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News and v iews from Glasgow Caledonian Univers ityNews and v iews from Glasgow Caledonian Univers ity

Making an impact

Homeless World Cup

Caledonian Club wins prestigious education award 5

GCU official partner as 2016 eventcomes to Glasgow Pages 20-21

• SCOTTISH MAGAZINE AWARDS 2015 FINALIST •

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Issue 2, 2016.On the coming pages, you can read how we

have continued to underline our status as the University for the Common Good by becoming the founding academic partner of the African Leadership College, Mauritius, established by African Leadership Unleashed to provide higher education to students from across the continent.

Similarly, Sir Alex Ferguson CBE returned to GCU to see first-hand how his donation of £500,000 to Glasgow Caledonian University Foundation is helping students to pursue worthwhile causes. We also explore GCU's role as an official partner of the Homeless World Cup when it came to Glasgow.

Eleswhere, Dr Alec Wersun talks to us about how GCU is committed to a United Nations 15-year plan to improve the lives of people everywhere, and we look at the significance of the Caledonian Club winning a prestigious Business in the Community Award.

Dr Tuleen Boutaleb tells us how a GCU-hosted event aimed at making STEM subjects attractive to young women will yield long-term benefits, and we also catch up with Cultural Fellow and BAFTA-winning actor Juliet Cadzow, who helped celebrate 25 years of Tally’s Blood, the play penned by GCU's Professor Ann Marie Di Mambro.

Our research features see Professor Sara Cantillon, Director of GCU’s WiSE Research Centre, talk about the interaction between gender and the economy, while Professor Gunter Loffler talks about his research into how the link between the eyes and the brain is crucial in helping us understand the world around us.

We chat to Dr Patrick Ring about how GCU is equipping graduates to manage risk and help us all get the big decisions right, and new Student President Lauren Ramage tells us about her plans for office.

Finally, GCU Chancellor Professor Muhammad Yunus delivered an inspirational keynote speech on social business and youth entrepreneurship to the International Olympic Committee.

THE CALEDONIANEDITORIAL [email protected]

Welcome to The Caledonian

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News and v iews from Glasgow Caledonian Univers ityNews and v iews from Glasgow Caledonian Univers ity

African Leadership College

Homeless World Cup

Exciting new education partnership is launched Pages 04-05

GCU official partner as 2016 eventcomes to Glasgow. Pages 20-21

• SCOTTISH MAGAZINE AWARDS 2015 FINALIST •

A portrait of the University’s Chancellor Professor Muhammad Yunus, commissioned by GCU and painted by Scottish artist Gerard Burns, is now hanging in the refurbished Hamish Wood building. The portrait depicts Professor Yunus in his traditional Grameen shirt, wearing the Chancellor’s robes and holding the Chancellor’s hat in one hand. The University’s motto, For the Common Weal, is depicted across the top of the portrait in gold lettering in Latin, Gaelic and Scots.

The Big Picture

ON THE COVER: GCU’s Glasgow campus became a festival of colour during the Homeless World Cup.

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4 Supporting the future leaders of Africa We look at GCU’s role in the African Leadership College.

6 A strong Foundation Sir Alex Ferguson CBE returns to GCU.

8 Performing is in the blood GCU Cultural Fellow Juliet Cadzow on Tally’s Blood.

10 Engineering is the Smart move Making STEM subjects appeal to young women.

12 Transforming the world by 2030 GCU is fully behind UN sustainability drive.

15 A triumph for the Club GCU widening-access programme wins award.

16 The importance of feminist economics In conversation with Professor Sara Cantillon, Director of GCU’s WiSE Research Centre.

18 News Briefing Round-up of the latest GCU news.

22 Time to reach out New Student President Lauren Ramage.

23 Sport has so much power Olympic spirit can inspire youth entrepreneurship.

24 The face is familiar Professor Gunter Loffler talks about his research into the link between the eyes and the brain.

26 Global champions again Engineering students secure second CIOB title.

28 Honoured by GCU GCU’s summer graduation ceremonies.

30 A risky business Dr Patrick Ring on equipping graduates to manage risk.

32 Creative teaching, creative students Dr Mary Maclachlan is using professional environments to inspire students.

32 Back Story Sheila Morrison hits the right note with the GCU Choir.

Published by: Communications and Public Affairs, Glasgow Caledonian University. Designed and printed by: Print Design

Services, Glasgow Caledonian University. Photography by: Peter Devlin and Malcolm Cochrane © Glasgow Caledonian University 2016, unless otherwise stated. Glasgow Caledonian University Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA Scotland, United Kingdom +44 (0)141 331 3000 www.gcu.ac.uk

Contents

20 Football for the Common Good GCU was an official partner as the Homeless World Cup came to Glasgow.

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GCU is the founding academic partner in the African Leadership College, Mauritius, established by African Leadership Unleashed to provide higher education across the continent. Foundation programmes are already well under way, with undergraduates starting in January 2017. Professor Pamela Gillies CBE FRSE, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, outlines how this partnership is part of the University’s enduring commitment to Africa.

Proud to support the future leaders of Africa

In March, the official opening of the African Leadership College,

Mauritius, heralded the beginning of an exciting adventure to develop the future leaders of the continent. In partnership with African Leadership Unleashed (ALU) and with the support of the Mauritian Government and Ministry of Education, GCU is the founding academic partner in this innovative higher education institution.

An incredible 4000 applications were received for the first 180 places on campus, with students from more than 30 African countries, many from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, now working towards entry onto GCU degree programmes in business, computing, social sciences and psychology.

It is the first in the extraordinary ambition of educational entrepreneur Fred Swaniker – founder of the highly successful African Leadership Academy

– to create 25 higher education campuses across Africa.

Professor Gillies said: “At GCU, the University for the Common Good, we share in this mission to create 250,000 leaders for Africa, from Africa and in Africa, thereby transforming the continent as a result.

“It is also an exciting adventure for our staff and students, offering opportunities to build leadership capacity for Africa while helping us to internationalise our own curriculum even further and provide new internship and volunteering placements for our home students.”

GCU’s enduring commitment to Africa can be traced back many years. The late South African President Nelson Mandela became an honorary graduate of GCU in 1996 and, in 2001, former President Thabo Mbeki opened the University’s health building which is

named after his father, Govan Mbeki.Since 2012, GCU has been delivering

work-based higher education for employees of Transnet Freight Rail, South Africa’s largest freight rail company. Optometry students deliver eye care to remote communities in South Africa through the renowned Phelophepa ‘Train of Hope.’

Educational agreements enable Rwandan and Malawian students to study in Glasgow; while researchers from the Centre for Climate Justice are working with their counterparts in Malawi and Zambia to provide clean drinking water and solar power to vulnerable communities.

Professor Gillies added: “The African Leadership College is the latest chapter in our relationship with Africa, part of a sincere and very long-lasting commitment to help build capacity and skills there. In return, the rewards in friendship, in new learning and innovation have been immense.

“Our enduring commitment to supporting the growth and development of those from the most challenging of backgrounds through our education, research and social-action initiatives lie at the heart of our mission and our vision, which is guided by our Chancellor, Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, arguably the world’s leading anti-poverty activist and champion of education for the common good, especially for women. At GCU, we are so very proud to be a part of this compelling narrative.”

Strong partnership. From left: Professor Pamela Gillies, Graça Machel and Fred Swaniker.

AFRICAN LEADERSHIP COLLEGE

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Student Voice“Being here allows me to design

what my dream career will look like, but that’s not the only reason why I think studying here is the best decision I have ever made in my life. It has given me the chance to feel and be truly and wholly African.

“African nationalism is meaningless, dangerous and anarchistic if it is not pan-Africanism. Without unity, there is no future for Africa. Sitting in a classroom with students from more than 30 countries, I look at us all and I see Africa. I see diversity and hope for this rising continent.

“There is never a dull day. I am awed by the tremendous growth I have seen in myself and my peers thus far. I am blessed to be in this founding class, among the first people to pledge to be a part of this movement that I am certain will revolutionise Africa.”

Latifah Kinyanyile, 19, from Tanzania, is completing the Foundation year at the ALC, Mauritius.

