July 25, 2013, by Zoë Goodwin

News from the week in brief

Very brief

This week a team of high profile figures from the University are taking on a cycle challenge in aid of stroke rehabilitation research. The BBC is to launch a user experience research partnership with Nottingham University.  Nottingham psychologists are investigating links between ADHD and children born very prematurely. The Economist has for the first time featured a global ranking of executive MBA programmes with Nottingham ranked as 6th in the UK. Nottingham scientists are developing new mathematical models to improve the accuracy of Global Navigation Satellite Systems. A-level biology students have just returned from Nottingham’s Malaysia Campus. Four students have been sponsored to study at some of China’s top universities. And finally a stand-up comedy social enterprise helps those recovering from addiction problems.

Interested to know more? Find out more below.

Brief

Cycling 1,100 miles to raise money for stroke rehabilitationA team of high profile figures from The University of Nottingham, including the Vice-Chancellor are getting back into the saddle to complete Life Cycle 3 which will take them 1,100 miles between each of the capital cities of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. They are raising money for stroke rehabilitation research – stroke being the most common cause of death after cancer and heart disease. Last year they raised over £258,000 for Nottingham Potential which supports young people to reach their potential.

To find out what the Vice Chancellor has to say about this challenge, click here.

 

BBC links up with universities for User experience research PHOTO

The BBC User Experience Research Partnership is a long-term collaboration project between BBC Research and Development and leading universities including Nottingham. The partnership will explore the potential for new forms of content and interaction in a multi-platform world, alongside new ways of producing media that will help make content more accessible to all audiences.

This is a unique opportunity to transform how we experience television, to find out more, click here.

 

Premature BabyFamilies from Nottingham are being invited to take part in a pioneering project to try to understand the links between being born very prematurely and the struggle to pay attention. Children born very prematurely are two or three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. Nottingham Psychologists hope that this study will lead to better diagnosis and understanding of attention problems and as a result, reduce the burden on the education system and improve outcomes for the individuals concerned.

To find out how these psychologists hope to do this, click here.

 

Nottingham's Business School ranked 6th in the UK PHOTO

Good news for Nottingham University Business School this week as they have featured in the first global ranking of executive MBA programmes produced by the Economist. The school has been placed 40th in the world and 6th in the UK. The Economist has measured business schools on the personal development, education experience and career development opportunities offered by their executive programmes. Nottingham Business School’s Executive MBA offers an advanced management education programme for ambitious executives and managers with the potential to become leaders, along with specialist Executive MBAs in Entrepreneurship, Healthcare and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Hear about what the alumni of Nottingham Business School have got up to here.

 

Navigating our way through solar threats PHOTOGlobal Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are now routinely used for high accuracy operations around the globe. However, the signals we rely on are vulnerable to ionospheric perturbations – fluctuations in the upper atmosphere – the ionosphere – driven by solar activity. That solar activity is about to reach another peak, when the sun will be at the strongest part of its 11 year cycle. Nottingham engineers are leading a £700,000 project to develop mathematical models which will change the way GNSS techniques work to continue to deliver accuracy during these periods of intense solar activity.

To hear more about this project and why it will be based in Brazil, click here.

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A group of A-level biology students from Kimberley School in Nottinghamshire have just returned from a biodiversity field trip to Nottingham’s Malaysia Campus – a visit hosted by the newly refurbished Crops of the Future Research Centre. The 15 students spent five days on Tioman Island carrying out a detailed marine biodiversity study then returned to UNMC to finish their project work on indigenous fruits and vegetables and experience Malaysian culture.

To read why Kimberley School’s head teacher thinks this is learning at its absolute best, click here.

 

Nottingham students sponsored to study at top Chinese universitiesFour Nottingham students have been awarded full Chinese Ministry of Education scholarships to study at some of China’s best universities. These students all study Spanish and Contemporary Chinese Studies at The University of Nottingham. The scholarships are highly competitive as non-Chinese national students from anywhere in the world are eligible to apply.

Find out what Dingping Guo, Deputy Director of the University’s Confucious Institute thinks of this opportunity here.

 

 

Helping recovering addicts through stand-up comedy PHOTOAnd finally…two Nottingham entrepreneurs have devised a new social enterprise which helps people affected by addiction problems by asking them to draw on their own life experiences to devise material for a stand-up comedy routine. Laughing Matter will coach people through strategies and cues used by professional comedians in their act, in a bid to improve their communication, confidence and self-esteem. The idea was born when the pair collaborated on a Social Entrepreneurship module while studying at Nottingham, both on MBA courses.

To read more about how they came up with this idea, click here.

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