An academic at the University of St Andrews has been named one of the brightest minds in the UK.

Dr Sarah Dillon is one of just two researchers in Scotland to be hailed as a New Generation Thinker after a nationwide search.

She joins just nine other academics across the UK to be recognised by the BBC Radio 3 and Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) initiative. 

New Generation Thinkers 2013 aims to find the academic broadcasters of the future - the brightest minds who have the potential to turn groundbreaking ideas into fascinating radio programmes.

The initiative is aimed at academics at the start of their careers, who are passionate about communicating modern scholarship to a wider audience.

Dr Dillon beat hundreds of applicants in a six-month process that involved a workshop at the BBC and being judged by a panel of senior staff from BBC Radio 3, BBC Television Arts and the AHRC.

Dr Dillon, a Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of English, commented, ‘I’m delighted to have been selected as an AHRC/BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker for 2013. The scheme presents a brilliant opportunity for young researchers who have a passion for communicating their research to a wider audience.

“It’s going to be a busy and exciting year with appearances on Night Waves and an Essay at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival in the autumn. I’ll be on a steep learning curve getting to grips with a media world very different to academia, but I can't wait!’

The 10 winners will spend a year working with Radio 3 presenters and producers to develop their research and ideas into broadcasts. Dr Dillon will make her debut appearance on Radio 3's arts and ideas programme, Night Waves in June, and will be invited to make regular contributions to the network throughout the year.

Dr Dillon, who lectures in Contemporary Literature, is constantly exploring the many answers to one apparently simple question: how does literature help us to understand the world?

Her early work focused on literature and philosophy, while her current research concentrates on the relationship between contemporary literature and science.  She has interviewed scientists across Scotland in order to uncover the secrets of literature’s influence on science, as part of her collaborative ‘What Scientists Read’ project.

Dr Dillon has appeared on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Book Café, at the Edinburgh International Science Festival and, in 2011, took part in the Scottish Crucible initiative which encourages young researchers to see the world beyond academia.

Dr Dillon and her fellow Thinkers will also have the opportunity to develop their ideas for television, including working with BBC Television Arts to make short taster films.

Matthew Dodd, Head of Speech programming for BBC Radio 3, said, "Radio 3 commissions and nurtures new talent across music and the arts - and the New Generation Thinkers scheme is an integral part of that. Radio 3/AHRC New Generation Thinkers is a unique scheme: It's a partnership that helps academics begin thinking about the public dissemination of their work at the very start of their careers and make broadcasting integral to what they do.

“This year's applicants showed a sharp sophistication about how their research might make strong programmes - and a real willingness to reach beyond academia into the lives of our audience, and to find new formats to do that.”

ENDS

Note to Editors

Dr Dillon is available for interview via sjd16@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Gayle Cook, Senior Communications Manager on 01334 467227, email gec3@st-andrews.ac.uk

Ref: New Thinkers 210513

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

A new technique for detecting dangerous fake whisky, and other spirits, has been developed by researchers at the University of St Andrews.

Using a laser, the St Andrews scientists can now carry out detailed analysis of a spirit sample no bigger than a teardrop and can even confirm whether it is toxic or not. It’s hoped the testing breakthrough will help cut the worldwide toll of death and serious injury arising from consumption of fake and adulterated spirits.

This technique could see portable detectors created which would allow people to test their drinks when out and about.

Writing in the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, Praveen Ashok, Bavishna Balagopal and Professor Kishan Dholakia of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University, reveal how they can place a “teardrop” of whisky on a transparent “plastic chip, no bigger than a credit card”.

Light is then delivered to, and collected from, the liquor sample using optical fibres - each has the dimensions of a human hair - to diagnose the sample by a collection of light scattered from it.

Previous work by the team showed they were able to investigate and discriminate single malt Scotch whiskies based on brand, age and even which cask had been used.

The method exploits both the fluorescence of the whisky and also what is known as the Raman signature of the whisky - this is when light scatters but shifts slightly in energy due to interaction with the molecules in the sample. The latest study now shows this elegant technique is highly sensitive and can be used to detect trace toxic additives such as methanol at concentrations of less than 1 per cent by volume.

Researcher Praveen Ashok said: “Sadly, many people lose their lives each year to bootleg drinks and our hope is to see this powerful, simple technology used to alleviate this serious issue”.

Researcher Bavishna Balagopal said: “It is exciting to see the surprising and powerful ways modern photonics can help people, particularly in developing countries.”

Professor Kishan Dholakia added: “This technology not only can ensure a high degree of quality control for the international drinks industry but could also lead to portable sensors to ensure everyone can enjoy a drink, safe in the knowledge that no toxic additives are present.”

Toxic liquor claims hundreds of lives all around the world every year. Especially in Afro-Asian countries, where illegal moonshine liquors are common, methanol is often intentionally added to increase the effect of the liquor.

The researchers are hoping to interest industry with their technology which is patented.

Note to Editors

The research is published in the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (DOI: 10.1002/jrs.4301)

For image please contact the press office.

Professor Dholakia is available on kd1@st-andrews.ac.uk / 01334 463814

Praveen Ashok can be contacted at pca7@st-andrews.ac.uk / 01334 461656.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108 / 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (whiskylight 17/05/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

Little known Western films – in which cowboys were the baddies – will be the subject of a special event in Edinburgh today (Friday 17 May).

The event, organised by Film Studies scholars at the University of St Andrews, will examine cowboy films made in Europe in the sixties and seventies, at a time when traditional Western movies were declining in Hollywood.

The one-day symposium will discuss how so-called films such as ‘Sauerkraut Westerns’ were adapted to fit in with communist sensibilities of the day. 

Conference co-organiser Dr Jonathan Owen, a Teaching Fellow at the University’s Centre for Film Studies, said, “Our event looks at a fascinating episode in the history of genre cinema - the emergence of the Red Western, a series of Westerns made in the Communist Eastern Bloc mainly in the 1960s and 70s. Alongside the famous Italian Spaghetti Westerns, we have Sauerkraut Westerns from East Germany, Goulash Westerns from Hungary, and so on.

“We will explore how these Westerns transformed the genre in adapting it to local histories and the political demands of communism - for instance by making the American Indians good and the cowboys bad.”

The event will offer a chance to hear the fascinating stories of those involved in making these films - such as Gojko Mitic, a Serbian actor who played an Indian chief in East German Westerns, and Dean Reed, the mysterious American actor and singer who defected behind the Iron Curtain for political reasons.

Dr Owen continued, “During the 1960s the Western genre, then waning in its native Hollywood, took root in a number of European countries. Though Italy’s ‘spaghetti Westerns’ remain by far the best-known result of this transposition, the genre also crossed political lines into Communist Eastern Europe.

“The various forms of ‘Eastern Western’ that ensue transform and politically inflect the genre in diverse ways, for example Indianerfilme cast cowboys as villains and American Indians as heroes. Elsewhere we see a translation of Western trappings to local history and terrain: Yugoslavia’s popular ‘Gibanica Westerns’, for instance, make Western heroes out of Tito’s Communist Partisan fighters.”

