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Three hundred staff, alumni, friends and benefactors of Cityattended this year's Chancellor's Dinner hosted by The LordMayor of London, Alderman DavidWootton, in the magnificent EgyptianHall at the Mansion House. The speakers were The Lord Mayor, Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Curran and guestspeakers Lord Puttnam of Queensgate (right)and City student Jenny Keys.

Professor Curran said: “The Chancellor'sDinner was a triumph and I wish to extendmy gratitude to everyone involved.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

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ProfessorFinkelsteinmemorialA memorial concert atHendon ReformSynagogue for Emeritus

Professor Ludwik Finkelstein was attendedby senior City staff who helped to raise over£3,000 for the North London Hospice.Professor Finkelstein passed away in Augustlast year, having previously retired aftermore than 50 years’ service at City.

City magazineThe University’s annualalumni publication Cityfeatures the latestUniversity news,information about ourStrategic Plan 2012-2016and former students’ business successes.Read the magazine at:http://tinyurl.com/City-mag-2012 or contactCelia Enyioko-Hanniford for a hard copy.

100 under 50 rankingTimes Higher Education (THE) ranked City90th among the world’s top universitiesunder 50 years of age. THE used the sameanalysis as for the World UniversityRankings, but featured only universitiesfounded since 1962.

About City NewsCity News is produced each month byMarketing & Communications.

If you have any comments or feedbackabout the magazine or its distribution, orsuggestions for content, please email:Christopher.leonard.1@city.ac.uk

The Chancellor’s Dinner Preparing Russia for WTODavid Collins, Senior Lecturer at The City Law School, has beeninvited to educate academics and legal professionals inMoscow on the law of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).David will be based at the Pericles American Business and LegalEducation project in Moscow throughout July.“Complying with the WTO’s many regulations is an enormous task forRussian lawyers and this will require some quite foundationalinstruction in basic principles of WTO law,” he said. “Moscow law firmswill need to establish fairly quickly an expertise in this area in order torepresent the interests of Russianbusiness and the country’s citizens.”

David will also address the AmericanChamber of Commerce in Moscowduring his trip and will take theopportunity to research a monograph,The BRIC States and Outward ForeignDirect Investment, to be published byOxford University Press. It exploresinternational regulation of foreigninvestment from Russia and otheremerging markets.

Spotlight on ResearchThe Research Office and the Digital Team in Marketing &Communications have made some improvements to the Spotlighton Research section of City’s website:www.city.ac.uk/research/spotlight

If you would like to see your research findings or the research ofyour group featured on the website, please contact Jo Bradford,Director of the Research Office.

NEWS IN BRIEF

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NEWS IN BRIEF

CitySpark is City’s innovationand enterprise programme andis open to students of allSchools. June’s CitySparkSummer School was anintensive programme designedto evaluate business ideas,build teams and developpresentation skills.At the conclusion of theprogramme, 33 students wereinvited to pitch their businessideas to a panel of judges.

Winners of the £5,000 first prize and free market research fromMarketest, were Huda Mahdi (MSc Computer Games Technology) andAdam Paciorek (MSc e-Business Systems) for Localizing You, a servicetranslating games for Arabic speaking markets (above).

Second prize was awarded to E.E. Skate Shop from Ashley Langham(Graduate Entry LLB); and third prize to Make Them Happen Musicfrom Bogdan Maksak (BSc Accounting and Finance) and AlexanderZheltov (BSc Management).

The CitySpark Big Ideas Challenge 2012/13 will launch in October. Youcan find out more about CitySpark on our website: www.city.ac.uk/for-business/enterprise-education/cityspark

City of London Academyachieves anniversary

Patent for SuRe PileCity has been granted patents in the UK,France, Germany, Italy and Spain for theSuRe Pile invention (City News, January2012). The technology was developed by DrAndrew McNamara and Professors SarahStallebrass and Neil Taylor from the Schoolof Engineering & Mathematical Sciences.

Times rankingCity moved up one place to 46th in The TimesGood University Guide 2013, despitedisappointing 2011 NSS results. Our positionin this table, which considers a range ofacademically relevant measures, will be anindicator of our progress with the StrategicPlan.

Guardian University GuideCity rose two places to position 21 in thisyear’s Guardian University Guide 2013 forUK universities. Cass took second placebehind the University of Oxford in theBusiness and Management league table.

Food Policy UnitThe Food Policy Unit will move from theSchool of Health Sciences to the School ofArts and Social Sciences, with effect fromWednesday 1st August. There will be nochanges to programmes or activity as aresult of the move.

