Inspiring Research by University of Exeter

Climate change and sustainable futures • Societal and lifestyle shifts • Extrasolar planets • Functional materials • Global uncertainties • Identities and beliefs

inspiring research

Medical humanities • Science, technology, culture • Environment and sustainability • Systems biology • Translational medicine, healthcare and public health

inspiring research

Professor Nick Talbot Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Transfer

The University of Exeter is a vibrant centre for new ideas; a university free of internal boundaries. As a Russell Group University our research has an outstanding foundation, with world-class research in all of our subject areas. We provide a world-class research environment, which we are enriching with over £230 million investment into infrastructure and staff. This includes new laboratories and equipment for science research, and redeveloped library and seminar spaces for humanities and the social sciences, all as part of our impressive wider capital investment programme. This has revolutionised our campuses and made Exeter a genuine destination university for the 21st century.

Climate change and sustainable futures • Societal and lifestyle shifts • Extrasolar planets • Functional materials • Global uncertainties • Identities and beliefs

Contents Systems Biology

Climate Change and Sustainable Futures 4

More than this, we are a university of intellectual opportunity and freedom. We embrace and encourage new thought, and allow our academics and researchers the space and support they need to pursue ideas free from preconceptions, hierarchies or bureaucracy. Innovation and discovery need room to grow, and this is what we seek to provide. This brochure showcases our most valuable research resource – our researchers. From established professors with formidable reputations established over many years, to young academics whose new ideas are progressing their fields in unexplored directions, they are all making an impact on global issues. These individuals are inspirational figures, translating their research into the teaching that will inspire the next generation of academics who will change the world.

It is our researchers who are making advances in treatments for diabetes; in understanding what the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system say about the future of our own planet’s atmosphere; in instigating society-wide behavioural changes; in adding to every facet of the knowledge base of our country, and of our world. Our laboratories and campuses, however advanced or beautiful they may be, are simply the space for our researchers to work within. In order to encourage our researchers to cross traditional boundaries we have established a number of interdisciplinary themes across the sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. These themes build critical mass by allowing strategic investment and collaboration in ways which transcend traditional disciplinary or collegiate systems, bridging the gaps that can otherwise be barriers to achievement.

Environment and Sustainability

Medical Humanities

Functional Materials

Global Uncertainties

Identities and Beliefs

Extrasolar Planets

Science, Technology, Culture

Societal and Lifestyle Shifts

Translational Medicine, Personalised Healthcare and Public Health

Working with Business

International Partnerships

• Medical humanities • Science, technology, culture • Environment and sustainability • Systems biology • Translational medicine, healthcare and public health

Systems Biology Techniques from mathematics and physics are accelerating biological sciences into the 21st century. Our researchers investigate small molecules, characterise proteins and apply next generation genomic technologies to cure crop diseases, investigate genetic disorders and develop novel biotechnologies. From subcellular processes to entire ecosystems, we are developing models to understand systems at every scale.

Professor Nina Wedell College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Cornwall Campus

The evolutionary ecology of sex raises fascinating questions: what are the consequences of reproduction, of having males and females? We can be identical except for a single chromosome, but have different agendas in reproduction; how do the sexes work together, when does it result in conflict? I work primarily with insects because they exhibit tremendous variation. There’s always an insect that fulfils the criteria for a particular piece of research. We’re investigating male fertility issues arising from bacterial sex ratio distorters present in some flies and butterflies that cause females to only sire daughters; without female promiscuity the population dies out.

If you treat them with antibiotics, you get the males back. These findings might be relevant to human fertility too. It was incredibly exciting to be here at the start of the University’s Tremough campus. The University strove for research excellence alongside teaching, which created a vibrant atmosphere. Students can tell we love our research, and that inspires the teaching. As a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holder, being an academic means you join the greatest club on Earth. I’ll never get bored, because there’s always something more to learn. It’s wonderful.

