Research and Enterprise at Coventry University www.coventry.ac.uk /research Issue 19 | 2017
Innovate
Hidden harvest How edible insects could help avert a global food crisis
Destressing DNA Find out why yoga is benefiting you at a genetic level
The sex factor New research linking sexual activity to a brain boost
A new formula for battery manufacturing How Coventry University is linking up with Williams to put UK battery tech in pole position
Research Coventry
discover more online www.coventry.ac.uk/research
Our five research themes As an ambitious and innovative university, our research makes a tangible difference to the way we live. Coventry University is already known for delivering research that makes a significant contribution to a number of global challenges.
Safety and security Protecting the security and freedom of citizens and of those most in need in society – whether they’re here in the UK or overseas – remains one of the foremost challenges we face. It’s a challenge Coventry University is tackling through research, which not only reaches deep into communities across continents, but also explores and combats threats posed by technologies that have become integral to our way of life.
Intelligent products and processes
Sustainability and resilience
Harnessing the latest science and technology to pioneer new and more intelligent ways of doing things is a cornerstone of university research. Coventry University, much like the city of Coventry itself, has a successful history of innovating solutions and techniques that add value to our economy – whether through knowledge transfer or commercialisation of a new idea – and we remain at the forefront of intelligent thinking with our cutting-edge research across a variety of fields.
The environments we live in – and the infrastructures we build inside them – are constantly under threat, whether from climate change, economic instability or human conflict. These are challenges which researchers at Coventry University are meeting head on at a national and international level, helping communities and habitats to shore up and regenerate themselves by engaging with citizens, with businesses and with technology. We are continuing to make a substantial contribution to some of today’s most challenging issues – that’s why we’re putting ground-breaking research at the heart of everything we do.
Health and wellbeing Creative cultures A healthy and happy population is one which benefits from all facets of society – from early years education to social justice policy – being geared towards preserving and improving our physical and mental wellbeing. Ageing populations and rises in mental ill-health are just some of the significant challenges we face, but at Coventry University we’re transforming the way we tackle these issues – among others – through research.
Research Coventry
The creative industries are worth around £87bn to the UK economy, and higher education institutions play a central role in the sector’s success and future prosperity. At Coventry University our roots can be traced back to a mid-19th century design school, and 175 years later the creative spirit that drove that school’s successful foundation and collaboration with industry is as vibrant as ever, and evident in our teaching and research activities.
discover more online www.coventry.ac.uk/research
Welcome to a new issue of Innovate, our magazine highlighting the best of Coventry University’s research and enterprise activities over recent months.
Research at Coventry University focuses on ‘Excellence with Impact’. We achieve this through our world-leading experts taking original approaches to make a tangible difference to the way we live.
The edition of Innovate prior to this was the first one since I took up the role of deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry, and in the period between then and now it’s wonderful to have seen the University’s research go from strength to strength thanks to the hard work and passion of our staff. These strengths are reflected in some of the fascinating stories you’ll read about in the coming pages – including an overview of our new doctoral college, an insight into how yoga can reverse the causes of stress, and how our researchers are boosting their profile by writing for the influential website The Conversation. Over the past months you will hopefully have seen Coventry’s most exciting research projects profiled around the city on posters and banners, part of a new campaign showcasing the five themes around which our research is now focused (see opposite for more on those themes). In tandem with this, I’m delighted to say that we have launched three new research centres – Global Learning: Education and Attainment (GLEA), Financial and Corporate Integrity (FCI), and Postdigital Cultures (PC) – and reshaped the centres aligned with our Faculty of Health and Life Sciences to better reflect the expertise we have. We’ll also have some exciting news in the next issue of Innovate about our transport research areas. Looking ahead, the future is not without its challenges. The prospect of Brexit – discussed on p28 – looms large for the UK research community, but we’re doing all we can to get that community’s needs front and centre on the government’s agenda while it negotiates with the European Union. Whatever the outcome in those negotiations, I remain confident that our world-leading research and portfolio of innovative international collaborations will stand the University in strong stead as we edge closer to 2020 and the next Research Excellence Framework (REF).
Professor Richard Dashwood Deputy vice-chancellor for research
Innovate magazine is just one of the ways we share our expertise, knowledge and skills. If it’s given you a thirst for more then take a look at our website at www.coventry.ac.uk/research where you can uncover the people behind the stories and discover our cutting edge thinking. The University does not warrant or make any representation regarding the reliability or accuracy of the information and materials contained herein. Whilst Coventry University has taken reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of the information in this document at the time of going to print, the precise content is subject to change. In no events will the University be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from the reliance or use of such information and/or materials.
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Research and Enterprise at Coventry University www.coventry.ac.uk /research Issue 19 | 2017
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Research news Find out who’s doing what, where and when
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Tapping into a global conversation How writing for The Conversation website is boosting academics’ profile
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A hidden harvest Could edible insects play a key role in averting a global food crisis?
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Café society Why do one in five of us visit a café every day? It’s not always just for a drink
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Putting the UK in pole position for battery tech
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Coventry University is playing a key role in a Williams Advanced Engineering Project
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Bringing off-grid power to the Amazon A project helping to bring renewable energy to remote parts of Brazil
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Planting seeds of hope for refugees Trees and gardens in refugee camps are bringing a range of benefits
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Reversing the stress factor with mind and body Research which explores the benefits of mind-body interventions such as yoga
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Collaborating on the continent What does Brexit mean for the University’s research community?
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The community energy revolution Researchers have investigated why people become involved in green projects
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Enterprise news The latest developments from enterprise and innovation
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Researcher Q&A Quick fire questions with politics and international relations expert Professor Matt Qvortrup
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Research news
From PhD to professor: new centre to support researchers A new centre is playing a key role in advancing the quality of the University’s research environment by focusing on the people who work within it. The Doctoral College and Centre for Research Capability and Development was launched in April to support and develop all researchers, from PhD students to professors. It coordinates a range of academic, development and social programmes for researchers, including themed weeks, an annual research festival and competitions such as the popular three-minute thesis contest. It is also responsible for the recruitment of research students, supporting them through their studies and training and developing their supervisors. And just two months after it was officially set up, there was recognition of Coventry University’s work to support its researchers when it retained its HR Excellence in Research Award. The University was cited for its ‘exemplary initiatives, excellent support and implementation structures’ relating to the professional development of its researchers. Director Dr Rebekah Smith McGloin said: “The University has ambitious plans for growth in research and we are passionate about working with the people in this field, whether they are PhD students, research associates or professors. “We are supporting them to undertake worldleading, world-changing research.” She added: “We’ve been recruiting heavily
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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over the summer to bring in specialist expertise in areas such as policy and practice in doctoral education, online training and development for researchers and an international collaborative programmes expert. “We’ve already started looking again at systems, processes and structures that support researchers at Coventry and we’ll be focusing on that in the coming year.” The University was one of seven in the UK to retain its HR Excellence in Research award in
April after a four-year review. The award emphasises the new unit’s longterm commitment to the career development of researchers, with the judging panel’s comments referring to “a clear sense the University is an organisation on the move.” Rebekah added: “The review demonstrates our commitment to researchers and our desire to push the boundaries and to innovate.”
