Innovate Magazine Issue 20

Research and Enterprise at Coventry University www.coventry.ac.uk /research Issue 20 | 2018

Innovate

A new highway code How we can ensure hands free driving is as safe as possible

Pocket laboratory The life-saving technology that fits in a paramedic’s pocket

Turbulent times Creating a Davos for peace at the RISING Global Peace Forum

Rescuing the Reef Coventry University research is helping to preserve the Great Barrier Reef

Research Coventry

discover more online www.coventry.ac.uk/research

Contents

Welcome to a new issue of Innovate, our magazine highlighting the best of Coventry University’s research and enterprise activities over recent months.

It has been a busy and exciting year for research at Coventry University, as our academics and projects have continued to make a difference around the world.

This edition of Innovate highlights many of these major developments and achievements, none of which would be possible without the dedication of our talented staff.

You will find out how our research is playing a part in preserving one of the world’s most important natural phenomenon the Great Barrier Reef and improving the safety of driverless cars around the world. Closer to home in the UK, our work aims to help to transform how paramedics treat stroke victims, potentially saving lives.

Earlier this year, we were proud to launch our largest research centre – the Institute for Future Transport and Cities. This continues the university’s and city of Coventry’s rich heritage in motoring and automotive development and will play a key role in what the future holds for these fields. This work will have a lasting legacy on how we move, travel and live.

It has also been an important year internationally for Coventry’s research, with new collaborations with partners in the UAE, India and China, as well as the launch of our Brussels office. These are positive and far-reaching developments for the university at times of uncertainty regarding the EU and Brexit.

And of course, we are marking our 175th anniversary this year by celebrating what the university has achieved in the past as well as how it will make a difference in the future too.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Innovate and that it illustrates to you the variety of our work and its global impact.

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Safety the key driver for autonomous vehicles Driverless cars are touted as the future of transport – but how can we ensure they are as safe as possible?

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Muscles, money (and the media) Website TubeCrush revealed a lot about modern feminism

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Preserving a natural wonder Research carried out by a university academic is helping to protect the natural icon

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The sky’s the limit Coventry University researchers have completed a six-month project examining the use of drones in cities

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Turning pennies into pounds The Centre for Business in Society’s research is helping people who are ‘just about managing’ their money

Richard Dashwood Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research

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How can women get higher up the HE ladder?

While gender equality has dominated international headlines in recent months, profile does not always equal progress

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Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Research news Find out who’s doing what, where and when

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The flying faculty takes off The automotive industry is looking for ways to accelerate the upskilling of its workforces to adapt to a changing market place

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Researcher Q&A Quick fire questions with faith and peaceful relations expert Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor Innovate I Issue 20 I

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Research centre first to receive top award

The exciting work carried out by our academics will have a direct impact on people’s lives

A royal welcome The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge officially opened the new home of science, health and sport research at Coventry University during an unforgettable day for staff and students.

The royal couple’s tour of the Science and Health Building – now re-named the Alison Gingell Building - saw them follow a patient’s journey through innovative healthcare simulations – which include an ambulance, hospital wards, intensive care unit and operating theatre.

They learnt about the importance of these practical scenarios in teaching future generations of healthcare professionals – but also heard how cutting-edge research, that could change lives, is being carried out within the building.

“We were very honoured to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It was a memorable day and an excellent opportunity to shine a spotlight on the incredible work that goes on here.

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“The new building has really taken to the next level the facilities we have to support ground-breaking research in health, sport and life sciences,” said Professor Rob James, Academic Dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, who himself undertakes research in obesity and ageing.

“The exciting work carried out by our academics will have a direct impact on people’s lives, and we’re proud that these world-class facilities will contribute to that success.”

Among the research facilities in the building are specialist laboratories for sport science, biomechanics, a running track for gait analysis and an environmental chamber to measure athletic performance in differing conditions.

It’s not just the royal visit that put these in the public eye. Since the building opened in October, the facilities and the academics who work in them have appeared on prime time BBC One programmes, such as The Truth About Getting Fit, presented by Dr Michael Mosley.

Antarctic record-breakers the Ice Maidens, who became the first all-female team to cross the icy continent by muscle-power alone, carried out testing in the environment chamber as part of a research project.

The building also includes professionalstandard science laboratories where research on a range of subjects including antibiotic resistance, the ever-changing flu virus, genomics and cardiac toxicity is currently being carried out.

“We have been planning for this new building for a long time,” said Prof James.

“It’s fantastic to see it now busy with people whose work will make a real difference in the world.”

Summer schools to help improve lab skills, students involved in developing their own training programmes and stringent progress review panel meetings for PhD researchers.

These were just some of the reasons why Coventry University’s Centre for Sport, Exercise and Life Sciences (SELS) has become the first in the world to receive prestigious Royal Society of Biology (RSB) accreditation for doctoral training.

It is a major recognition for the research centre’s extensive efforts in providing innovative ways of preparing its research students for the future.

The centre’s Academic Director Professor Derek Renshaw and Dr Heather Sears, the university’s Programme Manager for doctoral training, attended a parliamentary reception to celebrate the achievement in April, along with universities and schools from across the country which had received other types of RSB accreditation.

“We are proud to be the first team in the UK to receive this prestigious award,” said Prof Renshaw.

“We believe we’re leading the way in how research students are trained – and it is fantastic to have this accreditation to show people that a renowned institution such as the Royal Society of Biology agrees.”

The accreditation recognises the way SELS’s doctoral training centre gives extra support to its PhD students to help improve their transferable skills and make them more employable.

The centre helped improve students’ lab skills by running one-week summer and winter

We believe we’re leading the way in how research students are trained

schools to develop their use of different scientific techniques, ranging from how to take blood to how to stain cells to look for particular proteins.

It also develops students’ team-working, time management, critical evaluation and data analysis skills as well as their understanding of ethics and health and safety.

“These are increasingly competitive and demanding times in academia and industry and it’s very important for us to be really forward-thinking and innovative when it comes to preparing our research students for life after their PhD. “It’s about making sure they are adaptable, have the correct skills to enable them to excel in their chosen careers,” added Professor Renshaw.

The accreditation, which has to be renewed every three years, means SELS’ PhD students will receive fast-track membership to become a Chartered Biologist (CBiol) with the Royal Society of Biology.

Professor David Coates, Chairman of the RSB accreditation committee, said: “After visiting Coventry University, the accreditation panel were particularly impressed by the progress review panel meetings, the students’ involvement in the development of parts of the training programme, welldeveloped ethical and safety approval and awareness processes, and the use of reflective statements in a flexible way to support student progression and development.”

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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Dishing up an insight on Coventry’s Irish residents

When Emma Meehan moved from Dublin to Coventry in 2012, she immediately noticed a difference between English people’s personalities and behaviour to those back home.

She became aware of how people acted differently around each other in both public spaces and more private settings. “There were so many social, personality and cultural differences immediately apparent,” she said.

“I saw how people over here were different, but also how the Irish people who lived here still kept many of the habits I recognised from Ireland.

“I became really interested in exploring how people’s Irish culture and behaviour is deeply ingrained in them.”

This summer, the research fellow at Coventry University’s Centre for Dance Research (CDaRE) joined forces with US/Singapore artist-researcher and PhD candidate Carmen Wong from the University of Warwick and Irish PhD candidate at CDaRE Carol Breen to look into this topic further.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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We see a far more relaxed side of people during these cook-alongs

And the academics are using a novel approach to gaining this greater understanding of Coventry’s Irish community and their personality and culture traits – cooking.

They have joined Irish ex-pats in their homes, interviewing them as they cook traditional and non-traditional Irish dishes. Meals served up have included ‘spice bag’, a Dublin specialty featuring chips with a dash of blended spices, and colcannon, a famous recipe featuring potato and kale.

These cook-alongs have given them a more in-depth insight into what people think about their Irish heritage and how it still influences their personality, behaviour and even their movement, years after they have moved from Ireland to the West Midlands.

“We see a far more relaxed side of people during these cook-alongs,” added Dr Meehan.

“They are more at ease and open up more as they are enjoying the cooking and chat.

“Consequently the interviews end up being far more in depth than normal. It has been really interesting to have these discussions.

“We’ve touched on all sorts of aspects of their lives and heritage; we’ve spoken about people’s attitudes to Irishness, and whether they think they have become more or less Irish when they moved away.”

The research team met their participants through city organisations, such as the Coventry Irish Society and the Claddagh Group.

They have also visited events including the city’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations, and the Shopfront Festival to attend Irish events, speak to people and take notes about how the Irish community interacts.

The climax of their study was a stall at the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre’s Party in the Park event in June, where dozens of Irish Coventry residents, as well as those from other backgrounds, gathered to taste traditional Irish dishes, discuss their experiences of migration and hear about the team’s findings.

This project – titled Invisible Irish - is part of a series of collaborations this summer between Coventry’s two universities to bring their research directly to local people in the run up to UK City of Culture 2021.

“It was interesting for me to learn from both my colleagues how they experience Irishness as being perceived. It has led us collectively to the question: “what exactly is Irishness in this age of migration and globalisation?” adds Ms. Wong.

“The direction of the stories from the cook-alongs has been amazingly far-reaching and diverse. Some of them have really brought some powerful and poetic images to my mind.”