Experts will gather at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh to chart this fascinating episode in the critically marginalised history of Eastern Bloc popular cinema.

“Commies and Indians, The Western Beyond Cold War Frontiers”, a One-Day Symposium, takes place on Friday 17 May 2013 at 9.30am - 6pm at the Guildroom, Filmhouse, Edinburgh.

Further details

ENDS

Note to Editors: Dr Jonathan Owen is available for interview today on 07580 356 777.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Gayle Cook, Senior Communications Manager on Tel:  +44 1334 467227, Mobile: 07900 050 103 or email: gec3@st-andrews.ac.uk
Ref: Commies and Indians 170513
View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

Follow St Andrews news on Twitter
Like on Facebook

Arnold Palmer on the 10th tee with caddie Tip Anderson at the 1960 Open Championship in St Andrews. (Courtesy of the University of St Andrews Library, George M. Cowie Collection, GMC_7_35_12)

The internationally recognised Special Collections of the University of St Andrews, Scotland, including its extensive collections of golf photography, are to benefit from the support of Mission Hills Group in China, the world’s largest golf facility.

Missions Hills is strengthening its ties with Scotland by supporting the 600^th Anniversary celebrations of St Andrews, founded in 1413.

Mission Hills Group has already committed a six-figure sum to fund the development of St Andrews’ Special Collections, which include extensive golf photography archives covering the development of golf from the 19th century onwards. They include the Lawrence Levy collection of more than 250,000 images and the collections of Scottish photographer George Cowie.

Scotland’s first university is currently fundraising to make these and other treasures in its Special Collections more accessible with the creation of museum-quality display space, secure storage facilities, and dedicated teaching rooms in St Andrews.

Meanwhile in China plans are being developed for a Golf Museum to commemorate the legacy of David Chu, considered by many "the father of golf in China" and the founder of Mission Hills Group. The University of St Andrews and Mission Hills will collaborate on displays for the new museum.

St Andrews and Mission Hills will also work to strengthen Scottish-Sino links during the University’s 600^th Anniversary Golf Tournament being held this summer, and will promote academic ties through scholarships for Chinese and Scottish exchange students. Mission Hills is the first golf club around the world to partner with the University of St Andrews during its 600^th Anniversary.

St Andrews Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson said:

“Scotland and China – notwithstanding the extraordinary difference in scale - share a centuries-old passion for golf and an enduring commitment to the value of education. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Mission Hills Group to preserve the heritage of the game here in St Andrews and in China.

“We hope that our joint enterprise will not only strengthen cultural connections, but allow scholars, golfers, and the public in both our countries to explore the history and heritage of golf.”  

Mission Hills will also play a key part in the University’s 600th Anniversary Golf Tournament - the St Andrews 600. The friendly competition will incorporate rounds of golf on The Duke's, Kingsbarns Golf Links and the Old Course from June 21 - 23, 2013. Competitors will include St Andrews alumni, donors, friends and corporate supporters and the event is designed to raise funds for university teaching and research in St Andrews.

Tenniel Chu, Vice Chairman of Mission Hills Group which has played host to more than 100 international tournaments, will bring his golf management expertise to Scotland as Honorary Vice-Chairman of the 600th Anniversary Golf Tournament.

He said:  “It’s a great honour for Mission Hills to be the only golf club in China to be partnering with the University of St Andrews. We are dedicated to promoting golf development around the world and with golf’s return to the Olympics and China’s potential to be the world’s largest golfing market, our association with St Andrews University and their extensive golf archive within their Special Collections is a very special partnership for us with great potential.”

St Andrews 600 Tournament Director, Professor Andy Mackenzie said:

"The University is delighted that Mr. Chu has agreed to accept the role of Honorary Vice-Chairman of The St Andrews 600. It is a true honour to have someone of his standing, and who has achieved so much in terms of growing the game, lending his name to our efforts.”

To make sure the bonds between St Andrews and Mission Hillsare strong and long-lasting, the Group is also keen to build educational links, and to encourage further collaboration and understanding through future generations of scholars. The University of St Andrews and Mission Hills Group hope to work together to develop scholarship opportunities to give St Andrews students the chance to study in China and join the graduate intern programme at Mission Hills and to encourage Chinese students to study at Scotland’s first University.

The St Andrews 600 Tournament is part of the University of St Andrews’ 600th Anniversary Campaign to raise £100m for university projects.  For further information go to: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/600/campaign

About Mission Hills Group

Mission Hills Group (www.missionhillschina.com), owner and operator of Mission Hills in the heart of the Pearl River Delta and the tropical island of Hainan, is the pioneer in China’s fledgling hospitality, sports and leisure industry.

Founded in 1992, Mission Hills is recognized as the leading golf brand in the world and synonymous with high-end, luxurious and exquisitely-designed residences. Mission Hills has been the major driving force behind the sports and leisure industry in China. Its three world-class integrated leisure and wellness resort destinations have hosted more than 100 international tournaments. Mission Hills has also been accredited the “World’s Largest Golf Club” and the “World`s Largest Spa Resort” by the Guinness World Records.

Mission Hills properties sprawl over 40 sq.km. They include 22 championship courses designed by renowned players and architects from five continents, five-star resorts, award-winning spas and volcanic mineral springs, an international convention center, golf academies and Asia’s largest tennis facility. Mission Hills is also the official training headquarters for China’s Tennis and Golf Associations.

Mission Hills Group has achieved many milestones and developed into the eminent conglomerate in the sports, tourism, leisure and entertainment industry. The next breakthrough in the Group’s evolution will occur as it brings its tried and true branding and golf management services to Beijing, Shanghai, Yunnan, Chongqing, Xian and other destinations.

For further information, please contact:-

Mona Li

Mission Hills China

Tel: +86 755 2802 0888# 38890

Email: monali@missionhillschina.com

About the University of St Andrews

Founded in the 15th century, St Andrews is Scotland’s first university and the third oldest in the English speaking world. Teaching began in the community of St Andrews in 1410 and the University was formally constituted by the issue of Papal Bull in 1413.

The University is now one of Europe’s most research intensive seats of learning. It is among the top rated universities in Europe for research, teaching quality and student satisfaction and is consistently ranked among the UK’s top five in leading independent league tables produced by The Times, The Guardian and the Sunday Times. According to the Sunday Times, St Andrews is “now firmly established as the leading multi-faculty alternative to Oxford and Cambridge.”

Its international reputation for delivering high quality teaching and research and student satisfaction make it one of the most sought after destinations for prospective students from the UK, Europe and overseas. It is Scotland’s most cosmopolitan university – a third of the student body of 7500 is from overseas.

It has a staff of 1800 and maintains one of the strongest records in the UK for teaching quality, good degrees and student support. It has consistently been judged one of the top five UK universities for student satisfaction, according to theannual UK National Student Survey.

In 2013 the University received on average 12 applications per place. St Andrews has not entered clearing for several years and sets highly challenging asking rates to attract only the most academically potent students in the Arts, Sciences, Medicine and Divinity.

