Callum Jenkins at The Big Pitch. Photo credit: Deliveroo
Launch Space resident Callum Jenkins has secured funding from Deliveroo after pitching his business idea to the company’s chief executive and founder.
Callum set up his own business ESNO Media, a commercial drone services company, in 2018 and has been based in
Launch Space, part of the University Enterprise Zone since June 2019. Callum has been working as a
courierfor food delivery service Deliveroo alongside running his own business.
Callum entered and was successful in securing funding from Deliveroo’s The Big Pitch, which enabled their
riders to pitch their business ideas in a Dragons Den style competition.
Callum’s winning pitch focused on providing future
Drone services in new sectors and combining this with new forms of technology
such as AI and IoT.
Callum commented that “The Big Pitch’s investment will be hugely beneficial, enabling me to
expand ESNO faster and develop our new concept.”
He says the Deliveroo
funding will help him invest in “cutting-edge”
software, take on specialists and utilise market-leading drones.
This, in turn, will
help generate new revenue and expand the business into a technology-based drone
company.
Callum also said how helpful being part of the Launch Space has been in terms of broadening his knowledge of technology, as a brilliant sounding board for his business and helped him towards his personal development as an entrepreneur.
Congratulations to Callum on this great achievement.
Located in the new £16m University Enterprise
Zone on Frenchay Campus, Launch Space provides physical incubator space and
enterprise support for graduate start-up businesses.
Launch Space will receive up to £2,000,000 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the programme’s Managing Authority. Established by the European Union, the ERDF helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects that support innovation, businesses, job creation and local community regeneration.
Technicians at Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) are using laser cutting technology to produce protective visors for NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic.
A team are manufacturing an initial batch of 200 for staff working at Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) NHS Trust. They plan to expand production with the support of 3D printing facilities and technicians across three UWE Bristol faculties.
The cleanable visors are being created using an approved design by University College London. The team also plans to manufacture surgical mask straps, which help prevent masks rubbing against the ears of clinical staff.
Gareth Griffiths, a Senior Engineering Manager in BRL’s Robotics Innovation Facility (RIF), said: “The trust approached us asking if we could supply PPE and we were very happy to use our facilities and expertise to help with their request.
“The visors can be made very quickly, with the manufacture process taking about two-and-a-half minutes for each visor. They are made from smooth laser-cut plastic so they can be easily cleaned and reused if necessary.”
As a result of their expertise in Public Health, Emergency Medical Care, Knowledge Mobilisation, Maths and Computer Modelling, and other such related areas, a number of UWE researchers have been approached or volunteered in assisting with the country’s efforts to tackle Covid-19. A selection of these researchers can be found below. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
UWE Researchers and the Clinical Commissioning Groups
As part of UWE’s response to Covid-19,
researchers from UWE have been working with the local Clinical Commissioning
Groups (CCG) to provide evidence to support rapid decision making. The CCG are the people charged with making healthcare
decisions locally and they are currently grappling with things such as: what do
we need to do? where do we need to pool our resources? what types of treatment
are needed? how do we need to respond? The local CCG includes healthcare providers in Bristol, North Somerset and South
Gloucestershire.
Professor Nicki Walsh
Within the local CCG ‘cells’ have been established, acting as working groups purely in response to the impact that Covid-19 is having on current healthcare. Many issues have come up including: home monitoring of symptoms, impact on mental health and impact of healthcare workers’ absenteeism. These issues have come up as people look to manage problems most effectively and efficiently. The Clinical Effectiveness & Research Team at the CCG, along with Professor Nicki Walsh who works across UWE, the CCG and the Applied Research Collaborative (ARC-West) are working with the local commissioners to manage these requests. These important questions are then fed to the Applied Research Collaborative West team, who co-ordinate researchers from UWE and the University of Bristol, creating a rapid response team to retrieve and synthesise evidence, or provide other advice to support evaluation, healthcare modelling, statistics and economics.
The emphasis of this approach is the
rapid turnaround system. Most requests are processed within 48 hours from the point
of the CCG submitting a question, to the academic providing that support and
reporting back to the CCG. Nicki
is the overall co-ordinator
at UWE for all this because of her work across the different partner
organisations.
