IIB Year in Review (2020-21)

Year in Review

Welcome Welcome to the first ‘year in review’ from the Innovation, Impact and Business directorate! Inside, you’ll find just some of the many exciting research initiatives and industry collaborations to have taken place during the 2020-21 academic year.

Each project is unique, impactful and collaborative. Without the brilliant work of the University’s researchers and the dedicated support teams at IIB, they would not have been possible. The projects are clustered by both College and theme, allowing you to navigate the issue by clicking on the titles below. We hope you enjoy reading about them!

CEMPS data science

2

UEBS

HUMS

Environment

Regio engage

onal ement

SSIS Policy

CLES

CMH

Healthy ageing

3

Professor Andy Jones on His Role as DVC and What Keeps Him Busy The role as Assistant DVC for BUSINESS AND InnovatioN As Assistant Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) for Business and Innovation, I work with Professor Neil Gow, DVC for Research and Impact. Part of Neil’s portfolio is Business and Innovation, which I lead on in collaboration with Sean Fielding and, going forward, Chris Evans.

One of the things I’ve been keen to build on as we come out of lockdown is how we deliver on our work with business, as it’s an essential part of the research and education ecosystem. A lot of my personal research has been developed with industry: companies like PepsiCo, Nike and DuPont, and I really value those collaborations.

They generate income, help fund Post-docs and PhD researchers, develop world-leading research and case studies, and ultimately have a real-world impact.

Over the next year, we want to focus on improving in three key areas: The first thing is culture. We want to improve how we communicate IIB’s offering to academics, who may be unaware of how IIB can help.

The second is looking externally at how we communicate Exeter’s expertise to organisations and potential collaborators in the outside world.

The third thing is processes – the internal plumbing of all this. If our academic colleagues engage with industry or spend time writing impact case studies, we want to ensure that they receive appropriate recognition. We’ve also been making the case for creating positions across departments and colleges which can represent and elevate knowledge transfer and business engagement across the board.

Looking ahead to 2021-22, I want to ensure that our plans for knowledge transfer and

4

YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

business engagement dovetail with the broader University strategy. The emerging themes from those discussions are the areas we do well with at Exeter and how we tackle big, real-world questions such as climate change, health and wellness, and social justice.

What interests you?

I’m a human physiologist – I’m interested in exercise in its broadest terms. But I’m specifically interested in elite performance and asking what the limitations of human performance are. What do our bodies need to perform at the highest level? What causes fatigue?

While doing research that answers these basic questions, I’ve also dovetailed this by working directly with athletes to help measure and ensure their optimum performance levels. There is a neat crossover between the two. Suppose there’s a particular issue with an athlete. In that case, you want to identify a training method or nutritional intervention that enables that athlete to perform at the highest level.

Of course, commercially, several companies out there with similar interests are looking to market products that achieve similar results. Nike, for example, are interested in human performance and wider participation in sport; Gatorade are interested in including bioactive components in their products to help people become healthier and to move faster. Since my research is well aligned with these companies’ interests, they have often been quite proactive in approaching me.

Breaking 2 My research primarily focuses on endurance sport – specifically long-distance running. For more than twenty years, I’ve researched this area and have been quite prominent at conferences, discussing how a sub-two-hour marathon might be realised.

Nike noticed the potential for an upbeat publicity campaign and appointed me as the chief consultant on the Breaking 2 project. From here, we evaluated 17 of the world’s best distance BACK TO CONTENTS

5

runners and chose the three that we thought were most likely to achieve the feat before doing everything we could to help them run a marathon in under two hours. This eventually occurred, with Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, running 1:59:40 in a bespoke event in Vienna..

who created the Beet It spin-off company. It’s fascinating to see: nobody knew about the benefits of nitrate ten years ago, but today, beetroot juice is widely used by high-performance athletes and individual consumers alike.

Nitrate from Beetroot

How IIB can help

Put simply, beetroot juice is a very quick and easy way of getting nitrate into the human body.

Nitrate is found in lots of green leafy vegetables, like spinach and rocket, but beetroot is one of the only sources which can be converted into liquid without losing its nitrate content. As you can imagine, it’s much more convenient for athletes to consume 70ml of beetroot juice than a whole plate of spinach before a race.

My advice for fellow academics and researchers would be to encourage them to step back from their research and consider its potential application. Think about: who could benefit from this knowledge? What wider public, economic, or social impact could it have? Could this work be commercialised in some way?

This insight first emerged from a paper I stumbled upon in 2007, which had found that cyclists who consumed a capsule of sodium nitrate required less oxygen to cycle at a certain power output than those who hadn’t. This was surprising at the time. I didn’t believe it but knew it could have potentially significant implications if true – because improving efficiency when you exercise is like gold dust.

From there, we sought to find out whether the compound existed in fruit and vegetables, where Professor Paul Winyard (CMH) mentioned beetroot juice as a liquid source. We then found out that beetroot has a similar effect on required oxygen levels and reduces blood pressure, with population-wide implications. From here, we ran a series of experiments across different sports to clarify where and under what conditions nitrate is most effective.

This work generated interest from several drinks companies, such as PepsiCo (for Gatorade) and James White Drinks, 6

YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

If they have ideas for this, there are experts in IIB who can help them. People who can make those initial connections, help with consultancy, contract research, patents, developing a venture, whatever it might be. For academics looking to make connections outside of the university, IIB can help foster those relationships.

Meet the IIB Team HERE. Eliud Kipchoge being monitored by Professor Andy Jones.

Green Futures A

head of COP26 in November, Exeter’s ‘Green Futures’ directive went from strength to strength this summer. The project – which aims to amplify and create opportunities for academics interested in tackling the climate crisis across a range of disciplines – ran the Green Futures Conference in early June, to coincide with the G7 summit in Cornwall.

The Conference helped to showcase Exeter researchers’ diverse and innovative work on climate change. After the campaign’s publicity reached millions worldwide before the event, the two-day conference featured workshops and talks by Professors Richard Betts, Tamara Galloway, and Peter Cox, to name just a few.

These events were unique in focus: not only did they provide expert insight into the critical issues of plastic use, biodiversity, deforestation and deep ecology, but they also highlighted the incredibly diverse range

of approaches that Exeter’s researchers are using to tackle climate change. Each day held a dedicated space for ‘special interest’ sessions, allowing researchers and attendees the chance to discover different climate solutions. In typically multidisciplinary fashion, the sessions explored topics all the way from circular economy, geo-resources, space engineering and ‘Net Zero: A Reality Check’, to climate solutions that mobilize arts & culture, data science & artificial intelligence, regional engagement, and the intersection of human and planetary health.

What next for Green Futures?

With COP26 on the horizon, there are a number of upcoming Green Futures events for researchers to get involved with.

This month, the Entrepreneurial Researcher Programme (ERP) is running a ‘Green Futures’ cohort, to help researchers with climate-relevant ideas to explore options for commercialising their work. Apply here by 17th Sep if interested.

Towards November, Green Futures will be running another series of climate-focused events. Head to their website or search ‘Green Futures’ to stay updated.

BACK TO CONTENTS

7

EMPS

Simplifying Supply Chains with Machine Learning A Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Applegate Marketplace

B

uilding on 5 years of collaboration between the University of Exeter and Applegate Marketplace, a new Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) launched this year to help machine learning improve decision-making within the company. With support from IIB’s dedicated KTPs team, data scientist Aimée Hall is now working closely with the procurement firm Applegate, whose AI-based platform aims to optimize the process of matching buyers with suppliers.

The project is the latest stage of a long history of collaboration between Applegate and the University of Exeter, initially driven by discussions between Applegate CEO Stuart Brocklehurst and IIB’s Isabel Gonzalez. After Applegate first approached Innovation, Impact and Business about 5 years ago, the team were introduced to Dr Fabrizio Costa and Prof Richard Everson, starting a relationship that now spans several years and projects. Since then, the work between Applegate and the University of Exeter has led to a case study for the REF 2021 submission,

8

YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

an ongoing EPSRC grant application, and introductions between new businesses and the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDSAI).

Most recently during the pandemic, the collaboration developed the Covid-19 Supply Hub, which has now matched buyers with suppliers of over one billion items of PPE. The success of this project led to Applegate CEO Stuart Brocklehurst applying for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. Following its promising early progress, we reached out to Aimée Hall – the KTP’s Associate – to find out about her work embedding machine-learning into the company’s decision-making platform.

Could you tell us about the focus of this particular KTP with Applegate?

Aimée: “The idea of the KTP is to embed machine learning within the company, so that it complements staff decision making. By designing a machine learning tool that can work out the most likely suitable suppliers to invite to a buyer request, it greatly increases the volume of requests that the company can process. This itself frees up staff time for more interaction with buyers or suppliers as needed – be it for more complex requests or to answer any customer questions.

