Image: Christine Ramsey-Wade and Beverly Coghlan, Research Officer from EMDR UK, on the left, after a recent site visit.
Senior Lecturer in Counselling Psychology Christine Ramsey-Wade will be collaborating with EMDR UK to run a pilot feasibility trial, comparing the delivery of two different versions of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) online for people who have complex trauma histories.
EMDR is a well-established psychotherapy which aims to support clients to process adverse or traumatic life experiences, so that they can re-build their lives.
The aim of the study is to test the feasibility of a research study design for a future randomised controlled trial (RCT) examining the efficacy of online Attachment-Informed EMDR and online standard EMDR for clients with attachment-informed complexity.
The primary research question is whether the proposed RCT design would be feasible for a full trial, seeking to test whether an explicitly attachment-informed approach to EMDR is at least as effective as the Standard Protocol in reducing and reprocessing stories of complex trauma.
The original or Standard Protocol for EMDR set out eight treatment phases: history-taking, preparation, assessment (including exploring cognitions, beliefs and schemas around the event), desensitisation to the trauma, installation of processing, body scan, closure and re-assessment. Shapiro (2018) set out the 8-phase treatment model clearly in her original EMDR protocol, which will be used for the active control arm of the RCT design under study in this feasibility trial.
As shame can be a barrier to accessing trauma-focused psychotherapy (Cummings and Baumann, 2021), it is important to continue to research trauma-focused therapies that rely less on verbal accounts of traumatic experiences and the cognitions around this to make services as accessible and effective as possible, which is what this feasibility trial sets out to do.
Christine commented:
“I am delighted to be collaborating with EMDR UK, and in particular the East Anglia branch, on this exciting new research project – the first collaboration between UWE Bristol and EMDR UK. While the evidence base around EMDR is relatively strong, there is a need for further research on online EMDR and on EMDR for complex trauma. We also need to show that any variations on the standard protocol are at least as effective as the original. This project will explore how best to research these areas. ”
Picture by Aline Brune, one of the profiled artists from the exhibition.
The “This is Essential Work” project is an online open-access intersectional feminist exhibition initiated by academic mothers and creators, Michal Nahman (UWE Bristol) and Susan Newman (Open University) in response to their experiences and interdisciplinary research on the commodification of breastmilk and forms of exploitation of women’s bodies and labour. The project received over 700 submissions and the online exhibition was recently launched
The exhibition saw work submitted from several countries including the UK, Brazil, Germany, the USA, China, Nigeria, India and more.
The exhibition emerged from research funded by a UWE Vice Chancellor’s Award for Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research conducted just before the Covid-19 pandemic, in Bengaluru, India, into mother’s provision of “excess” breastmilk to a private company that was processing it and selling it at a profit.
The volume of work was both moving and invigorating.
The judging team commented:
“For this exhibition, the art conveys how work and bodies get devalued. This feminist exhibition is about showcasing this gendered work: to acknowledge, to grieve, and importantly, to connect with one another.
We are showcasing mother/artists who question the value that society puts on their work, including all kinds of labour. The list of our Essential Work is endless and it holds up the world.”
UWE Bristol Researchers have developed a smartphone-based sensor for the determination of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB); a popular recreational drug. Its strong sedative and amnesic effects have led to drug-facilitated sexual assaults, poisonings, overdose, and even death, something widely reported in the news amidst a recent rise in cases of drink spiking incidents.
As a result, legislation has restricted its availability, leading to GHB consumers switching to its pro-drug, gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). A pro-drug is a medication or compound that, after administration, is metabolised into a pharmacologically active drug. There is a growing need for methods capable of determining GBL in complex samples such as beverages. It was shown possible to quantify both, GBL and GHB, using the camera of a smartphone to record images of the purple colour developed following simple chemistry.
A downloadable free App available from the Apple App Store (Color picker and helper, version 1.1.6) was used to extract the numerical values of the Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) colour components of the purple colour. Using these values, it was possible to determine the concentration of the drugs present in fortified lager samples; indicating the method holds promise for the determination of both GBL and GHB in such drinks.
The findings were recently published in a paper: Procida, A., & Honeychurch, K. C. (2022). Smartphone-based colorimetric determination of gamma-butyrolactone and gamma-hydroxybutyrate in alcoholic beverage samples. Journal of Forensic Sciences.
