News in brief
Call for Sussex Impact Day sessions; One World video volunteers needed!; Sussex orchid expert presents Radio 4 programme; Looking for a place in the city to meet research participants?; Would you like to take part in the Crafty Staff Fair?
Call for Sussex Impact Day sessions
Do you have research expertise to share?
Do you have a particular interest in an aspect of research impact?
Would you like to organise a session at the next Sussex Impact Day in June 2016?
Following the success of the first Sussex Impact Day in 2015, Research & Enterprise are organising a second event on Tuesday 14 June in Jubilee. There will be strands of activity covering:
- impact in the Resarch Excellence Framework (REF),
- techniques for impact,
- domains of impact (such as policy, cultural or economic)
- impact for PhDs, early-career researchers, or anyone new to impact
If you would like to organise or contribute to a session that would fit into any of these strands, please contact the RQ&I team on rqi@sussex.ac.uk by 29 January 2016 to indicate your interest and they will contact you to follow up.
The RQ&I team are also interested in suggestions for topics or areas to focus on at the event. Please send suggestions torqi@sussex.ac.uk by the same date.
One World video volunteers needed!
This year, One World Week will be taking place from Monday 14 – Friday 19 March.
With a veritable treasure trove of events and activities planned throughout the week, thousands of staff and students are expected to attend in what promises to be a fantastic showcase of international diversity at Sussex.
To promote the occasion, International Student Support and Internal Communications have teamed up to create a film that shows to the world, in two short minutes, just how international the University really is.
The plan is to have a representative from every nationality on campus to come forward to give a short greeting in their mother tongue – in addition to saying the words “WE ARE ONE WORLD SUSSEX”.
The result will be a short two 2/3 minute montage of over 70 different languages in the one location.
So far we have asked our international students to volunteer and the response has been nothing short of overwhelming. However, now we are asking you, as our staff population, to join in with this project.
What we are looking for are members of staff from all over the world to come forward to represent your nationality on campus. So, whether you’re from Northern Ireland, Norwich or Nicaragua – we want to hear from you.
Filming will be taking place on Tuesday 26 January within the Students’ Union Common room. If you are interested in volunteering please contact Student Communications Manager, Tom Walters on t.c.walters@sussex.ac.uk for more details.
Sussex orchid expert presents Radio 4 programme
Reader in the History of Science, Dr Jim Endersby, has written a radio programme based on his research into the cultural history of orchids. Crafty Orchids will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11am on Tuesday (26 January), examining how a potent mixture of imperial conquest, mysterious glamour and scientific study have helped one of the world's most beguiling plants to fascinate everyone from houseplant owners to generations of scientists.
Today, botanists estimate there to be some 30,000 orchid species. Thanks to Darwin and others' studies, they know that the highly specific relationships that orchids have with just one insect pollinator have played a major role in the success of the family. But paradoxically their success is also their weakness. Adaptations to very particular local conditions can make species vulnerable to sudden changes in their environment.
This process has been tracked in detail on the Sussex downs, through a 30 year study of one species of native British orchid, the Early-Spider orchid. The programme will examine whether the future security of these orchids is in our hands.
Dr Endersby recently completed a cultural history of orchids, which will be published by the University of Chicago Press and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in autumn 2016.
Looking for a place in the city to meet research participants?
If you need a place in town to meet your research participants or hold a focus group, the University’s Information Centre is available for all students and researchers to use as a meeting point.
It’s free and you’re welcome to hot drinks for yourself and your participants.
If you require your research to be confidential, the Centre is closed to the public between 9am – 10 am and 4pm – 5pm or you could use the centre after hours if arranged with staff in advance.
The Information Centre is in Lewes Road, Brighton (near the Sainsbury's supermarket at the Vogue gyratory)
For more information please contact the Housing Office at housing@sussex.ac.uk or call 01273 690405.
Would you like to take part in the Crafty Staff Fair?
Staff who produce arts, crafts and snacks in their spare time are welcome to put their names forward to sell their products at a fair in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.
The event is taking place in the Meeting House quiet room, so space will be limited to approximately 12 trestle tables.
Staff are welcome to email Internal Comms if they would like to sell their products at a table for the duration of the two-hour fair. Spaces are limited so it's first-come, first-served. Once all tables have been allocated this will be made apparent on the staff homepage.
Crafty Staff Fair
Date: Monday 8 February 2016
Time: 12.00 noon to 2.00 pm
Location: Meeting House quiet room