Faculty News & Events Autumn 2010

Following a Board of Governors meeting in August 2010, the the University is now proceeding with the new £30million Science and Technology Centre, to accommodate all of the University’s science teaching and research, and a range of other specialist fields - from renewable energy to medical technologies and biomechanics.

Construction on the state-of-the-art building has started with completion in 2012.  It will feature a host of specialist science and technology laboratories, a cognitive and developmental psychology suite, interview rooms, two lecture theatres which can transform into a single 250-seater facility, a dedicated IT suite, learning resource centre, flexible learning spaces, café and public exhibition space.

• View a fly through of the new building

Science students from the City’s Sixth Form College and neighbouring Stoke-on-Trent College will also make use of many of the facilities in the new Science and Technology Centre, thereby enhancing aspiration and progression to higher levels of study.

Staffordshire University is pleased to announce that on 18th November 2010 Professor John Cassella and the New Product Development (NPD) department at SciChem was successful in winning a Lord Stafford Award (LSA) for the category 'Achievement in Innovation', as part of the Knowlege Transfer Partnership with Staffordshire University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Forensic and Crime Science.

These awards have been running for ten years and each year, the best champions in innovation and university partnership are selected for the LSA final. The SciChem NPD department was shortlisted this year based upon the work done for the highly successful Forensic Investigation Kits and Workshops.

The NPD department at SciChem was launched in 2008 with the intention of producing bespoke curriculum relevant forensic resources that could benefit the whole education sector. Working with lecturers in Forensic and Crime Science from Staffordshire University the NPD department was created through the KTP and is run by Philip Morton, a graduate and current MSc student at the University who has given many Forensic Science workshops around the UK. Since its inception, the NPD department has worked with numerous companies and advisors to create over 62 different products to-date. Focussing mainly on Applied Science & Forensic Science, they have also developed products across sciences from primary school right up to students in Higher Education.

New for 2010/11 - New and updated short courses and CPD in Biological & Biomedical Science.
 
Following the successful introduction of a range of half and one day professional development courses last year, new dates have been added to the programme for the forthcoming year and 2 new courses are being introduced.  The new courses are a one day Identification of anaerobes course and a workshop on the laboratory diagnosis of blood borne viruses.  All courses are CPD accredited by the Institute for Biomedical Science and are held at the Faculty of Sciences conveniently located close to Stoke on Trent railway station.  These courses are aimed at anyone requiring theoretical and practical updating in the course topic areas and may be of particular relevance to those required by the IBMS to evidence the portfolio leading to the award of the Specialist Diploma.  For further information please see the attached flyer (PDF, file size: 178.28KB) .

The Faculty has Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF4) for a project that aims to provide a sustainable scientific focus to interest, engage and inspire our local community. Working with Stoke on Trent College and the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth form college the Faculty are developing a range of activities, case studies and resources that will soon appear on a dedicated portal.  Local organisations are setting problems that can be solved by students from local schools, colleges and Staffordshire University.  The projects hopes to inspire students to follow a career in science and to increase the number of science graduates and scientists in the local community.  There are activities focused on subject enhancement, practical skills and careers information.  A press release for a recent collaborative activity with the Sixth Form College and Biological Sciences at Staffordshire University can be downloaded here (PDF, file size: 192.43KB) .
 
We would like Science Working to become the first port of call for anyone in our locality with an interest in or question about science. If you would like more information or to see how science can work for you please contact Sara Buckley or Dr Kevin Reiling at s.l.buckley@staffs.ac.uk / k.reiling@staffs.ac.uk.

The ERASMUS programme allows both staff and students to study at partner Universities, one of the links we have is with Oldenburg University in Germany.
Students from geography, biology, ecology and forensic science would all fit into the programme of study well.

Please see associated word document (DOC, file size: 41KB) with full details.

Other resources

There is a box file in the Learning Resource Centre 4th Floor Mellor Building, marked Oldenburg – ERASMUS with more information.

Key contacts

Jon Fairburn from the Geography has been to Oldenburg and you can have an informal chat with him or email him at Jon.Fairburn@staffs.ac.uk.

Ingo Mose head of the Regional Science group ingo.mose@uni-oldenburg.de

Katja Kaboth responsible for incoming international students at Oldenburg University katja.kaboth@uni-oldenburg.de

Susan Lloyd International Office, Staffordshire University 01782 294838 s.r.lloyd@staffs.ac.uk 

Please download the current Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 197.79KB) here.

Please download the current IESR Newsletter (PDF, file size: 180.13KB) here.

Please click here for the May 2011 version of the Clinical Psychology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 535.45KB) .