Government charity panelProfessor Cathy Pharoah, Co-Director of theCentre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropyat Cass, has been appointed to a panel toestablish ATM Giving, a Governmentinitiative to enable UK consumers to makecharitable donations via cash machines.

The City of London Academy, Islington - jointly sponsored bythe University and the Corporation of London – will celebrate itsfourth anniversary in August.

The University’ssupport for theAcademy focuses ontransforming theeducation and life-chances of localstudents and ourcommitment ishighly valued byAcademy staff andstudents alike.

The Academy’s growing reputation is reflected by the increasedapplications for Year Seven entry and our co-sponsorship has seenencouraging improvements in student behaviour and attendance.Although GCSE performance in 2011 was disappointing compared toprevious years, the Academy’s leadership anticipates improvedacademic performance in 2012.

“City’s work with the Academy has been recognised and praised acrossthe secondary school sector and it is an important element of our workwith the local community,” said Eamon Martin, Director of EducationalRelationships.

City is regularly involved in supporting Academy students throughoutreach activities such as parent and sixth form evenings, Universitytours and mentoring and reading schemes with student ambassadors.City’s Schools are also involved in academic initiatives and hostsubject-specific workshops while our Step up to the City programmeencourages and supports Academy students’ progression to highereducation.

If you want to get involved or want to know more, contact PartnershipsAdministrator Zohra Moledina.

CitySpark Summer School

5www.city.ac.uk/staff

Over 220 people attendedlast month’s Staff WellbeingDay in the Great Hall.Colleagues from all Schools andProfessional Services bookedhealth MOTs and attended one-to-one advice sessions withhealth professionals. The freemassages were particularlypopular.

New at this year’s event was thechance to have a resiliencecoaching session and manyvolunteers participated in theenergetic Zumba, Capoeira andSalsa demonstrations.

This year’s prize draw was for a Kindle Touch 3G: the lucky winner isCaroline Shilcock, Administrative Assistant in the Enterprise Office.

The University’s Campus Physical Activity programme will re-launch inthe autumn with the opportunity for staff to sign up to the very popularPilates and Yoga classes as well as the more energetic Zumba.

Summer moves continueThe next few weeks see the final relocations of School ofHealth Sciences (SHS) staff as part of the NorthamptonSquare Education Projects (City News, May). These are:• West Smithfield SHS staff (bar 5th floor) to 1 Myddelton Street

(Wednesday 18th July)

• West Smithfield SHS staff (5th floor) to 1 Myddelton Street(Wednesday 25th July)

• Whitechapel SHS staff to 1 Myddelton Street (Thursday 26th

July)

• Whitechapel SHS staff to West Smithfield (Wednesday 22nd

August)

In addition, other scheduled moves this summer are:

• Academic Services from CiC Ground Floor to Drysdale Building(3rd-6th August)

• Marketing and Communications from Drysdale Building toGoswell Road (end of August)

• Development & Alumni Relations from College Building toGoswell Road (dates tbc)

City is sponsoring this summer’s Hackney House initiative(www.hackneyhouse.org) being led by the London Borough ofHackney and UK Trade & Industry (UKTI). It will be the venue forHackney Council’s Inward Investment and Media Centre for theOlympic Games and UKTI’s Tech City Investment Suite.The Enterprise Team is leading City’s involvement with the widerUniversity’s support: Cass will run the first City event with subsequentseminars and events involving academic staff from across the University.As sole education partner, City will also undertake a post-Gamesevaluation of the Olympics’ economic impact and assess the Games’impact on inward investment for Hackney.

To find out more and to arrange free tickets to daytime and eveningevents, contact Fleur Adolphe in the Enterprise Office.

City Staff Wellbeing Day

City to be sole education sponsor of Hackney House

Farewell to WhitechapelCity’s Nursing and Midwifery educationwill vacate the Princess Alexandra Buildingin Whitechapel this month drawing to aclose an era lasting more than 20 years.

A farewell event is being held on Friday 27th

July. Please contact Kim Yorke, FacilitiesCo-ordinator Whitechapel Campus, byFriday 20th July, if you would like to attend.

The future of the BarLast month The City Law School hosted awell-attended discussion on the future ofthe Bar, chaired by His Hon Judge DonaldCryan, Chair of the City Law School’sAdvisory Board.

City student takes lunchwith the QueenDavid Mead, a student on the MSc Energyand Environmental Technology andEconomics programme, has won City’sannual student project competitionsponsored by the Worshipful Company ofFuellers. Following his win, Luke wasinvited to a lunch event with the Queen aspart of the recent Jubilee celebrations.