AFRICAN LEADERSHIP COLLEGE

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SCHOLARSHIPS

A strong FoundationSir Alex Ferguson CBE returns to GCU to see first-hand how his donation of £500,000 is helping students pursue worthwhile causes. Craig G Telfer reports.

James Halliday can’t quite believe it. The

Environmental Civil Engineering student and lifelong Manchester

United supporter has come face to face with his idol Sir Alex Ferguson CBE.

“I was so excited,” beams James. “It was an honour to meet him, an amazing opportunity. I tried not to talk to him about football but I ended up telling him where I was when we won the Champions League in 1999.”

Although he could have happily chatted about United’s treble-winning season all day, his meeting with the legendary football manager was for a far worthier cause. James is one of the first GCU students to receive the Sir Alex

Ferguson Award, part of a £500,000 commitment by Sir

Alex to the Glasgow Caledonian University Foundation. This was Sir Alex’s second day on the GCU campus. The previous evening saw him joined by 200 guests at the inaugural Foundation Dinner, which raised more than £80,000 for student and scholarship awards through auction prizes including matchday hospitality at Old Trafford and a trip to the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The following day, Sir Alex, a GCU honorary graduate, addressed students and staff at a packed-out Q&A session in the Deeprose Lecture Threatre, but first he met with the four recipients of his award and listened to their plans.

“I’m going to Malawi to build a wind turbine to create an off-grid energy system,” James explains. “It’s going to

power a whole community and help the local people get into work by creating better socio-economic opportunities in the villages.

“I did an apprenticeship with a local authority and I saw how much it meant to people to do things like fixing their roof, so to bring power to a whole village means so much more. It’s the biggest inspiration.”

James will be joined in Malawi by Electrical Engineering student Warren Capaldi and Quantity Surveying student Tim McQuade. The three of them will be developing climate-resistant classroom blocks using gabion baskets.

“Because of the way the buildings are constructed, they tend to wash away if there’s flooding,” says Warren. “With gabion baskets, the water runs right through them and the schools won’t need to be rebuilt.”

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SCHOLARSHIPS

Like Warren, Tim was looking to pass on his engineering skills to the local community.

“I think it’s important for everybody in the first world to give a little bit back,” he says. “Sometimes you forget how lucky you are, and I think you should strive to give something back in any way you can, especially when you’re young and you’ve got the opportunity to do it.

“This just feels like something I should do.”

Angela McIntyre, who is studying for a Post Experience Certificate in Supporting Learning and Student Engagement, will use her award to travel to Kerala in south

India to work on a project that empowers local women.

“I’ll be teaching women who have been denied basic opportunities,” she says. “Equality is something I’ve always been passionate about.

“I’ve done volunteering in the past and it can be difficult to raise the money, so Sir Alex has helped give me the chance of a lifetime.”

Sir Alex was delighted to meet the recipients.

“I think the energy and the confidence they’ve got to take up these opportunities is fantastic,” he smiles. “I’m very impressed by them all. If you give young people a chance it’s amazing how they can surprise you.

“We should always have one eye on the future and the Foundation is the perfect place for that.”

He also passed on some words of wisdom to the four students.

Angela reveals: “He told us that no matter how successful you become, you should never lose your values. It’s something he’s lived by and I think that’s what makes him so down to earth.

“He also told us ‘never be bored’. He said the minute you’re feeling bored, you’re not challenging yourself. I like that advice. It’s simple, but it’s important.”

MAIN: Sir Alex with, from left: James Halliday, Angela McIntyre, Tim McQuade and Warren Capaldi. BELOW: In conversation with Anna Magnusson at the Foundation Dinner.

It is good to hear the voice that will perform your work and have a chance to ask an actor where difficulties may appear within the script. I’d like to be an ambassador for GCU in any way I can.”

As a Cultural Fellow, Juliet joins poets Liz Lochhead and Jackie Kay, novelist Anne Donovan, artist Toby Paterson, composer John Browne and fellow actress Blythe Duff, in encouraging creativity on campus and enhancing the University’s cultural life through activities, events and performances.

“Cultural development on campus is so important,” says Juliet. “Without cultural development, people simply don’t get a feel of where they are. In Scotland, we have a wealth of acting and writing that’s very different to other countries. Without culture in your life, particularly for young people, it is a very dead existence.”

Juliet herself travelled to Florence, first as an au pair and then as a student at the city’s university to gain life experience before studying at the then Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Since graduating she has worked extensively in theatre around the world, TV and film.

“I have always wanted to act. I come from a very down-to-earth farming background but my godfather

Lynn McGarry talks to GCU Cultural Fellow and BAFTA-winning actor Juliet Cadzow as she helps celebrate 25 years of Tally’s Blood, the play penned by Professor Ann Marie Di Mambro.

Performing is quite simply in the BloodShe has played everyone from Lady

MacBeth to Balamory’s Edie McCredie, now Bafta-Award winning actor Juliet Cadzow has a new role as a GCU Cultural Fellow.

In February, Juliet starred in the 25th-anniversary reading of GCU Professor Ann Marie Di Mambro’s Tally’s Blood, dubbed “the hot ticket in Glasgow” by The Herald and hosted by the University.

Alongside Gavin Mitchell, Stephen Clyde, Amy Conachan, Scott Fletcher and Rehanna Macdonald, she played to a packed house, including school pupils from across the west of Scotland who are studying the play as a curriculum text.

“Bringing Tally’s Blood, which was

a huge success, to life for a new generation was immensely enjoyable,” says Juliet. “I was delighted to be invited to be a GCU Cultural Fellow. I first met the Principal and the University Secretary when David, my husband, was given an honorary degree by GCU.

“Sadly, David died in 2014 having had an amazing career, and I was very honoured − and a bit scared, actually − to be asked to continue that association as a Cultural Fellow. I needn’t have been worried as GCU has been so welcoming. I’m looking forward to doing more. I’d love to work with students on the MA TV Fiction Writing programme to read their work and discuss it from an actor’s point of view.

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Juliet rehearses the script of Tally’s Blood with fellow actor Gavin Mitchell and the play’s writer, Professor Ann Marie Di Mambro.

“Without culture in your life it is a very dead existence

CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT

had been an actor, my mother was very artistic and she had a relative who had been a concert singer, so it was in the bloodline. I have had so many wonderful experiences, travelled to so many places and I have been fortunate to have worked on wonderful projects with incredible people in all sorts of things from The Wicker Man with Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward, to playing Rab C. Nesbitt’s sister in law. I’ve even been Alan Cumming’s mother twice!

“It’s Balamory that I get recognised for most. At one point, I could hardly walk down the road without being recognised − from students to tiny children in trollies in the supermarket. I thought at the time, it’s a kids’ show, no-one will see it.

“Acting has been great fun and my advice to students embarking on their career in any field today would be to cast your own net wide. Never close your eyes and ears to what is happening in the broad spectrum of British and European work and get involved as much as you can – and travel! The world is a very small place now – you can go anywhere and try everything.”

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CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT

Dr Tuleen Boutaleb tells Chris Fitzgerald why she believes a GCU-hosted event aimed at making STEM subjects attractive to young women will yield long-term benefits.

Why engineering is the Smart move

my baccalaureate, a family friend, who is an engineer, suggested that I study electronic engineering based on his experience. He thought I would be good at it. I liked the idea and I’m glad I took his advice as I really enjoyed the GCU degree. I discovered I had a real passion for it.”

But while Tuleen was fully immersed in her programme, she found very few other young women felt the same way.

“When I came to GCU to study, the class in year one had almost 200 students,” she explains. “Of those, only 10 were female.”

The female representation issue is one that continues to rankle.

“Unfortunately, to this day, there has been no change. There is still the same representation in my classes as when I started my own degree.”

It’s fitting then that Tuleen was the GCU lead for this year’s SmartSTEMS event, tailored to inspire more young women to get involved in STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Over 500 pupils between the ages of 11 and 14 visited the campus in June and took part in activities that included a robot race, forensics investigation, model-bridge building, coding, TV news programme production, and surveying.

