Horizons Innovation at Glasgow
Reaching for the stars 6 The University has launched an ambitious space technology research programme which will focus on expanding its existing expertise in space-related science and engineering.
Issue 10 Spring 2012
Welcome Welcome to the latest issue of Horizons, showcasing our research innovation and the impact our activities have on the world. As a world-leading research university, we are ideally placed to foster the kind of multidisciplinary working environment which inspires novel thinking. In February, we launched Space Glasgow – an exciting step towards generating innovative technology which will place the University of Glasgow as a world leader in space research and development. Currently, there are more than 25 space-related projects across a range of science and engineering disciplines at the University. The Space Glasgow initiative will encourage our academics to pool their knowledge and come up with new approaches to solving problems. On page 7 you can read about some of these projects, such as developing an ultrasonic drill to probe below the surface of Mars and researching the best way to deal with asteroids on a collision course with Earth. The space sector is one of the few areas of the economy to continue to grow in the last few years, and I am confident we will continue to play a significant role in space research. The University of Glasgow exists to benefit culture, society and the economy, and the research featured on these pages of Horizons illustrates our positive impact not only in the UK but across the world. A major global issue is the provision of clean water, especially in the cities of many developing countries, which need to develop the infrastructure necessary to safeguard good standards of public health. Synthetic biologists at Glasgow are working on an ingenious solution to clean wastewater and simultaneously produce energy by modifying bacteria to produce electricity as they break down effluent (page 4).
Contents News from Glasgow Research with impact
2
Getting charged for cleaning up 4 Developing bacteria to detoxify wastewater and produce energy at the same time Reaching for the stars 6 Launching Space Glasgow – an initiative that brings together a wide range of space-related projects at the University The rise of the armchair entrepreneur 10 Investigating the explosion in entertainment television programmes that take business as their focus From computers to crops 12 Researching the benefits of the internet to farmers in rural India Horizons showcases innovative research across the University. Previous issues are available at www.glasgow.ac.uk/horizons and include features on • Harnessing
the power of hydrogen as a viable alternative fuel source (Issue 9)
• Focusing
on crime and security issues that have a global impact (Issue 9)
• Manufacturing
In India there is growing concern that the poor, especially in rural areas, have not benefited from rapid economic growth in the country. Our researchers are investigating whether the provision of internet access to rural Indian farmers will improve their agricultural practices and productivity and lead to a reduction in poverty and economic and social inequality (page 12). Closer to home, there have been a lot of attempts by government and education agencies to encourage aspects of entrepreneurship in the UK. An investigation into why there has been a surge of factual entertainment programmes on television based around business has been completed, with interesting implications for policymakers (page 10). The research undertaken at Glasgow, as illustrated in Horizons, continues to tackle global challenges, provide cultural enrichment and benefit the economy and the communities we serve.
Professor Anton Muscatelli Principal and Vice-Chancellor
blood from stem cells to reduce the need for donors (Issue 8)
•
Using maths to increase opportunities for kidney transplants (Issue 7)
•
Studying systems failures to help create a safer world (Issue 6)
•
Transforming the semiconductor industry by improving the performance of transistors (Issue 5)
Cover image A long-exposure Hubble Space Telescope image shows a majestic face-on spiral galaxy located deep within the Coma Cluster of galaxies, which lies 320 million light years away in the northern constellation Coma Berenices.
1
New centre will focus on the environment and culture A new research centre based within the University’s School of Interdisciplinary Studies in Dumfries is offering valuable opportunities for researchers to learn from the distinctive environment and culture of the landscape in the south-west of Scotland and beyond. The Solway Centre for Environment & Culture is due to launch in August 2012 under the direction of Dr Valentina Bold. Bringing together the interdisciplinary expertise of more than 20 staff and associate members, it will focus on three research themes: • • •
rural landscape management sustainable rural tourism landscape, place and memory.