Law student successTaskhub, a buyer-initiated online jobsmarket established with two colleagues byCity Law School student Aurore Hochard,has been selected as one of the winningentries of Wayra UK 2012.

Wayra UK is an organisation whichprovides funding, business advice,working space and help with technicaldevelopment for selected start-ups.

NEWS IN BRIEF

The University’s implementation of theStrategic Plan 2012-2016

Transforming City

by Chris Leonard

Implementation – key datesJuly 2012: ExCo to agree on overall implementation plan

September 2012: Implementation of the Strategic Plan begins

October 2012: Implementation plan presented to Council

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Implementing City University London’s Strategic Plan 2012-2016will position us clearly as a leading global University committedto academic excellence, focused on business and the professionsand located in the heart of London.The Plan identifies how City will continue to develop and strengthenthrough its focus on the quality of education, research and enterpriseand the physical environment in which they are delivered; the academicperformance and satisfaction of students and staff; institutional as wellas student-centred internationalisation; and City's academically-ledorganisational processes and information systems.

Following Council’s approval of the Strategic Plan in March, the ExecutiveCommittee (ExCo) has been developing the implementation plan. Theplan is organised into eight workstreams, each led by two or three ExComembers (see diagram far right).

PreparationsFollowing Council’s approval of the Strategic Plan in March, workshopshave been conducted with representatives of three major stakeholdergroups; our students, academic staff and Professional Services staff.They have been invaluable to ExCo in identifying priorities and supportingthe early work of each of the eight workstreams.

At its Away Day last month, ExCo considered the priorities and issuesemerging from the stakeholder workshops and the initial proposals foreach workstream in relation to their priorities and organisation. Eachworkstream received feedback from ExCo and the co-leads are now re-fining the scope, terms of reference and composition of their workstreams.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Curran (above) said: “The Strategic Planpublished in March outlined our objectives and the roadmap for achievingCity’s Vision for 2016. The implementation plan will ensure that weachieve our milestones along the way.”

The workstreamsThere are three over-arching thematic workstreams, two of whichfocus on the needs of those we serve:

• Enhancing our culture to deliver academic excellence – Focusedon academic staff recruitment, performance management anddevelopment of the staff experience.

• Succeeding with students – Focused on improving educationalsuccess, the student experience, student recruitment and thestudent journey.

• Succeeding with research and enterprise – Focused on researchand enterprise volume, quality and impact and on increasingthe financial contribution of our research and enterpriseactivities.

Five cross-cutting workstreams will ensure close collaborationbetween key functional areas and underpin the three thematicworkstreams. Each workstream will be supported by a steering

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group, which will initially identify and prioritise the projectsrequired to achieve our strategic objectives and then oversee theirimplementation.

• International – Supporting the delivery of our internationalrecruitment ambitions, promoting international staff andstudent mobility and developing our international partnerships.

• IS enablers – The development and implementation of aUniversity-wide IT plan which meets the needs of all of ourstakeholders.

• Facilities enablers – Developing our estate in order to providethe very best facilities for our students and staff.

• Operational excellence – Enhancing our culture, promotingpride in City and supporting the delivery of excellent service toour stakeholders.

• Marketing, communications and engagement – Improving ourinternal and external communications and developing theUniversity’s external profile and reputation.

In conversation with our new Pro Vice-Chancellor(Research & Enterprise), who joins us at City on1st August

by Katherine Trimble

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Professor John Fothergill

What made you decide to come to City?When I got the call I wasn’t actually thinking about a move but I saidI’d like to come and meet the senior people at City, so I made thetrip down to London and spent time talking to Professors DinosArcoumanis and David Bolton and Vice-Chancellor Professor PaulCurran. One thing that struck me about them was their passion forCity, their very clear vision of where they wanted to take the Universityand, of course, their collective intelligence and reputation.

Before the visit I had done some research and found myself thinking,‘this is a place that knows where it wants to go – and it has theresources and the people who really want to take it there’. I couldsee myself being part of that. Meeting Paul and his colleagues wasreally the deciding factor.

Since then everyone I have met has been incredibly nice to me. I amnot entirely sure if that is what happens when you become Pro Vice-Chancellor – that you get that special ‘BUPA’ treatment – but it’sbeen wonderful and I have no regrets about making this decision.

When you look back on your career how would you describe it?Unexpected or focused?Serendipitous! Wasn’t it Michael Heseltine who, while he was atOxford, wrote a list of all the things he wanted to do in his life,ending up with No 10?

That’s not me at all. I have always had what is best described as aserendipitous approach to my career. I was the first in my family togo to university and at that stage I didn’t even know what a PhDwas. When I was doing well with my MSc and the PhD was offered Ithought, ‘that would be interesting’.

