A new collaboration between Salford Business School and North West media companies has been praised for taking on the London giants who dominate the media industry.

Richard Gregory, Chief Operations Officer of Cheshire-based Latitude Group, believes that the University's new Search and Social Media Marketing course is one of the factors making the North West the breeding ground for the digital stars of the future.

The course is aimed at businesses and individuals that want to boost their chances of getting their websites on the first page of Google's rankings. It will develop the skills needed to use websites as a business tool, focusing on delivering return on investment.

The unique 10-week course which will be launched next month features contributions from leading figures from the region's media industry, including PushOn, MEC and, of course, Latitude Group.

It is also the first course of its type in the UK to earn accreditation from the global leader in the field, US-based SEMPO Institute.

Richard Gregory said: "The fact is that the vast majority of marketing spend in this sector still takes place in London and within the M25. However, Salford, Manchester and the North West are rapidly becoming known for their expertise in the sector.

"There are a lot of very good agencies here and the market is growing fast, so the collaboration with the University of Salford will help us to build on the talent that's available."

Richard was part of the team that developed the programme. "Together we have produced a ground-breaking course that features real case studies and the fundamental building blocks to all search engine strategies."

Programme leader, Dr Aleksej Heinze, added: "This exciting new course offers great content and networking opportunities to people who are serious about entering or developing their skills in the industry."

A course open evening will be held on Wednesday, 1 September between 5pm and 7pm in Room 516 of the Maxwell Building, Salford campus.

For further information or to reserve a place, contact Victoria Hartley on 0161 295 3547 or email v.hartley@salford.ac.uk

University of Salford-based KidsCan, a children's cancer research centre, is offering places in the JD City of Salford 10K run next week at Salford Quays.

The run starts at 9.30am on Sunday, 5 September at the Lowry Plaza and takes in local sites including the Imperial War Museum North and Manchester United FC.

KidsCan is the only charity in the UK improving and researching new treatments for childhood cancers. With six teenagers being diagnosed with cancer every day and one in 500 children being diagnosed this year alone, the charity carries out vital work to improve their lives.

KidsCan's Chris Swinton said: "Your sponsorship will fund the life-saving research being carried out by the KidsCan scientists based at Salford. This is a wonderful opportunity to keep fit and help cure children with cancer."

Contact Chris on 0161 295 3864 or e-mail chris@kidscan.org.uk

Hundreds of visitors to last weekend's Green Man Festival were able to experiment with some weird sounds and one of the world's biggest whoopee cushions - thanks to a team from the University of Salford.

To help foster more public awareness of the work of scientists, the team from the acoustics department set up a tent in the festival's official science area, Einstein's Garden.

Staff and students invited people to experiment with making their own sounds using bikes, tubes and a variety of weird and wonderful objects and were on hand to explain the different acoustic properties behind the creation of each sound.

Hundreds of young people and families at the festival in South Wales took time out from bands such as Billy Bragg and Doves to visit the Salford Sound Around You tent and experiment, making it one of the most popular of the science tents on site.

Charlie Mydlarz from the School of Computing, Science & Engineering co-ordinated the event. "The UK needs more scientists and engineers," he said. "By taking science to places like the festival we can show how science relates to people's interests: in this case music.

"The event went really well and we're making plans for more of these events in the future."

The University and NHS Salford are launching a two year project to prevent tooth decay in young children and babies. The project is in partnership with Salford City Council with funding from the National Institute for Health Research.

Children in the North West have one of the highest levels of tooth decay in England. By the time children in Salford start school more than half of them will have experienced tooth decay, and nineteen children every month are admitted to hospital to have teeth extracted under general anaesthetic.

The project aims to prevent rather than cure tooth decay by targeting the parents of babies and following them until the children are three years old. The participants will be split into three groups, all of which will have access to dental services via a dental practice linked to their local children's centre.

Two of the groups will be given an additional service. This will be either the application of fluoride varnish to teeth every six months or educational work with parents designed to establish good oral hygiene and diet routines.

The University will analyse data on the number of decayed, missing or filled teeth that children develop and use the results to decide which of the services is the most successful.

Professor Cynthia Pine is the principal investigator and executive dean of the Faculty of Health & Social Care. She said: "A project of this size has never been carried out in very young children before. Our focus is to improve children's dental health in Salford and I'm delighted we can work in partnership across the city."

Lindsey Bowes of NHS Salford said: "I'm pleased that we are able to work with Cynthia and her team to promote dental health in Salford. The programme will encourage families to register with a local dental practice and make visiting a dentist a normal part of growing up."

NHS Salford is funding the £250,000 study through a grant from the National Institute for Health Research's Research for Patient Benefit programme.

Partners include Salford City Council, local NHS dental practices in Salford, the University of Liverpool, the University of Bangor and the Medicines for Children Research Network.

