A £3.5million research grant has been awarded to global health experts at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh to strengthen mental health care and treatment of diabetes and heart disease in countries with weak health systems.
The grant awarded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) will help researchers in QMU’s Institute for Global Health and Development work with colleagues in Lebanon and Sierra Leone where the ravages of war, civil unrest and the impact of the refugee crisis present huge challenges to the delivery of these vital services. This is one of only 13 NIHR Global Health Research Units that was granted funding (in this round of grant distribution) across the UK, with four grants being awarded to Scottish institutions.
The research team will look at ways of strengthening the resilience of health workers and clinics, and the work of local community groups, to develop new ways of providing vital services in even the most fragile of circumstances. According to the World Health Organization, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart attacks, strokes, cancers and diabetes kill 38 million people a year with almost three quarters of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Mental health issues create a huge burden of suffering in countries troubled by instability.
Professor Alastair Ager, Director of QMU’s Institute for Global Health and Development, explained: “Promoting good health and delivering effective health services in countries affected by years of unrest or adversity is a challenging task. But building on the relationships we have developed with researchers and health leaders in Lebanon and Sierra Leone we have an opportunity to develop innovative approaches to address these challenges. If we find ways of delivering these services in these countries, we could learn lessons to share in other fragile situations.”
The Institute for Global Health and Development at QMU is recognised as a world leader in two major areas of research – health systems and mental health provision. This research grant will bring together these two major strands. The £3.5m grant will allow QMU to collaborate with College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) at the University of Sierra Leone, and the Global Health Initiative at the American University of Beirut.
Professor Ager concluded: “This important research builds on ideas developed as part of our ReBUILD consortium which focused on the study of post conflict health systems recovery in Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Cambodia, and in an ongoing project funded by the Wellcome Trust and UK Aid looking at the resilience of the health care system after the influx of refugees from Syria to neighbouring countries. We are delighted to continue to work in partnership with colleagues in Beirut and Sierra Leone, who will be key to making this research have real influence on the lives of people in these countries facing the growing challenges of mental ill-health and non-communicable disease.”
Dr Fiona Coutts, Dean of Health Sciences at Queen Margaret University, said: “This is a significant grant which will help to impact the lives of people who have been affected by traumatic situations in fragile countries. Importantly, this work also has the potential to improve health outcomes for communities across many different countries. It confirms QMU’s excellent reputation in global health and development, and strengthens its ambition of being a university of ideas and influence.”
On the 11th July, the TV presenter and food entrepreneur, Prue Leith CBE, was officially installed as the Chancellor of Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh at the University’s graduation ceremony.
Prue, who was recently announced as the new judge on The Great British Bake Off, was joined by internationally renowned film producer Iain Smith OBE, who was awarded an honorary degree for services to the film industry. Both attended an impressive ceremony in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall with 800 students and their families.
Prue Leith, novelist, businesswoman, food writer, restaurateur, campaigner and TV presenter, takes over the role of Chancellor of the University from entrepreneur Sir Tom Farmer, who served as Founding Chancellor of QMU from 2007 to 2016.
Prue has an impressive track record as an entrepreneur, having successfully built a business from scratch in the 1960s which grew to become Leith’s Good Food, the party and event caterer. In 1969, she opened Leith’s, her famous Michelin starred restaurant, and, in 1975, founded Leith’s School of Food and Wine which trains professional chefs and amateur cooks. Today, Leith’s at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) is one of Leith’s most important catering contracts.
Her skills as a businesswoman and her concern with the need for more women at the top of industry, the City and public life, led to her appointment as a non-executive director of many top organisations such as British Rail, Safeway, Whitbread, and Belmond (formerly Orient Express) Hotels.
Now, Prue mainly works as a writer (with seven novels and an autobiography ‘Relish: My Life on a Plate’ to her credit) and as a TV presenter. Prue became particularly well known to the British public when she starred in the BBC 2 cooking contest programme, ‘Great British Menu’. She spent 11 years as a judge on the show before leaving in 2016. This autumn, she will take her place on prime time television as the new judge, alongside Paul Hollywood, on the popular amateur cooking show, ‘The Great British Bake Off’.
