First In-Depth Study of the Reign of David II
Professorial Inaugural Lectures
Pupils Teach Students a Lesson
Prestigious Poet to Perform her Work
The European Union and South-East Europe after 2004
Criminology Seminar Series to be Launched
Appointment of New Principal & Vice-Chancellor
Future of Languages in Higher Education
Higher Education Policy is Failing Some Students
University's Innovative Ideas of the Year
Stirling Graduation Ceremonies March 2004
First In-Depth Study of the Reign of David II
Date released: Tuesday 2 March
David II of Scotland - son of Scots hero Robert Bruce - has suffered a harsh historical press, condemned as a disastrous general, a womaniser and a sympathiser with Scotland's "auld enemy", England.
University of Stirling lecturer Dr Michael Penman offers a different view of the Scottish King in his new book David II, 1329-71: The Bruce Dynasty in Scotland : that of child king who survived the unfinished business of his father's reign, usurpation, English invasion, exile in France and 11 years of English captivity to emerge as a formidable ruler of Scotland.
Dr Penman's book offers the first in-depth study of the reign of David II, bringing together evidence from Scotland, England and France.
Dr Penman said: "Learning from Philip VI of France and Edward III of England in turn, David became the charismatic patron of a vibrant court focused on the arts of chivalry. Had he lived longer, Scotland's political landscape and national outlook might have been very different to that which emerged under his successors, the Stewart Kings. David's was a reign of internal tensions fuelled by his increasingly desperate efforts to determine the royal succession, overawe great magnates like his heir presumptive, Robert the Steward, and persuade his subjects of the need for closer relations with England after 60 years of war."
David II, 1329-71: The Bruce Dynasty in Scotland is available from Tuckwell Press, priced £30 HB.
Lesley Pollock
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Professorial Inaugural Lectures
Date released: Friday 5 March
The University of Stirling has announced its intention to hold a series of public lectures to provide new externally appointed professors with an opportunity to speak about their discipline in a publicly accessible way.
Professor Ronan O'Carroll of the Department of Psychology will deliver a lecture on 'Psychology, Medicine and Health' on Thursday 18 March at 5.30pm in Logie Lecture Theatre, University of Stirling.
The lecture will be chaired by Acting Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Christine Hallett.
Admission is free and refreshments will be served at the end.
Lesley Pollock
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Khlayre Mullin University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466675 |
Pupils
Teach Students a Lesson
Date released:
Monday 8 March
Pupils from Shawlands Academy in Glasgow are hoping to teach the
teachers of the future a lesson this Friday.
The children have been invited to a student-pupil seminar being
held by the Institute of Education to find out what pupils want
from their teachers.
Topics under discussion will include the qualities they most value
in their teachers, the kinds of educational activities they most
enjoy and how they think teachers might best support pupils.
Professor Julie Allan of the Institute of Education said: “We
always emphasise to student teachers that young people’s views
are important, but this is the first time we have held an event
for pupils to speak openly with our students. We are expecting to
learn a lot.”
The event, to take the form of small discussion groups, will be
held in the MacRobert Arts Centre on Friday 12 March 10 - 12 noon.
Lesley Pollock
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Professor Julie Allan University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467622 |
Prestigious Poet to Perform her Work
Date released:
Monday 8 March
Winner of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2003, U A Fanthorpe
will give a public poetry recital at the University of Stirling
on Tuesday 16 March.
The event, organised by the Stirling Centre of Poetry (SCoP), will
offer readers of Fanthorpe a unique opportunity to talk to the poet
about her work.
English Professor Rory Watson said: “U A Fanthorpe, also reading
at the StAnza festival at St Andrews, is one of the most entertaining
and distinguished poets writing today and we at SCoP are delighted
to welcome her to Stirling. In 2001 she was made CBE for services
to poetry, and her wise, perceptive, playfully witty and movingly
compassionate poems have been widely acclaimed. Some of her poems
are for two voices and her other voice in this case will be Rosie
Bailey.”
The reading will take place in room A7, Pathfoot at 7.30pm. Admission
is free.
Lesley Pollock
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Professor Rory Watson University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467500 |
The European Union and South-East Europe after 2004
Date released: Thursday 11 March
With the accession of ten new members in May 2004, the European
Union (EU) will have taken a decisive step in implementing its vision
of European unity. However, South East Europe (SEE) will remain
outside the EU. Bulgaria and Romania are candidate countries, expecting
to become members in 2007, but the rest of the region is excluded
from the joining process at present.
