Educational Institution

One of the Samuel Lindow Foundation’s charitable objectives is to establish an educational institution, and over the past twenty years it has achieved this in a number of ways.

The Foundation owns two buildings on the Westlakes Science and Technology Park in West Cumbria; the Samuel Lindow Building, and the Princess Royal Building.

2005 - Present: The Samuel Lindow Foundation and the University of Central Lancashire

In September 2009, the Samuel Lindow Building on Westlakes Science and Technology Park in West Cumbria opened.   It was a major redevelopment of the Westlakes Research Institute, which had been on the site since 1994.  The Foundation, which owns the building, contributed financially (along with other partner organisations) to the redevelopment of the building.

The Samuel Lindow Building is a state of the art facility for teaching and research, with a 101 seat 3D equipped lecture theatre, a range of teaching and seminar rooms, laboratory, high-power computing capability, library, business incubation space and offices.  The building is also environmentally sound, with a ‘Very Good’ BREAM rating for energy efficiency and a range of technologies to reduce the environmental impact of the facility, including a wind-turbine, ground-source heat pump and solar thermal panels to provide hot water.

As an educational institution, the Samuel Lindow Building is leased to the University of Central Lancashire, who use the building for teaching, research and outreach activities.  Undergraduate courses are run, PhD students and academic staff undertake research and various outreach activities are undertaken, such as hosting and sponsoring local start-up business awards.

The Westlakes Research Institute building, from which the Samuel Lindow Building was redeveloped, was operating for 15 years as the International Graduate Research Centre, and during that time there were over 200 research projects sponsored by the Foundation, and the teaching undergraduates from various universities in the areas of genetics, environmental science and governance.

The Foundation also owns the Princess Royal Building, which was one of the first buildings on the Westlakes Science Park site in the early 1990s.  For nearly 20 years, it housed the charity’s subsidiary consultancy company.  The Princess Royal, HRH Princess Anne, laid the foundation stone and came back to open the building.  The Princess Royal Building has laboratory and office space, but is currently unoccupied, and plans for its future are being considered by trustees.
 

1992 - 2005 - The Westlakes Research Institute

1992-2003

Over the first ten years, the charity focussed on academic knowledge; conducting original research and disseminating this through holding conferences, teaching undergraduates and postgraduates and publishing books, monographs and articles.

• Conferences were held and books on topics such as ‘Governance in a Stakeholder Society’, ‘Ethics to Expediency: Tourism and Environmental Valuation in Contemporary Britain’ and “Visitor-wildlife interactions: a conceptual model”.
• Four research monographs, with the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, were produced; “Regional Perception and Inward Investment”, “Place and Politics in West Cumbria”, “Nuclear Values”, “Risk and Values in Contemporary Britain” and “Government Industry Relations in Policy Networks”.
• Over 200 PhD, MPhil and MSc projects funded and supervised.
• Peer reviewed articles published in leading journals (a very small selection of these articles are detailed below), a full appreciation of which can be had by using Google Scholar and searching for ‘Westlakes Research Institute’:
  • Relton, C.L., Wilding, C.S., Jonas, P.A., Lynch, S.A., Tawn, E.J. and Burn, J. (2003) Genetic susceptibility to neural tube defect pregnancy varies with offspring phenotype. Clinical Genetics Volume 64, Issue 5, pages 424-428
  • Whitehouse, C. A. and Tawn, E.J. (2001) No Evidence for Chromosomal Instability in Radiation Workers with In Vivo Exposure to Plutonium. Radiation Research. Volume 156, Issue 5, pages 467-475
  • Abbott, A., Abel, P.D., Arnold, D.W. and Milne, A. (2000) Cost–benefit analysis of the use of TBT: the case for a treatment approach. Science of The Total Environment, Volume 258, Issues 1–2, pages 5-19.
  • Tawn, E.J., Whitehouse, C.A. and Martin, F.A. (2000) Sequential chromosome aberration analysis following radiotherapy — no evidence for enhanced genomic instability. Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis Vol 465 Issue 1-2 pages 45-51
  • Lyons, M.G., Bradley S.B. and Parker, T.G. (1998) Developments in the Cumbria Model and its Application to Radiological Assessment in the Irish Sea. Radiation Protection and Dosimetry. Issue 75, Vol 1-4, pages 91-97
  • Whitehouse, C.A., Tawn, E.J. and Riddell, A.E. (1998) Chromosome Aberrations in Radiation Workers with Internal Deposits of Plutonium. Radiation Research. Volume 150, Issue 4, pages 459-468.
  • Cook, G.T., MacKenzie, A.B., McDonald, P. and Jones, S.R. (1997) Remobilization of Sellafield-derived radionuclides and transport from the north-east Irish Sea, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 35, Issue 3, pages 227-241.
  • Tawn, E.J. (1997) Chromosome changes in human cancer—are they pointers to mechanisms of initiation? Radiation Oncology Investigations. Volume 5, Issue 3, pages 97-102.
  • Romanowicz, R. (1997) A MATLAB Implementation of TOPMODEL. Hydrological Processes Vol 11 pages 1115-1129.
  • Dickinson, H.O., Parker, L., Binks, K., Wakeford, R. and Smith, J. (1996) The sex ratio of children in relation to paternal preconceptional radiation dose: a study in Cumbria, northern England. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Volume 50, pages 645-652.

