- How to Build Large Scale Academic Collaborations
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The seminar was developed by the Global Transformations and Environment and Health theme leads with the purpose of providing a forum for the discussion and exploration of processes and challenges involved in the development of large, interdisciplinary academic collaborations. Talks were given in March 2011 by Sussex staff with valuable experience in these areas.
- Digging into Data
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The Digital and Social Media Theme, in collaboration with the Environment and Health Theme, arranged a meeting of Sussex researchers to scope interest in collaborative research exploiting large data sets in the context of humanities and the social sciences to novel effect. The meeting, held in April 2011, identified existing expertise at Sussex in techniques for the visualisation of data, computational linguistics using written text and sound media, image recognition, data mining and crowd sourcing. Potential applications identified included the analysis of data about key national monuments and of large health datasets from a life history perspective.
- Talking Global Health
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The Theme co-sponsored the 'Talking Global Health' event which took place on 13 July 2011. The event brought 70 people together from wide ranging backgrounds including the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, the Institute of Development Studies and a number of locally-based non-governmental organisations. The aim was to create an informal environment where people could present their work and make connections, whilst promoting the Global Health activities of Sussex. The first session ‘setting the scene’ included talks on climate change, early life interventions and the Brighton-Zambia Health Link, giving an indication of the breadth of work ongoing in both Universities. There was a series of ‘snapshot’ talks allowing members of the audience to introduce their work and provide a basis for networking over lunch. The afternoon was spent in small discussion groups covering 5 topical themes:- Global Health Diplomacy: How can we make global health a greater international priority?
- Social Determinants of Health: Do we know what really matters to reduce health inequalities?
- Empowered communities': political correctness or global health core?
- Is the focus of millennium development goal 5 enough to improve maternal health?
- Depression as 2nd largest global health challenge – science, social construct or delusion?’
Stimulating keynote talks were given by Peter Aggleton (University of Sussex) who shared his experience of developing sexual health programme guidance for WHO and Richard Wilkinson, Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, who presented on the ground-breaking work published in his book The Spirit Level: why equality is better for everyone’; and Peter Aggleton, Professor of Education, Social Work and Social Care at the University of Sussex who presented on ‘Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Health - from Practice to Policy - the Development of WHO guidelines’. - Maths, Computation and Biology ‘Speed Dating’
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Many biologists, mathematicians and informaticians across the University and Medical School are keen to work more closely together, but need a better understanding of who may have the skills they need to work with. In order to support the developing capacity within biomathematics, the Environment and Health theme organised this Maths, Computation and Biology speed dating event. Through a series of short presentations and ‘blind dates’, the event enabled life sciences and medical researchers to pitch their analysis wishes against analysts’ expertise from faculty in mathematics, informatics and physics.The event, held in November 2011, has led to a number of active collaborations, and has laid the groundwork for a bioinformatics network. The list of attendees and the presentations given are available to view.
- Environment and Health Showcase
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The event in July 2012 brought people together from wide ranging backgrounds including Sociology, Social Work, BSMS, Medical Engineering, SPRU, IR, Geography, Informatics, BSMS, Psychology, Maths and Environmental Science.The aim was to create an informal environment for faculty, researchers and postgraduate students to network around common interests, share and develop emerging research ideas, and to advise on how the Research Themes can support new collaborations.
The event started with short presentations given by faculty from across campus that highlighted environment and health related research interests within their groups/departments and focused on current research areas they would like to develop. This included talks from Erik Millstone (SPRU), Constantino Carlos Reyes-Aldasoro (Engineering and Design), Peter Newell (International Relations), Catherine Will (Sociology), Istvan Kiss (Mathematics) and Gail Davey (Clinical Medicine).
The afternoon was spent in small round table discussion groups covering 5 topical themes:
- Ageing
- Ecology / Wildlife
- Infections
- Intelligent Environments
- Unequal Environments
The purpose of these break-out groups was to explore potential directions for research collaboration in the respective fields of interest, and to make recommendations for networks that will support future research excellence. The day concluded with a final feedback session and drinks reception.
A handout with the research interests and contact details of the speakers, event attendees and researchers interested in similar topics is available.
- Publication without Pain
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Jackie Cassell (Theme Leader for Environment and Health),Laurence Pearl (Head of Life Sciences) and Gail Davey (Reader in Global Health) led this valuable session on publishing research results in the Medical and Life Sciences in July 2012. Matters discussed included identifying the right home for your research, interpreting and following journal guidelines and how best to present findings.
