22 Aug 2019

Jean Monnet honour for Dundee academic

A University of Dundee academic has been awarded a prestigious European Commission Professorship to further his research into how ecological and economic justice can be delivered. Professor Raphael Heffron received the Jean Monnet Chair for 2019-2022 on the Just Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy, one of only four such awards across the whole of the UK and the only one in Scotland. These Chairs recognise excellence in both teaching and research and are open to leading academics across the world whose work is of particular relevance to the European Union. Professor Heffron’s research at the Universi...

21 Aug 2019

Life's a beach in student's new documentary

A University of Dundee student is making a splash in the world of social media after launching her own documentary series about Scotland’s marine life. Elizabeth Mills says that she wants to encourage more people to explore the wonders of the nation’s waters with the launch of When the Tide Retreats, a series of self-produced short films on YouTube. Under her alias of Marine Mumbles, the PhD Civil Engineering student has taken to her presenting role like a duck to water, delving beneath the waves of Aberdeenshire, East Lothian, Fife and Tayside to bring viewers examples of the animal and plan...

21 Aug 2019

‘Yin and yang’ enzymes evolve over billions of years to help protect against cancer

Researchers at the University of Dundee have made an important discovery about two enzymes that have evolved over billions of years to control many different bodily functions, including playing a critical role in preventing cancer. The team, led by Dr Adrian Saurin from the University’s School of Medicine, investigated the enzymes PP1 and PP2A which were known to be vital to the process of cell division, although the precise role they played has puzzled scientists until now. Cell division, also known as mitosis, sees a parent cell divide into two daughter cells containing the same DNA content. If t...

20 Aug 2019

Shorthand work helps artist deal with pain of miscarriage

An art student and former journalist has created a series of shorthand-inspired works to help her cope with the trauma of miscarriage. Ana Hine produced the pieces as part of her MFA Art & Humanities course at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. Her project is one of more than 80 exhibits at this year’s Masters Show, which runs until this weekend. Ana used Teeline shorthand, a form of note-taking that increases the speed and brevity of writing by using abbreviated symbols rather than full words, as a way of expressing her feelings after suffering a miscarriage. She is now looking...

19 Aug 2019

Calum Colvin celebrated in new book

The career of Calum Colvin, Professor of Fine Art Photography at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, is celebrated in a new book charting his work over the past four decades. The Constructed Worlds of Calum Colvin, written by art historian Tom Normand, is the first major retrospective examining how Professor Colvin, one of Scotland’s leading contemporary artists, has developed creatively over the years. Professor Colvin discovered photography in the 1980s under the mentorship of documentary photographer Joseph McKenzie while studying sculpture at Duncan of Jordanstone. The method and...