News Archive
August 2006
Don't Let Your First Job be Your Last, Researcher Warns
New Links With Japan's Jumonji University
Change Needed to Ensure Women Secure Business Loans
Anderson’s Influence on British Art
Golf Comes Home to Scotland as Stirling Student Richie Ramsay Wins US Amateur Golf Championship
£90,000 to Fund Wound Study
Date released: Monday 7 August 2006
A nursing and midwifery lecturer at the University of Stirling has won a major national research studentship to examine wounds in drug users.
Alison Coull has been awarded one of only two Smith & Nephew Foundation Doctoral Nursing Research Studentships worth £90,000. The annual studentships are designed to support outstanding career nurse researchers in their doctoral research.
Ms Coull will undertake her PhD at the University of Stirling. Her research will explore skin problems amongst young drug users in Scotland. The main aim of her study is to discover factors that cause chronic wounds in the legs of young drug users. The research will also aim to identify appropriate harm reduction methods to prevent these wounds and hence contribute to improved public health in these vulnerable people.
Ms Coull said: “I am delighted to have received this prestigious award towards my research. It will enable me to undertake the study on a full time basis. It is a fantastic opportunity for which I am very grateful to both the Smith and Nephew Foundation and the University of Stirling.”
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Alison Coull University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1786 466382 |
Don't Let Your First Job Be Your Last, Researcher Warns
Date released: Wednesday 9 August 2006
As four million under 25-year-olds go to work this summer and over 250,000 start their first job, a University of Stirling researcher is warning them to make sure they don't become one of the 16-24 year olds seriously injured at work every 40 minutes in the UK or killed at a rate of one every month.
An expose published by Hazards magazine today shows that over 4000 young people (16-24 yrs) are seriously injured at work every year, 12 are killed (2004/5, 16 in 2003/4) and 15,000 are injured badly enough to be forced off work for more than three days. Despite stricter health and safety rules for the youngest workers, 16-24 year olds are at risk because their employers fail to take account of their lack of workplace experience and training, according to author of the report Rory O'Neill – editor of Hazards and a senior researcher with the University of Stirling's Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group.
'Too young to die' includes a number of tragic case studies ranging from a 17-year-old boy who fell to his death from unsafe scaffolding to teenagers suffering serious burns and amputations in workplace accidents that could have been avoided. The report also sets out the legal protections that employers, young workers and their parents should be aware of.
Rory O'Neill said: "It's a myth that young workers are killed or injured because they goof around or because they are immature. They are at risk because they are inexperienced. The newer you are to the job, regardless of your age, the higher the risk. Every 40 minutes of every working day, seven days a week, a preventable workplace accident maims or kills a young worker. This is the wholly predictable consequence of placing a novice in what is a frequently hostile and often hazardous workplace environment without the necessary training and supervision."
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Rory O’Neill University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1535 210462 |
New Links With Japan's Jumonji University
Date released: Thursday 10 August 2006
The University of Stirling welcomed a delegation from Japan’s Jumonji University on Wednesday 9 August with a view to creating opportunities for Japanese students to study in Scotland.
During the visit a memorandum of understanding was signed which will pave the way for Jumonji students to complete their degree programmes at Stirling or study for a Master’s programme which would improve their job prospects on return to Japan.
Located in Tokyo, Jumonji is a progressive woman-only institution with a history of 80 years and 3000 students. It is anticipated that the main focus of the co-operation will be with the Institute of Education, as a number of Jumonji students are studying on diploma courses which qualify them for teaching careers – often as teachers of English.
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Neil Christie University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1786 466814 |
Conference Makes a Splash
Date released: Monday 14 August 2006
The University of Stirling will this week host an international conference on the state of the world’s rivers, bringing over 200 international experts from 24 countries together. They will discuss the issues and present the findings of recent scientific studies concerning rivers and their conservation, and how humans’ increasing need for water can be balanced with the need to protect our rivers.
Climate change and this summer’s droughts have highlighted the issues of water conservation in the UK. Rivers across the world are suffering from the pressures put on them by humans: as we try to control flooding, and use more and more water for industrial and domestic uses. More and more species of plants and animals that rely on rivers are becoming endangered. This conference will look at the solutions that are being tried around the world to restore our rivers to a good ecological balance.