The University of Stirling’s Department of Politics has organised
a workshop in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit on
The EU and the Balkans after 2004 to examine the consequences of
the enlargement for South East Europe (SEE) and the EU's relations
with that region. The conference, to be held in Stirling Management
Centre 19-20 March, will bring together scholars, experts and policy-makers
from the UK and South East Europe. They will discuss the outlook
for EU-SEE relations, both from the EU perspective and from the
perspective of countries in the region.
University of Stirling Politics Lecturer, Dr Dejan Jovic said: “All
SEE countries want to join the EU and the EU has said that European
integration cannot be completed without the inclusion of this region.
The workshop will examine whether and when that promise could become
a reality".
Among the issues to be addressed in the workshop are:
- What policy will the EU implement towards the SEE countries after 2004?
- How will the SEE countries have to change in order to satisfy the criteria for EU membership?
- Should the "Western Balkans" be treated as a regional unit, or should bilateral relations with Brussels prevail, with each country being treated separately on a case-by-case basis?
- What are today's main security challenges in this, until recently, war-and strife-torn region?
- What will be the economic consequences for SEE of being left
out of the 2004 enlargement round?
The workshop is being sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
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Dr Dejan Jovic University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467567 |
Criminology Seminar Series to be Launched
Date released: Monday 15 March
The University of Stirling’s Department of Applied Social
Science will launch a new criminology seminar series this spring
to coincide with recent teaching developments within the department.
In 2002 the University introduced the first-ever undergraduate criminology
degree in Scotland and this autumn it will launch a new MSc in criminology.
These new initiatives in teaching are an extension of Stirling’s
well-established research profile in criminological studies, notably
in the areas of drugs, criminal justice policy and practice, youth
crime and alternatives to custody.
The spring seminar series, entitled New Themes in Criminology, will
bring together national and international scholars with an interest
in the study of crime and crime control strategies. It aims to generate
critical debate of the latest empirical, methodological and theoretical
developments in criminological research.
Speakers include Professor Pat Carlen, a leading scholar in women and punishment; Dr Lucia Zedner, an expert in criminal justice; and Professor Barbara Hudson, an expert in criminology and penal theory.
The following seminars will be held in room 3S15, Colin Bell Building
4.30 - 6pm. Members of the public are most welcome.
Wednesday 24 March
From criminal justice state to security society –
Dr Lucia Zedner
Lucia Zedner is Reader in Criminal Justice, Law Fellow at Corpus
Christi College, Oxford and a Member of the Centre for Criminological
Research, University of Oxford. Her main research interests are
in criminal justice and penology, criminal law and sociology of
law. Her paper is taken from the final chapter of her forthcoming
book for the Clarendon Law Series, entitled Criminal Justice.
Wednesday 21 April
Judging aliens, punishing monsters: justice at the boundaries
of the community – Professor Barbara
Hudson
Barbara Hudson is Professor of Law at the University of Central
Lancashire and is a leading scholar in criminology and penal theory.
She has research interests in criminology, penology and socio-legal
studies, race and criminal justice; feminist jurisprudence; desert
theory; restorative justice; comparative criminology, penal ethics,
the punishment of impoverished offenders; emergent theories of justice;
probation; risk and criminal justice.
Wednesday 28 April
Risk and responsibility in women’s prisons –
Professor Pat Carlen
Pat Carlen is Honorary Professor of Criminology at Keele University
and Visiting Professor of Criminology at Westminster University,
London. Pat Carlen, who authored Women in Prison (a study of Cornton
Vale), is a leading scholar in the area of women and punishment.
In 1997 she was awarded the Sellin-Glueck Prize by the American
Society of Criminology for outstanding international contributions
to Criminology.
A further three seminars will be held in the Autumn.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
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Dr Laura Piacentini University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467982 |
Appointment of New Principal & Vice-Chancellor
Date released:
Monday 15 March 2004
The University Court of the University of Stirling is delighted
to announce the appointment of Professor Christine Hallett
as the University’s new Principal & Vice-Chancellor with
immediate effect.
Professor Hallett was previously Stirling’s Senior Deputy
Principal with lead responsibility for Research & Commercialisation,
Academic Planning and Resource Allocation, and has been Acting Principal
& Vice-Chancellor since the tragic death of Professor Colin
Bell in April 2003. Christine Hallett has also been Professor of
Social Policy at the University of Stirling since 1995.
Following a special meeting of the University’s governing
body, the University Court, the Chairman of Court, Dr Doris Littlejohn
said: “We are thrilled to have been able to appoint Christine
Hallett as Principal and Vice-Chancellor. Not only is Professor
Hallett an international expert in her academic field, but she also
has highly developed management and inter-personal skills that will
prove invaluable in continuing to move the University of Stirling
forward. I am sure the University, the local community and the higher
education sector will welcome this appointment – the first
woman to hold the office of Principal in one of Scotland’s
pre-1992 universities.”