Research news
It’s the research about sex that made headlines around the world – from the front page of The Times to newspaper articles in India, Australia, America and Canada. The study by researchers from Coventry and Oxford Universities found that engaging in sexual activity more often was linked to improved brain function in older adults. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it caught the attention of journalists, from broadsheet science correspondents to tabloid headline writers and sex advice columnists to Sky TV’s news review presenters and countless BBC local radio reporters. It was a hectic couple of days of backto-back radio interviews for lead researcher Hayley Wright, from Coventry University’s Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science. But it gave her an incredible opportunity to talk about her research and get her message about the effect of sex on cognitive ageing across to a global audience. “People don’t like to think that older people have sex – but we need to challenge this conception at a societal level and look at what impact sexual activity can have on those aged 50 and over,” Dr Wright said. “We need to get people talking about these issues and this research definitely got people doing exactly that.” The study, published in The Journals of Gerontology in June, suggested that people who engaged in more regular sexual activity scored higher on tests that measured their verbal fluency and their ability to visually perceive objects and the spaces between them. The research participants, aged between 50 and 83, filled in a questionnaire on how often, on average, they had engaged in sexual activity over the past 12 months - whether
The sex factor People don’t like to think that older people have sex – but we need to challenge this conception at a societal level
that was never, monthly or weekly - as well as answering questions about their general health and lifestyle. They also took part in tests which measured different patterns of brain function in older adults, focussing on attention, memory, verbal fluency, language and visuospatial ability. It was the verbal fluency and visuospatial ability tests where participants who engaged in weekly sexual activity scored the most highly, with the verbal fluency tests showing the strongest effect. The research carried out so far only suggests a link between the two areas and is not able to say if sexual activity is actually causing better cognitive function.
It also does not cover why the results are higher in these specific tests. Dr Wright is now involved in a study on whether all types of sexual activity are associated with cognitive function in the same way. She is also working with support services to address barriers to relationship and sex therapy for older people. Further research could also look at how biological elements could influence the relationship between sexual activity and brain function to give a fuller explanation of their findings. Dr Wright added: “Every time we do another piece of research we are getting a little bit closer to understanding why this association exists at all, what the underlying mechanisms are, and whether there is a ‘cause and effect’ relationship between sexual activity and cognitive function in older people.” It seems there’s a lot more to come from Dr Wright – and potentially some further newspaper headlines about her future research as well.
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Research news
Completing the circle Sustainable fashion, electric vehicles and food waste were among the topics on discussion at a thought-provoking conference on the circular economy. The event – hosted by the Centre for Business in Society (CBiS) – explored how the economic model can help meet some of the challenges caused by population growth, the strain on global resources and climate change. A circular economy aims to maintain the value of goods, materials and resources for as long as possible to extract the maximum amount of use out of them, before recovering and regenerating them at the end of their lives. It’s a contrast to a linear economy, characterised by a ‘make, take and dispose’ model where products created as cheaply as possible are discarded by customers without a second thought. Circular economy research is of growing importance for academics in Coventry and around the world as they seek to understand how to convince companies, consumers and communities to be less wasteful to help prolong the life of both our products and our planet. For car manufacturers, that might be about solving challenges faced by drivers of electric vehicles in rural areas; for restaurants and
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supermarkets, it might be about how to redistribute food that cannot be sold so it does not go to waste; and for the fashion-conscious, it might be about buying second-hand designer leather handbags rather than opting for new products and then discarding them. These were among the topics debated during the conference. “This was all about highlighting the diverse range of issues stemming from the circular economy,” said Lyndon Simkin, CBiS director. “We wanted people to leave the conference inspired to look at these issues in a different way. “The research on this has, historically, been from the aspects of either producers or consumers. It’s very rare that these elements have come together, but it has to be looked at as a whole. We all need to have a greater understanding of the circular economy, it could save the planet.” More than 80 delegates from across the UK, Europe and from as far afield as Australia attended the event in July to hear talks and participate in roundtable discussions, with 30 research papers presented during the event. Keynote speakers included Marsha Smith of Super Kitchen, a network of social and community eating spaces, Professor Kirsi
We all need to have a greater understanding of the circular economy – it could save the planet
Niinimaki of Aalto University in Helsinki and Dr David Peck from TU Delft, who spoke about how constraints on resources poses a challenge for society, business and government. It was organised in collaboration with the Centre for Research in Marketing and Society, Sheffield University Management School and the Academy of Marketing Sustainability SIG, and hosted by Professor Marylyn Carrigan and Professor Sally Dibb, from CBiS, at the Techno Centre.
Research news
International programme boosts PhD students’ prospects A partnership between two universities on different sides of the world is giving PhD students the chance to benefit from a wealth of new opportunities. Coventry University and Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, have launched the Cotutelle programme, where students are enrolled at both universities and spend time at each institution. The scheme aims to boost PhD students’ employability and prospects after graduation by giving them access to different cultural and research environments, as well as vital international experience. It is the first of a series of projects to come out of a new strategic partnership between Coventry and Deakin as the universities seek to develop their international links. Professor Richard Dashwood, deputy vicechancellor for research, said: “This programme is a fantastic opportunity for PhD students to broaden their horizons, unlocking a door to a world of new education, research and cultural experiences for them. “We are continually looking to strengthen our international links and this shows how that work is reaping the benefits for our students.” The programme was launched in December, with the first set of students joining the scheme this summer. The three who started the programme in Coventry are based within either the Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing (EEC) or the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE).
This programme is a fantastic opportunity for PhD students to broaden their horizons
Each student has a counterpart at Deakin and together they work on the same project theme for the three and a half year duration of the programme. They spend a minimum of 12 months at each institution and benefit from joint supervision and expertise from academic staff in both Coventry and Melbourne. Upon completion of the programme, successful students will be awarded a degree from both Coventry and Deakin and will have the opportunity to graduate from both universities. During the programme, the students are provided with a scholarship of £15,000 (around $28,000 AUD) a year, as well as a full tuition fee waiver, one return economy flight to Australia or UK and also have their healthcare and visa costs covered. Applications for the 2018 intake are now open, with opportunities to join the programme available in the Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing, the Faculty of Business and Law, the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship.
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk/cotutelles @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Research news
Fit for the future Researchers are investigating new ways to improve people’s health and fitness thanks to a collaboration with a European chain of leisure centres and the creation of a research hub in Madrid. It’s a typical scene in every gym in January. Crowds of new members are pounding the treadmill, sweating on the step machine and powering through the pain barrier; hoping to burn off the excesses after over indulging at Christmas. But then a few weeks later, the gym is quieter again as the newly-signed up members forget about their new year’s resolution to do more exercise. This is where Coventry University PhD researcher Jorge Lopez is hoping to make a difference. He is working on developing a behaviour change intervention that will encourage these new members to keep going to the gym regularly throughout the year, and not ditch their new-found enthusiasm for fitness after just a few weeks or months. And Mr Lopez will be able to test the intervention out on tens of thousands of gymgoers, thanks to a collaboration with GO Fit leisure centres, a chain of gyms with more than 175,000 members across Spain and Portugal. The results could then help the gyms to encourage their members to keep fit throughout the year, engaging inactive people into a healthy and active lifestyle. It’s all part of the GO Fit LAB project which gives PhD students from Coventry and the Universidad Europea de Madrid access to a research hub at the huge GO Fit sports centre in Vallehermoso, in the Spanish capital. But crucially, they will be able to use the gym’s members as real-life test cases for their research. Coventry University PhD researcher Mr Lopez said: “Researchers can come up with models, theories and interventions. They can say that people need a trainer every day, and
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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that they need more space to help them get fit. But that might not be possible. We’ll be able to put our research into action in the real world, with these members, in these gyms.” “We’ll be able to see the results of our work across a whole community.” The other Coventry University researcher involved in the GO Fit LAB project is Brett Staniland. He is looking at exercise and physical activity methods that are aimed at reducing cardiovascular risk factors, such as high cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity and smoking. His work involves analysing literature and public health guidelines to design an evidence-based experiment to try to find out what the most effective exercise intervention would be to tackle cardiovascular disease. This intervention will then be rolled out for gym members at GO Fit’s venues across Spain and Portugal for a year. The participants will be screened in the lab and their day-to-day activities monitored, with the researchers tracking how their cardiovascular risk status changes throughout the year. The results will help shape future public exercise and physical activity guidelines and initiatives. Mr Staniland said: “The GO Fit LAB is filled with state of the art equipment and facilities so that we can undertake our research perfectly. “Personally, it allows me to gain unrivalled experience in a laboratory environment which is up to a very high standard and serves a very important purpose.” The project is being led by GO Fit LAB’s research director, Coventry University’s Professor Alfonso Jimenez.
