| Sept 2008 | View back issues |
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Invited Editors  Richard Butler and Fiona Conway of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management were invited editors of a Special Edition of the
journal Tourism and Hospitality Research, published by Palgrave. The special issue, Volume 8, Number 4, contains eight papers selected
from those presented at the CHME international conference hosted by the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in Glasgow earlier
this year.
Richard Butler Back to top Strathclyde MBM - Ranked 4th in UK by Financial Times  The Financial Times (FT) annual rankings of Masters in Management programmes, has this year ranked the Strathclyde MBM in its top 50
programmes.Achieving 32nd position out of the 50 business schools who managed to meet the published requirements, Strathclyde achieved 4th position out of its ranked UK counterparts. Notably, its careers rank was 2nd highest, which indicates that both the level of seniority achieved by SBS graduates and the size of company employing these graduates, 3 years after graduation, is impressive. The FT's masters in management ranking is an evaluation of pre-experience masters programmes in general management offered by leading business schools. The ranking is compiled using data from two sets of surveys: one is completed by alumni who graduated from the respective programmes three years ago, in 2005, and the other by the business schools. Back to top OR and BAM Conference Presentations Recent conference presentations were made by the following SBS academics: Operational Research Society (OR 50) Annual Coneference, York Eden, C., and Howick, S. - Supporting Strategy in the Public Sector: issues for OR Burt, G at the Supporting Strategy stream of OR 50 - "Strategising: Towards the Integration of Systems Modelling and Scenario Planning". British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference, Harrogate Eden, C. - A Research Workshop on Cognitive Mapping. Hibbert, P., Coupland C, and MacIntosh, R. (2008) Reflexivity and the Researcher: Reflection, Recursion, Participation. Hibbert, P. (2008) Integrating Collaboration Research: Developing a Discursive Construction Framework. Siedlok, F., Hibbert, P. and Huxham, C. (2008) Interdisciplinary Research: Learning to Collaborate, or Collaborating to Learn? Back to top Guest Lecture "Developing Scotland's Creative Future; Talent and Organisation Development at the BBC". Speakers; Donald-Iain Brown, Head of Talent Division & Change Director, BBC Scotland Wendy Aslett Head of People & Development, BBC Scotland Chair; Professor Susan Hart, Dean Strathclyde Business School Tuesday 4th November 6.30 - 7.30 Senate Room, Collins Building With a new building on the Clyde and cutting edge technical innovations providing symbols of a modern and dynamic BBC, one fact remains the same: It's still the people who make broadcasting. The recent Scottish Broadcasting Commission report makes it clear that the BBC and their talent development will be at the heart of any major change and future growth. We are delighted to have the two people best placed to talk about and discuss the strategic challenges of talent management in the BBC in the past, present and future. For further information please contact: Michael Murray Co-ordinator Centre for Executive Education m.murray@strath.ac.uk Back to top Best Article Prize for John Bachtler and Carlos Mendez  Professor John Bachtler and Carlos Mendez have been awarded the prestigious Best Article Prize by the Journal of Common Market Studies, the
leading journal on European integration issues. Their article "Who Governs EU Cohesion Policy? Deconstructing the Reforms of the Structural
Funds" re-evaluates the influence of the European Commission and Member States on the implementation of Cohesion policy since 1989,
questioning the so-called 're-nationalisation thesis' and presenting new insights into EU governance. John Bachtler was presented with the
award by Professor Mike Smith, JCMS Editorial Board member, at the Edinburgh Conference of theProf. John Bachtler University Association of Contemporary European Studies on 2 September 2008. In presenting the award, Professor Smith said that "this article challenges the bases of conventional
wisdom in the realm of multi-level governance. It presents an exceptionally clear and coherent argument, and the authors' familiarity with
the subject area shines through. It subjects the literature to systematic (re)evaluation, and does what a top-rank journal article should
do, by opening up new questions, adding new evidence and suggesting new agendas."