“The benefit of a KTP is that, as well as gaining the expertise of University staff, the company gains a staff member who can be responsible for the initial development and ongoing usage of the machine learning in the company. This helps with things such as understanding buyer, supplier and staff needs, and as well as facilitating knowledge transfer to and from other staff members, both during and beyond the KTP.” What are some of the project’s early successes and applications, at this stage?

Aimée: “While undertaking a broad review of the existing buyer-supplier matching process, we already identified quick wins even before getting to the machine learning aspect, including redesigning user interfaces to make the process more intuitive for staff as well as clients.

“We are gaining a greater understanding of what makes a good supplier-buyer match, and how to get a machine to account for the staff’s wide-ranging expert knowledge of companies (e.g. specific, preferences, variable demands on time). An initial prototype (see poster) already suggests that machine learning from past requests can replicate past staff decisions on which suppliers to invite to future requests in some key areas.

BACK TO CONTENTS

9

It also links up with another ongoing collaboration between Applegate, The University of Exeter and Ghyston. The project, SupplyDevon, aims to support local communities, reduce carbon impacts and reduce discrimination in the supply chain process, all by encouraging local supply chains.”

How have you found the experience of working with an external organisation in Applegate?

Aimée: “I’ve really enjoyed the experience, thanks to the combination of having inspiring colleagues and an important, challenging problem. It’s a refreshing reminder of how business needs and real-world applications should be accounted for in research, particularly the relative speed at which changes often need to be made compared to a generally slower, longer-term process of academic research.”

“It’s one thing to research ideas for how something might work, but I’ve quickly learned so much more from implementing those ideas in practice and seeing how staff and clients interact with proposed machine learning tools.

“It also makes academic research more accessible to a non-academic audience, breaking down the ‘ivory tower’ reputation, and showing that academic work has real immediate value even before any future ‘blue sky thinking’ benefits are appreciated. I’ve found Applegate colleagues very

10 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

keen to learn more about how machine learning can help them, at the same time as they teach me which model assumptions do or do not make sense when applied to Applegate’s specific situation.”

What have you most enjoyed about this work, and what advice would you give to an academic who hasn’t previously worked with IIB and external partners?

Aimée: “Working with IIB and external partners is a great way for academics to be encouraged to think in new ways, come across new ideas from on-the-ground sources and create lasting connections that enrich research. It’s great to see my work make an impact right from the start. The benefits work too: academic thinking and analyses bring new ways of thinking to the external partner, often sparking future innovation (like Applegate/UoE’s long history!).

“My advice to academics: these partnerships are great – get in touch with IIB and find out either how to apply for a planned collaboration with an external partner, or how to create a new collaboration. From my perspective, the KTPs team at IIB have been really helpful in helping me understand the application process, and giving tips about how to make a University-business partnership a success. I have already recommended multiple friends to apply for KTPs, because I think they are the way forward in combining the best of academia and industry!”

What are KTPs? Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – otherwise known as KTPs – are collaborative projects between a business and a university, facilitated by a high-calibre graduate.

They last between one and three years and are co-funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. KTPs are suitable for any project, where there is a clear need for input from the University. Previous successful KTPs have developed new products and services, embedded new technologies, and addressed sustainability challenges.

THE BENEFITS OF KTPS KTPs offer a number of benefits to academic supervisors, such as: • Collaborative research with industry.

• Funding: a typical two year KTP will generate around £170,000 of (REF eligible) research income.

• Applying research to real business problems, exploring new research areas and developing impact case studies.

• Forming a new relationship which could lead to new funding streams, for example through studentships and additional research projects.

• Publications and conference papers.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED If you would like to find out more about KTPs and explore the possibility of developing one, please contact the KTP team here.

BACK TO CONTENTS 11

EMPS

Centre for Future Clean Mobility: Driving the Next Generation Towards Net-Zero The Centre for Future Clean Mobility at the University of Exeter stands at the forefront of the road to zero carbon.

T

he Centre for Future Clean Mobility (CFCM) partners with businesses to develop lowemissions, high-efficiency integrated power systems for marine, off-highway, rail, defence, and energy sectors.

With only 50% of transport emissions being derived from road cars, the CFCM focuses on the other half of polluting vehicles, such as boats and construction vehicles. These forms of transport require longer endurance and need to survive much harsher conditions than cars, making them much more challenging to convert to clean energy.

Professor Chris Smith, Director for the Centre for Future Clean Mobility, said: “The solutions to make these vehicles zero emissions are complex and, usually, costly. Industry doesn’t know how to power these vehicles without diesel; that’s why we’re looking into it at the University.

“The answer’s partly battery, but also probably hydrogen, possibly methanol, maybe other clean fuels, it all depends. The point is, they’re all zero emissions.”

The CFCM was only officially formed last year; however, they have been working with businesses for over six years now. With regulatory and societal pressure on eliminating pollutants and 12 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

the UK’s commitment to net-zero 2050, the CFCM are making companies accountable for their emissions and providing them with the means to make the change.

The Centre does this by designing and testing powertrains for optimal fuel efficiency, range, and cost, as well as developing battery pack design and testing, control system design and implementation, and providing life cost analysis.

Chris Smith said: “We do the academic stuff data, computers, mathematics - but we also go on a longer journey with our partner companies than most academics do. That is why our industry partners want to do more and more with us.”

“We go right the way from the concept, through the trials, and then we see it on test and working.

That is a new dawn. At that point, you can scratch off all the vehicles we’ve replaced. All that noise, all that dirt, all that pollution, we’ve stopped it.”

Through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Supacat, a world-leading defence vehicle manufacturer, they worked to develop a unique high mobility electric vehicle, the six-wheel-drive Hybrid All-Terrain Mobility Platform, which was unveiled in late 2019. The vehicle can be airdropped, pull heavy loads up steep slopes and through rough terrain, and is also amphibious.

Professor Steve Austen, Engineering Director and Chief Engineer of SC Group, explained the value of collaborative working with academic partners: “The knowledge that has been gained and distributed throughout the project partners is invaluable. It resulted in significant additional revenue back to Supacat even before the

project ended and high confidence of sustained additional revenue for the company over the next few years.”

of clean power technology, and the Heart of the South West LEP invested £2M in expanding test facilities.

More recently, the CFCM team has been working on a KTP with Quattro Group to design a new clean powertrain for road-rail vehicles. They have also set sail with a successful bid to develop the e-Voyager, the UK’s first fully electric Domestic Passenger Vessel, in partnership with Plymouth Boat Trips.

Chris Smith said: “IIB has been a consistent and central support in the development of the Centre for Future Clean Mobility. Without them, it wouldn’t have happened.”

With the support from the Innovation, Impact, and Business (IIB) team, partnered companies, such as Supacat, Quattro, and Plymouth Boat Trips, were awarded government and independent funding to help cover the costs of the convert from diesel to clean fuel.

James McNaughton, IIB lead, said: “The government is spending so much money on reducing co2 emissions, most companies are getting funding. We’ve also done well in being awarded capital from the research and innovation public body, Innovate UK.” On top of this, IIB spread the word about the pivotal work the CFCM is working on, generating new partnerships, and getting companies to invest in R&D. As it stands, more than 30 companies have invested in CFCM for accelerated innovation

Currently, the Centre is working to develop their 432 square metres of space at Exeter Science Park into offices, and a unique assemble and test area for clean powertrains – the first testing area of this nature available in the UK. Looking to the future, the CFCM hopes this space will help them continue their industry partnerships for innovation, focusing on delivery, cost, and responsiveness. Their goal is to lead internationally on for clean and smart mobility and play a leading role in supporting the region’s objective to become a leader in Clean Growth Innovation.

To learn more about the Centre for Future Clean Mobility, they will be showcasing some of their innovative tech at the SW Innovation Expo on October 14th 2021, at Sandy Park, Exeter. Tickets are available to purchase online now.

To find out more about the Centre, along with their past, current, and future projects, check out their website HERE. Head to page 32 for more environmental projects.

BACK TO CONTENTS 13

EMPS

Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Quattro: Leading the Net-Zero Revolution The Centre for Future Clean Mobility has teamed up with a long-term partner, Quattro Group Ltd, to design a zero-emission road sweeper and a new clean powertrain for road-rail vehicles.

B

ased in London, Quattro Group has an unrivalled fleet of modern and varied equipment that provides a reliable nationwide solution for machinery needs to various sectors, including rail, road, and construction industries.

14 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

By working with the University of Exeter’s Centre for Future Clean Mobility (CFCM), Quattro can draw on their expertise in developing new hybrid and electric powertrain technology, making their vehicles cleaner and greener.

