Millions of people sufferingfrom disease in the third world will be helped

thanks to a simple cream developed at King’s.

Scientists led by Professor PhilWhitfield, Head of the School ofHealth & Life Sciences, havemade an important advance incontrolling a disease that afflictsover 200 million people in 74

countries. The disease, schisto-somiasis, is also known as Bil-harzia and is caused by the skin-penetrating larvae, cercariae, ofparasitic worms, schistosomes,found in contaminated water.

Although a safe and effectivedrug is available to treat Bil-harzia, it does nothing to preventre-infection with the parasite.This cream is inexpensive andeasy to produce, and works byacting as a barrier to prevent theworms from penetrating skin andinfecting people. This couldform a key part of a strategy tocontrol the disease.

In their study, published inthe Journal of Parasitology, theresearchers used human skin

donated by plastic surgerypatients to test how well a barrier cream formulation, pro-duced by Pharmacy’s Dr MarcBrown and Professor Chris Mar-riott, protected the skin againstpenetration by cercariae. RebeccaIngram, a PhD student in theresearch group, found a singleapplication gave a high level ofprotection for at least 48 hours.

Professor Whitfield comment-ed: ‘This is exciting research thatmay help in alleviating the suf-fering from a disease that affectsmillions of people in some of theworld’s poorest countries.

‘Using techniques originallydeveloped to study the move-ment of drugs across skin, wetested the effects of a speciallyformulated barrier cream to see ifit could stop the parasitic worms.We found that the cream stoppedmore than 95 per cent of theworms from penetrating the skin,and this effect lasted for up to 48hours with a single application.That’s a fantastic level of protec-tion from such a simple treatment.

‘The discovery is a useful steptoward controlling the threat ofthe disease in those parts of theworld where it poses a majorhealth hazard. However, it’s not acure by itself. The cream would

THE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 142 | OCTOBER 2002

| 2 New courses | 3 Biomedical Sciences £10m | 4 Centre for Caribbean Medicine | 5 Departmental focus | 9 TV times | 14 King’s in the community | 17 Profile: Dr Andrew Coyle | 19 Flashback | 23 Student news | 24 Beating the Retreat

Skin creamcould savemillions

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Inexpensive and easy to produce

Knightly pursuits: the criticallyacclaimed Warrior School televisionseries in which ordinary people learnthe art of ancient combat is presentedby Professor David Carpenter of theDepartment of History. See page 9.

Continued on page 3

have to be used in conjunctionwith other measures such asdrugs, snail control and improve-ments in sanitation and healtheducation.’

Infection occurs when skin is

New courses

Ataught MSc in ConstructionLaw & Arbitration will beoffered by King’s and the

National University of Singapore(NUS) from July 2003.

This is the first time that theCollege has offered a degreewhich is awarded jointly byKing’s and another university, and it is believed to be the first truly international teachingprogramme at MSc level in construction law anywhere in the world.

This new programme willunite the long experience of theCentre of Construction Law atKing’s and the innovative andinternationalist approach of theDepartment of Building at NUS

to create a programme in a regionwhich until now has no Masters-level English-language pro-grammes in this field.

Philip Britton, Director of theCentre of Construction Law,said: ‘Innovation is inseparablefrom risk-taking. But we are con-vinced that we must think andact internationally. What betterbase geographically, economicallyand educationally for our first co-operative teaching venturethan Singapore and NUS? Webelieve that the new programmewill be a marriage of the differingbut complementary strengths ofthe two partners and look for-ward to all the challenges of thenew programme and to welcom-ing our first students in July2003.’

The new degree will be a truejoint venture. Both partners willcontribute to every aspect of theprogramme, and academic staff

from King’s will visit Singaporefor intensive periods of teaching.Students will come to Londonfor a study visit between theirfirst and second years.

Mr Britton explained: ‘Theprogramme is intended for thosealready professionally linkedwith construction in Singapore or the neighbouring region, for

example architects, engineers,project managers, surveyors orlawyers who wish to increasetheir understanding of the rolelaw plays in the process of infra-structure development.’

Students will study part-time over two years in parallelwith their normal professionalresponsibilities.

First joint internationaldegree launched

Left to right: Professor John Uff QC, Nash Professor of Engineering Law andfounding Director of the Centre; Philip Britton, Director of the Centre; Dr Lam KheePoh, Associate Professor and outgoing Head of Department of Building, NUS; Professor George Ofori, Head of Department of Building, NUS, signing the finalproposal for the agreement setting up the new joint MSc in Construction Law & Arbitration in the Centre’s library.

First international MSc in Construction Law

Drug discovery

Some of the world’s leadingpharmaceutical companiesare providing student bur-

saries for the College’s new MScin Drug Discovery Skills. Tenbursaries a year for three yearswill be available.

The programme, beginningthis term, is the only one of itskind in the UK. Dr Alan Gibson,the MSc Co-ordinator said: ‘Theaim of the programme is to equipgraduate students with value-added skills that will enhancetheir understanding of, and technical expertise in, the drugdiscovery process.’

He continued: ‘The maxi-mum size of the class will be 20,allowing greater concentrationon the development of practicalskills and information/data han-dling. Identification of theappropriate skills has beenfacilitated by discussions withthe pharmaceutical industry.’

The MSc has been developedas part of the College’s commit-ment to the Higher EducationReach Out to Business and the Community (HEROBC) initiative. Dr Malcolm Sims,Managing Director of KCLEnterprises, commented: ‘Theinvolvement of GlaxoSmith-Kline, Pfizer and Pharmacia,and their contribution of signif-icant funds to provide studentbursaries, is a testament to the relevance of the course in meet-ing pharmaceutical industryneeds.’

Culture club

Unique training to managecultural organisations startedlast month at King’s. The

new MA Cultural & CreativeIndustries, the only one of itstype in the UK, has been established for graduates whowish to follow a career in artsadministration, running art gal-leries, museums or working withdigital culture.

Professor Alessandro Schie-saro, Deputy Head of theSchool of Humanities, said:‘This MA is part of the School’slong-term strategy of buildinglinks with the cultural operatorsin central London. It beganwith collaborations with RADAand RAM in programmesdesigned to educate the ‘think-ing practitioner’. It has devel-oped through the MA Visual &

Performing Arts, which isdesigned to educate the ‘think-ing audience’. Now this MA,with the MA Digital Culture & Technology, will provide education for those working inthe cultural industries.’

The course was set upbecause it was felt that there wasa shortage of graduates with theappropriate combination of anarts background and the busi-ness acumen needed to run topcultural institutions.

The core element of the MA isa course that examines the role,context and funding of the cul-tural industries and will betaught by Philip Dodd, Directorof the Institute of ContemporaryArts (ICA). This is supported bytwo other courses in manage-ment and in visual culture.King’s Dr Rosemary Barrow willbe the programme co-ordinator.

Pharmaceutical companies areproviding student bursaries

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The Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’School of Biomedical Sciencesis to play a central role

in two major research pro-grammes, each receiving over £5 million from the Wellcome Trust.

Professor Andrew LumsdenFRS, Director of the MRC Cen-tre for Developmental Neurobi-ology, will co-ordinate a team offive leading international scien-tists from Harvard University,Columbia University and Uni-versity College London in a fiveyear study of Functional Genomicsof Neuronal Identity.

With the completion of thegenome sequencing project, sci-entists now have the tools tovisualise and observe the activityof thousands of genes at a timeon small microchips called DNAmicroarrays.

Professor Lumsden’s team hasdeveloped techniques that canobtain the gene expression ‘pro-file’ of a single cell, revealingwhich of the 35,000 genes in thegenome are active at that time inthat one cell. A single cell typecan be profiled throughout itsdevelopment, from an unspe-cialised embryonic condition tothe highly specialised andunique adult condition, therebyrevealing which genes areresponsible for the cell acquiringits specific characteristics.

In this significant new studythe expression profiles of motorneurons (cells in the spinal cordand brainstem that control mus-cles), using both normal neuronsand neurons from animal modelsystems for neurodegenerativediseases, will be compared forthe first time on a systematiclevel to unravel the differencebetween healthy and diseasedstates.

Professor Lumsden said: ‘Thecomparison should give us deepinsights into the molecular causes of, for example, amy-otrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)and spinal muscular atrophy.Once the unique combination ofgenes that characterises thesecomplex cell types is known, itwill be possible to develop well-focused therapies to systemati-cally manipulate and repairgenetic defects.’

The second award of £5.4 million will be used to create theLondon Pain Consortium,directed by Stephen McMahon,Sherrington Professor of Physiol-ogy, Division of Physiology, andbringing together nine leadingscientists and clinicians withestablished records in painresearch from King’s, UniversityCollege, Institute of ChildHealth and Imperial College.

Professor McMahon explained:

‘Pain is an immensely importantclinical problem where there isstill a large unmet need. It is alsoan exciting and rapidly evolvingarea of neuroscience research.To tackle the problem effective-ly, concerted efforts are neededfrom both neurobiologists andclinicians.’

The research programmes ofthe London Pain Consortiumwill include the use of DNAmicroarrays to search for geneswhose expression is regulated inmodels of inflammatory andneuropathic pain and by anal-gesic drugs. It will also examinethe use of proteomics in experi-mental pain studies and thescreening of human volunteersfor variations in pain sensitivity,relating these using associationstudies to known polymor-phisms in pain-related genes.

Over the next five years theConsortium will offer compre-hensive, multidisciplinary train-ing for 25 scientific and clinicalfellows and research students,each of whom will work in sever-al of the Consortium laborato-ries. This will create a new breedof young researchers with a thor-ough understanding of integra-tive physiological techniquesand how to combine them withmodern molecular and geneticapproaches.

King’s links to BBC website

The War Studies Group at King’s worked withthe BBC to provide commentary and analysison September 11, one year on, for their

respective websites.Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies

and Head of the School of Social & Public Policy,commented: ‘The King’s War Studies Group isworld-renowned for its expertise on terrorism,international security and strategic policy and wellplaced to work with the BBC in this way on thissignificant anniversary.’

Professor Freedman and Professor MichaelClarke, Director of the International Policy Insti-tute at King’s, have written articles for BBCi on thechanging nature of warfare, the history of terrorismand the key events leading up to September 11.The BBC website on September 11 can be foundat www.bbc.co.uk/september11.

The King’s September 11 webpage can befound at www.kcl.ac.uk/september11. It offers aseries of briefings focusing on the events of thatday and the subsequent war on terrorism. Thetexts are written by academics in the War Studies Group.

Biomedical Sciences £10mGraduation Ceremonies

Seven very successful gradu-ation ceremonies were heldover the summer: four at

the Royal Festival Hall on theSouthbank, and two medicalpresentation ceremonies and onedental presentation ceremony atSouthwark Cathedral.

The number of graduatingstudents was 2,000 at the RoyalFestival Hall and 450 at South-wark with a combined numberof 8,600 guests. During the cere-monies the two Honorary Fel-lows and eight of the ElectedFellows were presented.

Also at one of the Ceremoniesa new prize was awarded to com-memorate the lives of fiveKing’s Life Sciences students:Ian Boatswain, Remi Dawodu,Vivienne Igesi, Samuel Imagaand Jamini Kara. A few weeksafter they graduated in 1998they were killed in a car crashwhile on holiday in Spain. Eachyear from now on their nameswill be remembered as the prizeis awarded. This year it was wonjointly by third years KathrynSharp and Natalie Wookey.

October 2002 | COMMENT | 3

exposed to contaminated watercontaining water snails carryingthe cercariae. These parasitesthen penetrate the skin, growand develop into adult worms,and live in the blood vessels ofthe gut or bladder where theyproduce eggs. Some of these eggspass into the urine or faeces andwater becomes contaminated.