Towards the end of my PhD my supervisor said to me, ‘John, I don’tknow if you’ve got a job yet but I’ve had a call from a research lab inHarlow.’ It turned out to be a very famous laboratory (the formerStandard Telecommunications Laboratories) where they inventedfibre optics and had over 1,000 researchers. I was invited to lookaround and was offered a place there. It was fascinating.

A few years later, I picked up the newspaper of the Institution ofElectrical Engineers and saw an advertisement for a Lecturer inElectrical Materials at the University of Leicester. Electrical Materialswas my subject and you don’t see it advertised very often. I hadmissed the deadline but called anyway and they said ‘yes, come and

see us’. I did and I got the job. I thought it might be nice to lecturefor a couple of years but it took me several years to decide to moveon; 28 to be precise.

Even my move to Pro Vice-Chancellor of Learning and Teaching atLeicester arose from a chance meeting in the senior common roomwith the man who was stepping down from the role. I had never beenknown to have lunch there but that day I did and he asked if Iwould be interested in taking over from him.

So I cannot, in all honesty, say I planned my career. I have,however, always had one very clear rule for myself – and I tell mystudents this too – that it is important to do what you enjoy and notgo through life earning money and being miserable. I have beenfortunate in that I have enjoyed what I do and I have been luckyenough to earn money while doing it.

What has been a particularly memorable moment in youracademic career? I was quite surprised to find myself appointed a Professor and beingasked to give an inaugural lecture, as is the custom at Leicester.Luckily I had some weeks to plan it and over 200 people turned up,including members of my family, which was amazing. I put a lotinto the lecture and it included every possible thing you could useto demonstrate ideas, from high voltage arcs and sparks, a choirbursting into song, lots of videos and a great deal of audienceparticipation.

Looking back I was very pleased at that point: not just because Iwas a Professor but because I had a chance to communicate myenthusiasm for my subject. I have always loved finding ways toengage people with what I am talking about.

Is engineering hard to describe to the younger generation in away that changes their view of it as a career?Not as much as it was. Perhaps because of new technologies, suchas smartphones and gadgets, I believe it has a much better reputationnow. Engineering is fascinating to me because there are no rightanswers but instead a series of questions: what is the right car, howcan I make this work, how do we solve this puzzle?

Engineering is a people subject. You have to understand whatpeople want and then create it, but it has to be affordable,maintainable and reliable.

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them it doesn’t matter what else you do, you have to do world-leading research. For example, we need first rate education as well.I think you need a balanced approach. The challenge is to bringpeople with you.

What is your vision for Research & Enterprise?I suspect some academics consider enterprise a dirty word andthey’d rather do pure academic research, but I think it’s importantthat people naturally think about their research having applicationsoutside the University.

City has this interesting strapline: ‘academic excellence for businessand the professions’. We need our students and staff to have a moreentrepreneurial approach. There may be reticence but we shouldremember it is on both sides. An academic might be shy but peoplefrom business, commerce and industry can also be reticent aboutcoming to the ivory tower. Dialogue breaks down those barriers andit is to our mutual benefit. I enjoy that interface. With a lot of myresearch I have found great enjoyment in working with businessesand industries and seeing my ideas being used and put intopractice – and of course, there is the funding it brings with it.

City has a vision to improve the quality of its research and enterpriseand I have been brought in to make that happen. I am passionateabout research and I also think that research is natural for academics.It is what we do naturally and it defines us. I could not imaginecoming to City to lecture on my subject and not want to do researchas well.

Biggest challenge?It is exciting to move to another University and I am not fazed at all.The challenge is to convince academics to make the best use of theopportunities that City offers them. You don’t tell academics what todo with their work because they understand their subject. But if youwant to change hearts, minds and cultures, especially in the longterm, you need to show them what the University can do for them aswell as what they can do for the University.

I think the biggest challenge, not just for me but for City as well, isshowing people your vision and taking them with you. But it is alsoexciting because the plan for how we do that is so clearly thoughtout. Providing we can bring people with us, the City of the next fewyears will have an even greater energy and vitality.

The word ‘engineering’ has the same roots as the word ‘ingenious’(from the Latin ingenium) and it is the ingenuity I have alwaysloved. It is a creative subject. Look at Shoreditch down the road andyou will see creativity in the digital industries there. We need‘nerds’ to come up with ingenious solutions to problems.