For more information or to take part call 0161 295 5095 or email fhsc-salfordbrightsmiles@salford.ac.uk

Yesterday (Monday, 23 August) work commenced on the University of Salford's unique 'Energy House' as the first bricks were laid on what will become the first test house in the world to be constructed inside an environmentally controlled chamber.

Once completed, the house will be subjected to some of the most advanced energy experiments ever conducted on a residential property.

University experts will carry out a huge range of tests inside the house to gauge how its energy consumption varies depending on changeable factors and conditions.

The testing chamber will feature a unique climate system which will generate a range of snow, rain, wind and humidity conditions - which, unlike other test properties, are not dependent on that day's weather.

By studying the different ways the house consumes energy, the University will be able to devise ways to improve its efficiency. But, beyond simply testing new types of insulation, double glazing and low-energy appliances, Salford's unique cross-disciplinary approach to the study of energy will see the University's psychologists, health experts and sociologists working alongside designers, engineers and scientists to devise sustainable solutions.

Salford's ground-breaking approach is a response to the sustainability challenge presented by the UK's ageing housing stock - 70% of current residential properties will still be inhabited in 2050 and 91% of all UK homes would benefit substantially from improvements in energy efficiency. Improved insulation and boiler upgrades alone could see heating emissions reduced by 22%.

The country's least efficient properties were predominantly constructed prior to 1920. These currently make up 15% of UK homes but actually account for 23% of total notional C02 emissions. Of these dwellings, more than 2m, are the two-up, two-down terraced-style that the University will be studying closely.

Professor Ghassan Aouad, the University's Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation, laid the first bricks. He said: "I'm delighted that work is now underway on the Energy House. This is an exciting time for Salford as we have the chance to focus our significant research capability to tackle the issues associated with reducing carbon emissions from the built environment."

Present at the bricklaying ceremony were partner organisations including the North West Development Agency (NWDA) and representatives from Manchester's Low Carbon Economic Area.

Dan Griffiths, the NWDA's Head of Climate Change, said: "To meet the targets for carbon reduction we will have to see a significant expansion in retrofitting of existing housing stock. This project will pave the way for Salford and the North West to take a real lead."

Nigel Mellors, Associate Dean, University of Salford, added: "The Energy House that we are developing provides a focus for teams of interdisciplinary academics to work collaboratively with our local partners to develop products and solutions for tackling climate change."

Michael O'Doherty, from the Greater Manchester Low Carbon Economic Area, said: "There are tens of thousands of Victorian 'hard to heat' terraced homes across Greater Manchester. These homes will need major improvement and investment if we are to limit increases in household energy bills and to meet challenging carbon reduction targets in the future.

"The Salford Energy House will provide a fantastic resource to test the latest energy efficiency measures, materials and technologies under a range of climatic conditions, before we deliver these at scale across homes in Greater Manchester."

The house is due for completion at the beginning of next year, when it will be opened alongside a landmark business conference on retrofit issues.

The University of Salford is holding an international conference on Tuesday, 28 September to explore the plight of mothers and babies in prison systems around the world.

The conference has been called in response to the rising international female prison population and will explore how prison staff, policy makers, health workers, academics and voluntary groups can work together to improve the lives of this group of prisoners.

Speakers include representatives from the prison services of Nigeria and Sierra Leone, women's prison HMP Styal, the Howard League for Penal Reform, the Quaker United Nations Office, Penal Reform International and Manchester Specialist Midwifery Service.

Dr Elaine Crawley, Director of Salford University Centre for Prison Studies, said: "The number of women in prison continues to rise and their needs are many and varied, particularly if they are also mothers.

"Female offenders who have children must learn to cope with bringing up an infant in a prison environment or deal with the pain of separation when their babies are taken away."

Registration for the conference is free, but places are limited. Places can be reserved by emailing a.duczkowska@salford.ac.uk before Tuesday, 31 August.

The conference will take place in the University's Think Lab between 9.30am and 5pm.

Staff and students at the University of Salford are making a big contribution to the Jamaica Day Community Festival (Saturday, 21 August) with student bands, stalls and donations of equipment.

The annual event held in Longford Park and Stadium, Stretford, is open to everyone and features a wide range of Caribbean related activities such as games, food and drink and music. There will also be a careers fair which the University of Salford is sponsoring along with accountancy firm Zolfo Copper.

The University of Salford's staff and students will be heavily involved with the School of Nursing & Midwifery running Tai Chi sessions and talking about nursing careers. The School's contribution is being organised by Karen Wild and Paul Davies who will also be demonstrating healthy eating with a Jamaican food cook-off as part of the day.

The whole day is organised by Dr Jacqui Stanford who is also a visiting professor in the University's School of Media, Music & Performance. The School itself is contributing two reggae bands, equipment and even creating a documentary about the events on the day.

Dr Stanford said: "The festival is a celebration of community - shining a light on local people and the things we do that make our communities the distinctive places they are. The University has made a big contribution to the day. I can't thank them enough for getting so involved with the local community."

