Re:action Spring 2022

Spring 2022 | Issue 20 Research and Enterprise Magazine

Confronting climate change

Research at Southampton is understanding the impacts of global heating and driving innovations to enable net zero FLOOD SECURITY Southampton expertise is supporting a flood-secure future for Southeast Asia

COOKING WITH SOLAR Replacing wood with solar power to cook in some of the world’s poorest countries

POWERING OUR FUTURE Cutting-edge alternative energy sources as we shift from fossil fuels

MORE THAN MAPS Empowering young people around the world in climate change adaptation

Introduction

WELCOME TO RE:ACTION The World Economic Forum has identified environmental threats, and particularly the threats posed by human-driven global heating, as the most significant risks that we face in the coming decade. In the wake of the COP26 summit last year, this edition of Re:action profiles the breadth and depth of the University’s research on global climate change.

The research featured in this issue highlights the importance of identifying and understanding the threats that climate change poses. Extreme weather events, floods, droughts, and their associated adverse impacts on the world’s eco- and agri-food systems are now, and will increasingly in the future, causing significant loss of life, damaging critical infrastructure and wrecking livelihoods.

Importantly, Southampton’s worldclass research is focusing not merely on identifying and understanding the potential impacts of global heating but is also informing how we can adapt to make our societies more resilient and identifying how we can transition to net zero.

The projects featured recognise that it is the full spectrum of our disciplines, from the arts and humanities, to engineering and the environmental sciences, often working together, that have important contributions to make in this arena. These projects are also notable for the ways in which they have frequently been co-created and co-executed with a wide range of partners, both locally and globally, increasing their potential to make a transformative difference to communities across the world.

I very much hope that you enjoy the articles in this edition. They offer hope for a cleaner, greener, more just, climate-safe future.

I extend my thanks to everyone who has contributed or is featured.

Professor Steve Darby Associate Dean for Research, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences

PLEASE SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK southampton2025.co.uk | #SO25

We are keen to receive your feedback about Re:action. If you have any ideas, comments or suggestions, please send them to reaction@southampton.ac.uk Re:action is created by Lucy Collie and Louise Payne, Research and Innovation Services

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SOUTHEAST ASIA FOCUS

IN THIS ISSUE 12

FEATURE

More than maps

Closing the flood gates

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16

The beach invader

Introducing solar powered cooking to urban slums

FEATURE

FEATURE

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Giving small islands a bigger voice

Community takeover

FEATURE

FEATURE

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Powering our future

Becoming masters in sustainability

Making messaging accessible

FEATURE

FEATURE

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SMMI leads delegation to COP26

Laser focused

FEATURE

FEATURE

FEATURE

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Research awards highlights

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Southeast Asia focus

The low-lying lands in Southeast Asia are at the mercy of climate change more than most. Flooding is a real risk, coupled with tropical cyclones, poorer communities, and lowlying agricultural land that supports millions of livelihoods.

Add to this extensive sand mining causing riverbank erosion and threatening infrastructure, and people’s futures are in serious jeopardy.

CLOSING THE FLOOD GATES SOUTHEAST ASIA FOCUS At Southampton, we have long-standing expertise on the landscape and the environmental risks – and how to mitigate them, particularly in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

Our academics have developed an extensive understanding of the impact of sand mining in the Mekong River and are now mapping out scenarios to illustrate the impact of mining in different geographical areas. They have also developed thinking about how sand mining and other

environmental influences interact with the social wellbeing of those who live on and near the Mekong Delta. And they have modelled likely scenarios related to ‘compound flooding’, which is when two or more combinations of flooding collide.

On the following pages, we put the spotlight on some of the groundbreaking research that is supporting the drive to ensure a bright future for these vulnerable communities.

Photography on pages 7 – 11 courtesy of Andy Ball Media

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Southeast Asia focus

PREDICTING THE COMPOUND EFFECT Flooding is a constant threat in parts of Southeast Asia. The combination of tropical cyclones, heavy monsoon rainfall and rising sea levels adds up to potential disaster for people living on low-lying coastlines and deltas.

A group of Southampton researchers is behind a project to better understand the flood hazard from tropical cyclone-induced storm surges for coastlines around the South China Sea, and how projected future climate change will alter this risk.

The project is called Comp-Flood (Compound flooding in coastal Vietnam). It began in 2019 under the leadership of Dr Ivan Haigh, Associate Professor in Coastal

A map of the ground elevations for the Mekong region

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Oceanography, with Robert Marsh, Professor in Oceanography and Climate, Steve Darby, Professor in Physical Geography, and Robert Nicholls, Professor in Coastal Engineering.

Ivan explained: “The aim of Comp-Flood is to predict the impact of compound flooding, when combinations of flooding happen at the same time or in quick succession, which is always pretty disastrous. It’s a real risk along the Vietnam coastline and the Mekong Delta,

where they endure typhoon weather and see lots of rain coming at the same time as storm surges. We have used a statistical approach to try and generate likely scenarios from actual activity.”

The group has used a huge dataset of potential future tropical cyclone activity in this region to simulate how the coast could be inundated over the next 30 years. The dataset was created from a record of historic global

Farmland under water in Cambodia

tropical cyclone statistics and simulates 10,000 years of possible cyclones, including events that are much bigger than we have seen in the past but are still physically plausible.

Building on this, the researchers are now exploring compound effects – how the storm surges from the sea might interact with river flooding in major deltas, such as Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

Dr Melissa Wood, Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences who is also working on Comp-Flood, explained: “We’ve got this amazing new database of potential future tropical cyclone behaviour for the region, based on climate assumptions.

We can plug this information into ocean hydrodynamic models to simulate the possible future flood risk to coastal communities.”

A risk to millions Millions of people have livelihood activities centred on the Vietnamese coast.

Steve said: “In Vietnam, seasonal river flooding is common in the south, while coastal flooding due to tropical cyclone driven storm surges is frequent in the north.

However, the possibility of such events coinciding, creating heightened flooding, has not been considered before.

“Our study has shown that the frequency of these combined events will increase dramatically in the future as a result of climate change, especially in places like the Mekong Delta. This is worrying because the risks posed by these events have not really been considered in disaster management plans until now. We hope that our study will enable flood management agencies to update their risk planning accordingly.”

Compound flooding has caused some of the world’s worst flooding disasters.

“Compound flooding is not very widely discussed, even though when it happens it can be catastrophic,” said Melissa. “Hurricane Harvey in 2017 in the USA was a classic example of compound flood hazard. This was a category 4 hurricane that caused catastrophic conditions in Houston Texas, as heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in rivers at the same time as the strong winds were forcing storm surges along the coastline.

“For an entirely different part of the world, but one that is very familiar with heavy rainfall and passing typhoons, we have been able to model what might happen by the year 2050.

“It’s a game changer for them as they are going to have to now look at how they will defend against storm surges – these are something

“ We’ve got this amazing new database of potential future tropical cyclone behaviour for the region, based on climate assumptions. We can plug this information into ocean hydrodynamic models to simulate the possible future flood risk to coastal communities.”

Dr Melissa Wood Research Fellow, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences

they are not currently thinking about. People living on low-lying coastlines and deltas here understand there is a chance of flooding from the sea on any given day, and know that sea level rise is coming. But they are not really prepared for typhoons to add to the hazard.”

Preparations could include building higher and stronger sea and river defences or incorporating more green infrastructure such as coastal mangrove habitats to soften the energy of storm surges.

Melissa concluded: “One recommendation I would like to make is about flood planning in a sustainable way, and good communication about what inhabitants can do when a typhoon warning occurs to protect themselves against flood hazard.”

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Southeast Asia focus

A CATASTROPHE IN THE MAKING Sand mining is big business in Vietnam and Cambodia.

But its destructive impact – combined with growing flood risks due to climate change – is putting communities and livelihoods in increasing danger.

Billions of tonnes of sand are extracted from the Mekong River every year. It is essential for the construction industry and – due to demand and the acceptance that it has environmental impacts – extraction is now strictly licensed.

Years of research by academics at Southampton have led to a better understanding of the magnitude and often devastating impact of sand mining, as well as the ability to make recommendations to mitigate some of that impact.

Julian Leyland, Associate Professor of Physical Geography, began investigating the situation back in 2012, alongside Steve Darby, Professor of Physical Geography, Dan Parsons, Professor of Sedimentology at the University of Hull, and Dr Chris Hackney, now an Academic Fellow at Newcastle University.

In the course of a project looking at sediment transfer on the Mekong, led by Steve, they witnessed lots of large sand barges and vast amounts of sand being extracted. “Since then, the issue of sand mining has come to the fore,” said Julian. “It’s a catastrophe in the making, as when you take the sediment out from the bed, it can induce bank erosion.

People don’t see the big holes from sand extraction because it’s on the river bed, below sediment-laden water, but it ultimately leads

to people losing their homes, and to roads and infrastructure being damaged.

“Sand mining is licensed in Cambodia and Vietnam, because the sand is an important resource for building and as such is a precious commodity. It’s well recognised that there is an environmental impact, but there is still lots of illegal activity as it’s big business and big money.”

They used satellite imagery to monitor how many vessels were on the water – and found that activity had almost doubled.

“We were able to estimate that activity in April 2020 was almost double that of April 2019, with a similar increase of around 75 per cent in May 2020 from May 2019, before dropping back to around the same amount in the following months of 2020,” said Julian.

The COVID impact The arrival of COVID-19 and strict lockdowns in Vietnam in early 2020 led to local reports of a sudden upsurge in illegal sand mining as opportunists struck.

Modelling the future Through their expertise, the team is able to model different extraction scenarios to illustrate what they would mean for riverbank erosion.