UWE Bristol are proud to work with many Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the region. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for up to 90% of businesses, 60% to 70% of employment, and they account for half of global GDP, according to the United Nations.
To celebrate World MSME Day 2022 we are sharing some recent work and projects with MSMEs.
In this short video, we highlight three SMEs we worked with as part of our Scale Up 4 Growth Scheme. In partnership with NatWest and Foot Anstey, we gave SMEs access to grant funding and business support to help them scale up. In the below video we hear from The Bristol Loaf, Wiper and True and 299 Lighting about how the funding has helped transform their business.
Tell us a bit about what you are doing as an organisation to support sustainability goals in the region?
At Bristol24/7 we’re really proud to be in the process of recruiting a dedicated climate and sustainability editor. We are the first local media organisation to do so as far as we know, and we’ve created this role to engage conversation, inspire people to take action, hold authorities and companies to account and report on the positive work already ongoing in Bristol.
This is alongside our work to become more sustainable as an organisation. We are currently working with Action Net Zero to assess our carbon footprint, from which we will set goals to minimise our impact on the planet.
We believe that working together is the best way to tackle the climate crisis. One of the defining values of our Better Business network is sustainability and we share ideas, opportunities and resources with our business members at our quarterly meetings.
What steps have you taken to ensure you have a diverse workforce to drive forward these aims?
Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of all of Bristol24/7s plans. We recognise there are considerable barriers to working in journalism and we are aiming to level the playing field at every opportunity. We are continuously improving our recruitment process to make it welcoming and accessible to all those who are interested in working with us. We have redesigned our work experience programme and we are working to introduce a career ladder so that those who have their first taste of journalism with us are invited back for longer placements and interviews for entry level positions.
We work with the most underrepresented areas of Bristol to train new journalists in our community reporters programme. Our entire team take part in setting our goals and strategy for the year ahead and every voice is heard; we believe this allows for more robust decision making and creativity which are essential when tackling problems such as the climate crisis.
What support have you received from UWE Bristol, and how has it contributed to these aims?
We’re extremely grateful to UWE Bristol for their support. Over the last 12 months, our team have benefitted from Digital Skills support and training which has informed our membership strategy. We now also have a stronger marketing strategy which helps us capitalise on the support from our community and grow our membership – the result of which is that we can offer more work experience placements, train more community reporters and work with charity partners.
More recently, members of our team have also taken part in the Skills for Clean Growth workshops. We already feel more confident in addressing our own carbon output, and we look forward to attending more workshops as we set our new goals, induct our climate editor and take the next steps on our sustainability journey.
What successes have you seen as a result of the above work?
In the last year we have seen a 30% growth in our membership, which has provided us with the resource to grow our team, including interns from UWE Bristol, and increase our social impact work.
Workshops for MSMEs
Are you a Gloucestershire business looking to scale?
Digital Scale-Up for your Business
Hosted in the Advanced Digital Academy at Gloucestershire College in Cheltenham on Monday 11 & Tuesday 12 July 2022.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) scheme is a UK-wide programme helping businesses to improve competitiveness and productivity. We embed a recent graduate within your business and give you access to our academic expertise to help you transform your business.
We recently supported more than 70 young people to complete the first stage of a transformational ‘first of its kind’ green skills training programme.
The programme aimed to provide access to green jobs, training and business opportunities to Black, Asian and minoritised young people (aged 18-28), and recent graduates living in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset.
Get in touch
We are always keen to work with MSMEs so please do get in touch to discuss how we can support you and your business uwebusiness@ac.uk
Written by Linda Pengelly (MSc Student for Environmental Management)
In the early to mid-1900s, the hangover from Britain’s Industrial Revolution of the previous two centuries (when emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) were at their peak) was still raging (Ritchie, 2017a). Between 1900-1920, Bronchitis attributed to atmospheric coal smoke was the second-leading cause of death in England and Wales (Widdicombe, 2020). Cold winters and gung-ho coal combustion combined to form the deadly spectre that is ‘Smog’ (a portmanteau of smoke and fog) and earned London the dubious nickname of the ‘Big Smoke’, even inspiring Monet to paint the city between 1899-1903 (Fuller, 2019). With everything happening in the world right now (the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, the looming threat of war…) it’s easy to overlook the (invisible) elephant in the room: air pollution. No-one wants to think about the ultrafine particles (PM2.5 to use the technical term) having a party in their lungs when they’re walking down the street or curling up in front of the fire. But should we be concerned? Well, yes, actually. The biggest contributors to air pollution may have changed over the years, but the bottom line is this: respiratory diseases have consistently remained one of the top 5 causes of death in the UK in our lifetime (ONS, 2017; Ritchie and Roser, 2019).
The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog) by C Monet (Monet, 1903-4)
A series of London Smog incidents followed, most notably the ‘Great Smog’ between 5-9th December 1952, which Bell and Davis (2001) estimate led to the deaths of 12,000 people. The younger generations of the Great British public were given a lesson in history when Queen Elizabeth II was portrayed stubbornly navigating the Great Smog on foot to visit her grandmother in an episode of The Crown (2016), but it begs the question: are we destined to repeat it?
Not necessarily. Granted, today’s developing cities appear to be following in the UK’s footsteps by way of initial ‘dirty’ industrialisation, as shown in Delhi:
Source: Ritchie (2017b)
There is hope, however. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, Ritchie (2017a) maintains that as India and other developing countries increase their GDP per capita, they must aim to keep air pollution below London’s 19th century levels by developing in a ‘cleaner way’ than we did; i.e., by adopting renewable energy early. The Clean Air Act of 1956 partly tackled the issue of air pollution in the UK through the introduction of smoke control areas, but as Fuller (2019) argues, the most effective change came from the adoption of alternative fuels and heating systems.
An ‘An awareness that the burden from energy consumption on the wider society has been very high in the past and can get much worse may help concentrate minds a little more towards finding solutions, and not simply accepting that climate change is the price to pay for economic growth and development’
(Fouquet, 2011)
The 1950s-1970s saw high growth in car ownership, accompanied by an increase in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and PM2.5 (Newman and Kenworthy, 2011). Although car ownership has continued to rise, NOx and PM2.5 levels have decreased since the 1970s due to a combination of technological advances and further political progress.
Dieselgate protest in Berlin (BUND Bundesverband, 2017)
There have been a few bumps in the road, however. In 2015, the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal broke, in which Volkswagen and other car manufacturers were revealed to have programmed on-board computers to cheat emissions tests (Fuller, 2019). Following this, sales of diesel cars in the UK nosedived, yet, frustratingly, sales of new electric/hybrid cars remain low (Ritchie and Roser, 2021), mainly due to their high initial costs and lack of charging infrastructure (ONS, 2021):
Source: Ritchie and Roser (2021)
Looking at the overall picture of air quality in the UK, data shows that there has been a steady decline in emissions of most air pollutants since the 1970s, but ammonia (NH3) levels persist (Ritchie and Roser, 2022):
Source: Ritchie and Roser (2022)
The culprit? Agriculture. According to Defra (2020; 2018), approximately 88% of ammonia emissions in the UK can be attributed to agriculture, and with 71% of UK land classed as agricultural, the scale of the issue is clear. Defra’s 2018 Code of Good Agricultural Practice (COGAP) for reducing ammonia emissions attempted to address this but given that observance of the Code is voluntary rather than mandated, its potential effectiveness is questionable.
But what about closer to home? According to Carrington (2021), the oh-so-hygge solid fuel burners in 8% of UK lounges account for, shockingly, 38% of PM2.5 emissions (26% more than road traffic, to put it into perspective). Although there are already smoke control areas in the UK, and the implementation of the 2019 Clean Air Strategy will ‘outlaw the sale of the most polluting fuels’ and ‘ensure that only the cleanest stoves are available for sale by 2022’ (Defra, 2019, p.59-60), the post-pandemic surge in energy prices and overall cost of living will likely mean that many homes continue to light up. Compounding this problem is the long lifespan of solid fuel burners, meaning few people will ever buy a new, ‘cleaner’ one (Fuller 2019).
Source: Phelps (2019)
The top sources of air pollution may have changed over time, but the common denominator is human activity. Will we look back on the past with fog-tinted glasses, and allow history to repeat itself, or will we learn from our mistakes? It is down to every one of us to play a role in fighting the threat of air pollution, but crucially, the UK government must empower us to do so. We may hold the matches, but technological innovation and strong policies are the (seasoned) kindling we need to light the fire in our bellies.
(Adapted from Love Clean Air, 2014)
References
Bell, M.L. & Davis, D.L. (2001) Reassessment of the Lethal London Fog of 1952: Novel Indicators of Acute and Chronic Consequences of Acute Exposure to Air Pollution. Environmental Health Perspectives [online]. 109 (3), pp. 389-394. [Accessed 30 March 2022].
BUND Bundesverband (2017) Protest vor dem Dieselgate-Untersuchungsausschuss in Berlin [photograph]. In: Flickr [online]. Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/110742978@N08/33323423825 [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Carrington, D. (2021) Wood burning at home now biggest cause of UK particle pollution. The Guardian [online]. 16 February. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/16/home-wood-burning-biggest-cause-particle-pollution-fires [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2020) Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2020 [online]. London: Defra. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1056618/AUK2020_22feb22.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2019) Clean Air Strategy 2019 [online]. London: Defra. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/770715/clean-air-strategy-2019.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2018) Code of Good Agricultural Practice (COGAP) for Reducing Ammonia Emissions [online]. London: Defra. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/729646/code-good-agricultural-practice-ammonia.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Farrow, A. (2018) London Smog, 1952 [photograph]. In: Flickr [online]. Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/116071498@N08/32506838248 [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Fouquet, R. (2011) Long run trends in energy-related external costs. Ecological Economics [online] 70 (12), pp. 2380-2389. [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Fuller, G. (2018) The invisible killer: the rising global threat of air pollution – and how we can fight back. London: Melville House.
Love Clean Air (2014) History of Air Quality. Available from: https://lovecleanair.org/about-air-quality/history-of-air-quality/#.YkS6pSjMK5d [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Monet, C. (c. 1903-4) The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog) [oil on canvas]. At: New York: The Met [online]. Available from: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/110001576 [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Office for National Statistics (2021) Over half of younger drivers likely to switch to electric in next decade. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/overhalfofyoungerdriverslikelytoswitchtoelectricinnextdecade/2021-10-25 [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Office for National Statistics (2017) Causes of death over 100 years. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/causesofdeathover100years/2017-09-18 [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Newman, P., and Kenworthy, J. (2011). Peak Car Use: Understanding the Demise of Automobile Dependence. World Transport, Policy & Practice [online]. 17 (2), pp. 1-42. [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Phelps, S. (2019) Opinion: Wood burning stoves are deadly, not trendy. The Bristol Cable [online]. 1 February. Available from: https://thebristolcable.org/2019/02/opinion-wood-burning-stoves-are-deadly-not-trendy/ [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Ritchie, H. (2017a) What the history of London’s air pollution can tell us about the future of today’s growing megacities. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/london-air-pollution [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Ritchie, H. (2017b) Air Pollution, London vs. Delhi, 1700 to 2016. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/air-pollution-london-vs-delhi [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Ritchie, H., and Roser, M. (2022) Emissions of air pollutants, United Kingdom, 1970 to 2016. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/emissions-of-air-pollutants?time=1970..2016&country=~GBR [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Ritchie, H., and Roser, M. (2021) New passenger vehicles by type, United Kingdom. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/transport [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Ritchie, H., and Roser, M. (2019) Number of deaths by cause, United Kingdom, 2019. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-by-cause?country=~GBR [Accessed 30 March 2022].
The Crown (2016) Series 1, Episode 4, Act of God [online]. Netflix, 4 November. Available from: http://www.netflix.com/gb [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Widdicombe, J.H. (2020) A Brief History of Bronchitis in England and Wales. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases [online]. 7 (4), pp. 303-314. [Accessed 30 March 2022].
Salmonella causes more than 93 million cases of salmonellosis, resulting in 155,000 deaths annually worldwide. Many severe cases are associated with the production and consumption of pork: salmonella is found in the pig gut and is often multidrug-resistant. The bacteria can be transmitted through the pigs’ oral−fecal route at the farm, the slaughterhouse, and the food processing plant, where it can survive and cross-contaminate equipment or the final food products, leading to human infections.
Salmonella is conventionally dealt with by using antibiotics. However, antimicrobial resistance is on the rise, and it is widely associated with the intensive use of antibiotics in pig farming. This has led to an increased interest in alternatives to antibiotics in the fight against bacterial pathogens.
Dr Alexandros Stratakos, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Agri-Food Production at UWE Bristol, has led a study on alternatives to antibiotics in pig farming. Alexandros in collaboration with UWE Bristol colleagues Professor Olena Doran and Dr Sotirios Oikonomou, and Dr Dimitrios Lamprou from Queen’s University, Belfast, developed novel nanostructures for the targeted delivery of geraniol, a natural antivirulence compound, in the pig gut.
Geraniol is the primary component of citronella oil but can also be found in many other plant essential oils.
The study has shown that geraniol at specific concentrations inhibits Salmonella colonisation in the pig gut, which can potentially reduce the requirement for antibiotics in pig farming.
For this study, geraniol was also encapsulated in liposomal (spherical fat-like) formulations, which acted as carriers to protect the agent from degradation and increase its effectiveness against the pathogen.
This approach could lead to reduced Salmonella transmission to food, ultimately leading to an increase in the safety of the food supply chain.
The Old Library Community STEM Club has become a well-established weekly event in Eastville since it was first launched in September 2021: every Thursday after school, children and their parents or carers make their way to the Old Library Community Hub to take part in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) based activities, and to play and socialise.
The Old Library is a community led and run project, based in the former Eastville Library, which was closed down in March 2016 after council budget cuts. It now serves as a hire space for workshops and activities, including a community café, workshops, crafts, quiz nights, music, book clubs, a repair café, and the weekly STEM Club.
The Club was co-developed with the team behind UWE Bristol’s DETI Inspire, a programme designed to connect children from all backgrounds with real-life, diverse engineering role models to widen participation and aspirations for STEM careers.
It gets further support from Industry professionals via the STEM Ambassador Hub, and UWE Bristol Engineering students, who regularly support and run activities.
A club for the whole community
The sessions vary every week: children have built balloon- and sail powered cars, electric circuits, bike pump powered paper rockets, water filtration systems, and they even designed their own city, using recycled materials. They also had the opportunity to build and programme their own robots using Lego Mindstorms, and they digitally re-designed Bristol in Minecraft sessions led by the DETI Inspire Team at UWE Bristol.
The Club is aimed to be as accessible as possible, which is why it is run on a free, drop-in basis. There are also healthy snacks on offer alongside the activities, and the grown-ups can relax with a cup of tea or coffee, or choose to get involved in the activities themselves.
Minecraft session, led by the UWE DETI TeamPaper cup phonesPaper plane makingCity designs using recycled materialsSail powered carsSeed planting
What’s next?
For the upcoming sessions the children will be building model boats which will be raced at the Bristol Harbour Festival on Saturday 16 July. Boat building is taking place on 16 of June and 7 July and supported by the My Future My Choice programme and Industry volunteers.
Lego Mindstorms will be making a comeback on 23 and 30 of June: instructed by UWE Engineering students, the children will learn how to build and programme Lego robots.
There are also plans for wind turbine building, though the exact dates are still to be confirmed.
The last STEM Club session of this term is planned for Thursday 14 July, and then the Club will pause for the summer holidays, with a return planned in September, for the start of the new school year.
Electronic circuit buildingThymio robot runLearning about city planningFiltering waterBuilding balloon powered carsExploring the surface of Mars through 3D goggles
UWE Bristol has recently announced another application round of its successful Partnership PhD programme.
A Partnership PhD bridges the gap between external organisations and university. It enables an organisation to gain access to cutting-edge real-world research that can help transform it.
The Partnership establishes a relationship between an organisation and UWE Bristol, based on a specific project that is mutually beneficial.
Organisations have the opportunity to choose a relevant research area and gain access to cutting-edge research. The researcher will work extensively with the organisation to provide a tailored piece of research.
In turn, the researcher will gain an opportunity to pursue their research in a real-world setting, developing transferable and interdisciplinary skills whilst gaining cross-sector experience.
