Diary « John F. Allen's Blog

17th September 2016

The 17th International Congress on Photosynthesis Research, Maastricht

Filed under: Diary,Not extinct — John Allen @ 3:55 pm

The 17th International Congress on Photosynthesis Research. Photosynthesis in a Changing World took place in Maastricht, The Netherlands, from 7 to 12 August 2016. The organisers were Roberta Croce and Herbert van Amerongen.

My own contribution, in the session Evolution of Photosynthesis, was about photosynthesis in a radically changing world. It was entitled Conserved two-component transcriptional redox regulation in cyanobacteria and chloroplasts. Implications for the origin and evolutionary trajectory of oxygenic photosynthesis.

The full programme of the Congress.

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Photosynthetic electron and proton transport Arnhem 4-7 August

Filed under: Diary,Not extinct — John Allen @ 3:46 pm

Photosynthetic Electron and Proton Transfer in Plants and Algae took place in Arnhem on the 4th to the 7th of August 2016.

Many thanks to the organisers; Anja Krieger, Jeremy Harbinson, and Giovanni Finazzi; as to all participants.

My own presentation had the title Redox control of chloroplast protein phosphorylation and reaction centre gene transcription. Regulatory coupling between photosynthetic electron transport and gene expression.

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Family holiday in Fleury d’Aude, 20 – 26 July

Filed under: Diary — John Allen @ 3:46 pm

A superb week with four of our children and three very welcome partners, in a villa in the centre of Fleury. Thanks especially to Nicholas for choosing the location.

A bonus for five of us was three days in Mirabeau, in the Luberon, as guests of my friend and colleague Wolfgang Nitschke, the most generous of hosts.

There are so many memorable incidents from these visits. The night sky from the high Luberon at around midnight. Is it not extraordinary, and regrettable, that our own galaxy is unseen by so many people today?

Thanks to all for a wonderful and memorable adventure.

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2nd August 2016

The Stern Review of REF

Filed under: About universities,Diary — John Allen @ 2:03 am

It seems to be a distinct improvement on many counts.
One declared objective is to guard against “gaming” the system.
Many institutions will surely, nevertheless, find ways to misrepresent their research achievements. I can’t immediately see what these will be.

Apparently the rules will be published in 2017 for a REF in 2021.

BIES
The Guardian, James Wilsdon
THE, Nicholas Stern

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15th July 2016

Higher Education and Research Bill – what is it for?

Filed under: About universities,Diary,Not extinct — John Allen @ 6:16 pm

This morning I attended a discussion meeting at the House of Lords concerning the Higher Education and Research Bill.

In my opinion there is an urgent need to oppose this disastrous Bill.

The Convention for Higher Education has produced a summary of the many reasons for doing so.

These include, quoting from the e-mail of invitation to today’s meeting:-

the proposed reorganisation of research in the UK (including abolition of the Research Councils’ royal charters);
the proposed introduction of a lower bar for entry into English higher education by new ‘alternative providers’;
the proposal to abolish Privy Council involvement in the granting of English university title, and to vest all such powers (including withdrawal of title) in a new body entirely appointed by and overseen by the Secretary of State.

The Bill seems designed to consolidate Failing management in UK universities.

In its 117 pages, the Bill contains neither definition nor description of the term university. The Bill has no declared aim. What is its purpose?

Teaching is to be overseen by an Office for Students.

The White paper’s short section “Research” is entirely about United Kingdom Research and Innovation, a superstructure for the Research Councils. Is research itself no longer a core university activity?

From the Higher Education and Research Bill:-

UK research and innovation functions
UKRI may—
(a) carry out research into science, technology, humanities and new ideas,
(b) facilitate, encourage and support research into science, technology, humanities and new ideas,
(c) facilitate, encourage and support the development and exploitation of science, technology and new ideas,
(d) collect, disseminate and advance knowledge in and in connection with science, technology, humanities and new ideas,
(e) promote awareness and understanding of science, technology, humanities and new ideas,
(f) provide advice on any matter relating to any of its functions, and
(g) promote awareness and understanding of its activities.

“…and new ideas” – listed as if these are a separate field of enquiry. I wonder what the authors imagine research to be?

A member of academic staff in a real university researches and teaches. These two activities are complementary; each supports the other. Research qualifies a university teacher to take students to the boundary of existing knowledge, to try to see beyond it, and to question what they find there.

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11th July 2016

Quantum secrets of photosynthesis at Summer Science Exhibition 2016

Filed under: Diary — John Allen @ 10:55 am

The Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition is always full of interest. The 2016 exhibition had some remarkable displays and demonstrations.

Quantum secrets of photosynthesis was fascinating. I heard that energy transfer between chlorophyll molecules occurs more rapidly than can be explained by classical models, and that quantum superposition is required. I am not quite sure what that means, but need to find out. It somehow also has implications for understanding consciousness, apparently. Nicholas Allen, M.A. (Social Anthropology) was just as intrigued as I.

