Re:action Winter 2020 (AV)

Winter 2020 | Issue 16 Research and Enterprise Newsletter

Revealing the researchers

Celebrating the people behind the amazing research happening here at Southampton FEATURE: COVID consequences: The impact of the pandemic on our Early Career Researchers

FEATURE: Researcher journeys: Following the career paths of some of our brightest researchers

FEATURE: New pilot scheme for Business and Commercialisation Fellowships

FEATURE: Highlighting researcher support through CHEP, the Doctoral College and RIS

Introduction

WELCOME TO RE:ACTION As we all continue to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a pleasure to be allowed some element of normality by introducing this edition of Re:action, with its focus on Early Career Researchers (ECRs).

As I write, I am transported back to my time as a postdoc, which seems very recent, but in reality, is now 30 years in the past. However, the memories are still vivid. For me it was a time of fantastic excitement and creativity, but also of uncertainty and apprehension regarding what was going to come next. The articles on career paths and the Business and Commercialisation Fellows show that ECRs have many options open to them and that research skills are highly transferrable.

The Researcher Concordat, which is also described in these pages, has been an important innovation to provide clearer guidelines for institutional and individual roles and responsibilities in supporting ECRs and their career ambitions.

This activity will become even more important as our principal funders, UKRI and the Wellcome Trust, are admirably embarking on major initiatives to improve the research culture across the UK. I believe that we have made good progress, not least through the support of colleagues in the Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP), but have no doubt that we have considerable further progress to make.

I am delighted to note that our current cohort of Early Career Researchers are demonstrating the high levels of creativity and entrepreneurship that we would expect from this group. The diversity of the contributions highlighted in this issue is spectacular and very exciting, with great potential for economic and societal impact.

Finally, I would draw your attention to the article on the QS World University Rankings.

While many of us have well-founded scepticism regarding the methodology used to compile such rankings, there are underlying truths regarding the importance of reputation, and how individual and institutional reputations are built. We should all consider how we can work together to improve our reputation, particularly internationally.

As always, comments and feedback on this edition are very welcome.

Best wishes

Professor Mark Spearing Vice-President (Research and Enterprise)

PLEASE SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK 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

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For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/ris

4 IN THIS ISSUE

FEATURE

COVID consequences

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10

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Pursuing professional development

Commitment to the concordat

A new breed of fellows

FEATURE

FEATURE

FEATURE

16

18

20

When fantasy becomes reality

A researcher journey

Driven by the data

FEATURE

22 FEATURE

Talk about the passion

FEATURE

FEATURE

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Spotlight on … QS Rankings and Universi-Tea

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Research award highlights

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COVID CONSEQUENCES THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS A University of Southampton survey asked Early Career Researchers (ECRs) about the impact of COVID-19 on both their professional and personal lives.

From funding to childcare, and from feelings of guilt to new ways of thinking, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the University’s ECR population. Two senior research fellows have conducted a survey to establish how deeply the impact has been felt. The survey highlights how the pandemic has affected researchers in the early stage of their careers at Southampton and will be used to both identify areas of resilience and vulnerability, and to assist in planning and implementing support into the future.

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Early Career Researchers at the University of Southampton completed the survey

The survey focused on three key areas – the consequence to research, funding and contracts; the support received from the

Dr Lucy Gates, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis Research Versus Arthritis, and Dr James Gavin, Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, worked with Vitae Researcher Developer Senior Fellow, Julie Reeves, to create and implement the survey.

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from the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences

The survey was undertaken between June and August 2020

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University; and the wellbeing of ECRs. The results provide a fascinating insight into the particular challenges brought about by COVID-19. The survey will be a valuable tool in the coming months to help determine University strategies to support ECRs in the future, and particularly for future societal challenges.

from the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

For further information, visit: www.bera.ac.uk/community/early-career-researcher-network

“ It is essential that the University understands how the pandemic has impacted ECRs, in order to inform current and future planning at School and Faculty level for them.”

Dr Lucy Gates Senior Research Fellow

Lucy explained the importance of this piece of work: “COVID-19 has brought significant working changes and challenges, particularly for researchers, across many Faculties. Prior to this work it was unclear how the University of Southampton’s Early Career Researchers were adapting to these challenges. It is essential that the University understands how the pandemic has impacted ECRs, in order to inform current and future planning at School and Faculty level for them.”

The survey results, which feature both quantitative and qualitative data from ECRs in 21 schools, across all five of the

University’s Faculties, reveal that COVID-19 has had an impact on ECRs’ research activities, particularly for those with caring responsibilities and working within clinical, or experimental laboratory-based research.

The change in working circumstances and increased emphasis on teaching has reduced ECRs’ capacity to undertake research.

In addition, lockdown resulted in some researchers being furloughed or having funding cut; the impact of both scenarios being a decrease in research activity for many. As one ECR said: “The challenge of balancing research (such as papers already submitted and revise and resubmits) with Continued on page 6 →

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from the Faculty of Social Sciences

21

from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities

54

from the Faculty of Medicine

The survey was completed online by all participants

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Feature

the increased expectations for teaching next year and childcare. Research has had to very much take a back seat.”

Delays and uncertainties The survey highlights not only that research has been delayed, but consequently this has led to uncertainty in terms of academic, financial and future career prospects. Guilt and expectations were recurrent themes in the anxiety and stress amongst developing researchers. Two ECRs reported: “The guilt of having to be glued to my laptop for endless Teams meetings, when my child does not understand” and “I am finding the intensity of working alone at home in the same room with frequent Teams meetings can be very tiring. I feel guilty for moving away from my desk in case someone contacts me and I am not there, so tend to spend long periods working without sufficient breaks.”

There is, however, fear among ECRs that the challenges they have faced and are still facing will have an impact on their career development, particularly in terms of academic promotion and limited research funding across the research councils. As typified by one ECR: “It is difficult to plan future research and funding applications. The number of positions available in the future is shrinking.

The economic consequence of the pandemic worldwide (and their co-occurrence with Brexit in the UK) will probably have consequences on the availability of funding. At present, it is more difficult to produce publications which are necessary for career progression.”

However, for some ECRs, new opportunities have arisen in the form of new studies and collaborations, some COVID-19 related, but not all. As two reflected: “I have developed new thinking and collaborations throughout this” and “The impact of COVID-19 is really unknown currently. This may cause negative impact through loss of job positions, or positive impact through increased remote working opening up different opportunities.”

A large percentage of respondents felt supported by their line manager and/or Faculty/School during the pandemic, but stress levels are high with 85 per cent feeling more stress and 50 per cent feeling they have a worse work-life balance as a result of the current situation. When asked about their biggest professional challenge, one said: “Balancing work time and leisure time.

My main issue is screen time: I (like many others) face the conundrum of conducting the majority of my work at a screen and then contacting friends, family and holding meetings on screen. I have had to work at stopping myself suffering from presenteeism, and always being in responsive mode.

48%

75%

had three to five hours per day of work impacted as a result of childcare responsibilities

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had one to two hours per day of work impacted as a result of other care responsibilities

Especially email checking and juggling tasks, which my split portfolio requires.”

Some key findings from the survey, including those that informed the observations above, were: • 48 per cent of respondents had between 3 to 5 hours per day of work impacted as a result of childcare responsibilities • 75 per cent of respondents had between 1 to 2 hours per day of work impacted as a result of other care responsibilities • 155 respondents (67.1 per cent) have had their primary research delayed • Three ECRs’ research has permanently ceased due to COVID-19 • 44 respondents (19 per cent) have begun new research • 85 per cent of ECRs felt supported by their line manager during the pandemic, and 71.1 per cent by the School/Faculty/University • 81 per cent felt more stressed • 30.1 per cent feel they have a better work-life balance, but 50.6 per cent feel they have a worse work-life balance The full survey results will be available in the near future, keep an eye on the ECR Development Hub for more details. For more information on researcher support please visit the CHEP website.

67%

have had their primary research delayed

For further information, visit: www.bera.ac.uk/community/early-career-researcher-network

RESEARCHER FACT FILES

Looking ahead James concluded: “COVID-19 had a significant impact on ECRs and research activities. There have been changes in working circumstances, increased emphasis on teaching, a reduction in capacity to undertake research, furloughed researchers and funding cuts. There is no doubt ECRs have faced significant challenges throughout the pandemic, and many ECRs fear these challenges will have an impact on career development.

“As we journey through and beyond COVID-19, the participants in this survey have highlighted both the challenges and opportunities facing ECRs at the University of Southampton.

This survey represents a cross-section of perspectives from all the academic Faculties at the University and, as such, it contains voices from ECRs across the disciplines.

“On behalf of our ECRs, it will be crucial to work with the University to enable our early career academics to continue to adapt to the pandemic and develop future-proof infrastructure applicable across Higher Education institutions. This data presents a glimpse of how a global pandemic has impacted upon ECRs at the University during the UK lockdown from April to July 2020.”

85%

felt supported by their line manager during the pandemic

Dr Lucy Gates Senior Research Fellow

Dr James Gavin Lecturer in Health Sciences

Nationality British

Nationality British

Where and what did you study?

University of Chichester (BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy), University of Southampton (BSc (Hons) Podiatry), University of Southampton (PhD in Epidemiology)

Where and what did you study?

Manchester Metropolitan University (BSc (Hons) Exercise Science and MSc Human Physiology) University of Southampton and University of Chichester (PhD in Musculoskeletal Physiology)

Length of time in academia Nine years (including PhD and Post-doc)

Length of time in academia Nine years (including PhD and Post-doc)

Length of time at Southampton Nine years

Length of time at Southampton Two-and-a-half-years

Career aspirations To continue conducting meaningful research to support societies across the globe in managing the burden of lower limb health conditions

Career aspirations To broadly conduct research to prevent disuse and preserve function, using multidisciplinary exercise interventions for musculoskeletal health

71%

felt supported by their School/Faculty/University during the pandemic

30%

feel they have a better work-life balance

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PURSUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT As a University, Southampton has a rich history of supporting and enabling researchers to pursue professional development. The Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP) is the team within the University that promotes and facilitates much of that academic development for Education, Research and Enterprise activities.

