annual fund grants compendium - university of nottingham · andaman island a roof over their heads....

Annual Fund Grants Compendium

January 2008

The University of Nottingham Annual Fund Grants

This Compendium reviews all those projects funded during 2007 by the Annual Fund Grants Programme and shows how your generosity has been used. Thanks to your ongoing philanthropy, a range of new projects throughout the University will be supported in 2008 and we will report progress and outcomes from both years’ awards in 2009.

In addition, many other projects and activities will continue to be funded by gifts given specifically to Schools, Departments, Halls and central support services by alumni and other donors throughout the year.

We hope you agree that through your generosity new facilities, opportunities and experiences are being created which are bringing tangible benefits to the Nottingham community and beyond, both here in the UK and throughout the world.

Thanks to the philanthropic support of alumni and friends of The University of Nottingham, the Annual Fund is making an impact on the lives of our students and academics as well as others all over the world. Your donation supports many different activities and is one of the main sources of funding for a variety of projects across the University.

The leadership of the University, via The Annual Fund Grants Programme, awarded more than £400,000 to 29 different projects in 2007. These grants are available to all members of the University Community (academic, student and administrative organisations) and are distributed in three specific ways:

1. Enhancing the Student Experience – see page 4

2. Engaging with our Community – see page 16

3. Pump-priming New Research Ideas – see page 22

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Enhancing the Student ExperienceAnnual Giving Programme funds enrich and enhance the student experience at The University of Nottingham in a variety of new and imaginative ways, ensuring that the brightest and most capable students, regardless of background, are encouraged to reach beyond their grasp for the benefit of many.

New scheme ‘looking after’ 5,000 student medics and nursesA recent Sport England survey of staff at the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust showed that a large proportion of staff based at the Trust’s Queen’s Medical Centre did not meet government recommended levels for physical activity. In response to national health priorities, government policy and local need, a team at NUH Trust has developed a new, theory-driven workplace well-being programme called Q-active. An award of £24,900 established an innovative student service called the Q-active Student Health and Well-Being Project. The programme provides access to services, facilities and provisions which promote physical activity and well-being, a public health priority in the UK.

Want to help future projects like these? Email [email protected] for a donation form

Section 1: Enhancing the Student Experience

Nottingham Students using their skills to transform lives overseasUniversity engineering students are using their skills to get the orphaned children of the Tsunami-devastated South Andaman Island a roof over their heads. The six-strong University team are training local people to use surplus surveying equipment, donated by Nottingham’s Institute of Engineering, Surveying and Space Geodesy, to help put together more accurate construction. This was only possible thanks to a £9,275 grant.

Fast-track PhD programme for MedicsAs part of the undergraduate medical course at the University, students undergo an undergraduate degree that involves research-related activities including a research project in their 3rd year. The degree is unique to Nottingham and the research projects are yielding excellent research outcomes. Many of these students go on to present their data at national and international scientific conferences. An award of £24,000 is establishing a Fast Track PhD Programme to encourage these talented students to pursue a research career. This pump-priming funding is invaluable and supports three students over the first two years of this initiative.

Food and Drink in Archaeology 2007: A Postgraduate ConferenceThe first Food & Drink in Archaeology 2007 Conference was hosted by the Department of Archaeology. Organised by five postgraduate student volunteers, the two-day conference expanded and showcased the importance of research into the study of food and drink in all archaeological periods. The initiative reflects the vibrancy and vitality of research activity in the department.

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Enhancing the culture of Fine ArtThe University’s new BA (Hons) Fine Art is expected to double the number of students by 2011-12. An award of £24,556 is adding significant value to the student learning experience through small-scale, yet fully resourced and portable facilities. The award will support the taught elements of the programme, facilitating student visual research and development. Annual Fund financing is being used to purchase equipment, learning resources, expertise, and evaluation. The outcome will enable students the opportunity to fully research and develop a contemporary, ambitious, contextualised approach to traditional Fine Art media – painting, drawing, print and sculpture.

Saving images for lifeDigitising the University’s magnificent historic documents in Manuscripts and Special Collections is bringing them into the modern era. Providing digital forms of the collections greatly increases their use, as it enables access for many audiences such as our alumni, and helps preservation. An award of £4,926 is helping the department to buy an image archive server which will enable the University to use the content in more efficient and flexible ways and allow remote access to teaching and research materials.



