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Brian Cox to be Patron of Alumni Annual Fund
Following on from his election as Rector of the University of Dundee, Brian Cox has kindly agreed to become Patron of the Alumni Annual Fund.
The Fund was established in 2004 to enable alumni to provide financial support to current students - 40% of the fund is directed towards student hardship and 60% to projects around the campus that help to enhance the student experience. To date the fund has channelled more than £150k to students in genuine financial need and has financed projects in the Library, the Institute of Sport & Exercise and the School of Psychology; it has financed a mobile campus map and lecture feedback systems. If you would like to endorse Brian's support of the Fund by making a contribution, please visit our giving options page.
This Year's Telephone Campaign - Your Vote CountsWe'd like to have you, as alumni, determine which projects should be the focus for our student callers this year. All you have to do is rate each project on how much benefit you think it will bring to students. There's a comment box for any additional feedback you'd like to provide. The voting is anonymous. Vote now.
V&A at Dundee Design Shortlist Announced
Companies from Vienna, Tokyo, New York, Oslo, and Edinburgh form the shortlist, which contains some of the most exciting names in world architecture and design. The six shortlisted companies are:
Lesley Knox, Chair of Design Dundee Ltd, the company which has been established to drive the V&A at Dundee project forward, headed the jury panel which decided on the shortlist. The shortlisted companies will each be asked to produce design concepts and models, which will go on public view in the library of the University of Abertay Dundee. The winner of the design competition will then be announced in late summer.
The V&A at Dundee is being delivered by a ground-breaking partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum - the world’s greatest museum of art and design - and the University of Dundee, the University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise. It is planned that the V&A at Dundee will open in 2014. The dynamic combination of a landmark building on a superb site and outstanding content will help drive forward Dundee’s Waterfront regeneration and further stimulate Scotland’s creative industries.
The University of Dundee’s Social inclusion through the Digital Economy (SiDE) project is looking to recruit 1000 volunteers to help them research the extent to which older adults are excluded from, or linked into, the rapidly changing world of technology. The research pool of men and women aged 55 and over will help the SiDE team, based at the University’s School of Computing, carry out various research exercises. The team are looking for people who have no interest in using new technology as well as those who regularly engage with new technological developments such as computers; mobile phones and digital radios and televisions. Older adults who are willing to take part in studies can sign up for the research pool by visiting the SiDE website, www.side-dundee.org.uk/, emailing researchpool@computing.dundee.ac.uk or contacting Marianne Dee on 01382 388237. They can also write to: Freepost RSGT-KRJX-JHBS, School of Computing, Dundee University, DD1 4HN
After nearly 4 years in its current format the time has come for Dundee-Reunited.com to be refreshed. As well as a new look the website will make it easier to find and interact with lost friends; to post your own news and events and to share your memories. The new site is currently being built by our website and database analyst John Hume assisted by medical student Rachel Mathie. We hope to have the site live at the end of the summer.
Dundee University Students' Association (DUSA) has been ranked Scotland's top students' union and one of the world's best in a new survey of universities across the globe. The International Student Barometer (ISB) survey named DUSA as the best students’ union in Scotland, the third best in the UK, and the seventh best internationally. This follows on from the recent Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey, which also identified DUSA as Scotland’s number one students’ union. Full details.
University of Dundee expertise may soon be helping to ensure that some of the world’s most impoverished people have access to a clean, life-saving, supply of water. A senior delegation from the Privatisation Commission of Malawi visited the University’s UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science to receive specialist training in water regulation and hydrological issues, which will help inform future policies to improve the health of economic wellbeing of 15 million Malawians. Full details.
A dramatic reconstruction has revealed the face of a medieval knight whose skeleton was discovered at Stirling Castle. BBC Two’s History Cold Case series attempted to discover the identity of the warrior who may have been killed during Scotland’s Wars of Independence with England in the late 13th and 14th centuries. A team led by Professor Sue Black, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, wanted to find out how, why and when the knight, and a woman buried nearby, met violent ends at the castle. Full details.