Two projects are operational already. The first, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, examines the effect of wildfires on carbon dynamics, addressing key questions for peatland fire management policy and practice. There is ongoing debate in the UK about the relative impact of managed and wild fires on carbon emissions from peatlands. By explaining how and why alterations to climate affect fire severity, researchers aim to offer insights on how to minimise carbon losses. The project is being led by Dr Matt Davies (School of Interdisciplinary Studies) and Professor Susan Waldron (School of Geographical & Earth Sciences).
Members of the public are being encouraged to get involved in exploring the archaeological heritage of their local area by taking part in the second project – Discovering Dumfries and Galloway’s Past. Funded by LEADER, the Chancellor’s Fund and the Crichton Foundation, the project will encourage community volunteers in the local history and archaeological societies, schools, the council’s regional archaeologist and museum staff, as well as government agencies and the National Trust for Scotland, to collaborate in the process of archaeological exploration and evacuation, expanding upon some recent non-invasive fieldwork at Roman and medieval sites in the region. Director Dr Bold explains: ‘We hope to use the centre as an opportunity to consolidate our research expertise and pursue new challenges. ‘Within the next five to ten years, we want the Solway Centre for Environment & Culture to play a leading role within this emerging field, working with partners among the academic community, local authorities, businesses and public bodies.’
2
News Smoking ban Sounds of change: reduces pregnancy Glasgow patter complications through the years The ban on smoking in public places in Scotland has resulted in a decrease in preterm delivery in pregnancy and small-forgestational-age rates.
Research is under way to chart changes in the Glaswegian accent over the past century in a bid to understand precisely how and why accents change.
This is according to a study, led by public health Professor Jill Pell, of more than 700,000 single-baby births before and after the introduction of the smoking legislation in March 2006.
The city of Glasgow has traditionally been an important centre for the study of sociolinguistics, dating back to the pioneering work carried out by Professor Ronald Macaulay in the 1970s. While researching the Glaswegian accent, Professor Macaulay recorded and catalogued numerous samples of speech, leaving behind the basis for a unique audio resource.
The researchers found that following the introduction of the smoking ban the number of mothers who smoked fell from 25.4% to 18.8%. There was also a drop of more than 10% in overall preterm deliveries, a 5% drop in the number of infants born small for their gestational age, and a drop of 8% of babies born very small for their gestational age. According to Professor Pell these findings add to the growing evidence of the wide-ranging health benefits of smoke-free legislation and support the adoption of such legislation in other countries which have yet to implement smoking bans: ‘These reductions occurred both in mothers who smoked and in those who had never smoked. While survival rates for preterm deliveries have improved over the years, infants are still at risk of developing long-term health problems, so any intervention that can reduce the risk of preterm delivery has the potential to produce important public health benefits. ‘The potential for tobacco control legislation to have a positive effect on health is becoming increasingly clear.’
The project will apply acoustic imaging techniques to analyse the recordings in order to identify a range of accent features, including gradual changes that may have taken place over generations, more abrupt ones that may have come into use much more recently, and features that haven’t changed at all. Once they have evidence of how the Glaswegian accent has changed, the team will move on to look at the role that social factors may have played. According to lead researcher Dr Jane Stuart-Smith, language change is known to result from the interplay of linguistic and social factors: ‘The actual linguistic context of a sound is important in whether a sound will change and how that might happen. At the same time, there are also many social pressures on language change, ranging from the kinds of social groups that people belong to, whether speakers have the opportunity to mix with speakers of other dialects, and the kinds of social personae that people express and develop when they communicate with people every day.’
3
Project aims to Timely ends: understand causes telomere length of ageing predicts lifespan
New rabies virus discovered in Tanzania
Scientists from Glasgow are taking part in a £4.6 million project aimed at understanding the role played by ‘free radicals’ in the ageing process.
Research from Glasgow has shown that measuring the length of specialised pieces of DNA called telomeres in individuals gives a good indication of their expected lifespan.
