Ultracane abroad
Leeds is one of only two universities taking part in the UK Pavilion at the 2005 International Expo in Japan, which opens on March 25.
The ‘ultracane’, developed by professor of vision and image systems Brian Hoyle, biology lecturer Dean Waters and professor of auditory neuroscience Deborah Withington, uses technology inspired by the way bats fly in the dark to help vision-impaired people to find their way around.

For more information on the UK pavilion see www.my-earth.org.uk

For more information on the ultracane see www.soundforesight.co.uk/product.htm

School I’d like
A competition directed by education lecturer Dr Catherine Burke inviting children to design their ideal school has been so successful it is being reproduced in Australia. In 2001, all UK children were asked to describe the features of a good learning environment in a ‘School I’d like’ competition.

The results, describing a need for mutual respect, dignity and the importance of a curriculum relevant to the real world, have been frequently referred to by the government. The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne paper The Age are now asking Australian children the same questions, which Dr Burke hopes will provide a valuable source of international comparison.

For more information on the original competition, run by the Guardian with Dr Burke, see http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,501374,00.html

Naked north
School of education writer in residence, James Nash, has contributed to new book examining the role of the redeveloped British city and how change affects the way we live. Naked City features a number of short stories set in Leeds and other northern cities.

James Nash said: “I came to do an MA in Leeds in 1971. Leeds was a small and grimy provincial city then, but full of lovely people. In the last five years it’s become shiny and big and new. But it hasn’t lost its charm”.

A new writer in residence in the school of Spanish and Portuguese is revisiting a book she wrote two decades ago to examine how the role of the Latin American women writer has developed.

Albalucia Angel interviewed 30 women writers in the early 1980s, including the then unknown Isabel Allende, about the difficulties they faced getting their voice heard. She will re-interview as many of the authors as possible to document the progress they’ve made since her original book.

HEFCE cash
Leeds has been awarded £123.4m in the distribution of £6,332m of recurrent funding by the higher education funding council for England, an increase of 6.5 per cent on last year. The University funding is made up of £80.9m for teaching and £42.5m for research.

Head of academic planning and performance office David Belk said: “Overall the grant announcement is welcome news for the University with a big increase in research funding of 17 per cent, the second highest in our peer group. However, changes in methodology have impacted negatively on our Widening Participation funding and across the sector the core teaching grant has only been inflated by 1 per cent, a decline in real terms.”

For more information see the HEFCE website at www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2005/grant

Ethnicity Training Network
People with learning disabilities from minority ethnic communities will have improved access to health and social care thanks to a project at the University.

Dr Hala Abuateya, leader of the new Ethnicity Training Network, said: “These people face double discrimination, which often results in their needs not being met. There is not enough information about services, language barriers and poor cultural understanding.”

The government-funded project will target professionals who work directly with minority groups, pooling knowledge and increasing awareness of cultural diversity. The first major initiative is a conference on March 24 to discuss training needs and promote good practice. For any further information, please contact the ETN team: Dr Hala Abuateya, Ms Ghazala Mir and Ms Catherine Bennett on 0113 343 6903 or email etn@leeds.ac.uk