Within days after becominginfected, people develop a rash.This may escalate to fever,chills, cough and muscle aches.However, the eggs travel aroundthe body and for people who areheavily or repeatedly infectedfor many years, the parasite candamage the liver, intestines,lungs, bladder and even thebrain or spinal cord.

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The Centre for Caribbean Medicine,together with cricketing legend SirGarfield Sobers, hosted the Cen-

tre’s first annual gala reception at StThomas’ Hospital in June.

Guests included chief secre-tary to the Treasury, Paul BoatengMP, the Barbados High Commis-sioner HE Peter Simmons, and anumber of actors from Casualty,EastEnders and The Bill.

The aim was to raise the Cen-tre’s profile and invite people tobecome Friends of the Centre.

Professor Roger Jones, thenewly appointed Executive Direc-tor of the Centre, gave a presen-tation on the Centre’s activities.He noted that approximately £3million had been awarded to theCentre and departmentsresearching diseases prevalent inthe African-Caribbean population.

As well as poetry recitationsfrom Valerie Bloom and LintonKwesi Johnson, throughout theevening Tony Charles’ steel bandprovided the sounds of theCaribbean while guests enjoyedCaribbean food.

If you are interested in findingout more about becoming aFriend of the Centre or making adonation, ring 020-7848 3103 oremail ccm@kcl.ac.uk.

SchizophreniaresearchNew research into schizophreniain British African-Caribbeanshelped publicise the Centre’s

gala reception.The research, by Dr Rose-

marie Mallet and colleagues,indicates that the higher levels

of schizophrenia in the African-Caribbean population in Britainare in part due to social and envi-ronmental factors. Published inthe journal Social Psychiatry &

Psychiatric Epidemiology, it is thefirst time that social and psycho-logical factors have been recog-nised as central to understandingthe cause of serious mental illnessin African-Caribbeans.

Dr Mallet, a medical sociolo-gist at the IOP, said: ‘This workhighlights the significance ofsocial disadvantage as a cause ofsevere mental illness. Our studyfound that UK African-Caribbeanswho had been separated fromone or both parents for four yearsor more during childhood weremore likely to develop schizo-phrenia. A similar link was alsoseen with unemployment inBritish African-Caribbeans.

‘Early studies by others indicat-ed extremely high rates of schiz-ophrenia in African-Caribbeans inthe UK compared to the whitepopulation. Our work began in1991 and we found that twice asmany African-Caribbeans devel-oped schizophrenia compared to

white people with similar back-grounds. Studies in Caribbeanpopulations showed that theirrate of schizophrenia was signifi-cantly lower than in London’sAfrican-Caribbeans, suggestingthat social and environmentalfactors were responsible for thehigh UK rates.’

Professor Roger Jones said:‘There are large communities ofAfrican-Caribbeans around King’sCollege in south London and webelieve we have an obligation toinvestigate the health inequalitiesthat can occur in them. We workin full and equal partnership withthe University of the West Indiesand the gala reception this yearhelps to emphasise our closelinks. Both institutions stand tolearn a good deal from each otherand that is a very positive thing.’

Caribbean Medicine star-studded reception

Acting on disability

As the Disability Discrimina-tion Act is extended tocover further and higher

education institutions, the Col-lege has updated the DisabilityHandbook.

This publication is not only forprospective and current studentswith disabilities or long term ill-nesses, but also aimed at theirfamilies, friends and those inter-ested in providing support forthem whilst at College. It con-tains details about applying toKing’s, living arrangements, Dis-abled Students’ Allowances, dis-ability benefits and other fundingavailable.

This year there is also informa-tion for individuals who maywish to provide study-relatedsupport such as notetaking orcommunication support.

Virginia Wainwright, Directorof Equality & Diversity, com-mented: ‘A key aim of the Col-lege Disability Handbook is toenable students with disabilitiesto make informed choices abouttheir time at King’s and to takefull advantage of available sup-port according to their particularneeds.’

To download a copy of thehandbook see www.kcl.ac.ukequal_opps/index.html. Alternatively, copies are availablefrom:• The Equality and Diversity

Department • main reception desks • School Offices • Information

Service Centres• Welfare Offices• Students’ Union

Joking aside: Paul Boateng MP (left) with Sir Garfield Sobers, the former West Indiancricketer, enjoying the Centre for Caribbean Medicine’s first annual gala reception

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The Games passed withoutmajor incident, and the Cen-tre’s Director, Professor

David Cowan, welcomes this as asign that drug testing is constantlyimproving.

‘Some people believe thecheats are always one stepahead,’ he says, ‘but I think a lotof athletes do know that theprocess is becoming so effectivethat it’s better not to take drugs.Throughout my career I’veheard it said that we won’t be

able to deal with the next gener-ation of drugs or treatments, butwe always have done.’

The Centre drew on the assis-tance of a number of overseasexperts as part of the collabora-tive approach for major interna-tional competitions.

David Cowan is Professor ofPharmaceutical Toxicology atKing’s, and has been involved in the field of sports analysis for24 years. He was the co-founderof the Drug Control Centre,established in 1978 at ChelseaCollege (which merged withKing’s in 1985), and becameDirector in 1990.

‘The Centre is one of 27worldwide and the only one in the UK accredited by theInternational Olympic Commit-tee,’ he notes. It also has thehighest possible UK and interna-tional accreditation for a testinglaboratory.

During the Games the per-formance of the Centre wasunder the watchful gaze of anobserver from the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA).Feedback on the Centre’s performance is due to be pub-lished on the WADA websiteand the Centre is anticipating aglowing report.

The Centre is contracted toundertake all the urine analysisfor UK Sport’s Anti-Doping Pro-gramme, which amounts to aminimum of 4,000 samples ayear, and also regularly under-takes urine analysis for sportsorganisations outside the UK.

‘We’ve provided this servicefor many UK events, includingthe Edinburgh CommonwealthGames in 1986 and the Euro-pean Football Cup in 1996. Wealso assist laboratories elsewhereto meet these exceptionalrequirements; in 1998 we won amajor role in establishing thedrug testing laboratory for theKuala Lumpur CommonwealthGames, and we also played a keypart in the Sydney Olympic

Games in 2000 and the Salt LakeCity Winter Olympics in 2002,’David Cowan explains.

The testing process involvesreceiving anonymous pairs ofurine samples (‘A’ and ‘B’) fromthe competitors tested. The ‘B’samples are stored safely whilethe ‘A’ samples are subjected tovarious levels and types of test.If any abnormalities are notedwith a sample, skilled scientificevaluation is used to interpretthe resulting data. Between oneand two per cent of the samplesreceived by the Centre result inan adverse finding, and in thesecases the ‘B’ sample is availableto confirm or refute the findingin the ‘A’ sample. The athleteconcerned has the right to bepresent during the testing of the‘B’ sample if they wish.

Equally important in the Cen-tre’s work is maintaining a chainof custody for the samples itanalyses. This way, at any onetime, the Centre can provewhere a sample is being storedand who, when and why a mem-ber of staff has had access to thesample, thereby negating thepossibility that a sample mayhave been tampered with. Inaddition to its analytical work,the Centre provides expert evidence for disciplinary andemployment tribunals.

The Centre, part of the Schoolof Health & Life Sciences basedin the Franklin-Wilkins Buildingat Waterloo, has a staff of 17. Itsleading-edge research includesrecent papers on ecstasy and rostenedione. The scientificmethods used for testing includegas chromatography, liquid chromatography, immuno-proce-dures, electrophoresis andsophisticated mass spectrometry.

There are currently plans toestablish a centre for evidentialscience which would bringtogether the range of testing forlegal purposes which is carriedout in the College, linking theDrug Control Centre with theForensic Science team in theDivision of Life Sciences.

The Drug Control Centre

Accredited by the InternationalOlympic Committee

Highest possible UK and interna-tional accreditation for a test-ing laboratory

The Drug Control Centre at King’s was again in the media spotlight thissummer when it was chosen to provide a 24-hour drug testing service forthe Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Fireworks: theopening ceremonyat the Manchester CommonwealthGames, held overthe summer.

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During the summer a number of major research findings by King’s academics were published, resulting in significant public interest and media coverage for the College. Some of them are highlighted over these pages.

Research by scientists in theGuy’s, King’s & St Thomas’Dental Institute at King’s may

one day mean the end of denturesand false teeth.

Professor Paul Sharpe, Head ofCraniofacial Development, talkedabout his success at growing teethin the laboratory to New Scientistin August. He has already grownimmature mouse teeth from stemcells by finding the right signallingmolecules to persuade them todevelop in the correct way. This willhopefully mean that one day bio-engineered teeth grown in the lab-oratory could replace dentures.

Professor Sharpe plans toimplant the tooth buds into ani-mals’ jaws and is confident that the

developing tooth will attach its ownnerve and blood supply andcement itself into the gum.

He commented: ‘The aim is, yougo along to your dentist, we takecells from you and engineer them.

We replace them into the site youneed the tooth and, hey presto, thetooth would grow. Yes, it’s compli-cated, but we are letting the natu-ral embryonic development path-ways do the work for us.’

Although the research is at a

very early stage it may only be tenyears before dentists are givingpeople new teeth.

One day bio-engineered teethgrown in the laboratory couldreplace dentures

Engineering teeth

Ascientist at King’s has discovered aunique gene in humans that acts as adefence against attack from human

immunodeficiency virus, HIV, the virus thatcauses AIDS. The gene, CEM15, representsa new type of natural resistance to viral activity that could be exploited to producenew treatments for HIV or AIDS.

The research by Professor Michael Malim,Head of Infectious Diseases at King’s,together with Dr Ann Sheehy and colleaguesat the University of Pennsylvania School ofMedicine, was published in Nature inAugust.

It showed how CEM15 would stop HIVinfection, but is normally overcome by a

small HIV protein called Vif (virion infectiv-ity factor), that suppresses its activity.Although scientists know that Vif plays anessential part in ensuring HIV replication, itsprecise functions have remained unclear.

The team studied cells infected with aform of HIV that lacked Vif and found thatthe CEM15 gene interfered with the HIVlife-cycle, rendering any new virus particlesnon-infectious.

Professor Malim said: ‘These are very sig-nificant findings and could open the door tonew treatments for HIV/AIDS in the future.Previous studies have shown that Vif is

crucial in infection and neutralises some sortof defence system in healthy cells. Ourresearch has identified CEM15 as a key com-ponent of the system in question. If we canfind a way to block the action of Vif, it wouldallow CEM15 to work properly and to pre-vent HIV from spreading.

‘When a virus such as HIV infects a cell, itbasically comes with its own blueprints inthe form of RNA and a few proteins that actas tools. Using just this, it hijacks the cell’sentire biochemical machinery, turning it intoa factory that churns out new viruses, or virions. These virions then go on to infect andkill other cells and so the cycle continues.

‘There is still a lot to learn about Vif. Allthis research will hopefully lead to a way ofstopping Vif from working and thus enablingthe body’s natural defence mechanism tocome into play. It’s very ambitious, but wemay see Vif developed as a new target fortherapy in the next ten years.’

These are very significant findings andcould open the door to new treatmentsfor HIV/AIDS in the future

Gene defenceagainst HIV

Mind the gap:growing newteeth maybecome a reality

following exten-sive research atKing’s.

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Alevels are not an accurate test of a stu-dent’s abilities and potential, accordingto research by Professors Paul Black

and Dylan Wiliam of the Department ofEducation & Professional Studies.