A new type of rabies virus has been discovered in Tanzania by scientists from Glasgow and the Animal Health & Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
The multidisciplinary study, a joint collaboration with Imperial College London and the University of Aston, will focus on the development of new technologies for understanding the causes of ageing and protein-oxidative damage.
Telomeres occur at the ends of the chromosomes, which contain our genetic code. They function a bit like the plastic caps at the end of shoelaces, by marking the chromosome ends and protecting them from various processes that gradually cause the ends to be worn away. The eventual loss of the telomere cap is known to cause cells to malfunction.
The virus was identified as part of a rabies surveillance research project funded by the Wellcome Trust and was investigated following an unusual incident when a child was attacked by a civet – a cat-like nocturnal mammal – in a part of the Serengeti which was thought to be rabies-free. Subsequent genetic tests showed that the virus was a new type of rabies virus that had not been previously described, but was similar to a bat rabies virus isolated in the Caucasian region of Eastern Europe.
We are surrounded by oxygen, which is essential to living. However, this also creates an environment that over time becomes damaging. Despite the body’s protective mechanisms, this so called oxidative damage occurs to cells and tissues and is thought to be key to the mechanisms of many chronic diseases. According to Professor of Biomedical Engineering Jon Cooper, the project involves developing new research tools, based upon exploiting the mechanical energy of ultrasound, in order to manipulate and analyse individual cells: ‘Cells have a number of protective mechanisms to stop oxidation occurring. However, as we age, components such as proteins and DNA within our cells become more oxidised and this may lead to diseases like arthritis, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease. Using the same technologies developed for the electronics industry, we will microfabricate unique devices that can shape acoustic waves, forming the energy fields to break up individual cells and measure the biochemical components within them, thereby helping us to decode the pathways involved in disease and ageing.’
This study is the first in which telomere length has been measured in the same individuals from early life and then repeatedly during the rest of their natural lives. The researchers measured telomere lengths in small samples of blood cells taken at various ages in a group of zebra finches. While there was a lot of variation among individuals in telomere length, those birds that lived longest had the longest telomeres at every measurement point. It is known that the variation in telomere length is partly inherited, but is also influenced by environmental factors such as exposure to stress. Professor of Animal Ecology Pat Monaghan led the research: ‘Our study shows the great importance of processes acting early in life. We now need to know more about how early life conditions can influence the pattern of telomere loss, and the relative importance of inherited and environmental factors. This is the main focus of our current research.’
Scientists believe the new virus is likely to originate in bats and that crossover infection to civets and other mammalian species is likely to be relatively rare. However, further studies are planned to determine the extent of infection and the degree of risk to human and animal health. According to Professor of Comparative Epidemiology Sarah Cleaveland (pictured above) the vast majority of human deaths from rabies are caused by bites from domestic dogs with rabies, which can be effectively controlled through mass dog vaccination campaigns: ‘The discovery of rabies in the civet was unexpected, as the Serengeti National Park has been free of rabies since 2000 as a result of domestic dog vaccination campaigns around the park. The characterisation of the virus in this study indicates that this new case did not result from a breach in the dog vaccination barrier, but from a new source of infection.’
4
Cleaning up and getting charged for it Wastewater treatment is a power-sapping process, consuming about 5% of the UK’s energy output each year. Synthetic biologist Dr Susan Rosser is working on a solution that will not only reduce this energy burden, but also help to bring clean water and electricity to all.
Wastewater treatment plant
Clean water is a basic human right, but its provision and availability faces everincreasing pressure from a growing global population. Even when it is available, it needs to be treated after use so that other sources of clean water are protected from pollution. The issues created by untreated wastewater are especially acute in the burgeoning metropolises of many developing countries. These large cities still need to develop the infrastructure necessary to safeguard good standards of public health and to reduce the impact of pollutants on the surrounding waterways, but this can’t be achieved using current wastewater treatment practices. Scaling up conventional technologies globally would require an unrealistic allocation of the world’s remaining fossil fuels, with the unacceptable increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that accompanies this. The solution lies in developing technologies that allow sustainable treatment processes. Glasgow scientist Dr Susan Rosser has just started a five-year research project to identify and boost the effectiveness of the bacteria that make microbial fuel cells work. Microbial fuel cells harness the ability of bacteria to produce electrons as they break down effluent: ‘How it works is that these bacteria use carbon as a fuel source. This carbon is in the wastewater.