Coventry’s Irish population peaked in about 1961 when about 20,000 Irish-born people lived in the city, many of whom moved over here to work in the motor industry.

At the last census in 2011 about 7,305 people in Coventry said they were Irish.

And perhaps now, thanks to the cooking and conversations that have taken place as part of this project, there will soon be a greater understanding of how this population embodies its Irish roots in its members personalities, movements, culture... and of course, in its kitchens.

Flying high with Dubai research centre Coventry University has launched a joint research centre in the Middle East in collaboration with Emirates Aviation University (EAU).

The Dubai-based Research Centre for Digital Innovation and Artificial Intelligence will train its students to specialise in a range of disciplines, including aviation, management, security and smart cities.

The new venture will see PhD students awarded their degree from both universities.

They will be based in Dubai, but will also spend time in Coventry and receive support from Coventry University academics.

Areas of research will closely align with those focused on by Coventry University’s Research Institute for Future Transport and Cities (FTC).

The collaboration will include a joint doctoral training college and builds on an existing partnership between the two universities, which has seen them run joint postgraduate

programmes in the aerospace field for more than 10 years.

Richard Dashwood, deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry University, said: “The shared expertise of our two universities in the aerospace and transport industries, and our joint ambition to advance knowledge and skills in these fields, have provided the perfect platform for the launch of this new doctoral training college and research centre.

“We very much look forward to welcoming the first cohort of research students in September, and to working with colleagues at the Emirates Aviation University to train the next generation of talent in aviation, innovation and artificial intelligence.”

The EAU, located in the Dubai International Academic City, was established in 1991 and currently has around 2,000 students from over 75 countries, many of whom are aiming for careers in the airline industry.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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News in brief

Tackling hate crime head on A university academic is using his 20 years of research on hate crime to help shape Coventry City Council’s response to the growing problem.

CTPSR research associate Kusminder Chahal is working with the council to write its hate crime strategy and action plan.

It’s the document that will define how the authority and its partners act to reduce and challenge this growing problem of crimes motivated by prejudice. It will influence how the council supports hate crime victims too.

Coventry’s not a hate crime hot spot by any means, but just as in the rest of the country and world, people are being targeted because of their race, disability, sexual orientation, gender and religion.

There were 486 hate crimes recorded in Coventry in 2016/2017, an increase of 27% since 2014/15.

Kusminder said: “Hate crime can be a difficult thing to understand. To an ordinary person it’s just two words on a poster. But it has consequences. We need to do the hard work to explain it to people, making sure they know how to report it and that they get the most appropriate support if they are a victim of it.”

Kusminder’s expertise has been much in demand over the past few years. He was part of a group of experts who developed guidelines to improve hate crime victim support across Europe.

He has also worked with the FBI to brief USA law enforcement officers on hate crime, as well as with Brent Council and the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London to research and develop information that supports victims of hate crime.

It was a seminar organised as a reaction to the rise in hate crime after the 2016 EU referendum that first connected Kusminder with leading officers at Coventry City Council.

He said: “There’s a gap in knowledge in many local authorities. Many people with the right knowledge have been lost after years of cuts and austerity.

“It’s a really tough ask for councils with so few resources in recent years’ to do something about this.

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“But the university has lots of expertise and we want them to make use of that.”

Kusminder has worked with the council, police and other partners to help put together the authority’s draft hate crime strategy.

The strategy is due to go out for a public consultation this summer, before hopefully being ratified by councillors in the autumn.

“We want as many people to comment on it as possible. It’s a living, working document,” he said.

“The really obvious thing within it is that we have to raise awareness and get deeper into local communities, whether we are going into mosques or disability organisations. We have to increase confidence in potential and actual victims to report or at least tell someone.

Kusminder says it is important professionals know how to deal with victims sensitively and are clear about where to direct them for further help and support.

He says collecting information on hate crime incidents is vital to build a thorough picture of how it is effecting people.

“We have to understand what is happening, how and to whom and what new resources and responses we have to develop.

“This is not some paper policy and strategy, that will never become an actionable document. We are getting this done. It is happening. It will make a difference.”

Celebrating 175 years

Coventry University is this year celebrating 175 years of providing education in the city – from its origins as Coventry School of Design in 1843, its growth and emerging status in research in the 1960s, right through to its place as an institution with international reach today.

A timeline of the university’s history and its many changes over time in the city has been published online. It includes the development of research projects and their impact both here in Coventry and globally.

Celebrations to mark the anniversary are being held throughout 2018 including a public lecture series focused on research and our researchers.

The university is also calling on help to build up a picture of teaching and learning in Coventry through the decades and mark the achievements of students, staff, alumni and city residents since 1843.

Visit www.coventry.ac.uk/175 for more on the university’s past, to share your stories and memories, and to get involved in ongoing events.

Brussels office launches

The British Ambassador to Belgium and the CEO of automotive and engineering development company Horiba Mira were among the speakers at the launch of Coventry University’s Brussels office.

The event was designed to showcase the university’s work to a European audience, including representatives from higher education, business, political and funding organisations.

It highlighted how the university helps its students and researchers to work with businesses and other partners to respond to the opportunities and challenges in today’s society.

It also addressed how the university works to develop skills and technological strengths in the West Midlands and contributes to the UK Industrial Strategy.

Other speakers included three European commission managers and high-profile university staff.

REF names panel experts

Hate crime can be a difficult thing to understand. To an ordinary person it’s just two words on a poster

Four Coventry University academics will be among the experts who assess the quality of research submitted to REF2021.

Professor Richard Aspinall, who has recently joined the university as Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, will be on the allied health, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy panel.

Professor Sally Dibb, who is a Professor of Marketing and Society in the Centre for Business in Society (CBiS), will be a member of the business and management panel.

Professor Judith Mossman, Pro ViceChancellor for arts and humanities, will be a member of the classics panel.

Professor Sarah Whatley, Executive Director of the Centre for Dance Research (CDaRE), will be a member of the music, drama, dance, performing arts, film and screen studies panel.

Only one University Alliance institution has more REF panel members than Coventry.

VC on Innovate UK council

Vice-Chancellor John Latham will be a member of Innovate UK’s first council, it was announced.

The nine council members are mainly drawn from the fields of science and business, with Prof Latham the only representative from higher education.

The council will advise and make decisions on Innovate UK’s operations as it becomes part of UK Research and Innovation, the national funding agency which invests in science and research in the UK. Prof Latham said: “These councils are a welcome development to boost the calibre of the UK’s research and innovation and its impact on industry, policy and society. I’m thrilled to be part of the Innovate UK council, and look forward to representing and championing the interests and innovative expertise of our country’s business community.”

Mine’s a pint, please

Scientists swapped the laboratory for the pub to take part in the world’s largest festival of public science talks.

The three-day Pint of Science festival saw more than 30 scientists from Coventry and Warwick universities take to the stage in pubs and venues across the city.

The festival takes place in 21 countries across the world and 32 UK cities in May. This year was the first time the event has come to Coventry.

Subjects tackled by Coventry University academics ranged from why England always lose at penalties to the invented language featured in Anthony Burgess’s famous novel A Clockwork Orange.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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Joining The Conversation From coffee to creativity, feminism to French politics and smart cities to that dreaded but important four-letter acronym GDPR. Coventry University academics have written about a variety of eye-catching and topical issues for the influential website The Conversation so far this year.

The site publishes articles by researchers, which are fine-tuned with the help of journalists, and is an excellent way for academics to push their research, analysis and opinions out to a wider audience.

Articles are often re-published by media outlets around the world, and even translated into other languages for The Conversation UK’s sister sites across the globe.

On these two pages are a couple of the most successful articles published by Coventry academics this year.

Dr Neil Clarke’s article on his research into caffeine was a global hit. It has been read by more than 30,000 people around the world and was reprinted by local and national newspapers in the UK, as well as by publications in America, Australia, Malta and Iran. It even resulted in him being interviewed by a radio station in Cape Town, South Africa.

If you want to find out more about writing for The Conversation email alison.martin@coventry.ac.uk or visit www.theconversation.com.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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Can coffee improve your workout? The science of caffeine and exercise Neil Clarke, principal lecturer in sport and exercise science at the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Life Science (SELS), Coventry University.

Caffeine is one of the most researched substances reported to help athletes perform better and train longer and harder. As a result, professional and amateur sportspeople often take it as a performance-enhancing “ergogenic” aid for a wide range of activities.

These include intermittent exercise such as football and racket sports, endurance exercise such as running and cycling, and resistance exercise such as weightlifting.

But while most research looks at the effects of pure caffeine consumed as tablets with water, in the real world most people get their caffeine from coffee, energy drinks or other products like special gels or chewing gum. So will drinking a cup of joe before your workout actually make a difference? The answer could depend as much on your genes as what kind of coffee you’re drinking.

Scientists think caffeine affects the body chemical adenosine, which normally promotes sleep and suppresses arousal. Caffeine ties up the receptors in the brain that detect adenosine and so makes it more alert.

But it may also increase stimulation of the central nervous system, making exercise seem like it involves less effort and pain. In highintensity activities such as resistance training or sprinting, it may increase the number of fibres used in muscle contractions, meaning movements can be more frequent and forceful.

Research has shown that pure caffeine can help endurance athletes run faster and cycle for longer. It can help footballers to sprint more often and over greater distances, and basketball players to jump higher. It can help tennis players and golfers to hit the ball with greater accuracy. And it can help weightlifters lift more weight.