Research news
Coventry University to play five-year host to UN academic council
Coventry University’s Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) has been selected to host the headquarters of the prestigious Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) for five years starting in 2018. The University’s research centre, which is based on its Technology Park and which specialises in trust, peacebuilding and human security, will assume the role of secretariat to ACUNS from next year. This significant appointment brings the headquarters and secretariat of ACUNS outside North America for the first time. Previous hosts include Ivy League institutions Dartmouth College, Brown, Princeton and Yale in the US and Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. ACUNS, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has around 900 institutional and individual members from over 50 countries – each sharing a common commitment to the UN Charter – and acts as an interface between global academic and practitioner communities and the United Nations system. As host institution, CTPSR will – among other responsibilities – run international conferences and manage a global network that brings together researchers and professionals from around the world who have an interest in maintaining international peace and security, and promoting global development and human rights. The role will be assumed at a critical time when the UN is facing challenges to reform and revitalise, and when the need for effective global governance has never been more urgent.
The council is ready for the next step in its development, and we’re dedicated to helping
“We’re very much looking forward to becoming the new ACUNS headquarters and secretariat next year,” said Coventry University’s Professor Math Noortmann, who will become executive director of the council next year. “The council is ready for the next step in its progressive development, and the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations is dedicated to helping it advance as a global and inclusive organisation to further build its organisational capacity and stretch its international outreach.”
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Research news
Academics across the world are boosting their international profile by writing for The Conversation, and Coventry University’s experts are among the leading contributors. In March 2011, two veteran reporters in Australia put their heads together and came up with a new concept in journalism – a website that would bring together academic expertise with editorial know-how to create a platform for authoritative commentary on current affairs. Six years later and The Conversation has flourished, growing from its early roots down under to establish a presence in the UK, US, Africa and France, and engage with academics and researchers all over the world. The idea was, and still is, simple. The Conversation pairs an expert with a journalist to write a 600 to 800 word comment piece on a topic that is current – or just interesting in its own right – and the wording is refined in realtime through an online portal which shows the changes being made by each party. Nothing is published until both contributor and editor are happy, making it a unique and mutually beneficial process whereby academics are able to benefit from the guidance of a professional editor to shape and wordsmith an article. The Conversation is able to harness the expertise of the author to enhance the credibility of its content. Not only that – because content is published under a Creative Commons licence, international news outlets can, and regularly do, republish the articles and share them on social media, along with a valuable by-line credit for the academic author. Researchers from Coventry University have been taking advantage of the opportunities presented by The Conversation since 2012, when Dr Ian Brittain of the Centre for Business in Society (CBiS) penned the University’s first contribution to the website on the role of disability sport in the rehabilitation of soldiers injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then almost 240 articles have been written by 75 different Coventry academics who, collectively, have received over six million individual hits thanks to their words being
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Tapping into a global conversation
reproduced in the likes of The Guardian and Washington Post, as well as on the BBC – outcomes that are particularly valuable in terms of impact for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF). One of the University’s experts, Dr Matthew Blackett, has even earned a place in The Conversation’s illustrious club of authors with over two million hits – largely thanks to his series of gripping articles about natural hazards which were republished in newspapers and websites across the world. Other notable authors include the Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science’s Dr Jonathan Jong, whose articles on the subject of death have fascinated over 800,000 readers; CBiS’s Neil Pyper, whose expertise on Central and South America has seen him write 13 articles which have clocked up half a million reads; and the Centre for Trust,
Peace and Social Relations’ Professor Heaven Crawley, whose dozen articles exploring the Mediterranean refugee crisis have helped raise her public profile as one of the world’s leading experts in migration. In each issue of Innovate, an article from The Conversation – authored, of course, by one of the University’s experts – will be reproduced, and in this edition the work of Dr Anna Joyce is featured. See opposite to read her expert insight. To learn more about The Conversation, or to find out how to contribute, please get in touch with our media and external affairs team at press.mea@coventry.ac.uk – and if you’d like to read more expert insight from the University’s authors, head over to www.theconversation.com and search ‘Coventry’.
Research news
Parents take note: even minor sleep problems can lead to cognitive difficulties in children Dr Anna Joyce from the Centre for Innovative Research Across the Life Course examines how disturbed sleep could affect kids’ cognitive development.
We all know that a good night’s sleep is important, but from snoring to night-time waking, sleepwalking to insomnia, sleep problems in childhood are common. Sleep has many roles, from supporting the development of the brain and strengthening neural pathways to helping the immune system – and disrupted sleep leads to multiple physical and psychological problems. Even in infancy and very early childhood, sleep problems are related to poorer mental and motor development, meaning that by the time children start school those with sleep problems are already falling behind their classmates. Around 20-30% of children are thought to experience some kind of sleep problem. One of the most common is sleep-disordered breathing, which ranges from snoring to fullblown obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSA). This is a disorder where the upper airway becomes blocked which causes difficulty breathing during sleep.
This article was originally published on The Conversation
Children who do have OSA usually wake up a lot during the night because they are struggling to breathe. They might also have severe dips in their blood oxygen levels caused by the pauses in breathing. This reduces oxygen delivery to tissues and cells in the body – including the brain. Having this type of sleep problem has been shown to cause cognitive difficulties, which can impact children’s ability to think, pay attention, process information and remember things. Research has also shown that children with sleep-disordered breathing have lower IQs and tend to do less well at school. In our recent research, we looked at the effects of sleep-disordered breathing on cognitive development in 44 children aged between two and four – 22 of whom had Down’s syndrome. People with Down’s syndrome often experience OSA due to physical characteristics like low muscle tone, smaller airways and large tonsils or adenoids.