As it celebrates the 600^th anniversary of its founding, St Andrews is pursuing an ambitious £100 million fundraising campaign to support developments in teaching, research, scholarships and special collections. St Andrews alumnus HRH Prince William the Duke of Cambridge is Patron of the 600^th Fundraising Appeal.

Niall Scott
Director of Corporate Communications
University of St Andrews
Tel: +44 1334 462244
Mobile: 07711 223062
Email: niall.scott@st-andrews.ac.uk
University web: www.st-andrews.ac.uk

In two separate awards – one with winners nominated by Heads of School and the other by students – the best teachers have been acknowledged for their dedication in supporting students through their studies.

This is the first year of the Teaching Awards, where Heads of School nominated colleagues who had excelled in the past year. Nominations were then examined by a judging panel of senior staff.

Winning one of the first Teaching Awards was Paula Miles in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience who was recognised for her excellent teaching in the classroom.

The judges commended her “thoughtful innovation” for improving teaching and for her outreach activities including her “Citizen Science” approach which helps students experience the research process.

The award is a second for the academic who previously received a student-led award for teaching.

Dr Lisa Jones in Philosophy was also awarded for excellent teaching in the classroom with her “dedication” to improving assessment techniques appreciated by students.

Her contributions to the University’s Evening Degree programme and distance learning programme were acknowledged.  The panel also praised Dr Jones’ ability to inspire her colleagues to improve their teaching and assessment techniques.

Two group awards were also made, with Dr Shiona Chillas, Charles Lovatt, Professor John Wilson, Professor Jan Bebbington,  Professor Huw Davies of Management and Dr Mike Kesby of Geography and Geosciences being acknowledged for their work in designing and teaching  core module: “Contemporary Global Issues in Management”.

The judging panel were impressed by the clever design of the course, as well as by the intellectual dedication shown.

Finally, a team in Modern Languages comprising Professor Margaret-Anne Hutton, Dr Colette Lawson, Dr Henriette Partzsh and Dr Emily Finer were honoured for their work on the new Comparative Literature masters degrees.

They were praised for team work and the successful collaborative nature of the programmes.

Also nominated for the awards were Dr Bill Heitler of Biology, Dr Anita Laidlaw and Dr Alex Collinson of Medicine, Dr Jon Coulston of Classics, Dr Rebecca Sweetman of Classics, Dr Miguel  Nacenta of Computer Science, Dr Ruth Robinson of Geography and Geosciences, Dr Monique MacKenzie of Mathematics and Statistics and Dr Tom Normand of Art History.

The awards were presented by the Master, Professor Neville Richardson.

Students at the University of St Andrews also recognised staff for their efforts in supporting them to achieve their goals.

The Students’ Association at the University named the academics who made the greatest impact on teaching in the last year.

These awards have been running since 2010 when students felt there was a need to recognise good teaching and acknowledge those who go above and beyond the call of duty.

The award for Best Dissertation Supervisor Arts/ Divinity went to Dr Bridget Heal in the School of History for her commitment “over and above what is expected”.

Dr Caron Gentry of the School of International Relations and Dr Colette Lawson of Modern Languages were also short-listed for the award.

Best Dissertation Supervisor Science/ Medicine went to Dr Chris Hooley of Physics and Astronomy for his “excellent” support and advice.

Dr Rachel Davies of Medicine and Dr Martin Campbell of Psychology were also short-listed.

Innovation in Teaching went to Professor Andy Williams of International Relations for his efforts encouraging students to use original archival sources.

Dr Rehema White of Geography and Geosciences   and Jeremy Kleidosty of International Relations were also shortlisted in the category.

Postgraduate Tutor was awarded to Jonathan Fraser of Mathematics and Statistics for going “above and beyond the call of duty in care for students and provision of tutorials”.

Pardis Shafafi of Social Anthropology was also shortlisted.

The Teaching (Honours) award was made to Dr Tom Normand of Art History for his dedication to teaching at all levels and his pastoral care.

Dr Tim Wilson of International Relations and Dr Rory Cox of History were also short-listed.

Teaching (Sub-Honours) went to Dr Susie Whiten of Medicine who was described as being the “heart and soul of the medical school” by students.

Dr Mark Imber of International Relations and Diane McGoldrick of Management were also shortlisted.

Teaching (Postgraduate) went to Professor Frances Andrews of History for her “exceptional support” for a very large number of PhD students who praised her “consistent advice”, and for providing scholarly opportunities.

Dr Sarah Dillon of English and Dr William Tooman of Divinity were also shortlisted in the category.

The Students’ Association awards were presented by Association President Freddie fforde. 

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108 / 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (teaching awards  14/05/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

Art-lovers have just a couple of weeks to see rarely-viewed paintings and etchings - currently on show at the University of St Andrews.

The works by renowned artist James Whistler, and others, are part of a collection created by Dundee-born engineer and industrialist James Guthrie Orchar (1825-1898) which are on loan from Dundee’s McManus Galleries.

The exhibition provides a snap-shot of the artistic tastes held by those in the Victorian age.

Works on show include etchings collected during the latter half of the 19^th century which have been rarely exhibited in recent years.

Orchar’s collection of etchings includes more than 100 works and features a large number by James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

He also owned a fine set of impressions by Whistler’s brother-in-law Sir Francis Seymour Haden, Jozef Israëls, James Tissot and many other important printmakers of the 19^th century.

Orchar was keen for the people of Dundee to have access to his collection and regularly exhibited the works at the Dundee Fine Art Exhibitions from the 1870s to the 1890s.

Orchar was an important patron of the Arts and fostered a number of personal relationships with the artists whose work he collected. This is evident in the personal dedications to Orchar himself on a number of the prints.

Curated by Dr William Rough of the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews, the exhibition is a collaboration between the School of Art History and The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum and is supported by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The exhibition is also part of a larger project to catalogue Orchar’s print collection and a website illustrating the works launched this month.

Dr Rough said: “The project aims to make this wonderful collection available to the public, and the exhibition is a great chance to view these rarely seen works.

“The City’s nineteenth century industrialists were renowned for their generous patronage of the arts. The Orchar collection, although not the largest, is the only surviving art collection amassed in Dundee at this time”.

Prints from the Orchar Collection: Whistler and Others: is on show in the School of Art History Reception,  79 North Street, until May 22, Monday to Friday 10am-4pm. Entry is free.

Note to Editors

For images please contact the press office.

Dr William Rough is available on 01334 462399 or at wwr@st-andrews.ac.uk.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funds world-class, independent researchers in a wide range of subjects: ancient history, modern dance, archaeology, digital content, philosophy, English literature, design, the creative and performing arts, and much more. 

This financial year the AHRC will spend approximately £98m to fund research and postgraduate training in collaboration with a number of partners. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK. For further information on the AHRC, please go to: www.ahrc.ac.uk.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108/ 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (orchar  15/05/13)

View the University’s latest news at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/

The major grant to Professor James Naismith and his team at the University’s Biological Sciences Research Centre (BSRC) will fund a seven-year long effort to find new weaknesses in the armour of bacteria which have become or are becoming resistant to traditional antibiotics.

