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Come and take a walk in the Digital Forest
Royal Holloway, University of London, has teamed up with artist Madi Boyd and composer Nye Parry to create an intriguing Digital Forest in its Exhibition Space and is inviting local residents to come along and experience the event.
The new display has only just opened and will be available to view for free until 14 July 2018 in the university’s Emily Wilding Davison Building.
Royal Holloway’s cognitive scientist, Professor Polly Dalton, has helped to create this multi-sensory indoor forest, complete with digital images and recorded sounds, to focus on the notion that natural environments can restore people’s mental resources and help them focus their attention.
The exhibition will use sculptural forms, tactile experiences and multiple projections.
Students will take part in the exhibition by being measured on their attention span before and after walking through the Digital Forest, to see if after their walk they are more alert and focused.
It’s also hoped the exhibition will give students a calm place to take a break during exam season by interacting with the environment.
Polly said: “Spending time in nature can help us concentrate and Digital Forest has been designed to have similar effects.
“We will be running a series of experiments to test the psychological impacts of the installation which could be very useful for many of our students who are currently revising hard for their summer exams.
“Perhaps the chance to pop into Digital Forest during their breaks will help them focus on their work!
“The exhibition will also help us understand the benefits that art can bring to people’s everyday lives.”
The free exhibition is open daily from 10am to 5pm.
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Cyber security students scoop national prize
A team of students from Royal Holloway have carried off a prestigious prize in a national cyber security challenge.
The four women, all from Royal Holloway’s Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security, won the Cyber 9/12 UK Student Challenge which pits teams from a number of universities against each other in a two-day competition where they had to ‘war game’ a strategy to combat a major cyber-attack, under extreme time pressures.
Each team was presented with a range of cyber security intelligence material for an evolving incident and had to present technical, policy and strategy options. Senior government and industry decision makers would then be able to act to achieve a positive solution.
A panel of judges evaluated the teams on the quality of their policy responses, decision making processes and their presentations.
The competition aims to help boost cyber security skills and tackle the shortage of cyber security professionals.
The Royal Holloway team, who all are studying towards PhDs in Cyber security were: Lydia Garms, Angela Heeler, Georgia Crossland and Amy Ertan.
Find out more about Royal Holloway’s Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security.
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Science building to be named after trailblazing
female engineer
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Royal Holloway has announced that its new £22m state-of-the-art science building will be named after Beatrice Shilling OBE, a pioneering engineer whose ingenuity provided a vital modification to British fighter planes in the early stages of the Second World War.
Students and staff were involved in deciding who the building should be named after, selecting from a choice of four inspirational scientists.
The Beatrice Shilling Building will open in September this year providing three floors, each with a different function, allowing project-led activities their own space separate from other forms of teaching, research and staff offices.
Engaging creativity through working in collaborative working spaces are a core design focus throughout the building.
Fittingly the building will be home to a new Department of Electronic Engineering, as Shilling herself held a degree in electrical engineering.
The project received a £5m grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to develop the new science building in order to encourage more female engineers to address the national shortage.
Professor Paul Layzell, Principal of Royal Holloway, said: “Our new science building pays tribute to a great engineer of the past and will provide the environment and resources for the next generation of scientists and engineers to achieve their goals. It is part of our vision for the long-term future of the university.”
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They've always been tough up north!
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Pioneering early people who lived at the end of the last ice age carried on with life despite plummeting temperatures.
Leading researchers at Royal Holloway and the University of York, found that a dramatic drop in average temperatures, severe enough to halt the development of woodland, had no substantial impact on human activity at Star Carr – a middle-Stone Age archaeological site in North Yorkshire.
The study sheds new light on significant debate about the sensitivity of huntergatherer societies to environmental change.
The prehistoric community, who persevered through the 100-year cold snap, left an abundance of animal bones, antler headdresses and flint blades buried in layers of mud as evidence of their continued productivity and endurance.
Simon Blockley from Royal Holloway’s Department of Geography, said: “It’s been argued that abrupt climatic events may have caused a crash in Mesolithic populations in Northern Britain, but our study reveals, that at least in the case of the pioneering colonisers at Star Carr, early communities were able to cope with extreme and persistent climate events.”