The first SmartSTEMs event, held at GCU last year, won an Inspiring City Award at a ceremony organised by The Herald and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce in association with city brand People Make Glasgow.

On top of the workshops and internal and external exhibitors on the day,

the pupils heard from keynote speakers Dr Susie Mitchell, programme director at Glasgow City of Science; and Jane Grant, a contributor to Girl Geek, a community for women working in computing, creativity and enterprise in Scotland.

“SmartSTEMs gives young girls a real insight into STEM subjects,” Tuleen says. “Not only do they receive talks from role models, they also get practical hands-on experience, which a lot of them really seem to enjoy. It brings the subjects to life for them.

“I am hoping SmartSTEMs will work in the long term. A lot of similar work has taken place in the past resulting in no change, but this time we have a lot of commitment at different levels − school, university, government and industry.

“However, we still need more parents and teachers to help ensure young girls who attend events such as SmartSTEMs − and who are inspired to be a future engineer, mathematician or computer scientist − will not be discouraged.”

SmartSTEMs, now a Scottish Charity, is a collaboration between several partners including Beyonder and Women’s Enterprise Scotland and is driven by Seric Systems, a technology business specialising in security, fraud prevention and infrastructure.

The event also supports the

Driven by a lifelong sense of inequality, Dr Tuleen Boutaleb

is determined to entice more women to enter the male-dominated world of engineering.

As a researcher and lecturer in Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering at GCU, Tuleen feels female representation among the students in her classes is sadly lacking – a manifestation she says she has experienced throughout her life. Born in Tripoli, Libya, Tuleen moved to Damascus in Syria after just a few months. She had something of a nomadic upbringing from there, with spells in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Dubai all following.

“I did most of my 12 years of school in Saudi Arabia, then moved to Algeria and Morocco, where I did my high school and maths baccalaureate,” she says. “I then moved to Scotland to do

my degree at GCU. I’ve now been here for almost 25 years.

“I had grown up wanting to be a vet but, when I finished

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“Work has taken place in the past resulting in no change

STEM EVENT

University’s commitment to gender equality and is a key part of its Athena SWAN activity, the national scheme which recognises commitment to supporting and advancing women's careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine in higher education and research.

“Athena SWAN is an excellent opportunity not only to get recognition of the good work already done by GCU, but also to identify issues and act to improve the working environment for both men and women,” Tuleen says.

“Athena SWAN looks at every aspect, such as promotions, work-life balance, recruitment, workload, parental leave and so on. Although the focus is on advancing the careers of women, improvements will benefit both male and female colleagues.

“My involvement in the activity is at both a University and the School of Engineering and Built Environment level. While Athena SWAN is primarily a staff-focused initiative, at a School level, I consider the students also.

“At the end of the day, advancing equality and diversity improves the staff and student experience for everyone working and learning in institutions.”

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The SmartSTEMS event is driven by Seric Systems.

Stuart Macdonald, managing director, said: “For Scotland

to succeed on a global scale, we must ensure we have the most diverse pool of talent-

tackling problems.”

STEM EVENT

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The United Nations has established a 15-year plan to improve the lives of people everywhere, and as Dr Alec Wersun, Senior Lecturer in the Glasgow School for Business and Society, explains to David Christie, GCU is intent on playing its part for the Common Good.

Plan to transform our world by 2030

What do GCU, footballer Lionel Messi and Her Majesty Queen

Mathilde of Belgium have in common? This isn’t the prelude to a punchline; for they are all advocates of a United Nations-led sustainable development agenda to transform the world by 2030.

University Chancellor and Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is one of a select group of key figures appointed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon to spur action on Transforming

Our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

An ambitious plan agreed by UN member states, it comprises 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets, seeking, among others, to end poverty, fight inequalities and combat climate change.

“They are not goals we can solve by ourselves, let’s put that one absolutely straight,” admits Dr Alec Wersun, Senior Lecturer in the Glasgow School for Business and Society. Yet this has not stopped GCU, nor Alec as the School’s Common Good Lead, from addressing the goals head on.

“What we can do is make a contribution. And if all universities make a contribution, if governments, if businesses, if individuals all make a contribution, together there is a feeling, a dream if you like, that by 2030 many of these goals will have been achieved. I think they are very ambitious, but

what’s wrong with ambition? GCU is an ambitious university.”

The first Scottish university to join the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative, GCU is also a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Management Education, embedding social, economic and environmental sustainability and ethics across its practices.

Across GCU, staff and students are already making a major contribution. In July, the Glasgow campus hosted the World Health Organization (WHO) Nursing and Midwifery Conference, its focus on global health, while at our London and New York campuses, embedding sustainable business practices within the $2.5 trillion fashion sector is a priority.

GCU delivers the MSc Climate Justice, the only degree of its kind in the world, focusing on the role of

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INDUSTRY, INNOVATIONAND INFRASTRUCTURE

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Dr Alec Wersun.

SUSTAINABILITY

As an advocate of the UN Global Compact’s Sustainable Development Goals, GCU Chancellor Professor Muhammad Yunus has visited the USA, Azerbaijan and Scotland in recent months. Here, he outlines the crux of the message he brings.

“If you want to achieve something of this global nature then you have to involve the people. People not only have to know about it, but be in support of it. These are issues which should be discussed and debated around every dining table.

“But we cannot achieve these goals without also reformulating the entire financial sector. Zero poverty is not feasible with the current system, whereby finance is denied to poor people. Redesign it and the goals become possible, easily possible.

And employment is the wrong concept as human beings are not born to work for somebody else, but to be entrepreneurs. I want to see the very word unemployment become unemployed.

“Young people have the answers. They have the capacity to think differently and create innovative solutions to the problems we face. We have to activate the young people and they need to own all 17 of the goals. Technology brings power and energy to achieve these goals and for the younger generation; using technology is second nature to them; they don’t need any instruction manual.

“I tell the young people that the world is much bigger than making money and that they have so much creative power. Don’t have all that creativity and never use it, that’s like having Aladdin’s lamp in your hand, but if you don’t rub it, then the genie will never come out.

“GCU has been very innovative and active in achieving these goals. Look at the example of the Fair Fashion Center in New York. Fashion is a very powerful medium which demands the attention of the entire world and the Center is focused on fashion for sustainable development.

“Many of these problems can be solved, even before 2030. It is possible simply if we use our creative power and mobilise the young people.”

GCU New York promotes sustainable fashion >>>

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Chancellor’s call for creativite power

developed nations in supporting less developed countries experiencing the worst of climate change. Leading clean water projects; establishing affordable higher education opportunities in Scotland and Africa; researching gender equality, GCU is the University for the Common Good for its actions; not its words.

A dedicated follower of sustainability himself (mindful of water wastage when brushing his teeth and a keen recycler), Alec is the perfect person to ensure GCU embraces the goals. The son of two Ukrainian prisoners of war, Alec grew up in the Lancashire town of Leigh and was the first in his family to go to university, studying Russian and Serbo-Croat. At one time in charge of a $33 million investment fund for Russian start-up companies, Alec joined GCU in 2000 and has never looked back.

He adds: “I believe in what we are doing at GCU and, often if you enjoy something, you’ll probably be pretty good at it. The next stage is to map activities across the University against the sustainable development goals – in our teaching, our research, our partnerships.

“We have a fantastic story to tell. When I go to meetings in the UK and overseas, people are blown away by the different projects and initiatives we have at GCU. Sometimes you can be challenged by asking whether our work really makes a difference, but to quote Professor Yunus, 'if each of us can improve the lives of five people then the world will be a better place.'”

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SUSTAINABILITY

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SUSTAINABILITY

The University welcomed the support of the Rockefeller Foundation as further recognition of GCU's key role to drive transformative change in the industry in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The future of fashion

Ashared sense of commitment towards the advancement of

resilient, inclusive economies led to a unique global leaders’ summit hosted by the University’s GCU Fair Fashion Center at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy earlier this year.