Here is a silly but real example. A biologist who, like many others,used fruit flies for genetics research wanted to be able to hear themwalking. No one had come up with a method of doing this. I thoughtabout this myself and, working it out in my mind when drivinghome one evening, the solution came to me. I stopped the car andthought, ‘I know how to do this: I’ve got it!’ And it worked.

What’s your first priority when you start?For me it has to be managing City’s submission for the ResearchExcellence Framework (REF) in 2014, which is very important. It willmake a lot of difference to City until of course, the REF after that,which might not be for another seven years.

However, I think it’s important that we balance that against everythingelse we must do. There is no point in me coming in as PVC forResearch & Enterprise and hitting academics over the head, telling

11www.city.ac.uk/staff

What might people not know about you?Two things: my academic background and my personal life arequite multi-disciplinary, which I like. Engineers perhaps tend to belabelled as being narrow in terms of their interests but mine arebroad. Last year, I became President of Leicester’s Literary andPhilosophical Society which has been going for 176 years. In myopening address and I talked about ‘Chaos and Fractals: Sciencemeets Art’. It was interesting trying to link science and art in onelecture.

In my academic world I suppose I spend time on physics, chemistryand mathematics but I love music and books. On the train comingdown my reading was an article on the brilliant writer HermanHesse. I read all his books as a student and even tried to re-read TheGlass Bead Game recently. I think I have a very wide and eclecticview of life and I don’t believe that engineering and science areeverything: we really need the humanities too. I feel I can easilyrelate to the other schools.

I know I won’t have time to lecture but I do intend to spend timewith students. One thing I have always said about being withstudents is that they stay the same age and therefore it’s very easyto sail through university thinking that you, as a Lecturer, havenever grown old at all.

I think that I will still try to write a lecture a year for a generalaudience and will find that a fascinating project – even if my wifethinks I am mad as I lie on the beach with a whole heap of books toread as I prepare it.

Professor John Fothergill: hisacademic career to date• BSc (Hons) in Electronic Engineering (1975); MSc

(Distinction) in Electrical Materials and Devices (1976);and PhD on the Electronic Properties of Biopolymers(1980) from the University College of North Wales,Bangor

• 1979: Senior Research Engineer with StandardTelecommunications Laboratories

• 1984: Lecturer in Engineering, University of Leicester

• 2000: Awarded Professorship (Personal Chair) ofEngineering

• 2001: Appointed Dean of Science

• 2003: Appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor

• 2008: Appointed Head of Department of Engineering.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers and theInstitute of Physics.

His research has focused on dielectric properties ofmaterials (how they respond to an electric field).

He has published over 120 refereed papers on electricaland bio-medical engineering and co-authored a book,Electrical Degradation and Breakdown in Polymers,which has received more than 200 citations (GoogleScholar).

He led a major EU project on high-voltage DC systems inthe European super-grid, has supervised 20 PhDs andhas attracted approximately £3M in research grants,mainly on peer-reviewed Engineering and PhysicalSciences Research Council (EPSRC) and EC projects (mostof them supported by industry).

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Highlights of recentresearch at CityUniversity London

Research at CityCass studysolves financialmarket mysteryNew research by Cass Business Schoolhas helped solve an investment puzzlethat has baffled City traders andacademics for years.‘Carry trade’, where investors borrow in currencies with low interest

rates to invest in currencies with higher interest rates and thus profitfrom the difference, has produced mysteriously high returns fordecades.

In theory the investment tactic should not work; exchange rates wouldbe expected to shift fast enough to neutralise any gains made frominvesting in currencies linked to higher interest rates. In addition, higherinflation in high-rate countries would also be expected to reduceprofits.

But research co-authored by Professor Lucio Sarno with colleaguesfrom Leibniz Universität Hannover and the Bank for InternationalSettlements, explains why ‘carry trade’ continues to generate such highreturns.

In the study, published in the world’s leading finance journal, theJournal of Finance, the authors analysed 48 currencies against the USdollar between 1983 and 2009. They found that carry trade profits,which amounted to an average of more than five per cent a year evenafter accounting for transaction costs, can be explained as a reward forthe significant risk investors undertake.

“Our study shows that high returns to currency carry trades can beunderstood as a compensation for risk,” says Professor Sarno. “Ifinvestments in currencies with higher interest rates deliver lowerreturns during the ‘bad times’ for investors, then carry trade profits aremerely a compensation for higher risk-exposure by investors.”

Shared understanding forpeople with HIVCity academics have proposed additions to a pluralistic frameworkof therapy involving goals, tasks and methods for HIV-positiveclients. This follows a study into clients receiving pluralisticcounselling rather than cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).A pluralistic framework of therapy uses a mixture of different therapeuticapproaches and collaborative dialogue with clients to identify what ismost helpful to them. In comparison, CBT focuses on changing howclients think ('cognitive') and what they do ('behaviour'), to look forways to improve a client’s state of mind.