The evidence for caffeine’s effects on sprinting is more mixed. Limited improvements

This article was originally published on The Conversation

have been found for events lasting under three minutes. But for races of around ten seconds, caffeine can improve peak power output, speed, and strength.

An increasing number of studies have also shown that coffee can be used as an alternative to caffeine to improve cycling and competitive running performance, and produce similar results similar to pure caffeine. In fact, coffee may even be more effective at improving resistance exercise than caffeine alone.

Similarly, drinking energy drinks containing caffeine before exercise can improve mental focus, alertness, anaerobic performance and endurance performance.

But drinking coffee isn’t like taking a measured dose of caffeine. The amount of stimulant in a cup, and so how it affects you, will depend on the blend of coffee and how it is brewed. Studies have shown consuming either 0.15g or 0.09g of caffeinated coffee per kilogram of body weight can improve performance. So a dessert spoon of coffee granules rather than a traditional teaspoon is probably best.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that each piece of research shows caffeine improves athletic performance of a group of people as a whole. But we also know that genetic factors have a big influence on our responses to caffeine and not everyone reacts in the same way. This means consuming caffeine won’t necessarily improve your performance.

In fact, you could end up feeling nauseated and jittery at a time when, if you are competing, you are already feeling anxious. And, as caffeine’s effects can linger for up to five hours, taking it too late in the day could disrupt your sleep, which is a big factor in health and fitness in general. This means it’s important to practice with caffeine during training sessions or friendly

fixtures before using it for an important event.

Some have also suggested that you should abstain from caffeine in order to enjoy a better effect on your performance when you consume it for exercise. But maintaining your normal intake will prevent any possible withdrawal symptoms and still provide benefits if caffeine is taken before exercise. Its effects peak between 30 and 75 minutes after ingestion.

Finally, it’s a commonly held belief that caffeine is a diuretic that will lead to dehydration because it makes you produce more urine. But a number of studies have shown that this isn’t the case with moderate amounts of coffee, cola or any other caffeinated beverage, which help keep you hydrated like any other drink.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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A global gateway to education A new research centre is aiming to make real contributions towards improving teaching practices and creating greater equal opportunities in higher education for generations to come.

The Coventry University Centre for Global Learning Education and Attainment is looking at enhancing understanding of how access and success of students in higher education can be improved not just locally, but nationally and internationally by working with like-minded institutions and researchers.

The ambition is that the centre can work towards generating evidence to influence policy and practice across the sector to promote the availability of high quality, accessible higher education for future generations regardless of background.

The centre was opened in August 2017, and Professor Lynn Clouder, Academic Director for the centre, believes that to be able to build on the high quality of teaching at the University, researchers must learn from those whose lives have been shaped or are being shaped by their studies. Its main themes of equity and attainment, and intercultural engagement and international education derive from Coventry University’s philosophy.

Professor Clouder said: “We are here to try and learn from the experiences of our students and from higher education students all over the world.

“We want to interact with students, former students, academics and employers in order to understand their perspectives.”

“The aim is always for excellence and we are keen to build on the reputation Coventry University has built itself.”

Understanding and finding ways of addressing issues of equity and attainment are an important theme in the centre’s research.

Factors such as age, sexual orientation, race and religion when they differ from the population average are still affecting grades.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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Giving a voice to sexual assault survivors

We are here to try and learn from the experiences of our students and from higher education students all over the world

Strides are being made all of the time in terms of understanding what support students from different backgrounds need to reach their full potential, but work is still needed to ensure that institutions are all aware of how they can work to improve this.

Professor Clouder said: “Coventry University is a perfect example of how internationalisation initiatives can be a huge benefit in a higher education context.

“Welcoming and adapting to the requirements of international students is in the DNA of the University and this comes out in the intercultural teaching styles, curriculum topics and collaborations.”

Improving wider knowledge of the benefits this has on student experience and longer term success is crucial to ensuring that graduates leave with a wider knowledge of the world around them and more opportunities to expand their horizons.

In both of these areas, the aim of the centre is to forge relationships with other higher education establishments around the world and learn with and from them.

Researchers will speak to around 1,000 sexual assault victims to understand how the support they receive affects their long-term health and wellbeing.

The four-year project, being led by Coventry University, will evaluate the work of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) across the country. The centres offer a first point of call for victims of rape or sexual assault, and do not require a person to report to the police.

Working with other organisations within the sexual assault services pathway, SARCs aim to provide an immediate, supportive response, a forensic medical examination with consent, a comfortable, private space for interviews, (if a person chooses to assist in a police investigation) and referral options for psychological support.

A key part of the £1.3 million National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funded project will be speaking to survivors to find out about their experiences of accessing support at the centres, and if the interventions and services offered help to reduce the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder and other health problems.

The study will be the largest to explore a wide range of aspects about how these centres work, the interventions and support they offer, their workforce, the technologies they use, and the context within which they exist.

One in five women and one in 25 men have experienced sexual assault since the age of 16, according to the 2017 figures from the Office for National Statistics.

And sexual abuse is a major cause of

post-traumatic stress disorder, accounting for an estimated 33% of cases in women and 21% of cases in men, according to the World Health Organisation.

“We know that sexual violence has devastating effects on adult and child victims, their families, and communities,” said principal investigator Dr Lorna O’Doherty, from Coventry University’s Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science (CABS).

“But what we need is more evidence to show the long-term impacts that exposure to sexual violence has on people’s physical, sexual and mental health. Although there is some evidence of the consequences of sexual violence, it’s not clear enough on what happens to victims’ health and wellbeing over time, including how people respond to different support and interventions.”

The project, which is in collaboration with Universities of Bristol and Birmingham and several NHS, police and charity partners, will evaluate the work of 10 SARCS across the country – and researchers hope to speak to about 1,000 people who access services at up to 15 of the centres.

This will include interviewing around 30 children aged 13 to 15 years old who have been victims of sexual violence.

The number of centres has increased considerably in the past 20 years, and there are now more than 40 across England, Wales and Scotland.

But the research team believes there’s not enough evidence on effectiveness, there are big variations in the services SARCs provide

and several groups, such as men survivors and members of the LGBT and BME communities, encounter major barriers to accessing SARCs. “Providing an accessible, evidence-based, best practice response to sexual violence victims is not only a moral imperative, it is essential, to limit the consequences of sexual violence across the lifespan,” added Dr O’Doherty.

“SARCs have potential to bring wider benefits to the community by raising awareness of sexual violence and increasing visibility of support services, reducing stigma, and giving a voice to survivors. With this project, we plan to provide high-quality evidence to inform future service provision in SARCs, and across sexual assault services more broadly.”

Project partners are Universities of Birmingham and Bristol, Coventry Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (CRASAC), Juniper Lodge SARC, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (lead NHS partner).

Researchers will also be collaborating with the Rape and Sexual Violence Project (RSVP) and Survivors in Transition (SiT) - charities that support survivors of sexual violence.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

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Feature

Feature

Safety the key driver for autonomous vehicles

This technology is being pushed out very quickly, but we have to slow down and be sensible

Driverless cars are touted as the future of transport – but how can we ensure they are as safe as possible?

On May 7, 2016, a driver died when his vehicle was involved in a collision with a truck.

In March this year, a woman was walking her bicycle across a road in Arizona when she was hit by a car. She died later in hospital.

Days later, a software engineer died when his car crashed into a roadside barrier and caught fire.

Three fatal crashes. Three victims.

Three families grieving.

And one other similarity. One that has ensured these tragedies have made headlines and caught the attention of automotive and technology experts around the world.

All three crashes involved a vehicle that was either driverless or in self-driving mode.

These tragic crashes have brought into sharp focus the safety risks of vehicles that do not have a human driver actively monitoring the environment or reacting accordingly. Although in some of the cases the full circumstances surrounding the collision remains uncertain.

The safety of driverless cars is an issue that is worrying those in the industry. Although in these cases is a key priority for Coventry University’s Institute of Future Transport and Cities (FTC).

“These deaths have highlighted people’s fears about driverless cars. This technology is being pushed out very quickly, but we have to slow down and be sensible – it has to be safe,” said Professor Andrew Parkes, the centre’s Academic Director.

“There’s a lot of important work going on in the UK on this topic – and we’re involved in some huge collaborative projects and developing test facilities.

“Far too many people are too optimistic about these systems. We have to make sure they are tested rigorously and there are proper regulations to control them.”

One of the major problems regarding the safety of autonomous cars is the number of different situations vehicles may encounter during even just a short drive.

“There are an almost infinite number of scenarios that can happen when you’re driving. A child could run out into the road; a sudden rain shower could transform driving conditions - anything can happen,” says Dr

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Stratis Kanarachos, a reader in dynamics and structures at FTC. “In order to make autonomous vehicles safe, the number of scenarios we have to test is enormous. Real life testing of all of them is just not possible.

“We have to reduce this number of scenarios and we have to bring together advanced mathematical modelling and real-world data to ensure that these automated vehicles are safer than if humans were driving them. We’re using systems engineering to facilitate this.”

The research team working on one particular project – known as Trusted Intelligent Connected Autonomous Vehicle (TIC-IT) - hope their way of deriving and modelling these scenarios and testing through a combination of test track trials and simulation will become an international standard.

