2011 Media Coverage
Articles about the Department's teaching and research regularly appear in the written and broadcast media. Recent coverage included:
- 3D motion analysis facility could help prevent injuries
The Engineer, Andrew Czyzewski, 22/12/11
Britain’s Olympic runners now have the country’s first three-dimensional motion analysis facility at their disposal. Run3D is a private biomechanics service at the Oxford Gait Laboratory – a joint initiative by Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. The initial aim of Run3D will be to identify subtle idiosyncrasies in technique that are the root cause of injuries, but it could also act as a preventative tool to minimise the chance of a person developing an injury in the first place.
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/medical-and-healthcare/news/3d-motion-analysis-facility-could-help-prevent-injuries/1011305.article#ixzz1iNtsYxYG - London 2012: Olympic runner in 3D examination
TV: South Today, BBC 1, 06/12/11, 10.32pm
Olympic hopeful Jo Pavey has been training with scientists in Oxford who are using the latest 3D technology to analyse her running style. Includes interview with Jess Leitch of the Oxford Gait Laboratory at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-16080022 - Sound and vision
In Business (Oxford Times), p.27, Nigel Wild, November 2011
Feature on the company Intelligent Ultrasound, whose founders include Professor Alison Noble of the Department of Engineering Science and Dr Aris Papageorghiou of the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, which is in the final stages of spinning out from Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. - Changing Times
Times of India (My Education Times), 17/11/2011, Amrapali Saha
Interview with Professor Peter Dobson of Oxford University’s Begbroke Science Park, who recently spoke at a UK-India policy dialogue in Kolkata about the future of innovation. Professor Dobson said: ‘We have to identify research areas where there is government and industrial support, such as sustainable products and technology which can be good career choices. For instance, the Begbroke Science Park has been built to provide space to early stage companies to turn innovative ideas into a commercial reality and help society. The problem is that academicians think of industry tailored research as an infringement of academic autonomy, both in India and the UK.’
http://educationtimes.com/educationTimes/CMSD/Expert-Eye/26/2011111720111117153148008ff1b16d/Changing-Times.html - Will Britain ever win the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
Daily Telegraph online, 17/11/2011, Richard Tyler
Article on the new Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering highlights the views of Eleanor Stride, a former RAE fellow and academic at Oxford University, who is exploring the use of microbubbles to enhance ultrasound imaging and therapy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financevideo/8896638/Will-Britain-ever-win-the-Queen-Elizabeth-Prize-for-Engineering.html - Roadmap for the future
Times of India (MyEducationTimes.com), 10/11/2011, Amrapali Saha
Professor Peter Dobson of Oxford University’s Begbroke Science Park and Dr Rakesh Roshan of Isis Innovation have discussed the future of collaboration between academia and industry at an Industry-Academia Partnerships event in Kolkata, organised by The British Council in association with the University of Calcutta.
http://educationtimes.com/educationTimes/CMSD/Newsroom/1/2011111020111110154324217c9974f74/Roadmap-For-The-Future.html - Caisson foundations needed for next generation of wind farms, says expert
New Civil Engineer, 10/11/2011, Claire Symes
Future deep water wind farm developments and government targets will demand a different foundation design approach from the current monopile technique used in the UK, Oxford University lecturer Byron Byrne has warned. Speaking at last night’s Geotechnique lecture at the ICE in London, he said that monopile foundation construction was too expensive and time-consuming to allow government targets for wind energy capacity to be met by 2020, and other foundation designs would be more time- and cost-effective.
http://www.nce.co.uk/news/geotechnical/caisson-foundations-needed-for-next-generation-of-wind-farms-says-expert/8622392.article - Private school wages war on 'ghettoisation' with free places
Evening Standard, 20/10/2011, p.29, Anna Davis
Article on how the City of London School, a leading private school, is to give free places to the capital’s poorest children includes the example of Samuel Akinfala from Peckham, one of those who benefited from the bursary scheme and is now studying an engineering degree at Oxford University. Mr Akinfala said: ‘Before I went to City the thought of applying to Oxbridge was not in my vision at all. But at City everyone had the ultimate aim of going there. That environment motivated me.’