“There was vastly reduced local monitoring of the mining due to people having to stay at home,” explained Julian.

“We’re building maps to show where vessels are, and where the vulnerable areas are, and colleagues in Vietnam are mapping the infrastructure too,” said Julian. “There are places that are more and less vulnerable.

Regardless of any recent spikes in activity during lockdowns, it might be really useful in the future if we can point to areas and we can say ‘if you focus mining activity here, it will cause fewer environmental impacts than if you mine downstream here’.”

He led a 12-month project alongside Steve, Dan, Chris and Craig Hutton, Professor of Sustainability Science, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund. They worked with colleagues in Vietnam at Can Tho University and the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research (SIWRR) to undertake remote sensing assessments of whether there had in fact been an increase in mining, and to understand what the physical and socioeconomic impacts of that might be.

A fisherman checks his nets for fish in the shadow of an empty sand barge. Sand mining in Kratié province has reduced the catch significantly, to the point where it is no longer a sustainable livelihood for many

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An aerial shot of sandmining in Cambodia

The team, including SIWRR and Can Tho University, is now involved in a new project funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which will seek to establish a sediment budget for the Mekong Delta and establish plans for future changes and management, including the impacts of sand mining.

Find out more Julian and the team helped to develop, and contributed to, a documentary on illegal sand mining produced by Vice News. The documentary has attracted more than two millions views and can be seen here: https://youtu.be/H4d6LT87pMo

THE CONSEQUENCES FOR HUMANS More than 20 million people live the vast maze of rivers, swamps and islands that make up the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. Predicting what the future could hold for them – in an area vulnerable to fast and dramatic change due to both manmade and natural events – is critical for their long-term wellbeing and livelihoods.

Over half of Vietnam’s rice production comes from the Mekong Delta, and it’s the country’s most important fishing region. With millions of people relying on the delta, the impact of climate-exacerbated storms, flooding and salinity increases is set to be enormous.

Workers employed in sand mining repair infrastructure used for pumping sand out of the Mekong River

Craig Hutton, Professor of Sustainability Science, is focusing his work on understanding the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable rural populations. He said: “My interest is around bringing in the socio-economic component into models of different plausible future scenarios – trying to understand how wellbeing might be impacted, and how environmental change affects agriculture, livelihoods and poverty.

We’re trying to develop storylines of plausible futures.”

One example the team in which Craig is a member has analysed is rice crops that are grown on the delta. Farmers can grow one, two or three crops a year, but the more crops they grow the more fertiliser is needed and the more the land needs to be irrigated.

The result is a decline in the profitable productivity of the land, and exhausted soil.

“The choice is about making money quickly, or farming in a more sustainable way,” explained Craig. “Climate change plays straight into that, adding a whole layer into that argument for sustainable land management.

But climate change is not on its own – human systems are interacting with natural systems, stressing them and changing them. The context is broad and it’s complex.”

Mapping scenarios Working with the team led by Professor Steve Darby and with Dr Hal Voepel, as well as partners across the UK and Vietnam, Craig has led work with stakeholders in Vietnam to visualise how agriculture might be practiced in the future and how sustainable those land use practices might be. This work will

be supported by systems dynamics models, which are effectively flow diagram models that interconnect and influence each other in complex ways.

Craig has worked with systems dynamics approaches before, working with a Southampton-led team and the Bangladeshi government on plotting plausible scenarios of future states for the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, a multibillion-dollar strategy to protect Bangladesh’s delta coast.

“We worked with their General Economics Division to model different coastal interventions for them, to see what would be the impacts on flooding and subsequent agricultural yield and poverty of building coastal protection walls, or planting defensive

mangroves, for example,” said Craig. “We mapped the plausible impacts on agriculture and livelihoods under different climate change futures, and we were able to provide them with a lot of information and guidance.”

A similar system dynamics model is now in development for Vietnam and the first project to employ it will be a new project with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) (outlined on page 8).

Craig concluded: “The point of all this is to produce policy-relevant tools – to produce something that helps policymakers think about how to manage their systems. We’re not there to tell them what to do – we’re there to show them the consequences of their choices.”

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Fish stocks have been depleted so much in some areas on the Mekong River that fishermen are resorting to collecting snails and clams

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Southeast Asia focus

COLLABORATING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE Early career researchers (ECRs) from around the world collaborated on a project to bring data together to better understand flood risks in Vietnam and Thailand.

Four ECRs from Southampton, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam participated in the project. Together, they have produced models of flood risk to assess the economic and livelihood impacts in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam and the Chao Phraya River Basin in Thailand.

Evelyn Pina Covarrubias, Research Fellow in Geography and Environmental Science, led Southampton’s involvement in the project called Integrated Strategies for Flood Risk Management in the ASEAN Region Under Climate Uncertainty: A Needs Analysis. She said: “Southeast Asian countries are highly vulnerable to climate change, and they have high population densities. The aim of our project was to identify gaps in knowledge on flooding risk and water management in the context of climate change.

“With our findings we want ultimately to inform local and regional governments on best practice in the design and implementation of policies regarding climate risk mitigation, and to contribute to social welfare.”

Chidsumon Sasirat, ECR at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, added: “I think this project is very valuable for our

country. I hope we can make an impact and make a change in the future climate change risk scenario in Thailand.”

The collaboration has had other benefits too. Phan Kieu Diem, Research Fellow at Can Tho University in Vietnam, said: “The project has enhanced our understanding of the working cultures of different nations, and improved foreign languages and technical skills.”

So what’s next?

Aakanchya Budhathoki, ECR at Kyoto University in Japan, outlined: “We are looking to produce a review article in an international journal. Following this, we hope to run a similar project to focus on capacity building, with several ECRs and discussion with the experts on climate change adaptation strategies.”

Their project came about thanks to the University’s membership of RENKEI (the UK-Japan Research and Education Network for Knowledge Economy Initiatives) and a successful bid for COP26 Official Development Assistance funding.

RENKEI RENKEI is a strategic partnership for research collaboration between universities in the UK and Japan. The University of Southampton is a member and, along with Japan’s Kyushu University, has been invited to chair a new governance system to champion the interests of members.

Under this, and to mark RENKEI’s 10th anniversary this year, the University’s International Partnerships team and Southampton researchers are collaborating

on a one-year programme to develop and inspire a cohort of climate-focused ECRs, seeking to foster interdisciplinarity and closer industry links. ECRs from across RENKEI’s network will join the fellowship programme, leading to a September ‘summer school’ in Japan on the theme of climate adaptation. Senior academics from each RENKEI member institution will deliver the teaching at the summer school, and up to three ECRs from each institution will be invited to attend an in-person event.

If you are interested in finding out more, contact: partnerships@soton.ac.uk

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Feature

MORE THAN MAPS A project launched from the School of Geography and Environmental Science is working to empower young people around the world in climate change adaptation.

Teaching young people skills to change their behaviour to help mitigate some of the effects of climate change is at the centre of the More than Maps project.

elements of computer programming required to use Google Earth Engine, and how to apply a basic framework to assess stakeholders in an environmental context.”

Dr Sien van der Plank, ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Economic, Social and Political Science, has been leading the project with Jadu Dash, Professor in Remote Sensing within the School of Geography and Environmental Science.

The feedback from students and teachers was very positive, with one student commenting at the close of the workshops: “I thoroughly enjoyed both of them and learnt a lot! I loved that the two sessions covered different yet closely related topics.”

Sien explained the premise of the project: “Climate change adaptation means altering our behaviour, systems and potentially ways of life, to protect our families, economies and the environment in which we live from the impacts of climate change. More than Maps designs and delivers workshops to share open-access skills in mapping and social science analysis, empowering young people to be part of climate change adaptation discussions and action.”

The project launched in September 2020, funded by an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences. It engaged 30 A-level students from across the UK in a two-part online workshop series. The workshops were the product of a collaboration between PhD students, early career researchers and established researchers across social and physical science disciplines.

“The initial workshops in the UK focused on a case study of Sargassum seaweed influxes being experienced in the Caribbean and West Africa since 2011, and included the 12

Dr Sien van der Plank

Professor Jadu Dash

“ More than Maps designs and delivers workshops to share open-access skills in mapping and social science analysis, empowering young people to be part of climate change adaptation discussions and action.”

Dr Sien van der Plank ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Economic, Social and Political Science

detection of seaweed using a freely available mapping tool called Google Earth Engine, as well as studying the stakeholders in the management of the seaweed through a stakeholder analysis,” said Sien. “We worked with students from four schools, engaging sixth-form students in learning about the

The success of the project led to its expansion. Firstly, to a longer-term project supported by seed funding from the Public Engagement with Research unit to engage wider audiences and develop additional workshop materials. Then secondly, from April 2021, the team was successful in winning funding from the British Council’s Seasons programme. The network has grown to include researchers at the Mona Geoinformatics Institute in Jamaica, the University of Ghana, the University of Western Australia and the University of Sydney.

Sien explained: “We worked with colleagues at these institutions to widen the reach and engage with more young people in the UK, Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, Ghana, and Australia. This particular collaborative group came about because of existing and past research relationships, but also just reaching out and pitching our idea to other coastal adaptation researchers.

“The aim was to share reproducible and openaccess skills in mapping and social science

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1 More than Maps participants and workshop leaders at the University of Ghana

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2 Visiting and learning about a local coastline with high school students as part of the University of Ghana workshop series 3 High school students in Ghana practising environmental mapping skills as part of an inperson workshop session Photography courtesy of Philip-Neri Jayson-Quashigah

analysis as to inspire young people in climate change adaptation worldwide.”

The timing of COP26 fitted well with the project’s progression. The team secured another tranche of funding from the British Council and UK/Australia Seasons 2021-22, which meant it could roll out the workshops in Australia and the UK to coincide with COP26 in Glasgow and in Ghana and Jamaica just after.

