Digests

Planning
Murray Agnew, a third year Town and Regional Planning student was awarded The Jim Boyack Memorial Trust Ninth Annual Award of £400. The cheque was presented at the annual conference of the Scottish branch of the Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland in Hamilton.

TV
A group of students in the school of television and imaging celebrated the first showing of their TV show on Channel Six. Led by post graduate Gregor Dewar the group put together a magazine show called Control Shift which included a feature on a student looking for a new flat, an interview with a local band and some animation from the faculty of art and design.

Appointment
Professor Mono Chatterji has been appointed co-ordinator of research for education and training for the Scottish economic policy network. He will be responsible for stimulating research throughout Scotland that considers the economic implications of any public policy proposals. Academics and research teams will be able to bid for research funding from Professor Chatterji to initiate projects in economics research.

Cheques
15 first year students received their first instalment of their four year bursary from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank is committed to providing the fifteen students with £1,000 a year during their degrees and will select fifteen new recipients each year for the next three academic sessions bringing the total funding to £240,000. The students were selected on the basis of financial hardship and come from all faculties across the University.

Nursing & Midwifery Open Day - 14th March 2002

The School of Architecture hosted a visit by The President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, Gordon Davies, accompanied by the Secretary, Sebastian Tombs for a tour of the school. The visitors were shown students' work, initiatives in practice and research, and met students and staff. There was a presentation of prizes for students by the Dundee Institute of Architects.

Training
A questionnaire to assess staff's IT skills and training needs is now available on the web and from departmental heads. The survey will allow the University to plan for IT training requirements and provide a better understanding of our current IT skills base. All staff are encouraged to complete the questionnaire and return it to Eric Monaghan by 15 February. The survey can be accessed at www.dundee.ac.uk/cit/CITQuestn/

Fellowships
Applications for the 2002 Leverhulme special research fellowships are now being accepted. The fellowships provide development opportunities for those with a proven record of research who have not yet held a full-time established academic post in a UK university. The deadline for applications is 14 March. Full details available at www.leverhulme.org.uk

Two students of design, Barbara Meighan and Sandra Wilson have been awarded 3-year doctoral scholarships by the SAAS to work with Professor Seaton Baxter on the new subject - natural design. Barbara has spent the last year with Seaton exploring the philosophical basis of the subject. Sandra completed her hours degree with a dissertation on 'can we have an aesthetic response to phylogenetic form"?

Access
The digital media access group in the applied computing department has just secured a contract worth over £25,000 to assess the Joint Information Systems Committee website. JISC is the body set by the four British higher education funding councils to invest in the sector's technology. The group, comprising Dr Peter Gregor, David Sloan, Lorna Gibson and Scott Milne assess websites to determine their level of accessibility and whether the site complies or is in breach of the disability discrimination act. As well as providing feedback on websites the group also run workshops for web developers giving them advice on how to make sure their website is as accessible as possible.

Seville
Professor Colin Reid of the department of law participated in a conference in Seville on regionalisation in the western Mediterranean. Organised by La fundacion tres culturas del mediterraneo and the government of Andalucia, the conference involved speakers from Spain, Italy, France and Morocco. Colin Reid was the only delegate from outside the region and delivered a paper on devolution in the UK - a hot topic at a time when the other states are reforming or reassessing their structures for regional government.

Scholarships
Nominations for Stevenson exchange scholarships are now being accepted by the Secretary's department. The scholarship was established to promote friendly relations between University students in Scotland, France, Germany and Spain. Successful applicants will attend the University of their choice during the academic year 2002-03. Scholars should make their own arrangements and do not have to be modern languages students. Nominations should be sent to Ian Francis by 15 February.

Marathon
Hazel Bell, the institute of sport and exercise's children's co-ordinator and leader of the cardiac rehabilitation class will run the London marathon in April to raise money for the cardiac rehabilitation services and cancer campaign at Ninewells. You can sponsor Hazel by contacting her at the institute on ex5177 or email h.c.bell@dundee.ac.uk.

Fulbright
The US-UK Fulbright commission is offering three Fulbright distinguished scholar awards to academics or professionals who are established or potential leaders in their field to facilitate research and/or lecturing at an institution in the US. Application forms and full details are available on the website www.fulbright.co.uk. Closing date is Thursday 21 March 2002.

Lecture
Professor Geoff Gadd delivered a new year lecture in the school of life sciences explaining the biotechnological importance of fungi on medicine, food production and pollution treatment. The lecture was organised by the Institute of Biology and the British Mycological Society.

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