The threat posed by drug-resistant bacteria such as TB, MRSA and C difficile has been identified as one of the major public health challenges facing the world.  The UK’s Chief Medical Officer recently called for increased funding for this type of research, highlighting the danger of bacterial disease to the population.

The Senior Investigator Award from the Wellcome Trust will allow Professor Naismith to continue his work on understanding how bacteria make and transport sugar polymers around.  It is these sugar polymers which prevent the human immune system from clearing bacterial infection. By studying these processes it should be possible to disrupt them.

Professor Naismith said:

"Bacteria are fantastic chemists, but humans are, by contrast, lazy.

“Yet this activity is also their weakness, because they do so much chemistry that we do not. Thus if we can stop their chemistry it would kill them, but since we do not do it, it should not affect us. 

“Most antibiotics work on this simple principle, however, we urgently need to do the research to find new antibiotics for twenty years’ time.  Our work in the one small part of the sugar polymer metabolism has already led to development of novel inhibitors.

“The new projects should open up new avenues for therapies aimed at drug resistant bacteria. This grant is very ambitious and aims to understand how bacteria achieve a very difficult task. Imagine a glass with three liquid layers, the middle layer is oil that does not mix with the other two water layers. Somehow bacteria have proteins that transport sugar polymers from the bottom layer to the top layer, yet somehow they avoid exposing the polymer to the oil layer."

Wellcome’s  Senior Investigator Awards support exceptional, world-class researchers, who hold an established academic position. They are awarded to researchers who have an international track-record of significant achievement relative to their career stage, who have demonstrated the originality and impact of their research, and who are leaders in their field. 

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Professor James Naismith can be contacted on 01334 463792 or jhn@st-andrews.ac.uk

Issued by the University of St Andrews Press Office. Contact Niall Scott, Director of Corporate Communications on 01334 462244 or niall.scott@st-andrews.ac.uk
Ref: wellcometrust 140513
Follow St Andrews news on Twitter
Like on Facebook

Terry Jones, Katherine Grainger and Mary McAleese will all be awarded honorary degrees by the University during its summer graduation ceremonies. The household names will be honoured alongside a host of distinguished individuals from the worlds of academia, art, music and science. 

Joining them will be Director of the Edinburgh International Festival Jonathan Mills and Glasgow photographer Harry Benson, famous for his black and white photographs of children in the Gorbals. Benson, whose work was published by Life, Vanity Fair and People magazine, has also photographed celebrities including Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and The Beatles.. and every American President since Eisenhower.

The full honours list is as follows: Dr Christopher Brown (Director, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford), Terry Jones (Writer, film-director and performer), Professor Richard Schrock (Frederick G Keyes Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Katherine Grainger (Olympic champion), Harry Benson (Photographer), Professor Mary McAleese (Former President of Ireland, Emeritus Professor of Law, The Queen's University of Belfast), Dr Ian Johnston (Neurosurgeon, writer and translator) and Jonathan Mills (Composer, Festival Director and CEO of the Edinburgh International Festival.

The eight recipients will be honoured over eight ceremonies to be held at the Younger Hall from 25 – 28 June.  The University will also honour one of its own by awarding the University Medal to Mediaeval historian and former warden of University Hall, Lorna Walker.

Further information on media arrangements for each ceremony will be released nearer the time.

ENDS

Vice-Principal (Governance and Planning) Professor Ron Piper, Chairman of The R&A Foundation Hamish Ritchie, Shelley Talbot and Director of Development Robert Fleming.
Photo credit: Lightbox Creative.

Third-year Philosophy and International Relations student Shelley Talbot has been selected as the first St Andrews student to benefit from a new, international scholarship fund generously gifted by The R&A, the body responsible for administering the Rules of Golf.

Twenty-two year-old Shelley, originally from Leamington, plans to use her £12,000 award to travel the Far East, America and Europe for a year, volunteering at various local community projects helping physically and mentally disabled people. Her aim is to find out about experiences of disability in different cultures, and to provide the experience to inform postgraduate study of disability and social policy.

The R&A International Scholarship has been set up to encourage students to broaden their minds in new, challenging and imaginative environments by funding international travel for undergraduates or recent graduates.

Shelley said:

“I was so excited to receive The R&A International Scholarship; I didn't expect to have the chance to travel and volunteer for a year. Being the first recipient means I'm even more excited, as I'm setting the standard for future students, and I hope I'm up to the challenge!

“I'm planning to combine travel and volunteering, working with people with disabilities in different projects in different countries. I can't wait to find out how the experience of disability differs in different cultures, and how services differ accordingly. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity I feel extremely lucky to have been selected.”

The award was made possible by a £500,000 gift from The R&A to be invested in an endowment fund which provides travel, accommodation and subsistence for students who demonstrate not only academic excellence, but also a desire and ability to learn from and interact with different cultures. The scholarship is particularly targeted at students who have demonstrated good people skills and a community-minded approach to life in St Andrews, and who would otherwise be unable to fund international travel and study.

Shelley first became interested in disability when she volunteered as a full-time carer for a student at Lancaster University. She then came to St Andrews to study and started volunteering in Fife. In her time at St Andrews Shelley has worked with Enable (a club for adults with learning difficulties) and includeMe (citizen advocacy for people with learning difficulties), as well as being appointed Convenor of the St Andrews Student Voluntary Service, which works with over twenty partners in the local community to provide students with opportunities to volunteer on a wide range of projects supporting vulnerable groups. Through this service Shelley has helped to place over 200 volunteers throughout North East Fife.

Alex Davidson of includeMe said:

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shelley so much for all the help and support she has given includeMe! since she first contacted us to become an advocate. Shelley’s value as a Citizen Advocate has been re-inforced by her very strong concept of what is right and wrong - her principle of justice as far as vulnerable adults are concerned - and, whenever within her power, the fact that she will not allow anyone to be treated ‘differently’.”

Vice-Principal (Governance and Planning) Professor Ron Piper said:

“Congratulations to Shelley who I am confident will be an excellent ambassador for St Andrews on her travels. She has set a wonderful example and is evidence of the opportunities that can be created by taking a community-minded approach to life in the town. Many thanks to The R&A for making Shelley’s great adventure possible, and helping St Andrews students to achieve a global perspective.”

Hamish Ritchie, Chairman of The R&A Foundation, said:

“The R&A is delighted that the scholarship has been awarded to Shelley. We wish her every success in her travels next year and in her future career. The University and The R&A are a major part of the fabric of St Andrews and it is exciting to be working together on this scholarship programme which will help students broaden their horizons and make their way in the world.”

Notes to News Editors

Based in St Andrews, The R&A organises The Open Championship, major amateur events and international matches. Together with the United States Golf Association, The R&A governs the game worldwide, jointly administering the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, Equipment Standards and World Amateur Golf Rankings. The R&A’s working jurisdiction is global, excluding the United States and Mexico.

The R&A is committed to working for golf and supports the growth of the game internationally and the development and management of sustainable golf facilities. The R&A operates with the consent of 149 organisations from the amateur and professional game and on behalf of over thirty million golfers in 135 countries.