- Digital Ways of Knowing
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A workshop on the role of digital systems in research practice was held in June 2012. During the workshop, researchers from across campus discussed a range of conceptual and practical questions regarding the place of digital systems in their research. If the digital is the language of our time, how does this shape the conditions of contemporary perception, knowledge, creativity and expertise in different disciplines or fields? How do digital ways of knowing help and hinder researchers in different areas? How do digital systems, technologies or languages shape academic disciplines or research areas? What are the advantages and opportunities offered by this and what are the difficulties? This event was also supported by the Digital and Social Media theme and ACCA.
- Global Flows, Human Rights, Sexual and Reproductive Health
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The Theme co-sponsored an international conference at the University in July 2011 entitled 'Global Flows, Human Rights, Sexual and Reproductive Health: Ethnographies of Institutional Change in the Global South'.
Focusing specifically on the globalising of facts around reproductive and sexual health, the conference brought together experts from across the social sciences to critically reflect on the way in which human rights ideas and conventions are shaping the development discourse and on-the-ground outcomes in sexual, maternal and reproductive health in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The conference also provided a space to debate broader issues in the gendered politics of rights such as whether rights are an appropriate means for achieving sexual & reproductive health of the poor and marginalised and to what extent a rights focus on the bodies of poor women forms part of a wider set of exclusionary discourses.
The conference was part of an ongoing research project funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council entitled ‘Realising Global Rights to Health: An ethnographic analysis of rights-based organisations in promoting reproductive health in India’.
- Researching a Deadly Virus
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The Centre for Global Health Policy hosted this timely debate in May 2012, with support from the Theme. According to the World Health Organization, more than 50% of people infected with highly pathogenic bird flu (H5N1) have died. So why did two publicly funded university research teams (in Holland and the USA) try to develop new H5N1 viruses that could transmit more easily between humans? And why do they want to publish the findings of how they did it in leading scientific journals? The high risks to human health involved, combined with the risk of bioterrorism, has prompted calls for deeper reflection on the implications of such 'dangerous' research. The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) even took the unprecedented step of requesting that the journals Science and Nature withhold key information when publishing the results. With the UK Cabinet Office risk register listing influenza pandemic as the number one civil emergency risk, should scientists researching viruses be censored? What are the ethics of developing strains of deadly viruses in the lab? How should governments balance security issues with those of health?
The event brought together a panel of experts intimately connected to the controversy to address questions of research ethics, security, and more. - Making Healthy Environments
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As part of the 50th anniversary, we celebrated our academic rigour with a series of six Sussex Conversations featuring leading thinkers of our age. The Environment and Health conversation was held in November 2011. This conversation examined the definition of ‘health’ and asked how ideas of health are changing whilst considering what makes a healthy environment. The conversation also raised the subject of how health is influenced by the physical, the social and the cultural environment, while inequalities result from relative deprivation as well as from absolute poverty.The discussion explored:
- What is “health”?
- Do we accept the World Health Organisation definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”
- Is health a property of individuals, groups or societies and how is our idea of health changing?
- What is a healthy environment?
You can watch the discussion on the Sussex Conversations webpage.
- Beyond Clinical Research
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On Monday 8th June, the Environment and Health Research Theme hosted Beyond Clinical Research, a half day workshop to support the Sussex research community in taking advantage of the broad range of non-clinical health orientated research funding opportunities within the remit of the National Institutes for Health Research (NIHR).
The event sought to challenge the idea that health research is only for clinicians and health care providers. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is a UK Government funder which seeks to make improvements to all aspects of Health and Social Care by including academic input from social work, education, psychology, law, sociology, policy and humanities in addition to clinicians and practitioners.
Talks were given by Sarah McDonald, from Research and Enterprise Services, Professor Valerie Hall, Director of NIHR Research Design Service South East and Professor Peter Davidson, director of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme.
Sarah McDonald opened the workshop with a whistle-stop tour of the NIHR funding streams available and offered advice on the schemes that would be most suited to non-clinicians. This was followed by Professor Davidson who discussed opportunities for collaborative funding and highlighted what the NIHR is looking for in a project, as well as the main reasons that projects are not awarded funding.
Professor Valerie Hall gave an overview of the services offered by the Research Design Service to academics looking to apply to the NIHR. Based at the University of Brighton, the RDS South East is able to offer free advice and support to NHS researchers as well as advice on all aspects of preparing grant applications.
This event brought together a diverse network of academics from Sociology, Law, International Relations, Social Work, Psychology, Maths and BSMS who are interested in developing health orientated funding bids and building collaborations. Further information on NIHR is available here and information on the Research Design Service can be found here. Sarah MacDonald’s powerpoint is available here.