“There will be an international impact to this work,” adds Dr Kanarachos, “and once we have these simulated models of how automated vehicles act in particular scenarios, we will be able to build further trust in their operation.”

The TIC-IT consortium is being led by HORIBA MIRA, in partnership with Coventry University, and was announced by the government in October last year and started research in January.

It will include the UK’s first new high speed driverless car testing track which is planned for HORIBA MIRA’s proving ground, near Nuneaton.

Another FTC project involves a Digital CAV Proving Ground that will give researchers – collaborating with automotive companies – the opportunity to test how different vehicle subsystems interact and respond to particular scenarios.

It means they can assess the hardware of an autonomous vehicle but in a simulated environment.

The key is to identify quickly the cases in which the vehicle subsystems fail or malfunction before they are implemented on a vehicle and hit the road. ”We can look at the performance of the system when driving at night or how the vehicle adjusts the driving if there’s a sudden change in the weather conditions, or the road quality, “ adds Dr Kanarachos.

“With your normal car, the assumption is that the driver is in control. In an automated car, that’s not the case. The safety of the vehicle has to be tested and regulated even further.

“The problem with automated driving is that it’s based on artificial intelligence, and in every way we have to test how it will behave in unforeseen scenarios. Artificial Intelligence is heavily dependent on the data used during the training phase. Due to the fact that there are no prescribed rules to follow the AI behaviour to a certain extent is unpredictable.”

The fact that Coventry has access to this testing system and is involved in this major project means the university is a world leader in this field.

There are already some cars on the road with low levels of automation for driving at low speeds or in traffic congestion.

There’s even been a test of driverless vehicles on city centre streets in Coventry, right through the middle of the university campus – although there were drivers in the cars to take over control if necessary.

But there are still a lot of complex issues to explore and agreements needed on safety regulations.

“This is an opportunity for us as a university, our partners and the UK to make a difference in the safety of how these vehicles are rolled out,” adds Dr Kanarachos.

“Over the next few years there will be a lot of developments in this field, and we’ll be at the heart of it.”

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 15

Feature

Designing the life-saving laboratory that fits in a paramedic’s pocket

This is potentially a product that can save lives

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Coventry University is playing a key role in developing medical technology that could transform how strokes are diagnosed.

The blue lights are flashing. The siren is blaring. Paramedics are rushing to respond to a 999 call where a woman is believed to have had a stroke. Their actions over the next few minutes could make the difference between life and death.

This critical scene is replayed multiple times every day across the country. Stroke is the fourth biggest killer in the in the UK. Approximately 100,000 happen every year.

And the staggering cost of stroke to society is around £11 billion a year; half of that falls to the NHS. While the ‘Face Arm Speech Test’, widely known as FAST, is a good way of identifying potential strokes, there are many different conditions that have identical symptoms. It can be extremely challenging for non-specialists to accurately differentiate true strokes from these other conditions. In fact, 50% of the time paramedics suspect a stroke, they are actually wrong.

This high degree of misdiagnosis results in enormous pressure on specialist stroke units during a period that is crucial for the patient’s survival and long-term recovery.

But a pocket-sized piece of pioneering medical technology could help paramedics, doctors and nurses diagnose strokes quicker and more accurately. And Coventry University is playing a key role in developing it.

Paul Magee, a Senior Product Designer with the university’s Centre for Innovative Research Across the Life Course (CIRAL), has been involved in the project since 2016.

The incredible innovation has been led by Sarissa Biomedical, a Coventry-based Warwick University spin-out company, which has created a SMARTChip. This is a new glucose strip-like blood test to help identify within minutes patients who may be having a stroke.

Using a finger prick blood sample, SMARTChip measures the level of a chemical released by cells when they are starved of oxygen and nutrients. This occurs when the

blood supply to them is disrupted as happens during a stroke. The SMARTChip will help ensure patients receive the correct treatment as fast as possible and reduce misdiagnosis.

Paul’s role in the project has been to design a handheld reader that will house this vital chip.

It needed to be practical, user-friendly, easy to hold and robust.

And crucially he had to understand how paramedics would use it in an ambulance – with their feedback forming a key part of the design process.

“This is potentially a product that can save lives – and save the NHS money. “But we have to get the design of it right,” said Paul.

“It’s a human-centred approach to product design.

“Everything the paramedics and hospital staff have told us is vital to this making a difference in the challenging medical environment they work in every day.”

The first draft of Paul’s design was a small, sleek, stylish-looking little white box.

But quickly it became apparent that revisions were needed.

The number of buttons, the size of display and how the blood reached the sensor, were all topics that had to be discussed.

Several more versions of the design followed.

Then the paramedics became involved.

“It’s very hard to get a group of paramedics together,” said Paul.

“They are so busy. But there was no way we could do this without them.

“I’ve had several trips to their base to meet them as soon as they finish work.

“They’ve all just done a long, hard shift, but they’ve always been happy to talk about this.

They know how important this is.”

After the initial scientific and design considerations that Paul and the team at Sarissa had worked through, now there was a whole new set of issues to be addressed.

The paramedics quickly had answers to some of Paul’s questions.

Where would they carry the device? It turns out they had one pocket free on their rucksacks.

Where would they use it? Inside the ambulance, but they needed to be able to use it on whatever surface was available.

What happened if water got into it? That was something Paul needed to look at in the design.

And could the paramedics use it while wearing gloves?

“The talks we had with paramedics just dispelled all of our ‘laboratory assumptions’,” Paul said.

“There was a real lightbulb moment during one of the feedback sessions, when the paramedics asked if they could use it while wearing gloves. It was something that had not even been considered until we spoke to the paramedics. We had to ensure it could feed back even through gloves.”

The small, sleek box became larger. More protection was given to the vital SMARTchip sensor. The display changed again. The buttons moved.

Paul’s favourite design looks a lot like a smart phone – and that could be important.

“We don’t want something that will scare patients. If it looks like a smart phone it will be a familiar sight to them,” he said.

The SMARTChip has already been clinically tested at four UK hospitals. Now the project, funded by a £2 million Innovate UK and SBRI contract, is at a vital stage. A two-year clinical trial involving roughly 260 paramedics begins later this year.

During this trial, the reader, which is slightly larger than a smart phone, will be used by both paramedics and nurses at the receiving hospital.

The trials will examine how the technology works in the field and the accuracy of the data as an indicator of stroke (it will not be used to diagnose any patients at this stage).

“It’s a very exciting place for this project to be at,” added Paul.

“Right now we have a product that works.

Once it has been through the clinical trials, then it will be fine-tuned.

“We know this version will do the job, but our ambition for the future is to make it more like a smart phone.”

It’s now eight versions on from the original design that Paul drew up nearly two years ago.

The results of Paul and his colleagues’ hard work will soon be out in ambulances and hospitals for the trial.

It’s the next step on the road to the small but amazing device saving lives and saving the NHS money.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 17

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It’s fascinating because it pulls on so many threads that tie intimacy to a range of issues

Muscles, money (and the media) Research about photographs of men posted on the website TubeCrush revealed a lot about modern feminism – and also made headlines around the world.

One photo features a young gym-goer on his way to a fitness session, T-shirt stretched over his bulging biceps. Another shows a sharplydressed commuter engrossed in the latest iPhone, his designer suit and expensive shoes screaming out that he’s on a high salary.

They may just be quick snaps captured by mobile phone cameras posted on the internet, but these are just some of the images that helped give an insight into modern feminism and how people portray their private desires on the very public online and social media spaces.

And while these eye-catching pictures from the website TubeCrush might attract attention from social media users, Adrienne Evans’ research on this topic caught the eye of journalists around the world.

It made headlines in the Sun, Daily Mail, The Mirror and The Independent in the UK, as well as Newsweek and the Pink News among the many others.

Media in America, Singapore, and Nigeria also covered the story.

The study, published in Feminist Media Studies, found women and gay men still desired the traditional masculine values of muscles and money.

It challenged current thinking about feminism and suggested that people have not moved on

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from long-established gender roles.

And it highlighted how our inner, private worlds are becoming increasingly public, thanks to channels such as TubeCrush, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

“If a lot of the men on TubeCrush still represent historically idealised forms of masculinity, that’s really strange, given the changes in gender relations since the beginning of the feminist movement,” said Dr Evans.

“That’s what makes it fascinating, and that’s why we need to make sure we look critically at why these things are still desirable.”

The TubeCrush site lets commuters upload unsolicited photographs of men they deem attractive who are travelling on the London Underground. Other website visitors then rate the oblivious men based on their looks.

Dr Evans and her colleagues collected data about the types of images of men posted on it over a three year period from 2014.

They found the majority of the pictures featured men with ripped pecs and toned bodies, expensive suits and the latest highpriced and on-trend accessories; phones, watches, shoes or headphones.

Many comments alongside the pictures made references to the men’s physical power and supposed sexual prowess.

The paper is a part of a larger project looking at how the website throws light on some key themes and theories in feminism, masculinity and digital culture.

“TubeCrush acts like a web, which hooks us into all these other, bigger questions. It’s fascinating because it pulls on so many threads that tie intimacy to a range of issues,” said Dr Evans.

TubeCrush allowed the researchers to explore what it means when our own images are shared and how gender relations have changed.

They’re important issues to address at a time when the Harvey Weinstein scandal, #MeToo campaign, upskirting, sexism and sexual assault in the workplace is at the forefront of the public’s mind.

