November 2004
Women and Homelessness in the European Union
Criminology Seminars at Stirling
Stirling Graduate Gains her Professional Golf Tour Card
Academics to Study Primates at Edinburgh Zoo
Croatian Ambassador Visiting Stirling
Stirling's Inverness Graduation Ceremony
Women and Homelessness in the European Union
Date released: Monday 1 November 2004
“Right across Europe it is estimated that between 25 and 30 per cent of all homeless people, and between 11 and 17 per cent of the ‘street homeless’, are women” states Professor Joe Doherty. These surprising figures illustrate that women have long been neglected and marginalised in European housing policy and practice. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the development of homelessness policies where it is assumed most homeless people are men.
Joe Doherty, Professor of Geography at the University of St Andrews, in his lecture entitled Women and homelessness in the EU: Making the invisible, visible will examine the gender specific factors that lead to homelessness for women. He will then assess the ability of women to access appropriate services for re-housing and social integration. This lecture will be of great interest to all those with an interest in the social scourge that is homelessness.
The free public lecture, which is being organised by the University of Stirling’s Housing Policy and Practice Unit, will be held on Wednesday 10 November from 3.30-5.00pm in Lecture Theatre B3, Cottrell Building, University of Stirling. Light refreshments will be available after the lecture.
Members of the public who would like to attend should contact the Housing Policy and Practice Unit on (01786) 467719 with their name and contact number.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Dr Douglas Robertson University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467720 |
Landscapes of the Mines
Date released: Tuesday 2 November
Forth Naturalist and Historian’s 30th annual Man and the Landscape Symposium will be held on Saturday 13 November at the University of Stirling.
The theme of this year’s conference - Landscapes of the Mines - addresses the rise and fall of coal mining and its impact on the landscapes of Central Scotland. The event is being held in collaboration with the Scottish Industrial Heritage Society.
A programme of six lectures will follow the formation of coal deposits and mining in the industrial age to the industry’s later decline and legacy in the landscapes of today. Recent developments in open-cast mining and in environmental restoration will also be discussed. In addition, the 27th volume of the Forth Naturalist and Historian Journal will be launched.
There will also be a special display featuring paintings by Morag Knight, a local artist who has recorded the impact and progress of mining on the landscape, as well as exhibits on mining disasters and open-cast mining.
Booking enquiries should be directed to Marilyn Scott, Tel: 01786 467269 or E-mail: mbn1@stir.ac.uk A detailed programme will be available shortly.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Mike Thomas University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467839 |
Tilting the Playing Field
Date released: Tuesday 2 November 2004
The University of Stirling’s Department of Sports Studies Research Seminars in Sport series continues on Thursday 11 November.
Professor Stefan Szymanski, Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London will give a talk on Tilting the Playing Field: Why a sports league planner would choose less, not more, competitive balance.
Speaking ahead of the lecture, Professor Szymanski said: “It has traditionally been argued that the organiser of a sports league would prefer more competitive balance to the level that emerges in a non-co-operative equilibrium. This argument has been used to justify restraints on competition between teams, which also tend to raise profits at the expense of players and consumers. My paper shows that in fact a planner would prefer less, not more, competitive balance. I will use data from Major League Baseball to show just how unbalanced a league planner would choose.”
Professor Stefan Szymanski is an industrial economist. He has published on sports in the Scottish Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Economic Literature and the Economic Journal.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Dr Joe Bradley University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466493 |
Criminology Seminars at Stirling
Date released: Monday 8 November 2004
The University of Stirling’s Department of Applied Social Science criminology seminar series, New Themes in Criminology, continues this semester.
The series, which brings together national and international scholars who share an interest in the study of crime and crime control strategies, aims to generate critical debate of the latest empirical, methodological and theoretical developments in criminological research.