A real-life pharmacy for Nottingham studentsThe City of Nottingham and the University are well known for pharmacy because of Boots founder and philanthropist Jesse Boot. A grant of £25,000 created this fully functional simulation of a retail pharmacy at the University. A unique state-of-the-art teaching facility, the simulation experience will enhance learning for all Pharmacy students. Students will get real experience of practical dispensing, explore risk management issues and ultimately improve patient safety. The bespoke training facility will enhance learning across all undergraduate years. Pharmaceutical wholesalers Mawdsleys donated the facility’s fixtures & fittings as well as a comprehensive stock of dispensary drugs and counter medicines. In addition, Positive Solutions, a subsidiary of Mawdsley’s, provided a fully functional patient medication record and labelling system.

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Celebrating the opening of the new Rehearsal HallA large-scale concert by the University Philharmonia and the University Choir celebrated the opening of the new Rehearsal Hall in the Department of Music. The concert was conducted by Jonathan Tilbrook, the Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Fellow, and involved 70 student orchestral musicians and 200 student and community singers. The new Rehearsal Hall is providing a high quality environment for large-scale ensembles at the University for the very first time. An award of £4,000 helped underwrite some of the costs of the concert.



A life-changing experience for young teachersThe Banareng School in South Africa enjoys a long-established link with the University of Nottingham. Staff in the School of Education raised their own funds to provide the salary of an extra teacher at the African school some years ago. For the last two years, Nottingham students have visited the school to teach and help out, gaining invaluable experience. 2007 was to have concluded the most recent agreement between the University and Banareng but now, thanks to a £13,040 award, a group of 16 students and two experienced teachers are using their skills to help the poverty-stricken school and enrich their own studies. In the past, returning students have remarked that the visit had been a life-changing experience and had had a profound effect on their teaching careers.

Clearing the courtsSeven tennis courts near the halls of residence on University Park are being power cleaned, repainted and remarked to prevent further deterioration and give them another five years of sporting life. The Estates Office received a £14,000 award for the work.

Inspiring students to fulfill their dreamsThey battled down fierce, icy rivers in boats laden with food and overnight camping gear, days from civilisation. The Four Borders Expedition was a character-building experience for Nottingham students, who were among eight of the best white water kayakers selected from universities all over the UK. With the help of a £2,886 award, the team explored the white water rivers of the Altai Mountains in Siberia and Mongolia for six weeks. The team has prepared a DVD of the trip and is planning a series of lectures and talks to share their team-building adventure.

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A summer in Nottingham for the University’s Ningbo students350 students from The University of Nottingham Ningbo enjoyed a summer school at the University in Nottingham, thanks to a £25,000 award. The students spent four weeks in Nottingham to take a custom-designed programme in British history, politics, culture and business and were awarded a Certificate in British Studies.

It’s a love-matchEnthusiastic University tennis players are serving up a treat for the school children of Kenya’s third largest city, Kisumu. Steph Bolton, James Allen and alumnus and former University Tennis Club president Rachel Smith formed Jambo Tennis, a scheme offering voluntary tennis coaching. They say: “Sport and exercise can improve mood, self esteem and happiness, and hundreds of sports schemes already exist in the UK. Our hope is that taking such a scheme to some of Africa’s most disadvantaged communities will have a profound and life-enhancing effect and we want to do it through the sport we know best.”

An award of just £3,000 is helping them set up an eight-week scheme of tennis and sports sessions in 15 different primary and secondary schools in Kisumu.



New Vet School goes from strength to strengthThe University’s new School of Veterinary Medicine and Science is delivering a course using the most effective teaching methodology in an innovative and original manner. From day one of the course, teaching materials are informed by clinical context delivered through both eLearning and the involvement of local practices partnered to the School. A Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) will further enhance its reputation by enabling large amounts of clinical material, not usually seen in academic veterinary hospitals, to be collected, providing access to images of greater clinical complexity. An award of £24,995 is supporting critical aspects of the School’s research with formal links of clinical practice.

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A financial safety net for our international studentsLiving and studying in a foreign culture can be stressful and bewildering at times and occasionally some of Nottingham’s international students find themselves in a financial crisis through no fault of their own. An award of £25,000 is being made available for an International Student Hardship Fund. This fund is open to individuals who experience an unexpected, short-term, temporary financial crisis and the money is intended to cover living expenses only.