In place, there is now a
good pool of UWE and UoB researchers ready to respond to calls for assistance
as and when they come in. Nicki says the response from academics has been excellent
and hugely encouraging:
“This service requires academics to work in
such a different way. Because it’s quick and by necessity not as in depth as
traditional evidence reviews. Traditionally things can often progress quite
slowly, but it’s been a totally different response and things are getting
turned around quickly”.
Nicki explained in more
detail how resources were best pooled:
“All academics involved have suggested what
their skill set is so we have a really good idea who can do what. If it’s
something incredibly specific like health economics for example, there may only
be quite a small pool of people who can contribute to that. But for things like
evidence synthesis most academics are able respond to these requests. The
emphasis at the minute is ensuring that we’re able to provide good enough
evidence to help with decision making in a rapid responsive way.”
Nicki also suggested how
the work could benefit future collaborative research opportunities:
“I think it’s really innovative and supportive
to our NHS colleagues. It also potentially creates further questions that could
be researched later.”
The evidence syntheses are being regularly updated and are openly available here.
Professor Julie Mytton
Julie Mytton is a Professor of Child Health and a member
of HAS’s Centre for Health and Clinical Research. She has specialised in public
health research since 2006, with a particular interest in injuries and injury
prevention. She is also a qualified medic.
Julie is one of many other UWE academics working with the
Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing who are receiving calls for work from
the CCG (via Nicki Walsh). She has also been in contact with University
Hospitals Bristol NHS trust, and as a medic has joined their bank staff, providing
clinical care support as and when needed.
Julie also noted that there is a Public Health Registrar,
Alasdair Wood, based at UWE to offer further support.
Professor Jonathan Benger
Jonathan Benger, a Professor in Emergency Care
and a Consultant in Emergency
Medicine at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, has
been released from his current clinical and academic duties, at the request of
the National Medical Director, to assist in leading the national response to
Coronavirus in his role as interim Chief Medical Officer at NHS Digital.
Professor Jo Michell
Jo Michell is an Associate Professor in Economics. His
current research interests include macroeconomics, money and banking and income
distribution. As soon as the nationwide lockdown was announced, Jo co-wrote a paper
for the journal Autonomy outlining
how “in
orderto cope with the increasingly severe reduction in economic activity in
the UK, guaranteeing the incomes of all those who are eligible for in-work or
out-of-work benefits is rapidly becoming a necessary policy lever.”
This idea was picked up by
John McDonnell (the then Shadow Chancellor), and it’s possible it may have played
a role in influencing Rishi Sunak’s (the Chancellor) subsequent announcements. A
follow up letter by Jo and 97 other economists was penned to The Times, and published on Monday 23rd
March, “insisting that the government goes
significantly further in its economic response to the Covid-19 crisis.”
Professor Matthew Jones
Matthew Jones is Associate Professor in Public Health. His research specialises in the contribution that third sector and civil society initiatives make towards promoting public health and wellbeing. Mat and other colleagues in the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing (CPHWB) have authored a report entitled Apart but not Alone: Neighbour Support and the Covid-10 Lockdown.
Carried out in Bristol and the West Country between 6th-12th April 2020, over 500 respondents reported back on neighbourhood initiatives during lockdown restrictions. A whole range have sprung up in recent weeks: social media support groups, food and medication collections, telephone calls, Zoom chats, leafleting. Interestingly, many neighbourhood groups were already in place before formal local/national efforts had been mobilised.
Of those who responded,
the overwhelming majority felt that neighbours were supporting each other well.
Mat Jones et.al did note however contrasting answers from those based in areas
of high social disadvantage, with an emphasis on such neighbours supporting
people with financial difficulties, those with disabilities or mobility issues,
and people without easy access to outdoor spaces.
Perhaps most noteworthy were the gender in-balance
responses (80% female):“an
important issue is whether the practical and emotional work of supporting
neighbours is falling disproportionately on women.”