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24000422-private-school-wages-war-on-ghettoisation-with-free-places.do - 'Wildcat'
Reports on how scientists at Oxford University are developing a robotic car that can understand its environment and is able to drive itself. Professor Paul Newman from Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science is interviewed about the research. Explaining how the technology might work, Professor Newman said that, potentially, after a few weeks of the car learning a route, ‘the option to not have to drive all the time comes up’ with the car taking over the drudgery of driving in traffic jams. - ITV News at Ten, ITV 1, 10/10/2011, c.10:25pm
http://www.itv.com/news/driver-less-robot-cars51043/ - South Today Oxford, BBC 1, 10/10/2011,18:35pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-15214477 - Daily Telegraph, 10th October 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8818345/Oxford-scientists-create-hands-free-robot-car-to-tackle-congestion.html - Daily Mail online, 10/10/2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2047458/Oxford-boffins-develop-ultimate-smart-car-drives-predict-phased-mainstream-showroom-cars-15-years.html?ito=feeds-newsxml - Reuters, 11/10/2011
http://www.reuters.com/video/2011/10/11/robotic-car-learns-as-it-travels?videoId=222428665 - International Business Times,11/10/2011, Alistair Charlton
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/228821/20111011/self-driving-car-oxford-university-bowler-wildcat-safer-roads-less-congestion-motoring-news-car-tech.htm - Engadget, 10/10/2011, Donald Melanson
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/10/oxford-researchers-show-off-autonomous-wildcat-vehicle-no-gps-r/ - Ubergizmo, 11/10/2011, Edwin Kee
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/10/robot-car-helps-you-avoid-jams/ - Oxford Times online, 11/10/2011
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/9297834.Scientists_unveil_car_that_can_see/ - Oxford Mail, p. 2, 11/10/2011
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9297834.Scientists_unveil_car_that_can_see/ - NDTV (Taiwan), 11/10/11
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_europe/2011-10-11/safer-journeys-in-driverless-cars.html - Silicon.com, Nick Heath, 12/10/11
http://www.silicon.com/technology/hardware/2011/10/12/photos-the-robot-car-that-drives-itself-39748068/ - Top News New Zealand, Avinash Tripathi, 12/10/11
http://topnews.net.nz/content/219659-oxford-scientists-unveils-self-driving-self-navigating-car - Radio: Antonia Brickell, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, 13/10/2011, 8.20pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00kmsnx/Sue_Marchant_13_10_2011/ - The Engineer, 19/10/11
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/automotive/news/robotic-cars-could-use-local-traffic-info-to-make-decisions/1010643.article - Huffington Post, 9/01/12
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/james-baker/autonomous-vehicles_b_1193430.html - Could donkey ambulances save lives in poor countries?
The Guardian, 8th September 2011
A heart-rate monitoring device co-developed by Thomas Brennan, a post-doctoral researcher at the Oxford department of engineering science, is particularly ingenious as the microphone on a mobile phone is used as a stethoscope to analyse and record heart sounds. This means a patient's condition can be analysed by a doctor hundreds of miles away.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/sep/08/appropriate-medical-devices-poor-countries - 'Origami Engineer' Flexes to Create Stronger, More Agile Materials
Science, 17 June 2011
A latecomer to the Japanese art of paper folding helps harness the mathematics behind it to make medical devices, disaster shelters, and, possibly, rockets.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6036/1376.full?sid=c961e420-75b2-4795-8022-8216b59cb69c - Honoured for their contributions
Oxford Times, p. 4, Tim Hobden, 16th June 2011
Christopher Hood, Gladstone Professor of Government, Wendy James, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology, and Richard Darton, Professor of Engineering Science, are included in a list of Oxfordshire’s Birthday Honours recipients. - Mystery of towering freak waves may be solved
MSNBC.com, LiveScience blog, Jennifer Welsh, 15th June 2011
Towering walls of water blamed for taking out huge ships and helicopters alike have remained a mystery, but new computer simulations suggest that a freak, or rogue, wave may result when two wave systems meet while travelling perpendicular to each other.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43412255/ns/technology_and_science-science/ - BIRTHDAY HONOURS: Recognition given to local people
Oxford Mail, 11th June 2011
For services to the Voluntary Sector Professor Richard Charles Darton, Professor of Engineering Science, University of Oxford and president, European Federation of Chemical Engineering is awarded the OBE.