“We had a definitive list of key learning outcomes we wanted to achieve across our international workshop cohort, particularly because we are keen to continue the roll out and build on its success,” said Sien. “We ensured all participants were exposed to a case study on climate change adaptation or hazard mitigation, they undertook coding in basic JavaScript, learnt about social data analysis using social sciences frameworks for future research or adaptation, covered a case study of policy making in small islands and developing states and all had an Extended Project Qualification opportunity such as further researcher-student interaction.”

“ We had a definitive list of key learning outcomes we wanted to achieve across our international workshop cohort, particularly because we are keen to continue the roll out and build on its success.”

Dr Sien van der Plank ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Economic, Social and Political Science

In a year, the More Than Maps team has grown from three researchers based at Southampton to 12 researchers based in four countries. It has so far benefitted more than 200 people via its workshops and it continues to gain traction.

The team has hosted a workshop for other researchers about the process and is planning to write a paper about the More than Maps approach and impacts. The framework can be easily adapted to include other research topics and geographic areas.

This year and beyond Jadu, Sien and their colleagues will be looking for new internal and external researchers to collaborate with, further funding to support the project, and developing online-specific content so learners can access the materials at a time and place convenient to them.

Find out more www.morethanmaps.sartrac.org sien.vanderplank@soton.ac.uk Twitter: @More_Than_Maps 13

Feature

THE BEACH INVADER For the past decade, a prolific beach invader has wreaked seasonal havoc on idyllic beaches in the tropical Atlantic.

“ The mats of Sargassum can be massive, and when it washes to shore it can pile metres high.

It can be devastating. As it decomposes, it stinks, can cause skin irritation and it gives off gases that can cause breathing difficulties.”

Emma Tompkins Professor of Geography, Environment and Development

From the eastern coast of Mexico to the west coast of Africa – and everywhere in between – a potent-smelling seaweed known as Sargassum is devastating not only beaches, but livelihoods too. Moreover, climate change appears to be making it worse.

Back in 2011, little was known about Sargassum.

But since then, it has made its presence so prevalent that it has had researchers around the world grappling to understand where it comes from and what to do with the thousands of tonnes that wash up on shores every year.

Emma Tompkins, Professor of Geography, Environment and Development, is part of a team at Southampton focusing on those questions. She also has a personal interest in understanding the seaweed conundrum, as she explained: “My family emigrated to

the Cayman Islands 35 years ago. I visited in 2018 and our favourite beach was covered in stinking seaweed, so much so that we couldn’t go into the sea. It was just bizarre.”

This stinking seaweed was, Emma discovered, Sargassum. It was first spotted in extensive blooms across the tropical Atlantic in 2011.

Back in Southampton, Emma worked with Robert Marsh, Professor in Oceanography and Climate, Dr Yue Zhang, Lecturer in Environmental Engineering, and researcher Dr Susan Hanson to understand more about Sargassum, finding out both climate and oceanic drivers are behind it.

The basics Sargassum is a brown, large-leaf seaweed that floats. It has long been found in the Sargasso Sea, off the coast of Bermuda and, until 2011, was always contained to this area.

However, an anomalous weather event in 2010 is believed to be responsible for Sargassum spreading. Seedlings were pushed south to warmer waters, where it is thriving every year. Huge rafts of Sargassum, amounting to millions of tonnes, have been spotted floating anywhere between Mexico and Ghana – some of which have measured the equivalent of 200 football pitches in size.

Workers clearing Sargassum from a Mexican beach

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Emma said: “The mats of Sargassum can be massive, and when it washes to shore it can pile metres high. It can be devastating. As it decomposes, it stinks, can cause skin irritation and it gives off gases that can cause breathing difficulties.

Shovelling Sargassum on a beach in Mexico

“It’s affecting fishermen’s ability to go out and fish in boats; it’s affecting tourism as people cannot go in the sea or on the beaches because it smells so bad; and it’s a problem for ecosystems – particularly for turtles that go to lay their eggs on beaches in the summer when Sargassum is at its worst.”

Research by Emma and Robert determined that the spread of Sargassum is related to the Atlantic Meridional Mode, which is the way in which the ocean moves. Robert also produces annual forecasts for Sargassum, predicting where it will be 180 days in advance.

They are now looking at whether the spread of Sargassum relates in part to nutrients coming off major river deltas, or to the warming seas associated with climate change, or to the changes in ocean movements, which is also in part due to climate change. This work is ongoing.

Making use of Sargassum In 2020, the team won funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund to work in

collaboration with the University of Ghana and the University of the West Indies to investigate how the poorest people affected by Sargassum can potentially use it. The SARTRAC (Teleconnected SARgassum risks across the Atlantic: building capacity for TRansformational Adaptation in the Caribbean and West Africa) project is due to conclude this year.

A third potential use is in bioenergy. Emma explained: “In rural areas, bio-digesters are important sources of energy for people with no access, or variable access to a national grid. If you shovel in Sargassum, along with waste from animals, it produces methane. This gas can be used to support the electrification of rural areas.”

“We have been looking at how Sargassum can be used by a person on the beaches carting it away, rather than looking at industrial-scale utilisation or collection at sea,” explained Emma. “We have also looked at agricultural uses for Sargassum for small-scale farmers.”

Big questions While potential uses for Sargassum are on the horizon, the bigger questions remain.

One potential use is to support the growth of mangrove seedlings. “We have found that if we mix Sargassum mulch 50/50 with other organic waste, such as pig waste, this improves mangroves’ growth,” said Emma.

A second area of research is whether Sargassum can be used to grow tomatoes and peppers, which are the important crops for poorer communities.

“We are still left with some really big questions that we cannot answer,” concluded Emma. “How much worse will Sargassum inundations become under climate change?

And what will be the economic damage to fisheries and tourism sectors caused by Sargassum across the tropical Atlantic?” This remains to be seen.

Find out more www.sartrac.org

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Feature

Around three billion people across the world, primarily in developing countries, use biomass cooking stoves in their homes to cook their food.

The biomass used is often wood, which when burned creates potentially serious health risks and huge environmental implications. Dr Tasmiat Rahman, is leading a project in the heart of the Bangladeshi slums to introduce the use of solar powered cookers in a bid to improve conditions and reduce emissions.

INTRODUCING SOLAR POWERED COOKING TO URBAN SLUMS Solar powered cookers could transform the lives and health of people living in tough conditions in developing countries.

Dr Tasmiat Rahman, Assistant Professor in the School of Electronics and Computer Science, is leading a project to make that happen.

30kW Solar PV installed on top of the densely populated tin slum housing

He said: “This project brings together the science and practicality of implementing an E-cooker, or electric cooker, network in a slum environment, with the social and cultural implications of engaging with the slum community and instigating behaviour change.

It is an important area of study because we know that cooking with wood can cause serious respiratory illness, particularly for women and children who are in the home environment a lot. We also know open flames in the home pose a huge safety risk for the families and that wood fires cause deforestation and the emission of dangerous greenhouse gases.”

Finding a site Tasmiat secured funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund in March 2020, and his team’s first job was to find a suitable area in which to undertake the project.

Bangladesh is a country where 70 per cent of the population relies on solid fuel for household cooking and heating needs. It is

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also a country where Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP) cause up to 100,000 deaths every year.

“We identified Bangladesh as a potentially suitable country for the project due to the high use of wood burning stoves and the associated health issues, but we also needed to ensure any potential site could handle the logistics of having an E-cooker network installed,” said Tasmiat. “My aim was to set up a hybrid system of solar power and on-grid energy for the chosen community, taking away the need for wood burning but also gas, which comes with its own safety issues, and avoiding batteries which cause toxic waste.”

Tasmiat’s proposed E-cooker network operates by using solar energy supplied by panels mounted above the consumers’ homes. On a regular day, these panels provide/generate enough energy to operate an E-cooker for the cooking process. Any excess electricity generated is fed into the national grid. In the absence of solar energy, such as at night or during winter, electricity is drawn from the grid to power the E-cooker.

“We wanted to ensure we worked with a community that felt comfortable being involved and would truly benefit from E-cookers, we were also keen to make sure that we were providing all the information they required from the start,” explained

Tasmiat. “With that in mind, we partnered with SNV, a global not-for-profit development organisation which has a presence on the ground in the slums of Bangladesh.”

SNV facilitated the site selection process. A team from the organisation observed slums including Vatara, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Bhashantek and Mirpur. Bhashantek was identified as being suitable for the conditions needed for the project.

Bhashantek slum The Bhashantek slum in Dhaka was established due to rapid population growth in the area which led to housing shortages and poorer residents having to resort to slum living. This densely populated slum suffers significantly from air pollution and adverse health effects.

Project research identified that the slum had grid line power connection that was tapped informally by community level suppliers. This results in financial loss and unaccounted power usage for the local distribution board, thereby placing a lot of strain on the electricity generation, transmission, and the general safety of the network.

Ninety-five per cent of Bhashantek families have been living in the slum since 1974. It is home to around 2,200 households and has

been directed by a management committee ever since the site was established. The slum has no gas line supply. It does have grid electricity supply but on an informal basis.

Tasmiat’s team, along with SNV, noted the slum was particularly highly populated, had a distinct lack of access to clean cooking and 99 per cent of dwellings were houses of the tin shed type.

“Working with SNV, we went to Bangladesh and had a meeting with the Bhashantek slum management committee,” explained Tasmiat. “Our aim was to explain the project, its benefits to residents and the long-term goals of improved health and environmental sustainability.”