Professor Carla Willig and Dr Erin Miller, a Chartered CounsellingPsychologist, analysed 36 pluralistic counselling sessions with threeHIV positive clients. Transcribed audio recordings of the therapy wereanalysed before feedback sessions held with the clients.

During the study, published in the European Journal of Psychotherapyand Counselling, HIV positive clients were found to have specific goalsfor their therapy including ‘self care’ and ‘increasing quality of life’.Based on the clients’ feedback, collaboration between therapist andclient within a pluralistic framework helped the clients to become a‘creative scientist’ or ‘a second therapist’ during the therapy.

Carla and Erin’s research suggests the inclusion of ‘creating sharedunderstanding’ into a pluralistic framework and highlights goals, tasksand methods that could be important to HIV positive clients.

Profits to bemade byfollowing gurusStock market traders are more likely tomake profits if they imitate or areimitated themselves by other traders,according to City research into financialmarket frenzies, crashes and panics.

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Research at City

www.city.ac.uk/staff

The research by Professor Giulia Iori, Director of the FinancialEconomics MSc, with colleagues from the Universitá Politecnica delleMarche (Italy), used a market model with heterogeneous tradersimitating the expectations of the most successful traders, called ‘gurus’.

In the research, published in the Journal of Economic Behaviour andOrganization, Professor Iori and her colleagues studied network linksbetween traders acting irrationally (i.e. not following economists’ advice)to show how imitation between traders, including those followinggurus, affects wealth distribution.

The study concludes that profit is a strong mechanism for forming linksbetween traders and generates the Matthew effect (‘the rich get richer’)i.e. growth in profits is a consequence of profits made by following gurus,rather than because of links between rational traders.

“The prevailing assumption that noise traders – those who act irrationallywithout access to true information and who can fluctuate prices – willquickly go bankrupt and are eliminated from the market is unrealistic,”explains Professor Iori.

“We have shown that unsophisticated investors who follow noisetraders can earn high profits as well as the noise traders, suggestingthat the idea of full rationality in the market is implausible.”

Parasiticbehaviour indung beetlesDung beetles have been found todisplay distinct behaviours in how andwhere they lay eggs in dung pats andwhat affects this behaviour.Dung beetles (Onthophagus taurus) arecommonly known for laying their eggs inbrood balls within dung pats. The dung must be sufficiently fresh sobeetles move between pats to find fresh dung. If another beetle finds abrood ball it usually eats the egg inside and lay its own egg in the broodball, instead of constructing another ball. Thus beetles will often staynear their eggs to guard them.

Professor Mark Broom, from the Centre for Mathematical Science, withAssociate Professor Jan Rychtář from The University of North Carolinaand Heather Barker from Piedmont Community College Roxboro (US)published their research in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.

They modelled a population of dung beetles that steal brood balls madeby others, where the times of arrival and departure from pats dependedon strategic choices; the cost of brood ball construction and the ease offinding balls to parasitise.

The researchers predicted that beetles follow one of three distinctbehaviours: stay in patches for short periods; arrive late and beparasitic; or remain in pats for longer periods to guard their broodballs. The results show that beetle populations consist of the first typeonly when brood balls are difficult to find; a combination of the firstand second types when balls are easy to find; or a combination of allthree types when brood balls are very easy to find.

City Research OnlineHave you uploaded your research outputs to City’s researchrepository? City Research Online (City News, November 2011)will help you raise the visibility of your research and help theUniversity to collate and monitor its research.

Find out more at: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk

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We live in a world where having a mobile phone or an emailaddress has become so ubiquitous that not having them couldbe seen as a conscious choice to be different. This phenomenonis now affecting social media as people substitute emails forFacebook messages or Twitter feeds.A growing number of people are now easier to contact through socialmedia than by email or phone. Facebook is for friends, LinkedIn forbusiness and Twitter merges the two to create a place where you can beinformal but still professional. But by using multiple social networks,each requiring constant updates in different personas, are people losingsight of who they really are?

Holly Clarke, Head of Social Video Science at Unruly Media (pictured),mentioned a ‘pressure to be more interesting’ in her talk at the recentDigital Shoreditch Festival. “We are looking for content to share on aregular basis,” she says. “[But] there’s no chance to reinvent yourself,no chance to play with your identity.”