Professor Petra Wend, Principal of Queen Margaret University, said: “Prue Leith is a highly respected public figure who has strong beliefs about the importance of education and in its transformational impact on society. She has contributed significantly to the food and hospitality landscape of the UK, having worked successfully as a food entrepreneur, as well as highlighting the UK’s culinary talent and promoting good food health for all. She has become concerned about the care and rights of people who are elderly or dying, and is involved with the ‘Dignity in Dying’ campaign and the Campaign for Better Hospital Food. She is also active in tackling inequalities, promoting entrepreneurship and supporting and nurturing young talent.”
Iain Smith OBE was awarded an honorary degree for services to the UK and the international film industry at today’s graduation ceremony.
Born and raised in Glasgow and a graduate of the London School of Film Technique (now the London Film School), Iain is an international film producer with some serious credits to his name. His career began as a line producer for David Puttnam on ambitious movies such the ‘Killing Fields’ and ‘The Mission’. He is also known for his involvement in a variety of feature films and cult classics including ‘The Fifth Element’ and creatively adventurous films such as ‘Cold Mountain’, ‘Wanted’, ‘Children of Men’ and the TV series ‘24: Live Another Day’. Believed to be one of Europe’s busiest producers, Iain was the recipient of a BAFTA for Outstanding Achievement in Film in 2005, and was made an OBE for his services to the film industry in 2008.
Iain’s career spans a wide range of film production, from major Hollywood blockbusters involving him with A-listers such as Robert de Niro, Jeremy Irons, Patrick Swayze, Sigourney Weaver, Brad Pitt, Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Nicole Kidman, to smaller scale UK films such as ‘My Childhood’, which was shot in an Edinburgh mining village.
Brought up in Glasgow, where he attended Hillhead High School and Jordanhill College School in the 1960s, Iain left for the bright lights of the capital, studying at London Film School where he graduated with a 1st Class Honours Diploma. Having worked for several years in London, Iain returned to Scotland to make ‘My Childhood’, the first of the award winning trilogy directed by the late Bill Douglas. ‘My Childhood’ was filmed in and around the village of Newcraighall in the 1970s, near the present site of Queen Margaret University’s campus. The film received critical acclaim and won several awards.
Iain formed his own production company in partnership with Jon Schorstein and produced television commercials, documentaries, children’s feature films and low budget dramas, and in 1978 production managed Bertrand Tavernier’s ‘Deathwatch’ starring Romy Schneider and Harvey Keitel, shot in and around Glasgow. A year later, he worked for fellow QMU Honorary Graduate, David Puttnam, as location manager on the Oscar and BAFTA winning ‘Chariots of Fire’.
Iain went on to stamp his mark on both the British and Hollywood film industries with his involvement in ‘Local Hero’, starring Burt Lancaster and a young Peter Capaldi, ‘The Killing Fields’ and ‘The Mission’. In 1987, he formed Applecross Productions and co-produced ‘Hearts of Fire’ with Bob Dylan and Rupert Everett, followed by Michael Austen’s ‘Killing Dad’ starring Richard E. Grant and Julie Walters. In 1991, he co-produced ‘City of Joy’ starring Patrick Swayze and Pauline Collins, and in 1992, executive produced Ridley Scott’s ‘1492 – Conquest of Paradise’ starring Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver.
In 1994, Iain returned to Scotland to co-produce Stephen Frears’ adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde starring John Malkovich, and Julia Roberts as the eponymous ‘Mary Reilly’. ‘The Fifth Element’ followed in 1996, starring Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman, and was produced by his company Zaltman Films Ltd.
Iain went on to produce films for imaginative, risk-taking directors such as Oliver Stone, Darren Aronofsky, and Alfonso Cuaron, working with A-list actors such as Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie and Hugh Jackman. Some of his big hitters include ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ starring Brad Pitt, followed by ‘Entrapment’ with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, ‘Spy Game’ for Universal Pictures featuring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, followed by ‘Cold Mountain’ with Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger. More recently, he produced ‘The A Team’ with Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel, and the Oscar winning ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.
Despite his significant movie commitments, he is dedicated to the development of the film and creative industries, having served on several boards. He is currently Chair of the Film Skills Council and of the Film Industry Training Board and chairs the British Film Commission.