Back to top New European Policy Research Paper on the Micro-Efficiency of Cohesion Policy EPRC has published a new European Policy Research Paper on the micro-efficiency of Cohesion policy written by Peter Wostner, Deputy Director of the Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy in Slovenia. Based on a growing literature which indicates that the impact of Cohesion policy is conditional on the institutional or absorption capacity of the recipient regions and Member States, the paper seeks systematically to identify those institutional arrangements at every step of the policy cycle which contribute to an efficient and effective Cohesion policy implementation system. Drawing on existing evaluations, as well as primary questionnaire-based research on the views of policymakers and experts, the paper demonstrates the need for far-reaching changes to the way Cohesion policy is implemented. It puts forward four proposals for improvement of the current system and reform of the regulatory framework in which Cohesion policy operates. The paper can be downloaded from http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/documents/PDF_files/EPRP_64_Wostner.pdf A full list of EPRC European Policy Research Papers can be accessed from http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/publications_eprp.cfm Back to top New Head of Department  Professor Dennis Nickson has recently replaced Professor Paul Thompson as Head of Department in the Department of Human Resource Management.
On being appointed Professor Nickson commented, "I feel privileged to take on the responsibility of being Head of a Department that has a
long and proud tradition", continuing "I believe, we have one of the strongest, if not the strongest, Department in UK in the broad area of
employment studies/HRM". Professor Nickson pointed to the Department's strength as evidenced by its housing of two premier journals in the
broad area of work and employment, Work, Employment and Society and Employee Relations; the presence of The Scottish Centre for Employment Research (SCER), which has established itself as the leading centre for research on work and Professor Dennis Nicksonemployment in Scotland, the UK and internationally; and its designation as one of only ten Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s Centres of Research Excellence. Back to top Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) Draw in the Crowds Commencing its second year the Impact of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on Regional Economies Initiative, which is coordinated from the University of Strathclyde, is already raising attention. Early results were presented before a full house in three special sessions at the European Regional Science Associations annual conference in Liverpool last August. The initiative, which is backed by the ESRC and the regional funding councils, is composed of 9 projects being undertaken by 15 UK research institutions. In addition to 4 research themes on Social Impacts, Students and graduates, Regional competitiveness and University Industry Relationships, Strathclyde's Fraser of Allander Institute and Department of Economics lead an ambitious cross-cutting project on the overall impact of HEIs on regional economies in the UK. Although the economic impact of HEIs has been studied for at least 40 years in Scotland, there are still fundamental questions to be answered. Strathclyde researchers aim to refine existing measure of the spending impact of HEIs, but more importantly to broaden measures to include supply-side benefits such as a more skilled labour force and potential knowledge spillovers. Set to finish in 2010 researchers are sensing strong early interest from the wider academic community, which is reinforcing their urge to move the field forward - next time dissemination takes place no doubt they will ask for a bigger room! Presentations from the ERSA conference and further information on the project can be found on its website: http://ewds.strath.ac.uk/iheirei/ Back to top Economics of Marine Energy Doctoral Workshop Hosted by the Fraser of Allander Institute The Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics hosted a four-day Doctoral Training Programme workshop for 16 PhD students involved in the SuperGen Marine Energy Research Consortium, within which the Fraser of Allander Institute, one of five academic partners, leads the analysis of economic and social impacts. The students attended sessions on Scottish (and UK) energy policy, levelised costs of renewable and marine electricity generation, energy efficiency and impact analysis, which were led by Prof Peter McGregor, Prof Kim Swales, Dr Karen Turner, Grant Allan and Michelle Gilmartin. The well-received workshop also included a visit to the Acre Road Hydrodynamics Laboratory (Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde), where Charlie Keay (Technical Manager) gave the students a demonstration of the tank in action. A visit to Ross Priory was followed by a cruise on Loch Lomond to the Sloy hydroelectric power station. 
