aston in touch 2015

CONTENTS

2015 - Alumni Magazine

Editor: Dr Annette RuberyEditorial Assistant: Rosemary GriffithsCover photography: Andrew Ellis by Adrian BurrowsIllustrations: Colin WhittockDesign: DigitronixPrint: Sterling

05 Alumni Profile – Chris Wintle

08 The Year in Pictures

10 Exhibition – History of Aston in 20 Objects

16 Cover Story – The Future of Fibre-optics

22 Research – Combating Type 2 Diabetes

26 Business – Why Small is Beautiful

29 Feature – Women in STEM

34 Fundraising

38 Where are They Now?

41 From The Archives

Aston Alumni Magazine — 2015

WELCOME

50th Anniversary Edition

Welcome to the 50th anniversary edition of Aston In Touch - we hope you like the new design. As we fast approach our anniversary, I am delighted to be able to tell you about several new partnerships. In May we announced a new collaboration with Cranfield University to develop postgraduate scholarships and new research opportunities, while in June, we signed an official partnership agreement with the University of Leicester to support our development of Aston Medical School (AMS). As mentioned in last year’s magazine, our medical school (which is due to open in 2017) will have a strong emphasis on individual scholarships and financial assistance programmes to encourage social mobility in medicine for West Midlands’ students. Leicester Medical School is acting as both mentor and guarantor to AMS, supporting the process of General Medical Council approval.

We have much more news to update you on inside, but why not visit us and see for yourself what we’ve been working on? We’ll be holding a Big Reunion in April 2016, and you are all warmly invited to campus to help us celebrate a half-century of success and innovation - please look at the back cover for details. I hope that, either in person, via the magazine, or over the internet, you’ll find a way to join in with the celebrations over the coming year.

I am looking forward to welcoming as many of you as possible back to Aston.

Best wishes,

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dame Julia King

WELCOME#ASTON50

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Royal honours for staffIn January Sir Adrian Cadbury was made a Companion of

Honour in the Queen’s New Year Honours List.

Sir Adrian served as Aston’s Chancellor between 1979 and 2004, later chaired the University’s Development Board, and continues to be one of the University’s most generous

supporters. Several other Aston staff members were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June. Brian Tighe (Emeritus Professor of Polymer Science) was awarded

an OBE for services to higher education and for pioneering research in the field of bio-medical polymers, while Nicola Turner, the University’s Director of Career and Placements,

received an MBE for services to higher education and graduate employability.

3D ‘cave’ promises immersive teachingForget Plato’s Cave, Aston is planning to build a virtual-reality ‘CAVE’ that will allow students to navigate, examine and interact with fully realised 3D digitised environments.The £3.9m 3D-Lab project will provide students with an immersive experience suitable for studying topics as varied as the physical world, the body, turbulence, prototype design, complex mathematical constructions, data visualisation and programming in computer science.The 3D environments will be created in a darkened blank-canvas Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) room in which the bare walls act as a screen for the 3D projection. The lab will be just the second of its kind to be built at a UK university.

GUM TREATMENT COULD HALT

VASCULAR INJURY

Business programme in global top 50Aston Business School’s MSc in Investment Analysis has been ranked 48th in the world according to the Financial Times’ Masters in Finance ranking. Seven rankings are published by the FT annually relating to MBA, EMBA, Masters in Finance, Masters in Management and online MBA programmes.

Treating a common gum condition in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients could significantly reduce their risk of heart disease, Aston University researchers say. Over ten per cent of the adult population have CKD and those affected often have poor health outcomes due to an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease compared to the general population.

Recent research suggests that increased mortality in people with CKD may be linked to chronic inflammatory conditions such as periodontitis. This is because bacteria in the mouth can enter the bloodstream through periodontal conditions, causing blood cells to malfunction and leading to clots and narrowing of the arteries.

Aston’s research judged ‘world leading’

Aston has received ‘world leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’ accreditation for nearly 80 per cent of its overall research in the

Government’s Research Excellence Framework (REF). In specific research subject areas, Area Studies is rated 3rd in the UK; Allied

Health Professions 5th in the UK; and Business Studies 17th in the UK for research classed as world leading (4* star) or internationally

excellent (3* star). Business Studies, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Computer Science and Informatics all received 100

per cent for Research Impact (i.e., the real-world effect their 4* and 3* academic research has upon society, communities and businesses).

TOP

50

NEWS

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Alumnus Chairs UN

climate change panel

Aston alumnus Dr Ismail El Gizouli has been named as acting Chair of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As head of the IPCC, the world’s leading authority on climate change, Dr El Gizouli plays a key role in the review of global environmental issues and is directing the IPCC in its independent review of the latest data to ensure that the public has a clear understanding of issues related to climate change.

An app a day keeps the doctor away

An Aston academic who helped to develop a ‘pocket doctor’ app which enables medical

researchers to track Parkinson’s disease symptoms was featured at the launch of the long-awaited Apple Watch. Dr Max Little talked about the beneficial impact

smartphone and smartwatch technology is having on health research in a special video played during the event. The app, Parkinson mPower, was presented by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who lauded its potential to eventually change the lives of people with the disease.

Proof That Men Are Forgetful

Science has finally proven what many have long suspected - that men are more forgetful

than women. In a project led by Dr Liana Palermo, Aston researchers have revealed that women are better at remembering to perform and fulfil future tasks and plans. In the study, a 100 men and women were given memory

tasks over periods of two minutes, 15 minutes and 24 hours. The women participating in

the test were found to excel at remembering to perform tasks that involved doing, rather

than saying, something. They were also better than men at remembering activities linked

to events rather than to a specific time.

Goldman Sachs alumni recognised

Aston University has awarded Visiting Industrial Fellowships to 18 alumni of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses

Programme, in recognition of the contribution they have made across the University to the understanding, experience and awareness of business growth and entrepreneurship. The

selected business owners, who will be Fellows for a two-year period, come from a variety of

sectors. For more information about the 10,000 Small Businesses programme, turn to p.26.

Leadership lessons on the hoof

SME participants have presented their business expansion plans as part of their involvement in the Aston Programme for Small

Business Growth project. Emma Taylor of The Leadership Whisperers is one of 30 participants in the first cohort of the

programme run by Aston Centre for Growth. Her business works with executive leaders and teams utilising Equine Guided Leadership

Development, which is a unique and powerful way of learning that involves leading horses on the ground through a variety of

exercises to gain direct feedback on your leadership style.

When each participant was asked to present their three-year growth plan, she took the opportunity to showcase what her

business was all about by bringing the horses to the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral and presenting live in the city centre.

NEWS

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Aston Graduates’ Association is open to all graduates of Aston University. The organisation pre-dates the current institution as it was set up to support students of the College of Advanced Technology that transformed into Aston University on the receipt of its Royal Charter in 1966. Members played an important role in the establishment of the University and are looking forward to celebrating Aston’s 50th anniversary in 2016.

During the past year, our social events have included a visit to a microbrewery, a tour of Coventry Cathedral (pictured), a backstage tour at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, a trip to the Geological collection at Dudley Museum and to the Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve in Dudley. Most visits are followed by lunch where appropriate. We also enjoyed dinner at Birmingham College of Food and heard about the work of Aston Research Centre for Healthy Ageing (several members have since become volunteers on a variety of research programmes). We are looking forward to a tour of the Morgan Car Factory in Malvern and a visit to the refurbished Wedgwood Museum in Stoke-on-Trent.

Each year the Association provides two prizes for students who have made an outstanding contribution either to the student experience or in a voluntary capacity. AGA also has reciprocal arrangements with the University of Birmingham’s Guild of Graduates. Members of each association are made very welcome at all events.

Correction: in the 2014 edition we erroneously referred to the Primary Progressive Synagogue in Birmingham - this should have read the Birmingham Progressive Synagogue.

Credit:Coventry Cathedral photo, Andrew Walker © (walker44)

Details of AGA events and an application form to join are available at www.astongraduates.org.uk The subscription is £5 per year.

For further information about any event, please contact Jenny Martin

+44 (0) 1564 777 185

AGA NEWSAston Graduates’ Association

NEWS

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ALUMNI PROFILE

MAN OF THE MATCH

Annette Rubery meets graduate Chris Wintle, who has helped to transform the fortunes of

a Gloucestershire football club.

— Aston’s —

low worms and pretty wildflowers lived here before the stadium was built. They’re here again now and they’re thriving. We’ve got orchids, cowslips and a wealth of other wildflowers growing here - all great for butterflies,

bees and other insects.

So says the sign on the wall of Forest Green Rovers FC near to the attractive Cotswold town of Nailsworth. This, along with the chalkboards promising

veggie burgers and falafel wraps, are the first indications that our trip to see the “Green Devils” play Macclesfield Town on a sunny Saturday

afternoon might not be a run-of-the-mill match-day experience.

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ou won’t often hear a football club described as a “challenger brand”, but

Forest Green Rovers is just that. In 2006 the Club moved to its current stadium (The New Lawn) - nestling in the picturesque Nailsworth valley - but by 2010 it was on the verge of bankruptcy. At this point Dale Vince OBE - former New Age traveller-turned-founder of green energy company Ecotricity - stepped in, bringing with him Aston graduate Chris Wintle, who joined the FGR board of Directors. Since then, they’ve been working hard to transform the beautiful game into a beautifully eco-friendly business, steering the sport away from its reputation for dodgy burgers and even dodgier behaviour. With its family atmosphere and organic vegan food (all meat products have been “given the red card”), FGR has certainly taken a few risks. Could the Rovers really be the greenest football club on the planet?