Another important part of the argument of the article was to look at ‘reverse sexism’.

Women may complain about objectification in general in society, yet isn’t TubeCrush doing the same to men?

“It sits awkwardly against the continued objectification of women in social media: the way women are still seen as the image,” said Dr Evans.

“But on the surface it appears to buck this trend. It seems to give straight women and gay men ownership of men’s image as the

men who feature on TubeCrush are there to be celebrated and admired.”

The media coverage of Dr Evans’ research itself provided another element to analyse.

“The coverage assumed this was about heterosexuality, even though we were careful in the press release to state that TubeCrush reflects the desires of straight women and gay men.

“It was reported in the typical way by the mainstream media - they made non-heterosexual desires invisible... as they often do.”

The comments on some of the online articles have even inspired additional research.

An analysis of the comments on the Daily Mail’s coverage of their paper titled “The feminist lobby would get their plain knickers in a twist” will be presented at a conference this summer and will also be written up as a paper.

And it’s certain that this paper and the resulting coverage has ensured Dr Evans’ work reached a wider audience.

Even though these readers may not be familiar with the terms such as post-feminist sensibilities, contemporary masculinities, intimate publics and reverse feminism that are explored in such depth in her journal article, they have probably found themselves thinking about these very issues in some way while forming opinions on her piece.

“A lot of people outside the university have engaged with the article. Academic work can be obscure and abstract – and I think there’s a place for that, given the world is quite complex.

But I don’t think it’s much use if only a few other people engage with it, so it was really good to have people getting in touch to ask for a copy – especially when they were not academics.”

It is definitely more than the TubeCrush photos that have been catching people’s attention.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 19

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A new dimension of dance

Wholodance is using technology from blockbuster films to bring a new perspective to dance teaching, choreography and preserving cultural heritage.

The scene is a studio in Amsterdam. Cameras on tripods line all four edges of a dance floor.

A long table is full of computer equipment and screens.

In the centre of the room a flamenco dancer’s feisty flicks of her hands and passionate percussive movements of her feet capture the attention of everyone present.

But instead of the traditional frilled and flowing dress, this dancer is wearing a tight black outfit and cap over her hair. Dozens of small grey balls are attached to her outfit, her head and feet. Red lines have been drawn on her joints.

Welcome to the world of Wholodance.

It’s a pioneering project fusing traditional dance genres with Hollywood-style motion capture technology.

This studio feels more like a film set from Lord of the Rings than the famous flamenco

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venues of Corral de la Moreria or Puerto de Trina.

Those white balls, which are actually hi-tech sensors, and cameras are capturing the information of every movement of the dancer’s body.

The data is translated to give a complete recreation of the dancer’s movements in the form of a ‘stick-person’-type avatar on screen.

And this representation contains far more useful information to help teachers, students and choreographers than an average video of their performance.

The project also allows this to be translated into virtual reality.

Dancers wearing the Hololens – a special pair of VR glasses developed as part of the project - can even perform with a holographic version of themselves.

“The only technology normally found in a

dance studio is for the music, or perhaps a video camera. This adds a completely different perspective,” says Karen Wood, a research associate at Coventry University’s Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE).

“I think a lot of artists and performers have a curiosity about how they can use digital technology in their practice. We’re excited about showing people how this can be used.”

The technology gives dancers a whole new insight into how they move, as well as instant feedback from a performance.

Dr Wood adds: “For the flamenco, these sensors are capturing every movement of every part of the body even down to every flick of the finger. There’s so much more detail about your joints, your skeleton, so much more accuracy – it’s fantastic. It shows it in 3D and so gives a different dimension to watching a dancer perform on video.

“Dancing next to the hologram is a different experience again. It’s dancing with a version of yourself.”

The three-year Horizon 2020-funded project involves 10 project partners in Greece, Italy, Amsterdam, Spain, France and the UK. Dancers and choreographers are working with computer scientists, programmers and motion capture experts to create a range of digital dance tools.

It focuses on four particular genres of dance - ballet, Greek folk, flamenco and contemporary.

And it’s flamenco where CDaRE’s expertise lies, with dancer and Senior Research Assistant Rosa Cisneros a key part of the project.

She’s the one performing the dances while wearing the motion-capture suit.

“It was a really magical moment when I first looked at the screen and saw this avatar

Using this technology really brings it into the modern world

representation of me dancing,“ said Rosa.

“I noticed so many new things about how I dance and how I move my body.”

“You can’t have that experience watching a video of yourself. It’s not the same.

“It’s been really positive. I’ve been dancing my whole life and it’s really changed my perceptions.”

Rosa spent 15 hours, spread across two days, dancing in the suit to record dozens of flamenco moves and routines.

And she believes the project opens up a whole new world for flamenco dancers – and those performing in other genres.

“Flamenco dancers are trained in a very traditional, communal setting.

“It’s very different to learning ballet. With flamenco it is about listening to the music, the rhythm, training the ear first and then training the body.

“Using this technology really brings it into the modern world.

“It gives a greater understanding and reflection about how we’re dancing.”

It’s hoped that once the technology has been perfected it could be used by professional choreographers and dance companies.

Wearing the VR glasses to see the holographic version of themselves dancing, and perform alongside it, can help refine their technique.

The researchers say they’ve received great feedback on the project when they’ve showcased it at events in London, Madrid, Toulouse, Greece and The Netherlands.

And as part of the process of getting the technology to the stage where it can be used by elite dancers, the project has produced a huge repository of motion captured clips of dances.

Thousands of digital files have been recorded, from intricate flamenco routines, contemporary dance sequences, Greek Folk dance group dances to the most basic of ballet steps.

“We’re capturing this amazing digital library of all these movements. It’s preserving cultural heritage,” added Dr Wood.

“There’s such an interesting mix of dances that are part of this project, these genres haven’t been digitally brought together in this way before.

“There are dances that have been passed from generation to generation and there is really no permanent digital record of what they are – until now” “The potential for what we could do with this library is immense,” she added.

The holograms, virtual reality and motioncapture technology may indicate this project is all about the future of dance, but it seems it also has a key role to play in preserving the past.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 21

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What we can do is to minimise the contaminants coming off the land

Preserving a natural wonder Coventry may be the other side of the world to the Great Barrier Reef – but research carried out by a university academic is helping to protect the natural icon.

It’s a world-famous natural wonder that’s home to colourful corals, unique biodiversity and endangered species, from ancient sea turtles to dazzling tropical fish.

But over recent years, the devastating toll that global warming has had on Australia’s stunning Great Barrier Reef has been widely reported around the globe.

It’s a story of severe coral bleaching caused by warmer than usual seawater that has affected over half the reef in each of the past two summers.

However, there’s another threat to this iconic ecosystem – the nutrients and contaminants that flow into the ocean from the state of Queensland’s rivers.

And this is an area where scientists – including those at Coventry University - are making progress in gaining hard evidence, changing policies and transforming attitudes to try to protect this incredible natural resource.

Politicians have noticed this too.

Recently there has been some good news for the embattled reef.

In April this year, the Australian government pledged A$500 million - that’s the equivalent of £275million - to protect the World Heritagelisted Great Barrier Reef, some of which will go to improve water quality and reduce the runoff from pesticides.

And even though Coventry University and its Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience is 9,500 miles from the coast of north eastern

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Australia, its Professor Michael Warne is one of the team making a difference in the fight to save the Great Barrier Reef.

“We know that Australia can’t control global climate change. Even if the country became carbon neutral, there are other countries with huge populations and massive industry that will continue to contribute to climate change.

“What we can do is to minimise the contaminants coming off the land. We can have a positive impact on the future of the reef by looking at this one area. This is where we can make a difference,” says Professor Warne.

“The extra funding is very welcome,” he adds, speaking about the Government’s recent pledge.

Over the past few years, his work has involved monitoring pesticides, nutrients and what are known as ‘total suspended solids’, such as eroded soils.

This has given scientists a greater understanding of the amount and concentration of contaminants being transported to the reef – and the damage they are doing.

“It was important to measure these contaminants. We had to understand this in order to realise how bad the situation was,” explains Professor Warne.

The Australian and Queensland governments had set targets to reduce the amount of contaminants being transported by rivers to the reef.

Innovate I Issue 20 I 23

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The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most iconic natural phenomena in the world

But Professor Warne and his team discovered several limitations in these targets.

Their work has helped create new and improved targets and water quality guidelines for pesticides, to try to control the level of pesticides within the reef.

“The targets aimed to decrease the load (total amount) of these contaminants being transported to the reef.

“That’s ok if you are measuring particulate nutrients or suspended solids in water.

“But for pesticides you really need to look at their concentration in the water. That’s the key to understanding what’s happening and doing something about it.”

Another limitation of the earlier work to protect the Great Barrier Reef, was the idea that these targets would be the same across the whole coastal area.

“The Great Barrier Reef stretches for 2,500km,” explained Professor Warne.

“A one size fits all approach really doesn’t make sense.

“There are rivers flowing into the ocean that run through national parks, others that run through mainly agricultural areas. Some of this farmland is for cattle grazing, others for sugar cane and other forms of horticulture.

“Money could be spent trying to carry out work where it was not needed or the potential benefits would be quite small. You may not be getting the greatest bang for your buck” Professor Warne and colleagues’ work has been key to getting it realised that each river needs its own targets – and that these should be appropriate for the type of land the river runs through.