The GCU Fair Fashion Center is proving the business case for sustainability by assisting companies to move beyond more traditional CSR (corporate social responsibility). The GCU approach involves embedding sustainable business practices that work economically, environmentally and ethically while remaining aligned to the

industry’s disciplines and reconciled to the bottom line. A $2.5 trillion industry, fashion is the second largest user of water and second highest polluter, contributing ten percent of carbon emissions. Globally, one in six people work in apparel and women represent 80 percent of the supply chain.

The conference brought together executives from global brands with subject matter experts, academics and representatives from the United Nations.

Delegates were tasked with identifying business solutions that accelerate the incorporation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, new targets adopted by countries to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda.

Discussion topics included responsible business management,

materiality and business risks, efficiencies in the built environment, carbon offsetting as a mechanism for social wellbeing, environment and supply-chain opportunities, and considerations in turning waste to worth.

The input and guidance from the participants has prioritised the work of the GCU Fair Fashion Center and outlined the upcoming deliverables for industry partners.

“The GCU Fair Fashion Center is tremendously grateful for this richly unique opportunity to bring thought leaders together to discuss the future of fashion in such a remarkable place,” says Cara Smyth, Vice-President of GCU New York.

“Together, subject matter experts and fashion industry leaders created outcomes that far exceeded the team’s expectations.

“The University is appreciative for the generosity of The Rockefeller Foundation and its belief in our mission.”

“We created outcomes that far exceeded the team’s expectations

Cara Smyth, Vice-President of GCU New York.

15

GCU widening-access programme wins Business in the Community Education Award.

A triumph for the ClubAt the annual Responsible Business

Gala in London, the ‘Oscars’ of responsible business, GCU took home the Education Award for its long-running widening-access programme, the Caledonian Club.

GCU is the first university to win this category in the Business in the Community Awards, which were established as part of the Prince’s Responsible Business Network to create a fairer society and sustainable future.

The Caledonian Club has, over the past eight years, worked with more than 12,000 nursery, primary and secondary school pupils and 3000 of their parents, to raise basic life skills and the aspirations of those from the most disadvantaged communities in Glasgow.

The initiative has also been running for the past five years for children and parents in the Tower Hamlets area of London, near the GCU London campus, and at GCU New York.

The Business in the Community judges were struck by the commitment of the

University to develop a truly end-to-end solution, starting with nursery age children, moving through primary and secondary and supporting young people into post-education pathways.

Eleanor Wilson, Director of the Caledonian Club, said: “Widening access to higher education is a fundamental part of our social mission as the University for the Common Good.”

Since its launch, the initiative has been supported by 500 student mentors, many of whom are former Caledonian Club members themselves, and dedicated GCU staff.

Embedding the support of its programme delivery within our academic schools has ensured that young people can access role models as well as continuing the development of the alumni themselves.

According to research into the impact of the work, children in secondary-level Caledonian Club schools have significantly higher aspirations to attend university than their peers in S1

(57% vs 46%) and S6 (96% vs 49%). The average progression rate into higher education of participants has increased following the programme from 14% in 2007/08 to 28% in 2014/15. Parents/carers of Caledonian Club children also have higher aspirations for themselves (59% vs 37%).

The programme demonstrates real innovation through its holistic engagement of not only young people but their parents, teachers and broader community, helping to deliver a solution for the challenges that Glasgow faces.

The Chair of the Awards judging panel, Lucy Carver, Director of Bigger Picture, Sky, said: “There is much for corporates to learn from this approach, not least in terms of how alumni from your programmes can become your greatest deliverers.” Eleanor Wilson.

The Caledonian Club, from left: Leigh Ann Irvine (Administrative Assistant), Molly Taylor (GCU London Senior Development Officer), Deborah Hunter-Mills (Project Coordinator), Nathan Tagg (Manager), Zoe Chatterton (Development Officer), Ryan Bounagui (former Mentee, Mentor and now GCU graduate), and Caitlin Selwa (Student Mentor).

Fiona Ramsay speaks to Professor Sara Cantillon, Director of GCU’s WiSE Research Centre, about the interaction between gender and the economy.

The importance of feminist economicsP rofessor Sara Cantillon did not

take a traditional route into academia. Joining GCU in May 2015 as Professor of Gender and Economics and Director of the WiSE Research Centre from University College Dublin, she previously worked in the private sector (in roles at Price Waterhouse, Washington DC and Mitsui Inc., New York) as well as in the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin and in the World Bank.

For three years she was the Economic Advisor to the Department of the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister). "It was quite a different world," she laughs, "Impossible deadlines, political dramas, the nuanced demands of the various social and economic interest groups.”

While there, Sara’s primary responsibilities were in relation to the national Anti-Poverty Strategy and the social partnership negotiations.

Sara believes this wide range of experience enhances her work as an academic. “I think, too, that it contributes to my capacity and desire to combine research, public engagement and public policy.”

She says that one of the attractions in coming to GCU was “its commitment to public engagement and its motto of University for the Common Good”.

The attraction also had a personal dimension. “I was born in the US, grew up in Ireland but am of Scottish descent. My grandmother was from Glasgow, so in coming to Scotland at this particular time in the aftermath of the referendum with a renewed sense of political engagement and energy around equality issues feels like a natural unfolding for me, professionally and personally.”

Sara graduated from Trinity College Dublin and has an MSc from University College Dublin and a PhD from the

University Of Kent (Canterbury). She was also Monbusho Scholar at Hiroshima University in Japan. Prior to joining GCU, Sara was Head of the School of Social Justice and Director of the Equality Studies Centre in University College Dublin, amassing a portfolio of research in equality, poverty, gender and intra-household distribution.

Sara is keenly aware that she has big boots to fill as Director of GCU's WiSE Research Centre, following its founder, Professor Ailsa McKay. She is full of praise for Ailsa's "great work, her enduring research impact and for having put gender inequality squarely on the map in Scottish policy discourse”. Sara wants to build on,

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The team behind the WiSE Research Centre.

RESEARCH

and consolidate, Ailsa’s work and to extend the impact of WiSE internationally. “The issues with which WiSE is concerned (care, unpaid work, occupational segregation and pay gaps, inequality) are ones that have global relevance and resonance.”

WiSE has established the Ailsa McKay Annual Lecture Series and the inaugural lecture was given in May by the pre-eminent

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feminist economist Nancy Folbre, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who explored the interface between political economy and feminist theory. A second lecture is already planned for May 2017 with Professor Philippe van Parijs, from the Université catholique de Louvain.

Over the past year, the WiSE team has secured over £70,000 in funding from the Scottish Government to develop a research programme which covers a number of different strands.

Dr Katarina Sarter, appointed as the Ailsa McKay Postdoctoral Research Fellow, is working on public procurement and gender equality; Dr Zofia Lapniewska, WiSE Postdoctoral Research Fellow, is working on the impact of investment in the care economy; Dr Angela O Hagan works in the area of gender budgeting and is leading a research project to build capacity in developing participatory budgeting by working with local community researchers; Emily Thomson is working on Modern Apprenticeships and with NGOs on a funded research project on the business case for gender equality.

The team is working hard to attract further research funding

and resources for "the continued intellectual development" of the WiSE Research Centre. The Centre recently celebrated the launch of a book, Feminist Economics and Public Policy, edited by Dr Jim Campbell and Morag Gillespie and the researchers also write a WiSE Working Paper Series. Sara and WiSE Visiting Professor Diane Elson have been appointed Series Editors for a new book series, The Gendered Economy.

Sara says: “It’s a big ambition but we want WiSE to showcase the importance of a feminist economics approach within mainstream economics, within policy making

and, perhaps most importantly, within everyday life.”

RESEARCH

18 19

NEWS BRIEFING

Playlist app

Research Working with the Playlist for Life charity, GCU researchers Dr Gianna Cassidy and Dr Helen Mason, assisted by PhD student Anna Paisley, have developed a beta version of a music app, through which playlists can be compiled on tablet and mobile devices. The app is designed to encourage families and other caregivers to offer people with dementia a playlist of music that has been meaningful to them during their life.

WHO ConferenceGCU Healthcare leaders and practitioners from around the world came to GCU to debate future directions and challenges for nursing and midwifery ahead of the 2030 targets set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The 11th Biennial Conference of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery was held on campus from July 27-29, organised by Professor Kay Currie.