Dr Richard Butt, Deputy Principal of Queen Margaret University, presented Iain’s oration during the graduation ceremony. He said: “Iain describes himself as a globally inclined film producer and the reach of his work is indeed worldwide. However, he has never lost his connection with a cinema which is rooted in cultural history and which provides a sense of authenticity, evident in examples of his work such as ‘My Childhood’, ‘Chariots of Fire’, ‘Cold Mountain’ and ‘The Killing Fields’. Aside from his outstanding achievements as a world-class film producer, he has continued to guide the development of the creative industries and to nurture new talent through master classes, his support of training boards and film academies, and his involvement in the production of small budget films such as ‘Time Trial’, the immersive documentary on the final season of Scottish pro-cyclist David Millar.”
Principal, Professor Petra Wend, concluded: “We are delighted to officially welcome Prue Leith to her new position of Chancellor of Queen Margaret University and to her first QMU graduation ceremony. We are also honoured that today our students have also learned about Iain Smith’s most impressive career. Iain’s care for the film industry and respect for its audiences, his creative risk taking, his tremendous leadership and management skills as a producer, exemplify many of the values that to which QMU ascribes. We are therefore pleased to recognise his considerable achievements with the award of Degree of Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa.
Professor Wend concluded: “Both Prue Leith and Iain Smith are highly influential individuals whose accomplishments in their specialist areas reflect the relevance of the University’s work, particularly across our flagship areas of sustainable business, health and rehabilitation, and creativity and culture. These two individuals fit well with QMU’s aim of serving communities, improving lives and our vision to be a university of ideas and influence.”
Image © Sandy young Photography
A student from Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, has won a top award for ‘Outstanding Contribution’ at the Herald Higher Education Awards 2017, which took place in Glasgow on Thursday 6th July.
The Herald Higher Education Awards celebrate the extraordinary things that are going on in Scotland’s universities and colleges. The Awards recognise the high standard of education that is offered throughout Scotland and the innovative ways in which institutions market themselves and engage with their audiences.
Iain Scott, 31, who is a father of four from Prestonpans and attended Lasswade High School, is currently studying BSc (Hons) Dietetics at QMU.
Iain was recognised by the judges for his outstanding voluntary contribution to QMU and the wider community, including his work off campus with local schools and young people. Judges also singled Iain out for his ability to inspire and motivate others.
A positive force within the community, Iain has supported his Community Council, chaired the Parent Council, and run campaigns to highlight the lack of nursery place provision. He is dedicated to his volunteering work with DadsWork, an East Lothian community project that works with fathers and male care givers, and is a committee member of ‘Support from the Start’, which improves the lives of children from birth to eight years.
Iain’s NHS work highlights a need for family support in relation to food planning and cooking. Iain secured funding for a pilot project of his own initiative: ‘Cooking for Life’. Supported by the Community Dietetics team, he ran four eight week courses for families from the most deprived areas, enhancing their cooking, meal planning and budgeting skills. This year, he is working with the Prestonpans Infant School and Support for the Start to offer a summer lunch club at the local primary school, ensuring children in the most deprived areas access healthy, nutritious meals throughout the summer holidays.
Iain also inspires children to adopt healthy lifestyles by delivering the workshop, ‘You are what you eat’, as part of the Queen Margaret Children’s University. He was also guest speaker at the recent Queen Margaret Children’s University graduation ceremony where he promoted the value of lifelong learning.
Commenting on his award success, Iain said: “Being nominated and winning this award is an amazing feeling and enhances the wonderful opportunities I’ve been privileged to experience. I’ve come a long way in the last seven years from being a single father of three young children with university being a distant twinkle in my aspirations, to my settled family home life with my wife and four children. Being able to enjoy the student experiences within Queen Margaret University, working with wonderful people both within the university and the wider community which allows me the chance to give back the support and care to those in need as I received in my time of need.
“I’m truly grateful for the acknowledgment of my ongoing efforts to enhance and support the lives of those around me and I’ll continue to strive to inspire my children, work to the best of my ability to support others both in university and in my community and the completion of my degree in dietetics.
Callum Maguire, Head of Outreach and Community Engagement at QMU, added: “Iain is an outstanding student ambassador for the University. As a dedicated father of four young children, and an NHS shift worker, he is a shining example to all students of what can be achieved during the university journey when applying excellent time management, commitment, vision and a ‘can do’ selfless attitude.
“Iain epitomises QMU’s values by actively creating effective solutions to social inclusion issues, thereby promoting diversity and equality of opportunity. His dedication to the application of academic knowledge in food, nutrition and dietetics results in significant improvements in the lives of marginalised groups, which ultimately impacts positively on society.”