Professor Sue Durbin
Sue Durbin is Professor in Human Resource
Management and is a member of the Centre for Employment Studies Research in
FBL. Sue has researched and written on gender and employment, specialising in
women who work in male dominated industries. She is a
co-founder, along with Airbus, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Aeronautical
Society, of the altamentoring scheme, a bespoke industry-wide mentoring
programme designed for women/by women. Mentors and mentees can connect to this mentoring
platform online or in person.
It is within the context of Covid-19 that alta can be seen to play a crucial role,
with existing and new members utilising its online tool. Indeed, the value of
online mentoring has never been so important, as Sue explains:
“It may become a time for mentors and mentees to
take stock of where they are in their careers and where they would like to go.
“Mentors
can therefore best be utilised via the alta platform, at a safe distance but
offering comfort and advice to women who may be feeling especially isolated,
vulnerable or lacking confidence if their roles have been furloughed. Or they
may simply want to reach out and turn the current situation into a more
positive one.
“During the current pandemic, the restrictions on movement and new ways
of working remotely have resulted in a physical disconnect from family, friends
and colleagues. For those who already have an established mentoring
relationship, this can be a crucial source of support, facilitating an
opportunity for both mentor and mentee to discuss concerns and keep connected
during this unprecedented time.”
Based in Bristol, Powerline Technologies Ltd deliver next generation Smart Grid distribution automation solutions to utilities and Distribution Systems/Network Operators (DSO/DNO) worldwide. Since starting in June 2019, the Knowledge Transfer Partnership with UWE Bristol has been working to create a novel simulator of electrical distribution assets for Smart Grid application development.
Minh Trang has been leading the project as the KTP Associate.
We spoke to Trang, 9 months into the project to find out how she has found the
KTP so far:
How long have you
been a KTP Associate?
I started the role in June 2019 so I’ve almost been in the post
for a year.
What attracted you to
the KTP role?
I came from a PhD and what I liked about the KTP was the
possibility of continuing to manage my own project whilst working for a local
company with the potential to be employed with the company on completion. The
KTP also offers great opportunities for continuing professional development
alongside the project via the £4,000 development budget.
How is the
partnership between UWE and the company working?
It’s been working really well. I’ve been learning a lot from
UWE Power Systems Research Laboratory about algorithms and methods for
analysing and driving the project and Powerline Technologies have been
supporting me with the practical knowledge for running the project more
efficiently.
What are the current
challenges of your role?
The challenges have mostly been technical, ensuring the
correct application of data, getting used to new software packages and
determining the most effective models for the project. However, I have been
supported by my company and academic supervisors throughout all of this, which
I’m really grateful for.
What do you enjoy
most about your job?
It would have to be the experience that I’m gaining in managing
a challenging, real-life project, which I think is a vitally important skill for
my future career plans.
What do you think about
the support available from UWE and the Company?
It’s been great, my Academic Supervisor (Hassan Nouri) is
really knowledgeable and has deepened my understanding of the field. I also
feel really engaged with the team at Powerline and enjoy being part of their
working environment.
To find out more about the Knowledge Transfer Partnership opportunities at UWE, visit our website
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are funded by UKRI through Innovate UK with the support of co-funders, including the Scottish Funding Council, Welsh Government, Invest Northern Ireland, Defra and BEIS. Innovate UK manages the KTP programme and facilitates its delivery through a range of partners including the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), Knowledge Bases and Businesses. Each partner plays a specific role in the support and delivery of the programme.
In January, the Research Impact team hosted a two day writing retreat for selected academics from UWE Bristol.
The retreat was the last one in a series of away days that have taken place since last June for the different faculties at UWE Bristol.
The two-day retreats allow academics to think about their research case studies away from campus enabling them the opportunity to fine tune and edit their work.
The impact team helps the academics to fine tune their work so that it is in a good position to submit for the Research Excellence Framework 2021.
