Faculty of Life Sciences and Computing
Issue 29
September 2015
Edited by Simon Doff
Royal Institution Engineering
Masterclasses at LondonMet
Making radios in RI Engineering master classes at LondonMet gets children
on the university wavelength
For your calendar
16th October
1.00pm TM1-83
Dr Aubrey de Grey
“Rejuvenation
biotechnology: the
sweet spot between
prevention and
treatment of agerelated ill health”
_______________________
23rd October
1.00-2.00pm GC1-08
Student Enterprise
Workshop
Generations of the UK’s engineers cut their teeth tinkering with motor
engines or basic domestic appliances.
Nowadays household appliances are usually sealed units containing
microchips and complex circuitry so kids are much less likely to spend
hours taking apart and repairing them than more mechanically minded
youths a few decades ago.
Saeed Taghizadeh in association with the Royal Institution, is running
engineering masterclasses that equip schoolchildren with the skills to build
radios by stimulating their innate desire to explore and experiment. (con’t)
1
with Arian Popalyar
Arian is a Software
Engineering graduate
from LondonMet. She is
currently a ‘Front End
Developer’ in “The
Independent”. She wants
to share her journey in
the IT industry and tricks
that will help in your
pursuit for work in the
digital world.
Editor’s Note
Contributions are welcome from all areas of the Faculty please send to me by the middle of the month.
Simon Doff
s.doff@londonmet.ac.uk
Faculty of Life Sciences and Computing
(continued from page1)
Gifted and talented children from local schools aged 12 to 16 are invited by the Royal Institution to take
part in a series of practical engineering sessions, which are held twice a year over seven consecutive
Saturdays at London Metropolitan University. The aim of which is to encourage them to consider
studying at university.
One of the morning sessions shows them how to make a basic radio which enables the schoolchildren
to apply practically what they have learnt in their maths lesson to create an brand-new product.
Saeed, Academic Group Leader in Communications Technology at LondonMet, believes this radio
workshop is a better introduction to basic engineering than a coding session using a microcomputer
because in two to three hours children can be taught the rules needed to build a radio whereas creating
something tangible with a Raspberry Pi takes considerably longer.
“We’re giving them the belief that they can build something and be an engineer,” Saeed says.
Over 300 pupils have participated in both RI Engineering Masterclasses and RI Mathematics
Masterclasses at LondonMet over the past three years. FLSC staff and students are involved in
delivering half of the Masterclasses sessions. These events have been so successful at LondonMet the
Royal Institution has requested expanding the delivery to include Computing Materclasses as well. The
Faculty is more than happy to host this new set of RI Masterclasses this academic year.
2
FLSC Faculty Employer Network and Enterprise
Day
On 11th June 2015, the Dean, Professor Dominic Palmer-Brown opened the Faculty
Employer Network and Enterprise Day with a video highlighting the faculty’s enterprise
initiatives. Associate Professor Yanguo Jing, Academic Leader for Faculty Enterprise
Development, led the organisation of the event. The event was attended by over 120
employers, alumni, faculty staff and students. The Faculty also welcomed guests from
financial services, student services, and academic registry among others.
The day started with Dr Tom Khabaza, the keynote speaker, on the subject of “What to do
when everyone wants to hire you: getting the job and doing the job in data analytics”.
This was followed by three parallel sessions from all three Schools in the Faculty.
The School of Computing
The School of Computing sessions were facilitated by Associate Professor Yanguo Jing with
presentations from four high profile employers: Lauren Stark from Amazon on “Innovation,
Amazon, & You”; David Nudelman from Metro Bank on “Securing enterprise environments”;
Tom Dixon and Naomi Morton from Swiftkey on “Bringing SwiftKey to iOS”; and, Kelly Klein
from Student@Home on “Helping IT students become more employable”. Kelly Klein and
Satwant Chana from Student@Home also provided a hands-on workshop for the School’s
students on “How to improve job interview techniques”.
