanof Guy’s King’s & St Thomas’Medical School. To reserve yourplace contact Charlotte Leiper on01664 501551.
Degree classification
Ajoint report by UUK and theStanding Conference of
Principals has recommended thedegree classification system shouldbe reviewed to provide a richerrepresentation of studentachievement. The group, chaired byProfessor Robert Burgess, Vice-Chancellor of the University ofLeicester, concluded that thecurrent system fails to provideadequate differentiation ofperformance and give employersthe information they need.
Collection
The collection taken during the175th Anniversary Service of
Thanksgiving held in Westminster
Abbey raised just over £4,000 forthe Bishop Simeon Trust.Established in the UK in 1989, theTrust exists to support, througheducation and welfare projects,those most disadvantaged SouthAfricans who still suffer from theinequalities and injustices caused byapartheid and its economic andsocial legacy. Archbishop DesmondTutu is a Patron of the Trust.
ODNB
Further to the feature in the lastedition of Comment, Christopher
Wintle, Department of Music,contributed a biography on HansKeller (1919-80).
ANUMBER OF STUDENTperformances are takingplace at the Greenwood
Theatre over the coming weeks.Details are listed here. TheGreenwood Theatre is in WestonStreet on the Guy’s campus.
The Woman’s Prize8/9/10 December
The King’s Players’ present TheWoman’s Prize. A rare chance tosee Beaumont and Fletcher’s mostcelebrated work – their raucoussequel to The Taming of the Shrew.
19.30, tickets will be available on thedoor on the night, £6/£4 or at theKCLSU Student Resource Centres
Anything Goes
15/16 /17 December 2004
King’s Musical Theatre presentsCole Porter’s timeless musicalcomedy set on the SS America, a1930s luxury liner sailing from NewYork to London. Anything Goespromises an evening of fun,romance, mistaken identities,singing sailors, high-kicking chorusgirls, and of course those wonderfulCole Porter tunes!
19.30, tickets £8/£5 concessionsReservations on-line atwww.kingsmusicaltheatre.com
HMS Pinafore
2/3/4 February 2005
The KCL Gilbert & Sullivan Societypresents HMS Pinafore, a sparklingtale of romance on the high seas.
19.30, tickets £7/£5 forconcessions/studentsReservations can be made byemailing [email protected]
Sense and Sensibility
16/17/18 February
The King’s Players’ present JaneAusten’s Sense and Sensibility
19.30, tickets will be available on thedoor on the night, £6/£4 or at theKCLSU Student Resource Centres
The Chinese Society’s AnnualVariety Show
25 February 2005
Dance, plays, musical theatre and alive band, all performed inCantonese
Time tbc, for tickets, contact the Chinese Society [email protected]
Student productions
December 2004 | COMMENT | 13
Flashback
WILLIAM JOYCE, whoas Lord Haw Hawbecame the English
voice of Nazi Germany throughhis propaganda broadcasts toEngland on behalf of the ThirdReich, was registered for a PhDin Educational Psychology underProfessor Aveling at King’s in1932. He abandoned his studies ayear later in favour of working forOswald Mosley’s British Union ofFascists, for whom he quicklybecame Propaganda Director.
Joyce had come to King’s witha first-class degree in Englishfrom Birkbeck College, where hehad begun to do research onEnglish vowels – no doubtinfluencing the affected nasaldrawl which gave him hisnickname. Despite the fact thathe was born in the USA to anIrish father and English mother,Joyce had applied illegally for aBritish Passport, and on thegrounds of this claim to be Britishhe was convicted of treason toBritain and executed in 1946.
In the same year, Dr AlanNunn May, a reader in theCollege’s Department of Physics,was called out of a lecture andarrested in a police car outsideKing’s for spying. One of the first
Soviet spies uncovered duringthe cold war, Nunn May workedon the Manhattan (atom bomb)project and was betrayed by aSoviet defector in Canada. Hisunmasking led the United Statesto restrict the sharing of atomicsecrets with Britain.
Nunn May had been recruitedas a spy by the Soviet Union in1942, and in July 1945, a weekbefore the Americans tested anatomic bomb, he passed smallamounts of enriched uranium tohis Soviet handler, later providingdetails of the bomb dropped onHiroshima. In return, he received$200 and a bottle of whisky.