University researchers have developed a simple tool that could revolutionise the detection of diseases, such as cholera, potentially saving lives around the world.
Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh and Columbia University in New York have used common household baker’s yeast to provide a means of detecting potential sources of infection at a fraction of current costs. This exciting development could offer a simple, cost-effective way to detect and treat pathogens, in everything from water, agriculture to human health. The research could provide substantial health and financial benefits, particularly to those in low-income countries.
The collaboration of chemistry professors at Columbia University and global health researchers at the Institute for Global Health and Development at QMU has resulted in the development of an on-site dipstick test. This simple method, using only common household baker’s yeast, can help with early detection of fungal pathogens responsible for major human disease, agricultural damage and food spoilage.
Around the globe, fungal pathogens present an increasingly urgent public health burden, causing an estimated two million deaths annually and inflicting devastating losses on plant crops and population decline in animal wildlife. Still, fungal pathogens and the diseases they cause are often neglected and research to combat them is underfunded.
Principal Investigator and Columbia University chemist, Virginia Cornish, explained, “Our biosensor allows us to detect a pathogen for less than one cent per test; it is easy to use, cheap to produce and doesn’t require cold-storage facilities. It stands to impact agriculture and health, especially in developing countries, where it is arguably needed the most.
“We realised that the same household baker’s yeast people use every day to brew beer and make bread could be programmed to detect a myriad of targets,” Cornish said. “We can now alter the DNA of the baker’s yeast to give it new functions that make it useful for a variety of applications. The prospect of using this technology in rural communities with little access to high-tech diagnostics is particularly compelling.”
Professor Alastair Ager, Director of Institute for Global Health and Development at QMU, explained, “Development of so-called ‘biosensors’ is potentially a real game-changer for early disease detection and prevention. The research shows that effective surveillance of pathogens can take place at ground level using cheap diagnostics accessible at the point of care. Traditional diagnostics often rely on technologies that are unobtainable on-site and this development therefore removes the reliance on a small number of established detection centres, putting the power into the hands of local healthcare workers.”
The US research team swapped out naturally-occurring cell surface receptors of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or baker’s yeast, with pathogen-specific receptor proteins. They started by building a biosensor for the detection of Candida albicans, a human fungal pathogen (a type of yeast) that occurs naturally in the human gut, but can cause serious medical problems and even death if the population gets out of control.
After replacing bakers yeast’s natural receptor with that of C. albicans, the researchers then altered its DNA to enable production of lycopene, the pigment responsible for the red colouring of tomatoes. This allowed the engineered yeast to turn red when in the presence of a target molecule, in this case, C. albicans fungus pheromones.
The experiment was a breakthrough success. The sensor turned red when exposed to the fungal target. The team had developed a functional, simple, highly-specific, one-component sensor using only yeast.
Virginia Cornish said. “Our sensor can be cheaply made, economically produced at large-scale, widely distributed as a stable dried product for household use, robustly applied to complex samples, is not reliant on cold-chain storage, and can be readily detected by the eye without additional equipment, making it a compelling and completely feasible tool for surveillance of pathogens around the globe. This is critical for human health, food security, bioterrorism, and maintenance of biodiversity.”
Professor Ager has worked on the project for four years. He expressed his delight at the results of the research that has been supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “This research offers solutions to major healthcare issues which affect low- and middle-income countries. It is exciting to be collaborating, not only with scientists in the USA at the cutting-edge of biological research, but also with researchers in Africa and Asia who will be critical in ensuring this technology is suitable for use in the developing world.”
The research team is currently in conversations with global health non-profits and worldwide research, technology, development and citizen groups to determine the needs of specific areas, including African and Asian countries It believes there are many more applications for its sensor, including use in virus and bacterial detection, and a biosensor for cholera, a potentially-lethal diarrheal disease caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water.
Virginia Cornish concluded: “The possibilities, as we see it right now, are limitless. We’ve just opened the door to this exciting new technology. It’s the beginning of a journey rich with potential.”
