5 minute read
BUILDING FROM THE RUBBLE
The images we see on the news reflect a shocking reality: that in modern warfare, civilians are all too often on the front line.
The use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) has become the defining feature of 21st century armed conflict. Over the last decade, more than 90% of those killed or injured by explosive violence were civilians. From 2011-2021, some 238,892 civilians were reported killed or injured in populated areas.
Despite this, blast research had long focused on military, not civilian priorities. Three University of Southampton researchers are challenging this.
In 2018, Dr Jack Denny from the Faculty of Engineering, along with Dr Rebecca Glenny-Brown and Professor James Batchelor from the Faculty of Medicine, received a grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) to investigate this disparity, and to develop a blast injury research network in collaboration with the University of Cape Town (UCT).
‘What about the civilians?’
“We looked at the last 20 years of public and philanthropic funding data for research into blast injuries, and approximately 80% of it was defence funding,” said Rebecca.
The review analysed over USD $900 million of funding invested into everything from clinical trials and public health studies to basic research looking at the blast- and bioengineering aspects of blast injury. Jack added:
“The studies were primarily interested in defence contexts concerning military personnel – effectively 18-30-year-old males – being injured by explosions. And we said, what about the civilians? Is this science translatable to civilians being harmed in current conflicts? We felt that this was a completely unrepresented area where we should start to shed some light.”
This research investment mapping work was so insightful that it was published by the British Medical Journal and presented to the US Department of Defence and the International Forum of Blast Injury Countermeasures (IFBIC).
The findings, alongside data from IBRN partner Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) showing that 90% of casualties from blasts in urban areas are civilians, further motivated the IBRN team to focus their research agenda on the unmet global challenges surrounding civilian blast injuries.
Inherently interdisciplinary
The complex problems in this field need to be tackled by experts from across disciplines. “Blast injury research is inherently interdisciplinary,” said Jack. “You’ve got blast physics and blast loading, and the effect of the urban landscape, which cause different injury mechanisms and severities. Then you’ve got the wide range of blast injury types and how to predict and characterize them from a clinical standpoint, the treatments and clinical management, and the long-term care requirements.”
The IBRN catalyses dialogue between the fields of Blast Engineering and Injury Modelling, Public Health, Epidemiology, Traumatology and Critical Care, Operational Research, and Clinical Informatics. For example, in the wake of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, the IBRN brought together expertise around location mapping, injury assessment and blast loading to look at the spatial factors affecting people’s injuries. The study’s findings will inform disaster management planning in the future.
“The long-term vision is bringing people together to look at these problems in a group rather than in isolation,” James said. “Interdisciplinarity is about understanding each other’s languages – and something that’s unique about the IBRN is that we’ve invested a lot of time actually learning about each other’s disciplines.”
Knowledge Exchange at the centre
The Network’s core team of academics support blast injury research at Southampton and other institutions including UCT, University of Sheffield, The American University of Beirut, and University of Washington. But the network’s partnerships go beyond academia.
“The impact of the IBRN is not solely about the research that we do,” explained Rebecca. “It’s about the people that we bring together – facilitating conversations between different sectors and bridging that gap.”
The Network’s first workshop with UCT in 2019 saw a gathering of representatives from different sides of the table. “The partners we invited were people who wouldn’t even admit to being in the same room: representatives from defence departments alongside NGOs, research charities, and humanitarian organisations like the Red Cross,” recalled James. “What the IBRN has done is sensitively create an environment where people who would never ordinarily sit down together can see the value of collaborating.”
This approach has paid dividends, generating insights through dialogue. “We have extremely positive feedback on our events’ multidisciplinary agenda, our unique approach to breaking down the barriers between disciplines and the interactive nature of sessions to define and prioritise research gaps,” said Jack.
Humanitarian need
The effectiveness of these dialogues, and of its research, have put the IBRN in a position to influence policymaking at the highest levels. EWIPA is a priority issue for the United Nations (UN), where Rebecca, James and Jack are often present to advise; in 2023, Jack was part of a panel presenting to the UN in New York about IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). The network’s research is fed back to governments – they consulted on the Irish government’s recent Political Declaration to protect civilians from EWIPA – and to defence and NGO organisations, including the Red Cross and Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
But even as the network grows and develops, its founding mission remains key. “The main focus of the IBRN is reducing civilian harm in low-income countries – so enterprise and other commercialisation are the icing on the cake,” said Rebecca. “Fundamentally we’re focused on a humanitarian need.”
Dr Jack Denny has received funding from the Global Partnership Award (GPA), allowing him to visit the UCT to undertake experimental work and develop partnerships. These partnerships and previous work helped Dr Denny secure a Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) –Research Development Fund award in 2022.
Read more about the International Blast Injury Research Network: www.blastinjurynetwork.com
