Innovation North celebrates graduation
Students from Innovation North are celebrating their achievements at Leeds Met today, as they take part in their Faculty's graduation ceremonies.
Today's ceremonies provide an opportunity to reflect on a successful year for the Faculty, which has seen students and staff working on a range of exciting and innovative projects.
They are being joined today by more than 100 Regional University Network (RUN) students from a number of partner colleges, who will also celebrate achieving a range of qualifications including foundation degrees and full honours programmes, in a range of subject areas including business, visual arts and fashion.
The Regional University Network Office would like to congratulate all graduating RUN students including those celebrating at their own institutions.
In April this year, Innovation North staff helped build a computer-generated model of Henry VIII's armour, for an exhibition at the Tower of London. Innovation North's Dr Nick Cope and Dr Steve Wilkinson created a highly-detailed model of the Tudor king's Tonlet armour for the opening of 'Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill' at the Tower of London. The exhibition celebrates the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII becoming King of England and showcases a collection of Henry's armour throughout his reign. Henry VIII wore the Tonlet armour for the foot combat contest at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520, an event which celebrated a meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I of France. The interactive model, which uses touch-based technology to help users navigate through it, was built from laser scanned data provided by The Scan Team and produced using Blender open source software.
A graduating student has successfully bid for thousands of pounds worth of Joint Academic Network (JANET) funding to develop a project he began as part of his course at Leeds Met. Richard Braddock, a final year BSc (Hons) Computer Communications student, together with Innovation North's Professor Colin Pattinson and fellow students Chris Hall and Andrew Silcock, has been awarded £11,000 to further develop his final year project which centres on the idea of delivering IT resources in developing nations.
The project 'Up-Stream' involved developing a framework for delivering education through IT in Africa with roaming capabilities whilst keeping to the ideals of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). As Richard explains, "To reach those in rural areas it was thought prudent to provision a service that could travel and take itself into these areas. We put together the proposal of a vehicle that could be kitted out with the very lowest (and greenest) power IT equipment, but which would maintain a level of functionality we would expect."
Since receiving news of their successful bid, the team have been accepted to present a paper on their concept of the introduction of a mobile Internet Service Provider (mISP) to the project at the third International Conference on Next Generation Mobile, Applications, Services and Technologies in September.
Richard said, "It's a great boost that the work completed so far can put us on to a good start in the delivery for JANET when that formally begins in the near future. Equally, I would like to think that as the project progresses we can find a way of adding value to the ongoing African endeavours that I know Colin and I would love to revisit."
Innovation North Showcase 2009
The Innovation North Showcase 2009 took place on Tuesday 12 May at Headingley Campus. The event saw over 200 final year project groups from across the faculty demonstrate their creativity and talent in areas including music performance, music technology, sound, games design, animation, special effects, creative media, computing and forensics. It was an evening of celebration enjoyed by guests from industry, students, friends, family and Leeds Met staff alike. There was a buzz of excitement as eager visitors heard from the next generation of professionals, who were keen to demonstrate their projects.
Eye-catching marketing ensured projects such as Smiley Panda, Upstream, Slump Recordings, Vibrant Green Design Solutions, Omnipresence, Appsalistic, Guide Bahrain, Sleep Beats and Sonic Wire stood out from the crowd. Speaking to students throughout the day it was clear how much hard work had been going on behind the scenes in preparation for the event, as teams worked together to produce industry-standard products.
Dean Barbara Colledge said, "This was an outstanding event and the highlight of the year with an amazing array of project work, presentations and visitors. Many visitors from industry indicated to me that the show and student talent was very impressive and the whole event 'overwhelming' given the range, breadth and diversity of work on display." The event was a successful celebration of final year projects and highlighted the real potential of technology to shape the future.
The Games Republic Student Showcase 2009 Competition was held at Sheffield Hallam University on Tuesday 5 May 2009. The day-long event showcased the best of the region's University/College games development talent to a judging panel made up of Yorkshire's top games studios. Congratulations to the Level 3 Innovation North students in Team Croake, who won first prize in the Games Art category for their exemplary 3D models, creative ideas and interactive game. Third prize in the Games Technology category went to Team Hotchpotch, made up of masters students from the faculty. All five of the teams entered by Innovation North were praised for their creative ideas and technical skills. They received much in the way of advice and encouragement from the games companies who included Rockstar productions, Team 17, Tuna and Sumo.
Links with partners
Dr Nicholas Childs, Director of Music at the Black Dyke Band, accepted a Professorship from the University's Innovation North Faculty in August last year, building on the partnership between the two organisations, first launched in 2005. Speaking of the appointment Cath Orange, Pro-Vice-Chancellor said, "We are delighted that Nicholas has accepted this appointment, which acknowledges his outstanding leadership qualities and his status as an internationally recognised scholar within his genre of music."
Dr Nicholas Childs added: "I am very pleased to accept this prestigious position from a University with worldwide horizons." Leeds Met and the Black Dyke Band joined together in a unique partnership in December 2005 which builds upon the success of the University's other cultural links with Opera North, Northern Ballet Theatre, Harrogate International Festival and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Black Dyke Band returned to Leeds Met for a weekend feast of music this year. The Black Dyke Brass Festival gave students, staff and partners the opportunity to listen to music from the most famous brass band in the world. Highlights of the weekend's events included a live broadcast from Saturday's gala concert at Gandhi Hall, Headingley Campus, which was streamed over the internet, and available to watch via the Leeds Met website. The concert included Black Dyke Band performing live to the film of Paul Lovatt-Cooper's Immortal and Rubbing Shoulders With Champions, Philip Harper's Willow Pattern, Philip Wilby's Euphonium Concerto and Peter Graham's Harrison's Dream.