Staff and students visit Ross PrioryBack to top Conference Presentations  Many members of the department attended the OR50 conference at the University of York at the beginning of September. Professor Val Belton
presented a paper on "50 Years of MCDA: a personal perspective" together with Gilberto Montibeller. Dr Tibor Ílles gave a talk entitled
"Generalized Primal-dual Path Following Interior Point Algorithm for LCPs with Arbitrary Matrices". A related publication has subsequently
been published in the Journal of Global Optimization. Professor Belton also attended the IFORS conference in Johannesburg, presenting a paper entitled "The importance of problem structuring for MCDA: avoiding lost CAUSE's - lessons from practice". Dr Ali Daneshka presented a poster with Professor Tim Bedford at the Royal Statistical Society 2008. The title was "Emulation of Prof. Val BeltonPoincaré Return Maps With Gaussian Kriging Models". Dr Daneshka also presented a paper with Prof. Jim Smith of Warwick University at the 4th European Workshop on the Probabilistic Graphical models (September 2008, Aalborg University, Denmark), with the following title: "Large incomplete Sample Robustness in Bayesian Networks". Back to top Invited Talks/Seminars  Dr Tibor Ílles recently organised a 'Workshop for the Oil and Gas Industry' within the department. Dr Béla Kelemen, Vice President of the
MOL group was the guest speaker alongside Professor Tim Bedford; Robert van der Meer and Dr ÍllesProfessor Yinyu Ye of Stanford University, visited the department from 17th - 31st of August 2008. He gave two very successful research seminar talks, which were attended by staff from throughout the faculty and many colleagues from EEE. Working papers Marc Stierand - Viktor Dörfler - Paul Lynch (2008) Haute Cuisine Innovations: The Role of the Master-Apprentice Relationship, BAMDr. Tibor Illes 2008, 9-11 September 2008, Harrogate. Back to top TERP 10 Certification Course Jaszmina Szendrey and Robert van der Meer from the Department of Management Science & Strathclyde Institute of Operations Management participated in a 10-day SAP 'TERP10' certification course at Loughborough University in August/September. SAP is the market and technology leader in business software solutions world-wide. The course was concerned with the fundamental integrative business processes in procurement, production, planning, project management, sales, customer service, asset management, financial accounting, human resources, and analytics – and how these business processes interact within the SAP ERP application. As a result of passing the required exam, Robert and Jaszmina are now in a position to teach students at Strathclyde Business School this highly-prized SAP certification course. The first official SAP certification course will be offered to Strathclyde Business School students in the Spring of 2009. For terms & conditions, as well as other details, please contact Robert van der Meer (Robert.van-der-meer@strath.ac.uk) Back to top Welcomes Welcome to Sharifah Norhafiza Syed Ibrahim who has commenced her studies towards a PhD within the Accounts and Finance Department. Syifa will be supervised by Andy Marshall and Julia Smith and is based in room 4.12. Welcome also to Stacey McPhail who has also joined us to study towards a PhD. Stacey will be supervised by Andrea Coulson and Christine Cooper, and is also based in room 4.12 (Curren building). Back to top Collaboration on a New Internal Skills Training Provision  Andrea Coulson is collaborating on a new internal skills training provision for research students and post doctorates which has been awarded
£10,379 of Robert's funding for a project based on "Second Life" IT software. The collaboration builds on Andrea's current risk research
project with John Quigley (Management Science) and Calvin Burns (HRM) along with technical expertise provided by Howard Ramsay and Derek
Crowe (both Management Science). The software facilitates the development of a virtual reality conference environment (hence role play in
their "secondlife") and is being trialled with further international collaboration from a Andrea Coulsonnumber of risk based academics at Dalhousie
University in Canada. Andrea plans to provide a demonstration of this software in due course. Back to top Paper Accepted for Publication Congratulations to Ian Thomson and Shona Russell, who have had their paper 'Accounting for a Sustainable Scotland' accepted for publication in Public Management and Money. Back to top Research Methods Master Class Ian Thomson (with Jill Solomon, Cardiff Business School) also ran a research methods master class on 'Imagining Sustainable Accountability and Utopian Thinking' at the International Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting, University of ST Andrews, Sept 2008. Back to top Ian Thomson to Present Papers Ian has also been invited to present papers at University of Dundee, Accounting Research Seminar Series, Feb 2009 and Centre for Applied Ethics and Legal Philosophy, University of Glasgow in Jan 2009 and Ian was appointed to the expert stakeholder panel of the Sustainable Development Commission (Scotland) to assist them in their annual reviews of the sustainability of the Scottish Government. Back to top Julia Smith Elected Congratulations also to Julia Smith who has been elected to serve on the Senate Discipline Committee. Back to top Excellent Results in NSS 2008 Congratulations to all staff for the excellent results for accounting (98%) and finance (90%) in the NSS 2008 results. http://www.strath.ac.uk/features/nationalstudentsurvey2008/ Back to top |
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