CHEP is continually reviewing its priorities to ensure it meets both the strategic needs of the University and the development needs of individual staff. For example, CHEP leads the development and implementation of the Common Framework for Online Learning in collaboration with the Digital Learning team, which has provided a means to both enhance and assure the quality of our online delivery, after the unexpected and sudden pivot into online teaching and learning that COVID-19 brought about. By providing one-to-one support and a range of webinars and surgeries (often co-led with students), a team of 25 staff who represent all schools at the University have been equipped to, in turn, support their own schools.

Dr Julie Reeves, a Researcher Developer within CHEP, explained why the role of researcher support is so key: “Faculties and departments meet discipline-specific needs, whilst CHEP provides an overview of topics and issues of interest to the researcher community as a whole. For instance, we recently celebrated Postdoc Appreciation Week with a Town Hall event for Early Career Researchers. Through our cross-university, national and international connections, we can highlight key trends and concerns, such as the Researcher Development Concordat (see page 10), and facilitate their wider dissemination.”

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“ We understand that professional development needs are varied and each individual will require their own mix of support.”

Dr Julie Reeves Researcher Developer

The key to CHEP’s success is the bringing together of many partners from across the University to make clear the large amount of resource available for academic and researcher professional development and signpost staff to it.

Julie explained: “As CHEP, we hold our own events as well as coordinate and promote those of key providers in the University such as Research and Innovation Services and the Library. We also set up networks – for instance, my colleague Dr Yaniv Hanoch is facilitating a mentoring network, whilst I work

closely with Faculty Concordat Champions on implementing the Researcher Development Concordat. CHEP produces resources, including the Working as a Researcher website, which are complementary to the huge range of activities going on across Faculties and the University as a whole which we seek out and shine a light on.

“Researchers require support with professional and academic development at all stages of their research career, and we try to ensure we are able to offer them something at the different phases, whether it’s around

For further information, visit: https://sotonac.sharepoint.com/teams/chep

open access publishing, understanding funding and research impact, or helping staff build their educational skills and portfolio. We understand that professional development needs are varied and each individual will require their own mix of support.

“We also make sure we listen to our staff and respond to the challenges they are facing, so we are very keen to look at the findings of the ECR Covid Impact Survey (see page 4) to identify where we can help and facilitate more support, especially in relation to the current pandemic and home working scenario.”

The University is a member of Vitae, the organisation that champions researchers and those who support them. All members of the University have access to Vitae’s resources.

The University of Southampton is a signatory to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, which is an agreement between funders and employers of research staff to improve the employment and support for researchers and research careers in UK higher education. Find out more on page 10.

You can contact CHEP at chep@soton.ac.uk

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COMMITMENT TO THE CONCORDAT The University has signed up to the revised Researcher Development Concordat – a demonstration of its commitment to the progression of Early Career Researchers.

The Researcher Development Concordat was updated and published last year. It sets out key principles for the development, working environment and career progression of Early Career Researchers (ECRs).

The University’s Change Portfolio Office is asking ECRs to get involved over the next 12 months and help influence and shape the foundations the University is laying in order to fulfil the new concordat requirements.

The concordat sets out three principles of environment and culture, employment, and professional and career development.

These principles are underpinned by obligations for the four key stakeholder groups of funders, institutions, researchers and managers of researchers, to realise the concordat’s aims.

George Attard, Professor of Chemical Sciences and Associate Vice-President Interdisciplinary Research, is the Chair of the Concordat Advisory Group. He said: “We are serious about listening to what ECRs have to say about their working lives and how they might be improved. This is the only way in 10

which we can make positive and sustainable changes to support this vulnerable part of our workforce. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for the future of this University for ECRs to highlight issues and engage with measures that affect their working lives, their career prospects, their ability to establish a healthy work-life balance.”

Each Faculty has a Concordat Champion.

George explained: “The Concordat Champions provide an effective conduit through which proposals for change, as well as issues that affect ECRs, can be brought to the attention of the University’s senior management teams for action.”

The importance of Research Culture in higher education has never been so prevalent. Work on implementing the previous version of the concordat over the past eight years has been instrumental in improving and developing that culture within the University. Eight years ago, Southampton received the HR Excellence in Research award, recognition from the European Commission for its work to implement the concordat. It was announced in November 2020 that the University has

been awarded that honour again. This is testament to the hard work across the organisation in support of its researchers.

With new stipulations from UKRI in its action plan linking adherence to the concordat with funding terms and conditions, the next year will be vital in working to further support and develop ECRs. If you’re interested in getting involved then please contact your Faculty Concordat Champion for more information: • Delphine Boche Faculty of Medicine • Mark Chapman Faculty of Environmental & Life Sciences • Alison Gascoigne Faculty of Arts & Humanities • Anita Lavorgna Faculty of Social Sciences • Alan McAlpine Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/waar

“ I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for the future of this University for ECRs to highlight issues and engage with measures that affect their working lives, their career prospects, their ability to establish a healthy work-life balance.�

George Attard Professor of Chemical Sciences and Associate Vice-President Interdisciplinary Research

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Responding to a skills gap in the University’s research community has led to the introduction of a new fellowships scheme, led by Research and Innovation Services (RIS).

A NEW BREED OF FELLOWS Researchers are highly skilled experts, leading the way in their fields and uncovering tomorrow’s world piece by piece. The next step for that research is to get it out into the wider world for both social and economic benefit, but that can be where it stumbles.

2020 has seen the pilot of a new scheme to tackle this hurdle – Business and Commercialisation Fellowships.

“ Having the opportunity to really immerse the fellows in understanding the technicalities and challenges in collaborations and commercialisation is fantastic and has been met with real enthusiasm.”

Diana Galpin Head of Technology Transfer and Impact

Diana Galpin, Head of Technology Transfer and Impact within RIS, explained: “We have identified that skills development, particularly around intellectual property and commercialisation, is quite a critical need for the research community. We also believe that to be a successful researcher you need to be comfortable engaging with a range of stakeholders, including businesses and industry. These fellowships should help build a cohort of researchers armed with the skills to succeed with business collaboration and commercialisation, who can then be ambassadors to our wider research community.”

Four Business and Commercialisation Fellows are currently seconded part-time to RIS. George Devitt and Miguel MassotCampos are funded by the University’s EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) Impact Acceleration Account, and Jaimie Ellis and PK Senyo are funded by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Impact Acceleration Account.

“The fellowships are being piloted this year with a view to us honing a programme that

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we can run in future years,” explained Diana.

“We’re giving them an intensive experience working alongside our Technology Transfer and Business Engagement teams, amongst others, in RIS. We are also giving them access and time to attend externally available training and networking opportunities.”

Skills covered by the fellowships include contracts basics; recognising, securing and protecting IP; responsible innovation and ethics; equality, diversity and inclusion; policy influencing; public engagement; licensing versus spinout; and collaborating with industry.

The fellowships are proving a two-way success.

Diana said: “Having the opportunity to really immerse the fellows in understanding the technicalities and challenges in collaborations and commercialisation is fantastic and has been met with real enthusiasm.

“The other element is that we have got voices from the research community directly in our teams. We’re learning a considerable amount from them and it’s helping us to improve how we explain what we do.”

The Impact team is now (December 2020) inviting applications for the next round of EPSRC Business and Commercialisation Fellowships. The scheme is open to Early Career Researchers employed by the University whose work falls within the EPSRC remit. Visit the RIS SharePoint site for more details.

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/ris

George Devitt Research Fellow in Neurodegeneration Nationality British

Where and what did you study?

University of Bath (BSc Biochemistry and MRes Biosciences), University of Southampton (PhD Biophysical Chemistry) Length of time in academia Eight years of study, one year of postdoctoral research

Length of time at Southampton Five years Career aspirations For my research to have a societal benefit is very important to me – I am looking to develop expertise in clinical research and enterprise to help translate my research into a real-world clinical setting in the future

IP TO ADVANCE ALZHEIMER’S DETECTION Filing for intellectual property (IP) will enable George Devitt’s research group to take its work on improving the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s to the next level.

George, a Research Fellow in Neurodegeneration, has joined RIS’ Technology Transfer team as a Business and Commercialisation Fellow for nine months. Through the fellowship, he will understand how to secure IP, in particular patents, to commercialise his research.

He is part of an interdisciplinary research group based in Biological Sciences and Chemistry, with collaborative ties to Medicine.

“We are developing novel methods to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases that cause dementia,” George explained. “The work we have done so far has all been in vitro – in the dish. We haven’t done anything with human samples yet. We’re using new ideas and new techniques, creating the environment of Alzheimer’s outside of the body to see if we can detect the proteins that cause the disease and the levels that would be present in biofluids.”

Beyond detection, the research project is investigating how to classify the disease at diagnosis.

“We’re looking at how to enable Alzheimer’s to be classified as Type 1, Type 2 or Type 3, depending how aggressive it is,” he said.

“Currently, prognosis is not very accurate.”

A third element to the project is screening.

George, who has been working on the project for five years, said: “One of the biggest problems is that patients initially go to the GP or a clinic once they are already experiencing memory decline, but this is usually about 10 years into having Alzheimer’s. There is no screening available – that’s another aspect we’re interested in.”

Led by Principal Investigators Professor Sumeet Mahajan and Dr Amritpal Mudher, the technique George and his colleagues are developing could also inform drugs trials.

“Many trials have failed and the biggest reason is selecting the right candidates,” explained George. “People are not caught early enough.”

Working with RIS Following his fellowship with RIS, George will be able to ensure the research can be translated to the real world.

He said: “We want our research to deliver real-world healthcare benefits and have a positive impact on society. This secondment will allow me to develop the expertise required to secure IP, to communicate with industry and to commercialise my research so that it can be translated into a clinical service.”

Securing IP will help the project, which has been funded by The Rosetrees Trust to date, to attract further funding and to be developed with business or industry.

George added: “The focus time that the fellowship within RIS gives me is invaluable.

I wouldn’t have time to learn about patents – knowing what and when something can be patented, and the value of it – without the fellowship.”

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Feature Miguel Massot Campos Research Fellow in Underwater Robotics

Jaimie Ellis Research Fellow

Nationality Spanish

Nationality British

Where and what did you study?

University of the Balearic Islands (PhD in Information Technology and Communications)

Where and what did you study?