3
There were also a number of internal presenters. Associate Professor Yanguo Jing officially
launched the new WOW agency branding and website, and showcased the most recent
successful WOW agency projects. Tolga Karatas, a BSc Computer Science student, presented
an inspirational talk on “Assistive technology for virtually impaired students”. Yanguo and
Seema Patel reported on the successful student achievements in WOWBiz and the work
related learning module this year with three WRL students (Cristian, Michelle and
Emanuel) sharing their learning experience.
The School of Computing’s sessions were concluded with two panel discussions. The first
panel of mobile technology experts consisted of three of the school’s graduates Abdul
Hamid, Fraser Hardy and Alastair Craig. The panel had a lively discussion on their latest
mobile projects, mobile trends and gave advice for students. The second panel welcomed
three highly successful work based MSc graduates Daniel Stavtev, Awesta Sepahbod and
Rikunj Patel. The panel members expressed how much they appreciate the possibility of
studying for the MSc work based qualification while working full time and encouraged
industry friends in the audience to follow in their steps.
4
The School of Human Sciences
The School of Human Sciences sessions for FEND15 were facilitated by Nick Gardiner. Anna
Davies of “Therapists For You” opened the talks with a pitch for her company and how it
can help graduates find work in the field of Sports Therapy. It was particularly encouraging
that all Sports Therapy undergraduates in attendance signed up for more information. This
was followed by Dr Rocky Cranenburgh of Prokarium who delivered a highly engaging talk
on oral vaccines that generated some exciting discussions and questions among the
audience.
The afternoon sessions included Louise Usher, a London Met student, who provided a
highly motivating perspective of her studies on the preparatory year. Louise explained the
rationale behind her journey from managing 700 staff to becoming a student at London Met.
In addition, Natalia Zielinska, Raffaella Pontonutti and Nick Gardiner, all London Met staff,
gave talks showcasing their initiatives: the Work Experience Award Scheme, The Sports
Injury Clinic and a Business Development Module respectively.
Kevin Campbell-Karn ran a very well attended parallel session in the form of a CPD
workshop specifically for Sports Therapists, which received extremely positive feedback
from students and alumni. The ‘outside the box’ and ‘lifestyle specific’ approach to
treatments were just two of the positive comments.
5
The School of Psychology
The School of Psychology sessions were facilitated by Dr Esther Murray and aimed to
showcase applied aspects of psychology in order to give attendees a broad view of
psychology in the world of work.
In the morning, Health Psychologist trainee Sophie Edwards and Dr Ravi Gill, a recent
graduate from the Doctorate in Health Psychology, presented their intervention work. Both
Sophie and Ravi work with disadvantaged and marginalised groups and showed how
psychological principles could be applied to improve physical health and wellbeing in these
settings. The early afternoon session on job transitions was delivered by Dr Pamela Nkyi,
Cpsychol, and addressed the areas we need to consider when preparing for change. Pamela
used psychological models of behaviour change in order to demonstrate how the audience
could prepare for job applications and interviews, properly evidencing their transferable
skills in order to ensure success. The final session of the day was a panel discussion about
PhDs and Professional Doctorates, on the panel were Dr Esther Murray, representing the
Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology, Wendy Morgan and Dr Joanna Pashdag,
Professional Doctorate in Forensic Psychology, Dr Angela Loulopoulou, Professional
Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and Gary Pheiffer, Professional Doctorate in
Occupational Psychology. Other members of the School of Psychology and alumni were in
the audience and contributed to the discussion.
6
The majority of the attendees stayed for the whole day of sessions which meant that lively
discussions ensued and there was a chance to explore their career plans in depth. The
School was pleased to welcome people from financial services and computing as well as
those with an interest in psychology. One current London Met student, considering a PhD,
said ‘It was great to have all these academics together on the panel. It’s so interesting to
hear about the different areas of psychology, it gave me ideas about my future which I hadn’t
considered before’.