They also experience cognitive and behavioural difficulties which might be related to sleep problems. We wanted to see how disturbed nights might affect preschoolers, as abilities at this stage of development are often used to predict readiness for school and future life outcomes. Children came to Coventry University where we measured their language, motor and visual skills. We also asked their parents about the children’s language ability and behaviour. Parents then took home equipment to measure their child’s breathing, heart rate and oxygen levels during sleep. What we found was that in the typically developing group, children whose oxygen levels dipped the lowest during sleep had the poorest expressive language skills, meaning they had more difficulty putting their thoughts into words and sentences. Those with sleepdisordered breathing also had the poorest behaviour. Their parents reported less prosocial behaviour – like being kind and helping people – and more behavioural problems. None of the children we looked at experienced severe OSA so our research shows that, even at the mild end of the spectrum, sleep-disordered breathing is sufficient to cause cognitive difficulties in otherwise healthy children. This is important, as mild OSA in children often goes unnoticed or unrecognised. We also found that children who slept for longer had fewer emotional symptoms such as fears, nervousness and unhappiness. This makes sense because previous research has shown that treatment of sleep problems in children usually leads to an improvement in emotional symptoms. It has even been found that childhood sleep problems can predict anxiety disorders in adulthood. Our findings for children with Down’s syndrome, however, were inconsistent. With this group, we found those who experienced sleep-disordered breathing actually had better language understanding and used more actions and gestures to communicate. These children also slept for longer than the typically developing children, so it is possible this protected them from the harmful effects of sleep-disordered breathing. What all this shows is that sleep is probably just one factor among many that can help or hinder children’s cognitive development. Nevertheless, given that our findings show a link between even mild sleep problems and a cognitive disadvantage, it is important that we treat sleep problems early – as this might well be the difference between make or break when it comes to schooling.
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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A hidden harvest Could edible insects play an important role in tackling a growing global humanitarian problem? One of our researchers is determined to find out. Meet the woman who wants people to eat locusts and grasshoppers to help solve the world’s food crisis. For Liliane Binego wild edible insects have been part of her diet since childhood. While she’s always found them delicious, she knows not everyone shares her view. But the facts are they provide an excellent source of protein and are already a delicacy in some tropical countries, where they are often also a lucrative source of income. Liliane, a researcher with the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience who specialises in disaster management and sustainable livelihoods, is determined to explore their potential further. She is investigating all aspects of the edible insect supply chain – including wild harvesting, rearing, processing, distribution and waste management – aiming to help in the fight against the growing global humanitarian food crisis. Her work was prompted by the realisation that people around the world who had been forced to flee their homes, particularly those now living in refugee camps in tropical countries, were not getting nutritionally balanced diets. This was even though there was a ready source of protein within their environment – the edible insects. Ms Binego said: “I feel I have a responsibility to share this hidden harvest and its potential. “Knowing that this could really make a difference in our battle for the development
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of resilient and sustainable food systems has really stimulated my curiosity. It’s made me want to plough deeper into this subject so I can find out how we can harness this vital wild resource.” There are around 1,900 documented species of edible insects – including beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers and locusts - with most found in tropical countries. To investigate how wild-harvested edible insects could provide an alternative source of food and income generation across the world, Ms Binego moved beyond their availability in refugee settings. She looked at how wild locusts or hoppers were harvested, produced and distributed in two countries - Niger and Uganda. There are two key problems of using insects as a direct and indirect food source for human consumption. They are seasonal, with bands of them only appearing, on average, twice a year in some locations and the harvesting of them results in high energy costs, because so many lights are needed to attract them to one particular place for collection. This means that in the long term an efficient and cost-effective way of wild harvesting and rearing the creatures has to be developed. Ms Binego interviewed more than 200 people in Niger and Uganda who currently make their livelihoods from edible locusts in order to understand more about their potential. She looked at all parts of the supply chain, starting with joining locust harvesters as they rigged up their huge lights and equipment at
We have to look at people’s attitudes and prejudices because behaviour change is key
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night to catch the creatures who are weakened during the nocturnal hours. She saw how farmers are adapting their methods to fill the gap between seasonal swarms, and how the insects can be cooked, preserved and stored for up to a year after being harvested. During the busy lunchtime rush in Kampala, she joined a woman who made a living from going around the city’s offices selling roasted locusts to hungry workers. And at the Niamey City Market in Niger, she met traders of wild edible desert locusts who shared the benefit and challenges of the locust business. She hopes her research assessing these existing harvesting, processing and distribution methods will help lead to a greater
understanding of the potential of edible insects to meet the challenges faced in communities where people don’t have access to either enough food or a nutritionally balanced diet. But another important barrier also needs to be fully explored – what people think of using insects as food, known as entomophagy. “We have to look at people’s attitudes and prejudices as well. Behaviour change is key. When people look at insects they are often scared or disgusted. People in Western society jump to conclusions about them, it’s not something they want to think about eating. But in countries with tropical climates they are thought of as a delicacy. There has to be a way they can be made more attractive.” Ms Binego’s work has given her a unique
insight into the world of edible insects and their potential in the future. Hopefully her work will pave the way for more people to enjoy grasshoppers roasted with onion or garlic for a snack. And most importantly, it might help people who are struggling to survive because they don’t have access to a sufficiently nutritionally balanced diet.
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Café society One in five of us visit a café every day, but it’s often for more than just getting a daily caffeine fix. While some coffee shops serve nitrogeninfused drinks or roast their own beans, others host knitting clubs and even charge for the time spent there rather than the amount drunk. As the industry has expanded massively over the past few years, coffee shops have diversified beyond recognition from the days of small neighbourhood cafés which just catered for those wanting a drink. And this change has provided a focus for research by the Centre for Business in Society’s Jennifer Ferreira. What started as a small-scale, exploratory project inspired by her own time spent in cafés, has grown into a study that has seen Dr Ferreira classed as an opinion leader in the coffee industry, submit evidence to a parliamentary submission and publish more than 70 blog posts, several articles, a report and speak at events and conferences. “I spent a lot of time working in cafés, particularly while travelling, and I saw how much it was growing as an industry,” she said. “Since the credit crunch people have not been spending so much on big ticket items but they have been treating themselves to little luxuries, such as coffees. But I also saw what important spaces cafés have become for people including isolated elderly, students and young mums. I wanted to investigate it further. “So many people go to cafés - one in five of us visit a café every day - it’s become a normal thing for people to do. I think that’s why there’s been so much interest in this work.” Dr Ferreira’s ‘Spaces of Community: Exploring the dynamics of the café industry’ project looked at the role of independent cafés in five cities across the UK - Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and London. It investigated their importance socially and culturally and how the businesses engaged with their local communities. The study
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revealed the cafés are more than just places to eat and drink but also play an important function for leisure, work and community development. It found that while changing consumer habits, the impact of the recession and new business strategies had prompted the industry growth, coffee shops were also increasingly filling the social roles traditionally associated with pubs. They are giving people a place to socialise, but without the late nights and alcohol. Dr Ferreira said: “Talking to different people who work, run and drink in coffee shops has given fascinating insights. There’s a lot of focus around communities and meeting spaces where people can gather if they have similar interests, such as music and art. Coffee shops are now incredibly key locations for freelance workers and for networking.” Her work has also looked at different trends in coffee shops, such as businesses having their own roasters, and also how companies deal with sustainability issues, for instance how reusable coffee cups have gone from a
Since the credit crunch people have not been spending so much on big ticket items but they have been treating themselves to little luxuries, such as coffees
rare feature at a few environmentally-minded businesses to a must-have accessory. It was her work on sustainable cups that led her to make an evidence submission to the Environmental Audit Committee on plastic bottle and coffee cup waste. She has also been named an opinion leader by Coffee Business Intelligence and writes regular blogs for its website. Dr Ferreira is now planning to look at cafés outside of the UK’s urban areas as well as internationally, including in China and India. And there is more research to be done to understand further how coffee shops play a role in local economic development, community cohesion and development. “The industry has seen phenomenal growth,” she said. “There are always new places opening up and new trends. I don’t know how long it will continue in this way, but while it does there are many interesting areas to explore.”