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What's on: College events
We hold a number of events in the College each year which are open to the public. Details of our events and how to book can be found here.
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Making broad beans more alluring to bees
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Scientists from Royal Holloway are looking into ways to make broad beans more alluring to bees.
They found it might be possible to enhance the flowers produced by the plants for the bees. With the ever-growing demand on food produced in this country, many farmers have understandably opted for more disease resistant crops.
This means the crops might be producing less appealing flowers to bees, leading the foragers to simply fly on by to look for
tastier options.
Dr Emily Bailes at Royal Holloway, said: “We worked out how rewarding it was for bees to visit the flowers of the broad bean crops and whether we could specifically breed broad bean plants that are more attractive to bees.
“Bees like a flower for either its colour, size or shape and how much pollen and nectar it produces. By planting crops that are good food source for bees, we can potentially help their population on agricultural land, as well as crop growth.”
Find out more information on biological sciences.
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Royal Holloway’s Science Festival attracted a record breaking attendance this year, with around 7,000 people, including many families, taking part in a day of exploration and discovery.
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The free event mixed talks, fun hands-on activities and demonstrations in celebration of British Science Week.
Visitors were able to see first-hand some of the amazing science research taking place at the university, alongside a range of activities by special guests.
These included the Royal Institution with Explosive Food and Feel the power, the Bloodhound Supersonic car and the Ugly Animals roadshow. These were huge hits with packed audiences, as were the talks given by our scientists on Mars in 3D, the Big Bang and Visible Voices.
All of the talks and shows were fully booked and exhibition areas and labs were buzzing with our enthusiastic students and staff engaging visitors of all ages on the wonders of science.
Professor Paul Hogg, Vice-Principal and Dean of Science said: “The festival was a great success, thanks to the hard work of our staff and students and the enthusiasm of the visitors. The turnout demonstrates the great appetite people have to understand and be involved in science.
“Events like this are particularly important to help inspire young people become the next generation of scientists
and engineers and we are proud to play a part in this.”
Find out more about the Science Festival.
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Students receive their warrant cards as Special Constables
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Royal Holloway students have taken a Police Oath and received their warrant cards after becoming Special Constables with Surrey Police.
The ceremony was the culmination of an extensive training programme and is the first time a large group of students from the same university have become Special Constables with a police force in the country.
The Special Constabulary is a force of trained volunteers who work with and support their local police. All of the students were funded by Surrey Police and trained in first aid and combat training.
Phil Simcock, Volunteering Manager at Royal Holloway, said: “Our partnership with Surrey Police has seen innovation in the recruitment and training of these Special Constables.
“It just shows that young people want to volunteer their time to help their wider community and I hope in the near future this partnership will continue to go from strength to strength.” |
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Discussion about introducing controlled parking zones in Englefield Green are continuing.
Surrey Highways is currently drawing up a plan of roads which would be included in the proposed CPZ and the remit for any scheme, should it go ahead.
Once this has been drafted it will be reviewed by local councillors.
The matter will then be put out to public consultation to seek views from local residents.
Ultimately, it will be the residents’ decision whether to proceed with a CPZ.
Councillor Marisa Heath, the Ward Councillor for Englefield Green East and the area representative on Surrey County Council said that it is important that residents who wish to make their views known do so during the formal consultation process.
Opinions expressed outside of this period cannot be taken into account.
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Community meetings
Royal Holloway hosted a residents’ meeting on 7 March at the United Church in Egham.
The meeting was chaired by Mark Adams, Chairman of Egham Chamber of Commerce and attended by 15 residents. A panel of staff from Royal
Holloway, Cllr Marisa Heath and Inspector Nick Pinkerton, Surrey Police, updated the meeting on a number of issues.
Action points from the meeting have been given to representatives of the residents’ associations.
Future meetings
Royal Holloway will attend a
councillor surgery on:
Saturday 12 May 2018
11-11.30am
Social Hall, Victoria St,
Englefield Green, TW20 0QT
Royal Holloway will host an evening
residents’ meeting on:
Wednesday 14 November 2018
6-7.30pm
The United Church of Egham
Egham High Street, Surrey TW20 9EX
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