“I’m not aware of anyone else who can claim as much,” says Chris, who graduated from Aston in 1980 with a degree in Managerial and Administrative Studies and who has also served on Aston Business School Advisory Board. As he explains, the club’s focus has been on three main areas: energy, food and transportation.

“The big one is energy. We have eight solar panels which cover 13.25 square metres of the roof. This harnesses 10 to 20 per cent of the sun’s energy. We also recycle all of our water off the pitch and the building - during the first season we collected and recycled 388,177 litres of water from under the pitch. It saved us over £500 off our water bill. It’s also an organic pitch. We think it’s the only one in the UK - probably the world. On the transport side we also have a fleet of electric cars. We had the first electric fast-charger - that was installed a couple of years ago and we’ve had a number of different electric vehicles.”

Since leaving Aston, Chris has pursued his interest in green energy in a variety of ways. He began by launching Npower’s first retail green-energy product (Juice) in 2001 at a time when “everybody thought green energy was to do with tree-huggers and had not got much idea about what it was for”. Having lost some business

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to Ecotricity, when Manchester City was considering installing a wind turbine at its club, Chris made the acquaintance of the company’s unconventional founder and soon came on-board as its Sales and Marketing Director. He plays football in his spare time and has a keen interest in the electric car market; thanks to Dale’s decision to install electric chargers in all the main service stations up and down the UK, he explains, you can now drive from Land’s End to John O’Groats in an electric vehicle.

It’s not easy being green, however. One of the club’s most controversial policies has been to remove meat from the menu. First the staff and players were encouraged to adopt a locally-sourced vegan diet, and now the club’s food offering is entirely vegan and includes the famous badger pasty (“badger” is not a reference to the filling but to the team’s old black and white strip). In 2014 the club held what is believed to have been the world’s first vegan football match when FGR played Lincoln City on World Vegan Day - an occasion endorsed by Sir Paul McCartney. Yet, despite general praise for its food, it’s still a sore point with some. The politer away-game

01

#GreenFootball

“We’re only here for the

burgers”, while others grumble that

FGR’s hummus wraps are an

attempt to gentrify a

working-class sport.

COVER STORY

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01 FOREST GREEN ROVERS 02 CHRIS WINTLE

Welcome to the greenest club on the planet

Football, but not as we know it: Chris says FGR is a challenger brand

chants include “We’re only here for the burgers”, while others grumble that FGR’s hummus wraps are an attempt to gentrify a working-class sport. The media fascination has been strong, too, with one journalist coming all the way from New York to photograph the contents of the buffet. I ask Chris whether Dale really did say that fans could bring ham sandwiches if they wanted to. “Yes they can - but how rude would that be?” he laughs.

With a motto like “Changing the rules of the game” some friction was inevitable, but Chris is proud of the club’s ethical stance, which permeates everything from the pitch (which is chemical-free and automatically mowed by an electric “mow-bot”) to the staff (previous hires have included former prisoners who are serious about making a fresh start in the community). “It’s a different style of business,” he explains. “There’s a high ethical, as well as environmental, content in what we do and I think we’ve taken that ethos into football. We are challenging a lot of things that we think are bad in football, whether that’s to do with behaviours, the way the clubs are run or their environmental impact.

We’re going to make a positive impact not just on the field but in the broader scheme of things.”After some gripping football and with the sun gently setting on the Nailsworth Valley, it’s not difficult to understand Chris’s passion for the club. The next step, he explains, is to create a purpose-built modern stadium and green retail park at Junction 13, which they hope to achieve in the next three to four years. But for the moment - surrounded by wildflowers, butterflies and bees - Nailsworth remains an Edenic vision of football; a place of contentment and bliss (at least today, thanks to FGR’s decisive 3-1 victory over Macclesfield Town).

It also seems a long way from our urban campus, though Chris has good memories of football during his university years too, joking that he learnt all his “best tricks” at Aston. “Actually, the whole experience was exceptional,” he adds with a smile. “I wouldn’t enjoy the life I have today had I not gone to Aston University.”

“ Actually, the whole experience was exceptional,” he adds with a smile.

“I wouldn’t enjoy the life I have today had I not gone to Aston University.”

02

ALUMNI PROFILE

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IN PICTURES

— The Year —

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09. Research to Reality

Sir Malcolm Stevens OBE FRS hosted a special 50th anniversary event at London’s Royal Society in April, celebrating the discovery, by Aston academics, of brain-cancer drug temozolomide.

07. New York Drinks Reception

The Executive Dean of the Business School, Professor George Feiger (second from right), met alumni at a New York drinks reception in April.

02. Peter Casey visit

Alumnus Peter Casey - star of the Irish version of Dragon’s Den - visited campus in February to give a talk about his career and to offer feedback on the students’ business pitches.

06. Postgraduate Graduation

Two of our postgraduates from the March 2015 cohort were snapped in the Main Building with one of our alumni picture-frames.

10. MacLaren Memorial Lecture

In May alumnus Matthew Crummack, CEO of lastminute.com, gave a compelling lecture on brand transformation in the digital age.

01. Kestrel Ringing

In June Aston’s resident kestrel chicks were ringed for identification.

03. Shell Eco Marathon

In May a student team from Engineering entered an energy-efficient car (entirely designed, built and tested at Aston) into the Shell Eco Marathon in Rotterdam.

08. Solar Eclipse

Staff and students gathered on campus in March to witness the solar eclipse. A lucky few managed to obtain eclipse viewfinders (pictured), though others improvised with cardboard boxes.

05. The History of Aston in 20 Objects

Aston’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Helen Higson OBE, cut the ceremonial ribbon at the opening of Aston’s new exhibition in January (see p. 10). A lunch for alumni, staff and friends followed.

04. Tony Hayward

In March Dr Tony Hayward spoke as part of the Fail, Learn, Win campaign, designed to encourage people to take risks and to acknowledge the role that failure can play in a successful career.

IN PICTURES

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In January we launched a brand new commemorative exhibition exploring Aston’s history through

20 curious objects. Encompassing everything from lab equipment

to splendid pieces of regalia, each object tells a different story and is

accompanied by a caption written by a member of Aston’s community.

— The History of Aston —

I N T W E N T Y O B J E C T S

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Title deed for Stafford Street, hand-written on parchment (1747). Chosen by Alan Charters, Chief of Operations and Estates.

At the time this document was drawn up, Colmore Row was a country lane called New Hall Lane, which lay to the south of the New Hall Estate. In 1746 a private act of Parliament was passed that opened the Estate up for development, and this piece of land in Stafford Street (where campus is today) must have been one of the first to be let. In an age of electronic devices, there’s something impressive about the illuminated calligraphy and the wax seal of Ann Colmore, whose family made their fortune as cloth-dealers.

Chancellor’s Chain of Office (Thomas and John Bragg, 1903). Chosen by Sir John Sunderland, Chancellor of Aston University.

I have great pleasure in wearing this memorable piece of regalia during Aston’s annual Charter Dinner. It was originally worn by the Mayor of Aston Manor and was gifted to the University by the City of Birmingham to mark the granting of its Royal Charter in 1966. Like the mace, it carries the image of a squirrel, which is part of the Aston Manor coat of arms, and probably a coded reference to the Holte family (a squirrel’s nest is called a ‘holt’).

Young chimpanzee skeleton (date unknown). Chosen by Professor Anthony Hilton, Head of Biological & Biomedical Sciences.

Biology has been taught at Aston for over 50 years, originally along with Pharmacy, and - from the 1970s - as an independent subject. The addition of Biomedical Sciences in 2005 now means that the subject attracts over 250 students each year into a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Biological & Biomedical Science, including collaborations with international partners. Throughout this time the chimpanzee skeleton has traditionally been placed in the safe-keeping of the head of department.

Brown rat (date unknown). Chosen by Dr Andrew Ingham, Lecturer in Pharmaceutics / Drug Delivery.

The practice of leaving indiscriminate doses of rat poison in black boxes at the sides of Britain’s roads is a common method of pest control. However, one of its biggest drawbacks is that rats are gradually becoming resistant to the poison, so larger and larger doses are needed. My work on a new type of rat trap, which delivers a controlled dose of poison in the form of a spray, was recently featured in a BBC Midlands Today report. We managed to sneak this stuffed rat onto camera as a prop during the interview.

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Chancellor’s Medal and pin (2006). Chosen by Jean Hasson, 50th Anniversary Campaign Manager and Medal recipient.

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ASTON IN 20 OBJECTS

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Re-opens with a new look.

T H I S A U T U M N

E X H I B I T I O N

ASTON IN 20 OBJECTS

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Department of Pharmacy and Biology Prospectus (1963/4). Chosen by Keith Wilson, Professor of Pharmacy Practice.

Silver and enamel casket and Honorary Freedom of the City of Birmingham (Muriel Meats, 1937). Chosen by Professor Dame Julia King, Vice-Chancellor

Silver-gilt and coromandel wood Marshal’s batons (Derek Birch, 1986). Chosen by Dr Caroline Witton, Reader in Psychology and Graduation Marshal.

6 7 8

Roll of Honorary Graduates (1966-1985). Chosen by Alison Levey, Director of Registry.

Brag magazine (1960s). Chosen by Christine Bray, one of the first students to graduate from Aston University in 1966.

Postgraduate prospectus (1985). Chosen by David Farrow, Director of Marketing, Strategy and Communications.

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Student Union President’s Chain of Office. Chosen by Keith Robson, first President of Aston University’s Guild of Students.

OIympus Binocular Microscope and human pancreas tissue slide (both c. 1960s). Chosen by Professors Clifford Bailey and Peter Lambert.

