Month: May 2011

Rector’s 2011 Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Research Supervision

RECTOR’S AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING

Awards for Excellence in Teaching are presented annually to members of academic staff judged to have been most outstanding in the quality, organisation and presentation of their teaching. Of the award winners up to four may be selected to receive a Rector’s Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Excellence. One of the Medals may carry the title of Medal for Outstanding Innovation in Teaching.

Awards for Excellence in Teaching are conferred on the following staff for 2011:

  • Professor Alan Armstrong – Chemistry
  • Mr Greg Artus – Humanities
  • Professor Donald Craig – Chemistry
  • Dr Robert Davies – Chemistry
  • Dr Gary Hampson – Earth Science and Engineering
  • Dr Stuart Haslam – Life Sciences
  • Dr Patricia Hunt – Chemistry
  • Mr Zen Makuch – CEP
  • Dr Dan Moore – Mathematics
  • Dr Kevin Murphy – Medicine
  • Dr Richard Murphy – Life Sciences
  • Dr Alessandra Russo – Computing
  • Dr Jane Saffell – Life Sciences
  • Dr Sandra Shefelbine – Bioengineering
  • Dr Colin Turnbull – Life Sciences
  • Professor Andrew Walden – Mathematics
  • Professor Helen Ward – Public Health

Rector’s Medals for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Excellence are awarded to the following staff:

  • Mr Zen Makuch – CEP
  • Dr Sandra Shefelbine – Bioengineering

The Rector’s Medal for Outstanding Innovation in Teaching is awarded to:

  • Dr Jane Saffell – Life Sciences

RECTOR’S AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH SUPERVISION

The Rector’s Awards for Excellence in Research Supervision recognise staff who have made exceptional contributions in providing a supportive learning environment for postgraduate research students. Of the award winners up to two may be selected to receive the Rector’s Medal for Excellence in Research Supervision.

Rector’s Awards for Excellence in Research Supervision and Rector’s Medals for Excellence in Research Supervision are conferred on the following staff for 2011:

  • Professor Anthony Bull – Bioengineering
  • Professor Andrew Bush – NHLI

Rodney Eastwood
College Secretary

Staff Survey Presentations

The Rector will be presenting the feedback from the 2011 Staff Survey at the South Kensington, St Mary’s and Hammersmith Campuses during the summer term. For a preview of a selection of the results, see the recent Reporter article.

To register your attendance please email us, clearly stating which session you wish to attend;

  • South Kensington Campus – Pippard Lecture theatre 15.00 – 16.00, Tuesday 24 May (passed)
  • St Mary’s Campus – Cockburn lecture hall 15.00 – 16.00, Monday 20 June
  • Hammersmith Campus – Lecture Theatre 1, Wolfson Centre 10.30 – 11.30, Tuesday 28 June

If you are unable to attend but have comments about the Staff Survey results that you would like to feed in, please email Louise Lindsay

Vote for e.quinox project team to win J.P. Morgan grant

The e.quinox project, organised by Imperial students, is one of the finalists in the J.P. Morgan Give-it-Away campaign. The campaign asks members of the public to vote for a charity or non-profit organisation to win a cash donation from J.P. Morgan.

The e.quinox project aims to bring electricity to rural communities in developing countries through a system where renewable energy is used to charge portable batteries in a central kiosk in a village. Local people hire out batteries to power devices for everyday use.

The deadline for voting is 27 May

Watch a youtube video which introduces e.quinox

Vote for the Imperial e.quinox team

Summer Ball 2011 – 18 June

Imperial’s South Kensington Campus will host London’s largest student ball on Saturday 18 June. Acts including Laura Marling and Ian Brown will perform on outdoor stages on the Queen’s Lawn and Prince’s Gardens and a funfair, fireworks and food stalls will be among the attractions at the festival-style event. Doors open at 13.00 with music continuing until midnight.

Imperial staff and their guests are welcome to attend. Tickets cost £45.

Find out more and buy tickets

Mixed touch rugby tournament – Saturday 11 June

Sport Imperial are holding a mixed, 7-a-side touch rugby tournament at 11.00 on Saturday 11 June in Hyde Park and offering the winning team tickets for a Harlequins home game. Whether beginners or experienced players, staff are welcome to enter as a team (minimum 7 to maximum 10 players) or to come along as individual players to be allocated into teams. Touch rugby is a minimal-contact game that is simple to learn and plenty of fun. Register by Tuesday 31 May to secure your place.
Find out more and register here

Tweeting a day in the life of Imperial – 17 June

Imperial will be supporting Universities Week 2011 by tweeting a day in the life of the College on Friday 17 June. To tell as full a story as possible, the organisers from the Communications and Development Division are seeking ideas from staff and students about activities to tweet about on 17 June. Suggestions could include:

–       Research projects or experiments that staff or students are working on

–       Excursions organised by student clubs or societies

–       Field trips organised by departments

–       Activities that would offer behind-the-scenes insight into Imperial’s operations

–       Events taking place on campus

–       Student projects

–       Highlights from everyday work or study

Please contact J-P Jones with ideas for tweets or if you hold a Twitter account and are keen to help tweet a day in the life of Imperial.

Read more about Day in the Life here

Vouchers for Union Shop available

Vouchers for the Imperial College Union Shop on the South Kensington Campus are now available and can be used for any purchases made there. Vouchers come in denominations of £5, £10 and £20 and may be useful for departments wishing to offer incentive prizes to staff or students. The Union Shop, located on the walkway, sells a range of Imperial branded merchandise – from clothing to diaries – alongside stationery and giftware.

To purchase vouchers contact Phil Stewart by email, phone 020 7594 8473, or drop by the shop.

New provider of UK rail tickets for College or personal use

Staff booking UK rail tickets for College or personal travel will soon be able to use the online self-booking tool operated by RedSpottedHanky. There are no booking fees, no credit card/debit card fees and no delivery fees. Bookers and travellers will be able to pick up tickets from any machine at National Rail stations or the two machines on Imperial campuses – one on the South Kensington Campus (located on the ground floor of the Sherfield Building next to the cash point machines from mid February 2011) and the other on the Hammersmith Campus (from March 2011). Travellers will be able to collect loyalty points when booking their train tickets and will be able to redeem these towards future travel on College business. Payment for College travel can be made through a purchase order, or by using a personal credit/debit card (with the cost claimed back as a College expense). For personal rail travel a personal credit/debit card should be used.

The site will launch on Thursday 24 February and will be accessible via the Purchasing web pages

Additional paternity leave and pay

New Government regulations have been introduced to give parents of children due, or matched for adoption, on or after 3 April 2011 greater flexibility in how they use maternity and paternity provisions through the introduction of Additional Paternity Leave and Pay. This is an interim piece of legislation which is likely to change in the future.

The Human Resources Division has updated their Maternity/Paternity Support Leave Policy to reflect the new legislation.

Access the policy here

Record your international collaborations

Academic staff are asked to add details of their international links in areas of education, research and innovation to the College’s database for international collaborations by 31 May. Collaborations may be at individual, departmental/divisional or faculty level and could include Memoranda of Understanding with institutions outside the UK, student exchange schemes and collaborations with industry, as well as research partnerships.

Staff are able to use this valuable pooled resource to find out about international links across the College. Acting as a map of Imperial’s networks, the database also informs the College’s strategies for working with different regions of the world.

To record details of international collaborations, follow the instructions here