Sheffield Hallam University (BA (Hons) Sociology and Psychology and MA Social Science Research Methods), University of Southampton (PhD Sociology)

Length of time in academia During PhD until now, seven years

Length of time in academia Seven years post-doc

Length of time at Southampton Two years

Length of time at Southampton 10 years

Career aspirations To become a professor in autonomous systems

Career aspirations To make a difference on the ground to individuals’ health and wellbeing

MAPPING OUT A MYSTERY

TACKLING ISOLATION

Life at the bottom of the ocean remains, in the main, a mystery. Through his research, Miguel Massot-Campos is working on how to unravel that mystery.

Addressing loneliness and social isolation is at the heart of Jaimie Ellis’ research. She has joined Research and Innovation Services on a 12-month Business and Commercialisation Fellowship to better understand some of the organisations she works with, and to spot opportunities to further her research.

He has joined Research and Innovation Services (RIS) as a Business and Commercialisation Fellow to learn how he can commercialise the software he has helped develop for underwater robots that could hold the key to mapping our ocean floors.

Miguel, a Research Fellow in Underwater Robotics, said: “Underwater exploration is something that has not been done on a massive scale. We know very little about the life at the bottom of the sea, and how environments work down there.”

He is working on a project called Driftcam, an underwater robotic camera that has no means of self-propulsion and instead drifts with the underwater currents whilst controlling its depth. The aim of Driftcam is to scale-up current capabilities to map the ocean floor enabling long-term deployments of multiple drifters without the need of expert users.

“To know more about the ocean floor, we need to go down there,” he said. “Because of how water absorbs light, we have to be very close to the sea floor to be able to retrieve colours and volumes. So we have to dive down, and we have to send a robot because it’s too deep for humans.”

Current methods are expensive and slow.

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The Driftcam device

“It’s currently really expensive to map one square kilometre of sea floor,” explained Miguel. “Mapping the sea floor around the globe would take decades and isn’t economically viable, so we’re looking for more sustainable ways that require less human interaction.”

Business collaboration Miguel and his team are collaborating with a company called Sonardyne and are commercialising software called Location Guided Autoencoder.

“The software we are commercialising classifies sea floor images without human supervision,” Miguel explained. “It would take months for a scientist to look at all the underwater images and classify them, but it can take a day for a computer to identify patterns in the images and classify them.”

Through his fellowship with RIS, Miguel is developing a Proof of Concept and a draft licence for the software.

Jaimie, a Research Fellow in Medical Sociology, has been working on a project called PALS – Project About Loneliness and Social Networks – for two years. The project, funded by the National Institute for Health Research, is testing the effectiveness of a user-focused social network intervention.

“We’re working across Southampton and Liverpool with community and voluntary organisations to deliver this intervention to people who could benefit,” said Jaimie.

Partner organisations including charity groups, housing associations, churches and mosques, and a variety of community groups have put the PALS team in touch with people who could benefit from the intervention.

It’s a three-stage approach, beginning with a mapping exercise.

Jaimie explained: “First, we ask people to imagine themselves in the middle of their social networks – who is important to their health and wellbeing? They map people out, with those who are most important close to the centre. We ask them to reflect on the map and they sometimes realise there are actually a lot of resources there, but they might also identify people who perhaps have a negative effect on their wellbeing.”

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/ris

PK Senyo Lecturer in Information Systems Nationality Ghanaian Where and what did you study?

University of Ghana (MPhil in Management Information Systems), University of Reading (PhD in Information Systems) Length of time in academia Eight years Length of time at Southampton One year Career aspirations Become a professor, own a technology company that makes the world a better place and consult for development

organisations such as World Bank, UN and IMF to address ‘big’ problems such as poverty, social injustice and climate change

TECHNOLOGY TO EMPOWER Stage two is a questionnaire to find out what’s important to the individual, what they find interesting and what they want to do. And stage three uses a database to marry their responses to a map, showing groups or facilities that are local to them, relevant to what they have highlighted in the questionnaire.

“We help people connect to local community resources, such as support groups and services, maybe even online learning, or perhaps the local library,” explained Jaimie. “It’s about identifying where that individual is at and what’s interesting to them, and helping them look at their network map to see who can support them by going along to that first meeting.”

PALS was due to come to an end this year, but it has been extended to September 2021 following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project team is now trialling the intervention online and via telephone.

Discovering opportunities Through the Business and Commercialisation Fellowship, Jaimie will better understand the organisations she works with, and gain the knowledge to think differently and spot opportunities in future.

She said: “In order to better support these social enterprises and other organisations working in the community, I need to understand how they work. The fellowship is about understanding the world of business – understanding the business cycle, the language and the jargon, and to be able to see opportunities. On top of that, the fellowship is an opportunity to think differently about the impact my research could make.”

Calling on technology to tackle societal problems is at the heart of PK Senyo’s research. Financial inclusion, sustainability, fraud and business challenges are some of the areas he focuses on.

PK, Lecturer in Information Systems within Southampton Business School, is spending a year with RIS on a Business and Commercialisation Fellowship to understand how he can commercialise his research.

He said: “My research is focused on the use and adaptation of digital technology to address societal needs, both business and individual needs, focusing on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, Blockchain and big data.”

Financial inclusion is a particular area of interest for PK. “Using financial technologies to address the issue of financial inclusion is a passion of mine,” he said. “Having access to basic

financial services can allow people to overcome financial challenges – having a bank account and access to these services empowers people to be able to do things for themselves.”

Understanding the opportunities PK is planning to use his learnings through his fellowship with RIS to understand the potential for commercialising his research.

“I am keen to learn about how I can commercialise my research and how to engage with business and create a network, plus understanding spinouts, IP and patenting,” he said. “I have a few ideas about commercialising my research, around the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in business. For example, using AI to determine a project’s success and prescribe solutions to the problems at the beginning.

“I’m also interested in addressing the issue of sustainability – where there are issues regarding product returns, there is a lot of wastage in the system, and AI could be used to address wastage in the supply chain.”

“ Having access to basic financial services can allow people to overcome financial challenges – having a bank account and access to these services empowers people to be able to do things for themselves.”

PK Senyo Lecturer in Information Systems 15

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WHEN FANTASY BECOMES REALITY It’s like the ultimate Fantasy Football, only this time it’s not fantasy at all – it’s real.

Ryan Beal has devised a portal containing algorithms to remove the guesswork from building the dream football team – and it’s poised to revolutionise the sports industry.

The background AI in football has been Ryan’s passion since he was a Computer Science undergraduate at Southampton.

“From there we started predicting which players that don’t currently play together would play best together – we can predict how they would play together, to influence future transfers.”

Ryan, whose postgraduate research is focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in team sports, has set up a start-up company and is already winning business from some of football’s big players in both England and across Europe.

“In my third year I did a project on Fantasy Football, but then after I graduated I left academia to work as a data science consultant,” he said. “After a year, though, I was drawn back to research and started my PhD. I’m now in my final year.”

The COVID impact Ryan said 2020 has seen his work skyrocket, which he puts down to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Working with Gopal Ramchurn, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Director of the Centre for Machine Intelligence, and former Southampton PhD student Tim Matthews, Ryan officially launched his company – Sentient Sports – this year.

Ryan, a lifelong supporter of Southampton Football Club, added: “When it was clear

Ryan, Gopal and Tim were introduced to Ramanan Mylvaganam, who is well connected in the football industry through his position as founder of a successful sports analytics company called Prozone. Following this introduction they were well connected enough to launch Sentient Sports.

Sentient Sports is working closely with another company, Ai Abacus, which offers football teams a portal that can help improve the decision-making and scouting process when buying and selling players. The portal was launched in November 2020.

“Football, like other sports, has huge amounts of data associated with it,” explained Ryan.

“We buy data from a football data provider, and enter it into our algorithms.”

Ryan has developed a number of algorithms that feed the portal. There is a teamwork algorithm that looks at how pairs and groups of players work together on the pitch and assesses ‘player chemistry’; an algorithm that predicts the number of goals/assists a player will achieve; another that evaluates the suitability of a player in the style of play of a new team; and a final algorithm that looks at the cost benefit of players. These algorithms are used to predict how a player would perform if they were to play in a specific different team.

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“We’ve had a lot of luck in 2020,” he said. “Big opportunities began to open up for us back in March at the start of the first lockdown, when football managers could no longer scout properly for players. It accelerated quickly from there.”

Gopal Ramchurn

I wasn’t going to become a professional footballer, I wanted to find a way to combine my degree with my passion!”

The first algorithm he developed was focused on teamwork.

He explained: “The algorithm looks at players passing to each other on the pitch, and how often they are involved in positive or negative passes of play – those that end up as goals or those that go out, for example. And looking at how each of those passes contributes to the overall outcome of the game.

Ai Abacus and Sentient Sports are already working with major teams including Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich, as well as smaller players including Hartlepool United.

Ryan said: “The impact of COVID really helped us to get this off the ground, but in the longer term it will be the smaller clubs that can benefit the most – the clubs that don’t have data analytics departments. This will be really important in the post-COVID world.”

Ryan also believes there is huge potential for the expertise to be employed in other areas.

“The approach we use could be extended into other domains where teamwork between humans is important, such as emergency response or in security,” he added.

For further information, visit: www.ecs.soton.ac.uk

Ryan Beal PhD Student Nationality British Where and what did you study?

University of Southampton (BSc Computer Science and PhD in AI in Team Sports)

Length of time in academia I have spent just over two years researching for my PhD Length of time at Southampton I have lived in Southampton since starting my bachelor’s degree in 2014 Career aspirations I hope to continue my work in sports analytics and help grow the use of AI in sports

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Feature

A RESEARCHER JOURNEY Dr Harry Annison is an Associate Professor at Southampton Law School. From the very start of his academic career, he has found himself closely connected with the controversial indeterminate sentence introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003, Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP). IPP is a policy whereby prisoners remain in prison until it is deemed that the risks they pose if released are manageable.

His ongoing work on this issue has led to him becoming an influential voice in this fascinating area of law and policy.

Harry initially studied Law at the University of Southampton. He said: “I never wanted to be a lawyer; rather, I was fascinated by the ways in which studying the law brought together legal, theoretical, empirical and normative questions. Arguments about what is ‘right’ tussled with arguments about the likely practical effect, or indeed the commonsense, of this or that legislation – difficult questions in the best possible way.”

Having completed his studies, he received two opportunities that have in many ways shaped his career to date. He explained: “First, Professor Andrew Rutherford, formerly of Southampton Law School, asked me to provide research assistance for an article he was writing about the effect of the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence on the Parole Board, of which he was a member. Second, I spent a short period of time working with the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, now the Centre for Mental Health, during a period in which they were also raising concerns about the effect of the IPP sentence.

build on my legal expertise, adding to it an understanding of criminological theory and criminal justice practice. In addition, I became particularly interested in the politics of criminal justice and gained empirical research skills that have continued to prove immensely valuable.”

Doctoral research Next came Harry’s doctoral research. He said: “I had remained interested in the IPP sentence and my interest in politics and policymaking had continued to develop.

Criminology’s relative lack of interest in the political and policymaking processes by which particular penal outcomes were produced puzzled me. I hoped that studying British policymaking around the intractable issue of dangerous offenders, in the form of the IPP sentence, would serve as a way in to exploring the beliefs, traditions and practices by which penal politics and policymaking were conducted.”

“These experiences reinforced my desire to pursue further study, and my interest in the area of penal policy.”

It was after completing his PhD that Harry arrived back at the University of Southampton, where he now lectures in criminal law, criminology and penal policy. As regards his research, he has not been able to leave the IPP sentence behind.

Harry embarked on an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Oxford. He said: “This enabled me to

He explained: “My research interests at Southampton currently fall into two key areas, which complement each other. Penal

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policy, the politics around criminal justice; and the effects of the criminal justice system on families and specifically the impact of the IPP sentence. The latter research has been collaborative, both with relevant families themselves, and organisations like the Prison Reform Trust, HM Prison Service and the Parole Board for England and Wales.

“My understanding of the relationship between politics, policy-making dynamics and policy change has proved to be helpful as I have sought to navigate my way to achieving tangible change that will benefit families affected by the IPP. At the same time, my work with families has given me new insights into the ways that penal policy is experienced by people who have sought to contest and change it.”

Collaborating on penal policy Harry’s research at Southampton has involved an impressive list of collaborations with organisations at the heart of penal policy.

Initially, he worked with Professor Rachel Condry from Oxford University on research funded by Southampton Law School to understand the problems regarding families of people serving IPP. He said: “Within our findings we noted that, ‘a pervasive sense of injustice and

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/law

Harry Annison Associate Professor in the Law School Nationality British Where and what did you study?

I studied Law at … Southampton!

Length of time in academia About a decade Length of time at Southampton Seven years Career aspirations To produce high quality research on the politics of crime, which has a beneficial social impact

uncertainty underpins and permeates more specific concerns relating to efforts to progress towards release, and indeed to manage the stresses of life beyond release.

Families report significant material effects, which also appear to be heavily gendered in their distribution. Family relationships – both with the prisoner and more widely – are often heavily disrupted. Negative health effects caused by the stress and anxiety of the experience were often reported.

“I then undertook a collaborative project, co-funded by the Prison Reform Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council, that enabled us to work with families to act on this. We wanted to know, given these difficulties, what would help. What could organisations – like the Prison Service, the Parole Board, probation, and others – do?”

The report that emerged from that collaborative project, A Helping Hand, garnered a positive response from a range of relevant organisations and commitments to act.

Supporting families Harry continued: “I was then able to work with the Invisible Walls team based at HMP Winchester and the national children’s charity Spurgeons to develop the booklet Offering a Helping Hand. This booklet is designed to support families of people

sentenced to IPP, and those working with them. It has gone to every prison in England and Wales, as well as to key stakeholders in the sector. I am also very pleased to say that the Parole Board have also recently produced publications which directly draw on my research with families of people sentenced to IPP, with similar publications

by HM Prison and Probation Service soon to follow. My work is having real policy impact and that is due in no small part to the support I’ve had from the Public Policy|Southampton team, whose support and expertise was invaluable especially in the early days of the project.

“The human element to my research is what’s really key to me. A recurrent theme on the IPP sentence is the sense from many prisoners and their families that they have been forgotten. I hope that the research I’m doing – and the publications by organisations including the Parole Board, HMPPS and Spurgeons; alongside further work being done to respond to recommendations made in our A Helping Hand report with the Prison Reform Trust – goes some way towards reassuring people sentenced to IPP, and their loved ones, that they are not forgotten by everyone.”

Listen out for Harry on season two of Universi-Tea, the University of Southampton podcast series.

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Feature

Dr Chiara Dall’Ora grew up in Italy dreaming of becoming a nurse, and that is exactly what she did. But following several years practising as a nurse, a love of data analysis – and research – flourished.

DRIVEN BY THE DATA Chiara’s childhood dream came true in 2011 when she qualified as a nurse and began working in Milan.

But, during her Nursing degree, Chiara had found a love of research methods - and she couldn’t shake the feeling she’d like to explore that area of study further. So, she enrolled in an MSc in Nursing Research, through which she started to seek out potential research opportunities.

One such opportunity came along in 2013 when Chiara was offered the chance to come to the University of Southampton to assist on a European research project focused on nurses’ shift length and the effects on nurses as well as on patient outcomes.

She undertook data analysis working with Professor Peter Griffiths, Chair of Health Services Research and lead for the Health Workforce and Systems research group.

“Having worked as a nurse to then assisting in research which ultimately could feed into solutions and outcomes that help nurses, was particularly satisfying for me and is still one of the key reasons I am so passionate about my work,” said Chiara.

A PhD at Southampton followed, with Chiara accessing and becoming familiar with routinely collected data from hospitals which she used to analyse how nurses’ shift patterns affected their sickness absence and job performance. Her love of data analysis was flourishing.

“Studying for my PhD very much cemented in my mind that I wanted to work long-term with

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data and data analysis,” she said. “It took me a bit by surprise as I’d never thought I wanted a career as an academic, but maybe that’s because I had never been exposed to the possibility of it before.”

Following her PhD, Chiara secured a role as a Research Fellow at Southampton. She was recently promoted to Lecturer.

She said: “I work primarily on grants centred around nurse staffing levels and shift patterns in relation to nurse wellbeing and patient outcomes. I can see a real correlation here and that is what keeps driving me to delve deeper into the research area.”

“The whole way through my journey into a research career, it has been the support and guidance from colleagues that has helped me get to where I am. I have been extremely lucky to work with academics who have always taken an interest in my progress, provided advice, contacts and signposted me to opportunities,” she explained. “I have always pushed myself, volunteering for additional responsibilities and putting myself forward when needed, and I am sure it is this enthusiasm that others have picked up on and responded to in a positive way.”

Chiara is a member of the Nursing Workforce research team within the School of Health Sciences, whose research focuses on the configuration of the healthcare workforce and system to ensure safe and high-quality care and enable patient access. She also lectures in a variety of related areas including occupational health, patient safety and research methods.

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/hws

Chiara Dall’Ora Lecturer, Nursing Workforce Nationality Italian Where and what did you study?

Nursing in Italy Length of time in academia Since 2013 Length of time at Southampton Since 2014 Career aspirations Lead a programme of research to enhance workforce wellbeing and productivity, and to improve outcomes for all patients. Inspire and enable our nursing students to deploy evidence-based practice

“ I have been extremely lucky to work with academics who have always taken an interest in my progress, provided advice, contacts and signposted me to opportunities.”

Chiara Dall’Ora Lecturer, Nursing Workforce

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Feature

TALK ABOUT THE PASSION Postgraduate research is where research careers really begin and where futures can be mapped out. It’s where curiosities can be satisfied, motivation is tested, unexpected hurdles are tackled, and the rewards are fulfilling.

But ultimately it’s about finding out more about something you are passionate about, whether or not a career in research is the end goal.

We spoke to five postgraduate researchers who are chasing their passions, from music composition to occupational therapy, and plenty in between.

A FRESH TAKE ON ‘HISTORY’ Questioning what’s true, uncovering history, sonic journalism, confusing the audience – but providing genuine entertainment – are all central to postgraduate researcher Peter Falconer’s project.

Seaton Snook was a thriving English village that built its success on salt production, fishing and, in later years, a zinc factory. It was a place on the County Durham coastline packed full of history and intrigue.

Or was it?

Peter’s fascinating research project on Seaton Snook takes the audience down an internet rabbit hole exploring the life and sounds of the village that mysteriously vanished in 1968.

Told through the website seatonsnook.com, it leaves the observer wondering what was real and what wasn’t as they delve deeper into snippets of Seaton Snook’s weird and wonderful past.

Peter, who is in the final stages of his PhD in Music Composition, said:“I grew up in Seaton

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Carew, in County Durham, so it’s a very personal project. There was once a Seaton Snook. People lived there on houseboats and in a few cottages, and there was a zinc factory. But it was not a big thriving village like it is in my archive, and it didn’t mysteriously disappear overnight – it gradually died out when the factories closed. There is enough reality in there for me to build a fiction from it and leave some confusion for the audience.”

The confusion is completely intentional.

“Whatever part of the website you’re looking at, I like to think you’re looking at it thinking it’s real but having some doubts, or doubting it entirely but then thinking actually perhaps it is real,” explained Peter.

Trying to pin down exactly what this is, Peter said: “The closest existing genre I can fit it into at the moment is ‘parafiction’, which exists in the area between reality and fiction – it’s a fictional artwork that interacts with the real world.

“Hopefully, eventually it’s enjoyable and interesting enough that you don’t care if it’s real or not. It’s important to me that people enjoy what I do and that it’s accessible. I don’t think it should be too serious, even when I’m making a serious point.”

There is no such thing as silence The Seaton Snook project came about from Peter’s fascination with recording sounds from abandoned spaces and abandoned buildings.

“There is no such thing as silence,” Peter suggested. “I have been interested in making music from the sounds recorded in abandoned places, and using that to tell their stories.”

This is known as sonic journalism and is a key element of Peter’s project.

“I have field recordings from the zinc factory in Seaton Snook,” he said. “Office worker Agatha Pilkington recorded the factory to monitor the noise levels that workers were exposed to. There are also sound recordings from the fairground, and a recording from

For further information, visit: www.peterfalconer.co.uk

Peter Falconer PhD Postgraduate Researcher Nationality British Where and what did you study?

Kingston University (MA Music)

Length of time in academia I don’t feel like I’m in academia as such!