ENDS

Issued by the University of St Andrews Press Office. Contact Emma Shea on 01334 462167 or email emma.shea@st-andrews.ac.uk

The work, which demonstrates a six-fold increase in light storage, could lead to faster, cheaper and more efficient LEDs and solar cells.

The research involved a study of optical cavities – also known as optical resonators – and their ability to store light. Optical cavities typically store light by bouncing it many times between sets of suitable mirrors.

In an international collaboration with researchers in Saudi Arabia, the researchers deformed mirrors to disrupt the regular light path in an optical cavity. The team were surprised to find that the resulting chaotic light paths allowed for more light to be stored than with ordered paths.

The experimental work was carried out at the University of St Andrews by Dr Andrea Di Falco and Professor Thomas Krauss.

Dr Di Falco, who leads the Synthetic Optics group at the University’s School of Physics & Astronomy, said, "The concept behind broadband chaotic resonators for light harvesting applications is very profound and complex. I find it fascinating that whilst we used state-of-the-art fabrication techniques to prove it, this idea can in fact be easily applied to the simplest of systems. For example, our collaborators managed to increase the absorption of light in plastic spheres, by simply compressing them."

"Standard resonators can typically trap light efficiently if it is of one specific colour (wavelength), because each colour behaves in a different way inside the resonator.  As a result it is difficult to inject light of many colours inside them. We have shown that resonators with deformed mirrors cause the different colours behave in the same way, hence making multi-coloured light storage more efficient."

Professor Krauss, now at the University of York, added, “Our results also have real-world practical implications. The cost of many semiconductor devices, such as LEDs and solar cells, is determined to a significant extent by the cost of the material. Our findings enable more than six times the energy without increasing the amount of material and without increasing the material costs.”

The work has important applications for many branches of physics and technology, such as quantum optics and processing optical signals over the internet, where light needs to be stored for short periods of time to facilitate logical operations and to enhance light-matter interactions.

Solar cells may also benefit, as trapping more light in solar cells improves their ability to generate electricity. The longer light is contained in the solar cell, the greater the chance that it will be absorbed and create electricity.

The project was led by Professor Andrea Fratalocchi of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He said, “Chaos, disorder and unpredictability are ubiquitous phenomena that pervade our existence and are the result of the never-ending evolution of nature.

“The majority of our systems try to avoid these effects, as we commonly assume that chaos diminishes the performance of existing devices. The focus of my research, conversely, is to show that disorder can be used as a building block for a novel, low-cost and scalable technology that outperforms current systems by orders of magnitude.”

The project, which also involved researchers from Bologna University, Italy, was funded by KAUST University and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), through Dr Di Falco’s fellowship and the UK Silicon Photonics project.

The study is reported in the current issue of Nature Photonics.

ENDS

Note to Editors

The paper is available online.

The researchers are available for interview:

Dr Andrea Di Falco: adf10@st-andrews.ac.uk; tel: +44 (0)1334 463165; website: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/synthopt/

Professor Thomas Krauss: Via the University of York Press Office: pressoffice@york.ac.uk or +44 (0) 1904 322029

Note to Picture Editors

Images are available from the Press Office – contact details below.

Issued by the Press Office.
Contact Senior Communications Manager Gayle Cook on 01334 467227 or email gec3@st-andrews.ac.uk
Ref: mirrormirror 070513
Follow St Andrews news on Twitter
Like on Facebook

This year’s winner, Dr Lucy King.

An innovative project developed from the behavioural discovery that honey bees can be used as a natural deterrent to crop raiding elephants, has won this year’s St Andrews Prize for the Environment.

In Kenya, elephants are not confined to national parks and reserves and can pose serious social, political, economic and conservation problems.

Elephants run away from bee sounds and also emit a low frequency rumble, which warns other elephants. This has led to the development and testing of protective beehive fences positioned around farmers’ fields. If an elephant touches a hive, the bees are released. The beehives also provide honey for the farmers.

At a ceremony in the University of St Andrews today (Friday 3 May 2013), Dr Lucy King was presented with the winning prize of $100,000 USD. Lucy said: ‘I am delighted with this win. The recognition and financial support will enable us to expand our vital research work and protect many more rural farming families from elephant invasions.’

The St Andrews Prize for the Environment is an environmental initiative by the University of St Andrews, which attracts scholars of international repute and carries out world-class teaching and research, and international exploration and production company ConocoPhillips.

Sir Crispin Tickell, Chairman of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment Trustees, said: ‘The Prize continues to go from strength to strength. It is now in its fifteenth year and we are delighted that is has become so well established and continues to attract such a range of innovative projects from all over the world. We are looking for entrepreneurs on behalf of the environment, people able to come forward with original, innovative and realistic ideas which can be replicated elsewhere, and take full account of the social and economic implications.’

This year’s runners-up, each presented with a cheque for $25,000 USD were:

• CryoDesalination – saltwater desalination by freezing – a process that is environmentally-friendly, highly energy efficient, and could provide access to fresh water and improve the lives of millions of people worldwide.
• Transforming lands, transforming lives – using the innovative, simple and cost effective technology of sandbar cropping in North West Bangladesh to transform lands that have become silted and barren by flooding.

Full details of each of the finalists’ projects can be found at www.thestandrewsprize.com.

Professor Louise Richardson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews commented, ‘For centuries this University has educated young people motivated by a desire to improve the world around them. We are proud to be at the cutting edge of the field of sustainability and environmental studies and to support, through the St Andrews Prize for the Environment, the current generation of creative thinkers designing solutions to today's problems.’

‘By sponsoring the St Andrews Prize for the Environment, ConocoPhillips is creating a path to a more secure and environmentally-conscious energy supply for future generations. This forum lets us recognise groups and individuals with innovative environmental ideas and gives us the opportunity to focus on developing and sustaining their life changing projects,’ added David Chenier, President UK for ConocoPhillips.

Since its launch in 1998, the St Andrews Prize for the Environment has attracted entries on topics as diverse as sustainable development in the Amazon and Central American rainforests, urban re-generation, recycling, health and water issues and renewable energy.

See the full list of previous winners and details about the Prize Trustees at: www.thestandrewsprize.com.

Contact

For further media information, photographs, and to arrange interviews please contact:

Doug Allsop, Mearns and Gill Public Relations, 7 Carden Place, Aberdeen, AB10 1PP.

Tel +44 1224 646311. Fax +44 1224 631882. Email doug@mearns-gill.com.

Ever wondered what you should do in case of an impending meteor collision? Or why almost 30 urban civilisations before our own all eventually crashed? Or how we can best organise ourselves to deal with natural disasters?

Sir Crispin Tickell will answer these questions and more in his lecture - 'Vulnerable Earth, hits from space and other disasters' on Thursday at 6pm, Medical & Biological Sciences Lecture Theatre, North Haugh, St Andrews. The lecture is part of the University of St Andrews’ 600th Anniversary lecture series and is free and open to all.

Sir Crispin, a former diplomat, environmentalist, and academic, will explore the precarious nature of life on earth from social, ecological and astronomical perspectives. His lecture will put the threats of human swarming, global warming, as well as meteor hits and blast waves, tsunamis, and electromagnetic shocks into historical perspective.

