Indonesia field trip is a
first for biology students
Second-year biology students from the University travelled
to Indonesia to study tropical rainforests and coral reefs during a unique
four-week field trip covering 7,000 miles.
The study module, which involved the students learning to
scuba dive and taking part in underwater practicals, is a first for
biology undergraduates at any British or European university.
And, with the full support of the University, planning is
already underway to repeat the field trip next year.
A total of 24 students from the Marine and Freshwater
Biology, and Ecology and Environmental Biology degrees embarked on the
trip at the end of the Spring term.
Their programme included practicals in monsoon
rainforests, staying in a remote rural village and 
living
on an idyllic coral island, as well as scuba diving training. The students
were able to step out from lectures in field centres straight into the
forest or coral reef to compare theory with reality.
The course was based on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi,
an area which has long held a fascination for biologists because of its
endemic terrestrial species, and its location among the richest coral
reefs in the world, being at the centre of Indo-Pacific diversity.
But while the idyllic white beaches and turquoise lagoons
sound like a holiday paradise, students also experienced the hardship of
tropical living. Conditions included temperatures of 40 degrees in the
shade, intense humidity, a basic diet of fish and rice, primitive
accommodation and a diversity of wildlife including mosquitoes, spiders,
lizards and snakes.
Students' work was assessed constantly during the trip,
for skills such as field note-taking, species identification, and
teamwork.
Student Marina Vlachopoulou said: 'It wasn't just a trip
to tropical paradise. I was given the opportunity to experience something
extraordinary that made me say to myself 'Yes this is what I want to do';
everything just fell into place.'
The module was run by Dr David Smith and Dr James Morison
from the environmental biology staff, supported by technician and
experienced diver John Green and medical officer Karen Lee, a nurse with
experience in tropical medicine.
They were assisted by 20 Indonesian staff who acted as
guides, interpreters and scientific advisers.
Dr Smith has led expeditions to the area for the past
three summers, which have included students and staff from the University
of Essex. But last month's trip was the first time an expedition to
Indonesia had been incorporated as a study module within the environmental
biology degree programme.
All the complex logistics and dive training were carried
out by staff of Operation Wallacea, a conservation organisation which has
been working in Sulawesi for more than five years.
Student Tristan Poyser said: 'Highlights of the trip
include swimming in a river in the middle of pristine rainforest and
diving in 30 degree water with up to 30 metres visibility, surrounded by
shoals of barracuda or gangs of huge bumphead parrot fish, it feels even
better when you know what they are and how they live.'
But, he added, one of the main reasons he would like to
return was the people. 'Both the staff of Operation Wallacea and the local
people were friendly, helpful and enthusiastic, it was a pleasure to have
been allowed to meet them and see their different approach to life and
their expectations of it.'
East 15 Acting School tots
up successes in 'year zero'
As East 15 Acting School enters the final term of its first year as
part of the University of Essex, the staff and students are confident of
the future. On a number of levels, the school has made spectacular strides
in this first year as Director of the school, John Baraldi explains:
- A new teaching block with 8 new classrooms/rehearsal studios came
into service in January and designs are in hand for a new teaching
block which will hopefully open in Spring 2002
- Final year BA students performed to over 5,000 children in Essex
over Christmas in three new shows - two of them touring to schools and
arts centres in Essex and outer London
- Applications for places at the school are expected easily to exceed
700 this year, a 20% increase over the previous year - with more than
13 applicants for every place on the BA course and more than 4
applicants for every place on postgraduate courses
- East 15 and the Colchester campus of the university became linked
via the internet on a 24 hour a day pioneering system using radio
transmission instead of cables and a new IT suite was opened for East
15 students
- The school filled 32 places in September for its first-ever
Foundation in Acting Course - the University's first full-time
Certificate of Higher Education course
- The school mounted 19 performances in London, of which 3 were
showcase performances at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus
and 16 were public performances in a well-respected fringe theatre in
Camden
- The School forged strong links with the London International Film
School (LIFS), whose staff and graduates provided 6 weeks of intensive
film training projects at East 15. The new Chairman of Governors of
LIFS is the Oscar winning director, Mike Leigh, a LIFS graduate and
Chairman of its Board of Governors who will also be receiving an
Honorary Degree from the University in 2002.
- Stephen Daldry - a former post-graduate student of East 15 became
the darling of the British film world with his first feature film
'Billy Elliott' who was nominated for Oscar and was named as Most
Outstanding British Film at the 2001 BAFTA awards.
- More than 10% of final year BA students have had professional job
offers before their final term. Recent East 15 graduates won jobs with
the Royal Shakespeare Company, in the West End, and in numerous films
and TV dramas.
John Baraldi, the Director of East 15, said: 'This has
been a momentous year for the school and the university alike. The merger
means that the University of Essex now has a second campus on the
outskirts of London, and a whole new dimension has opened up for both
institutions.'
Essex pundits in the
Election spotlight
Political pundits from the University will be in the
media spotlight throughout the General Election campaign to meet the
mounting demand for expert analysis on TV, radio and in newspapers.
Vice-Chancellor Ivor Crewe will be giving expert
analysis throughout election campaign on BBC News 24. His round-the-clock
commentaries will also be heard late at night on BBC Radio 4's Campaign
Close-Up and, for early risers, on GMTV, while his witty articles are a
popular read in the New Statesman.
