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PROFILE
PROFILE
Coventry University
Coventry University
What the West Midlands is doing to attract and develop the best talent in life sciences and healthcare
Fundamental movement skills (FMS), physical activity and obesity in British children, Professor Mike Duncan, Dr Samantha Birch, Dr Sam Oxford, Dr Emma Eyre, Elizabeth Bryant (Physical Activity, Exercise and Obesity). As fundamental movement skills underpin all forms of physical activity it is important that children master these as early as possible. We have been tracking 600 children from Coventry over a four year period, measuring mobility, levels of physical activity and body fatness. Our work has highlighted some important issues related to children’s current and future health and is suggestive that efforts to reduce child obesity levels in Britain may be unsustainable if they simply focus on asking children to exercise more. Our research has also demonstrated that putting effort into ensuring children develop the key fundamental movement skills early on will result in children being more physically active and less likely to be overweight or obese as they get older. These findings have clear and important implications for Education policy relating to PE as well as being relevant to other areas related to child health and development. Full findings from this research are due for publication in the Journal of Sport Sciences.
Investing in opportunities for research stars for the future – locally and nationally Coventry University’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences is widely recognised for its research and for the quality of its education provision. Professor Guy Daly, Faculty Executive Dean: “We have dedicated, knowledgeable and hardworking staff; first class teaching facilities; and strong partnerships with employers from a range of sectors, which combine to create an excellent learning environment for those wishing to pursue a career in the health sector. As a result; when canvassed for opinion our students consistently confirm their high levels of satisfaction with their courses and our staff”
An artist’s impression of the University’s new Health and Life Sciences (HLS) building
Associate Dean of Research, Professor Jane Coad: “We have a strong focus on increasing and spreading knowledge within our field and to that end we have established three new Faculty Research Centres spearheaded by expert scholars.”
• Violence and interpersonal aggression • Identity and resilience in communities and organisations • Brain, belief and behaviour • Atypical development
THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN APPLIED BIOLOGICAL AND EXERCISE SCIENCES (CABES) Executive Director, Professor Alfonso Jimenez: “CABES furthers our understanding of fundamental biological pathways and processes, applying biological sciences to advance diagnosis and prevention of disease. “Our aim is to enhance Coventry University’s reputation for scientific research of excellent quality covering three key themes: Cellular and Molecular Biosciences; Biological Systems, Health and Disease; and Physical Activity, Exercise and Obesity.”
THE CENTRE FOR TECHNOLOGY ENABLED HEALTH RESEARCH (CTHER) Head of CTHER, Professor Beth Grunfeld: “Bringing together interdisciplinary teams of 31 academics and over 30 doctoral researchers to create four themes which focus on different aspects of health and technology research, the centre has internationally recognised strengths in health behaviours and interventions, children and families, innovative technology and health economics. “CTEHR works closely with users, service providers, commissioners and industry and conducts theoretically driven research that benefits the health and wellbeing of our nation through the advancement of fundamental knowledge, promotion of behaviour change, development of services and contribution to policy.”
THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOUR AND ACHIEVEMENT (PBA) PBA focuses on the development and evaluation of theoretically-rooted, evidence-based psychological interventions across many areas. The centre delivers on five themes: • Children’s literacy and developmental disorders
In addition to the new Faculty Research Centres, in 2015 Coventry University joined forces with twelve
other University Alliance universities to launch the Doctoral Training Alliance (DTA) programme in response to industry needs and to promote the UK’s economic growth and productivity. The DTA programme aims will utilise highlyemployable researchers with the expertise and skills in strategically-important research areas. Researchers from the CABES and the CTHER are part of the first cohort. This is the largest single community of researchers working in the applied biosciences for health and a truly exciting time in the world of research at Coventry University. SPOTLIGHT ON OUR RESEARCH PROJECTS Inocardia The work being carried out by Inocardia, a Coventry University spinout company led by Professor Helen Maddock in CABES, is an example of research that explores current practices to develop safer and more economical interventions. When drugs are developed to treat a particular disease or for human use they sometimes have side effects that cause heart damage. This is a significant risk to human health and is costly to the pharmaceutical industry when a dangerous product is withdrawn from market. Current drug testing relies on the use of
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animals that often do not do well in predicting the effect on humans. Professor Maddock and her team have developed a pioneering new way – using real human heart tissue – to test the effect of drugs on the heart without using human or animal trials. This simulated cardiovascular system – known as a work-loop assay – provides the most realistic model of heart muscle dynamics in the world to date, and opens up unprecedented possibilities for identifying negative effects of drugs early and inexpensively – potentially saving lives and speeding up the development of successful drug treatments. Children and Families research The Children and Families Research (CFR) group led by Professor Jane Coad within CTHER evaluated the effectiveness of nursing and support for cancer services for 16 to 24 year olds across the North West of England. This pilot model, supported by the Teenage Cancer Trust, saw improved provision and
quality of care as a result of the work carried out by Jane’s team and the project won the prestigious Nursing Times HRH Prince of Wales Award for Integration of Care in 2015. The project is now being rolled out nationally. Autism With PBA, Dr Sarah Cassidy leads a research project around sensory and motor difficulties in autism spectrum conditions, and whether these are related to the severity of social and emotional difficulties associated with these conditions. IMPACT OF OUR RESEARCH There are many stories of impact, as part of our intervention work, and results can be seen quickly or emerge more slowly over time. The impact of policy, the end user experience, future research ideas and funder collaborations, and partnerships are what make research at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences an exciting place to work.
Creative approaches to service design: development of a new assistive technology service, Dr Gillian Ward, Nikki Holliday, Darren Awang (IDTU). We are pioneering a new assistive technology service that enables people with complex health issues to live more independent lives, helping them to live at home and better equipping friends and family to support them. The service was piloted over 3 months with 39 users and carers. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with all participants wishing to keep the service. Success was due, partly, to the application of established design principles to make the service useful, usable, efficient and desirable.
For more information call 024 7615 8258 or email knowledgetransfer@coventry.ac.uk