Since 2019, Quattro Group and the University of Exeter’s Centre for Future Clean Mobility (CFCM) have been working to decarbonise three of Quattro’s heavy diesel vehicles through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

Professor Chris Smith, Director of the Centre for Future Clean Mobility, said: “These vehicles usually emit a lot of pollutants, and they’re outside our houses, schools, and hospitals. It’s great we’re able to work on making them zero emissions. This is the future.”

With support from the CFCM and the University’s Innovation, Impact and Business (IIB) team, Quattro Group successfully attained a £499k innovation grant to fund this project, awarded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and delivered through Innovate UK. One of the larger projects they have been collaborating on is a new clean powertrain for road-rail vehicles for use on railways (pictured right). Quattro’s all-terrain road-rail fleet is the only one of its kind in Europe and is certified to work on the Network Rail managed infrastructure, making the switch to zeroemissions engines all the more impactful.

Most recently, their partnership has led them on to reforming a road sweeper (pictured left). This optimised design holds a prototype ZE battery-hydrogen hybrid powertrain, built and tested for a 20-tonne road sweeper. Through this work, they have made the Quattro sweeper division not only cleaner but greener too!

European front runners of zero-emissions heavy load transport systems. With the UK committed to becoming net-zero by 2050 and London promising zero-emission zones from 2025, these decarbonised vehicles will pave the way to this success.

Following on from successful trials of the new road sweeper, Quattro has landed a deal to be the first company to put clean, zero-emissions vehicles into HS2, Europe’s largest infrastructure project. In turn, HS2 has committed to all their vehicles being clean within 12 months of their purchase.

Chris Smith said: “This is going to be a revolution in the sector. Once one of these vehicles becomes available, who will want a dirty diesel instead of a clean one?

“Quattro is sitting on a keg of dynamite in terms of growth. It starts with London and HS2, and then the rest of Europe will want to follow.”

The CFCM hope to continue their revolutionary work with Quattro in the future, with plans to work on a 30-tonne excavator.

You can find out more about Quattro’s fleet division vehicles HERE. Or, to learn more about the Centre for Future Clean Mobility’s latest projects, you can visit their web page HERE.

Bob Browning, Head of Corporate Strategy at Quattro Plant, said: “Quattro Group plans to be the cleanest provider of professional services into the rail and construction sectors. Our work with Prof Chris Smith is central to our clean growth ambitions, and we’re pleased to be partners with CFCM at the University of Exeter.”

These enhanced vehicles will stand as BACK TO CONTENTS 15

Tevi: Protecting the Natural Environment One Business at a Time

UEBS

Tevi (the Cornish word for ‘grow’) is a unique EU funded venture which aims to create economic and environmental growth in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

stakeholders to work on strategies to tackle critical environmental and sustainability issues.

F

Their ‘business-led solutions to pollinator decline’ Challenge Network facilitated innovative solutions to mitigate against the main causes of the pollinator decline problem, using locally sourced wildflower seed. The outcome was a white paper report, highlighting business case studies and recommendations to policy makers to reverse the pollinator decline.

In support of the Cornish Environmental Growth strategy, Tevi’s mission is to assist local enterprises in becoming more efficient in their natural resource use and minimise their waste in intelligent and innovative ways. This comes as part of the global transition towards a circular economy, which promotes reducing waste pollution, extending the life cycle of products and regenerating natural systems.

Another Tevi Challenge Network revolved around electrical vehicle charging optimisation. Here their goal was to support the preparation of Cornwall’s visitor and hospitality organisations for rapid growth in electrical vehicle ownership and charging requirements, while ensuring the charging assets are operated for maximum utility and the benefit of the wider community. As a result of the network, they created a digital tool to guide SME investment in the most appropriate electric vehicle charging system, and potentially share costs and use with neighbouring organisations.

The Tevi initiative has engaged with over 500 companies in Cornwall so far, providing expert consultation, opportunities for recognition and certification, and grant funding.

Through Tevi’s grant programme, they’ve been able to award funding of £1,000 to £10,000 to many enterprises with brilliant ideas which would benefit the wider Cornwall Community.

Dan Bloomfield, Tevi Project manager, said: “I enjoy the sheer range of enterprises Tevi works with – from the large to the small. The fact that companies in Cornwall, across all sectors, understand the value of the natural environment to their business is heartening.”

Bennamann Ltd was just one company to be awarded a grant from Tevi, totalling £9556.

Bennaman is an early stage start-up working on commercial production, marketing and distribution of high value biomethane energy products that are derived from anaerobic digestion of organic materials at small (farm or estate) scale.

ounded in 2018, this multi-million-pound programme supports small and mediumsized enterprises across the county to regrow and regenerate a net positive impact on the environment and ecology in the region.

Over the last year, Tevi has run a range of Challenge Networks, bringing together various 16 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

With support from Tevi the company has been

Tevi’s Wildlife and Heathland Restoration Networking Event.

researching potential energy yields from grassed areas and developing commercial business models to support a local clean energy revolution.

(IIB) team. It is delivered in partnership with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Cornwall Council and the Cornwall Development Company.

Dr Chris Mann, CEO of Bennamann Ltd, said: “We were delighted that the Tevi Team were so supportive of this unusual and ground breaking project.

“IIB is not only hosting all EDIF and EU funded projects, but they were crucial in the creation of Tevi,” explained Steffen. “Alex Huke, [Head of Environment and Clean Growth in IIB] was very much involved in setting up the initiative and our strategic oversight. He also makes sure that there are constant cross overs to other IIB sections, services and teams, helping bring their knowledge forward to support the Tevi initiative.”

“We really want to make radical change and Tevi saw the potential of this study, not just for us but for the whole zero carbon sustainable energy future.”

Tevi also awarded a £9,927.36 grant to ARC Marine, an eco-engineering company specialising in rebuilding rocky reef habitats worldwide. With Tevi’s funding, they will be purchasing a ‘Pan Mixer’, allowing them to transition to a recycled and low CO2 concrete mixture for their reef blocks. These blocks will be used for marine habitat regeneration, benefiting subsea ecosystems.

Steffen Boehm, Co-Principle Investigator for Tevi, said: “I really enjoy engaging with businesses, policymakers and NGOs, working on actual challenges and problems in Cornwall and making real-world changes.”

The University of Exeter leads the work of Tevi through the Innovation, Impact and Business

The Tevi programme has been granted an extension until December 2022, enabling them to continue their impactful environmental work with enterprises in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

To hear more about Tevi’s environmental initiative, Project Manager Dan Bloomfield will be chairing the Green Revolution panel at the SW Innovation Expo, taking place on October 14th at Sandy Park, Exeter. Tickets for the Expo are available online now.

If you would like to find out more about the Tevi programme and the work they do, you can visit their website HERE. Head to page 32 for more environmental projects.

BACK TO CONTENTS 17

UEBS

Quanterra Systems: Tackling Climate Change Through Ecosystem Monitoring Dr Rob Clement (CLES), Dr Tim Hill (CLES) and Dr Beccy Mitchell (UEBS) co-founded Quanterra Systems in 2021.

We were lucky enough to catch up with Beccy to find out more about Quanterra Systems’ innovative business, and what their plans are moving forward.

Could you tell me a little about the company?

Quanterra Systems Ltd provides a robust and affordable measurement of whole ecosystem flows, notably carbon dioxide and water. These are important for enabling high integrity carbon markets and can provide valuable insights that support improvement to land management practices.

To do this, the company is building on research into developing lower-cost technologies for monitoring ecosystem health – mainly whole ecosystem flows of trace gases such as carbon dioxide.

When did the team realise there was potential to form a company?

Tim and Rob have been working on developing economical ways of measuring carbon flows for some years. One of their research papers in ‘Global Change Biology’ attracted the attention of a large corporate interested in understanding whether there are more affordable, timely and reliable ways of monitoring soil carbon.

We worked with them to undertake a research project exploring this further, and as part of this project, it became clear that to implement our solution at scale, we would need to form a company.

18 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

We then connected with IIB, who highlighted the ICURe programme as a good way of exploring options associated with commercialisation – it helped us decide on our business model and target markets, as well as helping to identify what further developments would be needed to make our approach commercially viable.

What’s been your personal experience transitioning the idea from an academic to a commercial setting?

There are many similarities between academic and commercial settings – both require hard work, tenacity, problem solving and innovation.

One of the most significant differences has been that as an SME, we have to do a bit of everything – product development, data processing, supply chain management, recruitment, payroll, taxes, shipping etc.

We also have to make sure we’re meeting a market need, and so understanding what problem endusers are trying to solve becomes much more important than intellectual curiosity. One piece of key advice would be to think about who your research might be relevant to and what problem it might be solving, and then to talk to people about whether it solves the problem in practice.