“Students can tell we love our research and that inspires the teaching.”

s y stems biolog y

inspiring research

Professor Murray Grant College of Life and Environmental Sciences

My research tries to understand how pathogens cause diseases on plants. Several major diseases have emerged recently, some local, like one affecting Japanese Larch – two million were chopped down in Devon last year. Internationally, banana xanthomonas wilt in Central and East Africa is devastating smallholders. We don’t hear enough about it in the western world. We’re translating research from model systems. Technologically we’re at the stage where we can apply our knowledge to solving major world problems like food security, combining our systems approach to biology with the social sciences to understand cultural and behavioural change. The future is in understanding that a plant is an ecosystem and how it interacts with its environment. We have the technology to understand how environment affects health and productivity. You couldn’t think about doing that a decade ago.

“The future is understanding that a plant is an ecosystem.”

I came to Exeter for the scientific environment and the local environment. You can have both here; excellent science and quality of life.

s y stems biolog y

“Our findings were used in Kyoto.”

Climate Change and Sustainable Futures Climate Change is one of the most significant phenomena of the 21st century, needing a truly interdisciplinary approach to tackle the issues it raises. With strong links to the Met Office and diverse expertise encompassing mathematical climate modelling, ecosystem responses, mitigation technology and socioeconomic impact and adaptation, the University of Exeter is uniquely positioned at the vanguard of climate change research.

Professor Peter Cox College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences

I worked at the Met Office for 14 years before coming to the University; my background is in numerical modelling of the climate system. I’m interested in how climate affects land, plants and soil, and how they in turn affect climate. My research group is trying to simulate how the world’s vegetation might respond to climate change. One model we developed saw the Amazon basin dry out; the forest unable to sustain itself. We’ve been scrutinising this for years; other predictions are rarely so extreme. Thankfully, recent progress is proving that the rainforest is more resilient than we originally thought. The international importance of climate change is huge motivation; our findings have been used by the UK government at the Kyoto negotiations. People who succeed in climate science are networkers, connecting experts in different areas. Sharing ideas is essential. Research is about people, and interaction makes things happen. Our climate change academics are world-class individuals who traverse boundaries between traditional disciplines.

C limate cha n ge a n d sustai n able futures

inspiring research

Dr Anne Le Brocq College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Ice sheets hold vast amounts of water, and can respond quickly to changes in climate and the ocean, leading to big changes in global sea level. We need to understand the nature of the ice sheets to make predictions. No one has researched one of the parts of Antarctica I look at – apart from the bottom of the ocean it’s the most extreme environment on Earth. I love its remoteness and mystery, discovering something completely new. For years I’ve worked with numerical models, investigating Antarctica theoretically. Last November I worked there for the

first time with the University of Texas Institute of Geophysics. Being out there, seeing rather than just thinking about Antarctica, brought my research into sharp focus. It’s also given me the fieldwork bug! If I didn’t have contacts at other institutions I may never have been able to go there. Exeter gives me the opportunity to be part of a progressive institution, to grow with an important research theme. As a young researcher, that’s incredibly exciting.

“The most extreme environment on earth.”

C limate cha n ge a n d sustai n able futures

inspiring research

Professor Tim Lenton College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Some parts of the Earth – Arctic sea ice, Greenland, the Amazon – have the potential to change dramatically if slightly warmed, having an enormous effect on the entire climate. Physics can describe how systems behave before they reach these thresholds, and we’re trying to provide early warnings of these tipping points. The Earth’s climate history reveals such warnings existed before the end of the last ice age. We’re seeing early warning signals in Arctic sea ice records and sea surface temperature data, and investigating potential geoengineering responses.

I’m a different kind of scientist, and Exeter is a perfect home for me. I’ve always approached climate change from a systems perspective; it’s just one facet of how we are changing the world in which we live. To understand ecosystems biology and Earth system science you have to understand how life evolved. Our next task is to engage the business community on sustainability issues. We’ve been saying it for decades but now business is having an epiphany that we’re entering a future of resource scarcity.

“Early warnings of tipping points.”

C limate cha n ge a n d sustai n able futures

inspiring research

“Our ecosystem services are not yet all damaged beyond repair.” Professor Kevin Gaston Director, Environment and Sustainability Institute, Cornwall campus

Environment and Sustainability Our environmental expertise extends far beyond purely scientific approaches. We are investigating concerns about the environment with researchers from a wide range of disciplines, finding solutions for humanity to exist in more sustainable ways with the planet. Geographers, economists, political scientists and humanities academics are working closely with our ecologists and engineers to develop a truly holistic approach to environmental research.