Student record, pharmacy notebook and Drug Atlas (1937). Chosen by Chris Langley, Professor of Pharmacy Law and Practice and Associate Dean.

12 13 14

Pharmacy at Aston University booklet (1980s). Chosen by Professor Keith Wilson.

US Patent for temozolomide (1993). Chosen by Professor Malcolm Stevens, OBE, FRS.

Birmingham Central Technical College blazer (c. late 1930s). Chosen by Professor Chris Langley.

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Cartoon (Colin Whittock, 1987). Chosen by Professor Graham Harding, CPsychol, FBPsS, HonMRCP,

Centennial Medal (1995). Chosen by Andrew Harris, Executive Director of Campaigns.

David Bramley’s briefcase (1947) and letter from Belgrade (1958). Chosen by Odette Hutchinson, Associate Dean.

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ne of the most curious things to emerge from the History of Aston in 20 Objects exhibition was lent to

us by Esma Wright, daughter of James Wilson, Principal of Aston University’s forerunner, Birmingham Central Technical College. It is a miniature silver crown gifted to her father by the Guild of Students when he retired in 1956. As Esma explains: “When James Wilson was Principal there was a tradition at the end of each academic year during the Guild of Students’ Ball. Principal Wilson was seated on a chair and a ‘silver’ crown with a thumbscrew at the side was placed on his head. The screw was tightened until he agreed to give the students an extra half-day holiday. When he conceded he was carried in his chair around the hall to much applause.

“When he left the, by then, College of Advanced Technology, the Guild of Students presented him with a miniature replica silver crown, complete with thumbscrew, sitting on a silk cushion in College colours, mounted on a small oak board. This replica was in my father’s study for many years; the top colours have faded but the underside remains bright.”

O Esma’s husband, Professor John Wright, was an alumnus of the College and later taught Metallurgy at Aston, witnessing its transition from College of Advanced Technology to fully-fledged University in 1966. He adds: “The original full-size crown was stainless steel but it was engraved with symbols. They would have been put there originally rather closer to the end of the Second World War. I graduated in 1954 and attended the students’ end of year ball, 1955, having met James Wilson earlier that day. I was introduced to Esma (short for Jesmar), James Wilson’s elder daughter, that evening and we married two years later just before I completed my (London) PhD.

“I came back to the College of Advanced Technology as a Senior Lecturer in 1958. My Readership in 1961 emphasized the fact that the department was already strengthening its postgrad, mainly industrial research, and my Professorship was confirmed at the end of the 1964 session.”

The screw was tightened until

he agreed to give the

students an extra half-day holiday. When he conceded

he was carried in his chair around the

hall to much applause.

PRINCIPAL’S CROWNING GLORY

HISTORY

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What attracted you to the job at Aston?Andrew Harris: Two things really - firstly it was an opportunity to take things forward quite quickly; I saw that there was opportunity for growth and to strengthen the relationships with the alumni that we already have. Another thing that attracted me was that, in my view, a higher number of our alumni have gone on to do quite remarkable things compared to most universities. Whether that’s because we prepare them for employment quicker through the placement year, I don’t know, but we certainly have a lot of alumni who are doing some remarkable things on a global level.

What are you currently working on?AH: We now have a team, centrally, of ten people who look after alumni relationships. The first thing we’ve done is to put in place a basic programme of communications and events in order to reach out to alumni. I think the next stage is to understand what our alumni need from us because I passionately believe that we shouldn’t be here just for the four years they’re with us, but we should support them throughout their career and life developments. We also need to involve our alumni a lot more within the institution, whether that’s through steering groups, working groups,

advisory boards, guest lectures, placements or mentoring. I really want to ramp up that activity, especially as we enter our anniversary year. It gives us a reason to reconnect with alumni and to invite them to work with the University for mutual benefit. A third area is we need to build a base of philanthropic support. I think there’s the general perception that fees cover the running costs of the University but it’s not the case. If we are to develop our research and improve facilities then fundraising is going to play an increasingly important role.

What aspects of the 50th birthday celebrations are you most looking forward to?AH: What I’m looking forward to in particular is The Big Alumni Reunion [on Apr 23 and 24 2016], where we will have the campus open with tours, lectures and other entertainment; I’m hoping we’ll have a great celebratory atmosphere. I really hope that alumni feel proud of the institution and what we’ll be showcasing to them. I’m also looking forward to reaching out internationally. We have a number of global Chapters - Malaysia is a fantastic example, where we have around 700 active alumni. I’m excited about going out with the Vice-Chancellor and others to meet our alumni internationally and to build stronger relationships.

If you would like any information about the The Big

Alumni Reunion in 2016 or would like

to get more involved, please contact the Development and Alumni Relations

Office on

[email protected] +44 (0)121 204 4540

or visit aston.ac.uk/alumni/

MEET THE EXECUTIVE

Andrew Harris, Executive Director of Campaigns, is responsible for driving forward the relationships between the University and its 80,000 alumni across 150 countries. Prior to

working at Aston he set up the development and alumni relations operation at Cheltenham College, and before that, he worked at the University of Birmingham where he developed an

alumni relations programme and launched a major capital campaign.

Q & A#ASTON50

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Fibre-optic technology is a clever way of harnessing light, but with data consumption increasing, how long can it keep delivering? Annette Rubery finds out how Aston experts are

tackling a growing crisis in optical communications.

ight is one of our basic needs. Each human cell - every functioning organism on our planet, in fact - synchronises itself with the light from the sun. Experiments

in sensory deprivation show just how important light is to the brain - remove it for long enough and hallucinations will occur.

But light is so much more to us than a biological necessity. It is also a conduit for information in an increasingly networked world. Streaming through optical fibres, light offers a means of encoding and transmitting

data across vast spaces. Powering everything from the internet to entertainment, it is the engine of economic and social progress.

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT

BRIGADE

— Research —

COVER STORY

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Aston Alumni Magazine — 2015Aston Alumni Magazine — 2015

owever, following decades of growth, the world of communications is now facing some significant

challenges. Within the UK alone, there are 17.6 million UK mobile internet connections and 73 per cent of homes with broadband access - all of these are powered by high-capacity core networks. Some have likened these networks to the invention of lead pipes 2,000 years ago. Just as the pipes allowed the Romans to carry water from one place to another, fibre-optic cables transmit information between two places using light-based technology. When you consider that 99.9 per cent of all data passes over these fibres, there can be no doubt that this system - which started life in the early 1950s as a telephony network - has delivered considerable benefits. Yet the rise in smartphones and tablets, and our changing online habits (streaming high-definition videos for example), is putting the network under considerable strain. Experts warn that the demand for bandwidth will eventually outstrip the capabilities of fibre-optics - and it will be sooner than we thought.

So what are the current capabilities? A fibre-optic cable is made up of 100 or more thin strands of glass called optical fibres - each one is less than a tenth as thick as a human hair. In terms of capacity, current records in research are 101 Tbit/s of data for conventional fibres and ten times this amount for new fibres. Current products are more like 10 Tbit/s (to put that into context, each 10 Tbit/s is equivalent to 5 million ADSL connections or one quarter of a million BT Infinity/Sky Fibre connections or 250 DVDs per second). This might sound like a lot but as demand rises, the numbers quickly get smaller.

“We don’t have one fibre per person, we put multiplex signals from different people together and aggregate them,” explains Professor Andrew Ellis of the Optical Communications Group at Aston University. “So if you take the population of the country, all looking at one or two Google server farms, that’s a lot of traffic going into and out of those data centres. We get large volumes of traffic and we squeeze it all into one fibre. Once we’ve aggregated that traffic, if you go from two megabits to 20 megabits, that’s ten times the capacity. We don’t want to install ten times the number of fibres in the network because we don’t want to have BT charge you ten times for the bandwidth provision. So we need to squeeze that in more tightly, and that’s starting to get difficult.”

RESEARCH

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This problem, popularly called the ‘capacity crunch’, is the focus of the PEACE (Petabit Energy Aware Capacity Enhancement) Project, headed up by Professor Ellis and part-funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. He and colleagues at Aston are working alongside industry partners not just to improve bandwidth on our optical fibre networks, but also to reduce energy consumption: another consequence of the demand for internet capacity.

“Ten to 15 years ago, there was about a 50/50 balance between the power requirement on the transmission line and the power requirement in the terminals,” says Professor Ellis. “In order to increase the bandwidth, the terminals have got smarter using the power of electronics. Now it’s more like 90 per cent in the terminals and only ten per cent in the line system. So the dynamic of the network has changed and so have our habits. While we were doing web searches, looking at text pages and images - short packets - now we’re downloading movies. The switches are still carrying a legacy of that history of supporting telephony and supporting short bursts of data for web pages and trying to carry high definition video. So we need to look at how we develop the transmitters and receivers to get that energy consumption down.”

The intensity of the light in the fibres is another problem. Once a few thousand customers are aggregated, and taking into consideration the different colours of light wavelengths, optical fibres are probably transmitting around 100 milliwatts of power. Less than the power of domestic lights

- you might think - but when you push 100 milliwatts through a super-thin strand of glass, the concentration is like standing close to the sun.

“Despite the fact that it’s the world’s purest glass, there is some interaction between the light and the glass as the refractive index changes, which distorts the signal. So we’re looking in the PEACE project at how we can do clever things in the optical domain to allow us to increase the signal power - so we get a better signal-to-noise ratio, so we can increase the capacity.”