Professor Hallett said: “Stirling University is a wonderful
place and I hugely enjoy working here. To have been appointed Principal
and Vice-Chancellor is an honour, a privilege and a challenge that
I relish. Working with colleagues, I look forward to maintaining
and enhancing Stirling’s capacity and reputation as a leading
research institution with a fine reputation for learning and teaching.
We will continue to be committed to providing opportunities for
higher education to all who are able to benefit from it whatever
their background, providing excellent graduates able to contribute
to the well-being of society at large.”
Born in 1949, Christine Hallett graduated from Cambridge in 1970
and was awarded a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Loughborough
in 1994. On leaving Cambridge, she joined the Civil Service, working
in the Department of Health and Social Security. Christine Hallett
then held academic teaching and research posts at the Universities
of Oxford, Keele and Leicester before being appointed to a Readership
in Social Policy at Stirling in 1989.
Professor Hallett’s research has been principally concerned
with social policy analysis and evaluation in the areas of children
and young people (juvenile justice, child welfare and child protection);
the personal social services; women and social policy; and participation
in social welfare. She has engaged in overseas research collaborations
with the Norwegian Social Research Institute in Oslo, University
of Jyvaskyla in Finland, and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Christine Hallett has also served as an academic expert on a wide
range of boards and committees, and has been Member of the Board
of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.
Professor Hallett’s publications include The Personal Social
Services in local government, Interagency Co-ordination in Child
Protection, Child Abuse: Aspects of interprofessional co-operation
(with O Stevenson), Women and Social Policy, and Hearing the Voices
of Children: Social Policy for a New Century (with Alan Prout) as
well as many other journal articles, monographs and other works.
Professor Hallett was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
in 2002.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
Future of Languages in Higher Education
Date released: Tuesday 16 March
A new partnership will be launched on Thursday aimed at raising
the profile of languages, linguistics and area studies in Scottish
Higher Education.
The UK Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
(LLAS), based at the University of Southampton, has called on the
Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research
(Scottish CILT), based at the University of Stirling, to help it
promote its work in Scotland.
Director of Scottish CILT, Professor Richard Johnstone said: "We
are delighted to have been invited by the UK Subject Centre to work
with it in the support of languages, linguistics and area studies
in Scottish Higher Education. There are particular challenges facing
modern languages in the UK at present. For example, the range of
specialist degrees in modern languages is under threat."
Scottish Parliament Presiding Officer, George Reid MSP will officially
launch the initiative on Thursday 18 March in Stirling Management
Centre. Other key speakers include:
- Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the UK Subject Centre, who will be talking about his report A new landscape for languages which was published by the Nuffield Foundation last year as a follow-up to the Nuffield Inquiry.
- Professor John Macklin, Principal, University of Paisley, and
- Roger McClure, Chief Executive, Scottish Funding Councils for
Further and Higher Education.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
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For further information:
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Lottie Gregory, Scottish CILT University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| Email: c.w.gregory@stir.ac.uk |
Higher Education Policy is Failing Some Students
Date released: Thursday 18 March
The Scottish Executive’s policy on higher education, favouring
progression from further education to higher education, is misguided
according to Professor John Field of the University of Stirling.
In a paper published by the Journal of Access Policy and Practice,
Professor Field, who is director of the University’s Division
of Academic Innovation and Continuing Education, argues that this
route (known as articulation) is failing some students.
Professor Field said: “The higher education system is creating
opportunities for half of young people to enter, but far too many
young people are going in by a revolving door and shooting right
back out again with little or nothing to show for it.”
Drop out and failure rates on Higher National programmes are high.
Evidence suggests that roughly one-fifth of students on HNC programmes
and one-third of those on HND programmes do not even enter with
SQA for the award. Of those who do enter for the award, one quarter
of HNC students and one third of HND students do not gain their
qualification.
Using two case studies, Professor Field shows that students who
gain a Higher National award in a college are much more likely to
enter those universities and courses where the competition from
conventionally qualified applicants is low.
Professor Field commented: “Research has shown that students
from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to take up higher
education in a further education college than in a university. But
if they then go on to study for a degree, they are often channelled
into low status areas with poor career prospects. None of Scotland's
judges, surgeons and top company executives have come through the
articulation route. Unless there are significant policy changes,
it is very unlikely that articulation will make any real difference
to equality of opportunity.”