Whether exam standards are going up ordown is not the point, they claim. Insteadthey argue that attention ought to be directed at the issues of reliability and valid-ity; that is, how accurate are the grades andwhat do they actually mean.

Students, parents, teachers and others whouse examination results to draw conclusionsabout individuals, or about the performanceof schools, should understand that examina-tion results are of limited reliability andvalidity, and that they cannot be taken at face value.

Dylan Wiliam, Assistant Principal and Pro-fessor of Educational Assessment, said:‘Whether standards are going up or down isnot the issue – standards have been broadlymaintained. The problem is that we justdon’t know how accurate examination grades are for individual students, and they

are of only limited use as predictors of futureperformance.’

Furthermore, the lack of well researcheddata on the reliability and validity of exami-nations means that it has not been possible to optimise the design of the system. PaulBlack, Emeritus Professor of Science Educa-tion, commented: ‘Because such evidence asexists has been ignored, too much confi-dence has been placed in the results of exter-nal testing and too little in the potentialvalue of school-based assessments. When Ichaired the government Task Group onAssessment and Testing in 1987/8 westressed that teachers’ assessments should beat the heart of any national system: this wasaccepted in principle and completely ignoredin subsequent policy.’

Professors Black and Wiliam also empha-

sise that the main responsibility of the exam-ination groups is a limited one. Exam resultsare affected by ability, effort, teaching, syl-labus, test quality, marking and grading, onlythe last four of which are currently the concern of examination groups.

‘Grades are improving because studentsare cleverer, are working harder and schoolsare increasingly teaching to the test,’ Profes-sor Wiliam said.

Examination results are of limited reliability and validity

Accuracy of exam results questioned

The annual misery of hay fevermight one day be a thing ofthe past if new findings by

Professor Brian Sutton’s team inthe Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’School of Biomedical Sciences,can be exploited.

There are 12 million sufferers ofhay fever in Britain who mayspend summers red-eyed andsneezing. Published in the journalNature Immunology, ProfessorSutton’s team have made signifi-cant findings into the causes ofthis allergy.

The work could also benefitasthmatics and people with seri-ous allergies to insect stings orcertain foods. At the moment the

treatments patients receive onlyattempt to alleviate the symptomsof the body’s allergic response.

Allergic reactions, including hayfever, are caused by a molecule inthe immune system called IgE(immunoglobulin E). When a per-

son comes into contact with some-thing that sets off their allergy, suchas pollen, the antibody IgE binds to

white blood cells, called mast cells,that contain histamine. The IgEcauses these cells to release thishistamine and other substancesthat lead to inflammation. This iswhat causes red, itching eyes,sneezing and runny nose.

The King’s researchers foundthat the part of the IgE moleculethat attaches to the mast cell is

normally bent sharply back onitself. In order to form a strongbond with the mast cell, it has tounfold. It is possible that this couldbe exploited, by perhaps develop-ing a drug that prevents the IgEmolecule moving into its foldedposition. By locking it up it cannottrigger the mast cells and noinflammation would occur.

12 million sufferers of hayfever in Britain may spendsummers red-eyed andsneezing

Can we ‘turn off’ hay fever?

Eyes down: just how accurate are exams for testingability and potential?

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Blood-brain barrierDr David Begley, neurophysiol-ogist at King’s, is working onexciting new ways of crossingthe blood-brain barrier. This is thebarrier built into the blood ves-sels that feed the brain and it isvery effective at keeping outunwanted elements such as tox-ins and viruses in the blood.However, it also blocks drugsfrom entering. Talking with thejournal, Science, Dr Begleyexplained his research into get-ting drugs past this barrier totreat neurological disease andthe success he has had at sneak-ing tiny particles stuffed withdrugs across the barrier to treatbrain tumours.

Veterans studyProfessor Christopher Dandeker

of the Department of War Stud-ies and Professor Simon Wes-

sely of the Institute of Psychia-try, have been commissioned bythe Ministry of Defence to pro-duce a scoping study of thehealth and social concerns of vet-erans.

The study will focus on thoseex-service personnel who are

particularly vulnerable toprocesses of social exclusion andhow the delivery of public servic-es to meet their needs might beimproved. It will be completed byMarch 2003 and two researchstaff will assist Professors Dan-deker and Wessely: Dr AmyIversen (IoP) and Mr John Ross(War Studies).

Revivalism A highly successful conferenceheld on the history and theologyof the Revivalist movement inthe US and UK was held in Junein the College Chapel at theStrand.

Being the first conference ofits kind in the UK, it attractedboth academics, including Pro-fessors David Bebbington, TomSmail and Roger Forster, as wellas practitioners.

It was arranged by Andrew

Walker, Professor of Theologyand Education in the Departmentof Education & Professional Stud-ies. Twelve substantial paperswere given and a book is plannedfor publication.

Hefce has awarded £249,589from its Fund for the Devel-opment of Teaching and

Learning to the FlorenceNightingale School of Nursing &Midwifery. The money will sup-port the pre-registration inter-pro-fessional education (IPE) projectbeing carried out by the three uni-versities and NHS Trusts thatcomprise the South East London Workforce DevelopmentConfederation (SELWDC).

The money, awarded overthree years, has been won in col-laboration with the nursingschools at Greenwich and SouthBank universities.

Professor Ian Norman from theSchool of Nursing & Midwiferyat King’s, who led the successfulbid, commented: ‘This is goodnews not only for future nursesand midwives, but also for stu-dents of all other healthcare pro-fessions being educated withinSELWDC. This award is in addition to previous funding that we have received from theDepartment of Health, whichhighlights the central role nowbeing accorded to inter-profes-sional education in the develop-ment of the ‘new’ NHS.

‘This Hefce award puts ourambitious inter-professionaleducation project on a sounderfinancial footing, and will allowus to evaluate it thoroughly. Theevidence base for inter-profes-sional education is very limited.We know little about the effectsof pre-registration inter-profes-sional education on inter-profes-sional collaboration, and evenless about its benefits forpatients. There’s a major researchand development agenda here towhich the SELWDC inter-pro-fessional education project can

make a substantial contribution.’The SELWDC IPE project is

designed to foster the knowl-edge, skills and attitudesrequired by students in thehealth professions for effectiveinter-professional working. To

this end all undergraduate students from seven health pro-fessions (nursing, midwifery,medicine, dentistry, physiothera-py, dietetics and pharmacy –some 1,200 students each year)admitted to King’s from Septem-ber 2002 and thereafter, willembark on a continuous pro-gramme of IPE, which is integrat-ed with their uni-professionaleducation programmes.

The IPE programme has dis-tinct stages representing pro-gression from shared learning tojoint decision making and careplanning in partnership withpatients. Much education willtake place in practice place-ments in which King’s studentswill learn to work collaborativelywith each other and with health-care students from Greenwichand South Bank universities.Thus, the IPE project makesthe patient rather than the pro-fessional group the startingpoint for education. An evalua-tion is planned that will chartthe project’s impact and enableit to be developed in the light ofevidence.

Nursing scoopsFDTL award

Memorial lecture

Amemorial lecture was heldin May for Dr William Hirst,Senior Lecturer in the

Department of HaematologicalMedicine, who died aged 40.

The lecture, given by Dr Ale-jandro Madigral, ResearchDirector of the Anthony NolanBone Marrow Institute, wasattended by over 150 former col-leagues of Dr Hirst’s from allover the UK.

It was followed by the unveil-ing of a plaque by his threedaughters, renaming the laboratorywhich their father founded in theLeukaemia Sciences, Rayne Insti-

tute, Denmark Hill Campus, tothe Will Hirst LeukaemiaImmunobiology Laboratory.

Dr William Hirst’s daughters:Amy, Rosie and Mollie, unveil a plaquerenaming a laboratory in their father’shonour.

The money will support thepre-registration inter-professional educationproject

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TV times

October 2002 | COMMENT | 9

Medieval historian ProfessorDavid Carpenter presentedthe popular Channel 5

television series, Warrior School,in which men and women weretrained in ancient warfare.

Professor Carpenter explained:‘We took policemen, sportsmenand members of the services andtaught them how to live and fightas warriors from different periodsin history. The aim was that theywould come to understand thewhole nature of the individualexperience of ancient combat.’

Working with the highlyrespected director, Mike Ibeji,one of those behind the Makingof Britain and holder of a doctor-ate on the late Roman army, War-rior School has been both enter-taining and highly informative. ‘Asfar as reality history goes, thisprogramme gets a Colesseum-style thumbs up,’ The SundayTimes enthused.

In four parts, the first pro-gramme, Knights, saw a profes-sional polo player and a mountedpoliceman being taught theknightly pleasures of foot trainingat Castle Bolton, Wensleydale,and jousting in the tiltyard at theRoyal Armouries, Leeds.

Master at Arms of the RoyalArmouries, John Waller, tookcharge of the combat training,guiding the two volunteers along asteep learning curve which

included circuit training in 60-70lbsof metal armour, long-bow les-sons, instruction in how to wield agreat sword, handling hunting fal-cons and, most importantly, howto control and aim with a lancewhile riding in armour.

After enduring three toughdays, with only medieval dancinglessons for respite, they facedprofessional knights in battle.

Commenting on the wholeseries, Professor Carpenter said: ‘Ithought the programmes showedthat there is no mystery aboutthe techniques of ancient and

medieval warfare and that fitmen and women of today canquickly learn them. I was remind-ed of Edward Gibbon’s remark:“the courage and expertise ofthe soldier is one of the com-monest commodities possessedby mankind”.’

Particularly striking for ProfessorCarpenter was the way the two‘knights’ learnt to joust in fullarmour in little more than a week-end. ‘I especially liked thesequences when they did exercis-es in armour, which were bothinformative and funny.’

King’s academics recently became TV starswhen they took part in some high profile television programmes.

BBC 2’s well trailed and muchpublicised The Ship set sailon 20 August with Andrew

Lambert, Laughton Professor ofNaval History, as a crew memberof The Endeavour – a perfect repli-ca of Captian Cook’s original ship.The series threw new light on his-torical and scientific aspects ofCook’s epic voyage of discovery inAustralia and the south seas.

Professor Lambert, among 41volunteers who joined 15 workingcrew, was chosen to fill the advi-sory role of naval historian. Also onboard were British and Australianhistorians together with scientificspecialists including a botanist, abotanical artist, navigators and anastronomer.

The six programmes wereessentially fly-on-the-wall pieceswith the additional themes of voy-aging, historical reconstructionand reconciliation. They showed amodern crew attempting to dealwith the rigours of life on an 18thcentury tall-ship and coming toterms with hard conditions and anunusual regime. This included anauthentic diet, no external com-munications, no smoking, drinkingor coffee and the absence of anypersonal space.

Professor Lambert explained hisreason for accepting this highlyunusual assignment: ‘It providedan opportunity to experience life atsea on a wooden sailing ship for amonth, long enough to learnsomething about ship handling andconditions. I learnt more in fourweeks about the working andcrewing of a wooden sailing shipthan I could‘ve picked up in a life-time of shore-bound study. Cook

remains an iconic figure, althoughnot necessarily always in a positivesense, and his voyage was a mas-terpiece of navigation.’

He described his abiding memo-ries of the trip as comradeship,spectacle and self-discovery: ‘Get-ting up onto the foretopsail yard tofurl sail for the first time, 100 feetabove the deck, bent double over aspar, standing on a rope and haulingup a heavy sail with the rest of mywatch, required concentration, team-work, dexterity and a steady nerve.These are not the obvious qualifica-tions for a historian.’