US Careers GCU New York Schools careers guidance counsellors from across the US visited GCU to learn more about Higher Education in the UK and Scotland. The counsellors participated in a Continuing Professional Development programme led by GCU New York Dean Professor Bob Clougherty to learn about studying in the UK from a US perspective.

GP ConsultationsResearch Dr Rosaleen O’Brien, along with researchers from the universities of Glasgow and Dundee, found patients who received longer appointment slots with GPs were comparatively better a year later than a group of similar patients, who declined in health, having received a standard service from their GP.

Nursing awardHLS GCU was presented with the Enhancing Student Learning Award at the Herald’s 2016 Higher Education Awards for ‘Chaotic Environment’, a simulated learning experience, delivered to GCU student nurses undertaking the Learning Disabilities Nursing Studies programme.

Paulo up for prize

GCU Sustainability Officer at GCU Paulo Cruz is a finalist in the Sustainability Professional category in the Green Gown Awards 2016, which recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the UK and Ireland. The winners will be announced in November.

Professor honouredResearch Researcher Professor Marian Brady was the 2016 recipient of The Robin Tavistock Award, presented annually by The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, for significant contributions to

the field of aphasia. Professor Brady specialises in the development, conduct and delivery of high-quality evidence relating to the effectiveness of stroke rehabilitation interventions.

Trades House lecture

GCU Professor Pamela Gillies CBE FRSE, GCU Principal and Vice-Chancellor, commended the Trades House of Glasgow for its continued investment in young people at the Trades House Lecture. In his address, Willy Roe CBE, Chairman of the Grameen Scotland Foundation, said Glasgow remains ‘at the forefront of extraordinary social innovation’.

Academy visit

HLS Minister for Public Health and Sport, Aileen Campbell, met new paramedics being trained to work in the ambulance service, on a visit to GCU. The Scottish Government is investing £5 million in 2016/17 to deliver 200 new paramedics, who begin their training this year. GCU is also launching a MSc Paramedic Practice programme.

Fashion labellingGSBS GCU research, in partnership with the University of Dundee, found that improved garment labelling akin to the food sector would give mother’s a better understanding of the ‘green’ credentials of children’s clothing brands.

GCU contributes to strategy

GCU A new Scottish Government strategy to internationalise Social Enterprise highlighted the contribution made by GCU. Internationalising Social Enterprise cites the educational and research contribution GCU has made in developing the social enterprise sector.

Dare to be digital

EBE A team of GCU games students has been nominated for a BAFTA for the second year running. The team took part at Dare to be Digital 2016 − one of Scotland’s most notable game-design competitions − at Abertay University in Dundee. The BAFTA Ones to Watch winners will be announced at the British Academy Games Awards early in 2017.

Scott exhibition

GCU New York GCU honorary graduate Andy Scott hosted an exciting exhibition at GCU New York. The event displayed 12 pieces in bronze, cast by Powderhall Foundry in Edinburgh, and included a scale version of his famous Kelpies works, and two larger steel pieces. Andy, pictured

here with GCU New York Vice-President Cara Smyth, also created a bronze sculpture for the fund-raising auction at the inaugural Glasgow Caledonian University Foundation Dinner, which sold for £10,000. The money raised will support life-changing opportunities for talented young people at GCU.

We're making an impactGCU's people receive recognition as the University continues to inspire through research and innovative programmes.

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very thankful for everything we did and that was rewarding.”

The Homeless World Cup has now supported more than one million people across the globe, engaging 100,000 people annually. Through each country’s official National Partner, it gives homeless people an opportunity to enter transformative programmes from which they can build a brighter life.

Scotland player Sophie Gallacher said: “GCU has been brilliant – we had such a warm welcome. Everyone has been behind us; the experience has been life changing.”

Jodie McEwan has also experienced the life-changing power of the Homeless World Cup. Last year, she

played for Scotland in Amsterdam. This year she was back as the team’s assistant coach. Said Jodie: “I had nothing worth getting out of bed for before but when I got involved with the Homeless World Cup, I began taking responsibility. I knew that when I came back from playing in Amsterdam I had to keep moving forward.

“I got into Street Soccer Scotland and it gave me skills that I can use day to day. I have a tenancy now and when I heard that Scotland needed an assistant coach, I jumped at the opportunity. The Homeless World Cup totally changed my life. It gave me purpose.”

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

20

GCU was an official partner as the Homeless World Cup came to Glasgow. Lynn McGarry explores the University’s role at the international event.

Football for the Common GoodThe University welcomed hundreds

of players from around the world to the campus this summer for the 2016 Homeless World Cup.

Sixty-four teams representing 52 countries came together in Glasgow’s George Square to celebrate and highlight the year-round, life-changing work of the Homeless World Cup National Partner network − and GCU helped keep them fuelled and fit throughout the week.

As a Homeless World Cup partner and the event’s hub, GCU served almost 19,000 meals to 512 players and their support teams in the University’s restaurants, and hundreds of players lived at Caledonian Court, the University’s student accommodation.

Physiotherapy students treated players pitchside and events management students helped run a packed programme of fun events.

“We’re extremely grateful for the support of GCU,” says Mel Young, co-founder of the Homeless World Cup

and a GCU honorary graduate. “The Homeless World Cup can’t do everything on its own and GCU provided a fabulous, essential hub. Providing a safe, comfortable place for our players is vitally important for the

success of the tournament, because the tournament only works when it works for the players. GCU’s values are similar to those of the Homeless World Cup − the University is for the common good and so are we. It is a fabulous partnership that will continue.”

GCU got the ball rolling with a spectacular parade from the campus on July 10 and throughout the week the teams played for 100,000 fans, including The Rt. Hon. Nicola Sturgeon MSP. Glasgow MSP Anas Sarwar was among the other Members of the Scottish Parliament attending the event. He visited the Cup to meet GCU’s physiotherapy students. Led by PhD student Megan Lloyd, 10 GCU physios were part of an international team offering hands-on support to up to 100 players a day.

“It has been a great opportunity to get involved in something that we wouldn’t

normally have the chance to do,” says Megan. “Our students have had a chance to work at an international event as part of a multinational team, sharing best practice, gaining experience and using the skills they have learned in an academic setting with hundreds of patients.”

Mr Sarwar said: “The support the students have shown for the Homeless World Cup is great. GCU is the University for the Common Good and that sums up perfectly what it is doing. It shapes society in Glasgow and beyond. It’s a phenomenal institution.”

Alex Michaud, part of the GCU physios team, added: “This was a great opportunity to help people. It was about helping the whole community. We had real patients, which is brilliant, and there was a great atmosphere in the stadium and with the players. People were

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Mel Young organises the major event.

GCU is for thecommon good andso are we“

23

Olympic inspirationPower of sport can spark youth entrepreneurship, says GCU Chancellor Professor Yunus.

Professor Muhammad Yunus delivered an inspirational keynote

speech on social business and youth entrepreneurship to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The GCU Chancellor highlighted the unique power of the Olympic Movement to energise young people during the 129th IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro.

Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Yunus addressed to more than 200 Presidents of the Olympic Committees, while among the dignitaries were HRH Princess Anne of UK; HRH Prince Albert of Monaco; the HRH Crown Prince of Denmark and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Professor Yunus applauded the IOC for its capacity to draw the attention of millions of people on the planet to sport in a way that very few others can.

“The sports world has so much power because it draws on the emotion, the excitement and on all the hopes and aspirations of people,” he said.

He reiterated how sport has a unique ability to capture the minds of young people and open up their imagination,

helping them develop independence, self-confidence, overcome odds and make the impossible possible – all key attributes for entrepreneurship.

He also called upon the Olympic Movement to leverage its capacity of engaging young people in promoting the spirit of social business among them.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “Social business is what connects the world of sport with Professor Yunus’ work. Our mission is to make the world a better place through sport. Our commercial success allows us to redistribute more than 90 percent of

our revenue to the sporting movement, benefiting athletes and communities around the world. We look forward to the advice of Professor Yunus on how we can cooperate further.”