My own interest in energy transfer in photosynthesis is long-standing, while I tend to think much more of great big proteins carrying chlorophyll, changing shape, and lumbering around in membranes, to break and forge alliances with different photochemical reaction centres. I’ll have something to say on this in Verviers on August 13. I wonder if there are quantum secrets hidden under the classical model I carry around and that I have, perhaps, come to take for granted?

Full marks to Dr Alexandra Olaya-Castro and her team of enthusiasts at the exhibit for an entertaining set of demonstrations, accurate in the parts I think I understand, and accessible, I know, to a much wider audience.

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3rd July 2016

29 June | Graduation, University of Edinburgh

Filed under: Diary — John Allen @ 5:41 pm

Graduation Ceremony for students from the School of Social and Political Science and the School of Physics and Astronomy.
Usher Hall, Edinburgh.

Congratulations to all graduates, especially Nicholas Garrick Allen, M.A.

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Birstall

Filed under: Diary — John Allen @ 5:18 pm

Joseph Priestley, brave, honest, Yorkshire lad,
Across the centuries accepts the trust placed in his memory.
Grieving for a noble daughter,
His statue guards these flowers.

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16th June 2016

Failing management in UK universities

Filed under: About universities,Diary — John Allen @ 8:05 am

Knowledge for a Successful Society is the title of an outstanding Alternative White Paper on the future of higher education in the UK. The section on university governance is particularly perceptive and close to home. I attended the Launch Meeting in Parliament on 8th June.

The concerns addressed are very similar to those of Remedying failures of corporate management in UK universities, which colleagues and I published in 2012.

One difference is that, in 2012, the authors’ institution, Queen Mary University of London, was simply flouting the sound principles in its statutes, ordinances, and codes of practice. Today we see a government white paper that will replace these principles, to the detriment of research and teaching. The alternative white paper is a response to these. I predict that no dialogue will ensue.

It is as if the decline already in progress in 2012 has now become government policy.

What can be done to rescue UK universities?

The Right Honorable Sir Eric Pickles MP,
House of Commons,
London, SW1A 0AA

Thursday, 9 June 2016

Dear Sir Eric,

In Defence of Public Higher Education: Knowledge for a Successful Society

Please allow me to draw your attention to this Alternative White Paper. Its launch will take place on Monday 13th June, 4.30-6.00 p.m., in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, Bridge St/Victoria Embankment SW1A 2LW. The document is written in response to the Government White Paper “Success as a Knowledge Economy”.

I write in a personal capacity and as a member of Council for the Defence of British Universities, one of the contributors to the Alternative White Paper.

I believe that the quality of higher education in England and Wales will be affected adversely and irrevocably by the changes to University governance proposed in the White Paper. The aim of the Alternative White Paper is to describe policies that will, instead, protect the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and understanding, the twin primary purposes of any university in an open and prosperous society.

Please, if you can, attend the meeting on Monday next. The future of Higher Education is at stake.

Yours sincerely,

John F. Allen

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31st May 2016

30 May | Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern

Filed under: About science,Diary,Not extinct — John Allen @ 9:06 am

Mitochondria, ageing and separate sexes

This seminar was given at the kind invitation of Prof. Dr. Mariusz Nowacki.

I received excellent questions and comments from members of an expert audience. There seemed to be agreement on my view of the experiment we should do next.

It was a pleasure to meet Mariusz’s lab members, including Dr. Estienne Swart and a special host, Dr. Sarah Allen.

I also appreciated the introduction to colleagues. Prof. Dr. André Schneider in particular had fascinating research to report on protein import into mitochondria, with, he believes and I agree, so much to tell us about the origin and evolution of eukaryotes. André thanked me for acknowledging past discussion with Jeff Schatz, whom he knew as his postdoctoral advisor and mentor, and who had provided the first compelling evidence for mitochondrial DNA. In about 1996, in Lund, Sweden, Jeff had recommended not wasting time on Xenopus oocyte mitochondria since they were “really boring; no cytochromes, no ox-phos”. I tried but failed to explain why I thought this was an interesting comment.

André’s comment in Bern was prompted by an acknowledgement slide I’d prepared, and worried about, thanking Jeff and also Lars Ernster for early encouragement. I can’t be sure about Jeff’s view, but Lars definitely liked the mitochondrial theory of ageing, and even showed a summary graphic, Figure 1 from my 1996 Journal of Theoretical Biology paper, in a seminar he later gave in Lund. I recalled apologising to Ernster, an outstanding biochemist and experimentalist, Nobel Chemistry Committee member and spokesman, for proposing “just an hypothesis”.

His reply? – “This is what we do!”