The Australian and Queensland governments have taken this on board and recently released a draft reef long term sustainability plan, covering up to 2050, for public consultation.

It features the individual river catchment targets and the pesticide targets are based on the new water quality guidelines, developed by Professor Warne and his colleagues.

Crucially these targets could influence the level of investment by the governments, potentially including the recently announced $500 million, to tackle the pollutant problem in each region.

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“Before the money was divided equally between each region, irrespective of how much it was needed.

“Understanding the differences between river catchments will help direct the money to the places that need it most, where the biggest problems lie.”

The key now is it is also important to show people living and working in these particular river catchments that what they do and how they act can make a difference to the amount and concentrations of contaminants flowing out of the rivers and damaging the reef.

Professor Warne and his team have monitored environmental DNA, algae, pesticides, nutrients and total suspended sediment levels in the rivers to build up an evidence base of what impact they have.

And also what happens if they are reduced.

One way they’ve done this is by working on a much smaller scale, down to individual river sub-catchments rather than Great Barrier Reef-wide.

“We have these new water quality guidelines which are used to estimate the risk that the pesticides pose to aquatic environments.

But some critics tell us all this is based on tests in the lab. They don’t believe it applies to the real world.”

“We’re doing all this work in the rivers so that we can provide multiple lines of evidence, showing what is happening in the rivers. We want to make our argument completely solid,” he says.

“There are farmers that want to change.

But some believe that the contaminants are coming from other farms, not their own.

They don’t believe it’s their chemicals that are causing the problem. Giving them more local proof helps overcome this attitude.”

There’s an anecdote that Professor Warne likes to tell which highlighted to farmers along one particular river how much impact one person’s actions could have.

“One of the farmers in a sub-catchment we were monitoring put some pesticides on his fields. He’d done the right thing and checked the weather forecast, but it unexpectedly rained. We were able to show exactly what effect those pesticides had on water quality, not just in his particular sub-catchment but in the whole catchment downstream of his farm.”

“The farmers in the area were shocked when they saw how the pesticides moved down the creek. It was very successful in showing how just one person’s actions can have a measureable impact.”

To see that his work is making a difference and that regulators are adopting findings from he and his colleagues work to help save the Great Barrier Reef, is a huge positive for Professor Warne.

“The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most iconic natural phenomena in the world. It’s absolutely awesome. To be involved in working to protect this scenic and natural wonder... let’s just say I don’t have any problems getting motivated for work.”

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 25

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Coventry University researchers have completed a six-month project examining the use of drones in cities.

There’s been a serious crash on the M6 at rush hour. Tailbacks are already stretching for miles.

No one knows exactly what’s happened. Police, firefighters and paramedics are on their way.

In the future the first emergency services vehicle to reach a scene like this may not be a police car or ambulance. It could be an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – known to most people as a drone.

The use of a drone could help better manage resources and provide a strategic overview for dealing with this kind of traffic incident.

The data it gathers could be passed to traffic management personnel, who could use it to work towards easing congestion.

All this could happen while the police cars, fire engines and paramedics are still on their way to the scene.

This is one of the main scenarios that was investigated by Coventry University researchers as part of a major national project.

The West Midlands was one of five areas across the country chosen to be part of innovation organisation Nesta’s Flying High Challenge. The project was to explore how drones can be used in urban communities and investigate the benefits and challenges associated with their use.

In the West Midlands it looked specifically at the impact they could have on traffic incident response and emergency support.

“Drones represent an exciting opportunity,” said the team’s technical lead Dr Dale Richards, from the University’s Research Institute for Future Transport and Cities.

“We focussed on the use of a UAV to be rapidly deployed to a road traffic accident and allow the gathering of intelligence to be quickly relayed to the emergency services before any of the first responders arrived on scene.

“It allows UAV’s to be viewed more as a service rather than an individual platform, providing not only a valuable service but an assurance that they would be safely operated for the greater good of the cities across the region.”

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The sky’s the limit Coventry University is taking a lead in shaping this vision

While there are many UK and international initiatives focussed on UAV technologies or aspects of airspace management, the Flying High project adopted a more city-centric perspective.

Other areas in the country involved in Flying High were Bradford, which looked at how drones could support fire and rescue services; London, which concentrated on medical deliveries and emergency support; Preston, which focussed on construction and regeneration; and Southampton, which also investigated the impact on medical delivery.

The project was run in the region by the West Midlands UAV Partnership (WMUAVP), led by Transport for West Midlands and Coventry University.

The team also involved other academics from across the region, private and public sector organisations, police, fire services, transport companies and small businesses.

“It was important that each of the city projects were led by councils, this provided a shift in focus from technology towards the benefits and uses of UAVs across the city infrastructure,” added Dr Richards.

First step for the team was to identify the business model associated with the technologies, regulatory constraints surrounding operations, the general public’s attitude to routine flights of UAVs overhead, and also the infrastructure required in the future for such operations to exist.

Transport was quickly established as a priority area for the West Midlands team to investigate.

“Unsurprisingly transport was heavily featured as a key driver for our region; more so when we consider the innovative transport projects we have across Coventry University. For the West Midlands we have a growing base for testing self-driving cars and intelligent transport infrastructure, which lends itself to expanding to UAV application,” said Dr Richards.

The key focus of the team was to adopt a user-centric approach to the operation of UAV’s by the emergency services in the region.

The team met with West Midlands Police and the region’s fire service to better understand how drones were not only being operated at present, but how they could be used in the future.

It led to them developing the scenario – or ‘use case’ as they refer to it in their reports – about how drones could help at the scene of a traffic incident.

They will now continue to develop their ideas regarding UAV use in relation to transport and emergency services further as part of phase two of the Flying High project.

Dr Richards added: “This project has involved many partners across industry, government and academia who have shown great enthusiasm to come together and discuss the exciting potential that UAVs could provide the West Midlands.

“The momentum we have created in the region will assist us in going forward and afford us opportunity in unlocking the potential that the UAV market has in our cities.

“Coventry University is taking a lead in shaping this vision.”

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 27

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Building peace a simple aim but a complex challenge

The art and science of peacemaking and peacebuilding is a complex business

Coventry’s proud reputation as a city of peace and reconciliation is being brought into the modern era by the RISING Global Peace Forum.

The RISING Global Peace Forum, which was launched in 2015 as a partnership between Coventry University’s Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, the Cathedral and the City Council, looks in depth at key political and social issues, asking how to merge our individual beliefs and collectively learn from past experiences to resolve violent conflict in all corners of society.

During what is a turbulent time in terms of international harmony as well as a period of internal conflict in a number of countries across the world, Professor Mike Hardy, the executive director of the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University, believes RISING is starting a real conversation about how to not only create peace, but sustain it.

Over the last three years, the Forum has welcomed peacebuilders, policymakers and academics from around the world, including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, peace advocate and former child soldier Michel Chikwanine, Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire who led the peacekeeping force in Rwanda and many more.

Each has been given an opportunity to present their ideas on how peace can be built at events put together by RISING, which draws on the rebuilding of the city following bombing in the Second World War for its name.

Professor Hardy said: “The golden principle is under serious threat. No longer may our children have the prospect of growing up in a world more peaceful and more prosperous than their parents did.

“For more than 70 years since the end of World War Two, despite the Cold War, various other violent conflicts and frequent economic upheavals, the future always seemed on a positive trajectory.

“Now we face the break-up of long-trusted western institutions, intractable violent conflicts in the Middle East, mass migration,

28 I Innovate I Issue 20

climate change, widespread violence in everyday communities and the fragmentation of family structures.

“On top of this we have new challenges to democracy with leaders of the great powers becoming ever more autocratic and unpredictable.

“These challenges in part explain the significance of the RISING Global Peace Forum.”

Over the last 12 months, the Forum has covered a variety of topics and branched out to include RISING Britain, RISING Women, RISING Youth and even RISING Baltimore, which focused on the city-wide unrest and violence that has persisted in Baltimore for more than 40 years.

The RISING Youth event, which aimed to give a voice to those aged between 16 and 20, was held at the Guildhall in London, another example of RISING expanding its reach and presence.

Professor Hardy believes that Coventry’s history, twinned with what RISING has achieved in its three year existence, means that the Forum is starting to get a strong reputation as a vehicle for change and incultural dialogue.

He said: “No other British city has anything like RISING. After all, Coventry is the UK’s only City of Peace and Reconciliation. RISING isn’t a peace festival - it’s the nearest thing that there is anywhere in the world to the peace-equivalent of the Davos World Economic Forum.”

In June RISING Britain hosted the Rt Hon Michael Portillo and Judy Dempsey, from the Carnegie Institute in Berlin, to debate what could and what should be the UK’s future role post-Brexit as a force for international peace.

Professor Hardy said: “The art and science of peacemaking and peacebuilding is a complex business.

“In our choice of speakers, RISING recognises that it means also having to sit down and have dialogue with people who we don’t agree with, who see the world differently to us and who may have very different values to ours.

“RISING also gives us the chance to showcase the University’s research expertise in this area, as well as the city’s history over many centuries of being a sanctuary and refuge for people fleeing tyrannical regimes and seeking to live in peace.”

RISING 2018: The Anatomy of Peace, a two-day event which will seek to explore, unravel and simplify the complex process of initiating contact, making a deal and sustaining peace.