All three seminars will be held in the Common Room, Colin Bell Building to which members of the public are most welcome:
Wednesday 10 November, 4.30pm
Professor Joe Sim, John Moores University, Liverpool
Inhibiting Radical Change: Criminology and the Limits of Penal Reform in England and Wales
Joe Sim is Professor of Criminology at Liverpool John Moores University. His main research interests lie in the sociology of violence, the history of prisons and punishment, contemporary penal systems and criminological theory, the politics of criminological research and masculinity and crime. He is the author of numerous articles and books including British Prisons and Prisons Under Protest. He has also co-edited Western European Penal Systems.
Wednesday 24 November, 5pm
Dr Laura Piacentini, University of Stirling
Russian Imprisonment (seminar and book launch)
Research by the University of Stirling’s Department of Applied Social Science has culminated in the first book on the contemporary Russian prison system written in English. Criminologist Dr Laura Piacentini, a fluent Russian speaker, spent 3 months living in Russian prisons studying penal practices as the background to Surviving Russian Prisons: Punishment, economy and politics in Transition. She is the first western academic to conduct empirical and theoretical research on the system. Surviving Russian Prisons focuses on how punishment is allocated and administered, in particular the changing nature of prison labour. Once an ideological justification for prison regimes, its main function now is to give prisoners a means to survive through participating in a barter economy. While exploring the microworlds of the Russian prison system, the book also offers fresh insight into how prisons are governed in societies undergoing turbulent social and political transformation.
Wednesday 1 December, 4.30pm
Dr Shadd Maruna
Beyond "Barbarians" and "Bleeding Hearts": Understanding Public Attitudes toward Punishment
Shadd Maruna is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology. His research focuses on the reintegration of formerly incarcerated citizens into society. His work tackles issues of resettlement, the processes of self-change of offenders and the public’s attitudes and responses to law-breakers. He is the author of Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives which was awarded the American Society of Criminology's Michael J Hindelang Award for 2001. He is co-editor of After Crime and Punishment: Pathways to Offender Reintegration and he has written numerous articles and book chapters.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Dr Laura Piacentini University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467982 |
Stirling Graduate Gains her Professional Golf Tour Card
Date released: Monday 8 November
Stirling graduate, Lynn Kenny, has secured her place on the 2005 European Women's Professional Golf Tour by finishing in 21st place at the Tour Qualifying School. The event staged at the Tessali Golf Club, near Bari, involved more than 100 players playing for just 30 places on the European elite golf circuit.
Lynn studied Sports Studies at the University of Stirling from 1999 - 2004 and graduated with a 2:1 honours degree this summer. She was a recipient of a golf scholarship and during her time at Stirling, she won the Scottish Amateur Championship, was twice-winner of the Scottish Under 21 Championship and helped Great Britain to success in last year's Vagliano Team Trophy.
Lynn follows in the footsteps of former Stirling female golfing stars - Catriona Matthew, Maria Hjorth and Anna Berg - who have all made the successful transition from amateur to professional golf.
The University of Stirling is proud to be associated with Lynn's achievements and wishes her every future success on the European Women's Professional Golf Tour.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Raleigh Gowrie Sports Performance Manager University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466908 (6) |
Academics to Study Primates at Edinburgh Zoo
Date released: Tuesday 9 November 2004
The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) is to give £1.6 million to create the ‘Living Links to Human Evolution’ Centre being established by four Scottish universities and Edinburgh Zoo.
Internationally renowned primatologists from the universities of Abertay, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Stirling, who form the Scottish Primate Research Group (SPRG), will study primate behaviour at a purpose built centre in Edinburgh Zoo. The collaboration will mean the creation of the UK’s Centre of Excellence into primate research being established in Scotland. The Centre will comprise two mirror image complexes, which will be home to mixed-species of monkeys, recreating communities that are natural in the wild.
The innovative partnership will allow the SPRG to focus on non-invasive studies such as communication, intelligence and social relationships, with Zoo staff assuming the responsibility for animal welfare. The Centre will also be fully accessible to the public with the intention of educating visitors on the importance of science, primates, conservation and welfare.