5
The technology has the potential to reduce the energy costs of wastewater treatment in two ways: by using bacteria to detoxify the contaminants in the wastewater and by capturing the electrons that are released by this process to provide a power source. As they metabolise the effluent, they produce electrons that can be transferred to electrodes. This produces a current and you can produce small amounts of electricity from this.’ The technology has the potential to reduce the energy costs of wastewater treatment in two ways: by using bacteria to detoxify the contaminants in the wastewater – replacing the power-intensive aeration processes that currently treat waste; and by capturing the electrons that are released by this process to provide a power source – which would go back into powering the other functions of treatment plant. The realisation of carbon-neutral wastewater treatment would make a massive improvement to global health and the environment, but Dr Rosser wants to go a step further and produce surplus electricity for consumption from the treatment of wastewater: ‘It could provide localised power sources in developing countries where communities are off the grid. Fantastic for education: if you could turn agricultural or human waste into electricity, then people can read at night.’ However, there are still many barriers in the way of cost-effective power from a microbial fuel cell. Some of these relate to the engineering, design and functioning of the fuel cells. Dr Rosser’s research will try and identify
the best bacteria to use in microbial fuel cells and then use synthetic biology techniques to improve them.
protein wire type things; they can transfer electrons along these to each other and to the electrodes.
‘We know the bacteria are inefficient but we think there are ways we can improve them, she explains. ‘We want to engineer them to do things they couldn’t do before, as well as improve the things they already do. We want to see which combinations of bacteria give you the best power source.
‘The other way is that they produce a chemical that can take an electron from the bacteria, push it out through its cell membrane, dump it on the electrodes and they get cycled back.
‘There are bacteria that can break down pollutants and there are bacteria that can produce electricity. What we want to do is take the genes out of bacteria that allow them to break down pollutants and insert them into the bacteria that can produce electricity.’ As well as improving the ability of bacteria to metabolise effluent and produce electrons, the research will also look to improve how these electrons get transferred to the electrode in the fuel cell. ‘The bacteria transfer electrons to the electrodes in three different ways,’ says Dr Rosser. ‘One is by direct contact, where they just sit directly on the electrodes. That’s fine, but the surface area is quite small, so what you want is more than that. You want other bacteria to contribute electronically. Some of them produce nanowires, which are
‘We want to make them stable and we want to improve that electron transfer so that we can make them start producing electricity faster, more stably and more efficiently.’ Despite the exciting possibilities of the research, there are still many challenges to understanding the true potential for using bacteria to create energy. Given the preliminary nature of the research, large-scale industry trials are still some distance away, says Dr Rosser: ‘We will be doing it on a small lab scale to begin with. The thing to take into account is that these organisms will be genetically modified, so it is unlikely that we would do it on a wastewater treatment plant.’ Sustainable wastewater treatment is essential if all people are to share in a clean and healthy future. For Dr Rosser and her team, this research project could bring the industrial potential of microbial fuel cells a step closer.