Sir Crispin will shine a light on the astonishing interconnectedness of species, eco-systems and even galaxies before going on to explain how we can develop the resilience to cope with the potential disasters that surround us.

This lecture will change the way you think about energy sources, land management, international relations, and even your place in the universe.

As Sir Crispin said, speaking ahead of his lecture:

“We have to learn to think differently before it is forced upon us.”

The lecture is part of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment programme, chaired by Sir Crispin. Now in its fifteenth year the primary objective of the prestigious prize is to find innovative solutions to environmental challenges. The distinguished panel of environmentalists, scientists and industrialists, led by Sir Crispin, will announce the 2013 prize winners at an award ceremony on Friday (3 May 2013).

Notes to News Editors

The Prize is a joint environmental initiative by the University of St Andrews in Scotland and exploration and production company ConocoPhillips, which aims to find practical solutions to environmental challenges from around the globe.

For background on the three projects shortlisted for the St Andrews Prize for the Environment go to: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2013/title,217110,en.php

Find out all you need to know about the Prize at www.thestandrewsprize.com.

The University of St Andrews has been named best in Scotland and 6th in the UK in the latest league table.

It is the only Scottish university to be named among the top ten institutions in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2014 published today (Monday April 29).

The news follows the University being named top in Scotland for scientific performance in the prestigious Leiden Ranking 2013.

Principal and Vice Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson said:

“This result is clear evidence of the dedication, engagement and academic rigour of everyone who works and studies at St Andrews and a signal of our determination to ensure St Andrews and Scotland continue to compete globally at the highest level.

“We do not, however, take our league table positions for granted.  As we celebrate the University’s 600th anniversary, our £100m fundraising campaign is driven by the urgent need to match our resources to our potential, and to retain for Scotland – and her oldest university - a place at the top of the tables.”

According to the guide’s authors: “What is beyond dispute is that the Top Ten includes some of the world’s finest higher education institutions.”

The guide is based on nine measures: Student Satisfaction, Research Assessment, Entry Standards, Student: Staff Ratio; Spending on Academic Services; Spending on Student Facilities; Good Honours degrees achieved; Graduate Prospects and Completion.

The league table, full methodology and other information are available at www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk.

Design-it-yourself gestures may be the key to future computer interfaces.

A team of experts in human-computer interaction at the University of St Andrews have found that gesture-based Natural User Interfaces (used to control televisions, computers and games consoles like the Wii and Xbox 360) just need the personal touch to make them more effective.

A key question for Natural User Interfaces is whether people will be able to remember the many gestures recognised by the devices.

The St Andrews team found that users could remember 44 per cent more gestures when they designed the gestures themselves, in comparison with gestures pre-programmed by professionals.

The researchers carried out three controlled experiments testing people’s ability to remember gestures, and analysed the type of errors that they made. Controlling for learning time, users were significantly better at remembering gestures they created themselves.

Until now, designers and researchers of gestural interfaces have focused on designing one set of gestures that would work for everyone. The new experiment results question this approach.

Designing personalised gestures was also perceived to be more creative and more fun. Further, they could then reflect the user’s cultural background. In contrast, pre-programmed gestures can mean one thing in one culture but make no sense in another.

Dr Miguel Nacenta, Lecturer in the School of Computer Science at the University said: “Our work could make the difference between whether this technology becomes commonplace or fails to captivate the market.

“If the gesture-based interface is clumsy and frustrating consumers will not be willing to ditch their remote controls for it.”

Gesture-based Natural User Interfaces are becoming increasing popular and products pushing these technologies include Samsung SmartTVs, Microsoft’s Kinect and LEAP Motion. 

However, one drawback is the difficulty users have in learning and remembering pre-programmed gesture patterns.

Current gesture-based interfaces, like those in Samsung SmartTVs, are based on how designers see interaction.  The University of St Andrews research suggests that involving users in the design of gestures is a promising approach.

 The researchers will present their work at the CHI 2013 conference (the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) in Paris on April 30.  CHI is the principal forum for outstanding research in human-computer interaction.

Note to Editors

Dr Miguel Nacenta is available on  07950 733 160.

More information and images.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (gestures 26/04/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

These energetic events can affect galactic gas at distances of up to twenty times greater than the visible size of the galaxy — altering how the galaxy evolves, and how matter and energy is spread throughout the Universe.

When galaxies form new stars, they sometimes do so in frantic episodes of activity known as starbursts. These events were commonplace in the early Universe, but are rarer in nearby galaxies.

During these bursts, hundreds of millions of stars are born, and their combined effect can drive a powerful wind that travels out of the galaxy. These winds were known to affect their host galaxy — but this new research now shows that they have a significantly greater effect than previously thought.

An international team of astronomers, including Dr Vivienne Wild, lecturer in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University Andrews,   observed 20 nearby galaxies, some of which were known to be undergoing a starburst.

They found that the winds accompanying these star formation processes were capable of ionising [1] gas up to 650,000 light-years from the galactic centre — around twenty times further out than the visible size of the galaxy.

This is the first direct observational evidence of local starbursts impacting the bulk of the gas around their host galaxy, and has important consequences for how that galaxy continues to evolve and form stars.

Dr Wild, said: “The extended material around galaxies is hard to study, as it’s so faint.

“But it’s important — these envelopes of cool gas hold vital clues about how galaxies grow, process mass and energy, and finally die. We’re exploring a new frontier in galaxy evolution.”

The team used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) instrument [2] on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to analyse light from a mixed sample of starburst and control galaxies.

They were able to probe these faint envelopes by exploiting even more distant objects — quasars, the intensely luminous centres of distant galaxies powered by huge black holes.

By analysing the light from these quasars after it passed through the foreground galaxies, the team could probe the galaxies themselves.

The starburst galaxies within the sample were seen to have large amounts of highly ionised gas in their halos — but the galaxies that were not undergoing a starburst did not. The team found that this ionisation was caused by the energetic winds created alongside newly forming stars.

This has consequences for the future of the galaxies hosting the starbursts. Galaxies grow by accreting gas from the space surrounding them, and converting this gas into stars. As these winds ionise the future fuel reservoir of gas in the galaxy’s envelope, the availability of cool gas falls — regulating any future star formation.

Team member Timothy Heckman, of Johns Hopkins University, said: “Starbursts are important phenomena — they not only dictate the future evolution of a single galaxy, but also influence the cycle of matter and energy in the Universe as a whole.

“The envelopes of galaxies are the interface between galaxies and the rest of the Universe — and we’re just beginning to fully explore the processes at work within them.”

The team's results will appear in the 1 May 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

Note to Editors

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

The research is presented in a paper entitled “The Impact of Starbursts on the Circumgalactic Medium”, published in the 1 May 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

[1] A gas is said to be ionised when its atoms have lost one or more electrons — in this case by energetic winds exciting galactic gas and knocking electrons out of the atoms within.