After his arrest, Nunn May wasput on trial and sentenced to tenyears’ hard labour, of which he
served six. ‘The whole affair wasextremely painful to me, and Ionly embarked on it because Ifelt this was a contribution Icould make to the safety ofmankind,’ he once claimed. Hedied in 2003, aged 91.
Hackett‘Shan’ Hackett has beendescribed as ‘one of the last ofthe British intellectual gentlemansoldiers’. The culmination of hismilitary career saw him as both aNato Commander andCommander-in-Chief of theBritish Army of the Rhine.
Another claim to fame was hisco-authorship of the novel TheThird World War (1978), whichpostulated that the disintegrationof the Soviet Union would lead toa more dangerous situation thanthe nuclear stalemate betweenthe superpowers.
Hackett was born in Perth,Australia in 1910. After a degreeand BLitt at Oxford he wascommissioned in 1931 as anofficer in the 8th King’s RoyalIrish Hussars. In Palestine, in1936, he was mentioned indespatches and was thenseconded to the Trans-JordanFrontier Force from 1937 to 1941,where he was mentioned indespatches twice. In 1941 he waswounded in Syria and again inthe Western Desert, after he hadformed and commanded the 4th
Two figures who became the subject of wartimedisrepute have connections with King’s: WilliamJoyce, aka ‘Lord Haw Haw’, and the spy AlanNunn May. By contrast, General Sir John Hackett,Principal of King’s from 1968 to 1975, was one ofthe greatest heroes of the Second World War.
Two cadsand a hero
Parachute Brigade. In 1944 he took part in the
disastrous parachute landing onArnhem in Holland, and hisexperience led to one of his mosthuman books, I Was A Stranger(1977). He recounts how, despitebeing so severely wounded thathe was marked down foreuthanasia, he managed to escapeand was hidden by a Dutchfamily at great risk to their lives.As a result of his wartime recordhe was awarded the DSO and baras well as the MC.
After the war, Hackett rose tobecome Deputy Chief of theImperial and General Staff at theMinistry of Defence, andeventually, between 1966 and1968, Commander-in-Chief ofthe British Army of the Rhineand Commander of the NorthernArmy Group in NATO.
When he came to King’s in1968 he brought qualities ofnatural leadership, linguisticexcellence and a surprising easewith some aspects of theacademic world. He also got onwell with the students, despitethe intense student politics ofthis period, and he even joined astudent march through Londonin 1973, bowler-hatted andcarrying a rolled umbrella, inprotest against the erosion of thestudent grant.
After his retirement fromKing’s (to which he returned as aVisiting Professor in Classics from1977) Sir John continued writingand became known to a widerworld through his appearances ontelevision and radio. Throughthese he was able to some extentto replace the prevailing BritishArmy image of the bone-headedColonel Blimp with that of aquick and subtle mind, a finelinguist and subtle analyst ofmilitary and world events. Hedied in 1997.Christine Kenyon Jones
Sir John Hackett joinsa student march in
favour of highergrants in 1973
In the news
14 | COMMENT | December 2004
Legally BritishDr Peter Oliver, an expert incomparative Commonwealthconstitutional law, appeared onRadio 4’s Law in Action to discussthe case of the Pitcairn Islanderswho have been charged withcriminal offences under British law.The islanders have claimed by wayof defence that Pitcairn was notunder British jurisdiction becausetheir ancestors, the Bountymutineers, had renounced theirstatus as British subjects beforecoming to shore on Pitcairn.
Iraq mattersProfessor Michael Clarke, Directorof the International PolicyInstitute, wrote a feature in TheSunday Times analysing theefforts of allied troops to tackleinsurgents in Falluja and thelikely political fallout ahead ofthe elections in Iraq. ProfessorClarke also appeared on BBC 2’sNewsnight discussing theestimates of the number ofcivilian deaths in Iraq; Radio 4’sThe World Tonight on the role ofthe Black Watch soldiers, andBBC World about Falluja.