Microbial fuel cells
6
Reaching for the stars
7
The University has launched an ambitious space technology research programme which will focus on expanding its existing expertise in space-related science and engineering. Currently, the University receives around £14 million each year in funding to support space-related research, and has built solid links with organisations including NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The launch of Space Glasgow brings together a wide range of projects being undertaken across the University. The initiative is coordinated by Space Systems Engineering lecturer Dr Patrick Harkness: ‘Our academics are looking at areas of research including the development of cognitive binocular vision for robots, forecasting solar flares, ensuring that space-based communication channels are safe from hacker attacks, and measuring gravitational waves. One of the main aims of Space Glasgow is to encourage academics from different disciplines to pool their knowledge and come up with novel approaches to solving problems.’ Dr Harkness’ own space-related research includes the development of a new form of ultrasonic drill, which could make it easier for unmanned probes to explore planets such as Mars. In the distant past, Mars was much warmer and wetter than the arid desert planet it appears to be today. Evidence of flowing water, or even microbial life, could well be found beneath the red planet’s surface by robots equipped with digging tools. However, designing a drill suitable for digging into the planet’s surface soil, rock and ice presents a series of unusual challenges. ‘The gravity on Mars is around a third of what we experience here on Earth,’ explains Dr Harkness, ‘which means that it’s much harder
to exert the kind of force required to press a conventional drillbit into any given surface. To get around that problem, we’ve developed a high-frequency ultrasonic drill, which creates a hammering action and cuts through hard surfaces much more easily. It means that digging will be less of a strain on the probe’s batteries, and the probe can be lighter than one with a conventional drill.’ A prototype version of the ultrasonic drill was built in 2011 in partnership with Leicesterbased technology developer Magna Parva. It was mounted on a Mars rover prototype developed by EADS Astrium and trialled in Tenerife on rocky terrain similar to that found on Mars. ‘We were really pleased by the performance of the drill in the trial,’ says Dr Harkness. ‘It performed just as we expected, which was very encouraging. We’re currently waiting to hear the outcome of an application for additional funding, which would allow us to develop the technology towards becoming a fully finished product, ready for use in space.’ According to Dr Harkness, the ultrasonic drill technology could also be adapted for other purposes back on Earth: ‘We’re looking at the potential to develop medical applications for the technology. One of the main features of the ultrasonic drilling technique is that it cuts very well through hard surfaces but is much less effective on soft surfaces, which could make it an ideal method for surgeons to cut through bone without affecting the soft tissue around it. It could also make the process of taking bone marrow samples, which is often very uncomfortable for patients, considerably easier.’
8
Barringer Crater, Arizona, USA. This crater, also known as Meteor Crater, was formed over 50,000 years ago by the impact of an iron meteorite (space rock) colliding with the Earth. The meteorite is thought to have weighed more than 10,000 tonnes. The resulting crater is 183 metres deep, with a diameter of 1,200 metres.
Aerospace engineer Dr Gianmarco Radice is working on ways to deal with the threat posed by extraterrestrial intruders – not the science-fiction danger of alien invasion, but the science-fact threat to our planet posed by asteroids. Asteroids are chunks of rock and metal which orbit the sun in the vast spaces between the planets of our solar system. Hundreds of thousands of asteroids, ranging in size from small pebbles to massive objects measuring several kilometres across, follow their own orbits through space. Inevitably, those orbits intersect with our planet’s own from time to time. Smaller asteroids frequently collide with the Earth with little effect. Most of them are burned up in the atmosphere, and those which do make it to the surface are too small to do any significant damage. However, larger collisions have happened a number of times throughout history. One of the most devastating of these happened around 65 million years ago, when a massive asteroid is believed to have struck the planet. The enormously powerful impact and its after-effects, including a significant reduction in the amount of sunlight reaching the surface caused by huge amounts of debris thrown into the atmosphere, may well have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. ‘The dinosaurs couldn’t do anything about the asteroid which hit them, of course,’ says Dr Radice, ‘but we are in a position to deal with