‘A Modular Yeast Biosensor for Low-Cost Point-of-Care Pathogen Detection’ by Nili Ostrov, Miguel Jimenez, Sonja Billerbeck, James Brisbois, Joseph Matragrano, Alastair Ager, Virginia W. Cornish is published this week in the journal Science Advances and is available at: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/6/e1603221
Students from Queen Margaret University (QMU) are preparing to put their creative talents in the spotlight as part of the University’s annual Film & Media Degree Show at Edinburgh’s Flimhouse, Lothian Road, on Monday 10th July from 8.30pm.
The showcase event will present work from QMU’s second, third and fourth year Film and Media students, including a wonderfully varied selection of short dramas, documentaries and music videos.
Nine short films made by QMU’s Film and Media students have made it through to this year’s line-up, covering a diverse range of subjects and genres, including documentaries on artists and local activists, the story of an immigrant escaping to a better life and dramas about racial tension, mother and daughter relationships and winning the lottery.
Graham Drysdale, Lecturer in Screenwriting, Digital Filmmaking and Media Production at QMU, said: “We’re really grateful to Edinburgh’s Filmhouse for providing our students with a platform to showcase their creative talents once again this year.
“Our Film and Media Degree Show is always a highlight in the QMU calendar as it provides a platform for us to celebrate creativity, as well as allowing students to unveil films they have worked on over the last year. It’s important to our students to see their work on the big screen. There’s nothing like hearing and seeing an audience respond to your film in the way you hoped when you first conceived of the idea.”
Special prizes will be awarded to the best films on the night.
Many of the films have been generously supported through QMU’s ‘Become a Producer Initiative’. Donations from the University’s friends and graduates provide much needed production expenses for QMU’s talented student filmmakers, allowing them to purchase costumes, hire equipment or travel to film on location. Supporters are credited at the end of all films.
A limited number of free tickets for the event are available for QMU students and staff online at https://mgrant18.wixsite.com/qmuscreening2017. For more information, email: mgrant1@qmu.ac.uk
Additional public tickets can be purchased from Edinburgh’s Filmhouse by calling 0131 228 2688 or online at www.filmhousecinema.com
A global health expert from Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh has joined forces with some of the world’s top academics to help children and young people affected by conflict in Syria.
Professor Alastair Ager, Director of the Institute for Global Health & Development (IGHD) at QMU, has teamed up with researchers at Yale University in the USA and universities in Canada and Jordan, to assess the impact of conflict on young Syrian refugees and their ability to overcome adversity.
Over five million people have been forced to flee the six-year conflict in Syria, and over 650,000 Syrians are now rebuilding their lives in neighbouring Jordan.
Building resilience in people affected by war is a priority for humanitarian workers, but until now, there was no way to assess how young refugees in the Middle East are managing to cope over time. The researchers, in partnership with humanitarian organisations, have now designed and tested a culturally relevant tool in English and Arabic languages to help address this issue.
Over six hundred 11 to 18-year-old boys and girls were interviewed as part of the study, including refugees and non-refugees living in five towns near the Syrian-Jordanian border.
Researchers found that boys and girls placed a different emphasis on the importance of family support, participation in religious activities, and education as a gateway to the future. Whilst Jordanians identified role models as important to resilience, young Syrian refugees drew strength from overcoming their traumatic experiences, feeling re-settled, sustaining ambition, and believing that formal education was still important. For all these young people, reliance on family ties was paramount, more so than relationships with peers.
This survey will now help researchers and service providers help young refugees in the Middle East to cope with adversity in areas of conflict more effectively.
QMU’s Professor Alastair Ager is a co-investigator on the study. He said: “We’re extremely proud to be working with academic and humanitarian partners across the globe to help strengthen the resilience of young refugees in the Middle East.
“Rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of humanitarian programmes is a vital task if aid funds are to be invested wisely. Measures like this are a crucial contribution to verifying that aid really makes a difference in the lives of young refugees and their families”.
The findings of the research are published in the latest issue of Child Development: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12868/abstract
For more information on the Global institute for Global Health & Development (IGHD) at QMU, visit: www.qmu.ac.uk/research_knowledge/institute-for-global-health-and-development.aspx
A new month-long public exhibition showcasing over 25 of QMU’s ‘Inspiring Entrepreneurs’ will be launched on campus today – Thursday 15th June.
QMU is committed to enterprise and innovation. The University’s ‘Inspiring Entrepreneurs’ exhibition celebrates the pivotal role entrepreneurship plays in enhancing the QMU student experience and delivering research impact.