Been doing my PhD since 2017 though Length of time at Southampton Just started fourth year Career aspirations To keep making art that makes me – and hopefully those who encounter it – excited about life. I’ve absolutely no idea what that path will look like, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

Peter was creator, composer and archivist for the project. “I had to come up with the person, or the music, or the song, then I had to create it, then I had to completely forget I’d done all that and pretend I’m an archivist uncovering this for the first time,” outlined Peter. “There are a couple of interviews I’ve recorded on terrible tape so the quality is awful, and then I have transcribed the interview – even though I know what I’m saying I have to pretend I don’t, and write down exactly what I hear.”

What next?

Following the completion of his PhD, Peter is hoping to continue ‘uncovering’ more about Seaton Snook. He said: “I like the idea it could be used as a vehicle for learning about other things. I’d love to take it to schools and talk about Seaton Snook and show how it relates to the actual history of the area, as well as current cultural and political events.”

The MyotonPRO device

He added that finishing the PhD will be a time to take stock: “At the end of a PhD, there is a bit of resetting that needs to take place.

You’ve been up to your eyeballs in your work for so long it becomes a bit of an albatross, as much as you enjoy it. You have to reset and remind yourself who you are and what you want to do.”

A genuine Seaton Snook houseboat

2005 from the site of the indoor market which features strange paranormal sounds.”

a series of folk tunes for the Northumbrian Smallpipes.

Peter explained that sonic journalism is like photojournalism, but with sounds. His project was a mix of sonic journalism, music and North-Eastern history.

“Once I developed the history of Seaton Snook, I developed some traditions for the music,” outlined Peter. “But then I had to address the issues of getting the music to sound authentic, but presenting reasons for why it didn’t spread – why isn’t it in the common folk music canon?”

Seaton Snook’s music Peter has also uncovered Seaton Snook’s musical past.

There were two composers who lived there – Gaynor Leigh, who wrote for the piano and harpsichord, and Robson Booth, who wrote

There was also a psychedelic rock back that lived in Seaton Snook, The Peoples Mass, and The Seaton Snook Zinc Workers’ Band, a brass band.

The Peoples Mass at a Freak Out, 1967

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For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering

Feature

Daniel Wallace EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow

Length of time in academia Four years

Nationality British

Length of time at Southampton Eight years

Where and what did you study?

University of Southampton (MEng Acoustical Engineering)

Career aspirations Academic research into perceptioncentred acoustic design

COMFORT IN SOUND Imagine a speaker that is private – only you can hear it. Private conversations could be conducted on speakerphone.

Personal music preferences could be played without irritating your neighbour.

Sensitive information could be spoken without fear of anyone overhearing.

Daniel Wallace’s ground-breaking research uses zones of sound to protect your privacy.

Conversations on speakerphone are commonplace. Usually it doesn’t matter if anyone else can hear. But what about when it does? And what about when others don’t want to listen?

Postgraduate researcher Daniel has designed a system that creates sound zones and targeted background noise.

“When you have a single loudspeaker, that speaker likes to fill the room with sound,” he said. “That’s fine in normal circumstances, but for certain applications, for example in a bank or on public transport, you want the sound from the speaker to be private. Rather than using one speaker, we can use several, so that the sound adds up where you’re standing and cancels out everywhere else.

“But, like noise cancelling headphones, the cancellation effect is never perfect, there is always a bit of leakage. The same is true for this sound zoning system – except in this case, this leakage could include your private information. To beat this, you can use the same set of speakers to focus background noise towards other people.”

Perfect background noise As well as physical acoustics, Daniel has taken psychoacoustics into account.

Psychoacoustics is how humans perceive sounds.

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He explained: “No-one wants to be deafened by background noise. The system needs to provide just enough extra noise to ensure privacy, but not so much that it is annoying. I have designed a system and set of algorithms to do that.”

Background noise is always there, however subtle.

“An interesting fact is that the background noise in a public space is actually beneficial for privacy,” added Daniel. “If we can design a system to work alongside the constant background noise in a space, you don’t need to introduce so much additional noise. In other words, your system doesn’t have to be as powerful.”

As part of his PhD, he analysed people’s reactions to different background noises.

“I tested different ways of shaping background noise to make it more acceptable,” he said. “I found that people have very complex reactions to different types of background noise. After listening to a series of random, computer-generated noises in a booth, people would say one sounded natural,

like a waterfall and one sounded artificial, like the London Underground. I had no anticipation that this would come up.”

Doctoral Prize Daniel has completed his PhD and is now on a 12-month Doctoral Prize Fellowship, organised by the Doctoral College and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Through this, he will build on his findings during his psychoacoustic experiments and design and test a private sound zoning system for cars.

“My hypothesis is that people will always try to attribute some kind of meaning or perceived source to a sound,” he explained. “If you are producing a private sound zoning system for a car, the most acceptable background noise to use may be the noise that matches what’s already in the car. However, this type of noise isn’t necessarily very good at blocking out speech, so you’d need to turn it up quite loud. Other noises can block out speech more efficiently, but wouldn’t necessarily match the surroundings, so I’m interested in finding the crossover point between these two approaches.”

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering

James Miles PhD Postgraduate Researcher

Length of time in academia Nine years

Nationality British

Length of time at Southampton Four years

Where and what did you study?

University of St Andrews (BSc Biology and MSc Marine Mammal Science) University of Southampton (PhD Sustainable Infrastructure Systems)

Career aspirations To work with and develop solutions to minimise human impacts on the environment, either as an academic or in industry

DIVERTING FROM DANGER Freshwater fish habitats are fraught with dangers. Hydropower turbines, habitat modification and instances of pollution are some examples. A solution to harmlessly and effectively divert fish away from these dangers could save vast numbers.

“Fish guidance technology is a big area,” he said. “All sorts of methods are used to encourage fish away from areas – tools like bubble walls or strobe lights. But nothing is particularly effective, especially in flowing water.”

Postgraduate researcher James Miles is investigating a novel solution to protect freshwater fish that is not only harmless and effective, but is also simple and cheap.

Painting stripes on a river wall could be a very simple tool to ensure more fish go in a particular direction. As well as simple, it’s also non-invasive and cost-effective.

James added: “Another difficulty is a lot of the technology at the moment is designed to deter fish – it discourages them rather than encourages them – whereas the visual cues have potential to attract fish instead.”

He is currently writing up his findings for his thesis. The next stage for James’ research would be to trial it in a more natural setting, as flumes in the lab are free from plants, weeds, silt, and other natural materials.

His secret weapon is black and white stripes.

James, who is in the final year of his PhD in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems, explained: “My PhD involved looking at fish behaviour and how freshwater fish respond to visual cues, and working out whether they can be diverted down different routes simply by using these visual cues.”

He used experimental flumes, up to 16 metres long, and the technique he tested was to display vertical black and white stripes on the sides. Then, during several experiments, he acclimatised minnows and brown trout to the water and then monitored their reactions and movements within the flumes.

“I found that the fish tend to stay on the side of the flume where the visual cues are,” said James, who is a biologist but is based in the School of Engineering, bringing an interdisciplinary element to his PhD. “Fish naturally try to keep their visual field stationary, so they tended to line up with the vertical stripes and swim next to them or use them to help hold their position in flowing water.”

A fresh take on guidance technology James’ findings could potentially be applied in river infrastructures to divert fish away from dangers, or to a desired location.

James’ experimental flume

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For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/healthsciences

Feature

Sarah Mercer Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow – now completed Nationality British Where and what did you study?

York St John University (BHSc Occupational Therapy), University of Southampton (PhD Health Sciences)

Length of time in academia Five years Length of time at Southampton Five years Career aspirations To continue a clinical academic career at postdoctoral level, combining advanced occupational therapy practice with further research in frailty

MIND OVER MATTER The link between physical health and mental wellbeing is well documented and appreciated. But how does that link impact on frailty? Postgraduate researcher and occupational therapist Sarah Mercer has tackled the question.

‘Frailty’ can mean different things to different people. It also affects people in different ways, hugely influenced by mental wellbeing.

Sarah has just completed her PhD on the link between physical and mental health when it comes to frailty. She worked closely with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service throughout her research, looking at their course called STEER (Safety Through Education, Exercise and Resilience) which teaches falls prevention, safety in the home, nutrition and resistance-based exercise.

Sarah, whose clinical doctoral research fellowship was conducted through the School of Health Sciences and jointly funded

by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust,

said: “I worked with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service to evaluate the outcomes of their course. I also did some research with the course participants to find out about their experiences living with pre-frailty or frailty, what their health is like, and how they understand getting older.”

‘yes I am getting older, but I adapt to that’.

They adapt intuitively by showering instead of bathing, or taking several trips to bring shopping in from the car. As an occupational therapist, that’s what we do – help people adapt, but these people were doing it intuitively.”

What is ‘frailty’?

The discovery that frailty means different things to different people emerged through the research.

The STEER course proved effective. Sarah said: “It’s a positive intervention and is very well received by people. They really valued the peer aspect of it, going through the same things with other people. Participants also liked working with the fire service, trusting them as people they know to be strong and healthy.”

“The STEER course is meant to be for people at the pre-frailty stage, but we found out most of the people on the course would actually be classified as having frailty,” explained Sarah.

“But when you talk to them, ‘frailty’ didn’t reflect their experiences. They thought frailty is when you need a frame to walk and you live in a home.

“Medically, frailty is about the depletion of muscle reserves and becoming vulnerable to sudden health deteriorations. They all said,

Building on the PhD She said there is scope for another trial now, to build on her research: “I would like to test the format of STEER, but not linked to the fire service as we found participants inherently trusted them, so I think there is scope for a bigger trial to understand how the format versus setting influences outcomes.”

There is also the question of how to reach individuals who don’t actively seek out ways to keep fit and healthy.

“There are a lot of people who don’t sign up to health promotion activities – how do we reach those people and could this be helpful for them as well?” asked Sarah. “The people on the STEER course were very active and proactively sought out things to keep them independent. What are the experiences of people who don’t do that?”

Participants in the STEER course. Image shared by permission of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and with the consent of participants

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Sarah, who now works for Southern Health’s Urgent Community Response Service, mainly focusing on hospital admission avoidance work with older adults, was a newly-qualified occupational therapist when she embarked on her PhD.