We also benefitted hugely from external advisors who provided extremely useful insights and contacts with interested parties – on a global scale - so making sure you build your networks is essential.

Finally, making sure you create an outstanding team capable of dealing with the wide range of obstacles you will encounter is crucial – you’ll need much more than just the scientific and technical capabilities associated with the concepts developed in an academic environment.

What’s next for Quanterra?

We’re finalising seed funding and have secured an Innovate UK grant that has allowed us to employ our first staff members. Rob and I will also gradually move over to join Quanterra full time. We’ve got a few potential international contracts in the pipeline, so we’re focussing on continuing to develop our service and business proposition whilst also working on improving the logistics associated with deploying our services overseas.

BACK TO CONTENTS 19

HUMS

Protecting the Natural World with New National Trust Partnership The National Trust and the University of Exeter have joined forces in a mission to protect the world’s natural and cultural landscapes.

U

nderway since 2020, this interdisciplinary research initiative will allow the University and the National Trust to support each other in developing high-quality research and address the challenges faced in caring for nature and culture.

The focus of the research partnership will be to plan and manage for the inevitable transformation of landscapes, so they work best for people, places, nature and future generations.

All images © The National Trust All images © The National

20 IIB YEAR A YEAR-IN-REVIEW IN REVIEW 20-212020-21

The University’s Innovation, Impact and Business (IIB) team brought together Exeter academics and National Trust staff a range of engagements and activities to form this strategic relationship.

The partnership between Exeter and the National Trust will build on more than 20 joint research projects, and four student placements run collaboratively over the last five years.

There will also be new collaborations between the University and the Trust on landscapes and communities projects, with prospects for knowledge exchange and engagement at an international level.

Sean Fielding, University of Exeter Director of IIB, said: “Together we hope to generate innovative new thinking to solve the huge challenges faced in conserving, protecting and engaging others in natural capital and landscape stewardship, cultural heritage, and ecological citizenship.

“We can engage experts from across the whole University including natural and social sciences, the arts and humanities to complement the National Trust’s wealth of experience and skills.”

The collaboration will focus on three main themes: rethinking, how to reverse declines in nature and adapt to climate change; regeneration, managing changing multifunctional landscapes and exploring novel approaches and management techniques; and reconnection, engaging people in conservation.

Partnership projects Ongoing collaborative projects between the University of Exeter and National Trust include work led by Professor Caitlin DeSilvey with support from an AHRC impact and engagement grant. The Landscape Futures project is developing resources to help heritage managers and policymakers respond proactively to accelerating environmental change.

On top of this, the Chair of the Devon Nature Partnership and board member of Natural England, Professor Michael Winter OBE, will be part of a UK-wide team assessing the feasibility of achieving large-scale greenhouse gas removal through afforestation and biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

The National Trust has also been working with the University of Exeter’s Professor Richard Brazier to reintroduce Eurasian Beavers to sites in England. Here, two beavers have been relocated to the Holnicote Estate, helping with natural flood management and improving biodiversity on the estate. Last year, Professor Brazier partnered with the National Trust again on a new £5M BBSRCfunded project, titled GGR+: planting the right tree in the right place that looks at greenhouse gas removal via woodland planting.

Stephen Rippon, Professor of Landscape Archaeology, has also been awarded a £222,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Understanding Landscapes project. This programme enables people in Devon and Cornwall to work with archaeologists to explore the ancient history of the South West peninsula. Given the new partnership with the National Trust, the project has been permitted to excavate Cotehele Estate in Cornwall to provide further information about the estate’s buried archaeology. This will help to inform the estate’s management and presentation to the public.

Additionally, through the University and Trust partnership, a new account of the medieval history of Buckland Abbey will be produced, touching on its buildings, people, and their environment, from the thirteenth century to the Dissolution. This will help to inform a new interpretation for visitors to the site. Historian Professor James Clark will be the Co-supervisor of this Buckland Abbey PhD studentship.

Look to the future This strategic partnership is an important stepping stone in helping to find new and innovative solutions to protect and reconnect with our natural and cultural environments.

Through this partnership, the research capabilities in both organisations will be greatly enhanced, making this an excellent opportunity for the Trust and the University to shape the natural and cultural heritage of our countryside and coastline.

Find out more about our work with strategic partners such as the National Trusst, Met Office and IBM here. Alternatively, head to page 32 for more environmental projects.

BACK TO CONTENTS 21

HUMS

Creative Industries Innovation in Seaside Resorts and Country Towns Working with regional organisations to understand the needs of local communities.

T

he challenge to the creative industries in small, rural communities is vast – no less after the pandemic’s shock to the cultural sector. Bringing her knowledge of community engagement with archives and the use of new media platforms to promote archival collections to this problem, Professor Gabriella Giannachi – Director of Exeter’s Centre for Intermedia and Creative Technologies – has been working in collaboration with Joanne Evans from Innovation, Impact and Business, the South West Heritage Trust and 1010 Media to look into how historic collections at the Trust could be accessed by wider communities in novel ways.

Over the past two months the team have worked with two primary schools in the Torbay area to create a trail to encourage playful and experiential encounters with historic materials in the collection in the places that are associated with them locally.

This has promoted a series of conversations between Gabriella and Joanne which inspired them to develop a successful bid to the social innovation agency NESTA’s Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, for a project to develop evidence of the needs of creative industry businesses and organisations in seaside resorts and country towns.

22 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

As we found out when speaking with Gabriella and Joanne, this earlier work has been crucial for informing their understanding of the problems, and possible interventions, for dispersed creative industries in Devon and Cornwall.

Could you tell me a bit about your work with the SW Heritage Trust?

Gabriella: “I have worked with Brian Carpenter at the South West Heritage Trust for a few years while researching and curating the sporting heritage collection at Exeter City Football Club.

Much of the Football Club’s heritage is now preserved at the South West Heritage Trust, though on a number of occasions we have used it in displays at the Football Club in the newly created museum.

“Since then the University has signed a memorandum of understanding with the South West Heritage Trust [in 2019], and I think they are about to sign one with the Football Club.

So, Joanne, Brian and I decided that it would be interesting to look at other parts of the Trust’s collection to reach out to rural communities in the Torbay area. Working with Joanne on this helped us to see that we needed to work with these communities to understand what they needed to enable them to recover from the pandemic.

“That put us in a strong position for a bid to NESTA’s Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre. Our goal with this work is to support the creative industries in the region, particularly as we emerge from the shock of the pandemic,

by finding out what they need to move forward.”

What do you find most enjoyable about this work?

Gabriella: “These small integrated research projects [such as the ‘Creative Industries and Innovation in Seaside Towns and Country Resorts’], are great to pilot ideas and to build capacity. We were able to discover new heritage about Torbay, and met some amazing people who helped us to understand what communities in the Torbay area may need to engage with this heritage. It’s very important to me and Joanne that we work with people, that we co-research, cocurate, co-produce with them.

“In my collaboration with Exeter City FC, for example, we managed to set up a museum which is now working towards accreditation and is listed among the museums in Devon following three successful bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund. We can do a lot for our communities by just listening to them and working with them to identify, curate, exhibit and enjoy the local heritage together.

What advice would you give to academics looking to engage in similar projects?

“I would always encourage academics to reach out to people, especially if they have an idea, and also to discuss their idea with the IIB because staff there can offer huge support and help them to create a network with stakeholders locally or nationally. IIB can make the process of building external connections and engagement much easier and they can be a real asset in identifying funding and supporting academics in the bidding process.”

Joanne: “My door is always open. We’re not just here for big funding bids, but also early stage project and career development. The Nesta PEC funding is modest, but the work is a really important stepping stone in our understanding of the issues that will feed into much larger bids. People in IIB have a lot of sector expertise – mine is creative industries - so wecan help figure out routes to impact on those sectors and suggest potential sources of funding. Although it can take time to build relationships in the sector, I’m always keen to help with this – and it always interests me to find out what academics are working on across the humanities and how that can have impact .”

To get involved, please contact Joanne or another member of the Culture team HERE.

BACK TO CONTENTS 23

SSIS

Members of the original Policing, Evidence and Research Translation team (ExPERT), part of the Policing and Evidence Group at the University of Exeter.

Policing Lab: Working with Police to Shape Policy & Practice Ever wonder how the police form their policies and strategies? Meet the University of Exeter Policing Lab! 24 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

With support from Innovation, Impact and Business’ (IIB) Impact and Partnership Development Manager Jess Hurrell, the Exeter Policing, Evidence and Research Translation (ExPERT) project secured a £250,000 Police Knowledge Fund in 2015 to conduct research and promote evidence-based practice.

Since then, IIB has helped facilitate the group on a more strategic level; linking them to defence, policing, and security portfolios, and bringing further funding opportunities to the table.

