All entries for Friday 23 July 2010

Warwick Week: Graduation, England U–19s, Extreme Sports and a Special Relationship

Each week we will be bringing you a round-up of the news from Warwick - the big stories, latest research and perspectives on the latest media headlines.

It’s been a busy week on campus with our summer degree ceremonies – we hope all those graduating students have had memorable occasions. Amongst the 3,500 students graduating, honorary degrees were also awarded to Home Secretary Baron Baker of Dorking, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford and Fellow of the Royal Society, Professor Sir John Bell FRS and Trade unionist Baroness Brenda Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde amongst others. The Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATE) were also presented to Dr Peter Corvi from Warwick Business School, Jonathan Heron from The CAPITAL Centre, Dr Catherine Lambert from Sociology, Dr Paul Taylor from Chemistry and Dr Nicolas Whybrow from Theatre and Performance Studies.

Warwick in the News

New Chemistry Labs opened by Nobel Prize Winning Chemist
Professor Robert H. Grubbs, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005, opened our new £2.3 million Chemistry Teaching Labs on Tuesday after receiving his honorary degree at the ceremony on Monday afternoon. Professor Robert Grubbs is Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and is the author of more than 400 publications and has over 80 patents.
Read the press release >>

Good luck to the England Under-19s
The England Under-19 team were training here at the University last week before embarking on the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in northern France. The team trained at the University Sports Centre and were hosted by Warwick Conferences. A few weeks ago, the University also hosted the International Women's Under 23 Tournament featuring England, Norway, Sweden and the USA.
Find out more >>

Top ten performance for Formula Student racing car
A team of undergraduate engineering students have just come 7th overall in the UK and 22nd in the world in an international competition to build a “formula student” racing car. Congratulations to the whole team!
Read the press release >>

Announcements

New Head for School of Life Sciences
The University has announced that Professor John McCarthy has been appointed Head of the new School of Life Sciences. Professor McCarthy is currently BBSRC Professorial Research Fellow and Director of the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB) at the University of Manchester. Professor McCarthy will join the University on 1 October 2010.
Read the press release >>

Professor Peter Mack appointed Director of Warburg Institute
Professor of English at the University Warwick, Peter Mack, has been appointed as the new Director of the Warburg Institute and will assume the Directorship from 1 October 2010. The Warburg Institute is one of the 10 prestigious Institutes that make up the University of London’s School of Advanced Study.
Read the press release >>

Partnership with IIT Kharagpur helps establish new IIT Bhubaneshwar
An international partnership between IIT Kharagpur and WMG is helping drive significant expansion for IIT Kharagpur as it moves to support an Indian Government Initiative to increase the number of Indian Institutes of Technology.
Read the press release >>

Research News

Embodiment and identity in extreme sporting culture
Warwick sociologist, Dr Karen Throsby will be swimming the Channel next month as part of a research project sub-titled “Embodiment and identity in an extreme sporting culture”.  Her research aims to explore what motivates people to engage in extreme sports such as Channel swimming. She has funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for two and a half years, towards the end of which she hopes to write a book that will tap into the post-Olympic debate on the motivation to take part in sport.
More on the Guardian website >>

Warwick Comment

A special relationship? – Wyn Grant comments on David Cameron’s trip to America
David Cameron’s visit to the United States for talks with President Obama has once again highlighted the so-called ‘special’ relationship between Britain and the United States. There are those who doubt that there is a special relationship at all and in these talks it was re-christened a ‘special’ relationship. It had a particular character during the Cold War when Britain was an important base for the United States, sometimes referred to as a static aircraft carrier.  

However, anyone who doubts that the relationship is an enduring one in the context of the fight against terrorism should look at the recent book on electronic eavesdropping by GCHQ written by my colleague Richard Aldrich and obtain favourable reviews in the quality press. The intelligence partnership has always been central to the relationship and in that sense it is special.

On this visit David Cameron has been under pressure on the subject of BP, both on the oil spill in the Gulf and unproven allegations that the release of the Lockerbie bomber was in some way linked with an oil deal with Libya. The fact that Cameron opposed the prisoner release in opposition helped him to navigate this tricky issue. However, one of his central objectives on this visit was to attract US investment to boost the UK economy which is why he went to New York and was seen eating a hot dog with the mayor.

Eleanor Lovell : 23 Jul 2010 07:00 |  Tags: Cameron Cars Chemistry Football Graduation Lifesciences Politics Racing Sport |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem