Tag: UWE research

Professor of Robot Ethics, Alan Winfield, attends Paris conference on Safe and Ethical AI

Author katcorbett2 | Posted on

Alan Winfield, Professor of Robot Ethics, recently attended the Paris Conference on Safe and Ethical AI. In the below guest blog post he writes about his experience:

Earlier this month I was privileged to part of the inaugural conference of the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI. The two day conference was held in Paris, on February 6th and 7th, and hosted by the OECD.  The timing and location of the conference was arranged to directly precede the governmental AI-summit on February 10th and 11th. I was one of around 650 invited representatives from academia, civil society, industry, media, and government. It was a remarkable meeting, with terrific keynote talks, including three from Nobel prize winners, Geoffrey Hinton, Maria Ressa and Joseph Stiglitz.  

As someone who has been worrying about robot and AI ethics for longer than most who attended I was *very* pleased that there was a strong consensus around the need for regulation, supported by standards, alongside urgent concerns over the huge energy and water costs of AI that are completely at odds with sustainable development goals.

The conference concluded by publishing a Call to Action for lawmakers, academics, and the public ahead of the AI Summit, with ten critical action items. Overall, the action items are very good. I’m especially pleased to see ‘mandatory reporting of incidents’ in action 5. This is something I lobbied for. My one disappointment however is that the call for action statement has no explicit mention of the need to mitigate the energy costs of AI.

Here below are a few photos from the conference.

A slide from Joseph Stiglitz’ wonderful keynote: AI and Economic Risk: Assessment and Mitigation.

A slide from Kate Crawford’s excellent keynote: Hyperscaled: The Global Challenge of Sustainability in AI.

Cover photo at the top: Professor Alan Winfield with Oxford colleague Pericle Salvini presenting their work on accident investigation.

Case Study: Dr Elizabeth Green -Trust as foundation: Enabling safe data access for public good

Author ripleywk | Posted on

“It’s not about locking data away — it’s about building systems people can trust, so data can be used safely, responsibly, and for public good.”


Dr Elizabeth Green

In a world powered by data, access is everything… but so is trust. My research tackles a core challenge: how to make sensitive data like NHS records or government files accessible to researchers, without compromising the privacy of the people behind it.

Working with Professor Felix Ritchie, the original creator of the Five Safes framework, I enable institutions around the world rethink how data is governed, so that systems focus on human judgment, not fear.

From ‘Lock It Down’ to ‘Use It Well’

For years, data governance has defaulted to caution. In many systems, especially legal ones, the assumption has been: people are a risk, data must be locked away. This approach comes at a cost. Without access to large scale, real world data, researchers are forced to work with small sample sizes, outdated studies or no data at all. This limits progress in vital areas like healthcare, social services, and public policy. As the recent pandemic has shown, these limits can be crippling to people in the moment.

This is why I am creating a different path. We need to shift our perception, It’s not about assuming people are dangerous, It’s about giving them the tools, training, and support to act responsibly and recognising that most people want to do the right thing

The Five Safes Framework

At the heart of this rethink is the Five Safes: a simple but powerful set of questions asked of any data project:

  • Are the people safe?
  • Is the project safe?
  • Is the data safe?
  • Is the environment safe?
  • Are the outputs safe?

By considering each aspect separately, it allows us to manage risk sensibly without defaulting to blanket denial. It’s a more flexible, responsive way to govern data, and it works. Since its introduction, the Five Safes model has been adopted by the Office for National Statistics, HMRC, and health bodies in the UK and beyond. It’s now written into the UK’s Digital Economy Act and used in Canada, Australia, and across Europe.

A Human Approach to Risk

What sets this work apart is its emphasis on people, not process. The legal route tends to focus on punishment; fines, prosecution, jail time. The thing is most breaches happen not through malice, but by mistake, or because people don’t feel safe enough to speak up. Using this framework I train other researchers and data custodians to reflect on their own biases, question assumptions, and take active responsibility. This is building a new culture and approach to data where people flag risks early, work collaboratively, and trust the system to support and not to punish them.

Since joining the project in 2015, I have worked with organisations across the UK and internationally. We have embed the Five Safes into their systems, trained staff, and shifted mindsets. We’ve worked with everyone from national statistical agencies to healthcare providers and tax authorities. What’s more We’ve seen countries redesign entire legal frameworks because they saw how effective this model was. It’s making data access cheaper, safer, and more impactful. Ultimately, enabling research to deliver real benefits to the public.

Behind every dataset are real people, the more we understand their experiences, the better we can design policies, services, and support that work. It is possible to respect privacy without stalling progress and with the right framework, trust becomes the foundation of a stronger, safer data ecosystem. After all, It’s not about locking data away, it’s about building systems people can trust, so data can be used safely, responsibly, and for public good.

Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:

Case Study : Dr Mel Smith – 0ptimizing healthcare teams for modern primary care

Author ripleywk | Posted on

“How do you get the right patients to the right person at the right time? How do you stop the GP being the bottleneck in the system? – The resources are changing and practices don’t really know how to best utilise the changing resources that they’ve got.”

With GP practices facing unprecedented demand from an aging population, innovative solutions are transforming how healthcare is delivered. Dr. Smith’s operations management research is pioneering new approaches to help practices effectively utilize expanded healthcare teams and improve patient access.

Dr Mel Smith

Transforming healthcare delivery

My research addresses a significant question in modern healthcare: how can GP practices effectively harness new allied health professionals? This can be anyone from physios, paramedics and pharmacists to physician associates, and nurse practitioners. My work looks at developing systematic approaches to move beyond traditional models where all patients must see a GP first.

It’s like moving from craft production to mass production, from the GP who can turn their hand to anything, to understanding how to best utilize specialized skills. This research creates frameworks for getting patients directly to the most appropriate professional for their needs as quickly and as reliably as possible, reducing bottlenecks and improving efficiency.

Evidence-based solutions

Taking a comprehensive approach means I am able to examine not just process improvements, but their impact on patient experience, staff satisfaction, and practice effectiveness. This research identifies successful models already emerging in less overwhelmed practices, where new professionals effectively handle routine clinics and specialized services.

By understanding potential challenges early, such as supervision requirements and staff adaptation, we can help practices proactively address issues rather than react to problems after they arise.

Creating Lasting Impact

The research has produced practical ‘Best practice’ guidelines tailorable to different practice types, showing how to effectively allocate patients based on available staff expertise. These evidence-based recommendations help practices maximize their investment in new healthcare professionals while maintaining quality care.

Beyond immediate operational improvements, this work is contributing to a more sustainable future for primary care. My research provides the framework needed to make expanding healthcare teams successful, ensuring practices can meet growing demand while supporting both patient outcomes and staff wellbeing. This systematic approach to healthcare transformation demonstrates how operational excellence can directly improve community health outcomes.

Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:

SW Public Health and Criminal Justice Network: What next for Health and Justice?

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

By Professor Kieran McCartan

On Friday the 24th January, we hosted the 10th Public Health and Criminal Justice network event at UWE Bristol. The event focused on “What next for Health and Justice?” and had over 80 participants from academic, health, public health, prisons, policing, probation and local government from across the southwest of England.

The role of the network is to foster collaboration in the health and justice fields, enabling attendees to see how their research, policy and practice build on each other to help produce a more integrated and synthesised system. The network, and related events, are founded on the idea that health and wellbeing are an outcome as well as a predictor of criminogenic behaviour, and that by looking at crime and offending behaviour through a health and public health lens we can produce better outcomes to reduce re-offending as well as prevent first time offending.

The network has been running for 4 years and has over 250 members. Previous events have looked at Trauma Informed Practice, Public Health approaches to sexual abuse prevention, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on health in prisons to name a few.

This event focused on emerging research, policy and practice in the southwest addressing not only mental health and wellbeing in children and young people, at of people in the prison system as well as on probation, and the development of innovative frontline service provision. The event was opened by Justin Varney-Bennett, Regional Director OHID SW & RDPH NHSE, who highlighted the unique challenges and opportunities that the southwest presented, before linking it to national policy and practice. This framed the event well and opened the conversation to be built on by our other speakers who includes,

Children Young People, Violence Prevention and Mental Health:

‘Improving Access and Experiences of Mental Health Services for Black and Brown Young People – Barnardo’s Black and Brown Minds Matters Group and CAMHS’ Stephen Barry, CAMHS Project Lead and Be Safe Service Clinical Manager/Lead, Cenzina Barclay, Barnardo’s Co-Production Worker, Latalia Williams, Health Champion.

View the presentation.

‘Shore: a safe place for young people worried about sexual behaviour’- Rachel Haynes, Head of Clinical Services (Children and Young People), Lucy Faithful Foundation.

View the presentation.

‘Developing Key Performance Indicator’s for understanding and responding to Sibling Sexual Behaviour and Abuse’ Kieran McCartan, UWE Bristol, Amy Adams PhD Researcher, University of Birmingham and Research Associate, UWE Bristol.

View the presentation.

The title slide from the Improving Access and Experiences of Mental Health Services for Black and Brown Young People – Barnardo’s Black and Brown Minds Matters Group and CAMHS’ presentation.

Secure Estate/Prisons & Probation – Male and Female focus:

‘Delivering effective healthcare in an inner-city Victorian reception prison- HMP Bristol’s experience’ Natalie Steadman, Deputy Governor, HMP Bristol.

View the presentation.

‘Southwest Probation Health and Justice Team’ – Laura Cairns / Becky Thomas, Health and Justice Partnership Co-ordinators, Community Integration Team, Probation SW.

View the presentation.

‘The National Review of Health and Social Care in Women’s Prisons Our Approach in the South West’ – El Woods, Women’s Pathways Lead, NHS England Health and Justice South West) On behalf of the SWWEEP Board.

View the presentation.

Children with Complex Needs: (Vanguard)

‘Trauma Responsive or Trauma Organised? Understanding how systems can become organised around chronic stress’- Andrew Nicholls Clark, Head of Health & Justice Children Programme, NHS England.

View the presentation.

‘Regional Vanguard evaluation’- Ella Rees, Research Associate, Vanguard, UWE Bristol.

View the presentation.

‘Developing and sustaining the Children Young People Framework of Integrated Care (Community) in the Southwest’- Gail Warnes, Senior Commissioning Manager, Non-Custodial and CYP, Health & Justice. Commissioning Team, NHS England – Southwest, Emma Morgan, Children and Young People Vanguard Project Manager/ Children’s performance manager.

View the presentation.

The event highlighted innovative practice across the southwest regarding health and justice, but particularly in respect to services targeted at traditionally marginalised and excluded groups (i.e., Children and young people, BAME populations, and people with a criminal recorded).  If you would like to join the network to hear more about upcoming events, please sign up.

Global Migration Network Seminar Series 2025

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

The Global Migration Network, a research group at UWE Bristol chaired by Dr Emily LeRoux-Rutledge, brings together 60+ academics and practitioners from across the university working on migration-related research. The aim is to facilitate and contribute to cross-disciplinary research on migration, inform policy and public debate, and engage with users of migration research.  

The Network has a fantastic seminar series lined up for Spring 2025, and attendance is open to all. The seminars are hybrid, but you are encouraged to come in person for sociability and community (if you are able). For more information please contact emily.leroux-rutlege@uwe.ac.uk.

Seminars:

Migration and Memory, how we prepare for and cope with loss and change

Wednesday 12 February 2025, 1:00pm – 2:00pm (3S803) – Nigel Williams

After offering case examples about how migration is anticipated, and losses are worked with this session will help participants to develop their own sense of the similarities and differences between intergenerational memory running in families, groups and organisations and longer-term transgenerational memory located in culture and bodies in deeper time. Using these cases and some of our own experiences we will explore how to go about addressing first, second, third generation (and beyond) responses to the challenges of migration as a complex multifaceted experience extended in time.

Nigel Williams is a Visiting Fellow in Psychology at the University of the West of England and is author of Mapping Social Memory a Psychotherapeutic and Psycho-Social Approach, in the Palgrave Psychosocial series and has recently published a chapter on generational memory in Studying Generations, Bristol University Press edited by Helen Kinston and Jennie Bristow.

Support for ‘replacement migration’? Region-level demographics and attitudes towards immigration in Europe

Wednesday, 12 March 2025, 1:00pm – 2:00pm (4D005) – Artjoms Ivlevs

Does demographic decline make Europeans more pro-immigration? Our longitudinal, regional-level analysis, drawing on the 2008-2019 European Social Survey (278 regions in 22 countries) and the 1999-2021 German Socio-Economic Panel (16 federal states, 96 planning regions), suggests that people become more favourable to immigration as regional birth rates fall and ageing indicators worsen. While this result would support the logic of replacement migration, we also shed light on the role of the natives/foreigners balance in driving this relationship and tentatively conclude that the link between demographic decline and attitudes towards immigration could also be explained by group conflict theory.

Artjoms Ivlevs is Professor of Economics at the Bristol Business School (UWE Bristol) and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). His research interests include migration and subjective well-being, and more recently tourism. Artjoms is an applied microeconomist working with large-scale survey data; much of his work focuses on the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Supportive local policy, hostile national policy: the integration experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in Wales.

Wednesday, 2 April 2025, 1:00pm – 2:00pm (3S803) – Sam Parker

 In 2001, following the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, four towns and cities in Wales became asylum dispersal locations and, as such Government has devolved responsibility in many social policy areas that impact upon refugee and asylum seeker integration. This seminar begins by outlining developments in UK immigration and asylum policy and highlights the ways in which successive Westminster governments have introduced legislation creating a ‘hostile environment’ designed to deter asylum seekers from entering the UK and encourage failed asylum seekers to leave the UK. Such policies have restricted the civil and social rights of asylum seekers whilst simultaneously the Westminster government has focused upon policies for the integration of those granted refugee status only. This seminar reports on the findings from interviews conducted with 19 refugees and asylum seekers in Wales, where in contrast to Westminster, the Welsh Government see integration as a process beginning on day one of arrival in Wales. The data are taken from a project focusing on refugee and asylum seeker integration in Wales and demonstrates how policies introduced in recent years have led to restrictions on the day-to-day lives of asylum seekers in Wales and their ability to integrate. It argues that in a system of multi-level governance, the Welsh Government’s vision of integration remains problematic when immigration and asylum remain matters reserved to the Westminster Government. It highlights ways in which Welsh Government policy diverges from that in England and argues that further use of devolved powers could be made to facilitate integration in Wales.

Sam Parker is a Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at UWE Bristol and has previously worked at Cardiff University and Birmingham City University. Sam is also Chair of Trustees for Space4U Cardiff, a small community organisation that supports newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers in Cardiff.

Am I happier than you are? It depends on when you ask: Reflections on the need for longitudinal studies on the well-being of international students

Wednesday 14 May 2025, 1:00pm – 2:00pm (2A027) – Trang Trần

If an international student speaks English as their first language (EFiL) instead of as an additional language (EAL), would their predicted well-being be higher compared to their EAL peers? English language proficiency has been shown to significantly predict various indicators of mental health among international students. Our longitudinal data shows that during early arrival, EAL students scored significantly higher than their EFiL peers on their psychological well-being measures. While this may seem unexpected, it does align with some previous findings suggesting that UK home students’ well-being indicators are significantly lower than those of their international peers. However, further analysis of longitudinal data (collected at 3 time points over 18 months) showed that the trajectory of psychological well-being for EFil and EAL international students was reversed, with EFiL students’ wellbeing improving over time, while their EAL peers’ well-being score decreased over time. Despite the small sample, these findings invite further reflection on the importance of longitudinal studies, or at the very least, the need to contextualise psychological well-being in the timing of students’ journey, alongside other contextual factors.

Trang Trần is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at UWE Bristol. Her research interests include international students’ coping strategies and psychological well-being.

From Harm to Hope: Examining Migrant Integration Policies and Practices in the City of Bristol

Wednesday 11 June 2025, 1:00pm – 2:00pm (4D005) – Ryan Lutz

Integration has been a heavily critiqued term with its history of creating exclusionary and racialized policies is well documented (Favell, 2022). Despite this, the term has remained and become stronger. The restrictive approach towards migrants has made way for a worrying trend of decreasing social rights, political inclusion and civil liberties for the citizens that migrants are supposed to be integrating into (de Noronha, 2022). Findings from co-produced mixed methods research, this research attempts to show that the lens of social harm (Hillyard et al., 2004) allows for a bottom-up approach to integration and investigates the efficacy of localized integration policies and how much they can make up for failures at the national level.  

Ryan Lutz is a PhD student in Social Policy at the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies in the UK. His research looks at integration, social harm, and the binary between citizens and migrants. Previously Ryan was an Assistant Manager of Research and Strategy at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, received his master’s in public administration from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.  

Contact the Global Migration Network for more information.  

Dr Myriam Bellaouaied links service marketing to health, considering ‘healthcare staff and patients’ wellbeing in new research study

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

Dr Myriam Bellaouaied Senior Lecturer in Marketing at UWE Bristol , has had her project considering ‘healthcare staff and patients’ wellbeing and impacts on the quality/provision of care and patient experience’ approved by the Integrated Care Academy (ICA) – 2024/25. 

The interdisciplinary project connecting service marketing to the healthcare sector considers the healthcare staff /patients’ wellbeing and impacts on the quality/provision of care and patient experience.  

The project brings together substantive and theoretical concepts and ideas from the disciplines of service research, marketing, methodology, public health and epidemiology. The project answers NHS healthcare staff workplace challenges, considering staff / patients’ wellbeing, and aims to build a new healthcare service model. 

The foundations of the study are intertwined with three contexts: 

 (1) The COVID-19 pandemic created a global challenge to healthcare worker wellbeing: “the need to protect the mental and physical wellbeing of health workers is critical” (Creese et al, 2021).   

(2) Transformative Service Research (TSR), addressing challenges toward healthcare services has received increasing attention in recent years for analysing how services can enhance wellbeing. 

(3) The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call to take action to improve human welfare, creating potential direction for service research to achieve the third SDG that is enabling good health and wellbeing. 

To deliver the project, Myriam will work closely with the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (BNSSG ICB). 

UWE Bristol academic co-produces new guide to Family Court Proceedings for domestic abuse victims

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

Emma Whewell, Senior Lecturer in Law, is part of the Domestic Abuse Advisory Group that has launched a new and freely available guide for any victims of domestic abuse going through a process that can too often feel confusing and frightening.

The “Guide to Family Court Proceedings for those who have experienced domestic abuse” has been created alongside people who have lived experience and their insights into the system; it is particularly targeted at those who have experienced domestic abuse and are navigating court proceedings without legal representation.

The guide will be available and distributed to Courts, the legal profession, councils, statutory and voluntary organisations supporting victims, healthcare services, education settings. It is also available to anyone supporting victims of abuse and their children, and the victim/survivors directly.

This guide is intended to eventually be rolled out nationwide for use within the court system. The advice it offers draws on the experiences of victim/survivors as well as the Judiciary, legal professionals and domestic abuse support services. It is intended as a trauma-informed and easy-to-understand document to help people navigate what can sometimes seem a bewildering and foreboding process.

Access the guide below:

LFJB DA Advisory Group Court Guide – FINALDownload

Emma commented:

“The Guide is the first output of Bristol’s Local Family Justice Board Domestic Abuse Advisory Group which in turn was created after a Conference on Domestic Abuse at UWE on 19th May 2023.  Its a hugely important piece of work and I very much hope that all those who have experienced domestic abuse will find the Guide useful.”

Her Honour Judge Cope, Senior Circuit Judge, Designated Family Judge based at Bristol Civil and Family Justice Centre has stated:

“This guide has been prepared by a group of professionals over a long period of time. The result is a clear, local guide aimed at assisting those who come to the court having experienced domestic abuse. It contains a wealth of information in a practical format which I am confident will help all those anxious about attending court. I am delighted to support it.”

About the Guide to Family Court Proceedings for those who have experienced domestic abuse

It is a victim/survivor-centred and victim-informed resource backed by senior members of the judiciary and the Children And Family Courts Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS). It will be made available to all, free of charge.

About the LFJB Domestic Abuse Advisory Group

The Domestic Abuse Advisory group was formed in 2023 to address issues of concern within local Family Justice proceedings and make recommendations to the Local Family Justice Board (LFJB). Members include the Judiciary, Legal Counsel, Domestic Abuse Advocates, Trauma Specialists, Adult and Children’s Social Care, and Academic and Research Specialists.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate Spotlight: Taabish Khan 

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

Taabish is a Commercialisation Manager for Duku as part of our Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Duku and UWE Bristol. A KTP is a UK-wide, 3-way partnership between a business, a university and talented graduate, and aims to help businesses improve competitiveness and productivity, whilst also boosting the career prospects of the graduate.  

Duku is an innovative and entrepreneurial engineering design consultancy that take client ideas and develop them into full marketable designs. They have recently added an in-house EV charging technology division, developing new and unique electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, which has considerable potential as the only fully-accessible charging tech available, which conforms to the new BSI standard for accessible EV charging products.

The project aim is to embed a full commercialisation capability within the business and to exploit innovative in-house designed products. This will enable Duku to directly market their own products and offer a full-service idea-to-market capability for new and existing design consultancy clients. 