In the evening, Professor Yunus was a guest of honour at the IOC President’s dinner, joining 400 leaders of the sports world and distinguished guests including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; French President François Hollande and HM King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

Professor Yunus was also invited to carry the Olympic Torch during the final leg of its journey through Rio on Thursday, August 4, by Mr Bach.

He promoted three significant social and environmental goals while carrying the Torch over 200 metres by holding it in one hand and holding up three fingers of the other hand to symbolise the goals of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions.

He passed the flame to Ms Michelle Jean, former Governor General of Canada and the present Secretary General of the Union of Francophone Countries.Chancellor Yunus in Rio de Janeiro.

From left: HRH Princess Anne, IOC President Thomas Bach and GCU

Chancellor Professor Muhammad Yunus.

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Craig G Telfer talks to new Student President Lauren Ramage about her plans for office.

Time to reach out"When they announced I had

won the election it was incredible,” smiles Lauren Ramage, the new Student President of the GCU Students’ Association. “I think I’m still in shock. It’s an unforgettable feeling and it means so much to know that people voted for me and believed in me.”

It was perhaps inevitable that the 22-year-old Business Management graduate would involve herself with student politics at GCU. Her relationship with the Students’ Association goes back four years to when she first joined the University.

“I’d played sports all through high school so, as soon as I came here, I knew I wanted to join the sports club,” she says.

A keen swimmer and hockey player – she played in GCU's first team of the latter throughout her studies – Lauren credits herself with establishing the GCU women’s volleyball team and transforming it into one of the best sides in the UK.

“When I joined the volleyball club, there was nothing to it,” she says. “It was just really me and a friend and we both built it up to where it is today. I won an award at the GCU Sports Ball this year because of what I achieved. We’re in the top eight teams in the country now; we didn’t even win a set in our first year!”

Having also represented the business society for four years and appearing as a committee member in her final year, Lauren was encouraged to run for presidency by her friends and colleagues.

She believes she won because of her

hard work and visibility around the campus.

“I was out campaigning from morning till night,” she says. “I think I came across well, people were able to talk to me and tell me their problems.”

One of Lauren’s key aims is to involve those she describes as “hard-to-reach” students.

“They include part-time, mature, international and postgraduate students,” she explains. “I want to make sure I can get out there and listen to their concerns and resolve

their issues. It can be hard to

get them into

the

Students’ Association and that’s something we’ll be

working on this year. I want to make sure every

student is represented.”The Students' Association is

currently using a ‘Be part of…’ message to encourage students to engage in new experiences. Lauren says: “As the University for the Common Good, we believe that our students have a bigger part to play in the wider community. By taking part in activities which celebrate the

diversity of our wider community, our students will develop themselves not only into employable graduates but into responsible, inspirational and global citizens.”

Although she is only weeks into her tenure, Lauren is keen to make a positive impact over the next 12 months.

“I want to be remembered as someone who listened to the students,

as someone who kept her word and followed

through to make the changes they

wanted, who engaged with them and made a big effort.”

IN PROFILE

Professor Gunter Loffler talks to Clare Rajan about his research into how the link between the eyes and the brain is crucial in helping us understand the world we see.

The face is familiar

It reads like something from a sci-fi novel – a small population with

extraordinary powers of identification, able to recall almost every face they have ever seen: the Super Recognisers.

They do exist, however; their incredible ability to remember faces often called upon by, for example, the Metropolitan Police to identify perpetrators of crimes from

photographs or CCTV footage.

At the other end of the spectrum is a population that can’t identify their friends,

their partner, their children.

Just how some people never

forget a face while others struggle to

distinguish between their loved ones is

something that has intrigued and been the focus of research by

Gunter Loffler, Professor of Visual Neuroscience and expert on face perception, for more than 15 years.

Gunter completed his undergraduate studies in optometry in Germany – a natural choice, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both optometrists. He was, however, fascinated not just by the eye but by the role of the brain in helping make sense of the world. It was this fascination that led to Gunter’s first encounter with GCU, in 1999, when he completed a PhD on motion perception, looking beyond the eyes to the role of the brain in understanding movement.

“When someone walks towards you, that person’s projection hits the back of your eye, and the closer they get, the bigger that projected image will be,” explains Gunter. “If your visual brain wasn’t processing the incoming information from the eyes in a rather sophisticated way, you would see someone growing in size as they move towards you. The brain somehow uses prior knowledge about the world and the fact that people don’t grow that rapidly, so you perceive – correctly – a person walking towards you without changing in size.”

It was as a postdoctoral student at the University of Chicago (“spending hours and hours in a basement lab with no windows, co-habited in the moist mid-American summers by centipedes and other interesting species”) that Gunter and his supervisor developed their first test of face perception. This initial work was carried out on a ‘typical’ population – people who have no known problems with their eyes or the brain – to try to understand how brains process face information.

“It’s been a puzzling thing for people for centuries,” says Gunter, who returned to GCU to take up a lectureship in 2001. “Why is it that we are extremely good at discriminating between faces and in reading facial expressions when faces are, essentially, all the same – two eyes, a nose and a mouth?”

The test found measurable variation among typical people; some were more sensitive; others less so. This only shows average human ability, however; the whole spectrum extends from the best of the typical people to those who can’t tell faces apart at all.

Recent research at GCU by PhD

student Andrew Logan (now a lecturer in optometry at the University of Bradford), and supervised by Gunter and Dr Gael Gordon, focused on the development of a quick, simple test to check the entire range of face ability. The test has proven to be superior to other tests available in quantifying face blindness, or prosopagnosia. Gunter is now keen to use the same test to identify the super recognisers.

“There are two obvious outcomes,” explains Gunter. “These guys are actually no better than the norm and are simply using other pieces of information such as clothing or posture. Or it could be that they are just that much better than typical people and, if so, there is the potential for further tests to find out why. In the first instance, we would like to see if they perform in our test at a level that would classify them as exceptional.”

Of course, people’s ability to see any object, including faces, is affected by their eyesight, and a proper set of spectacles could be the difference between recognising someone or not. However, as Gunter points out, for students of vision sciences, it is important to understand that there is more to seeing than a pair of eyes or glasses.

“You can’t assume that just because the eye is functional, vision is fine,” says Gunter. “There are people with perfectly sharp acuity who can’t distinguish between faces and there are people who can do faces and can read small text but can’t perceive motion. The concept that there are compartments in the brain that deal with different aspects of seeing beyond the basic input unit – the eye – is an important aspect for students to appreciate.”

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OUR PEOPLE

24

Professor Gunter Loffler withhis face-perception test.

OUR PEOPLE

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GLOBALWATCH

Engineering students secure second CIOB title and other stories from around the world.

Global champions againHong Kong: Engineering students defended GCU’s title as CIOB Global Student Challenge champions at the finals of the competition in Hong Kong.

The competition, run by the Chartered Institute of Building, develops leadership skills by challenging students to run a construction company in a simulated environment.

GCU’s team ‘Cali Construction’ − Sam Belkaid, Richard Boyle, Duncan Mcaslan and Peter McElroy − was the only UK university representative to make the final. The other finalists were Hong Kong Polytechnic University, CIOB Student Center of Chongqing University, University of Cape Town, Bond University, and Deakin University.

It is the third successive year GCU has made the final. Team tutor Mark Phillipson, who travelled to Hong Kong with the team, said: “Once again our students excelled against a truly international field. In the process our students have networked and developed a fabulous international network with their peers from around the globe. I could not be more proud of their representation of the University and their outstanding achievement.”

South Korea: Nine GCU students experienced South Korean culture at international summer schools in Seoul. They visited South Korea’s Hansung University and Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech), in a new partnership between the institutions and GCU. As well as touring the country, the students took classes on Korean language, history and cuisine.

GCU will welcome the exchange students from both South Korean universities from academic year 2016/17.

South Africa: Vision sciences students travelled to South Africa to volunteer on Phelophepa, the ‘train of hope’ that

delivers health care to remote areas of the country.