The meeting was a success and some important decisions were made in conjunction with the committee. It was stipulated that the project team had to share organisational and project information at all stages with the local police, local councillor office and the slum management committee.

All community engagement should go via the management committee and slum residents would be encouraged to help in implementing the project. And the project team agreed to engage in conversation with the local electricity supplier and come to an agreement on grid electricity costs before the project could start.

“ This project brings together the science and practicality of implementing an E-cooker, or electric cooker, network in a slum environment, with the social and cultural implications of engaging with the slum community and instigating behaviour change.”

Dr Tasmiat Rahman Assistant Professor, School of Electronics and Computer Science

Data collection Whilst the practical elements were being sorted out, including the installation of the solar panels to power the E-cooker network and the discussions with the electricity provider, SNV provided four data collectors to go into slum households and undertake a survey with residents to provide understanding on the social, cultural and emotional conditions within the homes.

Craig Hutton, Professor of Sustainability Science in Geography and Environmental Science, was involved in this element of the project, particularly the gender-related component of the homes involved in the project.

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The figure above depicts the E-cooker network concept, with solar panels on the left-hand side providing DC electricity, which is converted to AC with the aid of an on-grid-inverter and then used by community members to power several

different necessities in the household. On the right, a grid connection is depicted, with a unidirectional energy metre monitoring the extra power required and taken from the grid. Any extra energy generated by the solar panels is converted from DC to

AC and supplied into the grid via the same network link. Appropriate protection panels are present in the network to ensure the network’s safety and to aid in swift response during an emergency.

“The women in the family in this slum are the ones undertaking all the cooking and overseeing the wood burning stove in the home,” explained Craig. “There are also some strong cultural ties to the smoke produced by these stoves which we knew may be a barrier to change for some households. The survey of 100 respondents gave us the chance to ascertain the day-to-day practicalities for these women in the home and to gauge any possible obstacles to change, which we could then address.”

The information and data gathered from these workshops showed that the majority of residents relied on wood as their primary or supplementary fuel source. They did, however, occasionally use gas or electric stoves. In the event of a gas shortage or electric blackouts, people frequently reverted to using a wood stove. In the case of large cooking for ceremonial purposes, people prefered to cook with wood.

have 60 homes with E-cookers and we are continuing to observe how the residents use them and engage with the change.

The survey results identified the most common fuel used for cooking was wood, but electricity and gas were also used. Families tended to cook twice a day, first between eight and ten in the morning, and again between four and six in the evening. Most respondents mentioned coughing, burning eyes and headaches from the smoke when cooking, and those using electricity mentioned electric shocks as a common occurrence.

They all wanted to adopt an alternative fuel source for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it is cleaner, less expensive, safer and provides them with more time for other household activites. The latter is key, as one of challenges with e-cooking is that cooking times may take longer. The majority of individuals wanted to switch to an E-cooker.

However, the system’s cost-effectiveness and endurance were the most important qualities to them.

The survey data helped create a spatial map of wood fuel usage, cooking behaviours, and affordability. Through this, the team could identify the potential power consumption of the target community and at what times, so they could design the right capacity solar system.

The workshop helped the E-cooker team create a causal loop diagram that linked positive and negative perceptions of different cooking fuels, and that is now the basis for the long term study. After the pilot of trialling solar power electric cooking, further workshops will be undertaken and changes to the causal loop diagram will be explored.

Workshops Following the survey, the team organised face-to-face workshops with 60 women who would be using an E-cooker in their homes.

Implementation “The E-cooker network, powered by a central 30kW solar system, is now installed and running in Bhashantek,” said Tasmiat. “We

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“Key at this stage of implementation is delivering a successful pilot network to help us gain knowledge about how these systems work on the ground so we can reproduce it elsewhere. We are constantly assessing willingness among residents to pay for access to the E-cooker network and we keep a close eye on the complex social and cultural issues which may act as barriers to uptake.”

Among the next steps for Tasmiat and the team is collecting smoke pollution data and power usage data via an Internet of Things network. Analysing this information will help improve the system’s efficiency, give insight into the impact of smoke on the respiratory health of the members and determine the influence of the E-cooker network in preventing these.

Finally, estimating the financial benefits and barriers to community members and informal leaders will enable the team to propose a well defined business model, which Tasmiat hopes will enable policy analysis with government authorities to implement the network more widely across the country.

Find out more www.mecs.org.uk

GIVING SMALL ISLANDS A BIGGER VOICE Southampton researchers are part of a team behind a new think tank representing the interests of small islands as they face harsher, faster impacts of climate change than larger countries.

The Maldives, in the Indian Ocean

The Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) is part of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a leading global affairs think tank.

RESI is a global advisory network, acting as an interface between academia and policymakers, particularly policymakers in small island developing states (SIDS) and in international organisations.

SIDS are small island countries in the Caribbean, the Pacific, Africa, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, first recognised as a distinct group of developing countries by the United Nations in 1992. They share sustainable development challenges such as limited resources, remoteness, susceptibility to natural disasters, and excessive dependence on international trade.

RESI’s four main areas of focus will be environmental justice, financial stability, international alliances and equitable societies.

Small islands, which are at the mercy of international norms and policies, are facing unprecedented challenges due to global economic restructuring, post-pandemic recovery and accelerating climate change.

Jack Corbett, Professor of Politics, will be a co-director of RESI. Its director will be Dr Emily Wilkinson, Senior Research Fellow at ODI. It is thanks to new ways of working due to the impact of COVID-19 that RESI has come to fruition, as Jack explained: “The team from RESI is really geographically dispersed, with colleagues in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

With COVID and so much of our work moving online, we have been able to create this global network in a way that would not have been possible a couple of years ago.”

Preparing for RESI Ahead of forming RESI, Jack was behind a series of initiatives that drew attention to issues faced by SIDS. These initiatives were all funded through Impact Acceleration Account funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.

Jack, Emily and Cristina Argudin, Postgraduate Researcher in Biological Sciences, ran an event and participated in round tables at COP26, they wrote a blog in collaboration with the Climate Ambition Support Alliance, and they produced a report about just transitions in SIDS. They also ran an event at the 2021 Festival of Social Science, including a film about the current climate finance regime’s detrimental impact on SIDS. Find out more odi.org/en/about/our-work/ resilient-islands/ 19

Photograph courtesy of Nosa Malcolm.

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COMMUNITY TAKEOVER Exploring what we can do to help our planet and our health is at the heart of a Community Takeover event at John Hansard Gallery (JHG).

Over the course of five weeks, a wide-ranging programme of activities, exhibitions, workshops and films exploring the environment, sustainability and wellbeing is taking place.

JHG is working with the University, schools, local charities, artists and community leaders for the event.

Lynne Dick, Head of Programme at JHG, said: “The Takeover offers a social and creative space for experimentation and play, where communities can come together and share in our commitment to being a welcoming and inclusive space for all. Much of what we have going on is interactive for those visiting and we hope adults and children alike take away some important messages around sustainability and personal wellbeing and the links between the two.”

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ACTIVITIES AND DISPLAYS AT COMMUNITY TAKEOVER 2022 COMMUNITY INDOOR GARDEN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH YELLOW DOOR Building on the theme of Safe Spaces and JHG’s work with the JHG Ambassadors, a group which formed in early 2020 and is made up of local people who want to network, shape projects and make a difference locally, the indoor garden will provide the opportunity for Takeover visitors to join in and plant their own flowers using reusable materials and their creative imagination.

The JHG Ambassadors devised this activity when exploring the idea of what makes a safe space in the city, including gardens.

Yellow Door, a local charity which works with victims of domestic and sexual abuse, is creating a garden at its base in Southampton to be used and maintained by the people it supports, taking ideas from the Takeover garden and vice versa.

Photograph courtesy of Nosa Malcolm

Why are broken old pots amazing?

Clay, pottery, sheds, rubbish A team of archaeologists and archaeology students from the University will be running a drop-in handling session, where visitors can find out about a unique broken pot collection from across the globe, from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period.

Transience with Suna Imre Artist Suna Imre’s new sculptural work will be on display, highlighting the impermanence of both nature and ourselves. Working with clay and organic material, Suna has created ceramic and raw clay sculptures that aim to elevate the beauty and fragility of the natural world.

Visitors are invited to sculpt with clay and dried foliage in workshops with Suna.

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Safe Spaces This will be a colourful display of shields created by young people from three local charities: No Limits, YMCA Newtown, and Energise Me. The shields will tell the story of each young person and what safety means to them in their home city. Safe Spaces is led by local artist Tom Hall and developed in partnership with artist and skateboarder Ged Wells and Skate Southampton.

Southampton Clothes Swap With the increase in fast fashion and clothes waste, this activity is a thought-provoking event exploring sustainable fashion. The line-up of talks, workshops, makers and clothes swaps will invite visitors to question the cycle of clothing and explore ideas for positive change.

Southampton Clothes Swap, founded by Libby Russell, is a monthly event in spaces across the city where people can bring clothes they no longer want and swap them for items they do.

Photograph courtesy of Nosa Malcolm

FILMS During the five weeks of Community Takeover, there will be film screenings from a variety of project partners, including: • Co-creating a nature-themed visual art and music video to support wellbeing during COVID-19 and beyond Health Sciences researchers Cindy Brooks and Michelle Myall are working with local public contributors and creatives. Together, they have created a novel nature-themed visual art and music video resource to support wellbeing during COVID-19 and beyond.

• Making and Breaking a Line A partnership between dance artists Gabriel Galvez-Prado and Suna Imre, poet Hugh Greasley and a local over 50s support group, using movement and writing to interact with John Hansard Gallery’s recent exhibition, Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature. The group explores ideas around landscape, mental health and life itself.