In 2019, the ESRC IAA Strategic Initiative Fund awarded six the Policing Lab funding to generate and coordinate the university-DCP network.

The funding was also used to support six coproduced research projects, allowing the team to promote research collaborations with Devon & Cornwall Police (DCP) and influence evidencebased policing policy.

Police Serving Modelling Associates Pilot Programme In 2016, PenCLAHRC (now PenARC) launched the Health Service Modelling Associates (HSMA) Programme. Here, NHS staff learn data analytics and computer skills, which can be used to address essential questions within their organisation.

B

y working alongside Devon and Cornwall Police (DCP), the Policing Lab works to understand and improve policing policy, practice and professionalism, through the co-production of research.

Led by co-principle investigators Katharine Boyd and Brian Rappert, the Policing Lab now has more than 60 academics across the University and a large group of officers and staff in DCP. Together, they facilitate the co-production of rigorous research and promote evidence-based policing strategies.

In this project, run by Dr Daniel Chalk (Medicine), Dr Iain Lang (Medicine), and Alexis Poole (DCP), PenARC has teamed up with the Policing Lab to pilot this as a Police Serving Modelling Associates (PSMA) programme. DCP officers have learnt data wrangling techniques, network analytics, sentiment analysis, and text analysis to help further inform their policing work in-house.

“In my opinion, this is the shining star of the Policing Lab,” commented Katharine Boyd, Policing Lab PI. “It went so well they will now be running the HSMA programme so that police and health service professionals will attend the course together, with long-term funding.”

BACK TO CONTENTS 25

The use of force within Policing Following her PhD research into taser use in England and Wales (2013-17), Dr Abi Dymond (Criminology) joined a police-led strategic review into reporting force used in policing.

Her survey results and recommendations contributed directly to the new national use of force reporting system introduced in April 2017. Abi was subsequently awarded an ESRC Future Research Leader’s Award (2017-2020) to continue research on police use of force.

Abi then teamed up with Katharine Boyd (Criminology), Professor G.J. Melendez-Torres (Medicine), Alexis Poole (DCP), Glen Mayhew (DCP), and Lynsey Willis (DCP) through the Policing Lab. Together, they were awarded funding from the Policing Lab.

The team had hoped to use body-worn video to assess (de)escalation in police use of force to conduct their research. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the team had to adapt their plan.

The team used police use of force forms and interviews with police who have fired Taser, searching for trajectories on when and why an officer aimed/red-dotted with a taser versus when they aimed and discharged.

Connecting Communities There are other research projects involving the police that are funded outside of the Policing Lab, including the Connecting Communities (C2) programme of work. Co-designed by Robin Durie and Hazel Stuteley in 2004, based on research by Katrina Wyatt (CMH), C2 is a unique learning and delivery programme that seeks to transform our most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, reduce health and social inequalities, and create the conditions for healthful behaviours to emerge.

Working with over 30 districts throughout Britain, the C2 approach understands that the dynamic for change is very specific to the local community.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach that can create the same positive impact in an area.

The team has recently been working with Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit to connect communities in Glasgow and Ayrshire during the pandemic.

“With everything moving online and people having to socially distance, the idea of connecting communities and creating engagement through face-to-face meetups wasn’t an option,” explained Robin Durie, co-founder of C2.

26 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

DCP also contacted the team during the first phase of the lockdown. They wanted to discover what problems could be coming over the horizon in the post-covid situation and what opportunities could be born from this.

C2 has liaised with four community partners in Devon and Cornwall, researching how residents have dealt with the pandemic and how they wanted the police and community relations to develop post-covid.

In the last few weeks, C2 has also been contacted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to collaborate on a programme being delivered in the western pacific region, informing WHO on how to conduct community engagement in the future.

Connecting Communities.

Their research was fed back to the police force, and their findings became a major part of the strategic review.

Robin said: “We’ve been able to do research which has translated into a practised way of working. This has made a difference to people’s way of life – both people who deliver services and for some of our most disadvantaged and marginalised communities.”

What’s Next for the Policing Lab? The Policing Lab is currently working on generating new funding initiatives to continue with its impactful work. Additionally, they are in the process of adding a series of seminars to the Policing Lab, giving people the opportunity to discuss their projects while keeping communication flowing throughout the lab and making an impact on policing practice.

If you want to learn more about the Policing Lab projects, you can visit their web page HERE.

BACK TO CONTENTS 27

SSIS

Policy@Exeter New initiative to connect researchers with policymakers

P

olicy@Exeter is an initiative that connects Exeter academics with policymakers, thinktanks, charities and NGOs, with the central goal of helping cross-disciplinary research to influence policy and practice. They have strong links to policy networks – including the Universities Partnerships Engagement Network, Sense About Science, and UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit – and can provide extensive support for academics looking to develop policy partnerships and pathways to impact.

Over the past year, the University’s policy support network has helped facilitate several highly impactful projects, from Exeter’s WHO Collaborating Centre’s influential work in highlighting the cultural contexts of wellbeing, to Ana Beduschi’s research into the implications of vaccine passports for human rights and data privacy.

Policy@Exeter serves to catalyse the impact further, going forward. Recognising that every researcher can make a valuable contribution to policymaking, they offer a range of one-to-one support for researchers who want to engage with policy but are not sure where to start. The team can help with all stages of policy brief creation (whether you’ve got one ready or are starting from scratch), finding the stakeholders who might be interested in learning about your research, and disseminating research outside of academia.

28 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

Sense About Science How to engage with policymakers

We recently spoke to Matthew Cole, a Lecturer from The Law School who took part in last year’s Sense About Science training programme, about his experience taking his research into a policy environment.

Matthew: “The Sense About Science training course covered a series of steps for engaging with policymakers in government. This involved advice on where to find and how to best address different audiences of policymakers and training on developing a policy brief from our most relevant piece of research.

“After the course, my policy brief – based on my theoretical research into Takeover regulation in UK law and its potential to boost long-term productivity growth –

was selected for presentation at Evidence Week in Parliament last November.

Here, I spoke with Prateek Buch, a policy advisor now working in No.10, the Rt Hon Stephen Metcalfe MP, and a survey data specialist. The response was very encouraging, and the experience was great for getting familiar with talking, and pitching research, to people you wouldn’t usually speak to.

“My advice to anyone looking to work more closely with policymakers would be: do the Sense About Science training! They are so respectful of your time. Everything they tell you is punchy, useful, and to the point. I’m now seeking to pursue empirical studies to verify the theory behind my policy brief, which will be crucial for influencing policy reform going forwards.”

BACK TO CONTENTS 29

H

ighly relevant to the pandemic through which we have all lived, Dr Ana Beduschi’s research into the legal implications of Covid-19 digital health passports made an astounding impact on public policy this year. An Associate Professor from the University of Exeter Law School who specialises in international human rights and digital law, she currently leads a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)’s rapid response to Covid-19. The project aims to inform policymakers of the risks that digital health passports could pose to human rights, data privacy and social equality.

We spoke to Ana last month, to learn more about her work on the project, and her experience of working to informing policy on such a crucial and timely issue.

Could you tell us about the research that went into ‘Digital Health Passports for Covid-19’?

Ana: “The research is part of a project that I am currently leading, with the formal title ‘Covid-19: Human Rights Implications of Digital Certificates for Health Status Verification’. The idea for this project originated in April 2020, when at the beginning of the first lockdown, we started to see technologies being developed to fight Covid-19 and manage the effects of the pandemic.

“Back then, a lot of the discussions focused on technical aspects and contact-tracing applications. However, I believed it was crucial to bring a socio-legal approach to the table and think more about Covid-19 health status certificates.

30 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

“It is now evident that Covid-19 certificates, also commonly referred to as digital health passports or vaccine passports, may indeed contribute to the long-term management of the pandemic.

However, they also pose essential questions for the protection of data privacy and human rights.

“I think it is concerning that these certificates use sensitive personal health information, create a new distinction between individuals based on their health status, and can be used to determine the degree of freedoms and rights one may enjoy.

The project tries to untangle these challenges and propose practical recommendations for policymakers in the UK and abroad.”

How did you circulate the research with national press and policy makers? Where were the key areas for disseminating this, which ensured your research managed to impact policy like it has?

Ana: “I am extremely grateful for the support I have received from our Press office at the University, the communications teams at the UKRI and the ESRC, and my investment manager at the ESRC. They all proactively supported and disseminated the press release of the policy brief in December 2020. The timing was of the essence, as this was one of the first papers to propose a comprehensive socio-legal analysis of the topic and policy recommendations concerning data privacy and human rights.

“I am incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity to contribute to several policy processes, such as the Cabinet Office review of Covid-19 certificates and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s World Committee on Tourism Ethics review of Covid-19 certificates.