[2] Spectrographs are instruments that break light into its constituent colours and measure the intensity of each colour, revealing information about the object emitting the light — such as its chemical composition, temperature, density, or velocity.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108 / 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (starburst  26/04/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

Professor David O’Hagan, Professor in the School of Chemistry at the University, is named in an exclusive list published today (Friday 26 April) of just 27 outstanding scientists working in the UK to receive the accolade.

The award, from the UK’s national academy of science, is made in recognition of his work in translating discoveries in organofluorine chemistry into practical applications.

Prof O’Hagan’s work focuses on the biochemistry and organic chemistry of the element fluorine which is present in a wide range of everyday objects and medicines.

He expressed delight at the award but was quick to praise talented colleagues and students at St Andrews for making his work a daily “pleasure”.

He said: “It may seem a bit esoteric to have a focus on a particular element, but fluorine compounds are important.

“They are widely represented in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, polymers and materials such as liquid crystals for laptop / iPad / TV displays etc.

“We also work with an enzyme that fluorinates, known-as the ‘fluorinase’, and have been exploring it as a tool to incorporate the radioactive isotope, fluorine-18, into sugars for use in medical imaging.  

“Thus, the research in the group is really very broad and we enjoy many fruitful collaborations with colleagues in St Andrews and in other labs.

“It is certainly very nice to receive external recognition. But I have been lucky at St Andrews to work with talented PhD and postdoctoral co-workers who seem to continuously discover new and exciting things through their creativity and intelligence.  It makes each day at work a pleasure.”

Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the scheme aims to provide universities with additional support to enable them to attract science talent from overseas and retain respected UK scientists of outstanding achievement and potential.

The newly appointed award holders are working on a wide range of project topics including the use of personalised genome data for cancer treatment, climate tipping points, and the exploration of Mars.

Note to Editors

For images please contact the press office.

The Wolfson Foundation is a grant-making charity established in 1955. Funding is given to support excellence. More information is available from www.wolfson.org.uk.

The Royal Society is a self-governing Fellowship of many of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and medicine. The Society’s fundamental purpose, as it has been since its foundation in 1660, is to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.

For further information please visit http://royalsociety.org. Follow the Royal Society on Twitter at http://twitter.com/royalsociety or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theroyalsociety.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108/ 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (wolfson 25/04/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

Humpback whales are able to pass on hunting techniques to each other, just as humans do, new research has found.

A team of researchers, led by the University of St Andrews, has discovered that a new feeding technique has spread to 40 per cent of a humpback whale population.

The findings are published today (Thursday 25 April) by the journal Science.

The community of humpback whales off New England, USA, was forced to find new prey after herring stocks – their preferred food - crashed in the early 1980s.

The solution the whales devised – hitting the water with their tails while hunting a different prey – has now spread through the population by cultural transmission. By 2007, nearly 40 per cent of the population had been seen doing it.

Dr Luke Rendell,  lecturer in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews, said: “Our study really shows how vital cultural transmission is in humpback populations – not only do they learn their famous songs from each other, they also learn feeding techniques that allow them to buffer the effects of changing ecology.”

The team - also including Jenny Allen from the University of St Andrews, Mason Weinrich of the Whale Center of New England and Will Hoppitt from Anglia Ruskin University - used a new technique called network-based diffusion analysis to demonstrate that the pattern of spread followed the network of social relationships within the population, showing that the new behaviour had spread through cultural transmission, the same process that underlies the diversity of human culture.

The data were collected by naturalist observers aboard the many whale-watching vessels that patrol the waters of the Gulf of Maine each summer.

Dr Hoppitt said: “We can learn more about the forces that drive the evolution of culture by looking outside our own ancestral lineage and studying the occurrence of similar attributes in groups that have evolved in a radically different environment to ours, like the cetaceans.” 

Humpbacks around the world herd shoals of prey by blowing bubbles underwater to produce ‘bubble nets’.

The feeding innovation, called ‘lobtail feeding’, involves hitting the water with the tail before diving to produce the bubble nets.

Lobtail feeding was first observed in 1980, after the stocks of herring, previously the main food for the whales, became depleted.

At the same time sand lance stocks soared, and it would seem the innovation is specific to that particular prey, because its use is concentrated around the Stellwagen Bank, spawning grounds where the sand lance can reach high abundance.

Using a unique database spanning thirty years of observations gathered by Dr Weinrich, the researchers were able track the spread of the behaviour through the whales’ social network.

Jenny Allen said: “The study was only made possible because of Mason’s dedication in collecting the whale observations over decades, and it shows the central importance of long-term studies in understanding the processes affecting whale populations.”

The scientists believe their results strengthen the case that cetaceans - the whales and dolphins - have evolved sophisticated cultural capacities.

The skills, knowledge, materials and traditions that humans learn from each other help explain how we have come to dominate the globe as a species, but how we evolved the capabilities to transmit such knowledge between ourselves remains a mystery that preoccupies biologists, psychologists and anthropologists.

Note to Editors

For images and video, please contact the press office.

Dr Luke Rendell is available on: 01334 463499 (office) 07842132829 (mobile).

Jenny Allen is available on: 07921 896141 (before 26 April), +1 508-479-8257 (US mobile, from 26 April).

Please contact the Science press package team at 202-326-6440 or scipak@aaas.org to receive an official version of the paper.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108 / 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (humpback 25/04/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

Human tendency to adopt the behaviour of others when on their home territory has been found in non-human primates.

Researchers at the University of St Andrews observed ‘striking’ fickleness in male monkeys, when it comes to copying the behaviour of others in new groups.

The study has been hailed by leading primate experts as rare experimental proof of ‘cultural transmission’ in wild primates to date.

The findings could help explain the evolution of our human desire to seek out ‘local knowledge’ when visiting a new place or culture. 

The new discovery was made by Dr Erica van de Waal and Professor Andrew Whiten of the University of St Andrews, along with Christèle Borgeaud of the University of Neuchâtel.

The research is published today (Thursday 25 April) by the journal Science.

Professor Whiten commented, “As the saying goes, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’.  Our findings suggest that a willingness to conform to what all those around you are doing when you visit a different culture is a disposition shared with other primates.”

The research was carried out by observing wild vervet monkeys in South Africa.  The researchers originally set out to test how strongly wild vervet monkey infants are influenced by their mothers’ habits.  

But more interestingly, they found that adult males migrating to new groups conformed quickly to the social norms of their new neighbours, whether it made sense to them or not.

Professor Whiten commented, “The males’ fickleness is certainly a striking discovery.  At first sight their willingness to conform to local norms may seem a rather mindless response – but after all, it’s how we humans often behave when we visit different cultures.

“It may make sense in nature, where the knowledge of the locals is often the best guide to what are the optimal behaviours in their environment, so copying them may actually make a lot of sense”.

In the initial study, the researchers provided each of two groups of wild monkeys with a box of maize corn dyed pink and another dyed blue. The blue corn was made to taste repulsive and the monkeys soon learned to eat only pink corn. Two other groups were trained in this way to eat only blue corn.

A new generation of infants were later offered both colours of food – neither tasting badly – and the adult monkeys present appeared to remember which colour they had previously preferred.