I love solving problems. As the Director of the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI), I’ve been given an amazing opportunity to build an international research centre from scratch, with entirely new staff, and the resources to lead interdisciplinary research into solutions to problems of environmental change. Our ecosystems are not yet all damaged beyond repair but technical or management solutions aren’t enough. Reversing the degradation requires significant changes in our relations with the environment. At the ESI we’re using Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as a living laboratory to explore issues with a wider global impact. Its peninsula nature, the interactions between marine and terrestrial environments, local expertise in renewables, and the population dynamic make the region incredibly rich for research. My own specialism is ecosystem services; this is the idea of the Earth as a service provider and humanity as beneficiary. It’s a new way to approach support services such as the soil, provisioning services such as food and fuel, regulatory services and cultural services, including art and wellbeing. These issues can seem remote but if we translate them into tangible benefits, people understand how much the environment matters.

E n v iro n me n t a n d sustai n abilit y

“There’s no such thing as an area of ‘outstanding natural beauty’; all our landscapes are cultural.” Dr Mike Cant Professor Steve Rippon College of Humanities

I try to understand how the landscape around us has evolved, particularly the countryside. People’s quality of life is connected to a sense of belonging, security, and identity with where they live. You can drive down a Devon lane that could be 2000 years old, while another may be only 100. Understanding that depth of time enriches people’s lives. In the English Midlands people tend to live together in villages, but in Devon many people live in small hamlets, isolated farmsteads, and cottages; I want to know why these regional differences in landscape character emerged. Finding out is part archaeology, part history, part geography. There’s no such thing as an area of ‘outstanding natural beauty’ in this country; all our landscapes are cultural. Even Dartmoor, without the grazing livestock would soon be covered in woodland. People created and maintain this open landscape; it’s beautiful, but it’s cultural. The landscape research group at Exeter is working with a wide range of external partners to improve the understanding of a variety of landscapes, and their enjoyment by both local communities and visitors.

E n v iro n me n t a n d sustai n abilit y

College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Banded-mongooses are co-operative, but there’s no dominant female as with other co-operative species, like meerkats or wild dogs. All the females in a group give birth on the same day, which is unique; we research the evolutionary causes for this, examining mongooses in the wild and captivity, so I spend a lot of time researching in Uganda.

To get that level of exposure for your work is extraordinary. We don’t make enough of a song and dance about how much TV can raise awareness of scientific and environmental research, about the impact that has. There’s phenomenal public interest in the natural world.

making a

The UK has a fantastic tradition of TV wildlife documentaries. BBC2 picked up our research and turned it into four hours of television.

historical impact

Hierarchies don’t exist at Exeter; if your work is valid, it’s appreciated, wherever you are in your career. I talked with my wife about what we’d do if we won the lottery, and I’d carry on researching. I’d definitely do it for fun if no one paid me.

“There’s phenomenal public interest in the natural world.”

inspiring research

“Our bodies, diets and cultures change and affect our health.”

Medical Humanities There is fertile ground for research at the border of medicine and the humanities. This is a space where clinicians and scientists investigate the cultural motivations behind the effects of ailments and their treatments, and the general population’s behaviour regarding their health. At the Centre for Medical History and at Egenis (ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society) we are exploring this interface through strong international links.

Professor Mark Jackson Director of the Centre for Medical History

To understand the emergence and proliferation of an illness you need to understand the society and culture in which it appears, as well as its biology. I trained in medicine but saw opportunities with the humanities. People are interested in their health, so we ask a simple question, “Why do we get ill?” Our bodies and diets and cultures change and affect our health. The emergence of allergies coincided with cultural concerns about the environment and asthma. Stress is my latest interest, understanding it in terms of the social traumas of the 20th century – wars, economic depression, cultural transition – and our attempts to reclaim and recover stability and harmony through science.