The Forum, to be held at Coventry Cathedral on September 12 and 13, will bring together the first elected female president in Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, journalist and political activist Tawakkol Karman and former Downing Street press secretary Alastair Campbell, amongst others.

While each will be putting across their words and thoughts on how to create peace, Professor Hardy believes that taking a look at the city of Coventry could provide them with plenty of inspiration.

He said: “RISING fits so well with Coventry’s UK City of Culture 2021 status and European City of Sport 2019 award because it is all about bringing people together, to understand better and to appreciate more what we share in common and to work out how we can celebrate and cherish our differences.

“Building on the success of our previous events and the conversation that we’ve generated online, where we now have more than 2,000 followers on social media, we have also attracted a stellar team to join us in Coventry in the autumn.

“If RISING can achieve its objectives, perhaps our children and grandchildren might actually start once again to have the prospect of a more peaceful and prosperous future than would otherwise be the case.

“What a gift that would be from Coventry to the world.”

For the first time the Forum this year will also be free for delegates to attend and already 70 people from throughout the UK have registered to come to Coventry.

Innovate readers who wish to attend should email RISING@coventry.ac.uk

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 19 I 29

Feature

Feature

Turning pennies into pounds

We emphasised how small changes, such as cutting out an expensive cup of coffee a day, really can have an impact

The Centre for Business in Society’s research is helping people who are ‘just about managing’ their money.

We have all been told for many years that if you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves.

But in a world where finances are stretched, demands on our time are more varied than ever and the financial landscape is in constant flux, that message may not be as strong as it once was.

However, a major research project undertaken

by Coventry University’s Centre for Business in Society on behalf of the Money Advice Service, has looked at how households which are “Just About Managing” can best be helped to ensure some level of financial stability and security.

The Money Advice Service provides free and impartial advice on money and financial decisions to people across the United Kingdom, and is funding research to discover how to improve people’s financial capability Its ‘What Works’ project has been looking at how and when intervention could help people manage their money and whether simple tools to help them budget and save could help make that happen.

As part of that project, the Centre for Business in Society worked with the Open University to undertake some “hands-on” research to look at how people could be helped to make small changes to how they manage their money.

Sally Dibb, Professor of Marketing and Society, led the study, supported by a team of colleagues.

“The project focuses on people who are ‘Just About Managing’, or JAMS for short,” she said.

“Although these individuals are not in serious financial debt, just one financial problem could make their situation a great deal worse.

“It could be as simple as the washing machine breaking or their working hours being cut unexpectedly.”

The researchers took a small number of tools from The Open University’s successful Managing My Money MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), adapting them for those who might not normally sign up to a course.

The aim was to help people budget, give advice on savings and encourage them 30 I Innovate I Issue 20

through saving to start a “rainy day” fund.

Step Change, the UK’s largest debt charity, reckon that if households had £1,000 saved, half of all problem debt in the country could be prevented.

Coventry University researcher Lindsey Appleyard said: “Even simple changes can make a big difference. If people can start saving and build up a few hundred pounds, it can make a huge difference.”

Coventry’s team carried out a 15-month qualitive study, working with 40 access students from CU Coventry and people from the Coventry Credit Union.

Sally explained: “We wanted to interview people before and after they had seen the tools.

“This gave them chance to use the tools and helped us understand the study’s impacts over time.

“We also tested different ways of intervening, so half of those recruited just had access to the on-line tools and a paper copy.

“The other half also came to a workshop, which took them through how the tools worked, so we could measure how effective face-to-face intervention could be.”

The answer was very effective.

It didn’t work for everyone, but many found the tools helped them become more proactive.

People made changes – such as finding ways to save money through shopping around for utility suppliers.

Those who attended the interactive workshops benefitted because they weren’t alone.

This helped to empower them to change their financial behaviours.

Sally said: “We emphasised how small changes, such as cutting out an expensive cup of coffee a day, really can have an impact.

“What was interesting was that in the workshop people really shared their tips and were quite happy to chat about things they probably wouldn’t normally discuss with people outside the family.

“It was a safe space.”

There were also changes to how people budgeted.

Lindsey added: “A lot of those we worked with had a very rough way of budgeting and keeping track of finances.

“That might be looking at their balance on their phone, but of course that does not tell you what is about to happen.”

Several highlighted how family members caused financial problems they then had to solve which put them close to the edge financially, while others took the tools away and shared them with family members.

Generally, there was a feeling that the tools helped people feel more in control of their finances. Some had rethought their financial aspirations.

Instead of wishing for consumer items – cars, clothes and shoes – they had moderated their views to include things such as paying off credit cards and saving towards longer-term goals.

The final report is now being shared with the Money Advice Service and will be published later this year.

The MAS project is one of five recent projects focusing on responsible personal finance.

Lyndon Simkin, Director of CBiS said “This project is part of a cutting-edge research programme, designed to build financially resilient and sustainable communities, which places the Centre for Business in Society visibly on the responsible personal finance map.”

The other projects, which were funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Carnegie UK Trust, and Oak Foundation, have been led by Professor Nick Henry and Dr Lindsey Appleyard, supported by CBiS researchers and PhD students.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 31

Feature

While gender equality has dominated international headlines in recent months, profile does not always equal progress.

Huge strides towards greater equality between men and women are being made all of the time in all areas of society and yet there is still so much more that can be done.

The world of higher education is no different and can perhaps be viewed as a perfect example of how far we have come and how far there is to go.

Women are now 35% more likely to enrol at university than men, an impressive statistic when you consider that it took until the 1860s for the first woman to be allowed to receive higher education.

However, this transformation is not reflected in the number of women in leadership positions at Universities.

Dr Cherisse Hoyte, of the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship, has carried out preliminary research into why this is the case, how a greater representation of women in leadership roles would impact the world of higher education and how this change can come about.

Dr Hoyte interviewed three women in executive leadership positions, five women holding senior lectureship positions and assessed the factors that both hinder and encourage female leadership in the world of higher education.

She said: “The University system is still very much male dominated at the top. This is the case across this country and around the world.

“A big part of the reasons behind this is that there are still perceived gender norms and stereotypical perceptions of what leadership should look like.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

32 I Innovate I Issue 20

Feature

How can women get higher up the HE ladder?

“Men are seen as assertive and strong, women are seen as more communal in their thinking, they are more emotional, sensitive and caring.

“The thing to remember is that all of these attributes can be linked to good leadership depending on your view and they can all apply to both males and females.

“However, if somebody still has those gender norms in mind when choosing the right candidate for a leadership role it can lead to women being evaluated unfairly.”

One topic analysed by Dr Hoyte in ‘Transcending Gendered Norms of Leadership in Higher Education: How Women Do It’ is the effect of female role models on those aspiring to reach leadership positions.

She concluded that while it is a positive that women do have role models they can look up to as examples of how to reach these positions, it is not automatically a good thing.

She said: “I did find that a lack of role models for women to look up to around them was a barrier to advancement.

“The more women in leadership positions, the more accepted it becomes, which is clearly a good thing.

“However, when there is a female in a leadership position in your circle, it may not be a good thing.

“Because the number of these positions available is so small, you can be blocked from progressing by another woman, so the idea of them as a role model isn’t as positive then.

“Another factor is that if things don’t work out for them that could reflect badly on you just because you are also a woman.”

In the current social climate, there is much talk about a ‘glass ceiling’ for women across all professions and Dr Hoyte believes that higher education is a perfect example of this.

Various reasons have been given over the years as to why this metaphor for the invisible and artificial barriers blocking women’s path to the top continues to be a real factor in slowing down progress.

These range from recruitment and selection discrimination to personal bias and a lack of quality mentoring.

Dr Hoyte said: “I think the glass ceiling is still a very real factor that sometimes prevents women from even applying to get these jobs.

“If men are in the position of power where they can appoint people to these leadership roles, some women won’t apply for it because they don’t feel a part of that group.

“There is research out there that also suggests we put a glass ceiling on ourselves.

“If women see a job they tend not to apply for it unless they feel they can meet 80 per cent of that criteria, whereas men have a bit more confidence in themselves to believe they can get that role even if they aren’t exactly the perfect candidate.”

Despite these obstacles, the landscape is slowly changing and between 2013 and 2016, 29 per cent of Vice Chancellor recruits in the UK were female.

Coventry University is leading the way with the appointment of their first black female Chancellor - Margaret Casely-Hayford in 2017 and the creation of a Gender Leadership and Development Group within the university.

Dr Hoyte’s belief that a candidate should be chosen on the merits of the individual is starting to become more commonplace and she believes that the best advice to offer those looking to work their way up the higher education ladder as a female is to simply ‘be yourself’.

She said: “The main advice I would give to a female looking to get into a leadership position in higher education is to be authentic.

“Everyone has their own characteristics and idiosyncrasies, you need to find what makes you, you.

“You shouldn’t try and emulate men, you shouldn’t try and be more masculine and assertive if that isn’t you.

“You need to be yourself and be aware of your personal growth, be proud of your achievements.”

I did find that a lack of role models for women to look up to around them was a barrier to advancement

Innovate I Issue 20 I 33

Enterprise news

Enterprise news

The flying faculty takes off The automotive industry is looking for ways to accelerate the upskilling of its engineering workforces to adapt to a changing market place that is becoming increasingly dominated by electric vehicles and autonomous driving.