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Counting the cafés The number of cafés is expected to overtake the number of pubs by 2030 (Allegra Strategies, 2017)
Expected to grow to at least 32,000 outlets and a turnover of £16bn by 2025
Estimates are that the presence of cafés can boost the local economy by 3 to 5% (Wrigley and Lambiri, 2015)
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Putting the UK in pole position for battery tech A government-funded project headed by Williams Advanced Engineering is leading the pack in the development of battery technology, and a collaboration between Coventry University and Unipart is playing a key role. There are few places in the world where the so-called trickle-down effect of technology from high performance industries to more commonplace environments is better demonstrated than on the outskirts of a small village in the Vale of the White Horse in Oxfordshire. Grove, after all, is home to the Williams Group headquarters – an organisation made globally famous by the success of its Formula One racing team and, in recent years, by its ability to harness the innovation that drives its motorsport campaigns and transfer it outside the cut and thrust world of F1. Spearheading that process is the group’s technology and engineering services company, Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), which provides expertise to a range of sectors from automotive and aerospace through to defence and healthcare.
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It could become one of the largest battery manufacturers in the UK
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But it’s on the familiar turf of the transport industry that one of WAE’s most exciting and salient projects is underway; an initiative that is seeing it collaborate with Coventry University’s and Unipart Group’s Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME), alongside other partners, to confront one of the major challenges facing the transport sector – that of reducing its emissions footprint. Even before the recently-announced ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles in Britain post-2040, low carbon transport was high on the UK government’s agenda, and earlier this year the Department for Transport revealed over £100m in grants through the Advanced Propulsion Centre to share among a number of innovative projects in pursuit of technology developments that could save 50 million tonnes of CO2 by 2023. Central to that effort will be the ambitious WAE-led H1PERBAT project – one of only seven funded in this latest round of grants – which will see AME work with WAE and several key partners to create a consortium that is anticipated to become one of the largest independent battery manufacturers in the UK, focusing on performance and flexibility at scalable volumes. Coventry’s neighbours Unipart Group, Aston Martin Lagonda and Warwick Manufacturing Group, as well as the National Composites Centre, Aspire Engineering and Productiv, are also collaborating on the initiative, with the consortium’s ultimate aim to pool respective expertise and capabilities and address a gap in British industry that needs bridging if high performance electric vehicle batteries are to become a reality.
Coventry University and Unipart are bringing a range of technical capabilities to the table
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The battery expertise that the Williams Group originally derived from its F1 programme (following the introduction of energy recovery systems into the sport in 2009) and, latterly, from the manufacture of battery systems for the zero-emission race series Formula E, makes WAE ideally-placed to lead the consortium – and its recent work with Aston Martin on the marque’s first all-electric model, the RapidE, is providing a useful groundwork for the project. For Coventry University’s part, AME is bringing a range of research and technical capabilities to the table, which are born out of the University’s longstanding collaboration with Unipart and which benefit from Unipart’s tier one manufacturing expertise. AME will lead on joining and metrology in the project and is supporting the design of the battery system and manufacturing process, while also completing feasibility studies around production scale automation – a crucial aspect of the initiative as it explores how it can create more commercial opportunities for battery technologies in the UK. H1PERBAT is already underway and will gather further momentum in 2018, and in the meantime ties between Coventry University and Williams Advance Engineering are being boosted through a separate link-up with transport design at its heart (see opposite). It’s a relationship that the University will be looking to strengthen as its portfolio of transport-focused research activities continues to grow.
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Alongside the H1PERBAT project, Coventry University and Williams Advanced Engineering have also linked up as part of the University’s recentlylaunched National Transport Design Centre (NTDC). The Grove-based technology and engineering specialist moved into the NTDC towards the end of 2017, affording it a better presence in the Midlands to collaborate further with partners in the region such as Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover.
The £7m NTDC, funded by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the government’s multimillion pound Local Growth Deal, opened its doors on Coventry University’s Technology Park in summer 2017 to establish a centre of design excellence in the city and to support UK innovation in transport and in the sector’s supply chain. The 1800m2 facility is equipped with state-of-the-art clay milling machines and a 6m power wall for exploring designs in virtual reality.
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Bringing off-grid power to the Brazilian Amazon Communities in Brazil’s Amazon basin are set to experience the benefits of renewable energy for the first time thanks to a pioneering project led by Coventry University. Brazil is a country with a pivotal role to play in addressing the climate change crisis. As one of the world’s foremost CO2 emitters and with around 60% of its land area covered by a large proportion of the planet’s most important rainforest – the Amazon – the biggest of South America’s nations is in a position to substantially influence the global greenhouse gas cycle. When it comes to renewable energy, too, the country has significant potential – arguably yet to be fulfilled. In 2014, less than 10% of Brazil’s total energy supply was generated from solar, wind and biomass, so as part of its commitment to the Paris climate accord the government has set a target for 23% of its energy to be from renewable sources by 2030. However, poverty and infrastructure challenges in rural communities in the vast Brazilian Amazon basin mean that taking on those targets is as much an obstacle as it is an opportunity for the country and its people. That is why Coventry University is leading a British Council-backed technology initiative that could help Brazil’s poorer communities contribute towards its energy goals. Financed through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Newton Fund – which was established to direct UK government aid towards science and innovation initiatives in developing nations – the new two-year STAR Energy project will see experts in the University’s Centre for Flow Measurement and Fluid Mechanics (CFMFM) work with partners in Brazil to design and implement an affordable renewable energy microgrid that could be adopted by poorer communities.
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The Coventry team’s first challenge will be to understand what the energy requirements are for communities that have never experienced renewables before. “There is absolutely no renewable energy usage in large parts of the Amazon basin in Brazil,” says project lead Professor Elena Gaura, “so for the communities we’re supporting we’ll be working from the ground up to help them get to grips with how they actually use the little energy they currently have. “An off-grid system like the one we’re proposing, which would likely be solar generating, could transform communities’ lives and livelihoods by helping them generate and use energy sustainably. For example, they might be able to store up energy for the first time and deploy it in more efficient ways than they’re currently capable of doing. “It could be simple things that in other parts of the world are taken for granted, like being able to light pathways at night to improve safety, or powering a computer or fridge more regularly to be able to sustain a small business.” Professor Gaura’s and CFMFM colleagues’ expertise in wireless sensor networking is what could open the door to these possibilities. The centre – whose previous work includes fitting out bomb disposal suits with instrumentation to help understand and combat wearers’ heat stress, and networking houses with sensors to learn more about and advise occupants on their energy behaviours – has already trialled a microgrid system in a pilot project in the Philippines, and is now applying its know-how to designing a bespoke grid for the Brazilian communities.
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We could transform communities’ lives and livelihoods by helping them generate and use energy sustainably
The potential economic and enterprise benefits of implementing a microgrid extend beyond helping these communities alone. A significant part of the initiative – and a major consideration for the Coventry researchers designing the microgrid – is to make the systems simple and scalable in order to pique the interest of Brazil’s social enterprise community, and to kick-start a small scale renewable energy economy which could drive the development of the concept across the entire country. Conversations are underway with stakeholders in the country, with the help of the initiative’s Brazilian partners, to propose financial models which could support rural energy entrepreneurs to get involved in marketing, installing and servicing the systems. In the meantime, the focus of CFMFM remains on working with selected communities to get the microgrids up and running, and to inspire the locals to make the most of them. “We have an amazing opportunity to use technology to improve the quality of life for these people,” says Professor Gaura. “We can link families together and enhance community facilities, and all the while we can monitor usage live and provide feedback and advice. In five to 15 years’ time we hope this project will have made a real difference, and will have made a significant contribution towards helping Brazil achieve its climate change targets.”