Photograph courtesy of Nosa Malcolm

Telephonic Youth: Thinking about phones past, present and future Telephonic Youth is a project being driven

by Dr Eve Colpus, a cultural and social historian, and Associate Professor in British and European History post-1850 at the University. The project tells the untold story of young people’s telephone cultures as phone technologies revolutionised over the 1980s and 1990s.

• TRACE TRACE (TRAnsitioning to a Circular Economy with creative artists) is an award-winning project between University scientists, creative artists and local primary schoolchildren. It highlights ways to communicate to the public about the problems associated with e-waste. Presented in collaboration with Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science.

• Plastic Pollution Artist Susannah Pal has been working with Professor Ian Williams to understand the impact of plastic pollution. In response, Susannah is making art that explores what impact microplastics have when they shed from textiles. This short film is an insight into her creative process.

At the Takeover there is also a phone amnesty, where visitors can bring in old phones and turn them into art, and help save the planet by reducing e-waste. For those who don’t have an old phone handy, the Telephonic Youth team would still like to hear people’s telephone memories as part of their project.

‘Children and young people’s telephone use and telephone cultures in Britain c.1984–1999’, of which this is part, is a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (Grant Number: AH/V008943/1), part of UK Research and Innovation. The project partners are John Hansard Gallery and BT Heritage & Archives.

Promise to our Planet Children and young people are invited to explore their voices and thoughts on climate change through making a ‘promise to the planet’. Gallery 1 will house a tree created from all the promises, and the tree will grow and bloom with children’s responses as the Takeover progresses. JHG is committed to Southampton becoming a Child-Friendly City, and this display encourages young people to come along and engage in the gallery space.

Community Takeover 2022 takes place at John Hansard Gallery from Saturday 19 March to Saturday 23 April 2022.

For more information visit www.jhg.art/events/ community-takeover-2022 23

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POWERING OUR FUTURE Developing better batteries and alternative power sources is crucial for the future. Cutting-edge research and innovation at Southampton is helping to ensure we get there.

THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY

THERMOELECTRIC OPPORTUNITIES

We currently live in the Carbon Economy.

We burn fuels and produce CO2, and we’re living in a carbon cycle. Andrea’s research addresses how we can transition towards a Hydrogen Economy.

Thermoelectricity draws heat from two things and turns that into electricity. It is used in niche areas, but for it to become widespread it needs to be more efficient.

“We want to move away from carbon,” she said. “The ultimate fuel is hydrogen and the ultimate source of that would be water, if you can take the hydrogen out of the water using renewables. There is no carbon in the cycle, which is the game changer.”

Hydrogen fuel cells are already used in places such as London buses (pictured right). The only emission is water. But electrolysis – the process of extracting hydrogen from water – remains expensive, plus hydrogen is highly flammable and volatile so needs to be handled and transported with specific precautions.

Andrea is working on a project with Johnson Matthey, a sustainable technologies company, to better understand water electrolysers – specifically looking at the oxygen electrode.

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“We’re trying to find better materials for the oxygen electrode for the water electrolyser,” she explained. “The most active material we know of is ruthenium oxide, but it’s not very stable. We’re trying to understand the degradation of the materials because then we can figure out how to use less of it, or make it run for longer.”

With further advances in research, Andrea predicts hydrogen will be used to power more vehicles: “Hydrogen will be used for bigger vehicles like lorries and aeroplanes, while batteries will be used for smaller transportation like cars.”

Dr Iris Nandhakumar, Associate Professor in Electrochemistry, is an expert in the area. She said: “There are a lot of industrial processes that generate vast amounts of waste heat into the atmosphere, and cars generate a lot of heat from exhausts. If there were a technology that could turn that waste energy into energy that can be used, that would be invaluable.”

An up-and-coming area for thermoelectrics is variable energy harvesting. Iris sees huge potential in this when it comes to wearable technology.

“A thermoelectric watch would be one example, with an embedded thermoelectric harvester that converts body heat into electricity to power and charge the watch,” she said. “Thermoelectrics could also be used in sensors for healthcare technology. Having something you can wear on your body that

The need for better batteries is clear.

Fossil fuels are limited in their supply and are damaging our world. Energy from renewable sources such as the sun and wind is only available when the sun shines and the wind blows. And current batteries are expensive, don’t last long enough, and are heavy and bulky.

Pioneering research by the Electrochemistry Group is changing this fast – the batteries of the future are within our grasp. There are several strands of

ongoing research into different types of batteries and alternative power sources, including hydrogen and thermo-electrics.

Andrea Russell, Professor of Physical Electrochemistry, outlined: “We’re working on electricity production and use, taking carbon out of the electricity cycle. If we want to tackle climate change, we can either take the CO2 out of the atmosphere, or we can stop putting it out there in the first place. We are working on that second option.”

Salt deserts in South America are a source of lithium that is used in batteries

BATTERY POWERED

charges itself from your body temperature is very much at the heart of the research I am doing.”

But a challenge to overcome is in the materials, which Iris is investigating.

She explained: “To enable wearable thermoelectric technology, we have to make thermoelectric materials that are flexible and follow the curvature of the body. Most thermoelectric materials are very brittle, so we have to find new sustainable materials, or embed these brittle materials in polymers that are flexible.”

We all use lithium batteries. They power our portable electronic devices and they are superior to other batteries in their lifespan. Lithium is a precious metal that is mined predominantly in South America and Australia – but it’s a finite resource that will run out if we don’t recover and recycle it.

“There are not many places in the world where you can find lithium, so it’s great to have a source in the UK,” said Nuria, “but it’s a different type of lithium.” She is working with Cornish Lithium to develop new technology that will enable lithium from our shores to be used in batteries.

Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez, Associate Professor of Electrochemistry, is working on a two-pronged attack on the issue – both recycling lithium, and using a different type of lithium.

Andrew Hector, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, is also addressing the lithium conundrum. He is looking at alternatives to lithium for negative electrodes in batteries, namely sodium and magnesium.

Explaining her patented method for recycling lithium, Nuria said: “The battery material is in a structure with very small holes. These tiny holes only allow lithium ions to enter, as they are very small. Other ions such as sodium or potassium are too big. This means we can extract the lithium and use it again, and use the battery again, so the whole thing is circular.”

“Sodium batteries are cheaper than lithium and can be transported more safely, and magnesium batteries can have significantly higher capacities,” he said. “There are plenty of other advantages too – sodium is the sixth most common element on Earth, and magnesium is the eighth, so they are much more abundant than lithium.”

A second project is looking to develop a battery using lithium from Cornwall.

Whilst sodium works well in batteries, magnesium does not yet – but this is set to change through research such as Andrew’s.

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BECOMING MASTERS IN SUSTAINABILITY COFFEE FIX

FINDING A NATURAL SOLUTION

Environmental Science Master’s student Sarah Mayson turned her love of coffee into a potentially revolutionary idea for coffee shop and roastery businesses looking to become more sustainable.

Natural climate solutions (NCS) are conservation, restoration and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in landscapes and wetlands.

“My morning caffeine fix got me thinking about the spent coffee grounds generated from the millions of cups of coffee being consumed on a daily basis worldwide,” said Sarah. “I wanted to focus on circular economy thinking for my Master’s dissertation and I started to wonder if those coffee grounds could be reused in the coffee roasting process.”

From his studies, Environmental Science Master’s student James Fryer felt that NCS might offer some of our best options in the response to climate change, but he didn’t know how to test his ideas.

Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, worked with Sarah and saw great potential in her idea.

“I suggested to Sarah that we work with a real coffee company to determine the chemical properties and combustion characteristics of spent coffee grounds, as well as their energetic potential in comparison to fossil fuels and conventional-biomass,” said Ian. “If we could show that burning the coffee grounds could power coffee roasteries, we could suggest a viable circular economy for this multimillion-pound industry.”

And the results? Sarah’s research did indeed show that a circular economy (CE) system between production in coffee roasteries and consumption in coffee shops achieves waste reduction. In the system she studied, spent coffee grounds generated lower emissions in comparison to fossil fuels, demonstrating the environmental benefits of transitioning to a CE system.

“By recovering value from spent grounds as part of the coffee supply chain shows significant promise towards achieving a CE system,” explained Sarah. “This means reduced raw material extraction, waste generation, landfill disposal and CO2 emissions.”

Sarah’s project was published as a peer-reviewed paper. “I’ve been asked several times to present the work at international conferences,” she said. “And I’m very proud and thrilled with the outcome of the study. I hope it will inspire the coffee sector to engage more strongly with circular economy activities and test the approach further in its own case studies.”

Find out more www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering

Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, helped James to work up his thoughts to a research project and supervised the study. He said: “James wanted to undertake a project on carbon held in vegetation because it interested him and he warned to learn new skills. I suggested we coupled two models to investigate carbon stocks in the New Forest National Park. Accurate assessment of carbon stocks remains a global challenge and the New Forest contains 20 conservation areas, so it provides a wonderful case study. It was a big test for James as he had to learn a lot of new technical skills, but he did a fantastic job.”

The study provided a new, higher accuracy, regional carbon assessment approach by modelling high-resolution land cover data. Current total carbon in the New Forest National Park is between 7.32 and 8.73 Mt of carbon (Mt is a metric unit equivalent to 1 million (106) tonnes, or 1 billion (109) kilograms), with current trajectories of land cover change leading to relatively minor losses. However, alternative scenarios indicated possible gains or losses, with the importance of vegetationdriven carbon storage greater than the national average.

The study was able to rank the potential storage capacity of different land cover classes and show how knowledge of potential carbon storage can support management decisions globally to reduce carbon losses, avoiding greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance gains therefore increasing sequestration.