2003

• Several conferences were held:
  • Nuclear Clean-Up: Skills, Education and Environmental Challenges (23rd & 24th October 2003)
  • Enabling Entreprerneurship: Achieving Social enterprise in West Cumbria (Friday 7th November 2003)
  • Health and Responsibility: Public Opinion and Genomics (Friday 28th November 2003)
• Spring and Autumn public lecture programmes covering issues such as sustainable development, genetics and energy.
• Taught courses, both professional and academic, were delivered:
  • Postgraduate Certificate by part-time study in Governance: Science, Health and the Environment, in with University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
  • Action Planning for Healthcare Managers and Professional Leaders – short courses for health, nuclear and environment related fields

2004

• Workshops and short courses in:
  • Is Average Good Enough?: “Data, Intellegence and Evidence: Making it effective for use at a local level?”
  • Finding profit in waste minimisation
  • Information, Partnerships and Public Opinion
• Over 20 public lectures, for adults and schools, including a science week, covering environmental and other important topics.
• Summer students working in environmental science, health informatics and genetics.
• Teaching several modules to postgraduate students in collaboration with Liverpool University:
  • Environmental Decision Making (26-30 April 2004)
  • Principles of Radiological Impact Assessment (10-14 May 2004)
  • Radiation Physics and Radiationn Protection (17-21 May 2004)

2005

• Public lectures on:
  • Media and the Environment
  • Environmental Stewardship in Action
  • Stabilisation of the leaning tower of Pisa
  • Basking in the Sun: A new encounter with our closest star.
• Summer students working in environmental science, applied policy, epidemiology and genetics.

2006

• Sustainable communities conference (Friday 1st December 2006)
• Schools events for science week in partnership with the Royal Institution of Great Britain and the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Evening lecture programme, covering environmental, health and policy issues
• Afternoon Science Insight series of informal talks by experts in their field

2007

• Six summer research placements working in environmental science, applied policy, epidemiology and genetics.
• Inaugural Fyfe Lecture: "Partnerships Past, Present and Future" (19th October 2007) – Professor John Fyfe (see picture below)

2008

• Communities in Transition: Sustainability and Structural Change - A Conference at New Lanark 29th – (30th May 2008)
• Second Annual Fyfe Lecture by Lord Andrew Mawson on ‘Partnerships and Community Development: Social Dimensions”

2009

• Third annual Fyfe Lecture by The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on “Partnerships with Government”.
• Programme of informal afternoon Science Insight talks

2010

• Fourth annual Fyfe Lecture by Roger Liddle, Lord Liddle of Carlisle, Chairman of Policy Network.
• Science day for local schools
• Various public lectures on policy, business, environment and skills.