Filming took place in Augustand September last year but,unfortunately, as The Endeavourleft Australian waters at the end of the third programme, Pro-fessor Lambert had to be airliftedoff with pneumonia. The 21stcentury had caught up with himand the next day, September 11,it would catch up with the wholecrew.

See Professor Lambert’s articleon the BBC History website.www.bbc.co.uk/history/discovery/exploration/life_at_sea_06.shtml

The individual experience ofancient combat

In ancient times Discovery on thehigh seas

The rigours of life on an 18thcentury tall-ship

Sailing by: TheEndeavour, areplica of Cook’sship, providedthe setting forBBC 2’s series

The Ship, inwhich Professor Andrew Lambert,Department ofWar Studies, wasa crew member.

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Turn to page 12 for news aboutfurther King’s TV appearances

King’s people

10 | COMMENT | October 2002

New Fel-lowsHonorary Fellows

Lord Guthrie GCB LVO OBE

General the Lord Guthrie ofCraigiebank, former Chief ofDefence Staff and Chairman ofthe Trustees of the King’s CollegeLondon Liddell Hart Centre forMilitary Archives, and a VisitingProfessor in the Department ofWar Studies at King’s.

Lord Rothschild GBE

Lord Rothschild, a major figure inthe world of arts, heritage andphilanthropy.

Elected Fellows

The Revd Dr Richard Burridge

Dr Burridge has been Dean andan honorary lecturer of the Col-lege since 1994. He is a Memberof the General Synod of theChurch of England, and is Chairof the Church’s Education Valida-tion Panel.

Professor Colin Bushnell PhD

Professor Bushnell is Head of theSchool of Physical Sciences &Engineering and has an interna-tional reputation as a specialist innumber theory, winning the 1995

London Mathematical Society’sSenior Whitehead Prize. He is alsoChair of the College’s EstatesManagement Committee.

Professor Michael Dockrill PhD

Professor Dockrill was a distin-guished professor in the Depart-ment of War Studies from 1995-01with an international reputation asa scholar of diplomatic history. Heestablished the highly regardedMacmillan/Palgrave Studies in Mil-itary and Strategic History.

Sir Gordon Downey CB KCB

Sir Gordon Downey has had a distinguished career in the publicservice, most recently from 1995-1998 as Parliamentary Com-missioner for Standards. He wasChairman of the Delegacy ofKCSMD from 1989-91.

Maureen Patricia Duffy BA

FRSL

Maureen Duffy graduated fromKing’s in 1956. She is a muchrespected poet and playwright,and author of some 15 novelsand of several works of non-fic-tion. She also played a major partin establishing authors’ publiclending rights.

Dr Alan Gibson

Dr Alan Gibson is a Senior Lec-turer in Pharmacology. He hasmade exceptional contributionsto the College in supporting theapplication of key personnel poli-cy and practice, and in his role asChairman of the Amenities Com-mittee.

Professor Ian Michael PhD

Professor Michael graduatedwith first class honours in Span-ish from King’s in 1957. He nowholds the King Alfonso XIII Chairof Spanish at Oxford and is a his-panist of international renownand an authority in medieval stud-ies. Under the pseudonym ofDavid Serafín he has also pub-lished a series of six detectivenovels set in Spain.Professor John Langdon

MBBS FRCS MDS FMedSci

Professor Langdon is Head of theDivision of Oral & MaxillofacialSurgery, Emergency Dental Ser-vices & Dental Radiology, andClinical Director of King’s CollegeDental Hospital & CommunityDental Services. He will be Presi-dent in 2003 of the British Associa-tion of Oral & Maxillofacial Sur-geons.

The Revd Dr Nyameko

Barney Pityana DD

Dr Pityana is a graduate of King’sand a lawyer and theologian witha lifelong commitment to humanrights. He became Vice-Chancellorand Principal of the University ofSouth Africa in 2001, previouslychairing the South African HumanRights Commission.

Professor Michael Robb PhD

DSc FRS

Professor Robb is Head of theDepartment of Chemistry. He ishighly respected for the applica-tion of quantum mechanics tochemistry, and his work on photochemical problems is dis-tinguished for establishing a newtheoretical foundation to the subject.

Queen’sBirthdayHonoursThe Principal, Professor Arthur

Lucas, was awarded a CBE forservices to higher education.

Professor Peter Marshall FBA,

Emeritus Professor in the Depart-ment of History and former Presi-dent of the Royal Historical Soci-ety, was awarded a CBE for serv-ices to history.

Professor Jack Spence, VisitingProfessor in the Department ofWar Studies, was awarded anOBE for services to the Ministryof Defence and his work as aca-demic advisor to the Royal Col-lege of Defence Studies.

Judith Mayhew, Chairman, Pol-icy & Resources Committee, Cor-poration of London, and formerSub-Dean of Law, was awarded aDBE for services to the City ofLondon.

Sir Michael Howard Kt CBE FBA,

was awarded a Companion ofHonour for services to militarystudies. He founded the Depart-ment of War Studies at King’sand is also a long serving Trusteeof the Liddell Hart Centre for Mil-itary Archives.

Max Hastings, former editor ofthe Evening Standard and TheDaily Telegraph and also a Trusteeof the Liddell Hart Centre for Mil-itary Archives, was awarded aknighthood for services to jour-nalism.

King’s people

October 2002 | COMMENT | 11

Fellowships

FBA for Lawrence Dreyfus

Lawrence Dreyfus, Thurston DartProfessor of PerformanceStudies in the Department ofMusic and head of theDepartment from 1995-99, hasbeen elected Fellow of the British Academy.

Professor Dreyfus has enjoyed

a dual career as writer and per-former, although his election asFellow of the BA is based on hiscontribution to scholarship. Muchof his scholarly work has centredon the music of J S Bach,although he has also written ontheories of performance practice,the Early Music movement, theworks of Mozart and on Jews inthe circle of Richard Wagner.

He is also the only FBA to holda Grammy Award: as a cellist aswell as a viol player he can beheard in a CD of Purcell songswith Sylvia McNair, which won aGrammy for the best vocalrecording of 1995.

Colin Roberts, Professor ofMedical Engineering & Physics,and Head of the Department ofMedical Engineering at DenmarkHill, has been awarded aFellowship of the InternationalAcademy of Medical & BiologicalEngineering.

Fellowship of the Academy islimited to 40 members world-wide and considered to be the topinternational accolade for thoseworking in the field of medical

engineering.

Prizes and Awards

Metin Avkiran, Professor ofMolecular Cardiology, has beenawarded a DSc from theUniversity of Bath. His award isbased on his published work,both at UMDS and King’s over thepast 10 years, on the pathophysio-logical roles, pharmacological inhibition and cellular regulation of the cardiac sarcolemmal sodi-um/hydrogen exchanger.

Angela Gurnell, the new Professor of Physical Geography,been awarded the prestigious Victoria Medal by the RoyalGeographical Society.

She is one of the country’s lead-ing fluvial geomorphologists with aparticular expertise in the sustain-able management of urban riversand floodplains, with over 150 keypublications to her name. Since1997, she has been the principalinvestigator on over 35 researchprojects, funded recently by theEnvironment Agency, NERC andthe European Union.

Lawrence Freedman CBE,

Professor of War Studies andHead of the School of SocialScience & Public Policy andauthor of Kennedy’s Wars: Berlin,Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam (OxfordUniversity Press) has won the sil-ver medal in the Arthur Ross BookAward. This is America’s newestand largest international affairsbook award and is presented bythe Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr Chris Thornhill, Lecturer in theDepartment of German, hasreceived an Outstanding AcademicBook award in the Political Theorycategory from the AmericanLibrary Association for his bookPolitical Theory in ModernGermany (Cambridge: Polity Press,2000). The award is made by theALA’s magazine Choice: CurrentReviews for Academic Libraries.

Christopher Wintle of theDepartment of Music has beenawarded The Royal PhilharmonicSociety prize for an outstandingbook on music published in the UK in the year 2001. TheJerusalem Diary. Music, Societyand Politics, 1977 and 1979 wasedited by Chris and and FionaWilliams (BBC SymphonyOrchestra Music Library). Theprize, which is generally acknowl-edged as the country‘s leadingmusic book award, was present-ed at the RPS annual dinner inMay by Dame Joan Sutherland in a ceremony hosted by SirThomas Allen.

The Diary is both a study of pol-itics, society and culture at a timewhen Israel swung sharply to theright, and a witty, irreverent andstylish anti-autobiography by awriter who dominated Londonmusic in the 40 years after thewar. It is published by PlumbagoBooks, London.

Appointments

Janet Askham, Director of theAge Concern Institute ofGerontology and Professor ofGerontology, has been appointedto the prestigious role ofAcademic Co-ordinator for theDepartment of Health’s Older

People’s Research Programme.

Irene Higginson, Professor ofPalliative Care & Policy, has beenappointed Scientific Director ofthe newly established CicelySaunders Foundation. She has anoutstanding reputation in thissector and will lead the develop-ment of the scientific strategyand establish research projectsfor the Foundation. She retainsher position at King’s.

Jeremy Pearson, Professor ofVascular Biology, has beenappointed as one of two newassociate medical directors at theBritish Heart Foundation.Professor Pearson will be sec-onded from King’s to coverresearch.

Mr David Carslaw, a PrincipalScientist with the EnvironmentalResearch Group at King’s, is to bea member of the new Air QualityExpert Group. It has been set upby the Department forEnvironment, Food & RuralAffairs to tackle air pollution andto help the Government toassess the level and sources ofpollution as well as the impact ofproposed reduction strategies.

Chelsea silver medalDr Julian Ma,Senior Lecturer inthe Department ofOral Medicine (andhis team), won aSilver Medal in theLifelong Learningsection of theChelsea FlowerShow for a displayon pharmaceuticalsmade from genetically modified plants(See Comment141)

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King’s people

12 | COMMENT | October 2002

Arise, Sir Graeme Royal Society success Coming soon

Appointments toProfessorialChairs

Gareth Barker

Professor of Magnetic Reso-nance Imaging

Patrick Bolton

Professor of Child Neuropsychia-try

Jonathan Chambers

Professor of Signal Processing

Angela Gurnell

Professor of Physical Geography

Sheilagh Hodgins

Professor of Forensic MentalHealth Sciences

Ragnar Lofstedt

Professor of Risk Management

Jan Scott

Professor of Psychological Treat-ments

Professorial promotions*

Lionel Bently

Professor of LawSchool of Law

David Carpenter

Professor of Medieval HistoryDepartment of History

Susan Chinn

Professor of Medical StatisticsDepartment of Public Health Sci-ences

Jane Fortin

Professor of LawSchool of Law

James Gow

Professor of International Peaceand SecurityDepartment of War Studies

Andrew Hamilton

Professor of Medical MycologyDivision of Dermatology

Charles Kelly

Professor of Oral ImmunologyDivision of Oral Medicine &Pathology

Alistair Lax

Professor of Cellular Microbiolo-gyDivision of Oral Medicine &Pathology

Michael North

Professor of Synthetic OrganicChemistryDepartment of Chemistry

John Pickup

Professor of Diabetes & Metabo-lismDepartment of Clinical Biochem-istry

Brian Sutton

Professor of Molecular Bio-physicsDivision of Biomolecular Sci-ences

John Wainwright

Professor of GeographyDepartment of Geography

Charles Wolfe

Professor of Public Health Medi-cineDepartment of Public Health Sci-ences

David Yeandle

Professor of GermanDepartment of German

Michael Zakharyaschev

Professor of Logic & Computa-tionDepartment of Computer Sci-ence*effective from from 1 September 2002

IoP Professorialappointments

Professor Robert Howard

Professor of Old Age Psychiatryand Psychopathology

Professor Philip McGuire

Professor of Psychiatry and Cog-nitive Neuroscience

Professor Chris Miller

Professor of Molecular Neuro-science

Professor Martin Prince

Professor of EpidemiologicalPsychiatry

Professor Graeme Catto, Vice-Principaland Dean of the Guy’s, King’s College & St Thomas’ Hospitals’ Medical & DentalSchools, is knighted by HRH Prince Charlesat Holyrood, Edinburgh on 2 July.