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9079027.BIRTHDAY_HONOURS__Recognition_given_to_local_people/ - Collaborative Research
Ingenia, June 2011
Rolls-Royce investigated a cross-flow, cross-corrugated heat exchanger design developed at Oxford University that has potential for aerospace applications because of its light weight and, in volume production, cost advantages over current tube-type heat exchangers.
http://www.ingenia.org.uk/ingenia/issues/issue47/jefferies.pdf - Partners in power
Aerospace International, June 2011
Rolls-Royce investigated a cross-flow, cross-corrugated heat exchanger design developed at Oxford University.
Aerospace International - Partners in power - Getting warmer
Oxford Times, In Business, p. 27, Nigel Wild, 17/03/2011
Feature on Oxford University spin-out OrganOx, which has developed a device which can preserve a retrieved liver for up to 24 hours before transplantation and minimise damage to the organ.
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/business/profiles/bioline/8910328.OrganOx_medical_device/ - Scaling the heights
The Irish Times, 25/02/2011
Interview with Professor Peter Dobson, academic director of Begbroke Science Park, about his experience of commercialising Oxford University nanotechnology research. Professor Dobson said: "I would advise everyone not to push the wonders of their technology. They might think they have got something very nifty but that isn’t enough to sell it… You have got to say, 'Have I got a solution here for an existing problem?' If the answer to that is yes, you then look at that problem and ask very seriously, 'How is my nanotechnology going to solve it, and is it going to solve it in a cost-effective manner?' If the answers to that are also yes, then you go ahead. I would never recommend in any field to start off with the technology and push it: I would adopt what I would call a solution-driven approach."
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2011/0225/1224290375909.html - Why become an apprentice
Oxford Mail, February 2011
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/features/100_apprenticeships/8846458.Why_become_an_apprentice_/ - Laing O'Rourke and Oxford University announce Construction Engineering Centre
Build.co.uk, 25/01/2011
The Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering will build on existing expertise at Oxford's Department of Engineering Science and other departments around the University, such as the Department of Materials and the Oxford e-Research Centre, to improve construction methods and processes.
http://www.build.co.uk/construction_news.asp?newsid=121902 - Engineering centre will develop sustainable solutions
The Engineer Online, 24/01/2011
Laing O'Rourke and Oxford University are to establish a new centre for engineering that will concentrate on interdisciplinary research relevant to construction. The Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering will build on existing expertise at Oxford's Department of Engineering Science and other university departments to improve construction methods and processes.
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/skills-and-careers/news/engineering-centre-will-develop-sustainable-solutions/1007073.article - Laing O'Rourke and Oxford University form construction engineering centre
Construction News, 25/01/2011
http://www.cnplus.co.uk/news/construction-companies/laing-orourke/laing-orourke-and-oxford-university-form-construction-engineering-centre/8610380.article - Electric cars may accelerate global warming
Fox Nation, 06/01/2011
Countries with dirty power supplies who adopt large numbers of electric vehicles rather than petrol-run cars could have increased CO2 emissions, Reed Doucette and Dr Malcolm McCulloch of Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science have found.
http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/01/06/electric-cars-may-accelerate-global-warming