the danger of a massive asteroid strike, which could wipe out our entire civilisation. The chances of an asteroid impacting with such a devastating effect are very small, but it makes sense to be prepared. ‘There are efforts currently under way at NASA and ESA to map and track the asteroids of significant size in our solar system. They’re aiming to have recorded around 90% of the asteroids which could pose a threat by 2020. However, there is less work being done to consider how asteroids on a collision course with the Earth could be dealt with. That’s the area my work focuses on.’ There are two main schools of thought on how an asteroid could be deflected in the event of an emergency. One, an approach known as kinetic deflection, suggests detonating a powerful bomb on or close to the surface of the asteroid to break it into pieces and send those pieces on a course away from the planet. The second, known as low-thrust deflection, advocates changing the course of the asteroid over a period of months or even years. This could be done by landing unmanned spacecraft on the asteroid to dig below its surface, with the ejected material from the dig providing a small but significant thrust to move the asteroid slowly off course. ‘We’ve spent a lot of time considering the efficiency of these methods and modelling the variables and possible outcomes,’ Dr Radice explains. ‘For example, what would happen if a
9
A prototype of the ultrasonic drill was trialled in Tenerife
kinetic deflection attempt broke up an asteroid but the fragments continued on a collision course with Earth? Or if the composition of an asteroid turned out to be different than we expected? We’ve also examined the worst-case scenario – what damage would a massive asteroid travelling at several kilometres per second cause if it hit us? ‘Work is still ongoing but it’s important that we consider all of the options. In recent years we’ve had close calls where asteroids we previously knew nothing about passed by the Earth at a distance of tens of thousands of kilometres, which is very close in astronomical terms. Our research means we will be better prepared for the unexpected. A sudden appearance of a collision-course asteroid near Jupiter, for example, would give us just 6 to 12 months to mount a deflection operation.’ Space Glasgow also encourages student innovation. In March, a remarkable project, which could pave the way for the development of a wide range of space construction projects, was carried on a rocket from the Arctic Circle to the edge of space. The launch of the project, known as Suaineadh, was the culmination of three years of work by 20 students from the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. It was launched from the Esrange Space Centre in Northern Sweden as part of the REXUS (Rocket-Borne Experiments for University
In low gravity the structure created by the web would be strong enough to act as a foundation for construction
‘Our plan is that, in the next five to ten years, the University of Glasgow will be recognised as a leading voice in space research, with good links to government and a high public profile.’ Students) programme, which provides a means for student scientists to test their work in space. On a budget of just £30,000, the team designed, developed and built a spaceready capsule which, when launched into microgravity 86km above the Earth, releases a two-metre-square ‘web’ made from a light, high-performance polymer. The web is weighted at each of its four corners and, once deployed from the REXUS rocket, it spins around its centre point. The action of the spin applies centrifugal force to the web, keeping it rigid and creating a flat surface. Glasgow postgraduate engineering student Malcolm McRobb led the project’s mechanical design team: ‘In low gravity, unlike on Earth, the structure created by the web would be strong enough to act as a foundation for construction, which could be carried out by specially designed robots. ‘A web like this, permanently deployed in space, will give engineers a stable and robust foundation for larger structures to be built
on. It could lead to the development of solar sails to allow chemical-free propulsion, orbital solar panels to generate solar power more effectively, or the development of large-scale antennae to help us learn more about the universe. It will also cut down the amount of equipment that each space mission needs to take into orbit, which will bring down the cost of space construction and help make ambitious projects more financially viable.’ The creation of Space Glasgow follows a series of investments by the UK government in the space sector, one of the few areas of the economy to experience continued growth in recent years. ‘We’re working to develop a strategy to tackle some of the main challenges which have been identified by the UK research councils,’ says Dr Harkness. ‘Our plan is that, in the next five to ten years, the University of Glasgow will be recognised as a leading voice in space research, with good links to government and a high public profile. It’s an exciting time to be involved in the space sector and we’re confident we’re well placed to deliver significant results.’
10
The rise of the armchair entrepreneur Glasgow researchers have completed an investigation into why there has been an explosion in entertainment television programmes that take business as their focus. With The Apprentice back for an eighth series in 2012, could the popularity of the format signal a new wave of entrepreneurship in the UK?