Dr David Gilvear of the School of Biological and Environmental Science at the University, and the host of the conference said “Across the world our rivers are becoming degraded: water quality is affected, and habitats are under threat. New European legislation means that all member states have to protect and restore their rivers. At this conference the current scientific thinking regarding how to achieve a good ecological status for rivers will be revealed."
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Kate Wooding University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1786 458003 +44 (0)7776 188608 |
Change Needed to Ensure Women Secure Business Loans
Date released: Wednesday 16 August 2006
Access to and the use of finance in the UK are seen as major barriers preventing more women from developing successful businesses. However, research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, found no evidence that banks deliberately discriminate against women business owners, but it is calling for changes in the training of bank loan officers, small business advisers and women entrepreneurs.
The research was conducted at the University of Stirling and the University of Glasgow. It aimed to determine the impact of gender on the lending decisions of a UK bank and to study the experience and perception of bank lending of existing business owners of both sexes.
Research was set against a background of public policy initiatives undertaken in the UK in recent years intended to increase female self-employment. Despite these, only 15 per cent of businesses are women-owned and the 26 per cent share of self-employed women has not changed in 15 years. This modest record contrasts sharply with other countries, particularly the USA where female self-employment has risen each year since 1976 and currently stands at a share of 39.6 per cent.
“We thought a fresh study of how gender impacts on the lending decisions of a UK bank was long overdue, particularly in the light of widespread automated credit scoring and over half of all bank employees now being women,” said Professor Fiona Wilson, one of the three researchers who carried out the study. “It’s particularly timely, as other recent research has found that female owned businesses pay a 1.1 per cent point premium relative to male owned businesses.”
As a result of the findings, the research team recommend changes are made in training to ensure:
• Bank loan officers and small business advisers advise women business owners to have sufficient capital to start and sustain their businesses.
• The networks used by men and women bank loan officers are similar, as women officers were found to have less effective personal contacts for introducing new business loan applications than their male equivalents.
• All loan officers use the same processes when negotiating credit approval within the bank as women loan officers were found to have less strong internal communications with credit controllers than their male equivalents.
Many banks in the UK regard women-owned businesses as an important market. However, the research suggested that lending decisions by individual bank loan officers can reflect biased gender perceptions and opinions. It also found that bias is just as likely among male and female officers.
Commenting on work carried out with matched pairs of male and female business owners, Professor Wilson said, “Gender really does permeate and affect women’s experience of business ownership. Our observations suggest that because of differences in age and industry experience, women can be viewed as possessing significantly less human and social capital prior to setting up their businesses than men.”
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Professor Sara Carter University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1786 467347 |
One Scotland Many Cultures?
Date released: Friday 18 August 2006
The Scottish Executive’s One Scotland Many Cultures campaign comes under the spotlight in a new book edited by University of Stirling Sports Studies lecturer Dr Joseph Bradley.
Celtic Minded 2 examines the initiative with regards to the multi-generational Irish diaspora in Scotland, the country’s largest community of immigrant descent. Written by a range of writers from a wide variety of religious, cultural and national backgrounds, the book challenges embedded and established notions that dominate in Scottish society with regards football, racism, sectarianism, multi-culturalism and social, cultural and political tolerance.
The book emerges from a series of wider football and society studies by Dr Bradley. In it he explores the One Scotland Many Cultures campaign in relation to football, while the book’s other contributors explore aspects of the relationship and experience of an integrated community of immigrant origin and the host Scottish society.
Dr Bradley said: “As in many other countries, football in Scotland involves not only kicking a ball and winning trophies but issues relating to finance, power, politics, religion, community, humour, popular culture and identity. This book is a collection of works written by people who are highly knowledgeable and experienced in their fields. It constitutes an outstanding examination of what a football club means and represents to a community. In short, this book aims to contribute to a better understanding of key aspects of modern Scottish society.”
Contributors include academics, Professor Patrick Reilly, Professor Willy Maley and Dr Irene A Reid, composer James MacMillan, journalist Karen Giles, actor and writer Tony Roper, former Celtic player George McCluskey, historian Tom Campbell, MSP Michael McMahon and many more.
Collectively the writers argue that media representations and understandings of social, religious and cultural differences and distinctiveness within Scotland not only reflect but help manufacture and perpetuate a lack of knowledge and understanding that in turn prevents Scotland from being one of “the best small countries in the world.”