Lord May of Oxford, President of The RoyalSociety, with Dr Nicholas Leadbeater, andteam from the Department of Chemistry withtheir Make me a Molecule exhibit at The RoyalSociety’s Summer Exhibition. Two King’s teamstook part, the other, Non-toxic toxins, was led byProfessor Alistair Lax, Guy’s, King’s & StThomas’ Dental Institute.

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Dr Douglas Campbell, Lecturer in New Testament Studies, has researched, written,and will present an hour-long programme tobe shown on Channel Four. Entitled Pagansand Christians, it is part of a season by Channel Four on First Century Paganism andRome.

Dr Campbell’s programme will specificallyexamine pagan religious life, and its subver-sion by the radically different religious programme of the early Christians. It wasfilmed primarily on location in Turkey, ie, inthe ancient Roman province of Asia.

King’s people

Barrie Morgan

Barrie Morgan retired asDirector of External Relationslast month after 35 years’

service at King’s. He has taken upa Consultancy role at the BritishCouncil.

Professor Barry Ife, Vice-Princi-pal, gave a speech at the farewellparty, part of which is reproducedbelow.

‘Barrie was a social scientist, andhis background in human geogra-phy was a key factor in his suc-cess in the external relations role.

He was educated at ExeterUniversity and gained a PhD in1970 for a study of the residentialgeography of Exeter. He pub-lished several studies of patternsof residence and segregation inthis country and abroad, and laterwent on to work on retail con-sumption. After an initial appoint-ment at Leeds, Barrie came to

King’s in 1967, was made Directorof North American Programmesin 1986, Director of InternationalStudents in 1988, and becameDirector of External Relations in1992.

Significant change took placein UK higher education during the1980s and 1990s. The move froman elite to a mass system wasnot matched by increases infunding, and it soon becameapparent that universities wouldbe working in an increasinglycompetitive environment andwould have to diversify theirincome streams. Barrie readthese changes quickly, and madesure that the College was in aposition to react fast to, and ifpossible anticipate, changing cir-cumstances. The policy papersthat he presented were alwaysthoroughly argued and based onconvincing evidence, especiallywhen they required the Collegeto make uncomfortable decisions

about investment.While it is invidious to single out

any particular aspect of his suc-cess, the creation of a strong,highly-motivated team must be atthe forefront of his achievement.That team saw through the estab-lishment and continued develop-ment of a strong corporate visualidentity for the College, built upone of the strongest alumni basesin the country and put fund-raisingonto a sound footing. Theseachievements have been markedby more awards for corporate pub-lications than any other UK univer-sity; over 1600 campus-based vis-its by alumni in the 2000-2001 ses-sion; and a fund-raising attainmentof some £23 million against aneventual target of £50 million. Andmuch, much more.

Barrie was made a Fellow of theCollege in 2001 in recognition ofhis service to King’s.’

October 2002 | COMMENT | 13

Obituaries

Professor Alan Bennett

(1936 -2002)

Alan Bennett gained a firstclass honours degree fromChelsea College followed

by a PhD. He embarked on scientific career, being appointedas lecturer in Pharmacology inthe Department of Surgery,King’s College School of Medi-cine & Dentistry, in 1963.

The then head of depart-ment, Professor Harald (Teddy)Edwards, a famous SecondWorld War surgeon, decided thatthe Department required aresearch pharmacologist to workwith the surgeons to elucidatethe ‘mysteries’ of the human gas-trointestinal tract. This appoint-ment was considered a radicalapproach since it involved mixingsurgeons with a pharmacologist.

Professor Bennett initiallypublished some studies on gut

propulsion and 5-HT but theturning point came when anunidentified substance in a gutextract was found to be aprostaglandin. He focused hisresearch mainly on prosta-glandins. Studies on prosta-glandin inhibitors and antago-nists and interactions withchemotherapy drugs and radio-therapy followed. Other studiesincluded gastric damage byNSAIDs and clinical studies thatlaunched Asacol as the drug ofchoice for treatment of ulcerativecolitis.

A good jazz musician with hisown big band, Alan also playedin quartets, trios and even duets.The highlight of many aprostaglandin meeting was the‘Pipitone Band’ hurriedly assem-bled by Alan to entertain dele-gates.

Although tempted many timesby generous offers, Alanremained a King’s College man,staying in the Department of

Surgery, contributing to the scientific and social life of thecampus. On his retirement in1993, he devoted his time tomusic and new fields of medicalresearch.

Ian Stamford, Iggy Tavares,

Mairead Carroll and Patrick

Wong

Memorial Service Thursday 28 November in theChapel, Strand Campus at 17.30followed by a reception in theGreat Hall, Strand, at 18.30 to20.00.

All are invited but please RSVPto ignatius.tavares@kcl.ac.uk

Lord Porter of Luddenhan

(1920-2002)

George Porter, a Fellow of the College (1994), was oneof the most innovative

scientists of the 20th century. He shared the 1967 Nobel

Chemistry Prize for his pioneer-ing work with Ronald Norrish atCambridge on high-speed, light-driven chemical reactions.

He was Director of the RoyalInstitution for 20 years from1966-85 and in 1987 took up thechairmanship of a new centre forphotochemistry and photosyn-thesis at Imperial College. Healso worked to highlight theissue of public spending on scientific research and used hismaiden speech in the House ofLords in 1991 to criticise the levelof public support for science.

Apart from his great distinc-tion as a physical chemist, he wasinterested in communicationbetween scientists and non-scien-tists and was much sought after asa lecturer and took part in manyBBC television programmes.

King’s in the community

School science at King’s

King’s gave more than 60school students from acrosssouth London an insight

into university life at its HigherEducation Summer School, heldin July.

Called ‘Fascinating Bodies’, itwas run by the School ofBiomedical Sciences as part ofthe national initiative funded byHefce to encourage studentsfrom under-represented socialbackgrounds to consider highereducation.

Dr Barrie Morgan, formerDirector of External Relations,said: ‘King’s campuses are nearsome of the most educationallydisadvantaged teenagers in thecountry. Many of them are notachieving exam success in linewith their ability and do not con-sider higher education as anoption, particularly in an institu-tion as prestigious as King’s.

‘King’s is firmly committed towidening participation and fairaccess by selecting the best stu-dents based on academic meritand potential. We have a key

14 | COMMENT | October 2002

King’s is working hard to increase its links with the local communities around its five campuses andto widen participation and access to the College through a number of initiatives which are exploredover these two pages. Recently Hefce provided King’s with funds to establish two key posts: a Community Relations Officer and a Widening Participation Manager. Their roles, which coverthe whole of the College and the surrounding communities, are described here, together with anumber of other projects in this field.

Local links

Ever thought of volunteering?

Abby Wilson has been appointed to create andmaintain links with the local communitieswith a view to promoting staff and student

volunteering. She was a student at King’s (Laws 2000) and then

President of KCLSU before joining theDevelopment Office. Now based in the PublicRelations Department, she took up her position ofCommunity Relations Officer at the beginning ofAugust.

Her role is to develop and maintain links withthe local communities around the College’s fivecampuses and to encourage students and staff tovolunteer in the local community. One of her mainobjectives is to compile a comprehensive review ofthe activities undertaken by King’s staff in thecommunity, for example volunteering, mentoringor school governing

Abby Wilson said: ‘I would be grateful if any staffwho are involved with community groups or whovolunteer in any way could let me know about theiractivities. I am also looking at ways in which theexpertise within College can be used for the goodof the local communities. Any ideas that you mayhave would be gratefully appreciated!’

Abby Wilson can be contacted on ext 3073, oremail abby.wilson@kcl.ac.uk.

Widening participation

Before joining King’s as a Widening ParticipationManager in July, Samantha Paxton previouslyworked for Lifetime Careers Brent & Harrow, as

a Career Consultant and Project Manager.Since her arrival she has met with key personnel

from schools, colleges and local authorities to heartheir views on the needs of educationally disad-vantaged students in London. She has also been incontact with a number of staff within King’s to

discuss possible widening participation initiatives,with the aim of raising aspirations and increasingthe enrolment of disadvantaged students to theCollege.

Samantha Paxton explained: ‘There are a num-ber of programmes which already exist withinKing’s that have successfully encouraged educa-tionally disadvantaged students to consider highereducation as an exciting and viable option. My aimis to encourage staff in all schools at the College tobecome involved in the new widening participa-tion activities, which will be available to localschools and colleges from January 2003. I am keento hear from any staff who would like to participatein this programme of activities.’

Samantha Paxton can be contacted on ext 3453,or email samantha.paxton@kcl.ac.uk.

A key role to play in raisingaspirations and attainmentin local communities

Samantha Paxton (left) and Abby Wilson

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King’s in the community

October 2002 | COMMENT | 15

School science at King’s

King’s gave more than 60school students from acrosssouth London an insight

into university life at its HigherEducation Summer School, heldin July.

Called ‘Fascinating Bodies’, itwas run by the School ofBiomedical Sciences as part ofthe national initiative funded byHefce to encourage studentsfrom under-represented socialbackgrounds to consider highereducation.

Dr Barrie Morgan, formerDirector of External Relations,said: ‘King’s campuses are nearsome of the most educationallydisadvantaged teenagers in thecountry. Many of them are notachieving exam success in linewith their ability and do not con-sider higher education as anoption, particularly in an institu-tion as prestigious as King’s.

‘King’s is firmly committed towidening participation and fairaccess by selecting the best stu-dents based on academic meritand potential. We have a key roleto play in raising aspirations andattainment in local communitiesand encouraging teenagers to see

higher education as a realisticopportunity. This type of projectis vital to breaking down barri-ers.’

The Year 11 students fromGreenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham,Southwark, Tower Hamlets andWandsworth took part in a rangeof fun and practical workshopsgiving them study skills as wellas stimulating their interest inbiomedical sciences.

Sheila Maister, SummerSchool Co-ordinator, said: ‘Thisis a fantastic opportunity for

school students to experiencehigher education.’

English extraPre-university English languageclasses are being offered byKing’s to promising and highlymotivated A level students,whose first language is notEnglish. The programme, part ofthe College’s response to theWidening Participation initia-tive, has been devised and man-aged by the Department ofEducation & ProfessionalStudies in conjunction with theExternal Relations Directorate.

The purpose of the pro-gramme is to provide specialisttuition for students who are stilldeveloping their English lan-guage competence. It also pro-vides additional support forthese students’ access to univer-sity education.

Dr Constant Leung, director ofthe programme, explained: ‘Weaim to offer 50 places to promis-ing first year A level studentsfrom schools in various Londonboroughs. The pre-universityAcademic Language Programmebegan in April with studentsattending on Saturday mornings.The programme has beendesigned to help them reachtheir potential.’

Students are divided into twogroups; humanities-orientatedand science and engineering-orientated. The programmeincludes uses of academic literacies, accessing library infor-mation and databases, orientation

to higher education and thestructure of academic composi-tion in the English language.

Mrs Bridget Barlow, whoadministered the course, said:‘The students were originallyfrom dozens of different coun-tries, from Kosova to the Congoand from Somalia to Sri Lanka.Some of them have come withappalling experiences and back-grounds, but their commitmentand determination to succeedagainst the odds has been aninspiration.’