Nobody has said ‘no’ to me when I’ve come up with an idea here. The capacity to say yes to new ideas requires vision and a progressive culture of support and expectation. This impulse is embedded and reinforced at all levels; we say yes to opportunities or challenges in turn. This has led to the Centre for Medical History working internationally and across disciplines, increasing our profile and deepening our impact. Even if people in other parts of the world are not quite sure where Exeter is geographically, they know our work.

me d ical huma n ities

Functional Materials How we use and develop the materials around us has been at the heart of technological innovation since the invention of the wheel. At Exeter our physicists and engineers are working together to create new smart materials, from bombproof curtains to invisibility cloaks, developing

Professor David Wright College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences

We’ve established a Centre for Graphene Science in collaboration with the University of Bath, to undertake cutting-edge research into this revolutionary new material derived from graphite. Graphene is widely regarded as the most important scientific discovery in materials. It is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice; it’s stronger than diamond, and is a transparent conductor with unique electrical and optical functions. Our research focuses on three key areas: • developing our fundamental understanding of graphene • investigating how its unique properties can be exploited for areas such as sensors and displays • methods of fabrication.

My own research concerns the design, development, and characterisation of memory and data storage materials, devices, and systems. The amount of data generated and stored in the world is growing, so we need to increase the capacity of memory devices, and make them smaller and consume less power. Conventional approaches to data storage like magnetic hard-disks, DVDs and ‘Flash’ memory sticks face difficult technological barriers to progress. We’re working with research laboratories around the world to develop new materials and techniques that circumvent the limitations of conventional technologies.

exciting technologies like additive layer manufacturing, and investigating graphene, the 21st century’s most exciting new material.

fu n ctio n al materials

“Graphene is widely regarded as the most important scientific discovery in materials.”

inspiring research

“Nano materials are of huge importance to the world.”

“Light is essential in the information-rich world in which we live.”

Professor Yanqiu Zhu College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences

I was inspired by the 1996 Nobel Prize for the discovery of fullerenes to embark on nanomaterials research. My team is working with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) to develop new armour materials. We’re moving from fundamentals to applications in our research, the outcome being to save lives in conflict situations. You can’t get a better impact for your research. Nanomaterials is an area of huge importance to the world. We collaborate with other universities, Cambridge, Surrey, Sheffield, but also institutions in America, Germany, and China, to ensure we stay world class.

Professor Bill Barnes College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences

I was fascinated by light from an early age, and I still am. It will come as no surprise then that light continues to be the focus of my research career. Light has been essential to the development of science and is integral to many of the technologies that are essential in the information-rich world in which we live. Now a new revolution is taking place, one in which we can manipulate light well-beyond traditional limits, right down to the nanoscale. Metals are an ideal material with which to control light at such small scales. The same properties that enable metals to conduct electricity also give metals their alluring lustre. One of our goals is to exploit this dual character of metals to merge electronics with optics through design at the nanoscale. At Exeter our work is part of a wider programme in which materials are being designed and made that have properties not found in nature – metamaterials. These new materials offer the prospect of controlling light of other, invisible wavelengths, in totally new ways. These new developments only increase our fascination with light.

F u n ctio n al materials

Global Uncertainties Humanity and the planet face many uncertainties, and we have world-leading expertise across many of them: Middle East and Islamic world politics; conflict causation, management, and regulation; international relations and diplomacy; food and water security; diasporas and social

“It’s a rarity to have this many Middle East specialists.” Professor Gareth Stansfield Director of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies

My work focuses on Iraq, and is divided between researching state-building initiatives (including the management of sectarian and ethnic divides), and Coalition approaches to counter-insurgency and stabilisation. As such, my work has covered aspects of military intervention and post-conflict strategies, resource management and government legislation, and regional involvement. I have advised the UK military, British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and UN bodies.

cohesion. Our work to understand and counter these issues is rich and interdisciplinary, encompassing the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. One of the main UK centres for teaching and research in Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, history and culture.

global u n certai n ties

My experience in Iraq started in the mid-1990s, when I served as political adviser firstly to the UN and then to the Kurdistan Regional Government. The work was dangerous, as the Kurds were rebelling against the government of Saddam Hussein, but meant that I was uniquely placed to research Iraqi politics in a critical period before 2003. Exeter’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies is a very special place. It is a rarity to have so many regional specialists concentrated in one institution and we have established a very strong international profile in the field. Indeed, the Institute sits alongside the world’s leading centres of Middle East and Islamic Studies as a centre of excellence of international repute.