All four retreats have been extremely well received, with glowing feedback from attendees:
“Very many thanks for organising and initiating for us such a brilliant retreat. It has made a huge difference to me – I would never have made this progress without it!” Participant A
“The experience has been really excellent (and I know others have said the same). The structure, information, advice, hospitality and good humour that the RBI team provided was exceptional. As a result it was possible – in bite-sized chunks – to get tuned into the specifics of what was needed and then review and revise the case study material as well as getting critical feedback on it in near real-time.” Participant B
“I found the structure and flow of activities well-structured and relaxed, which is exactly what was needed to get us talking to each other and working on our case studies. Thank you for not ‘forcing’ us into unnecessary “workshop standard” activities, which usually involve flip-charts, felt-tip pens and post-it notes! This is an element I’m always dreading in mandatory workshops/seminars and not having it, is what made me feel more comfortable and got me concentrating on the task at hand.” Participant C
Read some of UWE Bristol’s Research with Impact Case Studies here
(L-R) April Coombes (UWE), Professor Melvyn Smith (UWE), Dr Gytis Bernotas (UWE), Dr Mark Hansen (UWE), Geraint Jones (Innovate UK), James Theobald (Agsenze)pictured at the Agri-EPI Centre in Shepton Mallet.
Since April 2019, UWE have been collaborating on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Agsenze, a company focused on developing smart technology within agriculture. The two-year project intends to realise the functionality of a system for improved dairy herd management using novel animal monitoring technology.
We spoke to Gytis Bernotas, who obtained his BEng and PhD
from UWE, and is now leading the project as the KTP Associate.
How long have you
been a KTP Associate?
I started in April 2019, so almost a year.
What attracted you to
the KTP role?
I was drawn to a KTP because of the opportunity to work with
a company and university. It’s a very rewarding setup because you experience state-of-the-art
research being immediately realised in real-world scenarios, rather than be
hidden in the desk drawer.
How is the
partnership between UWE and the company working?
The partnership is working very well. We are circulating the
best thoughts and ideas from experts in academia and people from the business
world. The company is benefitting from the expertise and novelty, while the
university receives publicity and recognition with academic journal
publications.
What are the current
challenges of your role?
The biggest challenge is time! I’m working for a start-up
company trying to establish itself in a market niche in a timely manner.
What do you enjoy
most about your job?
I really enjoy the problem solving, but most importantly I
really believe in the product and how it will revolutionise cattle welfare and,
hopefully, other livestock in the future.
What do you think
about the support available from UWE and the Company?
I get great support from the company, my academic
supervisors and the UWE KTP Team. The KTP Team are always on hand to provide
advice and project support. My supervisors provide opportunities and support to
research different ideas that have potential for Agsenze’s business model, such
as the developing tool positioning or its hardware alterations.
The Women in Research Mentoring Scheme (WRMS) has been
successfully running at UWE Bristol for 6 years. The scheme matches female researchers to
a mentor (male or female) in order to provide mentees with encouragement,
support from experienced colleagues to fulfil their research aspirations.
WRMS is available to all women in academic and research
roles, employed by UWE, who wish to develop their research careers.
In the longer term, this scheme helps to achieve
the strategic aim of increasing the number of women in senior
research roles across UWE Bristol.
From 2013 to February 2019, over 300 members of staff have
participated in the scheme. Currently the scheme has a 94% satisfaction rate
and 88% would recommend the scheme to others.
Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers is the academic co-chair of the scheme, and commented: “I have progressed from being a mentee in the WRMS scheme, to being a mentor, and finally now taking on the Co-Chair role. Meeting with such a supportive community of UWE women academics has really inspired me to further my own research career, and I am keen to support other women to do the same”.
Feedback from mentees has been positive:
“As a new researcher,
it has been inspiring and supportive to be part of this scheme. Meeting other
women in the same position has given me the impetus to prioritise my personal
research profile”
“I was paired up very
well and so was able to find out lots about local groups in an overlapping area
of interest, but I also received support and advice”
Pam Fitzsimmons co-chair of WRMS commented: “We are really pleased with the results of
the scheme to date and look forward to helping more female researchers in the
future”
In January, UWE Bristol reached 1,000 degree apprenticeships.
Degree apprenticeships combine on-the-job training with study for a higher level qualification, giving you the highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce your business needs.
UWE Bristol degree apprenticeships are suitable and tailored for both levy-payers as well as SMEs.
UWE Bristol works in collaboration with employers from the public and private sectors to design suitable programmes that meet business needs so new courses are frequently being developed.