I hope my research has provided some clarity about the socio-legal aspects of Covid-19 certificates and demonstrated that debates in this area should not focus solely on technological aspects. It is still too early to measure the overall impact of the project. However, we can already see some of the interim recommendations reflected in policy measures taken by the UK government and beyond.”

What have you most enjoyed about this project, and the experience of conducting research that helps influence policy more generally?

Ana: “I have enjoyed every aspect of the project, from conducting desk research and interviews, engaging with experts, and discussing the research findings with policymakers and government officials. I also liked very much discussing the topic with our undergraduate students in the module on Technology and Human Rights Law that I teach at the Law School. The students were brilliant and always had great questions, which has also helped me keep in touch with the views of the younger generations.”

How to get involved If you are interested in taking your research into policy and the public domain, Policy@Exeter can help.

One-to-one consultations are often a good place to start. From here, the team can help you develop a plan for disseminating your research to a wider, policy-influencing audience and point and point you in the direction of further support in policy briefing and stakeholder engagement.

For any researchers interested in future Sense About Science training programmes, Policy@Exeter are also running a one-day, online Policy Impact Workshop with them this autumn. If you are interested in attending, please register through this form and the team will be in touch with a confirmed date and further information.

If you would like to get involved, please email: policyengagement@exeter.ac.uk.

To stay informed on Policy@Exeter’s latest news and opportunities, sign up to their newsletter here. For all the information on the Policy@Exeter initiative and helpful ‘how-to’ guides for researchers, visit www.exeter.ac.uk/research/policy/.

BACK TO CONTENTS 31

CLES

Bringing Complexity Theory to Climate Policy & Decision-Making

A

cross the world, governments are considering where best to target government spending and intervention to mitigate the catastrophic impacts of climate change. While many use traditional economic measures – such as Cost Benefit Analysis and cost-effectiveness – to inform their approach, a new project led by The Global Systems Institute’s Jean-Francois Mercure takes a paradigm-shifting approach to recognise the complexity of global economic systems necessary to make such interventions as effective as possible.

32 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

The Economics of Energy Innovation and Systems Transition (EEIST) project, now in its second year, aims to address the limitations in current approaches to low-carbon transition, by developing a new decisionmaking framework which acknowledges the complex economic environments in which these changes take place. This aims to provide governments in China, Brazil, India, the EU and the UK with the most effective climate policy levers, by better accounting for the complexity, change and feedback loops that inevitably meet any governments’ action on the climate.

Initially driven by Jean-Francois Mercure (pictured below) and IIB’s former International Development Programme Manager Tom James, the EEIST project developed through the pair’s connections with global climate stakeholders and extensive work with BEIS (The UK Gov Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and CIFF (The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation), who fund the £4.8m project.

Last month, we spoke with Jean-Francois Mercure and the project’s current IIB managers Sarah Tupper and Jacqui Richards, to hear about the project’s development and potential for impact on international climate action.

Could you start by telling me a little more about the project, and how it came about?

Jean-Francois (JF): “I want to start by saying that every project should work like this.

IIB has been critical to this project. Exeter is the sixth university I have worked at, and I have plenty of experience working at other universities such as St Andrews, Cambridge and Bristol. When you get good administrative project support like this, it puts you in a very good position – and it’s not always like that with other universities I’ve worked at.

BACK TO CONTENTS 33

of how you justify making policies that address the climate. It’s more oriented towards looking at the evolution of a complex system than simply pricing problems and solutions, as a traditional economics approach would’ve done.

“People are getting a sense that the traditional approach is not getting us close enough to where we need to be, so this approach builds on complexity thinking in academia to provide a new alternative.

“With EEIST, we anticipated that the call [for a project like this] was going to come. At the time, I was in contact with many relevant people, including Tom James at IIB. He was aware of the potential for applied research in this area, with UK Government. This is slightly different from UKRI by the way; instead, it’s funding that is directly relevant to government priorities and needs for research and knowledge exchange.

“After that, I took the project’s lead and assembled the consortium [of researchers]. While I was doing this, Tom helped with everything administrative – financial, management and a theory of change for the project – that was needed to make this project a reality. IIB also funded Tom to work alongside me full-time during the project’s preparatory stages, which was really, really important for enabling us to develop everything needed for the successful bid last summer, with a very short turnaround.”

Could you tell me more about the focus of the project itself?

JF: “While a lot of the vision came from myself, Tom and others, we are the consortium’s facilitators. In other words, we herd cats.

The vision came from discussions between government and academia; which led to the project becoming a semi-consultancy that responds – in particular – to the needs of policymakers abroad.

“It arises from a new way of thinking about policy making, which is changing the structure 34 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

“There’s two focal points [of this research]: there’s what you’re going to do, and how you’re going to justify your approach in making that decision. So, we’ve focused on formulating a decision-making approach – that can be used, for example, to reach a tipping point for electric vehicles – which is based on systems thinking that looks more broadly than a price-based approach. Motivating a change in UK guidelines for policy-making would be a great success for this project.”

On an international level, how is the project working with partners across China, India and Brazil?

Sarah Tupper: “The focus on Brazil, China and India is a really important aspect of the project [which is funded by the international aid budget].

We’re now at the point where we’ve reached the stage of having sensitive intervention points – so we’re getting closer to identifying those tangible, practical points at which interventions can be made.

“To do this, we have assembled and nurtured a ‘Community of Practice’ network across those three partner countries, which consists of three yearly discussions with key stakeholders and organisations from each country.

JF: “The idea behind this, which we’ve finally got the big project to put this into practice, is that you consult with these stakeholders to find out exactly what [decision-making] evidence they

need. Ideally, we can use this to supply the right pieces of evidence and science to fit those needs.

Essentially, we’re looking at how economies in Brazil, China and India are making decisions and how they use science to inform those policy decisions.”

Sarah: “I must say that Jacqui does a lot of the heavy lifting to ensure these events happen.

She translates documents, coordinates timings, prepares slides, and gets the right information to the many different partner organisations across these countries.”

Jacqui Richards: “The Communities of Practice have worked particularly well virtually over the past year. This September, we’re also running an event that brings together partners from all five different countries for the first time.”

Lastly, Jean-Francois, what advice would you give to any academics who are interested in working with policymakers and external partners?

JF: “Working with consultants is beneficial, because they have ears in government and, through this, help you discover what the most relevant questions are. Especially with climate policies where the goal is to help the low-carbon transition, we need to help governments access the right knowledge [from within academia], and consultancies can work as an excellent bridge between the two.

who bring commercial knowledge and huge resources. Collaborating with government helps you know directly, from source, what knowledge is needed for policymaking. Certain global partners, such as the World Resources Institute, are also incredibly influential, so if you work with and convince them of something, they will disseminate that knowledge all over the world.

“It’s a big challenge to cultivate these relationships on your own. That’s where having a good team [such as IIB] can be especially helpful. In that sense, IIB plays a role, because it has further contacts and can develop those relationships. That resource can help your research be immediately impactful, because you’re not waiting for it get picked up but formulating it in response to real policy questions.

“With EEIST, I can safely say that we wouldn’t have had the same degree of public relevance [three academic papers have each been reported in over 60 different newspapers and media so far and mentioned several times weekly on Twitter] if we hadn’t been as close as we have to key stakeholders.”

“By working this way, as we do more fundamental research at the university, the company applies our findings to solve real world problems, and this helps raise money that goes on to fund further research.

“It’s also helpful to bring in other kinds of partners like FH, BACK TO CONTENTS 35

CLES

Enliven Project to Improve Healthy Ageing Through Nature & Community

T

he new ENLIVEN research project, led by Professor Linda Clare and Dr Joanne Connell, aims to help older people living with cognitive impairment – including dementia – to be more active and independent and experience a better quality of life, through increased contact with the natural environment.

One of seven research projects funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) that form the Healthy Ageing Social, Behavioural and Design Research Programme (SBDRP), the ENLIVEN project will contribute significantly towards the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Healthy Ageing Challenge’s goal of extending healthy, active life expectancy by five years by 2035.

Research has established that, for people with dementia, outdoor activity offers precious benefits, helping individuals maintain independence, social inclusion, and meaningful occupation; stimulate memory and the senses; and enhance identity and self-esteem.

In this context, the ENLIVEN project seeks to address the specific contextual and circumstantial factors which can make the natural environment inaccessible for individuals with cognitive impairment.

36 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

Throughout the project, the ENLIVEN team will work with business, social enterprises and third sector organisations to gain a practical understanding of the barriers these individuals face – from the more immediate, physical obstacles of transport and safety, to more wide-ranging and (often) disproportionately experienced social, cultural and psychological barriers.