Professor Raymond Boyle is an expert in communications based within the University’s Centre for Cultural Policy Research. For the last two years, working with his colleague Dr Lisa Kelly, he has been speaking to television producers, directors, commissioning editors and presenters as well as audience members in Glasgow and London about their opinions surrounding programmes such as The Apprentice, Dragons’ Den, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Mary Queen of Shops. The aim is to explore three questions: why are television companies producing these types of programmes, what stories do they tell about what it is like to be in business, and how do audiences engage with these stories – do they learn anything about entrepreneurship or is their interest based in the entertainment on offer? ‘We found that what people brought to the programmes was very important in determining what they got from the programmes,’ explains Professor Boyle. ‘People were watching the same programmes but they were interpreting them differently. Take The Apprentice for example. Established business people by and large don’t like it. They think it’s a caricature to some extent; it doesn’t display the real issues around business. However, viewers who aren’t
11
‘There is a kind of lexicon of business language which people get more comfortable with. These programmes have put the notion of entrepreneurship more centrally into a public discourse.’
business people, or who perhaps have aspirations to develop a business, actually look at it quite differently. Most of them see it as a useful way to learn what we might call soft skills: how to present, knowing your numbers and having a clear idea of what you want your business to be. There is a kind of lexicon of business language which people get more comfortable with. These programmes have put the notion of entrepreneurship more centrally into a public discourse.’ Traditionally, business might have been thought of as a rather dry subject for an entertainment programme. So how can Professor Boyle explain the huge rise in popularity of programmes focused around entrepreneurship? ‘It reflects broader social change and particularly generational change,’ he says. ‘Younger people are aware that you’re not going to have a job for life; you need to develop a portfolio of skills. So part of it is driven by changes among the audience, and another part is driven by changes in the television industry: the rise of format television, and the use of format as a mechanism for getting public attention.’ Format programmes are a large part of the international television market. The format, which is another word for the overall concept,
premise and branding of a programme, can be copyrighted and then licensed by television networks who can then produce a version of a programme tailored to their nationality and audience. The risks associated with format television can be lower as companies are working with an idea that has already been proven successful, perhaps in another country or in a previous series. ‘The advantage of the format for producers is that people know what to expect,’ says Professor Boyle. ‘It has longevity. The entertainment value is important, and how that comes about is the jeopardy of it. You can either engineer that jeopardy if it’s a game show format, or it’s already in the format if it’s a case of trouble-shooting a failing business. Certainly we would argue that television does emotion well. If you see somebody breaking down because their business is about to go under, or their relationship is falling apart, that creates a powerful connection with the audience.’ With the research complete, Professor Boyle and Dr Kelly have been working to make their discoveries available through a book, The Television Entrepreneurs (Ashgate, 2012), and a dissemination symposium, which was attended by people working in the independent television industry and from the government’s Department of Business,
Innovation & Skills.‘Certainly for policymakers,’ says Professor Boyle, ‘their mission is to make Britain more entrepreneurial. Are business programmes like this a way we could do it? The fact of the matter is that there is little statistical evidence to suggest that we are becoming more entrepreneurial, but these programmes do reflect a cultural change in attitudes towards business. What’s interesting about The Apprentice is that year-on-year audience figures have gone up. ‘At the core of it, I think we will always be interested in business. The area of work – how we survive, how we make money, how we sustain our communities – these are always going to be issues that are of interest to television, because they are ultimately about people and what people are doing to make their way in the world.’ • The Centre for Cultural Policy Research (www.glasgow.ac.uk/ccpr) contributes to public debate on cultural, media and communications policies in Scotland, the UK and globally. Led by Professor Phillip Schlesinger, the centre’s staff have expertise in areas including media regulation and cultural policy in the UK and EU, creativity and innovation in the cultural and media industries, media and sport, journalism, media management and media economics.
Karren Brady, Lord Sugar and Nick Hewer from the BBC’s TV programme The Apprentice
12
Agricultural workers carry out the post-harvesting jobs along the roadside
From computer access to crop growth Researchers at Glasgow are investigating the benefits of providing internet access to farmers in rural India.