David Barrett, Director of Apprenticeships at UWE Bristol, shared some of his thoughts with Wonkhe oh how far apprenticeships have come:
“Apprenticeships have come back from the wilderness as employers and students appreciate their huge ability to gain practical qualifications that meet real skills needs, with students earning while they learn and contributing to increased productivity so vital to our future economic success.
Apprentice students are a very committed cohort who are super-fuelled to succeed. Their academic and workplace learning act as a virtuous circle – in real time, they can apply their work experience to the classroom and their classroom experience to work. Crucially, apprenticeships now go all the way from GCSE equivalent up to degree or even masters level in high skills areas, meaning apprenticeship pathways no longer stop short or limit opportunity to progress to the highest level in their field.
Degree and Masters level Apprenticeships are growing far faster, proportionally, than any other level of apprenticeship – with apprenticeship starts nationally more than doubling between 2017-18 and 2018-19 to around 23,000. Degree Apprenticeships are now vital to recruitment and training for our critical public services such as the Police and NHS. UWE currently has over one thousand Degree Apprentices serving high tech manufacturing and engineering, the NHS and Police, the built environment and leadership and management across all sectors of the economy.”
From 20th – 25th January, the driverless
pods were at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway transporting members of the public,
enabling them to experience connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and
understand how they might operate in the future.
Capri is a consortium comprising 17 partners, including lead
organisation AECOM, South Gloucestershire Council and UWE Bristol. The Capri
trial is the first in the UK without this level of supervision, inviting
members of the public to turn up and travel alone in the autonomous pod.
The research used in this trial will help reduce potential
barriers limiting the uptake of commercially ready autonomous vehicle services.
This also includes overcoming technical challenges, raising public awareness
and ensuring sustainable integration into the wider transport systems. This
pilot will support the local and UK economy by helping regional and national
businesses become more competitive in a growing international market.
Photo: (L-R) Dr Robin Thorn (UWE), Barbara Dos Santos Correia (UWE), Mark Wilcox (Branston Ltd), Vee Gururajan (B-hive Innovations)
Based in Lincoln, our
Knowledge Transfer Partnership with B-hive Innovations is our longest distance project.
Despite this the project, which is now halfway through its two years, continues
to move from strength to strength led by our KTP Associate Barbara dos Santos
Correia.
This ground breaking KTP
is investigating gases emitted by fresh produce and aims to develop a marketable
solution for early detection of internal defects, which will ultimately improve
crop utilisation and reduce food waste. We caught up with Barbara to find out how
she has found the experience so far.
How long have you
been a KTP Associate?
I started in January 2019.
What attracted you to
the KTP role?
I was fascinated by the project and the option to work in
industry with all the academic support. Having access to a £4,000 personal
development budget is also great.
How is the
partnership between UWE and the company working?
It’s working very well, and I think that’s down to the
constant and open communication across the team. The benefits of this knowledge
transfer are clear, both between B-hive Innovations and UWE and the knowledge
and experience I am gaining.
What are the current
challenges of your role?
I’d say the main challenge is translating complex academic
knowledge into an industrial solution. But my supervisors Dr Robin Thorn and
Professor Darren Reynolds at UWE and Vee Gururajan and Claudia Celemin Pardo at
the company are really supportive and we tackle the challenges together.
What do you enjoy
most about your job?
No two days are the same! It’s really motivating to know
that every day I am leading a project that will potentially solve a real and
significant industrial problem.
What do you think
about the support available from UWE and the Company?
The support I have from UWE and B-hive Innovations is
incredible and so much better than I was expecting in my first industrial
experience. UWE offers a wide range of expertise and facilities and B-hive
Innovations provides the invaluable personnel and confidential information. I
feel like the partnership really represents a competitive advantage within the
industry.
To find out more about the Knowledge Transfer Partnership opportunities at UWE, visit our website
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are funded by UKRI through Innovate UK with the support of co-funders, including the Scottish Funding Council, Welsh Government, Invest Northern Ireland, Defra and BEIS. Innovate UK manages the KTP programme and facilitates its delivery through a range of partners including the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), Knowledge Bases and Businesses. Each partner plays a specific role in the support and delivery of the programme.