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Garden development projects and agroforestry are bringing a variety of benefits to refugee camps. When you picture a refugee camp you probably think of makeshift shelters, desperate families and harsh, arid landscapes. But what about the colourful flowers that are blooming on tiny scraps of land within these tough environments. Or the gardening competitions instilling a sense of rivalry and pride in people who previously had nothing. Or the hundreds of trees being planted to give much needed shade, provide fruit and help reclaim the environment, and the waste water being harnessed to help this new greener landscape thrive. There’s a little-known story about how agroforestry and garden development are slowly providing a range of environmental benefits – as well as hope – to refugee camps and the people who have been forced to make them their home. And Andrew Adam-Bradford, from the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR), is at the heart of it. His work has ranged from small-scale projects – such as giving residents seeds to grow their own flowers and vegetables – to using drones to investigate how deforestation has impacted on the environment of such camps. “Refugee camps are grim places,” he said. “The people living there have gone through things you can’t even imagine. The conditions are really tough. But there are things we can do to transform these harsh environments into green productive areas. Waste kitchen water can be used to irrigate the land. “Growing trees on a camp scale can shape the microclimate. In general, gardening is a form of therapy and it can contribute to people’s livelihood. This not only makes a difference to the environment but also to the wellbeing of people forced to make them their home.” Dr Adam-Bradford also serves as the chief technical advisor at the Lemon Tree Trust. It’s a small organisation set up two years ago aiming
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Planting the seeds of hope for refugees
to develop small-scale fruit, vegetable and tree growing projects in refugee camps that will promote food production, wellbeing and bring a host of other environmental benefits to the communities in these areas. Its focus has been on the Domiz camp, in the north of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, between Mosul and Dohuk, now home to around 26,000 refugees. In the past two years, more than 2,000 trees have been planted around the camp, increasing access to desperatelyneeded shade and improving air quality. The project has handed out seed packets and organised two very popular garden competitions among camp residents, with 150 people taking part in the most recent contest.
“Some of the gardens are amazing. There’s a real sense of pride about them and they really help raise aspirations,” said Dr Adam-Bradford. The project has also supported the development of a commercial garden nursery within the camp, and a demonstration garden, complete with greenhouse, livestock and an education area. Trees are giving shade where previously there was little escape from the strong glare of the sun. Key to this project – and others in refugee camps – has been harnessing waste water for the irrigation of gardens and trees. This reduces the flows being discharged from camps while contributing to wider environmental sanitation.
www.lemontreetrust.org
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Dr Adam-Bradford, along with colleagues at CAWR, are now incorporating these ideas on a new research project that is piloting ‘sustainable drainage systems’ in refugee camps in Iraq. In some areas, previously stagnant surface water is now helping to maintain a green, lush environment. “The streams are more or less all the resources needed to irrigate trees. We can maximise the space in these camps to make use of this,” said Dr Adam-Bradford. But with 60% of the world’s refugee population living in urban areas, work in this area is not just limited to camps. Small gardens are springing up on rooftops in tiny spaces between buildings, and community gardens are transforming waste grounds in cities like Amman, Beirut, Nairobi and Kampala. Another project involving Dr Adam-Bradford – known as Crisis Response Gardens – has just been launched and will see 1,200 home garden packs and six community garden kits delivered to camps and urban areas in Syria and around Mosul, Iraq, ready for spring planting early next year. People will be provided with hand tools,
seeds, instructions and everything they need to create their own gardens. The project only employs refugees and the boxes are made up in a camp in Iraq. The team behind it is keen to see what impact the scheme will have – and they hope it will develop into a microenterprise, providing economic as well as environmental benefits. While trying to bring these changes to refugee camps, Dr Adam-Bradford and colleagues have faced resistance, bureaucracy and, at times, sheer ignorance. Some of the issues faced surround the commonly-held belief that once you plant a tree it turns a temporary camp into a permanent residence. But the team have come up with various ways to counteract those challenges, working to address attitudes and even persuading sceptical refugee camp managers to plant trees as a long-term investment that can also benefit host communities. But there’s still more work to be done. “We need to scale up. We should be planting hundreds of thousands of trees in camps not just a couple of thousand,” said Dr Adam-
Bradford. “It’s fantastic to see what refugees have done in camps already. But what we need to do is move away from aid dependant models of refugee camps. We need to strengthen the positive linkages between refugees and the environment so camps become biodiverse resources. That’s how we will be able to help in the future.”
Some of the gardens are amazing. There’s a real sense of pride about them and they really help raise aspirations
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Psychologists and cell biologists from two of the University’s health research centres have teamed up to explore how mind-body interventions can reverse the effects of stress at a genetic level.
Our lives are busier than ever. Developments in mobile technology mean that many of us are working longer hours, and doing it on the go – often tipping work-life balance out of kilter and leaving us tired and stressed. It’s hardly a surprise, then, that people around the world have been turning in recent years to mind-body interventions (MBIs) like meditation, yoga and Tai Chi to help them relax in their down-time and enjoy a range of psychological benefits, such as reduced anxiety and stress, alleviation of depression, and even improved ability to cope with chronic illness. But while there is a wealth of evidence for the effectiveness of MBIs in improving mental and physical health, the chain of reactions that happen at a molecular level to bring about these benefits and help us de-stress remain poorly understood. This gap in our understanding piqued the interest of researchers in Coventry University’s Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science (CABS) and its sister centre the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Life Sciences (CSELS), who were keen to explore the science behind why mind-body activities allow us to let off steam so well. They set about analysing over a decade of data from 18 clinical and non-clinical studies, which collectively featured almost 850 participants who practiced a range of MBIs. The aim was to examine patterns which would indicate how such interventions affect gene expression – in other words, the way that genes activate differently to produce proteins which influence the biological make-up of the body, the brain and the immune system. “Millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind-body interventions like yoga or meditation,” said CABS’s Ivana Burić (pictured) who led the
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Reversing the stress factor with mind and body study as part of her doctoral research with the centre’s Brain, Belief and Behaviour Lab. “What they perhaps don’t realise is that these benefits begin at a molecular level and can change the way our genetic code goes about its business.” When it comes to mind-body matters, explains Ms Burić, that ‘business’ depends largely on the type of situation somebody is exposed to.
“When a person endures a stressful event or circumstance, for example the loss of a loved one or sustained poverty, their sympathetic nervous system is triggered, causing increased production of a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B, or NF-kB, which regulates how our genes are expressed. “NF-kB effectively translates the stressful event into a biological response by activating genes to produce proteins called cytokines that cause inflammation at a cellular level, a
response that will be familiarly known to people as ‘fight-or-flight’. Fight-or-flight is a useful evolutionary response in shorter bursts as it temporarily bolsters the immune system, but it’s a health risk if persistent because the sustained inflammatory response can lead to a higher risk of cancer, accelerated aging and psychiatric disorders like depression.” This area of gene expression is wellunderstood, but where Coventry University’s study is shedding new light on the subject is through its analysis of how our biological response changes when we experience the opposite of a stressful event – for example a mind-body intervention. “Our research reveals that in people who practise MBIs there is a decrease in production of NF-kB and cytokines,” said Ms Burić, “leading to a reversal of the pro-inflammatory gene expression pattern and a reduction in the risk of inflammationrelated diseases and conditions. “We found that the MBIs are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how our genes are expressed. Put simply, MBIs cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our wellbeing.” Ms Burić and her colleagues say that more research needs to be done to understand these effects in greater depth, but that didn’t stop their work receiving global media attention when it was published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology earlier this year, including features in New Scientist and TIME magazine – exposure which the Coventry team hopes will help open the door to a deeper level of interest and research into mind-body interventions in the future.