Susan Philipsz, a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, is one of four artists shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize. Susan studied Fine Art at Dundee from 1989 to 1993, specialising in sculpture. Her association with the city continued when Dundee Contemporary Arts exhibited one of her pieces `Atlantis' in 1995. It is now part of the University's museum collections. Susan is best known for creating `sculptures using sound' and often uses popular music and film themes as the basis of her art.
Researchers from the Universities of Dundee and Bath are working with collaborators in India to develop environmentally friendly cement using waste materials such as rice husks. The researchers have been working as part of a UK-India Education & Research Initiative (UKIERI) project, led by the University of Dundee, on how to reduce the carbon footprint of cement, which contributes to around five per cent of global CO2 emissions. Full story.
Dundee rated one of the best places in the world for postdocs to work
The College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee has once again been voted as one of the top international institutions for postdoctoral researchers to work in. The annual survey in The Scientist magazine has two categories, one for US institutions and another for “the rest of the world'. Dundee came third in the latter category and is the only research institute in Scotland to be named in the list. Full story.
Professors Angus Lamond and Ron Hay have been elected Fellows in recognition of their contribution to our understanding of cellular structures and functions. Theirs is a rare double election for the University and means the College of Life Sciences at Dundee is now home to nine Fellows of the Royal Society, one of the strongest concentrations of Fellows in the UK. Full details.
Third year student Filipa Oliveira (24), originally from Vila Verde, Portugal, and now living in Dundee, won first prize in the Scottish Gemmological Association’s Gem Set 2010 competition. She picked up a certificate recognising her achievement along with £300 worth of gems to be used in future creations at the organisation’s annual conference at Queens Hotel, Perth, on Sunday, May 2nd. Full details.
Dundee graduates enjoy success at RSA New Contemporaries exhibition
Graduates from the University of Dundee have won prizes totalling almost £4,000 at this year’s prestigious RSA New Contemporaries exhibition. Eleven graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University, and one School of Architecture graduate were selected to exhibit a selection of new work alongside other young artists and architects from across Scotland. Full story
A new University of Dundee postgraduate accountancy programme has become the first Masters degree in the UK to receive full accreditation from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The MSc Professional Accountancy focuses on the technical and theoretical study of fundamental accounting subjects together with a professional project within the international context of accounting practice. Full details.
A drug which has been used to prevent gout for more than 40 years has now been shown to be an effective treatment for angina, research at the University of Dundee has found. The Dundee team found that angina sufferers who were given the drug allopurinol were able to exercise longer and harder before they experienced the chest pain that occurs when the heart is short of oxygen. Full story.
Students know how difficult it can be to juggle coursework with other commitments, but few have to write their dissertation whilst preparing to release the follow up to their multi-million selling first album, flying all over the world for festivals and promotional events and doing charity work to help some of the world’s poorest children. But that’s exactly the pressures on his time that University of Dundee student Naetochukwu Chikwe faces. The Nigerian, who is currently completing his Masters in Energy Studies, also happens to be Africa’s hottest young hip-hop star. Full story.
Volume 4, Issue 2, June 2010
Graduation 2010
The University is gearing up for this year's graduation ceremonies. It will confer Honorary Degrees on seven leading figures from the worlds of literature, science, business, politics, music and academia. Full details.
Graduation Week Campus TourA guided walk around this attractive city campus and accessing some exceptional examples of modern architecture in the public sector. 23rd June at 17.30. Further details and to book your place.
Join us for the 2010 Dundee Literary Festival as we bring together some of the most talked about names from the world of literature, journalism, philosophy and politics. We have workshops, talks, film, theatre, book signings, music and parties. Events will take place at the Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, Dundee. Festival details and tickets.
We've been contacted by two 1970s alumni who have been reminiscing about their time at Dundee and about a rock band called New Art which they think might have been made up of DoJ students, Do you rember the band or were you a member if so please email reunited@dundee.ac.uk to tell us more.