Engineering a solution for Bolivian orphansGraduate engineers Garth Parkes, Phil Taud and Chris Knight are designing and building a safe and efficient sanitary wastewater treatment system providing 200 Bolivian orphans with clean and safe water. The three, all members of the University Students’ Union society called Engineers Without Borders, are working with local people to provide the new system for a shower, toilet block and laundry area at the Casa Segura Orphanage, in Bolivia. The water will be purified and available for drinking and cooking. The Nottingham engineers will be involved in every stage of the project: planning, design, construction and evaluation.

New balls please! At Willoughby and Florence HallsContinuing the tennis restoration theme, courts at Willoughby and Florence Boot Halls are being refurbished to provide updated facilities for students wanting to play the game. The original courts needed levelling and completely re-surfacing after extensive use over the years. An award of £27,000 is bringing them up to standard.

Looking forward – giving back to give careers a boostCurrent students and recent alumni can benefit from invaluable help and advice from former students of The University of Nottingham. A £24,690 award is helping the University’s Centre for Career Development identify alumni who can add further value to the Nottingham student experience. Recent surveys have suggested that the vast majority of alumni would appreciate enhanced careers services, such as mentoring schemes, well after they leave the University. A new post is being developed with the specific aim of identifying career development needs through market research, and putting forward an appropriate delivery system which will provide valuable careers help to alumni of the University.

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Engaging with our CommunityAs a catalyst for improving the quality of life in our region,

Annual Giving Programme funds are helping to make connections with our community, bringing local people into

the University and using expertise to enrich the lives of students and realise community ambitions

throughout the world.

Establishing the University Museum as a visitor attractionA far-reaching plan to establish the University’s museum as a nexus for outreach, teaching and research activities, received a boost with an £8,000 award. Every student in the Department of Archaeology will benefit from the museum’s development. Increased access to collections and handling material is making the museum an important teaching and learning resource with students able to work with artifact-based analysis through individual projects and dissertations in class-led studies. Also planned is the development of an educational programme for schools as one of a number of benefits which will bring the University museum back to life.

Bowled over after half a centuryThe University of Nottingham Staff Social Club bowls section celebrated their 50th anniversary with a dinner dance to commemorate the occasion. Past and present members of the club enjoyed a wonderful day thanks, in part, to an award of £2,210.

Community volunteers to act as healthcare simulatorsA new and innovative University project is recruiting the general public to take part in the training of future healthcare professionals. Healthy members of the public will act as ‘simulated’ patients for training.

Effective training and education in practical clinical skills is an increasingly important part of healthcare curricula and strongly endorsed by the professional bodies responsible for registration and regulation of healthcare professionals. Currently most of the teaching that takes place within the Clinical Skills Centre involves students learning and practising skills on their peers, on mannequins or, occasionally, using professional actors. Experienced simulated patients are able to provide feedback to students on their performance and thus improve the students’ learning. The cohort of volunteer simulated patients will be available as a resource to teachers and students in the Clinical Skills Centre.

The Medicine and Health Sciences Clinical Skills Centre was awarded £17,195 towards carrying out the recruitment and training project.


Section 2: Engaging with our Community

Let’s put on a show!Dancing dreams came true for a group of youngsters at the William Sharp School in Bilborough in Nottingham, thanks to a £950 grant from the Annual Giving Programme. The 12-year-olds worked with local professional dancers and a choreographer to stage a special performance to celebrate the University’s sponsorship of the multi-million pound Nottingham University Samworth Academy at the William Sharp School in Bilborough.

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Floating the name of Nottingham worldwide

A hot air balloon will carry the name of The University of Nottingham across the Great Wall of China in 2008! Nottingham scientist and ballooning world record holder Dr Janet Folkes, from the School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, plans to fly it in an event labelled ‘2008 The Chinese Flight’. The competition is open to all pilots and includes a women-only challenge to promote women in air sports. Dr Folkes, from Bulcote in Nottingham, took up the sport in 1984 and holds 46 world records in ballooning and the Silver Medal of the Royal Aero Club. A grant of £25,000 will help her to take part and to return the balloon so that it might be used for University events in the UK.