Optometry and Orthoptic students joined professionals in the train’s eye clinics, carrying out eye examinations and giving eye-care advice to children and adults. Students travelled in teams throughout the summer, bringing the total number of GCU students who have volunteered on Phelophepa to more than 90.

Student volunteer Samantha Davidson said: “It was a unique opportunity I never thought I would have.”

Sweden: Eight students were part of an international delegation visiting Sweden to explore the impact of migration on social work. The second-year students took part in the 2016 Global Sessions, hosted by Ersta Sköndal University College in Stockholm. They joined students and academics from Sweden, Germany, Italy, Greece, The Netherlands, the Faroe Isles and India, for lectures, workshops and field visits to gain a global perspective on the challenges migrant poses to social workers. It is the third time GCU has received a grant from the

Vision sciences student Samantha Davidson volunteered on board the Phelophepa Trains of Hope.

Scottish Government’s Outward Mobility Fund to enable students on the BA (Hons) Social Work programme to attend the Global Sessions.

Student Jemma Reid said: “Global Sessions has certainly widened my perspective and I feel more confident in understanding how we as social workers can work together across Europe, and the world, to support refugees.”

China: Academics and postgraduate students from Beijing Health Vocational College took part in a four-week summer school programme. They met School of Health and Life Sciences academic staff, attended the Global Network of World Health Organization (WHO)

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GLOBALWATCH

CIOB winners from left: Peter McElroy, Duncan McAslan, Richard Boyle, Sam Belkaid. Paul Nash, CIOB President, at the podium.

Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery conference held at GCU and visited hospitals and out-patient areas as well as touring the city and Scotland.

Global: The School of Engineering and Built Environment has welcomed students from across the world to a series of summer experiences. Students from Chinese and Indian universities attended workshops and lectures in computing and engineering and students of GCU’s partner institution the Caledonian College of Engineering in Oman joined the University’s engineering internship programme. US students from 13 universities joined GCU for its annual Forensic Science International Summer Programme.

US students from 13 universities joined GCU for its annual Forensic Science International Summer Programme.

Leading figures from the worlds of health, business and politics joined more than 2300 students at GCU’s summer graduation ceremonies this year.

Honoured by GCUStudents from the University’s

academic schools – Engineering and Built Environment, the Glasgow School for Business and Society, Health and Life Sciences, and GCU London – were presented with their degrees and ‘capped’ in the traditional ceremonies at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall and Christ Church, Spitalfields.

They were joined by honorary graduates Mary Fisher, Henry Simmons, Melanne Verveer and Scott Taylor, as well as honorary professors and Lifetime Achievement Award winners Liz Evans and Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne.

Mr Simmons, already a GCU MBA graduate, said of his affiliation with the University: “Few other institutions offered an MBA programme that had at its heart a social conscience and an understanding of the relevance and importance of the third sector.“

Mr Taylor said: “Finally, today, you will become graduates of GCU, and you’ll also be become graduates of the City of Glasgow.”

Ms Verveer said: “GCU's focus on real-life problem solving is addressing some of societies most intractable challenges. Use your power for purpose.“

Ms Fisher said: “I needed to learn that history is written by those who believe they can make a difference in the world. Armed with your degree, you can change our expectations and our vision.”

Mr Bousquet-Chavanne said: “I feel privileged to be joining many illustrious recipients of this award, all of who have made a great impact on the world of fashion here in the UK and beyond.”

Ms Evans said: “GCU London's British School of Fashion is pioneering, ground breaking and has developed a unique and special partnership with the British fashion industry.”

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SUMMER GRADUATIONS

Professor Liz EvansLifetime Achievement Award and Honorary Professorship Liz is Chief Executive of Oasis and Warehouse and started out as a management trainee at Marks & Spencer in 1989 before taking on store management roles. She joined the Aurora Group in 2006 as retail director at Coast before being promoted to managing director in 2008. In May 2013, Liz was appointed to the role of CEO Oasis and Warehouse, which operates in over 800 locations across 40 countries. She spearheads these global businesses as they continue to deliver an exceptional experience for their customers across all channels and led the transformation of the group.

Professor Patrick Bousquet-ChavanneLifetime Achievement Award and Honorary Professorship Patrick is Chief Customer, Marketing and Digital Officer of Marks & Spencer. He was appointed to the board of Marks & Spencer plc in July 2013 and has more than 25 years’ experience in the international branded consumer goods industry, in London, Paris and New York. He joined M&S as Corporate Director of Strategy and Business Development in September 2012. He was appointed to his present position in May 2016, where he acts as Chief Customer, Marketing and Digital Officer across all M&S’s activities.

Dr Scott TaylorHonorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Scott is the former Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB). During Scott’s time as chief executive, GCMB brought 3500 conferences to the city worth more than £1.2bn and helped win it major events such as the UEFA Cup Final 2007, MTV Europe Music Awards and the MOBO Awards to name a few. Scott was a member of the original bidding team for the Commonwealth Games in Colombo in 2007, which took place in the city of Glasgow in 2014.

Dr Henry SimmonsHonorary Degree of Doctor of Science Henry is Chief Executive of Alzheimer Scotland Action on Dementia (AS). He and his team have campaigned diligently for people with dementia and their carers, including the development of new models of care and support, as well as changing public perception of the illness. Henry has built AS into an organisation with 1000 staff, 8000 members, 35,000 followers on social media, and 22,000 ‘dementia friends’ who support the organisation.

Dr Melanne VerveerHonorary Degree of Doctor of Law Ambassador Melanne Verveer is the Executive Director of the Georgetown University Institute for Women, Peace & Security. The institute focuses on the role of women in peace and security through cutting-edge research, global symposia and strategic partnerships. In 2009 President Obama nominated her to be the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues. In that role she coordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women, travelling to 60 countries.

Dr Mary FisherHonorary Degree of Doctor of Letters Mary is an author, artist, political activist and social entrepreneur. She is also a global leader for social change through positive thought and action. Diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and with breast cancer in 2012, she shares her experience to support AIDS research and education. As an artist whose work in sculpture and handmade paper is found in private and public collections worldwide, she is also a designer for Lee Jofa’s home décor fabrics.

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Financial risk expert Dr Patrick Ring must be a life-long fan of the boardgame Risk? "I

preferred Monopoly," he says. "I always won or stomped off; one or the other."

OUR PEOPLE

Managing risk is no longer the preserve of business; it is part of every-day life. Dr Patrick Ring tells David Christie how GCU is equipping graduates to manage risk and help us all get the big decisions right.

A risky business

"They say it’s the black swans you have to worry about.” So says

Dr Patrick Ring, Senior Lecturer in Financial Services at GCU, referring to the financial term for a high-profile, unpredictable event such as the 2008 financial crisis. Coping with the impact of black swans is just one of the tricky tasks of Risk Management.

“Managing risk can be like reverse engineering,” Patrick explains. “Businesses horizon-scan and scenario-plan the worst things that might happen to them, before identifying what might cause those risks to happen then apply the techniques and processes to try to ensure they don’t.

“Risks to business can be economic, physical, political, even international. It’s about having the systems, processes and continuity plans to ensure things don’t go wrong, but, if they do, you have some way to manage it.

“Risk management is now accepted as its own profession and companies, as well as the public sector, are increasingly aware of the importance of having an appropriate risk culture and robust risk processes. In the past, you might have had an accountant or a lawyer in a firm dealing with risk as a side issue; now you have qualified risk managers; chief risk officers; risk analysts and risk-management departments.”

Managing risk is much wider than those we all experienced with recent events in the financial sector, as incidents from Volkswagen’s emissions scandal to MRSA outbreaks in hospitals and the European Referendum all attest.

Rewind three decades when forward-thinking academics at GCU

identified the need for highly skilled risk-management graduates and established the first undergraduate risk management degree in the UK. Through the Glasgow School for Business and Society, GCU offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Risk Management as well as in Finance, Investment and Risk, while students of other business subjects can choose elements of each.

Programmes are accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute and Institute of Risk Management and strong links with industry partners ensure graduates leave the University fully equipped for the future.

“At GCU we are about creating the next generation of graduates who are able to manage risk across all areas. We have cohort after cohort of graduates creating careers for themselves working at very high levels across all sectors and the reputation of GCU as a provider of risk-management education is solid.”