Swiss Physicist Jean-Daniel Colladon supposedly invented fibre-optics in the 1840s when he shone a light down a water pipe and discovered that the

water carried the light by internal reflection. Yet, arguably, it was Newton’s experiments with prisms that really paved the way for optical communications. First published in his book Optiks (1704), Newton used pairs of refracting prisms to split white light up into a rainbow, and then recombine

it into a single beam of white light using an inverted prism. His experiment relied on a phenomenon called dispersion. Up until relatively recently, a similar principle was still in use by employing two different types of optical fibres - one to spread the beam and one to narrow it.

“This works well at low intensities,” says Professor Ellis, “since two different fibres can have opposite dispersions, just like a prism and an inverted prism.” Unfortunately, the nonlinear dispersion which results from the high intensities of today’s networks is always the same sign (in other words,

COVER STORY

A fibre-optic cable is made up of 100 or more thin strands of glass called optical fibres - each one is less than a tenth as thick as a human hair.

- 18 - - 19 -


“This increasing reliance on the existing network - it’s like having an oil shortage and basing your industrial strategy on more and more cars.”

it always makes the blue part of the spectrum travel faster), and so can’t be compensated for by using a fibre with opposite properties. “Newton’s experiment can be replicated using two prisms with the same orientation,” Professor Ellis explains, “and a mirror is used to reflect the beam between the two prisms. To counter dispersion what we do is essentially place a special mirror in the middle of the fibre. If you think about a prism, you know a prism spreads light around. You go through two identically orientated prisms, it spreads and then it spreads some more. Gathering all of that light is quite a complicated procedure because the light’s over a large spatial area. And in an optical fibre the light doesn’t spread around - it’s guided - but the same effect which causes wavelength-spread through a prism translates into time-shift in an optical fibre, so without using the ‘mirror’ a receiver has to have a large memory to catch up with all of the different delays. That’s what’s causing the power consumption.

“What we’re doing in the PEACE Project is using a special equivalent of a mirror, known as a phase conjugate mirror which basically replicates the effect of carefully placing a mirror between two Newton’s prisms in an optical fibre. This reduces the pulse spreading at the receiver, the equivalent of the compact pencil beam which emerges from Newton’s prisms, and this allows the receiver to be simpler and more efficient. This special trick is particularly useful in the case of the nonlinear dispersion. Using a phase conjugate mirror to combat linear dispersion also compensates for nonlinear dispersion.”

The implications of the PEACE Project are widespread, both at home and abroad. If these problems can’t be solved, networks can’t be grown, and that impacts on our ability to connect rural areas of the UK (a big issue when you consider that

EU farming subsidies increasingly rely on access to the internet). Meanwhile, although developing countries aren’t facing the capacity crunch, they are increasingly networked and need affordable technologies that allow them to participate in the global economy.

The truth is that consumers want data provision to be cheap, reliable and limitless, but the reality - as we are increasingly realising with energy provision - is that we can’t have it all. All things considered, fibre optics have been an immensely useful technology, but the only approach now, argues Professor Ellis, is to rethink the whole communications infrastructure. “This increasing reliance on the existing network - it’s like having an oil shortage and basing your industrial strategy on more and more cars. You have to do things differently.”

There is only one thing - market forces - that will determine the demand for bandwidth and, consequently, the shelf-life of fibre-optic technologies. That is a notoriously difficult thing to predict. But solving the capacity crunch would bring huge benefits to everyone’s lives and one thing is certain - there’s no time to waste.

Professor Andrew Ellis will be speaking at the Library of Birmingham on September 25th 2015 as part of the UNESCO International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. His lecture, “Making light work of the internet: How photonics has powered the information revolution”, will examine the history and future of optical communications, tracing its evolution from Greek mythology to the immense web fibres used today.

RESEARCH

For more information visit www.lightfest.org.uk

#ASTON50

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o began the letter from Barbara Waller, Roy’s widow, sent in response to the Vice-Chancellor’s call for

stories to celebrate our 50th anniversary year. Yet as Barbara explained, Roy’s connection to Aston has been more lasting than he imagined, as his grandson, David Widdowson, completed both his BSc (in Business and Management) and his MSc (in Accounting and Finance) at Aston, graduating from the latter this year.

Curious about Roy’s time at Aston, we asked David to accompany us on a mission to recover his grandfather’s student records, and, having descended into the basement of the Main Building, we were able to find eight student class tickets, neatly filed away in an old cabinet. They show Roy starting as a weekend student who transferred to part-time day courses in 1941. The sandwich pattern of study (i.e. periods of full-time study combined with work experience) was not introduced at the College until 1954. However, Roy’s studies covered the gamut of subjects from Organisation and Management to Applied Physics and Industrial Administration.

After completing his apprenticeship Roy worked in GEC’s Engineering Drawing Office but finding the work repetitive joined Dunlop’s Patent Department in 1948. Qualifying as a

Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents he later became manager of Dunlop’s Patent Department, then one of the largest in the world. Barbara’s letter concludes:

“He retired in 1983, never experiencing the sad dismemberment of the company, though he still felt it keenly. Aston University had already converted his ACT (Birm) to a BSc, and that stood alongside the CEng and MIMechE, achieved during his apprenticeship. Deep down he was always an engineer and felt the profession was highly underrated. He died in January 2006 but, by then, David Widdowson, his grandson, knew him well.”

KEEPING ASTON IN THE FAMILY

“ I thought you would be pleased to learn of the success story of one of your original students, Roy Waller, born in 1923. In 1975 Roy (pictured right) was Patent Agent for the diverse products of a leading company in the world, Dunlop Tyre and Rubber. His career, though, commenced in 1940 when he enrolled as a student at Birmingham’s Central Technical College, the forerunner of Aston University, a requirement of the General Electric Company’s Drawing Office Apprenticeship scheme”.

S

Roy Waller’s student class ticket from Birmingham Central Technical College

HISTORY

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B I T T E R P I L L F O R T O M O R R O W ’ S P H A R M A C I S T S

Dr Joseph Bush considers how the lack of control on pharmacy student numbers could prove detrimental to the profession.Pharmacy at Aston University can trace its roots all the way back to the opening of the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895. There are only five English schools of pharmacy that can trace their lineage back further. One hundred and three years after the creation of Birmingham’s first pharmacy school, I enrolled on the MPharm at Aston and, by and large, I’ve been here ever since.

In 1998, there were only 12 schools of pharmacy in England. Between 1999 and 2009, the number of pharmacy schools increased from 12 to 21 and the number of pharmacy students more than doubled from 4,200 to 9,800. At the time of writing a further three English universities are working towards full accreditation of their MPharm and at least one further institution is currently developing an MPharm degree.

It should be highlighted that this increase in the number of schools of pharmacy has not been driven by demand for more pharmacists. A recent report from the Centre for Workforce Intelligence suggested that, by 2040, we could be producing between 11,000 and 19,000 ‘excess pharmacists’ (that is: supply will outstrip demand by those amounts). A cap on the number of pharmacy students was considered and ultimately rejected by the previous government in line with their policy of removing student numbers caps wherever possible.

The potential negative ramifications of this are obvious to anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the law of supply and demand - downward pressure on pharmacists’ terms and conditions; in turn, the pharmacy degree becomes a much less attractive proposition for young people; the quality of students on MPharm degrees declines; then the number of students on MPharm degrees begins to realign itself to the demands of the market with potential reductions in the size of schools of pharmacy and/or the closure of some

schools of pharmacy. Some have argued that demand can be stimulated to mitigate against this worst case scenario. Given that role extension for pharmacists has been a recurring feature of government policy for 30 years - with no clearly discernible impact on demand for pharmacists over those three decades - that seems improbable.

So where does this leave schools of pharmacy? Well, plans are afoot to reform pharmacist education and training with proposals to turn the current ‘4+1’ model (four years of undergraduate education followed by one year’s, on-the-job, preregistration training) to an ‘integrated’ five-year undergraduate programme (with a six-month period of ‘on-the-job’ training at the end of the third year of study and a further six-month period of training in the final six months of the five-year programme). A side effect of such

a move may well be that student numbers are effectively capped as the number of funded preregistration placements (i.e., placements for which an employer receives remuneration from the NHS) available will presumably be controlled by Health Education England (HEE, on behalf of the NHS). Given that these proposals have been in the public sphere since 2011, the sudden acceleration in impetus regarding the implementation of these proposals by both the pharmacy regulator and HEE appears more than fortuitous for those who wanted to see a numbers cap.

The sector is likely to enter a state of flux in the near future. Competition amongst schools will intensify and some schools may be forced to downsize and/or close completely. Should the axe fall, where the axe will fall is impossible to predict but Aston has the advantage of being well established, with a good reputation and a track record of producing graduates who go on to pass the GPhC’s registration assessment (recently released data show that, for the years 2011-

14, Aston had the fourth best pass rate of any institution in Great Britain). We will not be complacent though - I’ve already pencilled in the bicentenary of pharmacy at Aston in the diary as an excellent excuse for a knees-up (assuming I’ll be able to flex my 116-year-old knee joints).

Dr Joseph Bush is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice and Director of the MPharm Programme at Aston. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Aston University or its School of Pharmacy.

For more comments follow @josephbush on Twitter

COMMENT

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COVER STORY

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Type 2 diabetes has long been a concern amongst medical professionals, but recent evidence suggests that the disease is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. However, Professor Clifford Bailey and colleagues at Aston University are taking a unique

approach by tackling the disease on multiple fronts.

C O M B A T I N G A S I L E N T

K I L L E R

Diabetes is a condition that arises when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin and therefore struggles to regulate blood sugar levels. As opposed to Type 1 diabetes, which generally appears in childhood, adolescence and very early adulthood, Type 2 was traditionally a condition associated with the over 40s, although is now appearing in younger people. In the UK alone, over 90 per cent of all cases of diabetes are Type 2, which is treated initially by dietary means, then by a range of orally-taken drugs, and eventually by insulin or insulin plus. Obesity is a major risk-factor, but certain sub-groups, like members of the Asian community, are also especially prone to it. An alarming figure is that 25 per cent

of Asian men over the age of 60 have Type 2 diabetes.