The project’s £1.8m ESRC bid was successfully supported by the Innovation, Impact and Business (IIB) team’s Hannah Williams and Michelle Spillar early this year, who mobilized several partner organisations to generate letters of endorsement. This summer, we reached out to the project’s academic leads – Professor Linda Clare, the project’s Chief Investigator, and Dr Joanne Connell, who brings expertise in making visitor economy businesses more hospitable for people living with dementia – to find out more about ENLIVEN and their experience of working with organisations outside the university.

How did the ENLIVEN project develop?

Linda: “Since 2014 my group has been working on a large cohort study of people with dementia, called IDEAL, which is now an Alzheimer’s Society Centre of Excellence. When we set the study up we were already thinking about access to nature, and included some questions about accessing green and blue spaces.

We found that people with dementia who thought they had green or blue space near where they lived had better quality of life and well-being than those who did not.

“Then Rachel Collins joined the group with a background in both environmental studies and health research, which helped us to focus more on the role of the natural environment and start developing funding applications.

It was great to link up with Jo Connell and learn about all the amazing work she had been involved in on making various kinds of spaces and facilities such as heritage sites accessible for people with dementia.”

Jo: “My colleague Stephen Page (Hertfordshire Business School) and I have been working on the interactions between visitor economy organisations and people with dementia since 2015. We have worked with national organisations to develop guidelines and toolkits for visitor attractions, tourist accommodation and heritage sites aiming to make their services more dementia-friendly. We were pleased to join forces with Linda and her team to extend the application of our work.”

Linda: “The call that funded ENLIVEN was a perfect opportunity to bring these various strands of work together.

This is where IIB came in, as we needed that expertise to help bring potential partner organisations on board.

“Our proposal had a really impressive list of potential partners and letters of support, thanks mainly to IIB colleagues Hannah Williams and Michelle Spillar” “In the last few months, we’ve been setting up the study and we now have our project manager Katie Ledingham, two researchers, Steven Owen and Stephan Price, and a project administrator, Hannah Cameron, in post or about to start.” up the study and we now have our project manager Katie Ledingham, two researchers, Steven Owen and Stephan Price, and a project administrator, Hannah Cameron, in post or about to start.”

BACK TO CONTENTS 37

How does ENLIVEN aims to develop new ways of accessing nature and the outdoors for people living with dementia?

Linda: “We are going to gather evidence from individuals, groups, businesses and organisations as well as published reports and literature and work with stakeholders in a knowledge exchange forum to understand current practice and guide new developments. We will use the outputs from the knowledge exchange forum to support businesses in generating and implementing innovations aimed at improving access, which will be documented and evaluated. We will work with the knowledge exchange forum to understand what has been learned from this process and produce a toolkit of resources for businesses and individuals. People affected by dementia will be involved in all stages of this process.”

How can working with different external partners help inform the project’s practical application and impact?

Linda: “Because we’re both working with external partners and involving people affected by dementia from the outset, the project is all about practical application and sharing knowledge. In my more usual field of health research, I’m used to developing interventions, testing them in randomised trials, and then - if they work well - trying to implement them in routine health or social care services, which is often very challenging.

“In ENLIVEN we are working directly with businesses to support them in developing new ideas and enable them to do things differently, so any innovations they make will be relevant and appropriate for their own context, and we will evaluate how they work and then share what we have learned with other businesses who can adapt the ideas for their own settings. It’s much more organic and I think the impact will arise much more directly.”

Jo: “Involving businesses as key partners integral to the project means we can co-create services that work for those business and for customers, and sharing this more widely to help the sector to make progress in moving towards a more accessible environment.”

What have you enjoyed most about ENLIVEN - and similar projects you’ve worked on in the past?

Linda: “We’re at a very early stage with ENLIVEN, but my experience with other projects is that external partners are incredibly valuable. They bring different ways of seeing things and I think it makes us more open to a range of approaches and ideas. think it makes us more open to a range of approaches and ideas.

“I’ve learned a lot in our IDEAL Alzheimer’s Centre of Excellence programme from working with artist Ian Beesley and his team.

Starting with the germ of an idea they did a fantastic job of engaging people with dementia and finding ways of getting their voice heard, culminating in a very professional Linda Clare (left) and Joanne Connell (right) are the project’s academic leads.

38 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

touring exhibition and book that showcase the perspectives of people affected by dementia and highlight some of the issues they want to address, such as more accessible public transport, or care systems that are easier to navigate.

“Whereas in health research we often start with a very well-defined plan and follow it closely, when working with artists it is a real journey of discovery and exploration, and that is very enjoyable. More recently in our GREAT cognitive rehabilitation programme we have worked with our fantastic partner organisation Innovations in Dementia CIC to bring together a group of people with dementia to co-develop a set of self-management resources to support others facing similar challenges. Again that has been a very inspiring creative process resulting in a really professional set of resources and some very important learning which we will take forward in future projects.”

Jo: “Working on a project that people feel is worthwhile and where there is a positive feel about making changes for the better for societal challenges, particularly when looking for external collaborations.”

Lastly, what advice would you give academics who might be interested in working with IIB and external partners in this capacity?

Linda: “I would always advise making contact at an early stage, even if ideas are not fully worked out, to allow time for collaborations to develop. When funding calls are announced the deadlines are usually tight, and it can take time to bring partner organisations on board, so it’s helpful to have a head start.”

Joanne: “At the start, it’s useful to have a good idea about what you want to achieve in your project and discuss this with IIB so there is a clear remit for external collaborations.”

How IIB Supported the ENLIVEN Project After the bid’s successful Expression of Interest, Hannah Williams and Michelle Spillar spoke to both Linda and Joanne, along with other academic colleagues, to discuss what organisations they wished to target and what contact they’d previously had with them.

Following this, they developed a wealth of communication resources - including template emails, project overviews and template letters of endorsement tailored to each prospective orgnaisation - to help gain te support of these organisations. They mobilised both internal and external networks, holding meetings with interested partners to drive external support as the deadline approached.

After the bid’s success, they worked with Linda and Joanne to communicate with supporting partners and those who where keen to be involved but unable to provide a letter in time, letting them know about the bid’s success and clarifying next steps.

BACK TO CONTENTS 39

CMH

SENISCA: Forward Thinking to Reverse Cell Ageing A team of world leaders in molecular and cellular biology have pioneered new anti-ageing technology through the University of Exeter spin-out company, SENISCA. 40 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

S

ENISCA has developed new approaches to reverse cellular senescence, which occurs when cells cease division and start to secrete inflammatory proteins. This can trigger cellular ageing and has a causative role in multiple age-related diseases.

They realised that they could turn back the ageing clock in old cells through restoration

of correct regulation of RNA splicing, restoring the cells to a ‘younger’ state.

for me at the time. Tori has been with us every step from the very beginning, always offering help and solutions.

As a result of their research, SENISCA has successfully created a new and druggable means to rejuvenate aged cells. In turn, their innovation reverses the aesthetic and disease-causing aspects of ageing, allowing people to live healthier lives for longer.

“Introductions to commercial partners have been particularly valuable. Tori’s introduction to Kirsty Semple [Chief Executive Officer] was a real turning point in SENISCA’s journey. It shows the benefits that can be brought by bringing in people with these valuable commercial skills.”

The SENISCA journey started in 2016 when Professor Lorna Harries and her research group discovered their exciting research result. They then contacted the University’s Innovation, Impact and Business (IIB) team in November 2018, wanting advice on commercialising their research to benefit the wider community.

Over this time, Tori Hammond, IIB lead, worked alongside the team to help patent their technology, source grants and investment, and get the spin-out company incorporated, supported by a commercial mentor.

She introduced them to SETsquared, the three times number one global university incubator, where they joined the Scale-up programme.

SENISCA is currently based in the state-of-theart University’s Research, Innovation, Learning and Development (RILD) building, a health education and research centre based at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital site in Exeter, near St Luke’s campus.

“We have been very grateful to the University more widely for their flexibility and generosity which, has been pivotal in our success to date,” said Professor Lorna Harries.

Tori Hammond, said: “It’s been really enjoyable and rewarding to give Lorna and SENISCA the support of the University of Exeter’s Innovation, Impact and Business technology transfer team.

“Since embarking on the Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) Programme in January 2020, the SENISCA team has taken advantage of all possible opportunities. This has resulted in an exciting and innovative research technology breaking out of the lab and into commercialisation.”

In 2020, the SENISCA company was founded by the expert co-founder team, Chief Scientific Officer Professor Lorna Harries, Chief Technical Officer Dr Ben Lee, and Chief Executive Officer Kirsty Semple.

SENISCA’s future mission is to continue developing precision medicine for age-related diseases and bring economic growth to the South West region by firmly putting their Exeter Research Centre on the UK’s biotech map.