Damilola Taylor AwardsThe Access to Medicine Projectat King’s celebrated the successof its initial year with the firstever awards made by theDamilola Taylor Trust.

The Project was launched inJune 2001 to widen access,specifically helping bright andtalented young people from dis-advantaged backgrounds tobecome doctors.

The celebration acknowl-edged the outstanding achieve-ments of the current studentsand recognised the commitmentof local school and college stu-dents to outreach activities.Damilola Taylor’s parents,Richard and Gloria, attendedand presented awards from theDamilola Taylor Trust to stu-dents Linda Onyema, AnyakweOmunnakwe and Stella Adesoye.

Course Director, Dr PamelaGarlick, said: ‘The College isvery proud of the current stu-dents on the Access to Medicine

Programme. Their achievementsare to be celebrated. We are alsohonoured that our studentsshould be the first to receiveawards by the Damilola TaylorTrust and thank the Trust for itsgenerosity.

‘Our programme is graduallyexpanding to allow for up to 50extra undergraduate places inmedicine by 2005. These placesare for talented school pupilsfrom the inner London boroughswho would not normally achievethe necessary grades to train asdoctors.’

Mr Richard Taylor said:‘Gloria and I set up the DamilolaTaylor Trust to provide a lastingmemory to our son and to helpothers achieve the ambitions hehimself hoped to achieve. One ofour three key aims is to encour-age and support disadvantagedyouths, particularly with finan-cial or bursary support for otheryoung people like Damilola, whowant to study medicine. That iswhy the Trust chose to supportthe Access to Medicine Projectat King’s.

‘There are some groups ofchildren who aren’t allowed to

Richard and Gloria Taylor withthe first prize winners of theDamilola TaylorTrust.

Linda Onyema(right), AnyakweOmunnakwe (left) and StellaAdesoye (secondfrom left).

Specialist tuition for students who are still developing their English

In the news

16 | COMMENT | October 2002

Ugly bugs

The mystery stomach virusaffecting British troops inAfghanistan was subject to theexpertise of Dr Mahmoud Hal-

ablab, Division of Life Sciences,in The Daily Telegraph, on BBCOnline, and US National PublicRadio. Dr Halablab also spoke onthe causes and symptoms ofLegionnaires’ Disease on BBCBreakfast News, BBC Online andRadio 5 Live following recent out-breaks.

Talking media

Tony Thorne, Director of theLanguage Centre, has been inter-viewed on various occasions forBBC Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live ontopics ranging from human com-munication with extra-terrestri-als, the increasing use ofacronyms in the workplace andthe cultural associations of firstnames to a Channel 5 documen-tary series, The Most Evil Womenin History, about Elisabeth Batho-ry, ‘Countess Dracula’, whosebiography he has written.

Church matters

Potential candidates for the posi-tion of Archibishop of Canterburywere reviewed by the CollegeDean, The Revd Dr Richard

Burridge, in The Times. TheDean also provided the commen-tary on the funeral of HM QueenElizabeth the Queen Mother forPremier Radio and was inter-viewed by Steven Norris for TalkSport to discuss a recent surveyof the clergy on their beliefs.

Fertilisers

Chemicals found in industrialproducts affect the fertilising abil-ity of mouse sperm, according tothe research of Professor Lynn

Fraser, Department of AnatomyCell & Human Biology, as report-ed in The Guardian, The Times,The Independent, Evening Stan-dard, Daily Express and Focusmagazine. Synthetic cleaners,paints, herbicides and pesticidesall contain oestrogens, which canstimulate sperm to go through afertilising reaction before theycome into contact with the egg.

Planting teeth

The work of Professor Paul

Sharpe, GKT Dental Institute,who has been pioneering ameans of growing new teethfrom stem cells, was featured inthe New Scientist and taken upby BBC Breakfast News, DailyMail, BBC Online, Daily Star andmany regional newspapers.

HIV defence gene

Professor Michael Malim andhis team at GKT School of Medi-cine have isolated a human genethat inhibits HIV infection. Hisresearch, published in Nature,received widespread media cov-erage, including BBC TV, Radioand Online News, Sky News,Independent Radio News andacross the international, nationaland regional press.

Nurturing nature

A study showing how a particulargene (MAOA) reduces the risk ofviolent behaviour in adults whoexperienced childhood maltreat-ment was published in Scienceand reported across the nationaland international media. The

research was carried out by Professor Avshalom Capsi atthe Institute of Psychiatry; his col-league Professor Terrie Moffitt

was widely quoted in the press.

Bridging the gap

The housing market has been thesubject of various columns writ-ten by Professor Chris Ham-

nett, Department of Geography,for The Independent. ProfessorHamnett outlined some reasonswhy the predicted boom in hous-ing inheritance had not yetoccurred and noted that themedia obsession with Londonhouse prices convenientlyignores that when prices in Lon-don stop rising, they keep goingup elsewhere.

IVF mix-up

Penney Lewis of the School ofLaw (Centre for Medical Law &Ethics) and Professor Lynn

Fraser (Department of Anatomy,Cell & Human Biology) were variously interviewed for ITV Lon-don Today/Tonight, BBC Online,The Independent, The Times andThe Daily Mail on the implicationsof the case of black twins bornthrough IVF to white parents.

Pregnant pause

Mothers-to-be who become highly stressed during pregnancyare twice as likely to have chil-dren suffering from hyperactivityand attention problems, accord-ing to research lead by Dr

Thomas O’Connor at the Insti-tute of Psychiatry, as reported inThe Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, TheDaily Telegraph, The Guardian andregional press.

To note or not

The New Yorker recently setaside four tightly-packed pagesfor Professor Ann Thompson,Head of Department of English,to talk about her work as Editorof the new Arden version of Hamlet. This will be the first fullyannotated edition to include allthree of the earliest texts of theplay. It will apear in 2004.

Talking wounded

The use of technology in thetreatment of chronic wounds wasthe subject of an interview by Dr

Tricia Grocott (School of Nurs-ing & Midwifery) for BBC Radio4’s Case Notes programme thissummer.

Full as an egg

Professor Lucilla Poston (Divi-sion of Women’s & Children’sHealth) was interviewed for over20 regional radio news pro-grammes during National Preg-nancy Week (an event organisedby Tommy’s, the baby charity,which also funds Professor Pos-ton’s chair). Topics included pre-mature birth, pre-eclampsia andgeneral nutritional advice.

Assessing exams

There is only a modest correla-tion between A level grades andfinal degree classifications,according to front page stories inThe Independent and The DailyTelegraph quoting Professors

Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black’swork on the reliability and validityof examination results (Depart-ment of Education & ProfessionalStudies) and giving a new twistto the annual furore over A levelstandards. Their research was fea-tured in all the national newspapersand on TV and radio stations.

Profile

What’s the Centre’s main work?There are two key aspects. Thefirst is policy-related researchinto imprisonment and its uses.Our research in this countryincludes work on the develop-ment of what we are calling theRestorative Prison and also ananalysis of how to make the con-cept of humanity integral to theway prisons are managed. At aninternational level we have pub-lished material on prisoners ascitizens and the effect of privati-sation on prisons.

The second major part of ourwork consists of a variety ofinternational projects on prisonmanagement within a humanrights context. We are currentlyworking in a number of countriesincluding Russia, where we havea project that is developing part-nerships between prisons in theUK and Moscow, Brazil, Chileand Venezuela. One of our mostchallenging programmes is inTurkey, where we have four proj-ects, one of which is helping todevelop a system of independentmonitoring of prisons.

The Centre also has a very pop-ular website at www.prisonstud-ies.org. This includes the firstonline set of data on prison sys-tems in over 200 countries. Thispart of the site, World PrisonBrief, attracts a great deal of inter-est from international media and

other researchers who need quickaccess to comparative statistics.

What did you do before King’s?For six years until 1997 I was Gov-ernor of Brixton Prison and beforethat I governed three major pris-ons in Scotland. Throughout thattime I maintained a strong interestin the academic world.

How were you appointed to leadthe monitoring team?At the end of last year the PrimeMinister offered to provide ateam of UK-led monitors to verifythat the Palestinian prisoners whowere accused of assassinating theIsraeli Information Minister werebeing held by the PalestinianAuthority in secure custody. TheIsraelis and Palestinians acceptedthis offer and the Foreign Secre-tary asked me to set up the neces-sary arrangements.

What did your role involve?Earlier this year I went to Ramal-lah to see the situation for myselfand to have discussions withYasser Arafat about what themonitoring would involve. I alsowent to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli officials. In May Ireturned to arrange for the trans-fer of the six prisoners fromRamallah to the prison in Jerichoand to set up the joint UK/USmonitoring teams.

What was the most difficult partof your involvement?Over a 72-hour period I had toassess the level of security inJericho Prison and negotiate theexact conditions of detentionwith the Palestinian Authority;then go immediately to join theUS and UK Ambassadors for discussions with the Israeli Gov-ernment. These culminated in aface to face meeting with ArielSharon so that he could satisfyhimself that I was ‘a serious per-son’. We then completed arrange-ments for the safe transfer of thesix prisoners along with the inter-national monitors from Ramallahto Jericho.

How did it end?Round-the-clock monitoring bythe international team is stillgoing on. I have since been backat the request of the parties tosatisfy myself that the arrange-ments are working as planned.My main concern at all times hasbeen to minimise the personalrisk to the UK and US monitors.

Their presence has been impor-tant to the peace process and it isno coincidence that Jericho is theone city in the West Bank thathas not been entered by theIsraeli Defence Force.

What’s next for you and the Centre?In early November my latestbook Managing Prisons in a Timeof Change will be published tocoincide with a major seminar inStrasbourg for heads of Europeanprison administrations. Laterthat month the Foreign Secretarywill launch a handbook onHuman Rights and Prison Manage-ment, produced by the Centre.

The Centre is now a focus ofinternational work on prisonhealth care and this work is likelyto increase in importance in thefuture.

On the wider scene, we willcontinue to urge governments,including our own, to consider the fact that the safety of society is not improved by excessive or inappropriate use of imprisonment.

October 2002 | COMMENT | 17

Andrew CoyleDr Andrew Coyle has been the Director of theInternational Centre for Prison Studies in theSchool of Law since 1997. Earlier this year heset up the international monitoring teams over-seeing the confinement of six Palestinians in ajail in the West Bank town of Jericho. This jointmonitoring mechanism was key to the dealunder which Israel agreed to withdraw its forcesfrom Yassar Arafat’s compound in Ramallah.

Paul

Hac

kett

Maughan Librarygifts

The College has receivedseveral additional gifts for theMaughan Library following thecompletion of the fundraisingcampaign. The Charles HaywardFoundation has made a gift of£45,000 towards the restorationof the mosaic floor in the WestonRoom, and donations have alsobeen received from the SteelCharitable Trust (£15,000) andthe Garrick Charitable Trust(£10,000) towards the building.

Greek EmbassyDinner

We were very grateful to theGreek Ambassador for holding adinner in honour of the Centrefor Hellenic Studies at his pri-vate residence in Brook Street,Mayfair.

The occasion was anopportunity for the Centre tolaunch a new PostgraduateScholarship Fund, named in

memory of EleutheriosVenizelos, one of the 20thcentury’s most eminent Greekstatesmen. Venizelos, togetherwith his wife Helena (néeSchilizzi) played a major role inestablishing the Koraes Chair ofModern Greek at the Collegeand, later on, helped to set upthe Department of Byzantine &Modern Greek Studies.

Madame Venizelos’ family continues to support King’stoday through the SchilizziFoundation Scholarships whichare awarded annually to studentsof Greek nationality to enablethem to study for a first degreeat King’s.