“Balancing the global carbon budget relies upon maintaining existing vegetation as land cover,” said Ian. “Our new approach to classification permitted greater detail and accuracy, enabling future policy decisions to optimise carbon storage at local and regional landscape-scales.”

James’ thoughts about natural climate solutions ended up as a study published via a peer-reviewed paper. He said: “It never occurred to me that my studies could end up in a prestigious international journal. It just goes to show that the University of Southampton really does give its students an opportunity to change the world for the better.” The skills James gained enabled him to find employment alongside several other recent Environmental Science alumni at Hampshire-based company Carbon Footprint Ltd.

Find out more www.southampton.ac.uk/geography

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MAKING MESSAGING ACCESSIBLE Educational materials developed by Southampton Postdoctoral Research Fellow Sien van der Plank are helping refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in England better understand how they can adapt to climate change.

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Sien is leading an Economic and Social Research Council-funded South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership project that is researching the motivations and actions of householders to adapt to coastal flood risk.

As part of the Festival of Social Sciences 2020, she also collaborated with a local charity to support people with English as a second language to be better aware of available measures to adapt to climate change.

Action on, and adaptation to, climate change are important across all communities, but research shows that the language used in the advice can be a challenge for people who are learning English as a second language.

Sien has been exploring the challenges of adapting to coastal flood risk and identifying

opportunities to better support coastal adaptation. Working with Engineering PhD student José Alejandro Pinto Rascon and the charity CLEAR (City Life Education and Action for Refugees), she has developed a series of lesson plans and materials aimed at these groups. The English for Speakers of Other Languages lesson plans focus on climate change, flooding and heatwaves by introducing vocabulary around these areas, as well as identifying outlets for further information on the current and future risks.

The lesson plans have successfully been delivered to groups of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Southampton, and are now available for use in English language classrooms around the country.

1 To increase familiarity with interpreting maps, the learners identified natural hazards and adaptation options in Southampton 2 Learners became familiar with the English words for a range of natural hazards 3 Learners compared the spatial variation in hazards, by locating them in Southampton, their home country and the rest of the world

For more information contact sien.vanderplank@soton.ac.uk

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SMMI LEADS DELEGATION TO COP26 The Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI) led the University of Southampton to the 26th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021. Nine members of staff from four schools comprised the delegation to Scotland and represented the diversity of University research, collaborations and impact.

Alok Sharma, President of COP26, chairing a plenary session at the summit

The aim of COP26 was to bring together parties to accelerate action towards the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, namely, to take measures to restrict global warming to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and preferably less than 1.5°C. The SMMI championed the University application to the UNFCCC for Observer status at COP26 and the team headed to Glasgow to participate in the 13-day summit.

The summit Overarching themes highlighted throughout the Summit such as energy, nature, transport, resources, adaptation and the impact of

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One of the Delegations’ Pavilions on Nature-Based solutions

climate change on communities and the environment are at the heart of SMMI activities and interests, through research at the University as well as collaborations with research institutions, civil societies, and industry and policy makers.

Numerous events organised at the delegates’ pavilions in the UN Blue Zone provided ideal opportunities for the Southampton team to network with fellow researchers, knowledge brokers and policymakers. This enabled the exchange of ideas and insights around growing the understanding of the impacts of

human interaction with the planet’s natural environment and scope opportunities to translate this understanding into tangible solutions to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Highlights Highlights of the summit for the Southampton delegation included Dr Lindsay-Marie Armstrong, from the School of Engineering, attending events which focused on financing a net zero economy, accelerating net zero energy technologies, the legal aspects of achieving net zero and how bioenergy systems will play a critical role.

The Action Zone at COP26

Lindsay-Marie said: “There was a clear underlying message that all sectors must navigate the climate change challenge collectively if we are to address the challenges in the swiftest manner.”

Her presence at COP26 also allowed her to hold discussions with the Business Secretary, the Rt Hon Minister Kwasi Kwarteng, on the UK priorities towards net zero decarbonisation and also how the UK will work with communities adapting to the consequences of climate change, here and now; through to witnessing the launch of two of the UK industrial decarbonisation clusters, the HyNet and the East Coast (Humber and Teeside) Clusters from the recent UK Cluster Sequencing process.

Professor Damon Teagle, Director of the SMMI, Dominic Hudson, Professor of Ship Safety and Efficiency, and Dr Wassim Dbouk, Marine and Maritime Policy Research Fellow, met with British Virgin Islands (BVI) Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration, Hon. Vincent O. Wheatley, MHA. The group advanced talks – which were initiated through previous ministerial visits to the University in 2018 in person and 2021 virtually – about how expertise at the SMMI would help deliver practical solutions needed to adapt to climate impacts and help decarbonise the BVI economy.

The SMMI delegation attended the Clean Maritime side event at the City of Glasgow College Maritime campus, including a keynote speech from the Maritime Minister Robert Courts. This event showcased several successful projects that were funded in the recent £23 million Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, including a number of projects involving SMMI researchers.

On ‘Transport’ day, the delegation split across venues to attend the announcement

by Minister Robert Courts of the Clydebank Declaration for Green Shipping Corridors in the Blue Zone, and a half-day seminar at the City of Glasgow College, jointly organised by the college and our strategic partners Lloyd’s Register, on how shipping can proactively transition towards net zero.

Outcomes Back in Southampton, as part of the Southampton Arts and Humanities Festival 2021, the University’s Public Engagement with Research unit organised an online event for the Thursday night before the Summit ended.

The event engaged University experts with the public to discuss progress achieved at the Summit and whether the UK was on track to achieve its aim to unite the world to tackle climate change.

Following that event, Professor Damon Teagle, Professor Abubakr Bahaj and Dr Wassim Dbouk delivered a seminar as part of the Southampton Business School Evening Seminar series, focusing on what COP26 entails for the Solent. The event was delivered in person with registrations from business stakeholders from the region, and included presentations on general reflections on COP26, the climate challenge and impacts of decarbonisation on the Solent region, the repercussions of the Summit on the wider shipping industry, and how cities in the Solent can become more sustainable in line with climate objectives.

A rewarding experience Attending COP26 was an experience that exemplified the University’s ambition to work with industry, governments, and research institutions on multidisciplinary projects

“ There was a clear underlying message that all sectors must navigate the climate change challenge collectively if we are to address the challenges in the swiftest manner.”

Dr Lindsay-Marie Armstrong School of Engineering

to help inform our understanding of key environmental issues and deliver global solutions for the existential climate crisis that the planet is facing.

Attending the summit allowed the delegation to get a first-hand experience of the diplomatic challenges at a global summit of this magnitude and to get a better sense of the situation faced by minority groups, indigenous people, civil society groups, and gender equality and youth activists. Efforts to raise awareness around the rights that these groups champion and for action for greater inclusion are essential components of sustainability.

For more information and research highlights read SMMI’s November 2021 bulletin and past issues.

Find out more www.southampton.ac.uk/geography 29

Feature Dr Wassim Dbouk, Marine and Maritime Policy Research Fellow, specialises in creating and delivering policy engagement opportunities for researchers within the SMMI and in translating their research outcomes into policy-informing evidence.

Wassim attended COP26 with a particular interest in the environmental impacts on the oceans and ways to mitigate this. Here, he gives us his personal summary of the summit and what he would like to see happen next.

The health of our oceans and its biodiversity are at risk. Marine pollution from land and ocean-based activities, overfishing, and air pollution in ports and at sea are some of the factors exposing entire marine ecosystems to rapid change and threatening their existence.

Moreover, there is growing evidence that our oceans, central for regulating the planet’s climate, are becoming more acidic due to the increasing amounts of human-induced carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and dissolved in sea water. As a result, marine habitats such as mangroves, seagrass and coral reefs are corroding and losing their vital carbon sequestration and storage functions.

differences on other fronts. Although the language of the deal is in parts vague, allowing ample leeway for the two highest global emitters of greenhouse gases to carry on with business as usual, the significance of the announcement should not be understated, and the momentum it creates is a reason for optimism for many.

Another key takeaway from COP26 was the agreement that states reconsider their 2030 NDCs ahead of next year’s summit in Sharm El-Sheikh (COP27), rather than in 2025, sending a clear statement of urgency in ensuring that national climate plans do not continue to derail.

With current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) tabled to the UNFCCC by signatories to the Paris Agreement projected to cause an increase of global greenhouse gas emissions by about 16 per cent in 2030 compared to 2010, the global response to climate change is still inadequate and too slow. The vital role of the oceans in that response must not be overlooked.

Following two years of preparations, which culminated in two weeks of tense negotiations in the Blue Zone at COP26, the Glasgow Climate Pact was published on 13 November 2021. But has it lived up to the not-so-ambitious aims of COP26, and where does it leave our oceans?

I can say that progress has been achieved at COP26, notably with commitments to ‘phasing down unabated’ coal power and ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies and to reduce methane emissions, making a first appearance.

However, despite noticeable growth in renewable power generation, urgent action is still required: 2021 saw the largest absolute increase in CO2 emissions – over two billion tonnes – as spikes in energy markets led to more coal being burnt and resulting emissions reaching an all-time high of 15.3 billion tonnes.

(International Energy Agency, ‘Global CO2 emissions rebounded to their highest level in history in 2021’, 8 March 2022) Other achievements from the summit also include the unprecedented US-Chinese reconciliation around climate action, amidst an overwhelming environment of political 30

Dr Wassim Dbouk

As such, COP26 appears to have succeeded in “keeping 1.5 degrees alive” and in affording a clearer sense of the direction the world must be on by November 2022. This means that significant progress must still be done to meet the Paris Agreement targets and ensure a sustainable future for our planet – the targets are still achievable but only just (on “life support”).