Earlier this year, they successfully secured an oversubscribed £1.3M from private investors, placing them securely as front-runners in the development of medicine that target the causes and effects of ageing.

If you would like to learn more about SENISCA and the science behind their reverse cell ageing, check out their website HERE.

Professor Lorna Harries, Chief Scientific Officer, said: “From my perspective as founder, I have been grateful to Tori and IIB for their support whilst navigating what was unchartered waters BACK TO CONTENTS 41

CMH

Landmark Radiography Degree Apprenticeship Welcomes Fourth Cohort

T

he first higher education programme of its kind, The College of Medicine and Health’s Level 6 Diagnostic Radiographer Degree Apprenticeship – launched in March 2020 – is now taking on its fourth cohort. Through the programme, employees from radiography departments in NHS Trusts develop full accreditation for work as a Diagnostic Radiographer, through a mixture of onsite and virtual education at the University of Exeter, and workplace learning.

This helps NHS employers expand their workforce to meet the high demand for practicing radiographers, by presenting a much-needed pathway for currently unqualified but committed junior staff to progress to full qualification in 36 months. Thanks to the opportunity it provides and hard work from Dr Christine Heales, Demelza Green and IIB’s Degree Apprenticeships team, there are now 93 apprentices (rising to 121 in September) learning with the College’s Medical Imaging team, from 46 NHS employing bodies across England.

After their work on the innovative programme following its apprenticeship ‘standard’ approval in April 2019, we reached out to Christine and Elaine from the DRDA team to find out about how the programme developed, what it involves, and their experience working on it.

Dr Christine Heales is the Programme Director, Demelza Green is the Director of Workplace Learning, and Elaine Pavelle is the Partnership Development Manager, who oversees the Healthcare Degree Apprenticeship programmes.

42 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

Could you tell me about the work that went into developing the first Diagnostic Radiography Degree Apprenticeships programme?

Christine: “The profession of diagnostic radiography is regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), so not only had to meet the apprenticeship requirements but also needed to be approved by them. It was also important to us that the programme was approved by our professional body, the Society and College of Radiographers.”

“Fortunately, we already have a well-regarded ‘conventional’ undergraduate programme in diagnostic radiography so had experience of what needs to go into a programme to meet these standards. What was different was reconfiguring the content so that it better

suited the needs of an apprentice. Both [conventional and apprenticeship degree] programmes are equivalent in terms of content and required standards but are very different in how they are delivered.”

Elaine: “Programme materials were sent to Clinical and Apprenticeship Leads in NHS Hospitals around the country, with follow up emails and phone calls to let them know that the University of Exeter would be launching the first cohort to the apprenticeship in March 2020.”

“Having only received formal notification of accreditation by the Health and Care Professions Council to run the programme at the end of January 2020, we had merely 5 weeks to promote, recruit the intake, and undergo contracting with each employer.”

BACK TO CONTENTS 43

Could you tell me a little more about how students learn on the course?

What have you most enjoyed about developing this Degree Apprenticeship?

Christine: “The course uses a blended approach to learning. Apprentices attend three intensive learning weeks per year – these were held virtually during the pandemic, but are planned to back on campus from September this year.

Christine: “It has been enjoyable designing a completely different delivery model that is optimised to the needs of apprentices. We have also enjoyed welcoming apprentices who would not be able to embark on a career in diagnostic radiography without the apprenticeship route being available to them. This, arguably, is one of the most beneficial aspects of this type of programme.

“Each apprentice then has a day per week of protected study time for their ‘off the job’ learning where they work their way through a series of distance learning resources. They also have activities to complete within the workplace to develop their clinical skills as well as their understanding of how theory relates to their practice.”

How are the current cohorts of employees,and NHSTrusts, responding to the programme?

“Another plus is that it will increase the number of new entrants into the profession at a time when more diagnostic radiographers are really needed.

Employers have the option to expand their workforce by advertising their apprenticeship posts externally or they can upskill existing members of their team, opening up career opportunities that may not previously have been available.

Christine: “The commitment of our apprentices, and the radiographers supporting them in their workplaces, has made all the difference since the programme launched, especially as the start of the programme coincided with the pandemic. We were fortunate that we were able to move our campus weeks on line and still deliver the same learning outcomes, and that our partnership departments were able to support us by supervising academic assessments that would normally have been held at the University.

Elaine: “There is a national shortage of qualified radiographers – 4,000 in fact. It is encouraging to know that through the Apprenticeship programme we are contributing to the much-needed increase in qualified staff. Many junior staff meet a brick wall in terms of career progression – the apprenticeship enables mature students to embark on a degree programme, which will alter their career trajectory, increase their income and contribute to departmental workforce stability and resilience within hospitals. It is exciting to be part of this transformative opportunity.”

What Next?

Following the success of the BSc programme, the DRDA team are launching an MSc apprenticeship version of this programme in March 2022.

The MSc apprenticeship route is a ‘fast track’ programme for individuals who already hold a BSc 2:1 undergraduate degree in a Science or Engineering discipline, but who would like to qualify as Radiographers. They will spend two years working in a radiology setting, learning the full range of imaging modalities and gaining clinical skills, whilst studying to meet the learning objectives outlined in the Diagnostic Radiographer apprenticeship ‘standard’. Departments will gain a newly qualified member of the team in 24 months instead of 36, funded through the apprenticeship levy. The team aim to recruit 20 individuals to the first intake in March 2022 and they will join the spring cohort of BSc apprentices for their induction week at CMH. For more information about Degree Apprenticeships, contact the team HERE.

44 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

The

ERP

New programme helps researchers to commercialise their work

T

he new Entrepreneurial Researcher Programme or “ERP” ran two cohorts in Spring 2021, featuring 17 academics from across all Colleges, exploring a diverse range of commercial opportunities emerging from their research including licencing, social enterprise and for-profit spinouts.

Dr Rosina Cross, a researcher working on the BHF funded Digital REACH-HF programme and fellow ERP participant, sought to explore the commercialisation routes for their digital healthcare intervention initially with partners in the NHS, and then a potential international roll out. Rosina found the ERP a “brilliant experience... [which] has given me an understanding of where research and the commercial world overlap, and the tools to identify and forecast prob-lems and build both existing and new partnerships to commercialise our idea.”

Researchers were given dedicated support from external mentors and IIB’s Commercialisation team, providing them with the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial competencies, connect with likeminded colleagues, test ideas with prospective customers and access seed funding.

ERP participant and PhD Researcher Herman Aguirre Jofre is working with colleagues within the Camborne School of Mines to develop a low cost “Internet of Things” fleet management system aimed at reducing operational costs and improving environmental performance within the mining industry.

For Herman, the ERP provided the space to accelerate his idea. “I think the content was amazing and the cases presented were very illustrative,” he said. “I have improved my approach regarding my own research and I’ve gained momentum in writing my PhD. The programme has allowed me to develop my ideas and transform my research into a business.”

Following the ERP, the IIB team supported Herman’s successful application to ICURe, one of the key Innovate UK programs aimed at supporting the commercialisation of UK university research. Through this, Herman and colleagues Dr Matt Eyre and Dr Declan Vogt aim to establish a spinout company that takes the technology to a global market.

Want to get involved?

The ERP programme is now recruiting applicants for its next two cohorts. In the run up to COP26 this autumn, cohort three will be a “Green Futures” themed programme, focused on supporting researchers to explore and commercialise ideas that aim to solve challenges in achieving a more sustainable and just future.

Cohort four will be focussed on commercial ideas emanating from across health and social science research. To find out more about the ERP and upcoming application deadlines visit their webpage HERE.

BACK TO CONTENTS 45

MEET THE TEAM Our team has expertise and partnerships in a range of different sectors. They can work with you through the process of collaborating with external partners and direct you to the most suitable IIB support.

Dr Isabel Gonzalez Data, Digital, Technology, Manufacturing and Engineering

Joe Pearce Regional Business Support through SETsquared Exeter

Louise Osborne Cornwall Collaboration, Parnterships and Business Support

Alex Huke Environment and Clean Growth

Adele Dawson Degree Apprenticeships

Brigid Howarth Society, Arts, Culture and Policy

Sophie Smith Business Transformation, Finance and Executive Education

Dr Neil Hayes Intellectual Property Licensing & Spin-outs

Michelle Spillar Medical Technologies, Health and Wellbeing, Defence and Security

To find out more about the team, or to get in contact click HERE. 46 YEAR IN REVIEW 20-21

GET IN TOUCH If you would like to showcase your research or innovation project in a future newsletter, get in touch with us today!

Georgia Brown

Engagement & Campaign Support Officer GBP

g.brown4@exeter.ac.uk

Ben Dickenson Bampton Engagement & Campaign Support Officer GBP

b.d.bampton@exeter.ac.uk

BACK TO CONTENTS 47