The teeming city of Bangalore in the state of Karnataka, south-west India, is well known as a hub for India’s ICT (information and communications technology) sector. However, this is in stark contrast with the rest of the state, which is predominantly rural, with people having little or no access to ICT. India’s development priorities include poverty reduction and faster, more inclusive growth, and there is growing concern that poor people, especially in rural India, have benefited very little from rapid economic growth. Dr Arjunan Subramanian, an economist in the University’s Business School, has been awarded more than £430,000 from the Economic & Social Research Council and the Department for International Development for a three-year study to look at the role ICT could play in improving rural welfare in India. Working with Professor Gopal Naik from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, Dr Subramanian plans to set up televisions and computers with broadband access in a number of villages across the state, to provide information that should have an impact on agricultural practices.
The information will include weather reports, the type of crop and seeds that would be beneficial to grow, and when and how much fertiliser or pesticide to use. According to Dr Subramanian, credit is perhaps the biggest problem for poor farmers. ‘There isn’t much information about where you can get credit from, so the farmers end up using the moneylender in the village and the money that they borrow doubles in six months to a year, as the percentage of the interest is incredibly high and it’s difficult for them to repay. On the other hand, you have the commercial banking system but there is a lot of bureaucracy to access credit. So, we can provide the information and then we facilitate things for them so that they can borrow from there in the future.’ Dr Subramanian intends to involve the farmers in the design of the study by holding discussions with them to find out what information will best suit their needs. He also plans to engage women in this discussion: ‘Society structure says that women have no say in the decision making in the households. But, if you look at the monetary distribution within the household it is clear that the say of women is really important. There are several research pieces that show that if more money within the household is allocated to women,
the health and educational outcomes of children in those households are better. This is because women take better care in spending the money on children, while men spend on themselves in alcohol and tobacco consumption. So, we want to hear women’s voices.’ Equally, the caste system continues to play a significant role in Indian culture but specifically in facilitating economic activity. Dr Subramanian thinks that economic inequalities between castes may also be notable in their access to information. However, there is potential for ICT to impact positively in dismantling these inequalities by providing information that will create markets and introduce competition. ‘In rural areas, you can find caste clusters. Some villages have upper caste people together and then just outside the village there is another cluster of lower caste people. The lower caste people are not allowed to enter the village and they can’t enter the temple, they can’t take water from the hand pump, so they have a separate one which is far away from the village. So, even if you are providing information to the farmers, this information may not be accessible to them just because they belong to the lower caste. We want to see if these castes are allowed to come and take the information and it may
depend on where we set them up. So, if we set it up in the main village, obviously they can’t enter the village. So, we have to set it up in such a way as to find a place that suits all.’ The study will use action research techniques – the process of actively participating in social action while conducting research. Dr Subramanian explains: ‘The study is a randomised control study, which you see a lot in the health field when they are developing new medicine. We will randomly assign ICT to some villages and not others and will then compare the difference in agricultural practices and productivity, and household incomes, between the two groups. Randomisation ensures that the only difference between households in the two groups is the greater access to information from ICT, which means that you can clearly see the cause and effect from the action that we are taking. ‘Our aims are to unravel the linkage between information access and agricultural growth, rural development, reduction of poverty, and income and social inequality; and to identify the role of ICT as a potential instrument of rural information and empowerment for inclusive growth.’
Editorial Board Professor Steve Beaumont Professor Muffy Calder Professor John Coggins Professor David Fearn Professor Graeme Milligan Professor Andrea Nolan Professor Catherine Schenk Professor Adrienne Scullion Susan Stewart (Executive Editor) Susan Howie (Editor)
Produced by Corporate Communications 1 The Square, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ Tel: +44 (0)141 330 4919 Email: horizons@glasgow.ac.uk Printed by Twentyonecolour Ltd on 75% recycled paper Photography by the University Photographic Unit. Front cover: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/ AURA). Page 1: Alastair Ross. Page 11, far right: BBC/ Talkback Thames/Jim Marks. Additional photography provided by Shutterstock and the Science Photo Library. Š University of Glasgow April 2012 The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401