She is supported by Jamie Beckland, Digital and Social Media Strategistat Janrain, who wrote for Mashable: “People grow, reinvent themselves,move to new cities and find new interests. Hanging on to your baggagefrom five years ago is actually a huge hindrance and the psychic energyto maintain those old selves is more than we can cognitively manage.”

Sharing takes timeAnd it is not just the amount of information we share that is problematic,but the time dedicated to sharing. Updating just two social mediaaccounts daily, each with different purposes and distinctive styles, canget exhausting. If social networkers use multiple services regularly, littleoffline time is left for walks in the park or theatre outings – and if theydid go out, they’d probably feel compelled to tweet about it.

Holly uses Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Reddit,Pinterest and Hacker News. “I tailor my updates based on audience,”she explains. “Twitter, I keep to short snappy remarks, retweets andconversation and I try to keep it professional. I am more likely to postpersonal images and silly things to Facebook but try to make a point

and be witty or insightful onTwitter. Tumblr is completelyad-hoc and on LinkedIn I onlypost about work andrecruitment.”

Despite juggling multiple on-line personas, Holly says thatpeople need to take a break:“Take a step back and think'why did I tweet that, why didI share that, what was I tryingto achieve?’ Make sure youfind the right balance.”

For already-addicted internetusers, taking steps to cultivatean offline life are crucial:calling someone instead of

tweeting, or discussing issues over a cappuccino rather than email.“We need to go outside, but not just to have something to post onFacebook,” says Holly.

At a time when many sleep with their mobile within arm’s reach, perhapspowering off occasionally to enjoy a coffee with a friend could helprediscover our offline personality.

A first year journalismundergraduateinvestigates how onlineprofiles might mean welose sight of ourpersonalities

When social networkstake over our lives

by Catalina Albeanu

Social media facts• Two: The average number of social media accounts per person

in the UK (Global Web Index)

• Facebook, Twitter and Friends Reunited are the top three socialnetworks in the UK (Global Web Index)

• Facebook sessions last on average 20 minutes (Forbes.com)

• One third of US adults are more comfortable sharing informationonline than in person (Intel's 2012 Mobile Etiquette Survey)

• Eighty four per cent of Twitter users retweet posts because ofpersonal connections to original posters (21 per cent retweetbecause messages were written by a celebrity)(socialmediatoday.com)

Meet yourcolleagues

Name and job title?Dr Laudan Nooshin, Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology in the Centrefor Music Studies and Director of the Music research degrees.

What do you do at City day to day?My work covers the usual spectrum of education, research andadministration. I lead modules at undergraduate and MA levels in thebroad area of ethnomusicology, including topics such as Middle Easternmusic studies, music and globalisation and music and film. I also runthe second year music placement module and supervise severalresearch students.

My main administrative role in the Centre for Music Studies is as SeniorTutor for Research Students. Other than that, I seem to spend a lot oftime in meetings of various kinds, answering zillions of emails, seeingstudents, fielding enquiries and more. It is never boring, that is for sure.

My main area of research is Iranian music and culture, with a particularfocus on youth culture and creative practice. This involves researchingand producing publications; speaking at and organising conferences;sitting on external committees and journal editorial boards; and liaisingwith external organisations.

In 2008, I took a group of City students on an educational visit to Iran,an incredible experience for the students involved. I am regularlycontacted for advice and information on Iranian music and have justfinished a term as a Journal Editor which has been very interesting butalso very hard work.

What is your biggest challenge in your job?Trying to fit 48 hours of work into 24.

How do you overcome it?By taking a deep breath at the start of each day and reminding myselfhow privileged I am to be doing a job that I love and working with sucha great team of colleagues.

If you didn’t do your job what would you be doing?Lying on a beach or … when I was a child I really wanted to be anastronaut but that’s probably not very realistic at my age so either aphotographer or a film-maker. There are several film-makers in myfamily so I’d have plenty of support (or competition!).

What do you do in yourspare time and to relax?I enjoy going to concerts andthe theatre; listening tomusic; reading; cycling;photography; and travelling.

Who would you invite to your dream dinnerparty?Well, it would either have tobe some high-profile publicfigure that I really respect likeNelson Mandela or DanielBarenboim; or someonegorgeous like Ralph Fiennes.

Favourite place in London?I have so many favourite places in London, it is hard to choose. I do loveStanfords in Covent Garden. I have a bit of a travel bug and being inStanfords with all its maps and travel books makes me feel as though Iam thousands of miles away.

I also love standing on Waterloo Bridge and taking in the panorama inboth directions.

Finally, a well-hidden London secret which I love is the Lea Valleynavigation canal tow path which joins the Thames at Limehouse andwhich I often cycle along. It will be busy this summer as it passes by themain Olympic stadium in Stratford.