The student poster award
Over 30 students presented their posters throughout the day. Guests were encouraged to
vote for their favourite poster. The event was concluded with an award giving presentation
by the Dean. The awards for best poster were given to Alastair Craig from School of
Computing and Astrid Lodge from School of Human Sciences.
This event has provided an excellent platform for the Faculty to showcase its enterprise
capability and provide students and staff with an opportunity to interact with employers.
This event was a great success. Feedback from the attendees following the event has been
highly positive, many employers and alumni have tweeted on Twitter of how they enjoyed
the event and developed a positive understanding of what the Faculty has to offer.
Special thanks to Seema Patel, Natasha Nelson, Cornell Coggins and all student helpers Andrea, Naomi, Shaun, and Alastair.
7
Industry Prize for Microwave and Optical Fibre
Communications
(L-R) Mr Avinash Manakadan, Mr Sunpreet Sharma, Dr Philip McClusky, Mr Vitalie Zuza
Dr Phil McCluskey (Rohde & Schwarz UK Ltd) presented both the industry sponsored prize
and the IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) prize to Communications Technology
students.
The Rohde & Schwarz prize, which consisted of €350 and a certificate were awarded to the
most outstanding BEng and MSc student in the area of Microwave and Optical Fibre
Communications.
This year the industry prize was awarded jointly to BEng students Miss Berna Demirturk,
Mr Avinash Manakadan, and MSc student Mr Sunpreet Sharma.
Avinash said “I couldn’t believe it I did so well! I’m so pleased our course is recognised and
endorsed by industry. The prize will certainly help me find employment in the area of my
interest”
Sunpreet said “I’m very pleased and delighted with my achievement. It was a great
challenge but I made it through. I now hope to continue with my studies by doing PhD
research at London Met”.
Berna was not able to be at the presentation ceremony because she was on a well deserved
holiday in Turkey.
The IET Prize was awarded to Mr Vitale Zuza for the most outstanding BEng student. The
prize consisted of two years’ free membership of the IET and a certificate.
The event was organised by Professor Bal Virdee, Centre for Communications Technology.
Congratulations to the winners!
8
Frozen fractals all around? London Met’s Dr Sue
Bailey helps you let it go
Dr Sue Bailey tells Channel 4’s Food Unwrapped how to avoid ice cubes in your ice cream.
Dr Sue Bailey, Senior Lecturer in Food Nutrition and Consumer Science at London
Metropolitan University featured in Channel 4’s acclaimed series Food Unwrapped
discussing the effects of re-freezing food.
Food Unwrapped is an original series, now in its sixth season which investigates the science
behind the food we eat.
For episode three, the team was investigating why the texture of ice cream changes over
time. Newly bought ice cream presents a smooth and creamy texture, whereas tubs which
have been stored for a few weeks tend to feel grittier. Presenter Kate Quilton was on the
case to find out why.
Speaking to manufacturers, Kate found that they were able to create ice cream with minute
ice crystals, undetectable to the human tongue but once the ice cream was taken home and
used the texture of the food changed dramatically.
Dr Sue Bailey was on hand to analyse newly bought ice cream, assessing at a molecular level
the difference in size of crystals compared with a tub bought and defrosted and refrozen
over a few weeks.
Ice crystals in ice cream fresh from the supermarket were found to be around 50 microns
wide, equivalent to 0.05mm, the width of half a human hair. These ice crystals create the
smooth creamy texture ice cream is famed for.
The second sample tested, the ice cream which had been stored in a home freezer for
several weeks, displayed very large crystals, “because this ice cream has been subjected to
thermal heat shock” explained Dr Bailey.
“Partial defrosting occurs before consumers put ice cream in the freezer at home and again
after serving it before it goes back into the freezer. Water that has defrosted cannot create
any new ice crystals and joins to form a much larger ice crystal around the crystals that are
already there. And this is what gives you a gritty mouth feel.”