“If that doesn’t scare you enough,” remarks Clifford Bailey, Professor of Clinical Science at Aston University, “the number of people in the world at the moment with Type 2 diabetes overall is somewhere in the region of 385 million and the likelihood is that by the year 2035 it will be well over 500 million. Most of the estimates that have been produced in the past have turned out to be underestimates, however extravagant they may have looked at the time. We are now seeing even teenagers and people in their 20s developing this condition, so we suspect that it’s going to be a rather grim future for diabetes.”

RESEARCH

- 23 -

One of the reasons that medical professionals are so concerned about the disease is because it can lead to a range of complications. An individual may go for a long time without diabetes having been diagnosed, and for the most part, it may not seem to be causing them any trouble.

However, warns Professor Bailey, it will be surreptitiously stacking up damage to the body. When that damage comes to light - perhaps ten or 20 years in the future - it can affect everything from kidney and neural function to eyesight, and - especially with Type 2 diabetes - can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

“For example, when you look at the kidney dialysis register, the largest single group of people on that register will be people with long-term diabetes. You look at the main cause of people going onto the blind register of working age - diabetes. This disease is now believed to cost in the region of ten per cent of the direct healthcare NHS budget, so it causes a disproportionately greater cost than the healthcare costs in general.”

So how can it be tackled? With such a complicated condition, approaches need to be made on several different fronts ranging from health education to the development of new agents to improve insulin action and reduce obesity. As Professor Bailey explains, one of the biggest hurdles is actually one of perception.

“You have to ask people to change their lifestyle for a condition that doesn’t hurt them and at the current time doesn’t appear to be encumbering them a great deal. So in order to do this you require the buy-in of the patient and that requires considerable inputs of time, and it also requires a certain amount of monitoring in the hope that they are following your advice.

“The next major challenge is identifying who to screen. You can’t screen everyone because there aren’t the resources, so you have to find ways of narrowing down that population. The next thing that we have to face is, as the disease is progressive, you need to get in early and try to treat it effectively. But as it gets worse, it gets more difficult to control because these various comorbidities occur - renal functions becomes impaired; neural functions become impaired; heart disease and vascular disease become more prevalent - and each of these is an additive problem to the treatment. It’s not uncommon for someone with Type 2 diabetes to be taking five medications and we have plenty of examples of people who are taking as many as 20 tablets a day.”

Aston University has been at the forefront of diabetes research for many years, but its methodology is relatively unique, in that it has combined basic scientific research with applied and clinical approaches. The result has been a handful of major treatments which have emerged over the last few decades. In the UK alone,

over 90 per cent of all cases of

diabetes are Type 2

Other10%

Type 290%

Clifford Bailey, Professor of Clinical Science at Aston University

“The next major challenge is

identifying who to screen. You can’t screen everyone

because there aren’t the resources, so you

have to find ways of narrowing down

that population.”

- 24 - - 25 -

COVER STORY Aston Alumni Magazine — 2015

One important contribution has been the drug Metformin, which was developed in the 1950s but which fell into disrepute and was eventually sidelined. However, academics at the Aston diabetes research group reappraised the drug and were instrumental in bringing it out of the shadows to become accepted worldwide (it is now a primary agent for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes).

More recently, Aston has been involved in SGLT2 inhibitors: a new class of diabetes medications. SGLT2 is a protein in humans that facilitates glucose reabsorption in the kidney. SGLT2 inhibitors work by effectively blocking this reabsorption process, which causes excess glucose to be eliminated through the urine instead. Aston has mainly been involved in clinical trials for an agent called Dapagliflozin, which has also become widely accepted as an effective treatment.

Given the complexity of the condition, it is clear that there will be no ‘magic bullet’ for diabetes even in the distant future, but Professor Bailey is convinced that a holistic approach is the way forward.

“We need to identify the people who are developing diabetes as early as possible to implement the treatment early, and - as the complications develop - to modify the therapy to try to reduce the impact of the complications as well as control the disease,” he says. “We often need to use combinations of agents - sometimes tablets and injections - and we are busy at Aston trying to look at how we can leverage the value of treatment by looking at all the components that are actually responsible for the pathogenesis of this disease.”

Metformin: Research carried out at Aston between the end of the 1970s and the 1990s identified how this drug worked and why it deserved wider usage. Having been studied in some detail in the USA, and subsequently adopted throughout North America, it has now become the main preferred first-line treatment for Type 2 diabetes worldwide.

Sibutramine: Aston had a very considerable role in the development of an anti-obesity agent called Sibutramine. It is not continually prescribed now because it was intended for short-term use and has some known side-effects. A problem with Sibutramine, as with other anti-obesity agents, is that patients are often tempted to take the medication beyond the prescribed period, even when they know it might be harmful to do so.

Dapagliflozin: Recently Aston has been involved in developing the drug Dapagliflozin which works by inhibiting the subtype 2 of the sodium-glucose transport proteins (SGLT2). Dapagliflozin has now been approved in the UK, Europe, America, Australia and a large number of other countries around the world, particularly in Asia.

GLP1: Work undertaken at Aston on what was known as the entero-insular axis played an important part in the identification of a group of hormones called incretins, one of which, GLP1, now forms the template for several therapies used principally in Type 2 diabetes.

A S T O N ’ S R E S E A R C H A T A G L A N C E

#ASTON50

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RESEARCH

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or many small firms, the ivory towers of their local university don’t always seem the obvious place to turn for practical support. But Aston Business School

is breaking down that perception by fast becoming the first port of call for ambitious companies with their sights fixed on growth. Business schools are ideally placed to work with these companies, according to Mark Hart, Professor of Small Business and Entrepreneurship - but many institutions are missing a trick when it comes to supporting the firms on their doorstep. “Too often business schools go down a corporate route in terms of MBAs and executive education. I just felt we were missing a big opportunity to engage with the tens of thousands of small businesses that exist around us here in the Midlands,” he said.

That’s why the past few years have seen Aston Business School channel a great deal of energy into becoming a hub for entrepreneurship and small business growth. The school has developed a wide range of hands-on programmes to help local firms, many delivered through the Aston Centre for Growth. Its flagship initiative, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme, has worked with around 230 companies from the Midlands since 2011. Bringing together small business owners to learn alongside their peers, the programme focusses on practical ways to boost growth. Its stablemate, the Aston Programme for Small Business Growth, is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and aimed at growth businesses in the West Midlands.

DOORS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

F

SMEs enjoy growth, access to funding and strategic support.

BUSINESS

- 27 -

Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), jointly managed by Professor Hart in the UK. GEM, established in 1999, is a huge study tracking entrepreneurial ambitions and activities across the planet and is used by governments to set business and enterprise policy. “That’s a very unique feature of Aston,” said Professor Hart. “It actually informs policy and allows people to look at trends and understand ambitions and drivers of entrepreneurship.”

Aston Business School also co-hosts the national Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), home to around 20 core researchers addressing one simple problem - understanding what drives business growth. Earlier this year, Aston-based researchers in the ERC carried out the biggest ever study of the investment behaviour and impact of UK business angels. The findings shed light on the changing demographics of the business angel community, revealing the growing role of women and the under-35s in funding early-stage enterprise.

As Aston approaches its 50th anniversary, Professor Hart is confident the Business School will continue to set the entrepreneurship agenda both locally and nationally. “The way we look at it is that business schools are part of the infrastructure of every locality and community. We’re not going anywhere - we’re here for the long term.”

Other schemes which bring SMEs flocking through Aston’s doors are the national Growth Vouchers and Innovation Vouchers programmes, offering funding to help them expand and bring new ideas to market. And given the Midlands’ strength in manufacturing, it’s no surprise that the Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice is helping to forge new ways for industrial firms to expand into services.

That’s not forgetting the entrepreneurial potential that exists among Aston students themselves. There’s no shortage of companies launched by Aston graduates, for example The Little Green Sheep, which sells natural baby bedtime products, and Skribbies, which offers customisable children’s shoes. The University works very hard to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs through the intensive start-up support programme BSEEN which offers free workspace and access to grants as well as workshops and networking opportunities.

This wide range of entrepreneurship and small business support has helped Aston Business School to achieve the Small Business Charter Gold Award, making it one of only three UK business schools to have proved an exceptional commitment to small firms and receive gold status. In fact, Aston staff played a key role in designing the national Small Business Charter scheme (a Lord Young initiative) thanks to the School’s unique experience in entrepreneurship engagement.

As well as hands-on support programmes, much of the research by Aston Business School faculty is aimed at understanding the practical challenges facing entrepreneurs and small firms in the real world. One such project is the Global

Mark Hart Professor of Small

Business and Entrepreneurship

BUSINESS

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme has worked with around 230 companies from the Midlands since 2011, showing small business owners practical ways to boost growth.

Anna Blackaby is a freelance business journalist, writing mainly about innovation, organisational psychology and entrepreneurship for titles including the Guardian, British Airways Business Life and Virgin Entrepreneur. She started her career in journalism as a reporter at The Birmingham Post.

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More men adopt careers in science and engineering than women, but Aston University is working hard to redress

the balance.

eep in the archives of the Library of Birmingham can be found a file of architects’ plans, drawn up to aid the construction of the city’s Municipal Technical School. This institution - a forerunner of Aston University - was opened on Suffolk Street at the end of the Victorian period, operating as a boys’ school by day and, by night, a centre for adult education in science

and technical subjects. This might seem unremarkable, except that a closer look at the plans reveals that here, in 1895, the second floor included six sizeable women’s class rooms. Given the inconvenient nature of evening study (there was no day-release of employees into education until 1919),

this provision for women is both intriguing and a genuine surprise.