Professor Field’s paper appears in this month’s edition
of the Journal of Access Policy and Practice, a peer-reviewed journal
published by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
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University's Innovative Ideas of the Year
Date
released: Thursday 18 March
Students and staff have won funding between £1,500 and £10,000
for their innovative ideas in the Stirling University Research and
Enterprise (SURE) Innovation Awards, supported by Scottish Enterprise
Forth Valley and Inverness & Nairn Enterprise.
The results of the annual competition, which was introduced three
years ago to identify and fund projects with commercial potential,
were announced at an awards ceremony in the Macrobert Arts Centre
on Tuesday 16 March.
This year’s winners include:
- Dr Peter Hancock, a senior lecturer in Psychology, who aims to create a system that will predict the looks of a child based on photos of the potential parents. If the system works, it will allow for a variety of fun applications either via the Internet or at science centres and museums.
- Mrs Alison Finnie, a lecturer in Nursing and Midwifery, who won funding to develop an online tissue viability nursing course that aims to enhance students’ skills in dealing with wounds.
- Dr William Kidd, Head of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, who aims to create an interactive web-based course offering a virtual cultural and linguistic tour of Paris.
- Ms Sandra Quinn, a Psychology PhD student, who aims to develop
a prototype of a game for learning music and trial it with local
primary schools.
Several of last year’s winning ideas have proved to be successful:
- Ms Isobel Chisholm, a lecturer in Nursing and Midwifery, has developed an online Return-to-Practice course for nurses returning to the workplace after a career break. The course was specifically designed to meet the needs of those living in remote or rural areas.
- Dr Bernd Porr, a Psychology research assistant, has gone on to develop the world’s first USB-port based data acquisition advice for Linux, which offers real-time monitoring and control of any type of data.
- Ms Diana Elmegaard, is one of five students who after winning last year’s student award fulfilled their dream of setting up their own audio-visual company called Bandit Productions.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Daniela Bolle University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Stirling Graduation Ceremonies March 2004
Date
released: Monday 22 March
The University of Stirling will hold three academic awards ceremonies
in the Albert Halls, Stirling on Friday 26 March.
The ceremonies will be presided over by Chancellor Dame Diana Rigg
who will confer both first degrees and a large number of higher
degrees. The Chancellor will also confer honorary degrees of Doctor
of the University on:
- Ms Sara Parkin OBE, Director of Forum for the Future, for her outstanding contribution to education and sustainability.
- Dr Callum McCarthy, Chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), for his contribution to public affairs.
- Colonel James Stirling of Garden, Lord Lieutenant of Stirling and Falkirk, for his outstanding service and commitment to the people of Scotland, especially in Stirling and Falkirk.
Lesley Pollock
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(01786) 467058
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Here's Looking at You Kid
Date released: Tuesday 30 March
Teachers from Stirling to Strathyre won’t be telling their
pupils to “look at me when I’m talking to you”
in future, after attending a training seminar run by the University
of Stirling’s Department of Psychology on Friday 26 March.
The session held at Stirling Management Centre was based on research
carried out in local primary schools by psychologists Dr Gwyneth
Doherty-Sneddon and Dr Fiona Phelps which shows that children look
away to help them concentrate and think.
Dr Doherty-Sneddon said: “Many cultures interpret looking
away during a conversation as a sign of disinterest or disengagement.
Certainly looking at someone while they are speaking helps us understand
them better- we get lots of useful information from peoples faces
and other non-verbal cues. However, we found that primary-school-aged
children used gaze aversion to help them concentrate on difficult
material and think of an answer. Looking away is something to be
encouraged rather than discouraged when children are processing
something they have been told or asked.”
The seminar also addressed whether young children use gaze and gaze
aversion in a similar way to older children.
Dr Phelps said: “Gaze aversion in response to a difficult
question is a skill that develops with age, rather than being an
innate behavioural response. When remembering information, thinking
of an answer to a question, planning what we are going to say or
speaking, we often close our eyes, look up at the sky, or look away
from the person we are speaking to, especially if the task in hand
is difficult.”
The findings of the study are potentially important for the way
children are seen to engage in learning situations.
Dr Doherty-Sneddon said: “Children’s patterns of gaze
promise to yield important clues to their thinking, concentration
and mental processing that will be useful to parents, teachers,
psychologists and others engaged in assessing children’s knowledge
and development.”
She added: "Our most recent studies have addressed whether
or not children who look away answer more accurately. We plan to
continue this work by examining why older children and adults use
gaze aversion more readily and how teachers might use children's
gaze to judge their readiness to learn".
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058