The University is playing a leading role in challenging the contours of entrepreneurship and the evolution of inspiring entrepreneurs from business, creative, social and service innovation perspectives.
Within QMU, entrepreneurship prepares students and graduates for a variety of career and life experiences. Being an entrepreneur may mean starting a business or working as an intrapreneur in an existing business, incorporating management styles that integrate risk taking and innovative business solutions.
QMU’s academic programmes are designed to support students to identify and analyse new opportunities, to think creatively, and to be action oriented in order to seize opportunities that add real value to their employability. These skills are important in all types of organisations, from small start-ups to large corporate settings to large public sector organisations like the NHS.
Professor Petra Wend, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of QMU, said: “This new exhibition helps to showcase just some of the entrepreneurial talent already in action around the University, as well as inspire others both within QMU and beyond. Everyone who’s participated in the exhibition has creatively demonstrated that entrepreneurial spirit is a mindset of how we can all approach problems and proposes solutions.
“A major driver within QMU is the development and sustainability of a changing culture that supports the capacity of the University’s staff and students to be entrepreneurial in a variety of contexts, including business, creative, social and service innovation perspectives.”
East Lothian Council Business Gateway is a key partner in QMU’s own entrepreneurial journey. This innovative partnership exemplifies QMU’s commitment to supporting the development of SMEs and to assisting entrepreneurial students and graduates considering setting up their own businesses. Five years since the launch of the service, QMU is incredibly proud to still be the only Scottish University with an on-campus Business Gateway. The University is also very proud that in the past two years alone we have created 16 QMU graduate start ups.
QMU worked with photographer and QMU third year BA (Hons) Media student, Taja Strle, in the curation of this exhibition. At QMU, both the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum combines theory and practice, providing students with the opportunity to think up great ideas, turn them into business plans, and deliver on new technologies, products, and services. The photographs used in the exhibition formed part of Taja’s Photography Practice Module project.
For more information about business support and entrepreneurship opportunities at QMU, email Vivian Rutherford, Research and Knowledge Exchange Officer at QMU, E: VRutherford@qmu.ac.uk
Business Gateway – For more information on the Business Gateway at QMU, visit: www.qmu.ac.uk/business-gateway
Business Innovation Zone – For more information on the Business Innovation Zone at QMU, visit: www.qmu.ac.uk/business_industry/businessInnovationZone.htm
‘Step Up with QMU’ – personal development & work experience opportunities: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko_GRNdHosM
New university research has shown that more than three hours of TV viewing a day can have a negative effect on the language skills of 11 year olds.
The study specifically found that watching more than three hours of TV each day has a greater negative effect on children who were already classed as poor performers.
A research team from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and Newcastle University used data from thousands of children in the UK’s Millenium Cohort Study. It found that, while less is generally better than more when it comes to TV viewing, TV has a different effect depending on the children’s language skills at 11 years. In particular, while it appears to make little difference to children with better language scores, the negative impact of too much TV viewing when younger, is strongly associated with the performance of those who have poorer language skills when they reach the age of 11 years old.
The researchers looked at the impact of parental involvement with children when they were aged three and five-years-old, and then examined how well they were able to communicate their ideas at 11.
They asked parents how often they:
• read to their children;
• told stories;
• visited the library;
• took then to the park and
• watched television – for three hours a day or less.
Reading to young children was, on average, associated with better performance, but again, it had much less of an effect for children with the best language scores at 11 years and correspondingly much more of an effect for those who were doing less well.
The study also found that poverty, and the more siblings a child had, were both negatively associated with language development at age 11.
Robert Rush, from Queen Margaret University, explained: “The analysis was a novel approach to investigating the effect of various early factors on later child language performance. The findings of this study confirm that too much TV can have a negative impact on the language development of children.
Importantly, this new information about language skills can be used to help parents and agencies modify TV viewing to improve the language performance of those who need it the most.”
Lead researcher James Law, Professor of Speech and Language Sciences at Newcastle University’s School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, said: “As researchers, we’re really interested in looking at the things which parents can do which can make a positive impact on helping their child develop good language skills.
“The television effect was a very interesting finding and we saw it had a bigger impact for the children with lower language skills, but made little difference to those who had higher levels of language.
“It suggests that the Government and local authorities might want to consider how they get messages about setting limits on television and reading to children across to families who may need support in issues such as delayed language development.