Hannah Buchanan-Smith, Reader in the Department of Psychology at the University of Stirling, said:
"Primatology has always been a real strength in Psychology at Stirling, and the primate team is expanding. The new Centre will provide superb facilities for us to continue world-leading research, and facilitate our already excellent undergraduate teaching and post-graduate training."
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Dr Hannah Buchanan-Smith University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467674 |
Croatian Ambassador Visiting Stirling
Date released: Tuesday 16 November 2004
In June 2004, Croatia became an official candidate for membership in the European Union and is now expecting the beginning of negotiations on terms of the membership - most likely in the first quarter of 2005. The candidate status for Croatia symbolises a decisive break with a difficult past - and recognition of its democratic potential and stability credentials only a decade after the end of the post-Yugoslav conflict (1991 - 1995).
The current political situation and foreign policy orientation of Croatia will be in the focus of public lecture to be given by Croatian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mr Joško Paro, at the University of Stirling on Wednesday 17 November.
The title of the lecture, organised by Department of Politics, will be Croatia: between the Balkans and European Union. It will take place at 11am in Lecture Theatre A 96, Pathfoot building. After the lecture, the Ambassador will make himself available to questions from the audience.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Dr Dejan Jovic University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467567 |
Stirling's Inverness Graduation Ceremony
Date released: Wednesday 17 November 2004
Nearly 140 students will graduate from the University of Stirling on Friday 26 November. The ceremony will take place in St Andrew’s Cathedral Inverness at 12 noon.
The ceremony will be presided over by Acting Vice-Chancellor Neil Keeble who will confer first degrees, predominantly nursing and midwifery, and a small number of higher degrees.
Predict Your Child
Date released: Monday 22 November 2004
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Planning a family and want to know what your kids might look like? The University of Stirling’s Psychology Department has the answer.
Psychologists Dr Charlie Frowd and Dr Peter Hancock have developed sophisticated computer software that can predict how your child might look by fusing the faces of the potential parents.
Dr Frowd said: “The Predict Your Child software synthesises the faces and breeds them together in a way similar to that found in nature. The breeding process combines ‘genes’ of each face to produce offspring that resemble their parents. Each face contains about 150 ‘genes’ and we mix these together randomly from each parent. The result always produces a different offspring as in real life. We also use an adult face model, so that the ‘children’ produced are adults - typically people in their twenties. This was done so that similarities between parents and ‘children’ are more noticeable than if a baby face model was used.”
The system is already proving popular as a wedding present. To use the service, all you need to do is e-mail two good quality colour photographs to parents@predictyourchild.co.uk and you will be sent a framed photograph of the two ‘parents’ and two ‘children’, one male and one female. The service costs £25 (plus VAT and P&P).
Predict Your Child was the 2003 winner of the Stirling University Research and Enterprise (SURE) Innovation Awards.
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Dr Charlie Frowd University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466375 |
Surviving Russian Prisons
Date released: Monday 22 November 2004
Research by the University of Stirling’s Department of Applied Social Science has culminated in the first book on the contemporary Russian prison system written in English.
Criminologist Dr Laura Piacentini, a fluent Russian speaker, spent five months living in Russian prisons studying penal practices as the background to Surviving Russian Prisons: Punishment, economy and politics in transition. She is the first western academic to conduct empirical and theoretical research on the system.
Surviving Russian Prisons focuses on how punishment is allocated and administered, in particular the changing nature of prison labour. Once an ideological justification for prison regimes, its main function now is to give prisoners a means to survive through participating in a barter economy.
“Prisoners survive by trading goods with the local community, ” said Dr Piacentini.
While exploring the microworlds of the Russian prison system, the book also offers fresh insight into how prisons are governed in societies undergoing turbulent social and political transformation.
Dr Piacentini said: “Penal reform is ongoing in Russia and notable success has been achieved in reducing numbers and implementing minimum standards.”
Lesley Pollock
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
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Laura Piacentini University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467982 |