Yasser Arafat Efraim Karsh, Professor ofMediterranean Studies, wasinterviewed by Fox News, BBC 4,ITV, ITN, and a number of syndicatedUS radio and TV stations on theeffect of Yasser Arafat’s death onthe Israeli-Palestine conflict. Dr RoryMiller, lecturer in MediterraneanStudies wrote about the formerPresident in the Irish politicalmagazine Magill which was picked upby The Sunday Times and TheGuardian. He gave interviews onArafat’s death to CNN International,Associated Press (Paris), LBC Radio(London), Newstalk 106 Radio(Dublin) and in Italian newspaper
The Public Relations Department is keen to know of any staff featured inthe media, contact us on 020-7848 3202 or email [email protected]
Europa. He was also quoted in theHouston Chronicle, the MiamiHerald, the Jerusalem Post and theChina Daily News.
Health risksDr Richard Siow, Lecturer inCardiovascular Science, gave hisverdict to BBC Online on a studyabout high dose vitamin Esupplementation leading to anincreased risk of death. Dr Siowurged caution about the findingsbecause the study combined theresults from a very broadspectrum of epidemiologicalstudies carried out over 38 yearsand using a wide range of dosage.
Gulf WarSyndromeResearch by Professor SimonWessely, Institute of Psychiatry, wasquoted in The Guardian in responseto a new report by the USDepartment of Veterans’ Affairswhich accepts a link betweenexposure to toxins and symptoms ofillness in Gulf War veterans.Professor Wessely has found thatveterans who were vaccinated in theGulf rather than in the UK beforedeployment were more likely toreport illness. His evidence on a‘Gulf war health effect’ to the Lloydinquiry, the UK’s own independentinvestigation into Gulf War Syndromealso featured in the New Scientist.
Ethical scrutiny A study into the ethicalmonitoring of university researchby King’s Professor Anthea Tinkerand Dr Vera Coomber was featuredin The Higher. The study foundthat monitoring remained patchydespite an increase in the numberof committees being set byuniversities up to vet researchprojects.
Teaching standardsIn a comment piece for TheIndependent, Dr Bethan Marshall,Lecturer in English Education,argued that being good at yoursubject does not make you a goodteacher and that training, evidenceand reflection are the hallmarks bywhich we should judge teachingstaff. Dr Marshall also commented inThe TES on the CBI’s lack of supportfor the Tomlinson report.
All in the Mind All in the Mind, a programmededicated to the mysteries of thehuman brain and presented by Dr Raj Persaud of the Institute ofPsychiatry, returned to Radio 4for another series.
Stem cell visionDr Stephen Minger, Head of theStem Cell Biology Laboratory, gavehis response to research whichsuggests that stem cells taken fromthe back of the eye could eventuallybe used to restore normal vision inpeople with sight problems to BBCOnline and the Evening Standard. DrMinger was also featured in anarticle in The Guardian on the futureof stem cell research and scientificstandards in China following his visitto the country in September as partof a DTI-sponsored fact-findingmission.
Horny goat weed Reported in The Daily Telegraph, amodern love potion for womenwith its roots in ancientherbalism will soon be availablein Britain. Peter Houghton,Professor of Pharmacognosyhelped with the research.
Allergy cat-alyst Jonathan Brostoff, EmeritusProfessor of Allergy andEnvironmental Health, was quoted ina Daily Telegraph article on catallergies, explaining why suchreactions might occur.
Personality TestDr Gillian Clack, Honorary SeniorLecturer in Medical Education,supplied her expertise inpsychological types and their linkto the latest brain research forthe BBC1 programme What am Ilike? The Personality Test.
Criminal relationsProfessor Andrew Coyle, Director ofthe International Centre for PrisonStudies, added historicalbackground to an article in TheTimes about the release of 600Victorian prison photos on theNational Archives online database.
Mad, bad and &?An interview with Dr ChristineKenyon Jones will appear in atelevision programme about thelife and work of Lord Byronmade by Flashback for the newBiography Channel and forbroadcasting in the US later thisyear.
See www.kcl.ac.uk/headlines fora summary of the latest mediacoverage for King's and highereducation generally with linksthrough to the full articles
December 2004 | COMMENT | 15
Development & Alumni news
Support for Special CollectionsAnother well-attended reception forthe College’s Special Collectionswas held in the Weston Room at theMaughan Library on the 9November. Guests included alumni,current and former staff and otherdonors to the conservation appeal.