9
And the best way to avoid this gritty texture? Keep your ice cream in the freezer! The
episode is currently available to watch on Channel Four’s on demand service.
Complete Nutrition Award Winning Dietetic
Lecturers
Zoe and Elaine seen celebrating receiving their award after
the award ceremony in central London on 23rd September
Dietetic lecturers Elaine Mealey and Zoe Connor have been
celebrating winning the “Complete Nutrition - Nutrition
Resource of the Year” for their ‘Autism for Dietitians
Masterclass DVD, online streaming and audio recording’.
Zoe and Elaine are paediatric dieticians with extensive
experience in helping both children and adults on the autism
spectrum overcome dietary and nutritional problems such as
selective eating (extremely fussy eating) and gut problems. Zoe and Elaine advocate
alternative nutrition approaches such as a gluten and milk free diets which have been
shown to help people with this complex social communication disorder.
Zoe and Elaine are passionate about promoting excellence in order that dieticians can
support those on the autism spectrum with dietary problems. They developed this resource
in 2013 as a private venture following high demand for their live workshops.
Sales of the recordings of their two-day master class continue to grow and are purchased
by dieticians and other healthcare professionals internationally.
Complete Nutrition is a publication aimed at clinical nutrition professionals in the UK and
overseas. Each year their 11,000+ readers vote for shortlisted candidates in 10 award
categories. The awards aim to recognise work that has made a significant difference within
the nutrition industry. It is the second CN award for Zoe. In 2014 she received the award
for Paediatric Nutrition Professional of the Year. To read more about this resource or on
nutrition problems in autism visit Zoe’s website www.zoeconnor.co.uk
10
Approval received for first-time British content
Until recently the British market has depended on US Psychobiology textbooks which take
no account of the British Pyschological Society’s (BPS) syllabus or the British context.
This is no longer the case now that Chris Chandler’s British-based book has been approved
for publication by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
The aim of the important new book is to:






provide a textbook in Psychobiology that adheres to and extends the BPS syllabus;
present a text that is accessible and comprehensive assuming no prior knowledge
(appealing to the biological resistant psychology student);
emphasise the role of Psychobiology in practice and the real world;
emphasise the interaction of Psychobiology with other areas of psychology (e.g. social
psychology) and other disciplines (e.g. medicine, pharmacology);
introduce the reader to a range of research methodologies used in Psychobiology research;
provide a textbook on Psychobiology that views this material from a UK perspective, which
involves the use of examples and illustrations that will be familiar and relevant to UK
readers (e.g. NICE guidance, not FDA).
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP001536.html
11
Hi guys,
My name is Obie and I’m your current Students’ Union President for the second year
running and also the newly elected officer for the Faculty of Life Sciences and Computing.
Last year saw real change. The Students’ Union campaigned and got an extension to library
hours, major improvements in the quality of facilities, increases in participation and
satisfaction in Union activities and the transfer of sports teams to the Union. The Union also
played a major role in ensuring that the student voice was central to the University’s
strategic plan.
This year, I am focusing on ensuring better representation of diversity groups, ensuring
more employment opportunities are available to students, lobbying to bring back bursaries
and committing fully to my new role as your FLSC officer.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any issues relating to your academic or social
life here at LMU. I welcome any ideas you may have to make your experience at LMU a great
one!
Hope to see you around.
Obie
Facebook: Obie Opara
Twitter: @obiemetsu
Phone: 02071334171
12
ESoft, Sri Lanka, Inaugural Graduation, June 2015
On 28th June
2015 ESoft in
Sri Lanka, a
university
collaborative
partner, held
its inaugural
graduation
ceremony.
Guests from the university included Dr Vincent Hargy (FLSC), Dr Wendy Bloisi (GSBL) and
Ros Martin (International Office).