Dr Bradley is taking part in a special Edinburgh Festival Fringe event being held at the Jazz Bar, Chambers Street, at 1pm on Friday 18 August where the key issues raised by Celtic Minded 2 will be discussed.
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Lesley Wilkinson University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1786 467058 |
Anderson’s Influence on British Art
Date released: Wednesday 23 August 2006
The influence of the filmmaker Lindsay Anderson on British artists and the importance of his archive, which is held in the University of Stirling Library, will be among the subjects discussed at an event on ‘Archives and Memory’ being held in the Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, on Wednesday 23 August. The event is part of a series of talks organised as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival which takes place in venues around the city throughout August.
Through a number of presentations from artists and archivists the event will look at how works of art and the papers of artists have been archived and how these archives have created valuable resources for today’s artists. Artworks and archives related to the discussion will be exhibited (including rare and previously unseen images from the University’s Anderson collection).
Best known as the director of If…, a poetic tale of schoolboy rebellion starring Malcolm McDowell, Lindsay Anderson was a unique talent and one of the most distinctive British filmmakers of the twentieth century. Often cited as an influence by filmmakers and artists, a new generation of filmgoers is now discovering his work at film festivals and retrospectives.
Archives and Memory
6.00 pm, Wednesday 23 August 2006
The Stills Gallery
23 Cockburn Street
Edinburgh
Speakers include:
Karl Magee (University of Stirling) – The Lindsay Anderson Collection
Stephen Partridge – Video Art in the 1970s and the Rewind Video Art Archive
Dave Rushton – The Art and Language Group
Admission is free but space is limited. You can reserve tickets in advance by contacting the Stills Gallery at 0131 622 6200 or e-mailing eaftalks@stills.org
The Filmhouse Cinema is also hosting an Anderson exhibition. Materials from the University’s Anderson collection will be on display in September (accompanied by a short season of Anderson's films). For further information see: www.filmhousecinema.com
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Karl Magee University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1786 466619 |
Golf Comes Home to Scotland as Stirling Student Richie Ramsay Wins US Amateur Golf Championship
Date released: Monday 28 August 2006
Sports Scholar Richie Ramsay, a final year Marketing and Sports Studies student at the University of Stirling, became the first Scot in more than 100 years to win the US Amateur Golf Championship yesterday (Sunday 27 August) – following in the footsteps of golfing greats Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
The 23-year old, from Aberdeen, defeated American John Kelly 4 & 2 in the final played over Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota; making him the first Scotsman since 1898 to win the Amateur championship.
The win earns Ramsay a place in the next US Open and British Open, as well as an invitation to play alongside four-times major winner Phil Mickleson in the US Masters at Augusta in April 2007.
"I can’t believe my name is going to be on that trophy," said Ramsay, who also won the 2005 Irish Amateur Stroke Play Tournament. "I’m quite speechless right now and close to tears. Everything went according to plan. I can’t believe it! I think this could have a big impact on Scottish golf. I’m just a guy from Aberdeen who loves playing golf. I work hard at it, and it just shows what someone can do when they put their mind to something. I think the celebration will last quite a while when I get home."
Ramsay was the equivalent of three under par for his morning round, with the usual concessions given for match play. He finished the equivalent of six under par for 34 holes over the longest Amateur course ever, a 7,473-yard layout that has been host to the 1970 and 1991 U.S. Open and the 2002 PGA Championship.
Ramsay was the more experienced of the two finalists: he was among the top ten amateurs chosen to the 2005 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup squad.
Raleigh Gowrie, the University’s Sports Performance Manager, said: “I am sure I speak on behalf of everyone at the University of Stirling in congratulating Richie on this success. We are delighted to have helped Richie perform well in both golf and academic studies. He has demonstrated tremendous focus and dedication throughout his time at Stirling and this is a most deserving victory.”
Ramsay is part of Stirling’s successful golf scholarship programme, which has been operating for the past 25 years. The scheme offers coaching, sports science support, winter training camps abroad, enhanced competitive opportunities, funding assistance and academic flexibility to allow talented student golfers to flourish. Ramsay adds his name to a long list of successful amateurs to graduate from the programme including Walker Cup players Colin Dalgleish and Gordon Sherry, Solheim Cup players Maria Hjorth and Catriona Matthew and new Scottish professionals Lynn Kenny and Jamie McLeary.
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
|
|---|---|
Raleigh Gowrie University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
|
| > | Tel: +44 (0)1786 466906 |