News in brief

HEFCE funding
The University of Leeds will receive a grant of £143.6 million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2009-10, an increase of 2.1% on the current academic year.

The funding, due to be confirmed in July, includes £92 million for teaching (up 2.5%) and £49 million for research (up 0.7%).

Leeds will receive the ninth largest share of research funding of any UK university based on the strength of our performance in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

See leader column for more.
http://rae.leeds.ac.uk/news.aspx
http://tinyurl.com/ddpdlt

China’s growing pains
After 30 years of political reforms, coupled with huge population growth and the exodus of 200 million people from rural to urban areas, China is facing major challenges in agriculture and rural development, as well as emerging new social divisions.

The University of Leeds will host the 9th European Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development in China from 3 to 5 April. It has been organised by Professor Flemming Christiansen and Dr Heather Zhang from the East Asian Studies department and the White Rose East Asia Centre.

The interdisciplinary conference will bring together around 60 academics, policy makers and practitioners from the UK and China to discuss a wide range of topics: agricultural policy, the impact and pace of urbanisation, land issues, food security, anti-poverty efforts, rural industrialisation and environmental change.

See http://tinyurl.com/dm6mhz for details, email Jennifer Rauch at j.s.rauch@leeds.ac.uk or phone 0113 343 6774.

Cleaning toxic waste
Engineers and environmental scientists at Leeds hope to use organic chemicals such as vinegar to clean up contaminated groundwater near former textiles and tannery factories.

A research team led by Dr Doug Stewart (School of Civil Engineering) and Dr Ian Burke (School of Earth and Environment) has discovered that adding dilute acetic acid (vinegar) to groundwater stimulates the growth of naturally-occurring bacteria, which neutralise the toxic chromium compounds by converting them into a non-soluble state.

The Leeds method would allow treatment to take place on site, which is safer, more energy efficient and much cheaper than removing contaminated soil to landfill.

The research, part funded by the Royal Society, is published in the Journal of Ecological Engineering at http://tinyurl.com/9kc3br

Forbidden desires
A tale of forbidden desire, betrayal and revenge in ancient Greek mythology has been translated to the unlikely setting of a working-class British amateur boxing club.

Lecturer in music theatre Dr George Rodosthenous directed a fresh adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy Hippolytus (first produced by Euripides in 428BC), which was performed in front of sold-out crowds at stage@leeds in December.

Inspired by the story of Phaedra’s unrequited love for her stepson Hippolytus, this modern version revolves around an older woman who falls in love with a young boxing champion… her stepson. But he rejects her, and brutal revenge in the ring becomes the only way to preserve her honour.

The scriptwriting, production and performance of the play took three months and involved 25 third-year students from the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, who all contributed to the process.

“That idea of forbidden love and the relationship between father and son is still so powerful and relevant today,” says Dr Rodosthenous, who has previously directed adaptations of the Greek tragedies Agamemnon (2001), Alcestis (2004), Ajax (2006) and Helen of Troy (2007).

Dr Rodosthenous is currently working on a contemporary version of Sophocles’ Trachiniae called The Wife of Heracles.