The event was a lavish affair with the
convocation being lead into the hall by
traditional Sri Lankan drummers and dancers.
This was followed by the lighting of an oil lamp,
which happens in many formal Sri Lankan
ceremonies. It represents the light of wisdom.
Formal speeches were delivered by Dr Dayan Rajapakse, ESoft Managing Director, Nishan
Sembacuttiaratchy CEO – ESOFT Metro Campus / ESOFT Computer Studies and Dr
Hargy, FLSC. Awards were then presented by Dr Hargy to graduands for BSc (Hons)
Computing (top-up) and BEng (Hons) Software Engineering (Top-up).
The first set of awards were followed by speeches from Ros Martin and Wendy Bloisi after
which Dr Bloisi presented graduands with the award of BA (Hons) Business Administration.
The ceremony concluded with medals and awards being presented to prize winners.
ESoft also delivers a LondonMet MBA and have recently validated additional FLSC courses
in BEng (Hons) Electronics and Communication Engineering and BEng (Hons) Computer
Networks. Discussions are in progress with the view to adding more FLSC degree
programmes to the Portfolio at ESoft.
13
New research shows newborns’ attention linked
to later childhood behavioural problems
New research from Birkbeck University of London, London Metropolitan University and the
University of Padua, has shown a link between early visual attention to stimuli in newborns
(1 to 4 days of age) with better control of temperament and behaviour along with reduced
restlessness, hyperactivity and inattention in later childhood.
The newborn babies were shown a series of images and the duration of their attention, or
dwell time, was measured. The parents of these children were contacted again when they
were between three and ten years old and asked to rate their children’s temperament and
behaviour using standard psychological questionnaires.
The researchers examined three major aspects of temperament and behaviour;



‘effortful control’, the ability to regulate emotions;
‘surgency’, a temperament trait describing a tendency towards high levels of
extraversion, movement, and impulsivity and;
general types of ‘behavioural difficulties’ such as peer problems.
The researchers then explored the degree to which newborns’ average dwell time associate
with these behavioural and temperament traits in childhood.
The results revealed a significant association between the way in which newborn babies
look at images and their later temperament and behaviours in childhood, such as
hyperactivity. Spending relatively longer looking at each individual stimulus as a newborn
was associated with having fewer behaviour problems and less impulsive and overactive
behaviour in middle childhood.
Dr Kostas A Papageorgiou said: “while there are many factors which influence behavioural
problems in childhood, our findings suggest that part of what affects later behaviour is
already present at birth. As such, the origins of individual differences in behaviour are not
likely to be wholly due to the postnatal environment. The causal factors could be genetic or
stem from the prenatal environment.”
14
“These findings, could in future, help to identify babies who are at higher risk of behavioural
problems, such as those seen with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It could
also aid the development of early interventions which could improve attention spans and
reduce behavioural difficulties.”
The study was funded by the European Union, the Waterloo Foundation, the Wellcome
Trust and the Medical Research Council (MRC). The paper has attracted worldwide media
coverage including interviews of the authors in the Daily Mail (UK), the Voice of America
(US), Spiegel (Germany), Adnkronos (Italy) and Correio Braziliense (Brazil).
CONTACT
Dr. Kostas Papageorgiou (London Metropolitan University, UK)
Tel: + 44 207 133 2570
E-mail: k.papageorgiou@londonmet.ac.uk
Out of date make-up can contain lethal bacteria,
London Met scientist finds
Dr Paul Matewele has found bacteria, which cause neonatal meningitis and septicaemia on
out of date foundation brushes, lip gloss and lipstick.
Dr Matewele was sent high street and designer branded products from beauty bloggers
across the UK. Five beauty products, which were near or past their “use by-dates” were
tested under strict laboratory conditions at the university over three weeks.
Alarming results
Dr Matewele said “All the out of date samples of foundation and lipstick tested positive for
Enterococcus faecalis, which a potentially deadly strain of bacteria that causes meningitis
and septicaemia. This pathogen is one of the biggest killers of newborn babies. The lip
gloss, which was still in date, tested positive for the meningitis bug.
