AN academic who died when she was dragged beneath a revolving walkway is to have a permanent memorial to her work.

The Social Policy Research Unit, at York University, will next month be re-named in honour of Professor Sally Baldwin.

Through her research, the 62-year-old helped win the funding for the building, which houses the unit of which she became a director.

The academic, of St John's Street, York, died when she was dragged into revolving cylinders beneath Tiburtina railway station, in Rome, last October.

Her funeral was attended by hundreds of mourners, including her daughters, Emma and Julia.

A university spokesman said: "Professor Baldwin was a long-standing member of the university, and for many years a member, and then director, of the Social Policy Research Unit.

"She made an important contribution to many areas of social policy, including her work in support of disabled children, the need to involve users in the development of policies that affected them and she was one of the first to recognise the importance of joining up policy and practice, something that is now taken for granted.

"For all these reasons, and more, it is fitting that the building be re-named in her memory."

Five men charged with manslaughter over her death are due to stand trial in Rome later this year.