“Television isn’t the enemy. My personal view is that it’s how you watch it that’s important. If you’re actively watching a programme with your child and you’re talking about what’s happening, you’re asking and answering questions, then I think that’s fine and will be a positive experience for both of you. It’s when children are sat in front of it for hours with no input – in effect an electronic babysitter – that I think it becomes problematic.”
The study was conducted using a different way of analysing data which could lead to more targeted approaches in helping children with delayed language development. The researchers found that this method could help target areas which needed particular attention – something which would have been impossible from traditional models that only use average findings for the whole population.
Robert Rush confirmed: “Essentially, this research helps to identify important factors that could be used to improve the performance of children who need the most help, rather than a blanket approach for all children.”
The research was carried out using the Millennium Cohort Study, a cohort of children born in the UK between September 2000 and January 2002. The research looked at the language development of 5,682 children, measuring their language abilities using the British Ability Scales assessment.
The paper, Early home activities and oral language skills in middle childhood: A quantile analysis is published in Child Development, the foremost international academic journal in the field. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12727
Food lovers in Edinburgh and the Lothians are being invited to put their taste buds to the ultimate test by trying out new food and drink products before they hit the supermarket shelves.
The Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh is looking for eager foodies to join its Food & Drink Consumer Tasting Panels during the year ahead.
The Centre works with a broad range of food and drink businesses to help them to develop new and innovative products, reformulate existing products and carry out consumer focus groups and taste panels.
Taste panel members get the unique opportunity to try out a range of new food and drink products for the first time, including meat, fish, confectionery, juices, dairy products, vegetables and desserts. Panel members may also be asked to sample existing food products already sold in supermarkets to gain important information about consumer preferences.
Taste panels usually last around 30 to 40 minutes and participants provide views on a number of food and drink products, including aroma, appearance, texture and flavour.
People taking part in the tasting panels are rewarded after each session attended with either a £10 Amazon or John Lewis voucher.
Phil Cook, Food Technologist at the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation at QMU, said: “We’re keen to hear from anyone in Edinburgh and the Lothians who loves food a drink. Our Consumer Tasting Panels are a great way for people to help develop the latest food and drink products and assist food companies with their business development. Panelists are also pleased to receive a voucher for their participation.”
“QMU’s Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation is continuing to enhance Scotland’s position as a leader in food and drink innovation in Europe and supporting access to the global market for healthy and functional food.
“Through practical innovation support and creative business solutions, QMU is helping Scotland’s leading food and drink businesses with new and innovative product development and analysis; as well as the development of leading edge functional, health enhancing products and ingredients and formulation of existing products.”
For more information on the QMU Food & Drink Consumer Tasting Panel and to sign up, email: Consumerpanels@qmu.ac.uk
Performing Arts students from Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh are putting a contemporary twist on Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ by staging an open-air production of the classic play from 6th to 10th June 2017.
More than forty students from across QMU’s Performing Arts programmes are working with staff to create a truly magical evening of theatre, which is open to the public.
The show opens in the grounds of QMU’s Musselburgh campus on 6th June, before transferring to the beautiful Dunbar’s Close Gardens on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile for four nights from 7th to 10th June.
The show is directed and designed by the University’s award winning staff team; Kate Nelson, Sarah Paulley and Polly Lister.
The show will also feature the musical talents of Jeremy Devlin-Thorp, an MSc Music Therapy student from QMU.
Audience members are invited to bring along a picnic before seeing the shows and light refreshments will be made available.
An open dress rehearsal on the morning of Tuesday 6th June will welcome children from local Musselburgh schools at a free performance and accompanying workshop.
The shows will be performed whatever the weather so audiences should come prepared.
Performance Times
Preview: Queen Margaret University, Tuesday 6th June 2017, 7pm
Evenings: Dunbar’s Close Gardens, Wednesday 7th – Saturday 10th June 2017, 7pm
Matinee: Dunbar’s Close Gardens, Saturday 10th June 2017, 2pm
Duration: 2 hours (+15 minute interval)
Tickets: Available from Eventbrite at £10 per person (£5 for concessions)
Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh, Tuesday 6th June
https://ayli-qmu.eventbrite.co.uk
Dunbar’s Close Garden, Royal Mile, Edinburgh – Wednesday 7th – 10th June