Almost every infant copied the rest of the group, eating only the one preferred colour of corn.

The crucial discovery came when males began to migrate between groups during the mating season.

The researchers found that of the ten males who moved to groups eating a different coloured corn to the one they were used to, all but one switched to the new local norm immediately.

The one monkey who did not switch, was the top ranking in his new group who appeared unconcerned about adopting local behavior.

Dr van de Waal conducted the field experiments at the Inkawu Vervet Project in the Mawana private game reserve in South Africa.  She became familiar with all 109 monkeys, making it possible for her to document the behaviour of the males who migrated to new groups.

She said, “The willingness of the immigrant males to adopt the local preference of their new groups surprised us all.  The copying behaviour of both the new, naïve infants and the migrating males reveals the potency and importance of social learning in these wild primates, extending even to the conformity we know so well in humans.”

Commenting on the research, leading primatologist Professor Frans de Waal, of the Yerkes Primate Center of Emory University, said that the study “is one of the few successful field experiments on cultural transmission to date, and a remarkably elegant one at that.”

ENDS

Note to Editors

The researchers are available for interview*:

Dr Erica van de Waal: Tel – +41 (0) 22 342 62 69, mobile - +41 (0) 79 820 66 27 or email evdw@st-andrews.ac.uk

Professor Andrew Whiten: Tel +44 (0) 1334 462073, Mobile +41 (0)7817 368 637 or email aw2@st-andrews.ac.uk

*Both are in Switzerland Thurs 25 / Fri 26 April – use Swiss codes as above.

“Potent social learning and conformity shape a wild primate’s foraging decisions” by Erica van de Waal, Christèle Borgeaud  and Andrew Whiten is published in Science, Vol 340, Issue 6131, 2013, 25/26 April. Please contact the Science press package team at 202-326-6440 or scipak@aaas.org to receive an official version of the paper.

NB: Erica van de Waal and Frans de Waal are not related.

Note to Picture Editors

Photographs are available from the University of St Andrews Press Office and from the Science SciPak site.

Researchers at the University of St Andrews, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and Montana Tech have created a new keyboard that enables faster thumb-typing on touchscreen devices.

The new system, dubbed KALQ, after the order the keys appear in the keyboard (in the tradition of QWERTY), allows people to thumb-type 34 per cent faster on tablets.

To create KALQ, the team used computational optimisation techniques, in conjunction with a model of thumb movement, to search among millions of potential layouts before identifying one that yields superior performance.

Dr Per Ola Kristensson, Lecturer in Human Computer Interaction in the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, said: “The legacy of QWERTY has trapped users with suboptimal text entry interfaces on mobile devices.

“However, before abandoning QWERTY, users rightfully demand a compelling alternative. We believe KALQ provides a large enough performance improvement to incentivise users to switch and benefit from faster and more comfortable typing.”

Two-thumb typing is ergonomically very different from typing on a physical keyboard. The QWERTY layout is ill-suited for tablets and other touchscreen devices when typing with both thumbs.

It is established that normal users using a QWERTY on a touchscreen device are limited to typing at a rate around 20 words per minute, which is slow compared to the entry rates users can typically achieve on physical keyboards.

By rearranging the keys on the keyboard layout it is possible enable faster thumb typing. However, the researchers quickly realised that slight changes of the layout, like exchanging a few keys, would not be sufficient for a significant improvement.

Words like “on, see, you, read, dear, based”, frequently used in texts, have to be typed on a split-QWERTY layout with a single thumb only. This makes the typing process cumbersome and slow. This insight initiated the process to develop a layout for two-thumb text entry that could speed up typing and minimise strain for the thumbs.

Dr Antti Oulasvirta, Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany, said: “The key to optimising a keyboard for two thumbs is to minimise long typing sequences that only involve a single thumb. It is also important to place frequently used letter keys centrally close to each other.

“Experienced typists move their thumbs simultaneously: while one thumb is selecting a particular key, the other thumb is approaching its next target. From these insights we derived a predictive behavioural model we could use to optimise the keyboard.”

The computational optimisation process had two goals: to minimise the moving time of the thumbs and to enable typing on alternating sides of the tablet as well as possible.

The results achieved by the computational optimisation procedure was surprising: in the new keyboard KALQ, all vowels, with the exception of the letter “y” (which can be regarded as both a vowel and a consonant), are placed in the area assigned to the right thumb, whereas the left thumb is assigned more keys.

To fully benefit from this layout, participants in the user study were trained to move their thumbs simultaneously. While one thumb is approaching an intended letter key, the other thumb moves to its next target.

Finally, the authors developed probabilistic error correction methods that took into account the nature of thumb movements and statistical knowledge about the text users are typing. The error correction algorithm enabled trained users to speed up while retaining an acceptable error level.

With these improvements, users were able to reach 37 words per minute, which is the highest ever reported entry rate for two-thumb typing on touchscreen devices, significantly higher than the approximately 20 words per minute entry rate users can normally reach on a regular split QWERTY layout.

The researchers will present their work at the CHI 2013 conference (the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) in Paris on May 1st. CHI serves as the principal international forum for outstanding research and development in human-computer interaction.

KALQ will be available as a free app for Android-based smartphones.

Note to Editors

For images, please contact the press office.

For more information, including illustrations and a video.

Dr Per Ola Kristensson is available on 01334 463690/ 07955 895493; or at pok@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108/ 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (KALQ 24/04/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news

Photo credit: Michael B Singer

A detailed study of shifting river beds, conducted by researchers at the University of St Andrews, could hold the key to more accurate flood prevention.

Louise Slater, PhD Candidate, and Dr Michael Singer, Lecturer in the Department of Earth and Environmental Studies in the School of Geosciences at the University, studied alluvial river beds across the continental USA in the most in-depth study of its kind.

The results, published in the journal Geology, form the first systematic documentation of decadal trends in stream-bed elevation on continental scales.

They found evidence that the elevation of river beds is often not fixed over the long term, but has moved progressively higher or dropped lower over recent decades for most of the sites examined in the study.

The finding surprised the researchers.

Ms Slater said: “It is commonly believed that the elevation of river beds is more or less constant, so any change in flood risk is due to changes in hydrology.

“However, we found significant trends in the elevation of river beds at 70 per cent of sites studied across the continental USA - an indication that river channels are filling in with sediment or that sediment is being eroded through time.”

Furthermore, the researchers found that these river bed elevation changes are larger in dry areas – a discovery they attributed to the fact dry climates produce run-off only during infrequent rainstorms and so are more effective at moving sediment and thus rapidly changing the river bed.

Ms Slater added: “If the riverbed elevation goes up, this could increase flood risk, while if bed elevation goes down, it would be reduced. Our findings of decadal trends in river bed elevation suggest that flood risk is more variable than previously thought, especially in dry regions, irrespective of climate change.

“The findings have important implications for the stability of riverine infrastructure, the navigability of rivers, the distribution of aquatic habitat, flood management, and the flood insurance industry.”

Note to Editors

The paper is available at:

http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/41/5/595.full

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108/ 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (river beds  23/04/13)

View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news