However, as we come towards the end of the second year of the United Nations Ocean Decade, too little attention was given to essential global efforts to protect our oceans to preserve their role as carbon and heat sinks vital for regulating Earth’s climate. The Glasgow Climate Pact merely ‘emphasised’ the importance of protecting marine ecosystems by protecting biodiversity, without the use of any language which demands concrete action.

The little progress made in global commitments to protect our oceans came as a surprise to some, especially given that nature-

based solutions (NBS) were under the spotlight at the summit. Presentations during an event on NBS at the Nature Pavilion celebrated the traction that we are beginning to see in ecosystem-based adaptation initiatives but bemoaned the limited investment in them.

The danger is that with increased acidity of their waters, and global emissions being projected to continue to rise, the world’s oceans are soaking up less and less carbon, and studies suggest that they will even begin to emit carbon in the future.

The UK Government recently renewed its commitment to dedicate funding to further protect the oceans and restore marine ecosystems and to support developing countries protect the marine environment, but unfortunately with no clear pathways as to how those funds will be spent and a lack of strategic clarity.

It is no secret that outcomes of a global summit like COP26 were going to be limited to the ‘lowest common denominator’, but time is not in our favour. The cost of inaction may be too great to bear, and the damage caused to our oceans may be irreversible.

The UK must set higher ambitions and deliver more immediate action if it intends to truly act as a global leader in ocean protection.

It is given the basis to do just that through the Environment Act 2021, which recently passed into law. The Act sets out the UK’s environmental policy framework for subjects such as climate change and the conservation of biodiversity post-Brexit; and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is currently inviting views on the environmental targets set thereunder. The Department is also seeking views on its Nature Recovery Green Paper, which reflects the Government’s initial views on achieving recovery via protected sites and species protections, including at sea. At a global level, DEFRA is consulting on its 2030 Strategic Framework for international climate and nature action to determine its approach around encouraging international climate and nature action over the next decade. We will do all we can at the University to feed into these calls and beyond with research, data and knowledge.

Fibre lasers have revolutionised manufacturing, enabling savings of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 every year. But this is just the beginning.

LASER FOCUSED Ground-breaking work at the University’s Future Photonics Hub is at the forefront of fibre laser research and technology – a technology that has a limitless future as the digital manufacturing era begins.

Fibre lasers are having a profound impact on manufacturing processes such as cutting, welding and marking.

Professor Michalis Zervas, Director of the Advanced Laser Lab, explained: “Fibre lasers are unique in the sense that they create the light while it’s in the fibre and in that way we can achieve the highest efficiency, the highest stability, but also being robust and monolithic is maintenance-free, which is something very, very important in manufacturing.

“We believe that new attributes like polarisation, different wavelengths, beam shaping – the ability to shape the light in a particular form, which is suitable and appropriate for the applications – are unique features that fibre laser technology can offer.”

One such beam shaping technology that was developed at Southampton has resulted in 30 per cent faster processes, using half the power. “In terms of efficiency, fibre lasers are five to 50 times more efficient than competitor technologies, which means

we can save up to 200,000 tonnes of CO2 per year,” said Michalis.

As a leader in fibre laser technology, Southampton has long-term relationships with industry – so the fibre lasers developed here are being used in the ‘real world’ to make a difference. For example, the development of unique in-fibre beam shaping technology has enabled high quality cutting of thin and thick mild-steel sheets with lower power at higher speeds.

There is no limit to the potential for fibre lasers.

Michalis concluded: “Fibre lasers have already revolutionised manufacturing and the market share of fibre lasers has increased by 20 to 25 per cent per year and is projected to reach 10 billion by the end of the decade.

“But this is just the beginning. We believe that there is no limit to the power, scalability and re-configurability that fibre lasers can offer. We have just scratched the surface.”

The Hub has produced a short video about fibre lasers and manufacturing.

Find out more The Hub has produced a short video about fibre lasers and manufacturing: https://youtu.be/3l4fb_HE-lk

“ We believe that there is no limit to the power, scalability and re-configurability that fibre lasers can offer. We have just scratched the surface.”

Professor Michalis Zervas Director of the Advanced Laser Lab Drawing fibre in the clean room tower

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Research award highlights

RESEARCH AWARD HIGHLIGHTS FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND LIFE SCIENCES

Prof Nicky Marsh; School of Humanities Feeling Towns: the role of place and identity in governance and local policy AHRC; £100,519 over 12 months

Prof Jane Hart; School of Geography & Environmental Science The role of subglacial soft bed hydrology on glacier response to climate change Leverhulme Trust; £245,435 over 24 months

SMMI & SIAH Research teams (Fraser Sturt, Sam Robinson, Stephanie Blankshein, Stephanie Jones); School of Humanities Discipline Hopping for Environmental Solutions Natural Environment Research Council; £15,000 over 3 months

Prof David Sear; School of Geography & Environmental Science Chasing the Rain? Tracking the Changing Climate During the Polynesian Colonisation of Eastern Polynesia – Supplement National Geographic Society; £1,395 over 48 months

Prof Ryan Bishop; Winchester School of Art Weather Reports – Wind as Model, Media, and Experience (WeRep) AHRC; £281,755 over 30 months

Prof David Sear; School of Geography & Environmental Science Pacific Rainfall over Millennial Scales (PROMS) Natural Environment Research Council; £633,654 over 36 months (£326,089 UoS)

Dr Christopher Prior; School of Humanities Decolonising Victorian histories: Frank Oates, geographic exploration and teaching imperial history and environmental science Talking about Big Men AHRC and NERC; £124,350 over 13 months Dr Ying Zheng; School of Humanities Aligning A-Level Mandarin Chinese to the Common European Framework of Reference CEFR British Academy Talent Development Award; £9,988 over 12 months Dr James Baker; School of Humanities Beyond ‘Notability’: Re-evaluating Women’s Work in Archaeology, History and Heritage in Britain, 1870 – 1950 AHRC; £337,488 over 36 months

Dr Bronagh Walsh; School of Health Sciences The dynamics of fraility in older people: modelling impact on health care demand and outcomes to inform service planning and commissioning National Institute of Health Research; £67,506 over 8 months Prof Jadunandan Dash; School of Geography & Environmental Science Global Research and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) Project: EO4Agroclimate Science And Technology Facilities Council; £49,176 over 4 months Dr Julian Leyland; School of Geography & Environmental Science GLOSS: Global Suspended Sediment: identifying the quantities, drivers and trajectories of fluvial sediment loads Natural Environment Research Council; £623,872 over 36 months Prof Alberto Naveira Garabato; School of Ocean and Earth Science Drivers and Effects of Fluctuations in Sea Ice in the Antarctic (DEFIANT) Natural Environment Research Council; £263,622 over 48 months Prof Jeremy S. Webb, School of Biological Sciences National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) 2021 Flexible Talent Mobility Account BBSRC; £180,000 over 4 months Dr Katherine Bradbury; School of Psychology Fatigue phenotyping ESRC; £400,000 over 24 months Dr Katherine Bradbury; School of Psychology Are face coverings effective in preventing RTI transmission in schools?

– SPCR FR3 National Institute of Health Research; £81,184 over 6 months Prof Anne-Sophie Darlington; School of Health Sciences Development of an international questionnaire to assess patientreported quality of life related to COVID-19 disease, the Oslo COVID-19 Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ) Oslo University Hospital HF; £1,538 over 3 months

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Prof Peter Smith; Institute for Life Sciences Muscle resilience across the lifecourse: From cells to society UK Research and Innovation; £168,953 over 24 months Prof Cynthia Graham, Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health; School of Psychology Assessing acceptability, Utilisation and Disclosure of health Information to an automated chatbot for advice about sexually Transmitted infections in minoritisED ethnic populations – AUDITED National Institute of Health Research; £8,211 over 24 months Prof Andrew Tatem; School of Geography & Environmental Science GRID3 Covax Microplanning Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; £231,697 over 12 months

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES Prof Stephen Gabriel; School of Electronics and Computer Science SPRINT – Strategic Commercialisation Partnerships Research England; £47,443 over 5 months Prof Daniel Hewak; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics Zero Shot Tower Modifications Faraday Institution; £121,514 over 12 months Prof Hugh Lewis; School of Engineering Drivers and Impacts of Ionospheric Variability with EISCAT-3D (DRIIVE) Natural Environment Research Council; £74,209 over 48 months

Prof Thomas Ezard; School of Ocean and Earth Science Machine Learning to Aggregate X-Ray Computed Tomographic Trait Data Natural Environment Research Council; £30,348 over 3 months

Prof John Chaplin; School of Engineering Analysis of Subsea Power Cable Dynamics and Fatigue Behaviour: CableDyn EPSRC; £35,890 over 36 months

Dr Mark Chapman; School of Biological Sciences Genome resources for a new agronomic and evolutionary model Royal Society; £2,975 over 4 months

Prof Simon Hettrick; School of Electronics and Computer Science EPSRC software study EPSRC; £69,344 over 7 months

Dr Phyllis Lam and Co-I Prof Juerg Matter; School of Ocean and Earth Science Nitrogen powering life in an active serpentinising system – analogue to early life on Earth Natural Environment Research Council; £650,392 over 36 months

Prof Michael Boniface; School of Electronics and Computer Science PRiAM Privacy Risk Assessment Methodology UK Research and Innovation; £106,213 over 8 months

Dr Chiara Dall’Ora; School of Health Sciences Improving patient safety, workforce wellbeing and NHS efficiency through improved shift patterns for nursing staff The Academy of Medical Sciences; £99,283 over 24 months

Dr Richard Wills; School of Engineering Long duration Copper/Zinc Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; £9,177 over 5 months

Prof Samuele Cortese; School of Psychology Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for adult ADHD: a systematic review and network meta-analysis National Institute of Health Research; £113,642 over 24 months