Professor Michael Winter OBE

inspiring research

Director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research

The rapidly growing world population changing its diet and eating more; pressures on natural resources from water to fossil fuels; competing pressures on land; productivity under threat from climate change; and lack of investment in research and development all adds up to a serious problem with feeding the world’s population and managing the land sustainably. We’ve entered into an alliance with Rothamsted Research and the University of Bristol to share expertise in tackling the food security crisis. We’re bringing together veterinary science, biosciences, agricultural science, and the humanities. I’m a social scientist but I have no specific disciplinary allegiance. I’ve been a geographer, a political scientist, a sociologist, and a rural historian. It’s rurality that motivates me and I enjoy using different disciplinary approaches to tackle rural problems. I worked on a farm before my PhD, and keep a smallholding now. The mud on the boots helps enormously! People know I’ve experienced what I research. For the last decade a great deal of my work has been about policy engagement; from the hunting controversy through foot and mouth disease to current food and land issues, always trying to work closely with DEFRA. I love scholarship, losing myself in an archive, but I came into academia because I wanted to make a difference in the world, engaging in real issues and maybe changing things a bit.

“With the growth in population in China and India alone, it is a serious problem to feed the world and manage land sustainably.”

global u n certai n ties

Dr Elena Isayev College of Humanities

I look at the subconscious impact of landscape, architecture, and

Identities and Beliefs

human-constructed space on people and communities – how

What we believe is intrinsic to

modern society, and provide an alternative space in which to

how we behave and who we are, and understanding the links between

identity and mobility are related. I’m an ancient historian, but I take what I have discovered about ancient communities, about how they relate to place, about migration, to better understand think through contemporary concerns. It allows for a vision of a sophisticated interconnected world where national borders did not exist, human mobility was ever present and belonging was not

belief and identity has a rich tradition

attached to land. The problem was not ‘the foreigner in our midst’

at Exeter. We combine expertise in

but how to keep people in one place.

modern and ancient religious beliefs

We are working with different members of the community –

and practices with historical and

newcomers, over-55s, and particularly young people of multiple backgrounds, helping them to interact with each other in different

sociological analysis of human migration

ways, using what we have learned to give them tools that can shift

and cultural development, literature and

their bonds between memory and place, helping them build new

cultural consumption, bringing together

memories. It is long-term, perception – changing impact.

a number of perspectives across several disciplines.

I can only do what I do because I am able to work with colleagues in Geography, English and Physics across the University, as well as non-academic practitioners such as artists, musicians and architects. There are so many different perspectives and experiences to learn from; we are all equal scholars with ideas to contribute.

I d e n tities a n d beliefs

“Changing the bonds between memory and place.”

inspiring research

Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou College of Humanities

People are confused by me because I don’t look like a stereotypical theology academic, and I’m an atheist within a confessional field. Most people study theology and religion because of personal investment, but I’m really a religious historian. I focus on the cultures that the Old Testament emerged from; what people really believed and how they expressed it through ritual. I explore the relationship between the human and the divine worlds, how the dead became semi-deified; gruesome

things like child sacrifice and worshipping the dead. It’s like being a detective! I worked with the BBC to develop a series relating to the Bible and archaeology. We developed ideas in a really creative way, very different from typical academic collaboration. People expressed shock at the resultant documentary, but we’ve been having these debates in scholarship for years. We wanted impact, for people to say “isn’t the Bible amazing” even if they weren’t Christian – and that happened.

“I’m a religious historian; it’s like being a detective.”

I d e n tities a n d beliefs

Professor Isabelle Baraffe College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences

I’m a theoretical astrophysicist, trying to understand the underlying physical processes which rule the evolution

Extrasolar Planets Extrasolar planets exist outside of Earth’s immediate Solar System. By researching their atmospheres and underlying physics, we can learn more about our own planet, its history, and its future. Exeter unites mathematicians

of stars and planets based on numerical simulations. Early in my career, planets outside our own solar system, or extrasolar planets, started being discovered, and I’ve been fascinated by this ever since. We are making strong connections with the Met Office, using their Global Climate Model tool to investigate the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. We hope that our research on their climates can impact on long-term Earth climate predictions and interventions. Discovering Earth-like planets is our holy grail. It’s not science fiction to think that we could discover life, too. Better we understand how atmosphere works, the more chance we have. This is why working with climate change researchers and the Met Office is so important,

with theoretical and observational

and Exeter is uniquely placed to do this. You need fluid

astrophysicists in this new field

dynamicists and physicists and other experts to increase

of study, and we are developing

shared understanding. You cannot work alone in your discipline any more.