ROOM AT THE

TOP

— Gender equality —

D

omen have, of course, long pursued science, but prior to the 20th century their activities

were aligned with crafts or polite hobbies. Botany is a good example (until the advent of the Linnaean taxonomy made the subject too explicit) and mathematics, which was not only considered safely abstract, but could be done quietly without any specific lab equipment. While science was fine as a hobby, women were dissuaded from entering scientific careers. If biology was too intimate, chemistry was too dangerous (explosions in the lab, women were warned, could result in permanent scarring). Sometimes, barriers had nothing to do with either mind or body. For example, in 1902 physicist and electrical engineer Hertha Ayrton - whose work The Electric Arc was a standard in the field - was refused membership of the Royal Society on the grounds that she was married (and therefore not a person in common law). In fact, it was not until 1945 that women were admitted as Fellows - the first being Kathleen

Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson - and today women still only make up about five per cent of the Fellowship.

However, as the facilities at Birmingham Municipal Technical School demonstrate, women were not necessarily dissuaded from studying male-dominated subjects. When student numbers had exhausted the Suffolk Street premises and Aston University’s Main Building was opened at Gosta Green in 1955, the exterior of the building was embellished with two bas-reliefs by Esmond Burton showing scientists at work (these are still visible in the Main Building Reception). The one on the left, which represents science, includes two female students (or perhaps even staff) working with a microscope.

The good news is that Aston University continues to build on the legacy of the Municipal Technical School, though there is still much work to be done. Today, 29 per cent of STEM (science, technology, engineering and

Bas-relief by Esmond Burton showing female scientists at work

W

- 30 - - 31 -

maths) students at Aston are female, which is higher than the national benchmark average (25 per cent). Similarly, 45 per cent of academic staff at Aston are female, which again puts the University ahead of the national benchmark average (33 per cent).

Aston’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Julia King - herself a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering - is a spokesperson for women in STEM and has been a great supporter of gender equality programmes at Aston, not least the Athena SWAN Charter. Established in 2005, this national scheme was created to recognise and support the careers of women in STEM subjects within higher education and research. Awards are given to participating institutions who make a commitment to the principles of the Charter and who can demonstrate that real improvements have been made. At the time of writing, Aston’s School of Engineering & Applied Science holds a departmental Silver Award and is currently working towards Gold, while the School of Life & Health Sciences holds a departmental Bronze Award and is pursuing Silver. Gina Rippon, Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging at Aston University, has been closely involved with the scheme.

“Institutionally you can get a Bronze, Silver or Gold award at departmental or School level,” she explains. “A Bronze award indicates that you are aware of the issues and you’re trying to do something about it; a Silver award reflects that you’ve tried and made some sort of impact. We got a Bronze award very early on at institutional level which was great, and Life & Health Sciences and Engineering & Applied Science - which were then the only two who were eligible - also got Bronze awards. The University’s Bronze award ran out about a year ago and we applied for Silver and didn’t get it, but actually, of the people who applied, no universities got it. But Athena SWAN have made the point that they didn’t set this up as a competition - they just want to embed a new way of thinking within universities.”

Professor Rippon’s interest in gender equality extends beyond her own experience as a woman in science. She started her academic career in the field of Psychology and wrote her PhD on biological aspects of Schizophrenia, eventually turning to brain imaging as a way of continuing to investigate the relationship between brain and behaviour. One aspect of her work at the Aston Brain Centre involves commentary and consultation on how neuroscience findings may be misunderstood and misrepresented, particularly in supporting gender stereotypes. Her public lectures on the lack of differences between women’s and men’s brains have repeatedly hit the headlines (for the record, so-called fundamental sex differences in brains are often non-existent and more likely to reflect the experiences rather than the sex of their owners). In many ways Professor Rippon’s research continues a trajectory begun by neuroscience pioneer Alice Lee, who, in 1901, published a paper in Philosophical Transactions disproving the idea that men had superior intellect because their skulls were larger than women’s.

Gina Rippon Professor of Cognitive

Neuroimaging at Aston University

Percentage of female professors has almost

doubled in under a decade

2006 2015

25%15%

29% of Aston STEM students are female

(25% national benchmark average)

(35% national benchmark average)

45% of Aston academic staff are female

COVER STORY

Hertha Ayrton was refused membership of the Royal Society on the grounds that she was married, and therefore not a person in common law.

#ASTON50

- 31 -

Alison Hodge MBE (Professor of Engineering Leadership and Associate Dean for both Research and Enterprise), has also been instrumental in raising the awareness of gender equality issues at Aston, building on her experiences prior to joining the University. She believes that Athena SWAN gives legitimacy to the process of institutional change, which can take time to ensure there is a lasting impression.

“The first thing to say is that Athena SWAN raises the profile of the issues within the University. Certainly, in a university environment it is helpful to have a national initiative as it helps show that one institution is not addressing the challenge in isolation. When we’re having debates - for example, when we’re talking about promotions, recruitment or committee memberships - it’s very useful to refer to Athena SWAN because it acts as a quick reminder. It takes time to make changes - Athena SWAN requires three years of statistics, and we look further back to establish longer term trends as well.”

But as Professor Rippon acknowledges, the question of the gender divide in science and engineering is no longer simply one of unfairness towards women. According to statistics compiled by the Women’s Engineering Society, as of February 2014 the UK had the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe (less than ten per cent). The fact is that, as a nation, we have too few engineers and too few scientists, and not enough women in either area - a situation that surely has a negative impact, not just on the economy, but also on the diversity of ideas needed to tackle global challenges.

Alison Hodge MBEProfessor of Engineering

Leadership and Associate Dean for both Research

and Enterprise

We have come a long way from the days of

those shadowy women of Birmingham Municipal

Technical School, but their stories are crucial to changing the perception

of STEM subjects as masculine domains.

ROOM AT THE TOP

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Change has been slow but steady. When Professor Dame Julia King joined Aston as Vice-Chancellor in 2006, 15 per cent of its Professors were women - now it’s almost a quarter. Professor King has been at the forefront of several initiatives, aside from Athena SWAN. In 2013 she personally funded four places for Aston staff on Aurora - a national women-only leadership development programme. Following positive feedback from the first cohort, she has agreed to fund a further eight places. The overwhelming response to the scheme has led to an internal offshoot, Aston Women’s Leadership Programme, which encourages women in academic and professional roles to develop leadership skills, network with other women and benefit from the support of role-models and mentors. The programme is being delivered to cohorts of 20 staff, with two cohorts running this year.

All the evidence suggests that positive role models are vital if women are to regard STEM subjects as realistic career options. This requires

a change of mind-set, not just in schools and universities, but amongst parents and the media too. We have come a long way from the days of those shadowy women of Birmingham Municipal Technical School, but their stories - and the stories of female academics, staff and alumni today - are crucial to changing the perception of STEM subjects as masculine domains. The advice of Albert Einstein to a young South African girl called Tyfanny, who wrote to him in 1946 saying she wanted to be a scientist, has stood the test of time. In her letter Tyfanny admitted she regretted being a girl and hoped that he would not think less of her as a result. “I do not mind that you are a girl,” Einstein replied, “but the main thing is that you yourself do not mind. There is no reason for it.”

If you think you can help us with any of these programmes in terms of ideas, contacts or financial support, please get in touch with the Editor, Dr Annette Rubery,

+44 (0)121 204 4540 [email protected]

Have views you’d like to share? Tweet us @AstonAlumni using #astonwomen

- 33 -

Over the last 12 months we’ve been busy preparing a major 50th anniversary capital campaign, which we will be launching next year. We’ve been

travelling at home and abroad, meeting alumni at regular breakfast briefings, at social events and one-to-one feedback sessions in order to share our vision for Aston’s future. We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by your

support. Many of you have offered suggestions, expertise, introductions to other helpful people and many are advocating for Aston on both a

national and international level. Added to that, since August 2014, 472 donors have generously made gifts to the University. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone: your support is hugely valuable to us, and in turn, we hope that you’ve benefitted from a closer involvement with us.

We’ve made great progress together, but there’s still a long way to go

If you think you can help us in any way please do get in touch with Jonathan Carter, Development Executive

+44 (0)121 204 5010 | [email protected] We’d love to hear from you and update you on our exciting plans.

FUNDRAISING

CAMPAIGN NEWS

Of our 80,000 alumni, we are in touch with just over 50,000

We need to inspire 2,400 to support Aston annually

472 Alumni have philanthropically supported Aston

Over 150 student placements

4 on University Council

12 Guest Lectures

Over 20 on Advisory Boards / Working Groups

41 Mentors

Other support delivered by Alumni in 2014/15

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FUNDRAISING

DAVID BRAMLEY: REMEMBERING ASTON IN HIS WILLSupporting Aston

David Bramley was the first Head of the Department of Industrial Administration at Birmingham Central Technical College. The Department was the forerunner of today’s acclaimed Aston Business School. In his academic capacity, David, along with his colleague, Frank Woollard, pioneered the case study method of teaching and learning, an approach that has become one of the most successful and popular ways to instruct students in classrooms around the world. David passed away in July 2010, leaving a gift in his will to be endowed in perpetuity to establish the Frank Woollard David Bramley Fellowship. The Fellowship is to be used for the support of international research and collaboration in the case study method by funding travel for academics engaged in the field.