The College launched an appealfor the conservation of the RareBooks and Special Collections twoyears ago. A number of highlypopular events have been held atthe Maughan Library when alumniand friends view some of theLibrary’s most precious books andlisten to academics discussing theimportance of the collections intheir own research fields.
In this time nearly £74,000 hasbeen raised for the collections. Thishas secured the conservation ofaround 800 books in a range ofdisciplines from medicine toecclesiastical history.
If you would like to find out moreabout the Collections, please
contact Katie Sambrook [email protected] orsee www.kcl.ac.uk/specialcollections. If you would likea copy of the appeal brochure, orwould like to be invited to a futurereception, please contact KathrinOstermann on extn 3005 or [email protected]
Former StaffLunchFollowing the success of theinaugural Former Staff Lunch inMarch, the Council and CommitteeRooms were filled to capacity forthe latest meeting on 8 November.The group, brought together by Dr Barrie Morgan FKC, formerDirector of External Relations,demonstrates the affection andcontinued interest felt for theCollege by retired staff, includingmany from merged institutions.
A buffet lunch was followed by anilluminating talk by Professor PeterBraude, Head of Division ofReproductive Health, Endocrinology& Development, which led to a lively
discussion of the ethics of stem cellresearch, engaging an audience ofboth medical and non-medicalcolleagues. The group enables formerstaff to remain in touch with develop-ments at King’s and keep in contactwith their old students and colleagues.If you are about to leave the College,the Alumni Office would be pleasedto introduce you to the group.
Diamond jubileefor Guy’s medics More than 40 doctors who qualifiedat Guy’s between 1939 and 1953gathered for the annual John Frylunch on 27 October to celebrateover 60 years of dedicated servicein all fields of medical careers. Thelunch at The George, Southwark(familiar from student days) wasfollowed by a lecture and receptionat the Gordon Museum – the firstreturn visit to the campus in morethan 50 years for some.
The guests included members ofthe Guy’s class who were amongthe first doctors to join the newNHS straight from qualifying, and Dr
Joy Pentney, the first woman to bepermitted to qualify as a doctor atGuy’s. Memories of the School’swartime evacuation in TunbridgeWells and the formative influence ofan outstanding ward sister on theirtraining were shared. Lord McColl(Medicine 1957), the guest speaker,entertained with stories of his earlydays at Guy’s and was invited todescribe his inspiring voluntary workfor Mercy Ships, performing ship-board surgery in the developing world.
Alumni Weekend 2005Following the success of the 175thAnniversary Alumni Weekend inJune which attracted in excess of800 alumni and their guests, wehope to repeat the achievementwith another weekend of activitiesin 2005. This weekend will takeplace from 10-12 June with a rangeof formal and informal events,lectures and visits to Londonattractions. If you are interested inarranging a tour of yourDepartment or informal reunion foryour students during the weekendplease contact the Alumni Office. Support for
student sporttraditions Alumni are helping to rally studentsports traditions by makingpossible the revival of the annualsports competition between KCLand GKT students. The MacadamCup, a magnificent silver rose bowloriginally awarded to ‘the overallvictors in a day of competitivesports matches’ will be presentedto the winners of the sports dayorganised by the Students’ Union on8 December at Honor Oak Park.Men and Women’s Rugby, Football,Hockey and Netball teams fromKCL and GKT will take part. Wehope as many staff, alumni andfriends as possible will join us tocheer on the sides.
New staff Barbara Thorpe-Tracey hasjoined the Alumni Office as Headof Alumni Relations, replacingLinzey Coles. Barbara previouslyran alumni relations at CityUniversity and will be developingnew initiatives to engage, serveand connect the 90,000 King’salumni worldwide.
Gemma Peters has joined theDevelopment Office as Head ofFundraising. She has worked inthe fundraising sector for eightyears, most recently as Head ofEvents, Major Donors andNorthern Ireland at Mencap, andpreviously at deafblind charitySense, and the Open University.