Coventry University’s partnership with global automotive technology company KPIT Technologies is aiming to create a solution to this by providing a glimpse into the future of how higher education can be delivered considering the future changes.

“In the automotive industry, particularly within the technical areas, you traditionally have electronic engineers and mechanical engineers, but with the inevitable increasing prominence of electric and autonomous vehicles, industry is now demanding that there is a blend of skills including knowledge of software development for an Automotive application,” explains Michelle Connors, who is an Enterprise and Commercial Manager in Coventry University’s Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing.

KPIT Technologies is a global technology company specialising in product engineering and IT solutions based in Pune, India but operating across 23 different countries, and is a strategic partner to Jaguar Land Rover, Chrysler, General Motors, Bentley and BMW. The industry-academia collaboration between Coventry University’s Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing department and KPIT is strategic for both entities as there is significant overlap in the areas of research and development.

So far, the collaboration has focused on co-creating, co-developing and co-delivering two specialised programmes to navigate industry challenges and to promote employee competence development.

The MTech Automotive Engineering course focuses on key modules and concepts such as cybersecurity, machine learning and embedded systems, while the MBA Strategic Engineering Management focuses on the development of strong core skills to progress to senior management roles within the organisation.

The courses are designed to ensure KPIT’s workforces have the necessary skill sets to operate in a new-look global automotive market

34 I Innovate I Issue 20

dominated by electronics. It will also equip students with a skillset that includes the vital perspectives of innovation, sustainability and organisational long-term competitive advantage.

K.N.S Acharya, Vice President at KPIT Technologies, believes Coventry University’s unique ‘flying faculty’ approach to course delivery has been instrumental in both the academic and commercial worlds working closely together.

The ‘flying faculty’ approach combines traditional classroom teaching methods, online digital media and independent study. Coventry University delivers simultaneously to two sites in India and also has support from the UK utilising video conferencing.

“Normally it takes the world of academia a long time to design, develop and deliver a bespoke education scheme with an organisation, but together KPIT and Coventry University have co-created, co-developed and co-delivered a great example of the commercial world working with education by introducing the ‘flying faculty’ into the organisation,” said K.N.S Acharya.

“I have personally found that Coventry University’s academic programmes are extremely contemporary. The university understood what we needed very quickly and they have worked hard with our staff to put things into place.

“Collaborating with Coventry University made a lot of sense for us and I think the way we work together is a great collaborative model that, I believe, can be duplicated in many other companies. We are now looking at other academic programmes to introduce into KPIT.” Such is the innovation of the MTech in Automotive Electronics and the MBA in Strategic Engineering Management courses, that the combined outstanding contribution of both teams has been recognised in Coventry University’s Staff Excellence Awards for two years running.

This year, the team won Outstanding Course Team – involving both Coventry University and KPIT members – while last year they won the Creativity and Enterprise Award for the development of the programme.

“I am incredibly proud of the work achieved through this collaboration - a strong desire to work together to solve real world industry challenges in a global context has driven us all,” added Michelle.

“The uniqueness of this programme stems from the ongoing support and commitment of not just our internal faculty team but also the KPIT Education and Competency Development (ECoDE) group, experienced engineers from its strong commercial wings of autonomous vehicles, powertrain, body and chassis electronics, AUTOSAR, connected vehicles and cyber security. Their strong educational in-house delivery team has enabled us to develop and deliver these programmes collaboratively, therefore creating the perfect blend of academic and industry content.

“Our approach to this partnership provides a blueprint for how Coventry University establishes and delivers strategic partnerships in the future.”

The partnership with KPIT is also helping Coventry University to maintain its own high standards in an increasingly competitive academic landscape.

The Chief People and Operations Officer at KPIT, Mr Abhishek Sinha, is impressed with the programme and says: “KPIT and Coventry have come together to offer best-in-class academic programmes for working professionals in the Automotive Engineering domain. These programmes are unique in many ways. They are cocreated and co-delivered by faculty from both Coventry and KPIT Engineering Academy and the programmes are targeted for working professionals who are interested in pursuing higher education in the Automotive Engineering

domain or in the Business Administration areas of System Engineering. Unlike many other similar programmes in the academic world, with the Coventry-KPIT collaborative programmes the students learn and they get to apply immediately, thereby creating tremendous value for our customers.”

Paul Noon, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Enterprise and Innovation at Coventry University, explained: “KPIT support us with their knowledge of industry and by helping our students to be work-ready as well as helping our researchers to really focus on the challenges industry faces today.

“We assist KPIT with academic support to ensure their staff have the necessary skills and it is very much a symbiotic relationship where we support each other and both sides gain enormous benefit from the relationship.

“This collaboration is vitally important for Coventry University. KPIT are a world-class organisation sitting within the heart of the

automotive industry. They are forward-thinking, they are revolutionary and they do things in a different way – similar attributes to those of Coventry University.

“In the future, the university and KPIT are looking to broaden the collaboration by introducing doctorates and PhDs into the organisation, possibly extending the ‘flying faculty’ to KPIT’s other international offices.

This is a really exciting and mutually beneficial opportunity that presents a great example of academia working successfully with industry.”

The MTech Automotive Engineering and MBA Strategic Engineering Management courses officially launched in May 2017, with the first cohort due to graduate in summer 2019. The collaboration has already extended with the announcement of 15 paid internships available to Coventry University students to work at KPIT sites in Germany and India.

I am incredibly proud of the work achieved through this collaboration

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

Innovate I Issue 20 I 35

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.

PhD research opportunities Coventry University offers fully-funded, self-funded and part-funded PhD studentships to outstanding applicants, many of which are within areas of research undertaken by our Research Centres and our industrial collaborations.

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

In April 2017 we established the Doctoral College and Centre for Research Capability Development to provide high quality professional support for researchers, from PhD to Professor, including delivery of doctoral programmes, professional training and development support.

To view all our current research opportunities, and find the right PhD for you, please visit:

www.coventry.ac.uk/studentships

Researcher Q&A

What’s your research passion?

I am a feminist sociologist of religion who is passionate about hearing the voices of the least-heard in society in order to forge more resilient and peaceful social relations.

My research on Islam challenges extremist narratives of the religion and the intense but uninformed scrutiny that Islam endures in the popular media. By working with and for any marginalised group (including Muslims) rather than on them, my research challenges normative social hierarchies in the quest for justice and equality.

What are you working on right now?

One of my current research projects uncovers the voices of Muslim women in the earliest British Muslim communities that emerged in the 1890s. I have found stories of strong women such as Lady Evelyn Zainab Cobbold who was an English convert to Islam. She is the first British woman recorded to have undertaken the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), extraordinarily for her time she performed the pilgrimage on her own, in a motor car and then wrote a book about her experiences!

What’s your greatest achievement?

I do not really consider any of my work to be the greatest I have ever done. However there are pieces of work that are closer to my heart than others, partly because of their social impact. I recently completed the first ever academic enquiry into the journeys of Muslim children through the British care system.

Prior to my work, many Muslims believed that adoption and fostering were not compatible with Islam. As a result of my work with tradionally trained Muslim scholars or alims, they unanimously agreed that adoption and fostering are completely compatible with Islam and that it was indeed obligatory for Muslims to adopt and foster if they had the means to do so. This is ground breaking and their theological recommendations were launched in parliament last month – which was a proud moment.

Discover more online: www.coventry.ac.uk /research @covuniresearch innovate@coventry.ac.uk

38 I Innovate I Issue 20

QA We ask a researcher at Coventry University six questions to find out more about their work, study and greatest achievements

Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor Area of Expertise Faith and peaceful relations Centre Trust, Peace and Social Relations

This is ground breaking and their theological recommendations were launched in parliament last month – which was a proud moment

What’s the most unexpected thing that has happened to you as a result of your work or research?

Four years ago after adopting my son, I realised that there was no research on children’s experiences of adoption and fostering in Britain. Any child who comes into care is vulnerable. Social workers largely do a brilliant job in finding families for these children and I wanted to do my bit to support their work. One day completely out-of-the-blue, I received an email from the charity Penny Appeal saying that they would fund my research through a grant from the Department of Education. Needless to say I had to read the email a few times before I believed it! It is now nearly two years since that email and it has been brilliant delivering this research.

What’s on the horizon for you?

I am about to start two new projects. The first one involves an exploration of legal frameworks around Freedom of Religion or Belief in Britain starting with the Magna Carta. This fascinating work will chart the history of how Britain has arrived at its values around toleration and respect of religious diversity. It will allow policy makers and practitioners to consider how discrimination on the basis of religion or belief can be addressed. The other project will consider how elderly care can be made more sensitive to the faith and cultural needs of Muslims and other minority religious groups in Britain. I am also keen to develop my work around adoption and fostering.

If you weren’t doing this job what would you be doing?

Before academia I worked in investment banking as a human resource professional.

After 9/11, I wanted to take charge of narratives of Islam and debunk the notion of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West being perpetuated by terrorists and the far-right. My passion led me to my work at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR). If all those years ago, I had not acted on my passion I would perhaps still be a human resource professional. I am also inspired by physics and the study of space.

Had I not been more passionate about people that I am of stars, it is also possible that I would have been an astrophysicist.

Research and Enterprise 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.

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.

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Research Coventry