The Venizelos ScholarshipFund received its first gift fromMr and Mrs Nicholas Egon,generous supporters of theCentre for Hellenic Studies,and in particlar, of the annualRunciman Lecture.

Deno Leventis

We were saddened to hear of thedeath of Deno Leventis, a long-term supporter of the Centre ofHellenic Studies who, as a

philanthropist and conser-vationist, fought tirelessly topreserve the cultural heritage ofhis native Cyprus.

The Leventis Foundation’smost recent gift to the Collegewas in support of the RobertBrowning Memorial Fund,which supports postgraduateresearch in any aspect ofHellenic studies.

Thanks to the support of theFoundation and many others,the first Browning Scholarshiphas been awarded this year toThiresa Spilioti, whose researchwill focus on Literacy & Oralityin Modern Greek Discourse.

In memoriam gifts

Last issue we announced theestablishment of two funds inmemory of members of staff. Weare delighted to report on thesuccess of each of them.

Jeff Price Memorial FundThe fund established in Jeff’sname has received in excess of£11,000 from alumni and friendsand will be used to create a

studentship in the Law School. For further information, please

contact Maria O’Donnell on 020-7848 3234 or by email atmaria.o’donnell@kcl.ac.uk

John Taylor Prize inModern Literature The John Taylor Memorial Fundhas raised over £5,000 andcontinues to grow, thanks to thegenerosity of staff and alumni.The Fund will endow an annualbook prize for a second yearundergraduate in the Depart-ment of French for his or heroutstanding performance in amodern literature course.

For further information, please contact Rosie Caley on 020-7848 3369, or by email atrosie.caley@kcl.ac.uk

Diary dates

KCLA Annual Dinner18 OctoberChurchill Room, Houses of

Parliament

The guest speaker will be Mr Gareth Thomas MP

Old Students’ Day6 DecemberGuy’s Campus

Continuing professionaldevelopment day for medics

For more information on all ofthe above, contact 020-7848 3053

Development news

18 | COMMENT | October 2002

Extra time: Oldteam matescaught up at theSports Reunionon the 28 September heldat Berrylands andat the StrandCampus

October 2002 | COMMENT | 19

Flashback

The history of music teachingand performance at King’sdates back to the earliest

decades of the College. As early as1842 the singing in King’s chapelwas described as ‘far superior’ tothat at Westminster Abbey or StPaul’s. William Henry Monk(1823-89), who became director ofthe College choir in 1847, was thefirst musical editor of HymnsAncient and Modern, contributing15 tunes of his own compositionincluding ‘Abide with me’, whichhe is said to have completed inonly ten minutes.

The University of Londonestablished a degree in music in1877 and set up the King EdwardVII University Professorship as apart-time chair at Trinity Collegeof Music in 1902. In 1962 theUniversity made the long over-due recommendation that a full-

time Chair and Faculty of Musicshould be established at King’s.

The King Edward VII Chair atKing’s was offered to RobertThurston Dart. Dart had beenProfessor of Music at Cambridge,but had been unable to reformthe Cambridge syllabus as hewanted. In 1964 he was keen totake up the opportunity to estab-lish a teaching faculty in Londonon new lines. His scheme for theBMus greatly reduced theemphasis on vocational trainingand opened out the subject to awide range of intellectual, criticaland historical enquiry. Therewere compulsory papers in thehistory of instruments (notrestricted to European instru-ments, nor to the last 500 years)and in 20th century music, andstudents learnt to place music inthe context of the intellectual,

literary, artistic, religious andsocial life of its time. To makeroom for all this, Dart drasticallyreduced the technical musicalexercises of the BMus. He putup a Dantean sign above theentrance to his faculty whichread ‘Abandon counterpoint allye who enter here’. However,this new BMus proved a veryattractive degree, and within afew years London had thelargest and most varied collec-tion of music students in thecountry.

From 1955 to 1959 Dart hadbeen artistic director of thePhilomusica of London and,with Granville Jones and thenNeville Marriner as concert mas-ters, he directed numerous per-

formances and recordings. Hisonly published book was The Interpretation of Music(Hutchinson, 1954), but his edi-torial work included the re-edit-ing of the works of the Englishmadrigalists and of William Byrd.His lectures were memorable fortheir meticulous preparation,excellent delivery and stimulat-ing content; many of his stu-dents in their turn went on tobecome influential in the field ofEnglish music.

Dart was hugely energetic inall of his roles, but in March 1971

he died of cancer at the early ageof 49. One of his greatestachievements was to establishthe study of music at King’s atthe very high level he advocated.A Chair of Performance Studiesin his name was created atKing’s, and the current incum-bent, Laurence Dreyfus FBA,like Dart, combines teaching andresearch with the performance ofEnglish consort music.

The Department of Musicnow has a teaching staff of 12,and both teaching and researchhave recently received the high-est ratings. Distinguished com-posers among the staff in the lastfew years have included PeterWishart, Nicola LeFanu and her husband David Lumsdaine,and (as Henry Purcell Professorsof Composition) Sir HarrisonBirtwistle and George Benjamin.Performing links with London’sSouth Bank Centre are strong,and the College benefits enor-mously from its location at theheart of the one of the world’sgreat musical cities.

King’s and the Royal Academyof Music (RAM) now have aclose and productive relation-ship. The BMus and MMus inPerformance, developed jointlyby RAM and King’s, have made asignificant impact on the qualityof musical education in thiscountry. Dart’s influence contin-ues to be strong, but the variedtradition of excellence in musicat King’s is set to continue toevolve and develop in manydirections. The Choir, too, con-tinues to go from strength tostrength and has just completedits first tour of the USA.

Christine Kenyon Jones

Music at King’sThurston Dartpioneered therecording of earlyEnglish music

‘Abandon counterpoint all yewho enter here’

Ancient, modern and experimental

News

20 | COMMENT | October 2002

The Art of Dying is a year-longsymposium of debates, lectures,conferences, exhibitions and performances organised withinthe Humanities at King’s

programme for 2002-2003.Events begin in October with a

debate entitled Matters of Life &Death (October 11), which willexamine issues around the prepa-ration for death in the 21st century.Speakers include Miri Rubin,

Dame Cicely Saunders and

Lewis Wolpert and the event ischaired by Sir Cyril Chantler.

The next event in the series isa lecture on the theme of TheNature of Death: Past, present &future (October 21). Speakersinclude David Armstrong, Janet

Askham, Siân Ede, Rebecca

Flemming, Kathleen M Foley,

Richard Hillier, Brian Hurwitz

and Robert Mills.

In November, a one-day work-shop featuring Nicholas Chris-

takis, Ilora Finlay, Claire Git-

tings, Murray Rae, Jane Sey-

mour, Rev Peter Speck, Tony

Walter and John Wolffe willfocus on issues relating to Prognosis & Preperation: Histori-cal & Clinical Perspectives(November 11).

The Fison Memorial Lecture A pretty pass: When is there aright to die?, given by The Right

Honorable Lady Justice Hale,takes place on 24 October.

For futher information or torequest a brochure, telephone020-7848 2929 or email art-of-dying@kcl.ac.uk.

The website address iswww.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/humani-ties/art_of_dying

The Art of Dying

Records Manager

Jonathan Whiting has beenappointed as King’s first dedicatedRecords Manager.

Based in the Archives & Cor-porate Records Services, he willwork with schools and depart-ments to develop a College-widerecords management programme,building on existing good prac-tice such as the production of aRecords Disposition Schedule.

Good records management isvital for the successful implemen-tation of Freedom of Informationand Data Protection legislation.

On a more practical level, hecan advise on freeing-up officespace by improving the way filingsystems are managed, simpleways of managing electronicrecords and reducing the admin-istrative burden of filing.

To find out more contact ext2076 or email jonathan.whit-ing@kcl.ac.uk

Senior CommonRoom

Membership of the Strand CampusSenior Common Room is open toall members of staff, includingthose on other campuses, andpost-doctoral students. Membersbased at the Strand who are full-time staff pay a subscription of£24 per annum, whilst thosebased elsewhere and all part-timestaff pay £12 per annum.

Anyone wishing to join orwanting more information shouldvisit the SCR website: click on‘Campus facilities’ on the King’sstaff webpage.

Discourse andSocial InteractionNetwork

The King’s Discourse and SocialInteraction (DSI) network pro-vides a forum for staff andresearch students working on awide range of communication,language and discourse issues.

The network, established inJune 2000 with a grant from thePrincipal’s Discretionary Fund,holds regular meetings involvingseminars on members’ currentresearch, and lectures by distin-guished outside speakers. Thetopics have included discourseand gender, interaction in educa-tional and medical settings, theanalysis of interviews and narrative, and the relationship

between discourse analysis andsocial theory.

Since DSI participants have avariety of disciplinary back-grounds, it has also been possi-ble to arrange training coursesfocusing more intensively on par-ticular paradigms and method-ologies (supported by the StaffDevelopment Unit). If you areinterested in joining, contactdsi@kcl.ac.uk, and for more infomation see www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/dsi

Research focus

October 2002 | COMMENT | 211

When in 1864 EdwardSmith described theplight of poor families in

Lancashire devastated by thecotton famine, he highlightedtheir inability to afford a whole-some and healthy diet. Now, 140years later, the problem of foodpoverty remains.

In the UK today, poor familieshave far worse health than therich, and much of that can beattributed to an unhealthy diet.More alarming still, in the last 20years the diets of the poor havegot worse, not better, and thedietary differences between richand poor have grown.

One of the first acts of the NewLabour administration in 1997 wasto commission an IndependentInquiry into Health Inequalities,chaired by Sir Donald Acheson.His report described the extent ofhealth inequalities in the UK andtheir underlying causes.

By identifying them, the

Acheson report brought to lightthe many inter-linked socialimbalances that needed to beredressed. In relation to food, itemphasised the complexity ofthe interactions at national, local,household and individual levelthat determine access, availabili-ty and choice.

Since the mid-1990s, numer-ous reports have highlighted theproblems faced by poor house-holds when trying to obtain anadequate and healthy diet. Theproblems are due, fundamentally,to lack of money, but this is compounded by a host of otherfactors such as low levels of carownership and reliance on more

expensive local shops.In response to this renewed

awareness, the Food StandardsAgency has commissioned aseries of studies to improve ourunderstanding of the ways inwhich poverty and nutritioninteract. The Department ofNutrition & Dietetics at King’shas played a leading role in thiswork. The first two projectslooked at how best to gathernutritional information. Theiraim was to develop robustdietary tools to collect data onfood consumption in deprivedhouseholds.

The difficulties of collectingdietary data are compounded inlow income households by thediverse eating habits of familiesof different ethnic origins, bycollecting data from peoplewhose first language is not Eng-lish and by coping with limitedliteracy and numeracy. Theforthcoming report will describe

not only the methodologicalfindings but also the characteris-tics of the diets of the poor andthe associated barriers to healthyeating.

In December 2001, the FoodStandards Agency awarded morethan £4 million to the NationalCentre for Social Research toundertake a national survey ofdiet in low income households.Part of this award, £900,000, willcome to the Department to funda team of four nutritionists overthree and a half years. The proj-ect leader is Dr Nelson.The aims of the new study are: • to characterise the diets of a

sample of 3,600 adults andchildren living in low incomehouseholds

• to examine environmental,socio-economic, psychologicaland ethnic influences on diet

• to understand the factors thatlimit access to healthy andaffordable diets

• to explore policy options toimprove the nutritional healthof the poor.One of the key problems in

nutritional epidemiology is thevalid measurement of diet. Animportant challenge in the cur-rent project (and a central reasonfor the participation of King’s) isto distinguish between under-reporting (for example, notreporting all sweets and snackconsumption) and true low lev-els of food consumption. A feasi-bility study has just been com-pleted to test the survey tools forthe main survey to be carried outin 2003. The aim is to report thefindings of the main survey inApril 2005.