Over the past two years, the Graduate School, part of the Research, Business and Innovation team at UWE Bristol, has been developing the Partnership PhD scheme. Through it, UWE’s investment in Post Graduate Research has been matched by over £1.5m from 40+ partner organisations.
Informing and consulting public groups has long been recognised as vital for good quality research, which is why academics are encouraged to engage communities and seek their input and opinion. To do so, it is essential to ensure that the population groups included are as diverse and as representative of a wide range of society as possible.
The move online – opportunities and challenges
Public Engagement events have traditionally been held in person, making them accessible to a wide range of people from various backgrounds. However, the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 meant that ‘face to face’ engagement activities had to widely cease, and much of it has since moved, and remained, online. Whilst this offers opportunities to reach more people geographically, and can also have benefits in terms of inclusion, there is a risk that certain groups may be excluded on a more local level.
The ongoing issue of inclusivity in public engagement
The Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities (WEH) is a Wellcome Trust funded research centre at the University of Oxford. Its staff specialise in a range of fields, including medical history, medical ethics, psychology, philosophy, and mental health. As part of their work, they investigate some of the big ethical questions of our time, a major theme being rapid technological change.
The WEH seeks to include a broad discussion on its research from a range of demographics, attempting to be as inclusive as possible in its engagement work. The key audiences for its engagement programme were initially identified in the Centre’s public engagement strategy as local Oxfordshire residents, artists and arts communities, research participants and patient groups. However, ensuring the involvement of all these groups can be challenging, as reflected in three pre- and mid-pandemic case studies assessing participants’ views on public health issues. Evidence suggests that inclusivity in public engagement is an ongoing issue, where pre-engaged audiences are often repeatedly involved in events and activities, either through use of existing networks or ineffective reach in terms of advertising.
A shift in the public engagement demographic since the start of the pandemic
Clare and Milly found a distinctive demographic shift in engagement work since the start of the pandemic. Their research has highlighted that there are a range of barriers and complications involved in solely online engagement: children and young people, for example, may not have access to devices from a home setting. Whilst health professionals understandably had time constraints during the pandemic and may not have had opportunities to get involved.
Broadly speaking, online public engagement activities are reliant on access to a digital device with a reliable internet connection and the ability to use this device and supporting technology, but also rest on the assumption that there will be the desire, interest, energy, or time to participate.
The conclusion is that any future online work must address issues around exclusion of some groups. Recognising that a diversity in demographics is key to supporting a diversity of viewpoints, Clare and Milly also assess how and if engagement activities would work in a post-pandemic world, and whether public engagement has the potential to become more inclusive as a result.
A variety of people with a diversity of viewpoints
Moving engagement to a solely online format can create benefits in terms of inclusivity, for example in avoiding the need to travel. Further exploration of potential barriers is crucial to raise public awareness of healthcare research, and to help enable people from all backgrounds to contribute. When engaging online it is also vital to ensure that such research is responsible, relevant, and transparent, and that engagement takes place not only with a variety of people, but also with a diversity of viewpoints.
UWE Bristol Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) team have secured a new KTP with Sysmax. The application, led by Ellen Parkes from UWE Bristol, was funded under Innovate UKs Management Knowledge Transfer Partnership (MKTP) scheme which is part funded from BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).
Based in Guildford, Surrey, Sysmax is a compliance and competency management company specialising in project, risk, and engineering management offering a comprehensive suite of products that help their clients to evaluate competency, improve performance, and deliver compliance across their business.
With specialist support from the academic team at UWE Bristol Business School, the aim of the 24-month project is to develop and embed the necessary management capabilities and leadership skills required to grow the company in line with its strategic ambitions, and increase its effectiveness and productivity in a scalable and sustainable way. Through the collaboration with UWE, Sysmax will establish a strategic approach for the identification, analysis, and targeting of new markets for compliance and competency management systems.
This collaborative project between Sysmax and the Bristol Business School at UWE Bristol provides a route for the transfer of research informed knowledge in Marketing and Leadership, and best practice to the company, whilst providing rich case study material for teaching and applied research, in return.
Basil Omar, Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Enterprise, UWE Bristol and KTP Academic Lead
This partnership received financial support from the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) programme. KTP aims to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base. This successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership project, funded by UK Research and Innovation through Innovate UK, is part of the government’s Industrial Strategy.