Thanks to the Fellowship, this year Claire Howell, who is a barrister of the Middle Temple, a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Senior Lecturer in Law at Aston Business School, was able to organise an international conference for teachers of the case study method. The event, held on May 13th 2015, was entitled Let’s Think About Active Learning and attracted delegates from many different locations and disciplines.

Claire, who is an expert in Intellectual Property Law, is passionate about using real-life examples to illuminate examples of the law for students, who might otherwise be daunted by unwieldy legal tomes. “I couldn’t have put the conference on without the Frank Woollard David Bramley Fellowship,” she says. “David Bramley’s vision for the case study style of teaching and learning focused on studying and discussing techniques and problems in industrial management to maintain high standards of practice in the workplace. The conference is part of his legacy.”

David’s family also kindly donated all of his academic papers to Aston University to be used as a research archive. The David Bramley Collection holds information relating to David’s lectures, presentations, jointly authored publications and correspondences, some of which is on permanent display in the foyer of Aston Business School.

If you’re thinking of leaving a gift in your will and would like to discuss the options in confidence, please contact Sarah Pymm

[email protected] +44 (0)121 204 4541

GWEN KINGSTON PRIZE

Made possible through the legacy of Gwen Kingston, who worked as the U n i v e r s i t y ’ s E x am i n at i ons Officer, this prize is awarded

annually to an international student in recognition of their academic achievements. Last year’s recipient was Aleksandra Teodosieva from Sofia, who is currently studying a BSc in Business and Management. Aleksandra (pictured with a portrait of Gwen), said: “I am deeply honoured to have been selected for the Gwen Kingston Prize. It is very motivational to know that my efforts are being recognised and appreciated. Accordingly, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my lecturers and tutors, for their time and effort. Furthermore, I want to say thank you to my family and friends, who were a key support for me during the past year. I believe this award will be a great stimulus for my further academic and career development. Thank you!”

WOODCOCK SOCIETY

If you are planning to leave a gift to Aston in your will, we would be delighted to welcome you as a member of the Woodcock Society - a group of pioneer alumni and friends who want

to build a living legacy for future generations of Aston students. Membership of the Woodcock Society is our way of thanking you personally for your generous support. Members enjoy an annual lunch with the Vice-Chancellor and receive regular reports on the latest news and developments at Aston. The woodcock itself is a symbol of philanthropy that has a long history at Aston. On the land where the University stands today, two ancient roadways led across Gosta Green eastwards to Coleshill and north-eastwards to Aston and Lichfield. These roadways were linked on the east by a lane which ran alongside a field populated by woodcock. Known as Woodcock’s Croft, the land is mentioned in a deed of 1518 which had the provision that any income arising from the use of the field should be given for charitable purposes. The Woodcock Society is named in honour of these early gifts and the spirit of altruism they represent.

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In February we launched a new Aston Annual Fund telephone appeal. This year the fund concentrated on the urgent need

to provide scholarships for students from low-income families to ensure they can make the most of their educational opportunities at Aston. Previous campaigns have been tremendously successful, with Aston alumni generously giving to support important projects that have benefitted students directly. This year offered an even greater opportunity, as any gifts made were doubled by the Hayward Scholarship Fund, meaning that more students could benefit.

A team of 30 current students called thousands of alumni to ask for their support and we were truly overwhelmed with the response. We raised over £56,000 in just four weeks, which was a reflection of the warmth and generosity of our alumni, as well as a great milestone on the run-up to our 50th anniversary celebrations in 2016.

As well as helping students who might otherwise not have an opportunity to study at university, the campaign was a great experience for our student callers, too, who chatted to graduates about their memories of Aston and were able to get life advice from those who had been there and done it.

FUNDRAISING

I

THANK YOUThis year’s telephone appeal has been a huge success with many generous alumni helping to create opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Aston Annual Fund telephone appeal

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www.aston.ac.uk/makeagift [email protected] +44 (0)121 204 4199

Student caller John Richman, who is studying for a Masters in Human Resource Management and Business at Aston Business School, remembers speaking to an alumnus from the same course who went on to be his own boss. “I thought that was quite interesting,” he says, “He was advising me to network as much as possible - he’s got two companies and they were both formed with people who he met at Aston University. That conversation really gave me some encouragement.”

Some of the student callers were themselves scholarship recipients, so the experience of raising funds had special significance for them. As John explains: “I received a scholarship and it’s allowed me to come back to do a Masters, so I’m passionate about it. When I was actually calling people and asking them to donate money, it really brought it home to me what an impact the scholarship has made on my life. I wouldn’t be at Aston now if someone hadn’t made the opportunity available for me, and that’s the sort of impact I wanted to help to make by being part of the campaign.”

English Language student and Annual Fund caller, Michael Asher, also knows first-hand what it’s like to receive a scholarship. “It has certainly made my time at university better. It’s meant that I haven’t had to take on hours of part-time work and can focus on my studies. Scholarships are not about giving people money in order to sustain a bad lifestyle, it’s for people who could apply themselves, learn a lot of things, and have an experience that they will remember for years.”

Michael found, too, that the memories of Aston alumni were incredibly consistent, irrespective of when they graduated. “One of the common themes of the campaign was that nobody had a bad thing to say about Aston and that they all liked it for very similar reasons - because of the size of it, the location and so on. It was good to hear feedback from people who have already been through Aston and are so positive about it. It’s given me confidence for my remaining time here.”

With nearly half of Aston’s graduates coming from low-income families, each and every gift counts. Thanks to the generosity of Aston alumnus Tony Hayward, whose gift of 100 scholarships acted as a matching fund for the duration of the appeal, each £1 donated to the campaign was effectively doubled.

Explaining her motivation for donating to the Annual Fund, Sue Dilworth (BSc in Systems Analysis, 1972) explains what studying at Aston meant to her: “I enjoyed my time at university and I would not have had my career without it. I think education is so important. It may mean that these people can achieve their dream. You’re building the future. And, you never know, I might be supporting the next someone who is going to make a real difference in the world.”

It’s nice to know that the University’s commitment to bright people from disadvantaged communities - which began in 1895 which the launch of Aston’s forerunner, the Municipal Technical School - continues strongly today. Compared to other universities in the 2015 Sunday Times Graduate Prospects top 30, for example, Aston has by far the largest proportion of students from the lowest socio-economic groups, showing that access to higher education not only enriches lives but translates into better jobs.

Over the next few years we’ll be making some exciting changes on campus, not least the launch of Aston Medical School in Autumn 2017, which will include a research institute on vascular diseases. A total of 20 medical scholarships will be made available for students from hard-to-reach communities within Birmingham and the Black Country, five of which have already been funded by generous alumni.

We could not achieve these things without your continued support. Your donations help talented people - many of whom have never lived away from home before - to achieve their potential. Thank you for giving the gift of opportunity to a new cohort - we hope they will leave Aston with memories as fond as your own.

John RichmanStudying for a Masters

in Human Resource Management and Business

Michael AsherEnglish Language

student

Sue DilworthBSc in Systems Analysis, 1972

ASTON ANNUAL FUND

Would you like to support scholarships at Aston University?

#ASTON50

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Noel Mobberley (Bsc Mechanical Engineering, 1966) enrolled at the old Matthew Boulton College to do a HNC in Mechanical Engineering and ended up graduating with a degree from Aston University in 1966. This was the year Aston got its Royal Charter and gained university status; its first Chancellor, Lord Nelson of Stafford (who was the head of the then English Electric Company) presented Noel with his degree. Noel’s course was one of the first to be run from the new but only partly built College of Advanced Technology in Gosta Green. After graduating, Noel went on to work for Serck Heat Exchange and Union Carbide which morphed into Praxair Surface Technologies before he retired in 1997 as an Account Manager with the Aerospace Group.

Jo Donnelly née Ledwick (Bsc Biological Science, 1971) did a PGCE in Science Education at the Chelsea College after graduating from Aston. Marrying an RAF

officer, Jo went on to teach in various schools before she retrained as a Special Needs teacher and spent 12 years as Head of Special Needs at two different comprehensives. Now retired, she volunteers at a homelessness charity, as an Appropriate Adult with Mind, and as a case worker for SSAFA, a charity that supports the armed forces and their families. Jo (pictured in her homemade kimono) thoroughly enjoyed her time at Aston University, writing: “There were only about 30 of us on the course so we got really high quality teaching”.

Richard Paling (Bsc Mechanical Engineering, 1974) stayed local after gaining his degree and got his first job in Dartmouth Street, Birmingham. Eventually work took him down to West Sussex where he still lives with his wife. As an Operations Engineering Manager, Richard worked for various blue chip companies that ranged from tea processing and packing, batteries, food and toiletries. For the past decade, Richard has worked for multi-disciplinary consulting company, McLellan and Partners, as a Senior Manager responsible for business development and project delivery. The projects have ranged from steel works both in the UK and overseas, power generation and distribution schemes, district heating schemes, due diligence studies and feasibility studies in a variety of sectors. Richard has maintained a strong interest in Health and Safety at work and has acted a CDM Coordinator on UK construction and demolition sites.

Christine Stanschus née Kelly (Bsc International Business and French, 1993) and Frank Stanschus (Bsc International Business

and German, 1990) began their careers in the corporate world. Christine joined Price Waterhouse (now PwC) then JP Morgan (now JPMorganChase) and Frank went onto the graduate scheme at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Once their children were born, however, they decided to use the skills they had developed at Aston and in their subsequent careers to set up their own business. They now live in Toronto, Canada, running a franchise of the business that Christine set up in the UK in 2002. The company, Little Kickers, provides pre-school children with a fun, positive introduction to sport while also promoting the development of important early learning skills. The business operates through a network of 225 franchisees in 18 countries.