Professor Nick Childs also delivered an illustrated inaugural lecture at Gandhi Hall, which featured brass music from 150 years ago. Conductor of the Black Dyke Band Professor Childs has achieved the highest international reputation as a performer, teacher/clinician, conductor, interpreter and advocate of new music, and producer of pace-setting recordings. Initial success came as a euphonium soloist and partner with his brother, Dr. Robert Childs.
Together they have toured worldwide as The Childs Brothers, performing in many of the world's most famous concert halls with prestigious bands and orchestras. Taking up the baton as a conductor, Professor Childs has had phenomenal success with many bands, including national championship victories with both Foden's and Black Dyke Band.
Sound Ideas
Work from an Innovation North student was chosen in the top ten of an international sound design competition. Deepankuran Kannadimana, an international student from India currently studying on the MA Music Production course, entered the SONOPEDIA Sound Design Competition with work completed using skills he had developed on the course. The competition was set up in November 2008; the challenge was to create a 30 second sound design narrative using a selection of 40 sound effects.
The competition was judged by Academy Award winners Richard King, Randy Thom, and Lon Bender and received entries from all over the world. Commenting on his success, Deepankuran said, "I am a great fan of people such as Richard King, the sound designer on 'The Dark Knight' and also of Randy Thom and Lon Bender who were both judging the competition. I was really interested in the concept of sound design and I was impressed with the way in which the competition was set up as it allowed me to use skills I had developed during my Masters.
"I am hoping to move into the film industry, specifically working on music direction for Malayalam films. I am also interested in working as a sound designer. I am really thankful to my tutors; David Raybould, Richard Stevens, Bob Davis and Steve Parker for my achievement. I hope it'll look good on my CV."
In April, The Our City, Our Music project developed across Innovation North and the Faculty of Arts & Society was launched. The project is a new initiative aimed at showcasing current Leeds-based emerging musicians and filmmakers with a twist.
Using the latest in GPS media maps and a portable handheld, the album can only be heard in the locations the musicians originally performed their live recordings at. Enabled handheld devices allow fans, tourists, and local residents to stroll through the city to discover and enjoy several mapped locations where video, music and an introduction from each band can be heard. The first album features talented performers from Innovation North, including recent MTV Soundbites Competition winners, Superpowerless, and musician Cari Flower. They were joined on the production team by visual media academics Benjamin Halsall and Ben Dalton.
Laura Whitaker, a level 3 BSc (Hons) Animation Technology & Special Effects student, has had her work used as part of an Autodesk marketing campaign. Autodesk is the world's largest design software company, with more than nine million users throughout the world, and the company was recently named number 25 on Fast Company's list of "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies". Its software is widely used in the Architecture, Manufacture, Engineering, Media and Entertainment industries Laura's work was used as part of a recent e-marketing campaign which promoted the Autodesk Design Showcase, an initiative that highlights exemplary work completed by students using Autodesk software.
An Innovation North student rubbed shoulders with top figures in the music industry after winning a national competition. Oliver Hindle a Level 1 Music Technology Innovation North student, fought off competition from 200,000 entrants to be voted into the last 20 of the MTV Vodafone Soundbites competition. Oliver, who performed at the recent Leeds Met Live event with his band 'Superpowerless', was declared the overall winner of the competition by a panel of industry experts. His prize includes a trip to London to work with a record producer on his winning track 'Wasted My Time' for release by the Vodaphone live download service. His track will also be the subject of a video produced by a director who has also worked with the Stereophonics, The Fratellis and Boy Kills Boy to be broadcast on MTV. Oliver has been praised as an exponent of Chiptune, a type of software used to programme Gameboys so that they can be used to create music.
New Dean for Innovation North
In March this year, Barbara Colledge has been appointed as the new Dean of Innovation North. A graduate of Leeds Met initially studying quantity surveying, Barbara moves into her new role after previously acting as the Dean of Partnerships for Students, in which capacity she championed numerous student-centred initiatives throughout the University. She has developed partnerships that benefit students, working with the students' union, external organisations, partners, and colleagues across the University including the Director of Student Centred Change, Senior Officers and Deans.
Commenting on her new role, Barbara said: "I am delighted to be taking up my role as Dean of Innovation North Faculty and am looking forward to working with colleagues in the Faculty and across the University to enhance the student experience. I thank Joy Kumar, Director of Student Centred Change Management, for leading the Faculty over the last eight months. I am grateful to Joy for her leadership and look forward to working with her to continue to enhance the student experience. The Faculty is ambitious in its outlook, has great strengths, talented students and staff, excellent specialist music, IT and media facilities and is pioneering partnerships with world leading organisations. I look forward to working with colleagues in and beyond the Faculty in my new role as Dean to enhance further the student experience and the Faculty's significant contribution to our University statement of Vision and Character."
Barbara has worked as an academic for many years and was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