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The benefits can change the way our genetic code goes about its business
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Collaborating on the continent A leading global broadcaster visited Coventry University to find out what the question marks over Brexit mean for its – and the UK’s – research community. “It was a body blow for the sector,” says Professor Dashwood, deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry University. He is standing in front of the cathedral in Coventry talking to international television broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) about Britain’s vote in July 2016 to leave the European Union. “The outcome wasn’t readily anticipated across much of the UK, and particularly not by its universities.” The German-based TV network has visited the city to get the thoughts of the University’s academics and leaders to understand how Brexit has been received at a UK research institution as well-connected throughout the continent as Coventry is. Taking the UK as a whole, the facts lay bare the value to the country of its participation in the EU’s research and innovation funding schemes: between 2007 and 2013, Britain won in the region of €8.8bn in grants from the union’s FP7 programme while contributing around €5.4bn, making it a net beneficiary. At Coventry University, just over a quarter of research income is from EU programmes – namely from FP7’s successor scheme Horizon 2020 – and almost 10% of staff are from Europe, most of whom are attracted to the UK by the quality of the higher education sector and the unprecedented level of mobility which allows travel from Europe to the UK, and vice versa, to collaborate with fellow researchers. That collaborative effort and the funding system that enables it, says Professor Dashwood, is a key part of what makes Britain’s involvement in the EU so important. “Most of the challenges we’re facing in the world today are global in nature – for example energy, food, water and security. We cannot address those challenges in isolation, so we need to work in a larger community. Europe is the only place where multiple countries can work together on a single problem, and where the only funding agency exists to enable that.”
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Food and water security is one of the foremost research areas at Coventry University, and as such the centre through which the work takes place – the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) – draws significant benefits from being plugged into EU funding streams, with around €1.6m of income expected in 2017 to fund a range of research programmes. The DW camera crew travel the few miles outside Coventry to CAWR’s base at Ryton Organic Gardens, where they meet with Dr Julia Wright, senior research fellow in agroecological futures. “We’re the largest university research centre on the continent in the field of agroecology,” says Dr Wright, “and we’re regularly contacted by partners in other countries. At Coventry we’re also one of the centres with the most EU-funded initiatives underway.” One such initiative – the TRUE project, which launched in July – sees CAWR play a key role in encouraging farming systems across Europe to be less dependent on inorganic fertilisers and the fossil fuels needed to create them. The centre is working with 10 other EU countries on the project, and to date has worked with over 25 EU countries on different initiatives. “Research collaboration is particularly important for the food and farming sectors,” says Dr Wright. “It is simply not in the UK’s best interests to operate in isolation from the rest of Europe when it comes to agriculture.” The final stop for the DW team is back in the city, on the University’s Technology Park. The Centre for Mobility and Transport’s Professor John Jostins is also managing director of university spin-out Microcab, which designs and manufactures hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Coventry. Professor Jostins shares his colleagues’ concerns, but is optimistic about the future. “Despite Brexit we have just started a four year, €12.3m research project with 25
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It is simply not in the UK’s best interests to operate in isolation from the rest of Europe when it comes to agriculture
EU partners,” he says. “Given the nature of our work, we’re also looking towards China and have had a number of successful conversations with potential investors that are interested in our research and our vehicles. The pollution problem is in the big cities, particularly those in Asia. There is definitely a future there for our work.” So could there be a silver lining for Britain’s researchers as the country prepares for Brexit? In a positive development, as the UK parliament resumed in August after recess, the government’s Collaboration on science and innovation position paper signalled an ambition to retain a close relationship with the EU’s research community. “The paper is welcome,” says Professor Dashwood, “but we’d urge the government to secure more concrete arrangements for UK universities to remain part of the union’s research funding networks. It’s true that there is potential beyond Europe should bilateral agreements around research collaboration be reached with other nations across the world – for example the United States – but the reality is that the likes of Horizon 2020 and the European Regional Development Fund currently represent the best, and only, opportunities to collaborate at that level.” To watch the full DW feature about Coventry University, which aired as part of the network’s Tomorrow Today programme, visit: http://p.dw.com/p/2emtp.
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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Academics say that clearly showing people the benefits of energy projects on their own homes and neighbourhoods is key to getting them to sign up to the schemes. Community energy schemes have been springing up across the country; helping homeowners install solar panels, providing neighbours with cheaper fuel and even allowing sports clubs to go green. And a team of researchers from the Centre for Business in Society (CBiS) have been delving deeper into why people become involved in these projects, and how their benefits can be shared. It has all been to try to help encourage more residents, neighbourhoods and organisations to sign up for similar schemes. The team interviewed people in Milton Keynes and nationwide over the course of 18 months amassing a considerable amount of qualitative data. The research was part of the Innovate UKfunded Community Action Platform for Energy (CAPE) study, which has seen the creation of an online one-stop shop to enable people to get involved in community energy schemes in Milton Keynes. The findings of the study have directly influenced how the website has been set up and the way it guides residents to join in the different energy projects available. “We found that people weren’t necessarily getting involved in these projects to help the environment,” said Professor Sally Dibb. “There’s a real social side to why people get
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
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involved. For some it’s all about community altruism or a way of improving the local area. “For others it’s the benefits to them personally: saving money or keeping up with their neighbours. The journeys these communities are taking towards sustainability are very different.” When the CAPE website was being put together, this detail was used to address the different types of information people might want in order to encourage them to join projects, rather than having a ‘one size fits all’ website. Key to the CAPE project was also being able to show exactly how communities have benefited from these schemes. People can visit the website and use ‘Big Data’ tools such as satellite images of local buildings, energy performance data and sociodemographic information to see the difference projects have made to communities. But more importantly, they can actually use this data to see exactly how a project could make a difference to their own home, street and neighbourhood. “It can be really hard to measure the benefits of these schemes – but this shows people
exactly what has happened in a variety of different ways. “It is different to other projects as it puts ‘Big Data’ tools in the hands of local communities,” said Dr Helen Roby, who also worked on the project. CAPE involved a partnership between CBiS, SmartKlub, the Satellite Applications Catapult, Tech Mahindra, The Open University, Milton Keynes Council and Community Action MK. The successful platform in Milton Keynes is now planned for a nationwide roll out, as community, or local, energy forms a key part of the Government’s plan to reduce carbon emissions. In 2014, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, now the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, believed local community energy schemes could have the potential to produce up to 14% of installed energy, for electricity supplied to the grid, by 2020. Projects such as CAPE show that a thorough understanding of behaviour change and directly targeting the needs and requirements of local communities could provide the answer to help make this happen.