Business partners Andrew Allen (BSc Industrial Product Design, 2004) and Nick Coleman (BSc Combined Hons Public Policy & Management/Business Admin, 2004) became close friends during their final year at Aston University. Andrew was a former Vice President of the Students’ Guild between 2004 and 2005 while Nick was Vice President of Finance and Commercial Services. Since graduating, they have launched their first business together based on a passion they developed at Aston for pork crackling. They now make seven different flavours of crackling, and, instead of pork scratchings, they sell ‘Pig & Mix’. The business, The Giggling Pig (www.gigglingpig.co.uk) is expanding; they recently got their first listing with a large supermarket and are having a lot of fun creating their products, including the ‘Pig of Doom’ which combines crackling with one of the hottest chillis in the world.

Nisha Kotecha (BSc Human Psychology, 2007) gained a range of experiences through working in both the private and

voluntary sectors. This inspired her to start Good News Shared (www.goodnewsshared.

Derek Nudd (MSc OR & Systems Analysis, 1980) had a successful career in the engineering industry after graduating from Aston, but has

not regretted leaving it after he was made redundant four years ago. Instead, he re-invented himself as a writer and historian. He has recently published a book, Armageddon Fed Up With This - A Gunner’s Tale, telling the story of a conscript in World War II, which is available to buy on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1B5opdA

Nick Horslen (BSc Chemistry, 1982) and Julie Horslen née Hall (BSc Pharmacy, 1983) were some of the first students to reside in

Aston Brook Green and first met there as neighbours. They got married in 1984 and now have three sons. After leaving Aston, Julie has worked both in retail and hospital pharmacy. Nick went into the hi-tech, IT industry, firstly at Perkin Elmer then at Microsoft. They now own and run a community pharmacy together. One of their patients is the mother of an Aston Pharmacy professor so they still feel connected to the University. Nick also invested in a small tech start-up, as well as sat as a non-exec on a venture-captial-backed company. He now spends all of his spare time advocating for global health, global nutrition and global education. He and his wife have

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Where has life taken you since you’ve been away from Aston? We’d love to hear what you’ve been up to. Why not drop us an email at [email protected] with your story and a photograph? The best will be included in the next edition of the magazine.

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

CLASS NOTES

lobbied for change in health and related issues locally, nationally and internationally.

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Professor Michael Wright (1947-2015) was closely and inextricably linked to Aston for over 45 years. He studied Electrical Engineering in the years shortly after the institution became a University and graduated with a First in 1969. He had a successful career in the private sector

before returning to Aston in 1990 to become Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Head of Engineering. He subsequently became Dean

of Aston Business School, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. Under his direction, Aston strengthened its ties with

industry and business and became a leading University. He retired in December 2006 and was succeeded by Professor Dame Julia King.

Professor John Hibbs OBE (1925-2014) taught at Aston University into his eighties and

is remembered as a great lecturer. He was born in Birmingham, although he spent his youth in Essex. He returned to the Midlands

to study Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham and, as part of his course, he completed a placement with a bus and

coach company called Premier Travel. After graduating, Professor Hibbs returned to

Premier Travel where his interest in transport developed and in 1952 he did his Masters at the London School of Economics. He

championed the deregulation of buses and led the way for transport education in Britain,

for which he was awarded an OBE in 1987.

Professor Derek Pugh (1930-2015) applied for the role of Human Relations Lecturer at

Birmingham College of Advanced Technology (now Aston University) in 1951. It was the start of a distinguished academic career that would

result in an international reputation for his work in management. At Aston he led a team of researchers on what is now called Aston Studies, which would make a lasting impact on the field. He became the first professor in Britain to teach

organisational behaviour and later moved to the Open University where he became Director of Research. He had a prize named after him at the Open University and was co-founder of the British Academy of Management. In 2009 he

was awarded an Hon DLitt by Aston University.

Martin Malinda (1953-2013) passed away suddenly after a heart attack, aged 60. Malinda

completed an MSc in Electronic Engineering at Aston University in 1978. Malinda lived and worked in Kenya. He became Regional

General Manager for East Africa for the General Electric Company in the security division; he

is survived by his wife and two children.

Christopher Evans (d. 2015) created and led courses at the Universities of Bournemouth and Luton before joining Aston’s School of Engineering & Applied Science in 2001. He developed and nurtured the product design

provision at the University and played a key role in ensuring the success of the degrees Aston has today. He taught both undergraduates

and postgraduates and was instrumental in setting up Aston’s Model Shop, which is now an integral teaching tool for active learning.

com) in 2014 spreading positivity, celebrating achievement and raising awareness of the great work people do for charities. Good News Shared is Nisha’s own social enterprise that energises and inspires people to make their mark on the world. A keen volunteer, Nisha was elected President of her local Rotaract Club for the 2014/15 year, and served as National Publicity Officer for Rotaract in Great Britain and Ireland in 2013/14.

Rakpinder Singh Basra (BSc Public Policy & Psychology, 2008 and MSc Orgnaisational Behaviour, 2010) and Nabhpreet Basra née

Bajwa (BSc Human Psychology, 2008 and MSc Work Psychology & Business, 2009) met at Aston University. Since leaving the University, Rakpinder joined the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Management Scheme where he successfully passed all of his exams and is now working towards becoming a Branch Manager. Nabhpreet is a Business Development Manager working for UK Mail at their Head office. The couple (pictured) returned to Aston to take photographs of the place where they first met so they could display these to guests at their wedding in 2013. They also filmed a music video on campus to help capture a place that holds so many memories for them.

William Knowlman (BSc Spanish and Mathematics, 2012) chose Aston University, among other things, for its strong reputation in

linguistics, its placement year and its notable graduate employability record. Through his degree he achieved one of his dreams: to do his Spanish placement in South America. He travelled to Santiago in Chile in his third year of study to work for tax and audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). William thrived in this new environment and had an incredible time both at work and exploring the beautiful country. When he finished his degree, William went back to work for PwC in Chile and now looks after other Aston students on their work placements there.

OBITUARIES

It is with great sadness that we record the loss of alumni and staff whose passing has come to our attention over the last year. Our sincere

condolences go out to the family and friends of those listed here.

CLASS NOTES#ASTON50

Read more entries for Where Are They Now? on the website: www.aston.ac.uk/class-notes/

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In the last edition of In Touch, we ran a “Then and Now” picture story (right) as a result of an email from alumnus Frank Haddleton. During his Mechanical Engineering PhD at Aston in the 1980s, Frank stumbled across a negative of the campus from 1966, which was lying around in the Department of Metallurgy’s darkroom. Out of curiosity he developed the negative and also shot a 1985 version of the same view, both of which we published along with a snap from the same window in 2014.

But who was responsible for the original image? Step forward, Alan Blower, who wrote in response to the article:

“Thank you for the copy of In Touch which I enjoyed but I now feel that it is time to put to bed that hoary old photograph (dated 1966). I had just bought a 35mm film camera from Sherwoods, the photographic dealers, with a shop on Aston Street based in the ground floor of the Fire Station. As I intended to use the camera on holiday I tried it out by taking a series of cityscapes as I circumnavigated the 7th floor. The film was then developed in the Chemistry Department’s darkroom in the Physical Chemistry laboratory on the 2nd floor.

“Some time in the ‘70s/’80s David Howells, the University Gardener, was due to give a lecture on the development of the campus as it then was, showing the transformation of the site from a close packed housing/industrial site to a green oasis. Knowing that I had taken a few shots of the early site I was asked to ‘loan’ the negatives to the visual aids section so that the slides could be reproduced. Needless to say, that was the last I saw of the negatives, but prints taken from them have continued to emerge!”

CURIOUS DEVELOPMENTS

CAMPUS

1966

1985

2014

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As part of the Royal Charter celebrations, an interdenominational service of Dedication and Thanksgiving was held in the Cathedral of St Phillip’s in Birmingham. In this image from May 9th 1966, the academic procession makes its way into the Cathedral from Colmore Row, watched by passers-by.

During the service, which brought together civic dignitaries, academics and guests, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor presented a Bible to the Provost of the Cathedral as a token of the University’s appreciation. An address was given by the Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt. Rev Leonard Wilson, in which he stressed that a university education does not only impart knowledge, but teaches people to recognise and follow truth. He added that refusal to compromise on principles, no matter how inconvenient the consequences, generosity towards others, and personal integrity should be the aims of true education, whether in the sciences or arts.

On September 29th 2016, a Rededication service will be held at Birmingham Cathedral to mark the University’s 50th anniversary.

FROM THE ARCHIVES#ASTON50

THE BIRTH OF A UNIVERSITY

“You know you were wondering just how far our World’s Longest Laser would reach ..?”

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Saturday April 23rd & Sunday April 24th 2016

The Big Alumni Reunion is a two-day event providing a great opportunity to rekindle new friendships, network with fellow alumni, learn about the latest research and see what developments we’ve introduced to campus. There will be tours, talks by staff, reunion lunches, a gala dinner, fireworks and more.

Make sure the dates are in your diary - we’ll be posting notices of booking arrangements on our social networks and in our e-newsletter. If you haven’t updated your contact details for a while, get in touch and we’ll ensure you receive a reminder.

Development & Alumni Relations Office, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, United Kingdom

In 2016 we celebrate 50 years since Queen Elizabeth II granted us our Royal Charter. To celebrate 50 years of achievement, you’re all invited you back to campus to join in the birthday fun.

THE BIG ALUMNI REUNION

[email protected] /AstonUniversityAlumni @AstonAlumni Aston Alumni Community

aston in touch 2015

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