The Department of Government's Professor Anthony King will
also be making regular appearances on the BBC throughout the campaign. He
will appear on the BBC election night programme with David Dimbleby and
will continue to write his regular column on the Gallup polls for the
Daily Telegraph.
Dr John Bartle has recently appeared on BBC Radio 4's 'The
World Tonight' to comment on the effect of the British election campaign,
on BBC2's 'East at Westminster' to answer viewers questions about campaign
issues, and Radio 4's 'PM' programme to comment on the campaign in
Colchester. He will be working behind the scenes for ITN on election night
itself.
Professor Paul Whiteley will be making regular appearances
on 'Newsnight' in order to present findings from the British Election
Study. Together with Professor David Sanders he has also recently
published findings from the BES in The Guardian. David Sanders will be
appearing on Anglia TV during the election.
The Gallery: Uncovered
The Gallery: Uncovered is the title of a new exhibition at
the University Gallery opening this month and the second to be curated by
a group of MA Gallery Studies students from the Department of Art History
and Theory.
The
students, Penny Sexton, Francoise Lapage, Vicky Frewin, Kara Chalten and
Megumi Hirabayashi, explained that the exhibition aims to explore the ways
in which the gallery institution is used by artists as an inspiration for
works of art. They said; 'It questions what art is when it is in the
gallery and explores the impact the gallery can have on an artist's work.'
The exhibition is the first of its kind to bring together works by a
number of artists who have explored this relationship.
The students have acquired work from internationally
renowned artists, including several from the contemporary art scene in
London, such as Catherine Yass and Langlands and Bell, who have all taken
different approaches surrounding the theme of the gallery using a variety
of different media, ranging from photography, to works on glass and
light-boxes.
An image from the exhibition
by Catherine Yass
The exhibition forms a central part of the MA Gallery
Studies scheme and the students have had to organise every part of it
themselves. One of the hardest aspects was actually deciding what should
be the focus of the exhibition. They said; 'The inspiration behind it
actually came from lectures, which were part of our course, about the
relationship between the gallery and the artist. Once we had decided upon
the theme of the exhibition the next challenge was to try to obtain and
secure various works for the exhibition. The opportunity to meet and talk
to those artists whose work we hoped to exhibit was certainly one of the
highlights in planning the exhibition.' They have 
also
had to work to a very tight budget of just £1,500 which so far they have
managed to stick to with the help of sponsorship.
As part of the requirements of their course the students
have organised an educational programme to accompany the exhibition. Aimed
at 10-11 year olds, the programme is entitled 'My Box Gallery' and will
encourage the children to make their own gallery out of shoe-boxes,
including their own works of art to go in them. The boxes will then be put
on display in the University's Albert Sloman Library windows with a prize
for the best.
The Gallery: Uncovered will be in the University Gallery
from May 29 - 23 June. Gallery opening times: Monday-Friday 11am-5pm.
Saturday 1-4pm. Admission free.
For further information, e-mail thegalleryuncovered@essex.ac.uk
or visit http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~tgu
Technology that cares - new
research in the Department of Computer Science
The Department of Computer Science is involved in a
pioneering new project to develop computers which can respond to the
environment and people around them. CareAgents is the name of the
collaborative project between the University and the Korean Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) which aims to produce an
innovative intelligent environment. This environment will be inhabited by
mobile robots and fixed computer agents which will work together to
support the needs of occupants living within it. This concept is being
applied to care and rehabilitation environment, such as nursing homes for
the elderly. One of the members of the team involved in this project at
Essex is Hakan Duman, who explained more about it. He said: 'It is hoped
that the technology surrounding CareAgents will lead to robots that can
assist the elderly when they need help. The mobile robots, for example,
will help them to get out of bed and move around whilst the static
computers in the room will be able to detect for example the temperature
of the room, opening windows is its too warm or turning the heating up if
its too cold. They will be able to detect the mood of the occupant and
respond to their needs accordingly. The CareAgent project could
revolutionise the care people receive within nursing and rehabilitation
environments.'
KAIST is a worldwide leader in the field of robotics,
automation and artificial intelligence. Professor Bien, the head of Korean
team is the President of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea,
Dean of the College of Engineering, KAIST, Director for Human-Friendly
Welfare Robot System Research and creator of the Bien's System Control
Lab. Hakan explained that KAIST has in-depth expertise in robot design
applied to rehabilitation. They are providing the nursing, guiding and
serving mobile robot whilst, thanks to its leading expertise in
intelligent-buildings and embedded-agents, Essex's Intelligent Inhabited
Environments Group, part of the Department of Computer Science, is
providing this technology to the project.
In addition, the University's Estates section is playing
an important role in that they are working with the Department of Computer
Science in the development of an iDorm (an intelligent Student Dormitory)
which will be used as the testbed for this technology; we will be
explaining more about this in a future edition of Wyvern.
In scientific terms, such embedded-agents are
characterized by the need to deal with unpredictable physical phenomena
and the actions of "humans in the loop" (with their individual
and sometime idiosyncratic behaviour!), all of which combine to present
significant scientific challenges to the underlying artificial
intelligence methodology.
Last month the Intelligent Inhabited Environment group at
Essex met with their partners from KAIST. The meeting developed the work
plan for the collaboration on the co-operation between an Intelligent
Building Agent and some Mobile Agents (robots) in a project concentrating
upon the care of elderly or disabled people.
For more information about CareAgents and the intelligent
building project in the Department of Computer Science visit http://cswww.essex.ac.uk/intelligent-buildings