15
The alarming results showed that products that were only a few months out-of-date can
carry lethal bacteria. Rakesh Aggarwal, CEO of Escentual.com, who commissioned the
research, said: “Most women are totally unaware that their cosmetics are a potential
breeding ground for deadly bacteria. This research has surprised us and shows there is a
serious health risk and pregnant women and mums with small babies need to take extra
care.”
Shocking findings
Grace Day, a beauty blogger from Manchester who sent in the foundation, was shocked. “I
try to get my make-up in date, but I thought it wouldn’t matter if it was a few months over.
Clearly I was wrong. Needless to say, I will be throwing this out and other out of date make
up in future.”
Five other different types of deadly bacteria were found. Eubacterium, which causes
bacterial vaginosis. Aeromonas, which causes gastroenteritis and wound infections.
Staphlyoccocus epidermidis, which is resistant to antibiotics and is potentially lethal for
people in hospital, who have catheters or surgical implants. Propionibacterium, which is
one of the main causes of acne and other skin conditions. And Enterobacter, which causes
urinary and respiratory tract infections, mainly in hospitalised patients with compromised
immune systems.
Clean Heat Project
(L-R) Dr Brais Vila, Dr Avtar Virdee, Dr Kafil Ahmed, Anne Lechevretel, Prof Bal Virdee
The Clean Heat project, which is an EU Horizon 2020 funded
project, officially commenced on 1st June 2015 with a two day kickoff meeting that took place at Microwave Technology Limited, who
are based on the Northampton Science Park. The project
consortium includes: Microwave Technology Limited (UK), Fricke
Und Mallah Microwave Technology (Germany), Pera Technology
(UK) and London Metropolitan University (UK).
16
The 24 month project is to develop an industrial microwave heating system based on
Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology to replace the conventional microwave heating systems
based on magnetrons.
Magnetrons are large and heavy devices that are highly inefficient and power hungry. The
proposed GaN technology should significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
The IET Innovation Awards 2015
The prestigious annual IET Innovation Awards showcase the very best new
innovations in science, engineering & technology and are followed with great
interest by companies in many industrial sectors.
The awards span 15 categories including information technology, intelligent
systems, healthcare and sustainability. Once again Professor Bal Virdee,
School of Computing, has been selected to be on the panel of judges in the
communications category.
Other judges in this category include Prof Will Stewart (UCL), Nick Ireland (NICC Standards Ltd),
Paul Rosbotham (Vodafone UK), Dr Ranulf Scarbrough (BT Plc) and Peter Whale (Director of
Cambridge Wireless).
The awards aim to be as inclusive as possible and are open to any individual, company or
organisation anywhere in the world. If you feel you have a new, innovative product or service
that deserves professional recognition please visit http://conferences.theiet.org/innovation/ to
download the entry form. It is too late to meet the closing date for submission this year on July
3rd 2015 but there is everything to play for in 2016. Good luck!
PhD Success
Mike Cullinan who was a Senior Lecturer in Communications Technology in the School of
Computing successfully defended his PhD viva on 29th July 2015. Although Mike retired three
years ago he has continued to pursue his ambition of gaining a doctorate. Mike finally
achieved his goal with the guidance, support and encouragement of his supervisors: Professor
Bal Virdee (lead), Professor Mike Brinson and Dr Mori Vaezi-Nejad.
(L-R) Dr Akbar Sheikh
Akbari,
Professor
Bal
Virdee, Dr Mike Cullinan, Dr
Yanguo Jing (Chair) and Dr
Robert Leslie Ward
17
His research project was entitled “Equation Defined Device Modelling of Floating Gate
MOSFETs”. The two external examiners, Dr Robert Leslie Ward and Dr Akbar Sheikh Akbari,
were very impressed by Mike’s original contribution and quality of work. Congratulations to
Dr Mike Cullinan.