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/wsa

Agnès Villette PhD researcher Nationality French Where and what did you study?

Literature, Caen University, Paris Sorbonne, France, London College of Communication, then Winchester School of Art

Length of time in academia I was on and off academia, I worked in between, or even while studying, so it’s a bit complex to put a number on it Length of time at Southampton It’s my second year Career aspirations Well, carry on with my projects … I have been teaching for several years, working as a freelance journalist, I think I will carry on the same afterwards

A RADIOACTIVE LEGACY The Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy has a landscape defined by the nuclear industry.

It’s a legacy and a history that has been largely ignored. Until now.

Agnès Villette is bringing the beauty, the toxicity and the truth behind the Cotentin Peninsula to the fore through her practicebased PhD project, Radioactive Ruins.

She is using a combination of photography, video, and factual research to highlight the controversial history of the region, which was changed forever through the French Nuclear Program that began in the ‘60s.

Agnès, who is in the second year of her PhD based at Winchester School of Art, explained: “There is a nuclear cluster of four different installations at the very tip of the peninsula, and I’m looking at how these installations have redefined the landscape.”

Major contributors to redefining the landscape have been several micro-accidents when radioactive isotopes have leaked into the area.

“Several micro-accidents happened along the streams and rivers, but the information about the gravity of the leakages was often silenced or undermined,” she said. “I use the rivers as a natural archive and memory of events that happened 10 or 20 years ago. Isotopes have leaked from different installations and they have a chemical signature, so because they can be identified, they can be traced.

I’m trying to reassemble the history of the isotopes in the rivers and the consequences.

Where and when did a micro-accident happen that would explain the presence of the isotopes?”

Agnès is working with an independent Non-Governmental Organisation, ACRO (Association pour le Contrôle de la Radio-

An example of Kintsugi

Activité dans l’Ouest), based in Caen. ACRO has been monitoring the impact of the nuclear industry on the area for the past 30 years.

“I work with ACRO at releasing data about micro-accidents, which may or may not have been reported, that can be used by activists or industry, or anyone interested in the subject,” she said.

Speaking the unspoken through art Agnès’ work is shining a light on issues that are not spoken about.

“There was, and still is, a definite measure of silencing the facts,” she said. “The nuclear industry is very strong and protective of itself, and the nuclear installations are the primary employer in the region, so there is not much criticality as to what is going on.

“But I want to pay homage to the landscape, to bring it to the fore, along with the long tradition of violence against the landscape that’s been operating since the ‘60s. I want to pay attention to the place which has not, so far, been discussed.”

Agnès is using a mix of methods to expose facts about the landscape, and is focusing on

The St Helene river

a small river in the region, the St Helene, to gather material and images.

“The St Helene is a tiny river but it’s quite unique because it starts underneath a nuclear installation,” she explained. “It has a long history of contamination with different isotopes. I’m aiming to produce a visual biography of the river and its interaction with the toxic residues. To do this, I’ll be using a 360-degree camera to produce a virtual trip along the river, and will embed colour codes to show the radioactive level at certain spots.”

She is also going to use soil from the St Helene river, which is collected and monitored

by ACRO every month, to produce a series of ceramics, with the help of artist Naoko Fukumaru. They will use a Japanese technique called Kintsugi, which translates as ‘golden joinery’ and involves repairing broken pottery with gold leaf to enhance cracks.

“Kintsugi is about resilience and permanence,” explained Agnès. “It’s about enhancing the damage instead of hiding it. It’s a way of celebrating the broken dimension of ceramics and producing a different kind of beauty, and I think it’s a useful metaphor for my project – broken toxic soil.”

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Feature

THE PLACE EVERY POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHER NEEDS TO KNOW Starting out as a researcher can be overwhelming and daunting, as well as hugely exciting. There are research methods to understand, presentation and writing skills to acquire, public engagement to plan, and data analysis to develop – not to mention a research project to scope out.

The Doctoral College organises inductions and works with Professional Services and Faculties to provide development activities and workshops on presentation and writing skills, research methods, scoping out a research project, data analysis, public engagement, and the research landscape.

Aline Giordano, Doctoral College Manager, said: “We know how demanding and often solitary doctoral studies can be, so we are keen to facilitate a more compassionate and field-relational type of support for our doctoral researchers, in other words, support that is understanding of their environment.”

The Doctoral College is the go-to place for central support, from training and development, to wellbeing working in conjunction with Student Services. It also works closely with the Faculty Graduate Schools to ensure postgraduate researchers are well supported in all aspects of their studies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the way in which this is delivered, explained Chris: “We had to rapidly change the way we do things for PGRs. The move online has relieved some of the constraints we had in terms of training – we’re no longer limited to 30 people in a room, for example.

We now have the potential to offer a better range of training and development than we perhaps could have done before.”

The Doctoral College Festival is held every May to celebrate the work of doctoral researchers at Southampton. It includes the opportunity for doctoral students to exhibit their work in research showcases, plus other popular events such as Bake Your PhD, an awards ceremony and the Three Minute Thesis, as well as wellness activities.

Professional development is one of the key aims of the Doctoral College. Professor Chris Howls, Director of the Doctoral College, said: “The success of the research project and the production of the thesis is obviously really important, but it’s also about the development of the individual. It’s not just about producing the next generation of academic researchers. We are aiming also to train highly skilled individuals who can initiate, develop and see a complex project through to its end whether in academia or without.”

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A new training portal, the PGR Development Hub, launched in November, enabling more cross-disciplinary training and support.

Wellbeing is central to the Doctoral College, especially so during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A weekly coffee and chat, wellbeing events and online resources all focus on student wellbeing.

“ We’re not just training researchers, we are training highly skilled individuals who can develop and see a project through to its end.”

Professor Chris Howls Director of the Doctoral College

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/doctoral-college

The PGR Tracker is also managed by the Doctoral College. The tracker is a browser-based automated system to facilitate the monitoring of the progress of postgraduate researchers.

“External funders and quality assurance agencies expect us to monitor the progression of our doctoral researchers,” said Chris. “However there is also a wellbeing aspect to this. If we don’t monitor, people can occasionally drift, and they could drift for years without identifying issues that are barriers to progress. It’s an opportunity for those issues to surface in a formal way, taking any that need to be outside of the supervisor relationship, and/or escalated to the appropriate person, so that resolutions can be sought for the benefit of all.”

Version two of the PGR Tracker will be rolled out in 2021 and will be better integrated with the enrolling and logging of training, so that it may more easily provide a portfolio of evidence at the end of a PhD.

“The regulations and funding landscape are changing rapidly and it’s important for supervisors to keep up, so we offer opportunities for that,” explained Chris.

“Also, the supervisor/student relationship is one of the most intense relationships – getting that relationship right is really important.”

Funding is another strand to the Doctoral College’s work. It has been central to developing and implementing the University’s COVID-related funding extension scheme, supporting researchers to submit their thesis in as timely a way as possible. It also runs the annual Presidential Scholarships, which offers funding aimed at attracting the very best students, regardless of nationality.

The Doctoral College keeps in touch via its fortnightly newsletter, the Doctoral College Digest, which is emailed to every postgraduate student.

The Doctoral College was set up by the Senate to oversee and direct the development of the doctoral training environment at the University.

The Doctoral College Board is the most senior committee in the Doctoral College. It considers all elements of the doctoral training environment at Southampton.

The Board has academic and student representation from each Faculty and from Professional Services across the University. It reports directly to the Senate but works closely with University Executive Board and Faculties to develop and implement policies and processes for doctoral students at Southampton.

You can contact the Doctoral College at doctoral-college@soton.ac.uk

Training for supervisors is also organised by the Doctoral College, working with CHEP (the Centre for Higher Education Practice).

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For further information, visit: www.qs.com

Spotlight on…

SPOTLIGHT ON… QS RANKINGS What is QS and what are its ‘rankings’?

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is a global higher education company which publishes the QS World University Rankings (QS-WUR) both by institution and by subject. These rankings are very important to the University and its departments, as they demonstrate our considerable strengths at these levels.

Around the world the QS rankings are reviewed and appraised by potential students, academics, partner organisations and governmental funding agencies. Our performance in league tables such as the QS therefore has a significant impact on the University’s continued ability to attract the best.

This year, the University of Southampton performed well in QS World Rankings by Subject 2020, with several subject areas placing in the top 50 globally: these included Nursing, Statistics & Operational Research and Archaeology. These results have been built on by the University’s strong showing in the QS World University Rankings 2021 where Southampton maintained its place

amongst the world’s top 100 institutions at 90th overall.

How does it work?

The University’s performance that leads to it featuring in the world’s top 100 is powered principally by its continued improvement in reputational rating amongst academic peers and employers around the world, and good scores for research citations.

Academic reputation This metric makes the largest contribution to the QS-WUR, at 40 per cent (this percentage varies by subject in the QS-WUR

by Subject). QS asks academic respondents to identify up to two subjects in which they consider themselves expert, followed by the institutions that they consider to be excellent within one of five subject areas.

Employer reputation This is the other metric that involves QS survey results, contributing 10 per cent to the QS-WUR (and a percentage varying from 10–30 per cent in the QS-WUR by Subject).

QS asks employer respondents (which

can come from multiple people in any one employer) to identify universities that they consider to be excellent for the recruitment of graduates, as well as the disciplines from which they tend to recruit. As with the academic survey, employers register then QS sends them a link to the survey once it is live.

Why is it important?

We strive to do well in the rankings for the benefit of the entire University environment: • Diversity of student cohort – globally, QS is one of the most highly consulted rankings • Increases institutional reputation and choice as a partner • Improves staff recruitment • Southampton is a student’s first choice for their destination • Can assist with grant funding or support from companies • Without a good ranking Southampton may lose students who are sponsored by their government to study overseas, as they are often restricted to very highly ranked universities, such as top-100.

QS World Rankings 2020 results for Southampton:

Top 100

Top 50

Top 50

Top 50

Top 100 global university

Top 50 for Nursing

Top 50 for Statistics & Operational Research

Top 50 for Archaeology

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For further information, visit: www.buzzsprout.com/973294

UNIVERSI-TEA: THE UNIVERSITY’S FIRST PODCAST SERIES Introducing the University of Southampton’s brand new podcast series, Universi-Tea. Join alumna and staff member Jo Fisher as she catches up with colleagues from across the University over a virtual cuppa, and meet new people from across our University community.