Students’ Union President,Michael Champion, with theMacadam Cup
LAURA NORRIS
16 | COMMENT | December 2004
Arts
COMMENT is the College’s regular newsletter, produced by the Public Relations Department | Articles, and/or photographs are welcomed from allmembers of the College, but please note that the Editor reserves the right to amend articles | Copy for the next issue can be sent to the Public RelationsDepartment (ext 3202), James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA, or emailed to [email protected] by 12 January 2005
ExhibitionsBooks and their ownersAn exhibition of items from theFoyle Special Collections Library
This exhibition aims to show howbooks have been owned and usedby their owners over the past 500years. What kinds of people boughtor were given books? How did theyrecord their ownership? What kindsof notes or annotations did theymake? In an age when paper was an
expensive commodity, thepossession of a book often providedan owner with a useful supply of thismaterial; to what purposes didowners put the unused blank
endpapers of their books? For some they were no more than
a jotting pad, to be scrawled on inidle moments. For others theyfulfilled a more serious purpose, anda book’s endpapers often functionedas a repository for its owner’sstated convictions, religious orpolitical, or as a memorial to familybirths, marriages and deaths. Manypast owners are anonymous andthose who did sign their namesgenerally led unremarkable lives, buttwo cases in this exhibition contain aselection of those books whoseowners achieved fame or distinction.
A design for an 18th centurygarden, a lament for the restorationof the monarchy under Charles II, abored schoolboy’s artwork, ahidden Jacobite letter, a cure forconsumption, a sketch by MarcChagall – these are some of theitems included in the exhibition.
The exhibition, in the Weston Room,Maughan Library, Chancery Lane, isfree and open until Friday 17December (09.30-17.00 Mondays toFridays) to all members of theCollege and their accompanyingguests.
A Sense of Place
An exhibition by Martin Fidler
This exhibition includes Thamesriverside scenes or ‘GreenwichDrawings’. Most of them are aselection from a larger archiverepresenting London’s docklands.One of the drawings is currentlydisplayed at the Museum of London,because the series evokes the lostcharacter of London’s fastdisappearing wharves, quays andsilent cranes.
All of the paintings in theexhibition are worked from studies
produced on ‘site’ in tandem with asupport from an appropriate rangeof photographs. They represent anongoing mission to use colour, light,texture and surface, instead ofblack and white, to record placesMartin has visited and worked in.
He is currently working on a newseries of paintings focusing uponthe cliffs near Treen in Cornwall.
The exhibition is in the MRC SGDPat the Institute of Psychiatry, King’sDenmark Hill campus, and runs until4th January 2005 Monday to Fridayfrom 09.00 - 17.00
The Conflict inIraq 2003Paul Cornish, Director of theCentre for Defence Studies
SINCE GEORGEBUSH’S infamous ‘Axisof Evil’ speech, war in
Iraq was a seemingly inevitableconsequence of the War onTerrorism. Paul Cornish bringstogether an expert group ofanalysts, mainly from King’s, toprovide a balanced andcoherent study of the pre War
build up, all aspects of theconflict, and the War’s politicaland economic ramifications for allinvolved.
The book is a realCollege collaboration,with the Forwardprovided byProfessor of WarStudies and Vice-Principal, SirLawrence Freedman,with other King’scontributorsincluding membersof the War StudiesGroup (comprising the
Department of War Studies, theDefence Studies Department,the Centre for Defence Studies
and the InternationalPolicy Institute):Wyn Bowen,Michael Clarke,Andrew Dorman,Joanne Kidd, SusanB Martin, AlisonPargeter Bill Park,DomitillaSagramoso, LauraSandys, Karin VonHippel and PhilipWilkinson.
Palgrave Macmillan 2004
College Christmas card
THERE ARE A LIMITED numberof College Christmas cardsstill available to order in boxes
of 50 from the Publications Office(email [email protected]). A JID isrequired for each order prior todespatch. Smaller quantities can be
purchased fromthe Students’ Unionshops. Cards(including anenvelope bearingthe King’s logo)cost 50p each.
A 16th century owner’s artistic embellishmentof his copy of Livy’s Ab urbe condita (Paris: exofficina Michaelis Vascosani, 1543). Herculeswith his club.