Dr Zhengtong Xie; School of Engineering ASSURE: Across-Scale processeS in URban Environments Natural Environment Research Council; £278,641 over 48 months

Dr Natasha Campling and Dr Michelle Myall; School of Health Sciences Implementation of web-based, family-focused support for those bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust; £24,133 over 9 months Dr Melissa Wood; School of Ocean and Earth Science Discipline hopping for environmental solutions Natural Environment Research Council; £31,575 over 4 months Dr Gordon Inglis; School of Ocean and Earth Science Research Fellows Enhanced Research Expenses 2021 Royal Society; £85,298 over 16 months Dr Nicole Prior; School of Biological Sciences Targeting metabolic regulation of hepatocyte differentiation to develop therapeutic strategies for liver disease The Academy of Medical Sciences; £99,420 over 24 months

Dr Thanassis Tiropanis; School of Electronics and Computer Science ESPRESSO – Efficient Search over Personal Repositories – Secure and Sovereign EPSRC; £789,113 over 36 months Dr Daniel Whiter; School of Physics and Astronomy EISCAT_3D: Fine-scale structuring, scintillation, and electrodynamics (FINESSE) Natural Environment Research Council; £396,012 over 48 months Ms Natalie Wheeler; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics Controlling the Optical Properties of Hollow Core Fibres using Differential Refractive Index Royal Society; £143,616 over 16 months Prof David Thomson; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics Photonics for future computing systems enhanced funding Royal Society; £123,219 over 17 months

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Research award highlights

Prof Themistoklis Prodromakis; School of Electronics and Computer Science ASTRID T55_follow up Reserch WP9 Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL); £192,891 over 4 months Dr Min Kwan Kim; School of Engineering PPCAT with Magdrive UK Space Agency; £50,964 over 5 months Dr Min Kwan Kim; School of Engineering Plasma assisted in-situ water treatment system UK Space Agency; £100,969 over 5 months Dr Min Kwan Kim; School of Engineering Plasma Air Sanitisation System for Vehicle HVAC System UK Space Agency; £49,942 over 4 months Prof Stephen Goldup; School of Chemistry Controlled synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes through Mechanically Interlocked Carbon Nanobelts Royal Society; £104,959 over 24 months Dr Charles Ryan; School of Engineering UKSA NSTP CAPACITIVE RADIO FREQUENCY THRUSTER UK Space Agency; £14,782 over 3 months Prof David White; School of Engineering ROBOCONE: Intelligent characterisation of sub-surface properties EPSRC; £558,368 over 36 months Dr Sheida Afshan; School of Engineering RESilient Infrastructure using STainless steel (RESIST) EPSRC; £416,254 over 36 months Dr Manda Banerji-Wright; School of Physics and Astronomy ALMA Archival Studies of Quasar Feedback Royal Society; £170,000 over 24 months Dr Patrick Ledingham; School of Physics and Astronomy The Quantum Data Centre of the Future – Commercialising Quantum Technologies: CRD & Tech round 2 Innovate UK; £19,948 over 36 months

FACULTY OF MEDICINE Dr Christina Vogel and Prof Janis Baird; Human Development and Health Nudging healthier dietary habits: evaluation of a supermarket placement strategy in the WRAPPED study National Institute of Health Research, Public Health Research Programme; £149,972 over 11 months Prof Paul Little; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education The Platform Randomised trial of treatmeNts in the Community for epIdemic and Pandemic iLlnEsses: Pragmatic evaLuation of novel antiviralS National Institute of Health Research; £132,434 over 24 months Prof Paul Little; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education Reporting of randomised factorial trials: development of extensions to the CONSORT 2010 and SPIRIT 2013 guidance statements MRC; £3,938 over 12 months Prof Paul Little; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education UK evaluation of NHS support post-hospitalisation for COVID19 to inform service development and achieve holistic, integrated, equitable and cost-effective service National Institute of Health Research; £4,148 over 12 months Prof Paul Little; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education Stop-AMR -development National Institute of Health Research; £72,876 over 12 months Dr Tracey Newman; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Mathematical modelling of the electric potential from cochlear implants for improved diagnosis of poor outcomes EPSRC; £41,434 over 12 months Prof Cyrus Cooper; Human Development and Health Establishment of a National Network on Musculoskeletal Ageing UK Research and Innovation; £150,847 over 24 months

Dr Sean Symon; School of Engineering Augmenting flow simulations with experimental data to improve aerodynamic efficiency EPSRC; £276,705 over 24 months

Prof James Nicoll; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Continued BRAIN Tumour Research funding for BRAIN UK (2021 – 2024) Brain Tumour Research; £154,665 over 36 months

Dr Marco Baiguera; School of Engineering Multi-hazard Assessment of Mangroves for Resilience of Coastal Communities in Indonesia (MANGRO-ID) British Council; £8,750 over 6 months

Prof Helen Roberts and Dr Stephen Lim; Human Development and Health Wessex Frail2Fit Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust; £31,730 over 16 months

Dr Robert Fear; School of Physics and Astronomy Fine-scale auroral structure: Causes and effects Natural Environment Research Council; £482,188 over 36 months

Prof Nicholas Harvey; MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, Human Development and Health Preventing broken bones in older people: from research to policy to practice Medical Research Foundation; £29,566 over 6 months Prof Miriam Santer and Associate Prof Ingrid Muller; Primary Care Research Centre Developing and testing an online intervention to support selfmanagement, improve outcomes and reduce antibiotic use in acne National Institute of Health Research; £1,693,690 over 60 months

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Dr Sean Lim; Cancer Sciences Supplement: PROSECO – Prospective Observational Study Evaluating COVID-19 Vaccine Immune Responses in Lymphoid Cancer Blood Cancer UK; £123,784 over 12 months in addition to previous £276,241 for this project

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Dr Adam Geraghty; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education Developing an inclusive approach to multidimensional measurement of mental health symptoms in people in UK primary care National Institute of Health Research; £108,189 over 12 months

Dr Mario Brito; Southampton Business School From TRLs to ECSS Research England; £49,816 over 4 months

Dr Sara Morgan; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education A national evaluation of Project Cautioning And Relationship Abuse (‘CARA’) awareness raising workshops for first time offenders of domestic violence and abuse National Institute of Health Research; £167,234 over 24 months Dr Nicholas Fuggle; Human Development and Health Does epigenetic age acceleration predict future accelerated musculoskeletal ageing?

The Dunhill Medical Trust; £38,395 over 6 months Dr Christine Jones; Clinical and Experimental Sciences ELISA analysis of seroconversion in Lactamica 9: Defining upper respiratory colonisation and microbiome evolution in mother-infant pairs following Neisseria lactamica inoculation in late pregnancy European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases; £2,008 over 7 months Dr Hilda Hounkpatin; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education Social isolation, loneliness and trajectories of multimorbidity: a mixed methods study National Institute of Health Research; £147,415 over 24 months Dr Yanghee Kim; Human Development and Health Modulation of Macrophage Response by Nitric Oxide delivery from Nanoclay based Hydrogels for Skin Tissue Regeneration MRC; £33,300 over 12 months Mr Ben Gaastra; Clinical and Experimental Sciences A proteomic discovery study of cerebrospinal fluid from patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage Brain Entry Fellowship funded by the Guarantors of Brain; £65,000 over 12 months Prof Nicholas Francis; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education Feasibility cohort study on predictors of diagnosis and prognosis of urine infection in care home residents: DIagnoSing Care hOme UTI Study National Institute of Health Research; £72,876 over 18 months Dr Emma Plugge; Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education DIGNIFIE – DynamIc gender-sensitive evaluation of a prison alternative (Hope Street) One Small Thing; £33,619 over 4 months

Dr Benjamin Withers; School of Mathematical Sciences Holographic Duals of Cosmological Spacetimes Royal Society; £88,436 over 18 months

Dr Bindi Shah, Associate Professor in Sociology; School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences Food, Gender, Enterprise: leveraging interdisciplinarity for sustainable small-scale fisheries Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers Programme from Seeds to Needs; £29,997 over 12 months Prof William Jennings; School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences Identifying the trustworthiness of information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic: Enhancing information reception across the population British Academy; £28,797 over 6 months Dr Christian Bokhove; Southampton Education School Inspecting the inspectorate. New insights into Ofsted inspections.

Nuffield Foundation; £43,284 over 24 months Dr Harry Annison; Southampton Law School Rehabilitating Probation: Rebuilding culture, identity, and legitimacy in a reformed public service Co-I with colleagues from Liverpool John Moores University, University of Sheffield, University of Nottingham ESRC; £704,043 over 36 months Dr David Turton; School of Mathematical Sciences Black Hole Microstates in Supergravity Royal Society; £70,690 over 10 months Dr David Cross; Southampton Business School Do? Should? Could? Investigating the professional actions, attitudes, and beliefs of HR practitioners towards the solo self-employed Chartered Institute Of Personnel And Development; £4,999 over 17 months Dr Edilson Fernandes De Arruda; Southampton Business School Developing Policy Inputs for Faster Economic Recovery while Promoting Disaster Preparedness via Artificial Intelligence British Council; £14,508 over 6 months Prof Jane Falkingham, School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences ESRC Centre for Population Change – Connecting Generations ESRC; £4,535,955 to Southampton over 60 months (£10m FEC in total across five partners) Dr Wonyong Park; Southampton Education School Exploring Directions for Post-Pandemic Disaster Education Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration between the UK and South Korea ESRC; £49,921 over 18 months This list encompasses a selection of awards logged with University of Southampton Finance from November 2021 to February 2022 that are not considered commercially sensitive.

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