| New Look
for 'nri.org' in 2003
December 2002
In January 2003, NRI will launch a restructured
'nri.org' website. The new site will reflect the significant
changes that NRI has undergone in the past 18 months.
Just as importantly, it will be aimed at a wider audience,
with:
- more information about what NRI is and what we
do;
- highlights and topical issues featured on the home
page; and
- greater use of multiple levels, hyperlinks and
glossary entries to allow visitors to decide how much
(or how little) detail they want to see.
Once the new site is running smoothly, we will be working
to increase the amount of information available to visitors.
For example, we intend to add pen-sketches summarizing
the skills of every member of NRI so that visitors to
the site can see the very wide range of professional
expertise and geographical experience of our natural
and social scientists, together with the specialist
talents and considerable experience of our managers,
administrators and technicians. Similarly, we intend
to make many more of our new in-house publications and
reports available on-line via the website.
In recent months, the members of the 'nri.org' core
team - Web Editor (Chris Haines), Webmaster (Helen Bowles)
and Systems Development Manager (Alan Bourne) - have
been working with the Director and Group representatives
to reshape the site, update or rewrite existing pages,
and add much new material. Chris Haines says: "We believe
the new site will be more interesting for a wider range
of potential visitors and we want it to become increasingly
a source of information about natural resources development
issues, as well as being a showcase for NRI's work and
expertise. The development of the new site is obviously
an ongoing project and we still have much to do to improve
it over the next few months: we will be very pleased
to receive feedback (to the contacts listed below) from
visitors who encounter any problems or notice any inconsistencies
in the information.
Please contact Helen
Bowles if you have any comments on site navigation
and layout, or Chris
Haines with feedback on site content.
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'Making
Ends Meet' Radio Series
August 2002
'Making Ends Meet' is a multi-media
project which is a collaboration between NRI and the
BBC. Funding for NRI's participation in the project
has been provided by DFID.
The project has at its core a series of radio programmes
that were first broadcast on the BBC World Service in
August 2002.
The intention is to explore the lives
of people in remote communities around the world, to
look at how they make a living, and to examine how their
lives and livelihoods are related to those of people
in the outside world. Four very different communities
were chosen for the variety of their geographical locations,
their types of livelihood, and their relationships with
the outside world: a fishing village in the Danube Delta,
Romania; Gosh, a mountain village in Armenia; a community
in Northern Ghana with a hippopotamus sanctuary established
nearby; and a community of Buddhist nuns in the Sagaing
Hills in Upper Myanmar (Burma).
'Making
Ends Meet' Site
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NRI Scientist
Reaches BBC Science Presenter Finals
31 July 2002
An NRI plant chemist beat 1500 other
hopefuls to make it to the finals of BBC Talent's 'Science
on Screen' initiative, designed to find a new presenter
for BBC science programmes.
"A friend of mine showed me the advertisement,"
explained Dr Phil Stevenson, Reader in Plant Chemistry
at NRI, "and as I already have some experience of science-presenting
on the satellite science channel Einstein TV, it seemed
like an opportunity too good to miss." The field of
applicants was narrowed down to 140 for the first auditions.
In these, Phil presented a mock TV report about the
use of viruses to control insect populations and, after
further short-listing in a one-day workshop on broadcasting
techniques, he was delighted to be one of the six selected
for the final competitions 'on air.'
There were three televised heats with
two candidates per show. Phil presented a report about
a device to enable dentists to detect how heavily people
smoke by analysing their saliva, which could be useful
in encouraging people to cut down. The device didn't
actually work, so he had to improvise! Phil won his
heat and made it to the last three for the final programme,
where he interviewed a man who had invented an iron
that doesn't need an ironing board. Although Phil wasn't
the overall winner, he has been invited back to discuss
programme ideas with the specialist factual department
at the BBC, with the possibility of taking some of his
ideas to pilot programmes and possibly to national television
in the future.
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Royal Visit
to NRI on 28 March 2002
28 March 2002
 |
| Her
Majesty arrives accompanied by Prof Rick Trainor,
the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Greenwich |
On 28 March 2002 the Queen and the Duke
of Edinburgh honoured NRI by a Royal visit. There was
an opportunity for the Royal party to meet with NRI
scientists and students in the Ward Room of the Pembroke
building on the Medway Campus of the University of Greenwich.
The Royal visit was arranged to coincide
with the inauguration of Universities at Medway in which
the Universities of Greenwich and Kent will combine
to provide increased higher education opportunities
by working together on the Medway Campus. In addition
the Medway Children's University were also involved
in the visit.
The visit was a tremendous success and
enabled everyone partaking to have an opportunity to
be presented to either the Queen or Duke of Edinburgh.
It was a wonderful opportunity for the scientists and
students of NRI to have the opportunity to promote their
work in such a high profile way. The Institute also
took the opportunity to invite a number of colleagues
from other institutions and Government Departments to
join them in what was a tremendous day of celebration
for the work of NRI.
 |
 |
 |
| The
Director of NRI is introduced to the Queen |
The
Queen chatting with scientists and students |
The
Duke of Edinburgh discussing the merits of artificial
cows |
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