Patrick should know, now in his 18th year at the University, having previously worked as a corporate lawyer and briefing Scottish Government Ministers before being attracted to higher education, it is a move with no regrets.

“I like the people, I like Glasgow. I like being paid to do something that I actually enjoy doing, reading books I might read in my spare time anyway. It’s rewarding enabling students to

achieve their goals, as well as writing and researching how the financial services sector can make the lives of individuals better.

“It’s not just about preparing highly qualified graduates; there is a broader role, in keeping with our social mission as the University for the Common Good, to help people manage risk in their daily lives.

“Recent government policy has been about empowering individuals and giving them choice, which is great, but with all of those choices and opportunities come risks. Individuals are being asked to do more for themselves in an environment which is much more uncertain. As the welfare state is rolled back, we are becoming our own risk managers.

“Part of my research looks at the gap in advice and guidance available to individuals.

“Financial advice is expensive and often unaffordable. Being a lawyer to trade, my meat and drink is complicated wording and lots of sub-clauses, but it is very difficult for people to get through all the jargon and know the right thing to do to feel secure when it comes to making decisions about their savings, insurance or loans.

“It is often found that the first place people go to for advice is their family and friends, who are probably the people in the least position to actually give them accurate information.

“However, the financial services sector in the UK still has work to do to re-establish its reputation with the general public.

“There’s also a lot of work to do to ensure it can manage its risks effectively, and that’s where our graduates come in.”

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“Risk management is now accepted as its own profession

OUR PEOPLE

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View from hereWHO? Frances MacInnes, Director of the Learning Development Centre in the School for Health and Life Sciences. My key responsibility for student learning has this year involved work that aligns with the QAA Scotland Enhancement Theme on Student Transition.

WHAT?Attending conferences is something that students should be encouraged to do, but opportunities seem unattainable to many during their studies. The experience can be beneficial in their professional career development.

SO WHAT?A bespoke conference has been organised for final-year, undergraduate and postgraduate students during the past three years. Entitled ‘Transforming Lives Through Life Sciences’, it is hosted by the Department of Life Sciences in partnership with the University Careers Services. Key stakeholders in the department are invited to attend. The conference asserts a different focus each year aligning with the Enhancement Themes.

NOW WHAT?The event enhances the student experience while expanding and promoting employer engagement through a conference-style format rather than a transitional recruitment fair. It provides a channel to promote the department, the University and our students to the wider Life Sciences community and, in doing so, showcases our strengths as a student-centred, engaging and career-focused university.

Head of User Experience at the Telegraph; Douglas Larmour, visual-effects designer from Moving Picture Company; Andrew Stevenson, Tangent Graphic; Beth Wilson and James Gilchrist, Warrior Studios; Chrissy Welsh, Backbase; Mal Young, Interference Pattern; and Will Adams, Once Were Farmers.

“The energy and enthusiasm from the students was overwhelming and it was so encouraging to see them share and discuss their research with their peers and industry guests,” Mary says.

“The Caledonian Creates conference was a fantastic experience,” says Sean McIlroy, a third-year Graphic Design for Digital Media student. “The inspirational speakers from varied professional backgrounds gave us valuable tips on how to progress and position ourselves as well-rounded creatives in a changing industry. Hearing from the fourth-year students has also given me confidence to push and refine my own research ideas further, as well as a glimpse of where we will all be this time next year.”

Chris Fitzgerald finds out how Dr Mary Maclachlan is using professional environments to inspire students to perceive the value of the skills they learn.

Creative teaching, creative students"It is not uncommon for students to

struggle with academic writing or the concept of academic research.”

The words of Dr Mary Maclachlan, a lecturer in the department of Computer, Communications and Interactive Systems within the School of Engineering and Built Environment, who believes that if students do not understand the relevance of research to their discipline, they can lack motivation and confidence to engage and progress to honours-level study.

At an institutional level, GCU has a widening participation policy which supports large numbers of articulating students from the college sector. This means there can be fundamental differences, particularly with regards to academic research and writing.

“As a result, direct-entry students

can sometimes struggle with the research elements of a programme,” says Mary. “Supporting successful student transition is a key priority of GCU as reflected in our Strategy for Learning.”

At a national level, student transition is the current Scottish Enhancement Theme and, over the past two years, GCU has funded a number of Enhancement Theme Scholar projects to enhance transition support for students.

One of these projects is run by Mary herself. Her project aims to inspire and support students to perceive the value of progressing from the degree to the honours year and appreciate the added skills they will develop in doing so.

Mary’s transition project took the shape of a “Creating Conversations”

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student-research conference, which required digital design students to present their honours projects to third-year students alongside industry experts. The conference was an extension of Caledonian Creates, the annual celebration of work from the University’s creative programmes, which covers disciplines including graphic, interior, games and product design, electronic systems, 3D computer animation, and computer games art and animation.

Mary stresses that the choice of venue was a key feature in the design of this successful venture. Supported by Enhancement Theme funding, the conference was held off campus in the Old Sheriff Court and included registration, refreshments and a post-conference networking event. This approach conveyed a professional standing, which Mary had identified as important in communicating that students’ research is being taken seriously.

“A significant outcome was the overwhelmingly enthusiastic participation by students,” says Mary. “Over 130 third and fourth-years attended.”

They were joined by guest speakers from industry, such as Jane Austin, The Creating Conversations event was held in the Old Sheriff Court.

“Supporting successful student transition is a key priority of GCU

LEARNING AND TEACHING

Glasgow Caledonian University

Sources: REF 2014, DHLE 2014, Ecocampus, 2015 & Cycling Scotland 2016

1st platinum Ecocampus & cycle friendly campus

in Scotland

1researchpower in Scotland for a modern university

No

for

graduate96%

employment rate

widening access

Leader in

1st Scottish university to open campuses in

London and New York

£30 million campus investment

Offering a range of specialist courses, many

the first and only of their kind

20%guaranteedalumni discount

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Sheila hits the right note

Who are you and what’s your day job? I’m Sheila Morrison and I’m a Lecturer in Psychology here at GCU.

What’s your Back Story I’m a member of the GCU Choir. I sing Alto, and I’m also a staff liaison on the Choir committee. GCU Choir has been running for 10 years (we celebrated our anniversary this year with a concert featuring Fauré’s Requiem). It’s an open choir, so anyone connected with GCU can join (current and former staff, students, and alumni), and we don’t hold auditions for membership – an interest in music is enough. We meet every Wednesday from 1-2pm in the Faith & Belief Centre to rehearse. We also perform in the GCU Carol Concert every year.

Why do you do it?I joined with a friend several years ago (at the time, Susie Dingle was Choir Leader, now it’s James Slimings), and loved it so much, I stayed. I get a lot out of it – discovering new pieces, helping to organise events and promote the Choir, contributing to performances, and just experiencing a piece of music coming together, part by part. Does it help you in your daily life at home and at work?It is the one thing I can count on to relieve work stress. I look forward to it immensely each week, as, when you’re rehearsing a piece, you really can’t think about anything else while you’re doing it. We sing a variety of styles of music from all over the world – we’ve sung in English, Scots, Irish Gaelic, Latin, Spanish, French, Russian and Icelandic. It requires a lot of concentration (from me at any rate), so work (and life)

stresses are forgotten for an hour every week. The pieces we get to sing are also lovely, which is kind of therapeutic in itself.

What has been your greatest achievement in your hobby?Two performances: we sang ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ at the Chancellor’s Installation; and our Tenth Anniversary Concert, which we held in St Mary’s Cathedral in the West End in April – it was a fantastic day, a great success, and I’m proud to have been part of it.

What has been your favourite/funniest moment?My favourite moment so far was when, during a rehearsal for the Tenth Anniversary Concert, we were approached by Martin Speller, formerly of GCU, who started the Choir 10 years ago. He told us what it meant to him to see us still going strong, and it was a lovely moment.

Sheila Morrison and the GCU Choir performing at its Tenth Anniversary Conference at St Mary's Cathedral.

BACK STORY

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