Moving to the University of Leeds has given high-flier Helen Atherton the chance to set up a popular research and development forum. Thelma Agnew reports

Near the end of her under graduate nursing studies Helen Atherton spent a three-month placement in a hospital in the Netherlands. Though she has since learned the language, at the time she didn’t speak any Dutch. This turned out to be an advantage. ‘It placed me in an equal position with the people with learning disabilities because I had no verbal skills – it strengthened my non-verbal skills no end. The patients adapted their behaviour to accommodate me, as I did for them.’