UK: Diet and poverty Dr Michael Nelson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, writes about a major national study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency into diet in low income households, in which the Department is playing a leading role.

In the last 20 years the dietsof the poor have got worse,not better

Inequality: aseries of studieshave been com-missioned by theFSA to improvethe understand-ing of the ways inwhich povertyand nutritioninteract.

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News

22 | COMMENT | October 2002

In briefNursing UnitIn June the UK’s first ever Prima-ry Care Nursing Research Unitwas launched, a collaborationbetween King’s, University Col-lege London and two NHS part-ners. The Unit will produce highquality research into manyaspects of nursing in primarycare. Dr Toity Deave is the Unit’sresearch fellow in the FlorenceNightingale School of Nursing &Midwifery.

Summer SchoolThe CCP5/SIMU InternationalSummer School on Methods inMolecular Simulation was hostedby the Department of Pharmacy

in July. Sixty-five participantsfrom countries all over Europeattended, including biologists,chemists and physicists. DrJamshed Anwar from Pharmacywas the local organiser.

Monash CentreopensMonash University has officiallyopened its new premises atKing’s on the Strand to developopportunities for Monash stu-dents in the UK and Europe.King’s and Monash University inMelbourne have a 10-year agree-ment promoting institutional links.

New V-CProfessor Sir Graeme Davies isto become the next Vice-Chan-cellor of the University of Lon-don. He is currently Principal and

Vice-Chancellor of the Universityof Glasgow. He will take up thepost when the current V-C, Pro-fessor Graham Zellick, completeshis six-year term of office on 30September 2003.

Courtauld InstituteProfessor James Cuno of Har-vard University has been appoint-ed Director of the Courtauld Insti-tute of Art from 6 January 2003.He will succeed Professor EricFernie who retires at the end ofthe year. The Courtauld becamethe 18th college of the Universityof London on 1 August.

AHRBA Government report has recom-mended that the Arts & Humani-ties Research Board (AHRB)should become a ResearchCouncil. Arts and humanities

researchers constitute nearly aquarter of all research-active staffin higher education. Each yearAHRB makes approximately 600 advance research awardsand almost 2,000 postgraduateawards.

Research reviewHefce is to conduct a majorreview of research assessmentin partnership with the other UKhigher education funding bodies.The review will take account ofthe impact of the 2001 ResearchAssessment Exercise. The Col-lege’s Research Committee willbe responding to the consulta-tion process.

Fellowships and Grants

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust The Winston Churchill Memorial Trustannually awards 100 Travelling Fellowshipsto British citizens. The Fellowships enablepeople to acquire knowledge and experienceabroad. They are offered in the followingcategories: Europe; Conservation and theEnvironment; Museums and Galleries, thePlace of Religion in the Modern World;Small Business Creation, Sustainment andCareers; Young People; Medical and Health;Science and Technology; Sports Projects,Adventure, Exploration and Leaders ofExpeditions.

In addition one Fellowship is offered ineach of he following: Canoeing; a project inthe field of history; a maritime project(exclusively for applicants from the NorthEast of England).

Applicants interested in the Fellowshipscheme should contact the WinstonChurchill Memorial Trust on 020-7584 9315or see www.wcmt.org.uk for more details.The closing date for completed applicationforms is 30 October.

Heritage grantsThe Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) distrib-utes funds from the Lottery to support proj-ects that relate to the national, regional orlocal heritage of the UK.

To qualify for a grant all projects shouldconserve and enhance the UK’s diverse her-itage, or encourage more people to beinvolved in their heritage, or both. Projectsmust also ensure that everyone can learnabout, have access to and enjoy their heritage.

Applicants should show why the projectthey are putting forward qualifies for fund-ing. For further information about the HLFand grant programmes see www.hlf.org.uk.

Dream Time fellowship NESTA (National Endowment for Science,Technology and the Arts) has introduced anew fellowship entitled ‘Dream Time’. It isopen to individuals with an outstanding trackrecord to develop potential for the benefit oftheir profession. It offers a concentrated period of ‘time out’, financial support and per-sonal guidance to help generate new thinking,and to support their creative potential.

Initially six awards will be made in science, technology and the arts. They willbe for up to one year and to a maximum of£40,000. Applicants who are eligible forfunding from other sources are not encour-

aged to apply, but rather exceptionally tal-ented achievers who want concentrated timeto follow a passion but who also want toreturn to their career and put what they havediscovered to good use.

For full criteria and an application form,visit www.nesta.org.uk/dreamtime.

Pharmacy Research

The Department of Pharmacy has produceda research report for 2000-01. Edited by BenForbes and Marc Brown, it profiles theresearch activity of the Department anddescribes the facilities and organisation ofresearch groups. The achievements of eachgroup are summarised and highlights areillustrated.

The objectives of the report are to:• encourage interdisciplinary collaboration

within the Department, School and Col-lege

• invite collaboration with industry, healthauthorities and other external agencies

• attract high quality research students topostgraduate study.

The report is available from the Departmentand has been placed on the Pharmacy webpages.

Student news

October 2002 | COMMENT | 23

As David Utting, the new Stu-dents’ Union President,takes up his role, he looks

ahead to the challenges of hisyear in office.

‘The Students’ Union hasbeen enormously busy over thesummer preparing for the newyear. The Trustees and Execu-tive Committee are all new andextremely enthusiastic. We’vebeen away on various trainingcourses looking at the role of the Union and planning whatwe’ve been mandated to do. Oneof our big priorities this year will be strengthening the Col-lege Course Rep system by prov-ing independent training andsupport.

This is also going to be a veryimportant year in terms of HEfunding. The Government isexpected to make an announce-ment soon and it’s up to the stu-dents to respond. The NUS con-

tinues to call for targeted grantsand the abolition of upfronttuition fees, and Englandremains the only country in thedevolved nations not to respond.

Other campaigns include ouron-going lobby of College tolimit hall fee increases to nomore than the rate of inflation,and to follow up the Collegeaudit on Anonymous Markingraised by the Union last year.

Our two campaigns for Fresh-ers are meningitis and drug rapeawareness. It’s important stu-dents are familiar with the signsof meningitis, and to know aboutthe extended immunisation pro-gramme. The Union is similarlyworking with the Drug RapeTrust to promote safe drinkinghabits in London’s pubs andbars.

Also, we’re planning cam-paigns on breast and testicularcancer, sexual health awareness,

culminating in World AIDS day,and running a joint campaignbefore Christmas with the NolanTrust on alcohol awareness.

The Union continues to pro-vide excellent services in Acade-mic Advice, Representation andCampaigns, and in student activ-ities, including sports clubs, soci-eties, volunteering and RAG.

The Commercial Services andemployment opportunities gofrom strength to strength. High-lights include the opening of thenew Resource Centre on the firstfloor of the Macadam Building,the refurbishment of Tommie’sBar over the summer and £30,000of new equipment for K4 Fitnesson Stamford Street. We’ve alsoinstalled a new PA in Tutu’s.

The Students’ Union is asmuch about participation as rep-resentation and we hope to get asmany people involved as possible this year.’

News round-up

Rogerio AlmediaRogerio Almedia, a PhD studentin the Guy’s, King’s & StThomas’ School of BiomedicalSciences, was awarded the Inter-national Student House Laurel(Achievement Award) for hisoutstanding contribution andservice to the international com-munity over the last year.

He is President of the Associ-ation of Brazilian PostgraduateStudents & Researchers in theUK and currently studying for aPhD in Physiotherapy. This isthe first time a postgraduatefrom King’s has been awardedwith this laurel.

Henley RegattaKing’s Boating Club representedthe College in the Temple Chal-lenge Cup at Henley RoyalRegatta in July, only the secondKing’s crew to qualify in recentyears. The draw set the teamagainst Yale University from theUSA – one of the few seededcrews and previous outright win-ners of the event.

Captain of the Boating Club,Jon Potts, described the race:‘Yale’s blistering fast start put usover a length down only twominutes into the race, whichthen lengthened to two lengthsby the mile. King’s dug in andpushed back on Yale through theEnclosures, unfortunately notsufficient to row through butnarrowing our losing margin to acredible one length.’

The boat, used at Henley forthe first time this year, is to benamed General Sir John after aprevious Principal of King’s,General Sir John Hackett, in aceremony to take place later inthe year. It was bought followinga grant from the Annual CollegeFund.

Campaigningspirit for 2003

Prime time: adelegation fromthe Students’Union deliver itspetition againststudent debt to 10 DowningStreet

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es

Events

The Guy’s Campus was thevenue for a splendidevening of music, pomp and

pageantry last month when theRegimental Band of the ScotsGuards performed the Ceremonyof Beating the Retreat.

Some 40 musicians marched onthe Memorial Gardens, betweenNew Hunt’s House and theHodgkin Building, performingmusic ranging from RuleBritannia and Land of Hope andGlory, to Knees up Mother Brownand the Last Post. At the end oftheir performance the DrumMajor approached the Principal,Professor Arthur Lucas, and

requested permission to marchoff parade. The Band thenplayed the Regimental Marchesof the Royal Army Medical Corps

and the Royal Army DentalCorps whose senior officers werealso present.

As they marched off the cam-pus there was a display fromConfetti Magic who fired hun-dreds of ribbons and a large

confetti bomb into the air.The beating or sounding of the

Retreat, which has its origins inthe 16th century, has evolvedover time. In 1727 it wasdescribed thus: ‘half an hourbefore the setting of the sun theDrummers and Port-Guards areto go upon the ramparts and beata Retreat to give notice to thosewithout that the gates are to beshut. The Drummers will nottake more than a quarter of anhour to beat Retreat.’

The modern version is notunlike the 18th century proce-dure: the ceremony, usually atsunset, denotes the end of the

working day and heralds themounting of the Guard.

The Band of the Scots Guards,formed in 1642 by Charles I,today includes some of the finestinstrumentalists in the services.Stationed in London, it shareswith the other four Foot GuardsBands the duties of the dailyGuard Mounting at BuckinghamPalace. It also takes part innational ceremonies such asTrooping the Colour as well astouring extensively abroad.

Further musical entertainmentwas provided by two operasingers from a group called Operaon the Run. With their ghettoblaster in hand they wanderedamongst the audience singingvarious arias and songs fromBroadway musicals such asNessum Dorma and I Could HaveDanced All Night.

The evening was organised byMartin Harvey, Manager, SiteServices, Guy’s Campus, whosaid: ‘It was a particularly nostal-gic evening for me as I served inthe Band of the Scots Guards for14 years – it took me back!’

The proceedings were spon-sored by King’s, the GKT DentalStudents Society and the GSTTCharitable Foundation.

Beating the Retreat

What’s on atKing’sEnclosed with Comment isWhat’s On, adiary ofevents opento the public.More than40 pages of lec-tures, seminars and eventsare listed.

Comment is the College’s regular newsletter, produced by the Public Relations Department | Articles, and/or photographs are welcomed from all members of the College, but please note that the Editor reserves the right to amend articles | Copy for the next issue can be sent to the Public RelationsDepartment (ext 3202), James Clerk Maxwell Building, Waterloo Campus or emailed to pr@kcl.ac.uk by 21 October 2002

24 | COMMENT | October 2002

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The beating or sounding of theRetreat has its origins in the16th century