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The journeys these communities are taking towards sustainability are very different
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Enterprise news
Project pushes self-driving vehicles to their limits New government funding has been awarded to HORIBA MIRA and Coventry University to develop a world-class connected and autonomous vehicle test facility in Warwickshire. In an announcement in October, business and energy secretary Greg Clark MP gave the green light for the Trusted Intelligent Connected Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) consortium – known as TIC-IT – as part of a national strategy to establish the UK as a global-leading centre of excellence for the development, testing and commercialisation of CAVs. The TIC-IT consortium further strengthens the links between the University and HORIBA MIRA – a world-leader in advanced vehicle engineering, research, development and testing – which earlier in the year saw the two institutions join forces to establish the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Automotive Research (CCAAR), a research centre dedicated to supporting the development of technology for a rapidly growing global intelligent mobility sector. TIC-IT is one of four projects to receive grant funding from the UK’s innovation agency,
Innovate UK, to establish a critical piece of testing infrastructure which will form part of the world’s most effective CAV testing ecosystem. Collectively, the projects represent a total of £80m co-investment by industry and government through MERIDIAN – a new coordination hub for CAV technologies – with £51m coming from government. The TIC-IT facility will be built adjacent to CCAAR on HORIBA MIRA’s existing proving ground in Nuneaton, and will create a purpose built, realistic and secure environment for testing CAVs at the limits of their speed and handling to ensure they are safe. “It is very encouraging that government supports our view that collaboration between academia and industry is vitally important,” said Paul Noon, pro-vice-chancellor for enterprise and innovation at Coventry University. “We have long standing links with HORIBA MIRA and our combined expertise is driving innovation as well as boosting skills and knowledge within the burgeoning intelligent transport sector. We are excited to be working with HORIBA MIRA once again on the new TIC-IT project.”
University helps community-focussed social enterprises Two brand new community-conscious businesses are now up and running thanks to backing from Coventry University’s dedicated entrepreneurship support team. Over the last few months SpringAction, a cleaning company run by Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC), and Mum’s Kitchen, a catering firm employing stay-at-home mums in the migrant BME community, have been getting help from Coventry University Social Enterprise (CUSE), the University’s community-focussed subsidiary. Now open for business, the companies came to fruition as a result of a public competition that CUSE ran earlier in the year to encourage the development of new socially beneficial business ventures. Competition judges were impressed by the proposals put forward and as a result both were chosen winners, sharing a prize fund of £10,000 to help with start-up costs and benefitting from workshops, mentoring and coaching sessions from CUSE and others already running their own social enterprises.
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SpringAction now has contracts with a number of businesses in the city and employs eight cleaners, with more work and cleaners coming on board. Mum’s Kitchen has set up its base in the city centre and 15 women from the Helen Women’s Project are working for the company. “We’re here to nurture and support social enterprises that make a positive impact on people and their local communities,” said Keith Jeffrey, managing director of CUSE. “SpringAction and Mum’s Kitchen are two great examples of this and they are making a real difference to people’s lives by providing employment opportunities, improving their confidence and boosting their self-esteem. And of course they are making a contribution to the local economy.” Coventry University has opened a new Enterprise Hub on Whitefriars Street in the city centre where staff and students who have a business idea, and members of the public who want to develop a social enterprise, can go to for advice, guidance and support.
Enterprise news
University’s £30m link-up with FEV shows confidence in UK industry Coventry University and German-based international engineering service provider FEV have signed a £30m deal to build a clean transport lab in Coventry to spearhead research into advanced powertrain development over the next decade. The new low carbon technology centre will open next door to Coventry University’s recently-launched £7m National Transport Design Centre (NTDC), creating a cluster of transport-focused research and development facilities on the University’s Technology Park. Four state-of-the-art powertrain test cells will allow university and FEV researchers and engineers to test and improve performance and emissions on a range of different powertrain concepts, including hybridized, electric, conventional and alternative fuel propulsion systems. FEV already works closely with a number of UK customers. These leading international names in the automotive and aerospace industries are expected to use the facility to develop cleaner transport technologies, with a significant area of work set to be advanced propulsion systems – a key innovation theme identified in the UK government’s industrial strategy. “This new joint venture with FEV speaks of lasting confidence across Europe in the strength of industry and the quality of research and development in this country,” said Professor John Latham, vice-chancellor of Coventry University. “The facility strengthens our existing portfolio of activities in this area, building on the work we’re doing through the National Transport Design Centre and our connected and autonomous vehicles programmes to take our recent overall investment in transport research and development to over £40m.” The new test centre represents a significant growth in Aachen-based FEV’s presence in
It indicates a lasting confidence in the quality of UK research and development
the UK through its local engineering operation, which serves the UK automotive industry with specialist services in powertrain development
and an increasing focus on vehicle electrification. “Close cooperation with leading universities has always been a crucial aspect which strengthens the innovative capability of FEV,” added Professor Stefan Pischinger, president and CEO of FEV Group. “It was thus a logical step for us to invest in the low carbon technology centre. The cooperation will strengthen our presence in the UK and offers a great base for future development projects to achieve lowest emission mobility.”
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
Innovate I Issue 19 I 33
Researcher Q&A
What’s your research passion? I’m fascinated by referendums and democracy, but I am also interested in German politics and history. As a researcher I am obsessed with the story of why and when things happen. Why is it that politicians make decisions and how can we understand their motivations without being in their heads? What are you working on right now? I am working on a book entitled The General Theory of The Referendum. It is a very ambitious study which combines philosophy and political science. It will hopefully be published in 2019.
QA We ask a researcher at Coventry University six questions to find out more about their work, study and greatest achievements
What’s your greatest achievement? I was able to predict the precise outcome of the Brexit referendum four months before the vote in June 2016. It was in an article in The Political Quarterly. My research showed that politics can be an exact science!
Area of Expertise Political Science and International Relations Centre Trust, Peace and Social Relations
I was able to predict the precise outcome of the Brexit referendum four months before the vote
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What’s on the horizon for you? We just won a project on a referendum in Papua New Guinea and more immediately work on referendums on independence in Catalonia and the referendum on independence in Kurdistan. There are many referendums at the moment. It is interesting for me professionally, but also troublesome as not all votes are fair and free. If you weren’t doing this job what would you be doing? I would be a journalist. I have worked in the media before, both in television and for newspapers, including the Sun and the Daily Telegraph. I enjoyed being a journalist, but for now I am an academic.
Professor Matt Qvortrup
Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk
What’s the most unexpected thing that has happened to you as a result of your work or research? I am honoured that many practitioners and international organisations have used and cited my book Referendums and Ethnic Conflict and my recent book Referendums Around the World. In it I tracked all nationwide referendums ever held. I am glad this was of use.
Cotutelle PhD programme The Coventry University and Deakin University cotutelle PhD programme offers research students an unparalleled international experience, working alongside world-class researchers across two continents.
As a result they gain unique exposure to different cultural and scientific environments and substantially increase their employability after graduation. Cotutelle students will also have access to additional funding opportunities, the widest possible research development opportunities, and the latest research equipment and technologies at both institutions, providing a truly world-class research experience.
Research opportunity one
Research opportunity two
Distinguishing and characterising the unwanted effects of galling when forming ultra high strength metal sheet
Effects of motor competence interventions on children’s physical activity and health
Research opportunity three
Research opportunity four
Crowdfunding
A holistic approach to understanding and addressing sustainable consumption
In addition to the four cotutelle opportunities to the right, Deakin University is also offering four opportunities in similar areas of research.
For more information on both Coventry’s and Deakin’s opportunities please visit:
www.coventry.ac.uk/cotutelles
discover more online www.coventry.ac.uk/research
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