The podcast was born in the height of lockdown as an opportunity to chat about adapting to working from home, and what people would usually be doing under normal circumstances. Its popularity has meant it’s been extended to a second season with another stellar line-up of guests.

Listen to this podcast to learn something new – not only about a subject you may never have touched on, but about an equally as interesting person with whom you have at least one thing in common: the University of Southampton.

Season 1:

Season 2 (in progress):

• Dr Neil Gostling Lecturer in Evolution and Palaeobiology • Dr Nikhil Mistry Research Fellow in Benthic Acoustics • Nick Povey Chief Security Officer • Delia Crowe Programme Leader for MA Fashion Design • Karen Robson Head of Archives • Jana Browne Fundraiser and Relationship Manager

• Professor Christer Petley Professor in History • Professor Will Jennings Professor of Political Science and Public Policy • Dr Harry Annison Associate Professor in Criminal Law and Criminology • Professor Denise Baden Professor of Sustainable Business • Dr Shelley Cobb Associate Professor of Film

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Research award highlights

RESEARCH AWARD HIGHLIGHTS FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES Prof Anne Curry; School of Humanities The Norman Rolls of Henry V 1417–1422 Leverhulme Trust; £22,500 over 24 months

Dr Peter Worsley; School of Health Sciences PREVENTion and treatment of Incontinence-Associated Dermatitis (IAD) through optimising care: development and feasibility of the IAD Manual (PREVENT-IAD) National Institute of Health Research; £127,013 over 24 months

Dr Will May; School of Humanities Invisible Mentors: British Poetry in Partnership, 1960–2020 AHRC; £144,157 over 15 months

Dr Elizabeth Davies; School of Biological Sciences The interactome of TRPA1 in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrotic Lung Fibroblasts AAIR Charity; £10,000 over 12 months

Dr Helen Spurling; School of Humanities Apocalypticism at the Emergence of Islam £58,864 over 36 months

Dr Thomas Gernon; School of Ocean and Earth Science Turing Enhancement Project: ‘Machine learning of seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing’ – building capability and widening application of a novel geospatial machine learning methodology Alan Turing Institute; £21,478 over 6 months

Dr Crystal El Safadi; School of Humanities Investigating Neolithic maritime landscapes and practice in the Levant and Cyprus Honor Frost Foundation; £29,077 over 12 months FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND LIFE SCIENCES Dr Samatha Cockings; School of Geography & Environmental Science with Prof David Martin and Andrew Harfoot Geospatial Research in support of Census collection and outputs Office For National Statistics; £30,900 over 9 months Prof Jane Burridge; School of Health Sciences Social-network cooperative-gaming for population-level peer-to-peer physical training National Institute of Health Research; £64,873 over 36 months Prof Lucy Yardley; School of Psychology Southern Health NHS Trust 2020/21 Research capability funding Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust; £58,660 over 12 months Dr Jacqui Prieto; School of Health Sciences ‘StOP UTI’ – Strategies for Older People living in care homes to prevent Urinary Tract Infection: a realist synthesis of the evidence National Institute of Health Research; £239,416 over 18 months Dr Werenfrid Wimmer; School of Ocean and Earth Science FRM4SST (Fiducial Reference Measurements for Sea Surface Temperature) European Space Agency; £35,137 over 6 months Prof Claire Foster; School of Health Sciences The PAM Evaluation: How relevant is the Patient Activation Measure in supporting personalised care for people diagnosed with cancer?

NHS England; £70,000 over 12 months Dr Nick Clarke; School of Geography & Environmental Science Learning to Live with Risk and Responsibility: Understanding Popular Responses to COVID-19 British Academy; £7,568 over 24 months Dr Julian Leyland; School of Geography & Environmental Science Ongoing impacts from the surge in sand mining during COVID-19: Enhanced river bank erosion hazard and risk in Vietnam’s Mekong delta UK Research and Innovation (GCRF-Newton); £167,272 over 12 months Prof Alberto Naveira Garabato; School of Ocean and Earth Science Drivers of Oceanic Change in the Amundsen Sea Natural Environment Research Council; £380,085 over 60 months

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Prof Anne-Sophie Darlington; School of Health Sciences How to support children with cancer and their parents during the COVID-19 outbreak?: understanding experiences, information and support needs, and decision-making – the SHARE study Childrens Cancer and Leukaemia Group; £5,429 over 6 months Prof Andrew Tatem; School of Geography & Environmental Science GRID3 COVID-19 Support Scale Up Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; £108,401 over 10 months Prof Sybren Drijfhout; School of Ocean and Earth Science Wider Impacts of Subpolar North Atlantic variability on the ocean and atmosphere (WISHBONE) Natural Environment Research Council; £23,238 over 36 months Dr Peter Lawrence; School of Psychology Preventing Anxiety in Children of Anxious Parents, co-investigator Kavli Trust; £583,000 over 36 months.

Dr Nick Ruktanonchai; School of Geography & Environmental Science Using mobile data for supporting malaria modelling to provide an evidence base for supporting elimination strategy design in Mozambique Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; £70,720 over 6 months Dr Marcin Przewloka; School of Biological Sciences Novel Role of a Protein Phosphatase in Chromosome Segregation Wellcome Trust; £19,451 over 6 months Dr Darja Reuschke; School of Geography & Environmental Science Addressing inclusivity in the spatial and social impacts of COVID-19 on the selfemployed in the UK UK Research and Innovation; £65,449 over 18 months Dr Salah Elias; School of Biological Sciences Uncovering the Molecular Mechanisms of Asymmetric Cell Divisions in Mammalian Adult Epithelia Wellcome Trust; £19,373 over 6 months Prof Max Crispin; School of Biological Sciences ‘Defining the role and impact of HIV glycosylation on antigenicity, immunogenicity and vaccine strategies’ International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) through a grant from the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discover funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; £1,712,411 over 36 months Dr James Gavin; School of Health Sciences OT Time Out (OTTO): facilitated peer support for newly qualified Occupational Therapists (OT)s in COVID-19 and beyond Elizabeth Casson Trust; £13,682 over 24 months

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/research

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES Prof Dame Wendy Hall; School of Electronics and Computer Science Risk Models of National Identity Systems Alan Turing Institute; £75,410 over 12 months Mr Fraser McLeod; School of Engineering Understanding freight decarbonisation investment decisions EPSRC; £9,048 over 5 months Prof Stephen Turnock; School of Engineering Using Computer Vision on SAR Satellite Images to Study Wake Effects in Offshore Wind Farms in Europe Research England; £29,672 over 6 months Prof Neil White; School of Electronics and Computer Science TriagED: Decision support algorithms for Emergency Departments Alan Turing Institute; £8,598 over 3 months Prof Philip Bartlett; School of Chemistry Correlative Raman, SEM and EDX for operando electrochemistry research EPSRC; £709,704 over 24 months Prof Yifeng Yang; School of Engineering HL-LHC-UK2: Phase two of UK project for high luminosity upgrade of the LHC Science And Technology Facilities Council; £2,055,607 over 60 months Prof Stephen Beeby; School of Electronics and Computer Science Electronic textiles: towards invisible and ubiquitous wearable technologies Royal Academy of Engineering; £2,780,000 over 120 months Prof Phillip Joseph; School of Engineering QUIET AEROFOIL WITH ADAPTIVE POROUS SURFACES (QUADPORS) EPSRC; £365,600 over 30 months Prof Peter Smith; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics with Dr Corin Gawith Upconversion imaging using PPLN waveguides Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL); £137,526 over 42 months

Dr Richard Wills; School of Engineering RELCo-Bat: Reclaimed Electrolyte, Low Cost Flow Battery Faraday Institution; £516,730 over 24 months (£306,036 to UoS) Prof Hywel Morgan; School of Electronics and Computer Science Bacterial Impedance Cytometry for Rapid Antibiotic Susceptibly Testing National Institute of Health Research; £501,860 over 36 months Prof Hywel Morgan; School of Electronics and Computer Science H2020 – TechOceanS European Commission; £961,639 over 48 months Dr Corina Cirstea; School of Electronics and Computer Science COVER: COalgebraic Foundations for Quantitative VERification Leverhulme Trust; £206,440 over 36 months Prof Sarvapali Ramchurn; School of Electronics and Computer Science UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub EPSRC; £7,440,873 over 48 months Dr Alexander Weddell; School of Electronics and Computer Science SAFEGUARD –IoT Power Management and Optimisation Research England; £29,901 over 3 months Prof Chris-Kriton Skylaris; School of Chemistry Multiscale modelling of batteries Faraday Institution; £903,918 over 24 months Dr Benjamin Mills; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics Lasers that Learn: AI-enabled intelligent materials processing EPSRC; £566,566 over 36 months Prof Sumeet Mahajan; School of Chemistry Transformative Healthcare 2050 – Optical ‘X-rays’ for Walk Through Diagnosis & Therapy EPSRC: £1,939,813 over 60 months Dr Adam Sobey; School of Engineering Integrating AI into Silverstream Technologies for more efficient shipping Innovate UK; £127,517 over 24 months

Prof Michael Butler; School of Electronics and Computer Science Holistic Design of Secure Systems on Capability Hardware EPSRC; £1,030,182 over 46 months

Dr Simon Blainey; School of Engineering Transport Decarbonisation Scenarios for England’s Economic Heartland Buckinghamshire County Council; £15,880 over 3 months

Dr Gary Wills; School of Electronics and Computer Science NFeedback: AI to add accessible and personalised feedback systems to online teaching and learning environments Innovate UK; £59,250 over 9 months

Dr Simon Blainey; School of Engineering Decision Support Systems for Resilient Strategic Transport Networks in Low Income Countries Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); £284,750 over 24 months

Prof Andrew Hector; School of Chemistry Next generation ammonia synthesis: a highly integrated computational modelling and experimental approach EPSRC; £517,448 over 48 months Prof Hugh Lewis; School of Engineering Space Weather Instrumentation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk: Thermosphere (SWIMMR-T) Natural Environment Research Council; £103,026 over 34 months Prof Neil Sandham; School of Engineering Turbulent Flow Simulations at the Exascale: Application to Wind Energy and Green Aviation EPSRC; £7,231 over 15 months Dr Corin Gawith and Dr James Gates; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics QT Assemble: Integrated Quantum Technology Programme Innovate UK; £758,091 over 36 months

Prof Neville Stanton; School of Engineering. Dr Katie Plant, Dr Rich McIlroy co-investigators.