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) wants to show that Access to HE is valuable and can provide a route to a successful career. They will soon be holding a national conference where we would like to ‘launch’ the case studies on their website – www.accesstohe.ac.uk. If you are interested in sharing your success story with us, please fill in this case study form and send to Katie Sharrock, QAA’s PR Officer on 01452 557074, or email k.sharrock@qaa.ac.uk Alternatively, please call for a telephone interview.
Website Spotlight
Membership Plus - Use it or Lose it
Sadly there has been insufficient alumni interest in the Membership Plus discount scheme and the decision has been taken to close it at the end of the year when our current contract expires. In the meantime, we are offering 6 plus months membership for a mere £5. Discounts are available from more than 300 companies - from hotels to restaurants; from hairdressers to Alton Towers. Buy your card now - we may be able to reverse this decision if there is a strong response.
Dundee-Reuninted.com membership numbers have reached more than 7,400.
Until 19th June. Mon-Fri 9.30am - 8.30pm, Sat 9.30am - 4.30pm Tower Foyer Gallery, Tower Building An exhibition of exquisite pastel drawings by the English artist John Linnell (1792-1882), gifted to the University as part of the James Nicoll Bequest in 1951 and recently restored by the University's Book & Paper Conservation Studio.
Elspeth and Derrick return to the Botanic with an exhibition of new paintings. A lively mix of subject matter and media - inspired by travel both home and abroad - the artworks are linked by the artists' interest in colour and light. Free. Futher details.
Morrocco-McClure-Patrick Exhibition
5 June - 14 August. Mon-Fri 9.30am - 8.30pm, Sat 9.30am - 4.30pm Lamb Gallery, Tower BuildingAn exhibition celebrating three of Dundee's best-known artists, Alberto Morrocco, David McClure and James McIntosh Patrick. All three taught at Duncan of Jordanstone College for many years. Free. Further details.
Off Duty Exhibition. Daily 9.00am-5.00pm Tayside Medical History Museum, Medical School Foyer, Ninewells HospitalAn exhibition exploring the various activities that local healthcare staff have got up to in their spare time, from model-making and astronomical photography to marathon running and going to the Antarctic with Shackleton. Free.
10 - 27 June Dalhousie Building An exhibition showcasing and celebrating the work of five craft practicioners, textile artists Jeanette Sendler, Gillian Cooper and Lisa Gallacher, jeweller Sarah Kettley and (post-) industrial designer Roy Shearer as part of the Crafts Creative Development Bursary. Free.
Join DBS Productions for an evening of love, revenge and hidden identities in Shakespeare's comedy - The Merchant of Venice. An outdoor performance ensuring a summer evening of fun and laughter in the Botanic Gardens! Full details. Full details.
An exhibition in tribute to the much-loved DC Thomson comics artist, who died earlier this year. Featuring original art and published material from classic titles such as the Beezer, Sparky, Bunty and many more. Free.
Omega-3 fats: Can they really make children smarter? discussion with Dr Peter Willatts, University of Dundee. Free.
Class of 2000 Medics: 10 Year ReunionThe reunion will go ahead on Saturday 12th June 2010. The new format is as follows:
1990 Engineering Graduates ReunionYour fellow classmate, Richard Hammond, is currently making arrangements for a 20 year Class Reunion. No firm date or venue has been decided yet, but the format is likely to be the same as in previous years. If you would like to hear more about plans, or make suggestions, please contact Richard by email at: r_hammond@btopenworld.com. Richard is keen to hear from those of you who are interested in attending or at least registering interest in this event.
Medics ReunionsAre you thinking of organising a Medics Reunion - would you like an opportunity to visit the Medical School? The School of Medicine are keen to welcome you back and are happy to arrange a tour of the School during your reunion. Please email reunited@dundee.ac.uk and we'll help you make the arrangements.