Favourite film?The English Patient (Anthony Minghella)

Favourite book?The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) and also Beloved by ToniMorrison; I’m a big fan of her work.

Favourite song/music?If it has to be just one piece then I think I would have to go for the slowmovement of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2 in F major. But PaulMcCartney’s Let it Be is a very close second.

www.city.ac.uk/staff 15

Dates for your diaryCass Healthcare Forum: Can loyalty cards lead to ahealthier NHS?6.15pm-8pm Tuesday 24th July, Rm LG002 Cass Business School

Grant Harrison, co-founder of ‘thefuturewell’ and the manbehind the Tesco Clubcard, speaks to the Cass HealthcareForum about in health and changing customer behaviour.The event is sponsored by Carter Lemon Camerons LLPSolicitors and supported by the Centre for Health Enterprise.

CPD Knowledge Café: Sharing good practices aboutshort courses2pm-5pm Wednesday 25th July, Northampton Suite

City hosts a London HEIs CPD Forum on the development,delivery and marketing of CPD, executive education andshort courses. The forum involves interactive discussions onCPD and short course delivery in Universities withnetworking opportunities. Please RSVP to: cpd@kcl.ac.uk

Hackney House27th July to 31st August, Hackney House Shoreditch

A series of events and activities being held in HackneyHouse, venue for Hackney Council’s inward investment andmedia centre, with UK Trade & Industry involvement (seepage 5). City also has 10 transferrable tickets to all events andactivities, including evening entertainment. Contact FleurAdolphe in the Enterprise Office for tickets and moreinformation.

Goodbye and hello to Students’ Union officers4pm Tuesday 31st July, Drysdale Garden

A garden party to say farewell to our outgoing sabbaticalofficers – Rob Scully, Amish Patel and Ellis Cresswell – and towelcome the new team of Giulio Folino, James Perkins andHelen Jeyakumar. Please RSVP to Jessica Bishop if you wish toattend.

British Aphasiology Society Therapy Symposium 20128.30am-6pm Thursday 6th September, City University London

The Therapy Symposium concentrates on what therapistsactually do in treatment. It is a unique opportunity to hearabout therapy approaches in detail and to take part in a livelydebate. The Symposium features clinical case presentations,symposia and posters. In a new development, five-minutepresentations of novel therapy ideas are invited.

For information about staff training, email:evan.bates.1@city.ac.uk or visit:http://www.city.ac.uk/sd/index

Appraisal workshop for those who do not appraiseothers (academic and research staff)Monday 16th July

Appraisal workshop for those who appraise others(professional staff)Wednesday 18th July

Assertive CommunicationFriday 20th July

Appraisal workshop for those who appraise others(professional staff)Wednesday 15th August

Staff training and development

www.city.ac.uk/events

Appraisal workshop for those who appraise others(academic and research staff)Friday 17th August

Appraisal workshop for those who do not appraiseothers (professional staff)Monday 20th August

Appraisal workshop for those who do not appraiseothers (Academic and Research staff)Tuesday 21st August

Heartstart ProgrammeTuesday 21st August

European Alumni Gathering in Monaco Saturday 8th September, Monaco

Cass Business School’s European Alumni Gathering is open toall Cass alumni and academics, along with guests from theMonaco business community. Among the speakers will beRichard Gillingwater, Dean Cass Business School; Lee Robinson,Founder, Director and Portfolio Manager of Altana DistressedAssets Fund; and Dr Nick Motson, Lecturer in Finance at Cass.

AECEF Symposium: Global Issues in Enhancing CivilEngineering Learning, Teaching, Research and PracticeThursday 13th and Friday 14th September, Oliver ThompsonLecture Theatre

The seventh Association of European Civil Engineering Faculties(AECEF) symposium, on Global Issues in Enhancing CivilEngineering, is the first to be held at City and occurs on the20th anniversary of the foundation of AECEF.

The symposium will provide a platform to discuss a widerange of issues related to learning, teaching, research andpractice and is supported by the Association of Civil EngineeringDepartments (ACED) from the UK.

I did that course!“The Heartstart Programme was a really useful andhands-on course. I feel a lot more confident aboutwhat to do in a crisis now.”

Emily Allbon, Law Librarian

Short Courses Open Evening5.30pm-8pm Thursday 20th September, OliverThompson Lecture Theatre Foyer

An open evening to promote City’s comprehensiverange of practical evening and weekend short courses.These cover a range of disciplines and are offered atlevels ranging from beginner to advanced level. Staffcan receive a discount on all courses.