strong links with the UK Met Office enabling us to use sophisticated climate prediction models.

e x trasolar pla n ets

“Discovering Earth-like planets is our Holy Grail.”

inspiring research

Science, Technology, Culture Understanding how society and culture react to scientific developments is a key challenge for 21st century research. We are exploring the social impact of genomics at Egenis; the integration of technology into education; and the interface of performance, science and culture at

Professor Rupert Wegerif

the Centre for Intermedia. With further

College of Social Sciences and International Studies

philosophical expertise in animal behaviour and biopolitics, Exeter is proving that the sciences and humanities are not mutually exclusive.

Children don’t have enough time to talk and think. People aren’t always talking when they communicate, so we use ‘dialogue’ to include technology. Dialogic learning is asking questions, admitting you don’t understand the problem; it teaches you to think. Groups empowered like this solve problems quicker, develop an understanding of other people, and become comfortable with diverse views and new ideas. Evidence suggests the dialogic approach is beneficial for the science curriculum. We’re leading a £1 million project about global science education, with Malaysia, India, and Lebanon,

“Children don’t have enough time to talk and think.” exploring areas where science education isn’t working well and how we can improve it. We investigate how technology can be beneficial for education; improving the quality of dialogue, behaviour, and respect, as well as serving as an excellent focus for learning, and how you can have dialogues via the internet. I love writing. It’s a dialogic process too; I’m reading, I’m responding. I’m very motivated by intellectual dialogues. I have an awful lot of interesting conversations! I love that most about being an academic.

S cie n ce , tech n olog y , culture

“Regulation affects all our lives.” Professor Anne Barlow College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Societal and Lifestyle Shifts The way we live together is changing faster than ever before, and understanding the behaviours, consequences, and motivations of the changing ways people interact is crucial to society. We combine expertise in law, business, sociology, psychology and beyond to examine and interpret our changing situations and how they impact on family, leisure, working, and health behaviours.

S ocietal a n d lifest y le shifts

Professor Claudio Radaelli Director of the Centre for European Governance

The most exciting problems in public policy have to be addressed by interdisciplinary teams. Regulation affects all our lives, so we have to understand how it can be made efficient, transparent, and dialogic. My interests are regulatory reform, the theory of the policy process, the role of knowledge and ideas in public policy, and Europeanisation. Impact comes from trends and the percolation of social science ideas into public policy rather than tipping points. I worked in the private sector, in think tanks, research institutes and private consultancy for years. My friends thought I was mad to start a PhD at 32, but I love the intellectual freedom of academia.

The way we live our lives has changed, and people partner and parent in new ways. Cohabitants aren’t so very different from married couples; they’re often just doing things in another order. By focusing on marriage, family regulation fails to make provision for increasing numbers of people in different styles of relationships. The law expects people to be rational about whether or not to marry, but people see this as a lifestyle choice and often don’t know the law until it’s too late. We’re looking at prenuptial agreements and alternative dispute resolution. Should prenuptial contracts be binding? Would people review them to adapt to changing circumstances? Are disputes about children more suited to mediation than courts? Answering these questions isn’t just about law; social science research can provide crucial evidence on how to reform the law.

“The law expects people to be rational.”

inspiring research

“Social identity theory is about how people behave in groups.” Professor Michelle Ryan College of Life and Environmental Sciences

I’m a social as well as an organisational psychologist. Social identity theory has quite a socialist background; it’s about how people behave in groups rather than as individuals. It’s highly interdisciplinary but with the rigour of psychology, so we can ask big questions but answer them with proven methodology. We collaborate with a lot of European and Australian partners. There’s a strong network of social psychologists. The Glass Cliff project came about when I found a newspaper article about the gender of leadership, and how companies do badly when women lead

them. I wanted to understand why, and we found that women tend to be appointed to leadership positions under very different circumstances than men, by companies which were already doing badly. I’m only a few years out of my own PhD, and I love supervising PhD students; the collaboration and mentorship. I try and pick people who are passionate about what they do. Academia’s often a long game; it can be five years from designing a study to publishing it, but seeing a new researcher growing is immediately rewarding.