Section 2: Engaging with our Community

High-flying blowers act as ambassadors in BelgiumAlmost 50 BlowSoc members enjoyed their fifth European tour with an extra date in Belgium thanks to a £1,500 award. The touring ensemble included the University Wind Orchestra and the ‘Moonlighters’ Big Band. The University Wind Orchestra was ranked 2nd in the country at the National Concert Band Finals and achieved a gold award in the regional competitions.

A musical celebration of achievementsThe University’s MusSoc hit the high notes after an award of £1,500 helped them to visit Prague on a 10th Anniversary Tour with a choir and orchestra. The 70 touring students benefitted from the musical experience of playing in a place with a great musical heritage as well as the social aspect of the tour. Such events are always a fantastic opportunity to present to the wider community the achievements of the Music Society’s Choir and Orchestra.

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Pump-priming New ResearchAnnual Giving Programme funds are pump-priming new and innovative ideas in order to help our researchers achieve their full potential in focusing on world-changing initiatives.

Essential equipment provides a much-needed boost for researchCurrent research involving DNA samples is being hampered due to the need for a software system that speeds up analyses. A team of 16 undergraduate and PhD/MD researchers are directly involved in laboratory work on a daily basis generating about 450 mRNA and DNA samples each week that need quantification. Current provision in the Department of Haematology is so stretched that sample production has been halted thus hampering progress. An award of £17,405 has provided core equipment to facilitate research through the purchase of an MX300P real-time PCR System.


Section 3: Pump-priming New Research

A neonatal MRI incubator unit When sick infants at high-risk need a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan at the Queen’s Medical Centre, they must be moved from the neonatal unit to the clinical MRI scanner on the other side of the hospital. It involves moving all the associated intensive care monitoring equipment and specialist staff and adds risk to the baby. A £31,000 grant is helping to create a safe environment for the baby and to allow MRI research projects to be performed by providing a neonatal MRI incubator unit. The unit forms part of a larger project to raise funds for a dedicated Neonatal MRI Scanner to be placed on the Neonatal Unit, where it will be most effective. The funding was matched by the James Tudor Foundation and Nottingham Forest Football Club.

Canine solutions to improve the quality of lives Using dogs to rehabilitate young offenders or help disabled people carry out daily tasks are just a couple of research possibilities for Nottingham alumnus Dr Nicola Hendey. A researcher in the University’s School of Sociology and Social Policy, Dr Hendey established herself nationally as an authority on disability and achieving independent living. As a disabled person she has overcome serious

difficulties herself to achieve her PhD. An award of £41,000 is funding her Senior Research Fellowship. With added backing from the Dogs’ Trust and the UK Prison Service, Dr Hendey is investigating young offenders’ responses to caring for a dog and the impact on the development of empathy and social skills.

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The University of Nottingham extends its appreciation to all those who have generously supported the Annual Giving Programme and made the projects in this Compendium possible.

A list of donors or their nominees can be found at www.nottingham.ac.uk/development. We also thank all those who wish to remain anonymous.

Thank you

Professor Sir Colin Campbell, Vice-Chancellor

Supporting the Annual Giving Programme

We hope that the projects highlighted in this Compendium have encouraged you to continue or begin supporting the Annual Giving Programme. There are many ways you can do this and we will be pleased to discuss your ideas in more detail.

• The University of Nottingham has charitable status meaning gifts of cash by UK tax payers can be made tax effective under the Gift Aid Scheme, thereby increasing each gift’s value by almost one third. Higher rate tax payers can also claim higher-rate tax relief.

• Those paying income tax in the USA and Canada may also be able to make their gifts tax-deductible.

• The University also appreciates gifts of shares and securities on which individuals and corporations may be able to claim income tax, capital gains or corporation tax relief.

• Throughout its history, Nottingham has benefitted from legacies of all sizes. These gifts continue to help make a major impact on our ongoing development, often many years after being made.

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Help to make a differenceIf you would like to discuss how your generosity can support the Annual Giving Programme and make a real difference for the future, please contact:

Ian D GardnerDeputy Development DirectorThe Development OfficeThe University of NottinghamKing’s Meadow CampusLenton LaneNottingham NG7 2NR

T: +44 (0)115 951 3726 E: [email protected]

Development OfficeKing’s Meadow Campus The University of Nottingham Lenton Lane, Nottingham NG7 2NR, UK

Tel: + 44 (0)115 951 3687 www.nottingham.ac.uk

annual fund grants compendium - university of nottingham · andaman island a roof over their heads....

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