STARS Supplement National Institute of Health Research; £260,000 over 12 months Dr Timothy Lee; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics Laser assisted manufacturing of taps for high power fibre lasers Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL); £212,700 over 12 months Prof Bharathram Ganapathisubramani; School of Engineering Secondary currents in turbulent flows over rough walls EPSRC; £774,192 over 48 months Dr Basel Halak; School of Electronics and Computer Science SECUR Royal Academy of Engineering; £86,030 over 24 months

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Research award highlights Dr Frederic Gardes; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics QUantum Dot On Silicon systems for communications, information processing and sensing (QUDOS) EPSRC; £1,687,171 over 60 months Prof Mark Sullivan; School of Physics and Astronomy MoleGazer: Proof-of-concept study to improve early detection of melanoma using time-series analyses of evolution of naevi European Commission; €150,000 over 18 months Dr Rand Ismaeel; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics Real time environmental monitoring of ocean methane and hydrocarbon levels through optical fibre isotope detector Royal Academy of Engineering; £499,837 over 60 months Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez; School of Chemistry H2020-FETPROACT-2019-2020 – SULFUR ALUMINIUM BATTERIES TOWARDS REAL MARKET European Commission; £228,089 over 24 months Dr Francesco Shankar; School of Physics and Astronomy A smart algorithm for optimising hypertension management strategies Alan Turing Institute; £8,548 over 2 months Dr Adriane Chapman; School of Electronics and Computer Science ProvAnon – supplement to RCP10022 Alan Turing Institute; £8,048 over 2 months Dr Marcus Newton; School of Physics and Astronomy Time Resolved Imaging of Multifunctional Materials in Three Dimensions Short Title/acronym: TRIMM3D RCUK; £1,151,969 over 48 months Dr Jize Yan; School of Electronics and Computer Science Integrated levitated optomechanical gravimeter EPSRC; £836,587 over 36 months Dr Massimiliano Manfren; School of Engineering Developing a Tool Kit for Knowledge Integration UK Research and Innovation; £11,232 over 6 months Dr George Konstantinidis; School of Electronics and Computer Science Open-source Private Data Integration Alan Turing Institute; £24,977 over 6 months Dr Dimitra Georgiadou; Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics Fast response on-chip temperature sensors (FaCTS). Overseas partner organisation is the SRM Institute of Science and Technology in India Royal Society Yusuf Hamied International Exchange Award; £11,965 over 24 months

FACULTY OF MEDICINE Prof Ian Clarke; Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Virology, Clinical and Experimental Sciences Saturation Transposon mutagenesis of Chlamydia trachomatis Wellcome Trust; £31,076 over 6 months Prof Myron Christodoulides; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Application to the Hamied Foundation UK-India AMR Visiting Professorships 2020 The Academy of Medical Sciences; £2,595 over 12 months Prof Myron Christodoulides; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Diagnostics and vaccines for Visceral Leishmaniasis British Academy; over 12 months Prof Paul Little; Primary Care and Population Sciences SPCR Administrative Funds National Institute of Health Research; £12,500 over 6 months Prof Paul Little; Primary Care and Population Sciences Career Development Support National Institute of Health Research; £10,000 over 6 months Prof Cyrus Cooper; Human Development and Health University Unit Strategic Partnership Funding: University Unit: MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton MRC; £1,280,000 over 6 months Prof Mark Cragg; Cancer Sciences The Immune Regulation of Macrophage Antibody Dependent Cellular Phagocytosis National Institutes of Health – USA; £576,981 over 60 months Prof Aymen Al-Shamkhani; Cancer Sciences Evaluation of the activity and mechanism of action of BT7401 Cancer Research UK; £143,651 over 18 months Prof Roxana-Octavia Carare; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Adrenergic innervation: a target for Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimers Research UK; £99,924 over 12 months Dr Ramesh Kurukulaaratchy; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Circulating miRNAs as a diagnostic test for asthma and to identify asthma severity risk Asthma UK/Innovate UK Project Grants 2019; £177,927 over 36 months Prof Richard Oreffo; Human Development and Health Renovite – pioneering use of synthetic nanoclays in regenerative medicine Innovate UK; £61,923 over 12 months Prof Benjamin Macarthur; Human Development and Health Mapping biology from mouse to man using transfer learning – extension Alan Turing Institute; £8,435 over 2 months Prof Anneke Lucassen; Cancer Sciences and Clinical Ethics and Law. Developing a responsive, ethics research service for UK Biobank: ensuring robust ethical justification for current and future activity Wellcome Trust; £400,000 over 48 months Dr Andrew Cook; Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, Wessex Institute Shared Training and Assessment of Well-Being for Looked-After Children (STrAWB): Feasibility and Pilot Study NIHR Public Health Research Programme; £18,415 over 30 months.

Dr Edd James; Cancer Sciences Training experts in antigen processing to deliver new drug prototypes for cancer and autoimmune diseases European Commission; £485,072 over 48 months Prof Ying Cheong; Human Development and Health OHSS HTA Study (Sheffield University NHS Foundation Trust Lead) National Institute of Health Research; £19,093 over 60 months

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For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/research

Prof Diana Baralle; Human Development and Health DRAGON: rapiD and secuRe AI imaging based diaGnosis, stratification, fOllow-up, and preparedness for coronavirus paNdemics European Commission; £191,173 over 36 months Dr Marta Polak; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Sir Henry Dale Fellowship: Targeting human langerhans cells to induce longlasting tolerance in allergy Wellcome Trust; £808,000 over 5 years Prof Michael Grocott; Clinical and Experimental Sciences COVID-19 Aerosolized Surfactant Clinical Trial Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; US$ 1,298,313 over 1 year Prof Gareth Thomas; Cancer Sciences Suppressing cancer-associated fibroblasts to overcome immunotherapy resistance: target discovery Cancer Research UK; £178,314 over 24 months Dr Cornelia Blume; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Establishment of a human primary alveolar-endothelial co-culture model to investigate mechanisms of lung diseases including COVID-19 AAIR Charity; £9,986 over 12 months Dr Elizabeth Curtis; Human Development and Health The influence of maternal gestational vitamin D supplementation on offspring DNA methylation in childhood – the MAVIDOS trial The Academy of Medical Sciences; £29,984 over 16 months Dr Franco Conforti; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Investigating the consequence of SARS-Cov-2 infection of Type 2 alveolar cells upon alveolar-fibroblast crosstalk during lung injury/repair AAIR Charity; £9,980 over 12 months Dr Anastasia Theodosoiu; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Defining upper respiratory colonisation and microbiome evolution in motherinfant pairs following Neisseria lactamica inoculation in late pregnancy MRC; £285,501 over 36 months Dr Kalyanaraman Kumaran; Human Development and Health Optimal preconconception nutrition to offset inflammation and noncommunicable disease risk in pregnant women and their children in China, India and South Africa (OPTIMISE) MRC GCRF Mechanisms in Nutrition; £437,626 over 60 months Professor Kate Ward; Human Development and Health Fractures in Sub-Saharan Africa: an epidemiological, economic and ethnographic investigation NIHR-Wellcome Trust Global Health Partnership Award; £3,687,563 (£119,650 to Southampton) over 60 months

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Dr Antonella Ianni; School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences On the Economics of Salience British Academy; £9,000 over 12 months Prof Melanie Nind (PI) Southampton Education School, Director – Centre for Research in Inclusion, Co-director – National Centre for Research Methods Changing Research Practice: Undertaking social science research in the context of COVID-19 ESRC, £22,228 over 6 months Prof Leor Barack; School of Mathematical Sciences LISA GROUND SEGMENT Science And Technology Facilities Council; £9,484 over 7 months Dr David Clifford; School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on charitable organisations UK Research and Innovation; £34,728 over 18 months Dr Jane Parry; Southampton Business School with Dr Mina Beigi, Dr Michail Veliziotis, and Professor Yehuda Baruch How is the COVID-19 accidental experiment around working from home changing the way the UK will work after the lockdown?

UK Research and Innovation; £214,820 over 18 months Prof Rosalind Edwards; School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences H2020-WIDESPREAD-2018-2020: Lifecourse perspectives in studying youth transition to adulthood: bridging qualitative and quantitative approaches European Commission; £176,537 over 36 months Prof Marika Taylor; School of Mathematical Sciences Data science approaches to applied mathematical modelling Alan Turing Institute; £25,000 over 6 months Prof Yehuda Baruch; Southampton Business School A proposed seminar: Health-workers’ Workplace Victimization in OECD Countries British Council; £4,500 over 24 months Dr Carlos Mafra; School of Mathematical Sciences Royal Society University Research Fellowship Royal Society; £361,804 over 36 months Dr Pamela Ugwudike; School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences A Multidisciplinary Study of Predictive Technologies in the Justice System.

Alan Turing Institute; £65,812 over 18 months

Dr Sara Waise; Cancer Sciences Illuminating the complex rearrangement landscape of sarcoma Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland; £210,388 over 48 months Prof Nicholas Francis; Primary Care and Population Sciences Diagnosing streptococcal throat infections in adults and children in community pharmacies National Institute of Health Research; £105,696 over 9 months Prof Nicholas Francis; Primary Care and Population Sciences Longitudinal study of suspected COVID-19 in the community National Institute of Health Research; £99,261 over 9 months Dr Vito Mennella; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Characterization of a novel ACE-2 isoform and its role in SARS-Cov-2 infection AAIR Charity; £10,000 over 12 months Dr Vito Mennella; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Is there a sensing antenna in airway cells?

AAIR Charity; £10,000 over 12 months

This list encompasses a selection of awards logged with University of Southampton Finance from June to September 2020 that are not considered commercially sensitive.

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Find out more: www.southampton.ac.uk/ris reaction@southampton.ac.uk +44 (0)23 8059 4694 Research and Innovation Services (RIS) facilitates academic collaborations, research funding bids, industrial interactions and knowledge exchange activities, including commercialisation and business acceleration. RIS also supports research ethics and integrity, research contracting and the REF.

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