S ocietal a n d lifest y le shifts

Translational Medicine, Personalised Healthcare and Public Health If medical research is to benefit society then it must move seamlessly from bench to bedside. Exeterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s researchers span the Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Medical School, our health-facing Colleges and the NHS. We are developing new treatments for diabetes, investigating the ageing population, exploring the limitations of human performance, and designing behaviour change interventions.

T ra n slatio n al me d ici n e , perso n alise d healthcare a n d public health

inspiring research

“I can make more impact as an academic than as a clinician.”

Professor Andy Jones College of Life and Environmental Sciences

I research the limitations to human performance, what makes some people better at sport than others, and the causes of fatigue.

Dr Tamsin Ford

I’m interested in oxidative metabolism; how muscles use oxygen to

Medical School

produce energy. I’ve worked with elite athletes like Paula Radcliffe and Jo Pavey as consultant physiologist to UK Athletics. I can take my findings, even before they’re published, to the English Institute of Sport and ensure they become practice with elite athletes immediately. But I also work on public health. The factors that limit a top athlete from achieving peak performance are the same as those that stop an elderly person being able to get to the top of the stairs. I love the fun of the chase. If a research question’s worth pursuing you can bet you won’t be the only one investigating, and you want to be the first to publish on it. The competitiveness is like athletics. I received my Professorship aged 34, and I’m as proud of that as I am of still holding the British under-18s record for the half marathon (66 minutes!).

The potential for violence among adults with mental health issues grabs attention and funds. Psychiatry as a whole is underfunded; but child psychiatry is the Cinderella branch of a Cinderella service. I moved into research because I can make more of a difference than as a clinician. My work is about improving children’s mental health services, from population and policy level to testing interventions for children with specific disorders. With colleagues in the Graduate School of Education I’m investigating child mental health in schools. Poor mental health has an enormous impact on the whole school community, but teachers have little formal training in child development and classroom management. Changing this will improve children’s mental health. In London I worked at the Maudsley, which is to clinical psychiatry as Great Ormond Street is to paediatrics. It’s steeped in history and I was following well-trodden footsteps. In Exeter it’s incredibly

“How muscles use oxygen to produce energy.”

exciting to be shaping something new.

T ra n slatio n al me d ici n e , perso n alise d healthcare a n d public health

Professor Ken Stein Medical School

“Everyday living is dramatically improved for patients born with diabetes.” Professor Andrew Hattersley FRS Medical School

My research focuses on genetic subtypes of diabetes. My team’s research aim is to find the genetic causes of these, and improve the treatment for diabetics. The biggest discovery we’ve made is that most children born with diabetes have a change in a critical potassium channel involved in the insulin secreting pathway. These patients made no insulin and were always treated with insulin injections but we have shown they can get better sugar control with sulphonylurea tablets.

We work with evidence-based medicine in public health services, improving decision-making and value for money. We have an arterial feed into the NHS through our influence within the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Because we’re academics and independent we have balance and authority. Because the world watches the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, we know people watch our work, too. We use simulation modelling to explore how things work long-term; a trial might last two years, but a condition might last 30. We examine what happens after those two years. I’ve worked in both medical and academic positions, and I’m proudest of my team; over ten years I’ve assembled a thriving, cohesive, multidisciplinary group, who are all brilliant. They work hard, in a demanding environment, and deliver the highest quality. The quest for an efficient, effective health service for the population is what drives me. I continue to do research because it has impact.

The impact of this work is clear; patients’ quality of life is drastically improved. People go from insulin injections to taking tablets, and have the best blood sugar levels they’ve ever had. Now they can eat what they like and exercise without needing to adjust their treatment. The effects of our research are felt world-wide, with our discoveries spreading rapidly and changing clinical practice. We have diagnosed over 1,000 patients from over 60 countries from all five continents. This work has been the culmination of an outstanding 16-year collaboration with Professor Sian Ellard who runs the genetics laboratory at the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust.