The KTP team caught up with Taabish to hear about their experiences of the KTP so far:  

What attracted you to the position? 

There are a few reasons why I was drawn to this role. First, it offered the opportunity to develop the commercialisation strategy for a product within the UK’s sophisticated automotive sector, which has been a medium-term career goal of mine. The second is the unique nature of the role. Being a management KTP, the role has allowed me to upskill as an industry consultant while collaborating with an academic institution like UWE Bristol. This partnership provided an added layer of research-driven insight and strategy formulation. Thirdly – working with Duku, a company innovating in the EV charging space and enabling users from all walks of life to access electric vehicles, also gives me a sense of purpose – knowing that my commercialisation efforts have a direct, positive impact on both the community and the planet. 

What are you most looking forward to? 

Six months into the KTP, we are transitioning from the planning into the action phase, which is something I’m particularly excited about. I’m looking forward to collaborating with industry leaders, academic researchers, and automotive OEMs to further advance our accessible charging solution. The goal is to make Duku’s products the gold standard for EV charging infrastructure while cementing our position as a thought leader in the space. The chance to see this project evolve from strategy formulation to commercial success is something I look most forward to. 

How is the partnership between UWE Bristol and the company working? 

The partnership between UWE and Duku has been highly synergistic. The academic team at UWE brings a strong research foundation, combining both academic and industry perspectives, which has accelerated the strategy development process. This collaboration has also created a feedback loop that allows for continuous validation of my deliverables, making the entire process more dynamic, accurate, and responsive. This partnership has also opened new doors for Duku, offering potential collaborations and expanding our contacts in areas such as accessibility and sustainability in EV infrastructure. 

What are the major benefits/support available from UWE Bristol ? 

The major benefits for me personally have been access to UWE’s resources, research capabilities, and academic expertise. Positioned in the middle, I bridge the gap between academia and industry, benefiting from both perspectives. This has allowed me to develop a holistic commercialisation strategy that considers both academic rigor and practical, real-world insights. Beyond the scope of the project, this experience has been transformative. Having recently completed my MBA, I am transitioning from execution roles to more strategic, planning-focused positions. The variety of perspectives I’ve been exposed to through this partnership is helping me upskill rapidly, and I’m confident I’ll emerge a more capable professional by the end of this KTP project. 

What do you enjoy most about your job? 

What I enjoy most about my role is the tangible impact my work has on Duku’s overall strategy. Taking complex data, reports, and insights and distilling them into actionable strategies is something I find highly fulfilling. Being in a management KTP role, I frequently get the opportunity to engage in activities like design thinking, competitive analysis, branding, marketing, and even sales leadership. These are skills that will serve me well throughout my career, and the diversity of the work keeps me constantly challenged and engaged. 

Find out more about KTPs at UWE Bristol.  

Research into student fears of public speaking in higher education is most read paper of all time in the Journal of Further and Higher Education

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

In July 2021, the lead researcher Dr Rob Grieve and academic colleagues Dr Stephen Hunt, Alison McKay and Dr Julie Woodley published a qualitative survey on student fears of oral presentations and public speaking in higher education in the Journal of Further and Higher Education (JFHE).  The research study is now the most read paper of all time in JFHE with just over 163K downloads and rising.

Oral presentations and public speaking are an important aspect of the student experience in UK higher education and oral presentations are a commonly used a form of assessment.  Previous research evidence has indicated that many students experience a fear in public speaking. The aims of this qualitative survey were two-fold. First, it sought to gather further insight into the fears experienced and strategies used by students who fear public speaking, including oral presentations. The second objective was to determine whether their fear affected their overall experience of higher education.

The main findings from this qualitative survey have clearly indicated that for those students with a fear of public speaking and oral presentations, public speaking tasks have an overall negative effect on learning and the student experience. Specifically, the findings have indicated that many students’ main fears are associated with being judged, uncertainty about the topic and physical symptoms. This survey also clearly indicated that most of the students in this study, although fearful of public speaking, were aware of the importance of practice and preparation. The findings clearly identified the lack of and need for further comprehensive support for students with a fear of public speaking.

Many of the findings from the study have informed the “Student Voices” in Rob Grieve’s book “Stand Up and Be Heard: Taking the Fear Out of Public Speaking at University” (Sage Publishing).

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