And to round things off, anyone interested in finding out more about being a student will be able to visit the University stand to find out what campus life is like.

Jamaica Day Community Festival, Longford Park and Stadium, Stretford. Saturday 21 August 11.00am-5.00pm. Free admission.

Having a parasitic tapeworm that lives in the gut of a Tibetan vole named after you might not be everyone's idea of an honour, but for one Salford scientist it's recognition of how he's improved the health of Chinese nomads.

The University's Professor Phil Craig has been honoured by French colleagues by having the newly discovered Heligmosomoides craigi named after him in honour of his work in China to prevent people becoming infected with parasitic organisms - potentially saving thousands of lives.

The new species is one such organism, and inhabits a type of vole in Western China and Tibet. It was discovered during an expedition which also screened humans for alveolar echinococcosis - a disease which causes liver problems and even death.

The new worm is about half a centimetre long and lives in the intestines of the Holarctic Arvicolinae on the Tibetan plateau. Many people in the region are semi-nomadic and live in close conditions with livestock and other animals meaning that infection rates are relatively high.

Professor Craig was awarded a prize by the Chinese government in 2009 after he led an expedition which screened the livers of more than 10,000 people for infection and he is currently developing a programme to vaccinate dogs in the area.

He said: "I guess that it's an eternal honour for me to be part of the world's biodiversity! Not many people can say they have a species named after them, even if it isn't the most attractive.

"However, my work and that of my French colleagues is important to public health in a very poor and isolated part of the world and I'm genuinely pleased to be held in such esteem by my colleagues."

By journalism student Dan Owens

The One Foundation has just proven that a week in Malawi can change thousands of lives.

Last week a team of 16 people visited Malawi in the hope of learning something new and seeing the difference they've made by funding a PlayPump to build in their chosen school.

A PlayPump is a unique design that uses a specially crafted children's roundabout to pump water from deep underground. So, as children play, fresh clean water is pumped into a storage tank for use by the entire community.

The team consisted of representatives from the University of Salford, Aramark, NATS and the BBC each of whom raised at least £7,000 by selling bottles of One Water to fund the building of a PlayPump. The PlayPumps were then fitted in primary schools that were specially chosen by One's man-on-the-ground in Malawi.

The week saw the team visit the primary schools that home the PlayPumps they'd sponsored, see a local project by UK registered charity Self Help Africa, visit an orphanage and experience the wildlife of Africa at the Majete Wildlife Reserve.

Each school welcomed the group with song and smiles and later the group had chance to meet the children and see how they felt about their visit and the PlayPump. Jennifer Lloyd, University of Salford said: "The reaction we received was always very warm. They loved it when we gave them the footballs especially.

"Also showing the children the photos I'd just taken of them seemed to impress. There was a general happy feeling of recognising their friends which changed to an intrigued look as they saw themselves; probably for the first time. It was special to be able to share that moment with them."

Each Lipongwe L.E.A School, Michiru Primary School and Thambani Mission School left a lasting impression on the team that they'll never forget. The orphanage was no different. Tiyamike Mulungu Centre, that means "Let us give thanks to God" in English, was for some the happiest part of the journey.

"It's really impressive and inspiring to see how far they've come and hear their plans for the future," said Wai-San Li from the University of Salford.

In the short space of seven years they've grown so large that they cannot possibly accommodate another orphan so they're building a village at a near-by location. Will Phillips, Co-founder of Tiyamike Mulungu Centre, said: "We couldn't possibly turn down a child so we knew we had to think bigger. The village will accommodate up to 100 orphans and selected families will be invited to move in and foster the orphans. The families will receive schooling, food and water in return."

The orphanage homes and schools over 120 children from infants to adulthood with the help from local volunteers. They're completely independent and receive no government funding and only survive from donations. The team brought the orphanage a very large collection of clothes, toys and sports equipment.

Self Help Africa was equally as impressive. They work with communities and villages as a whole to promote gender equality and to teach people how to farm crops. One example is of a young girl who is the head of her house. SHA loaned the girl 10kg of seeds to plant. She paid back the loan the following year and put her profits back into the community and bought a goat. That goat had produced two more goats and she still has crops to harvest.

SHA and The One Foundation understand that Africa cannot survive on outside aid and work towards providing villages with the tools necessary to become independent.

The sales of One Plasters go directly to funding medical supplies for Self Help Africa.

The trip has been seen as a massive success for everyone involved. The team have been touched individually and now they have a greater appreciation for what they have but the real success stories will come when each and every person who visited Malawi last week spread the message to others and influence more people to get involved and visit Malawi for themselves. Then they can make a difference and continue the cycle.

It's clear to see in the smiles of the children how The One Foundation and associates have left their mark on Africa. Thousands more people now have access to clean water and it's generated by children having a good time keeping them smiles wide. Critics have questioned how popular the PlayPumps actually are but it's evident from the lack of paint that they're very well used.