Team London Met reach the top six at world class
gaming festival
Five London Met students developed 'Penguin Fall' in just 48 hours in an intense
competition.
Team London Met were shortlisted at this year’s Game Jam for their game Penguin Fall,
developed in 48 hours as part of the Brains Eden Festival at Anglia Ruskin University.
Brains Eden is a game jam and festival held annually and is supported by some of the biggest
games companies in the world.
Organised by Games Eden, the computer games developer network for the East of England,
Brains Eden hosts 150 students from around the globe, giving them 48 hours to build
original games based around a surprise theme.
For the past five years London Met’s School of Computing have sent teams to compete in
the game jam. For the second year running, Team London Met has reached the shortlist,
coming in the top six of thirty competing international teams.
This year's theme was "displacement", given to teams on Friday, June 26th at 5pm. BSc
Games Modelling, Animation and Effects graduates; Matthew Isteed and Michal
Chmielewski created the graphics for Penguin Fall while BSc Computer Games
18
Programming graduates; Zion Siton, Alex Owen and Andrew Braid developed the code and
devised some fiendishly tricky levels.
Course leader Fiona French went to see the team at the Awards Ceremony on Monday.
"The students who took part are a talented bunch with great team working skills. I can't
recommend them highly enough and I am very proud of how they represented us" she
commented.
“They were all in good spirits after the intense 48 hours and had done lots of networking.”
Major games company Jagex laid on hospitality for everyone at their studio on Sunday
evening. Each member of the team had individual meetings with industry professionals
and recruitment consultants.
Students pitch to top toymakers at the first ever
Toyjam
London Met will compete against teams from University of Sussex and Brunel London
University for the inaugural Inventors Workshop New Designers Award by creating a
brand new toy concept.
Students from London Metropolitan University have been invited to pitch new toy designs
to industry experts including LEGO, Hasbro and Argos at the Inventors Workshop on 22
September.
Six students, led by Fiona French, Course Leader at London Met, will travel to Whittlebury
Hall in Northampton to take part in the day long toy hack-fest.
19
The students involved are: Winter Milek, Quoc Luu, Zion Siton, George Anderson, Robyn
Sarah Andrews and Dimitri Xitas. “The selected students are a combination of
programmers and artists,” said Fiona.
“They all have amazing creative skills and have demonstrated their ability to innovate and
produce working prototypes in class. I am delighted that they now have an opportunity to
collaborate on a brief for a real company.”
Winter, Quoc and Robyn are studying BSc Games Modelling Animation and Effects.
George and Zion graduated this summer with first class honours degree in BSc Computer
Games Programming. Dimitri is a current Computer Games Programming student.
The teams will pitch their ideas to executives from global toy manufacturers, high street
retailers, investors and successful designers at the end of the conference. The winning
team will be presented with the inaugural Inventors Workshop New Designers Award.
“London Met games students combine advanced technical skills with teamwork and
concept development,” added Fiona. “Each year, they have a dedicated module that
requires them to create a new game or toy, moving from paper prototyping to digital
media and physical systems with embedded technology”.
“We run two degrees - BSc Computer Games Programming and BSc Games Modelling,
Animation and Effects. Our game and toy development modules are very popular and
produce outstanding work that is presented at the annual Faculty Summer Show.
”The chance to participate in the Inventors Workshop Conference and meet professionals
in the toy industry is very exciting. We hope this collaboration will help students
understand the challenges of developing new play products and act as a springboard for
them when they graduate to move into design and technology roles.”
Billy Langsworthy, Inventors Workshop conference director, said: “Innovation is the
lifeblood of the toy industry. Without innovation, it would stagnate and we would have no
new toys. It’s so important for industry, the government and academia to support our
new designers; to make it possible for them to study in the first place and to ease their
path into employment and future success”.
20