T ra n slatio n al me d ici n e , perso n alise d healthcare a n d public health

“A thriving cohesive, multidisciplinary group, who are all brilliant.”

inspiring research

Working with Business Every year Exeter staff work on around 1,000 projects with business and other organisations to provide smart solutions to global, national and local challenges. The value of this work is around £28 million pa. Our major partners include Shell, BT, EDF, Syngenta, Vodafone, GlaxoSmithKline, Thomson Reuters and the UK Met Office which is based in Exeter. We also ensure that the outcomes of our world-class research are translated into commercial application for the benefit of society and the economy. The University has its own business incubator on campus and links with the SETsquared partnership of Universities in southern England whose aim is

“Economists are trying to understand how people actually behave.” Dr Miguel Fonseca University of Exeter Business School

Economics is moving away from the assumptions of extreme rationality and self-interest. Now we are trying to understand how people actually behave, with a view to understanding issues like perceptions of climate change, or how identity issues affect economic behaviour. Regulators are becoming interested in what we’re doing, and businesses are paying attention to what they could do better. In experimental economics we set people a task which simulates an environment we want to investigate: bargaining, cartel formation, how group affiliation affects negotiations. I’ve had findings cited in a merger case. Being cited outside academia means you’ve made an impact. I came to Exeter from Manhattan, which was a shock! I made the right choice though. It’s a special place to live and work.

to encourage business incubation and growth.

worki n g with busi n ess

University of Exeter Business School

“We’re consumers all the time now.” Professor Gareth Shaw University of Exeter Business School

People grow and change as tourists, and retirement effectively sees people learning to be full-time tourists. Understanding how people relax and play is important because we’re consumers all the time now. We have to ally this with sustainability concerns; people behave differently on holiday, leave lights on and waste water, things they never do at home. I’ve supervised nearly 70 PhDs through to completion. It’s my goal to reach 100. One of our PhD graduates works in Pro-Poor Tourism with UNESCO and the World Bank to help the world’s poorest communities to establish tourist industries by embedding management expertise locally. Our research is moving from discovering behaviours to developing interventions, creating impact through gamification and social marketing.

Business has been one of the cornerstones of the University of Exeter since it was founded. The

Professor Debra Myhill College of Social Sciences and International Studies

My work with BT explores the teaching of collaborative talk within schools, in order to help young people develop the skills required by the 21st Century workplace. BT maintain that young people are often more technologically competent than adults in the workplace; what is missing are the human skills that make effective collaboration possible, independent of the technology. Previous research has shown that pupils seated in groups rarely engaged in genuine collaboration but instead worked as individuals.

“How to prepare young people for the collaborative skills required in 21st Century employment.”

worki n g with busi n ess

University of Exeter Business School offers programmes for undergraduate, postgraduate and executive students and clients from all over the world. We have launched the One Planet MBA which is fast gaining a reputation as one of the most innovative MBAs in the World. Our courses are informed by some of the very latest thinking in business research.

International partnerships Through our world-class research projects and extensive student and staff exchanges, Exeter is at the forefront of global collaboration. We offer excellence in teaching, and cutting edge research, engaging with partners overseas on issues of global importance. Our focus is on developing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;institutional-levelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; partnerships with a core number of leading universities around the world. We believe that by actively encouraging our students and staff to develop meaningful engagement with their overseas counterparts, we can have a

Our Colleges

edinburgh

worldwide impact. We have agreements

glasgow

with universities in all major continents

University of Exeter Business School

covering 36 countries including China, the

College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences manchester

USA, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and

College of Humanities College of Life and Environmental Sciences

cambridge

Medical School

our students and academics wide-ranging

oxford

College of Social Sciences and International Studies exeter cornwall

throughout Europe. This global reach gives

london

opportunities to develop their academic talents and enhances our research portfolio.

i n ter n atio n al part n erships

To find out more about our researchers, research centres and institutes, projects, and impact, please visit our website

www.exeter.ac.uk/research/inspiring University of Exeter, The Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drive, Exeter EX4 4QJ. Tel: +44 (0) 1392 661000 ÂŠ May 2012 100% recycled

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