Knowledge for a changing world
Ben Rogaly
Working with Dr Raminder Kaur, Dr Kaveri Qureshi and four arts practitioners, Dr Ben Rogaly is leading a multimedia oral history project in the city of Peterborough. Its residents’ stories connect the city – with its long history of migration (including from London and from the Fens), new town settlements, Polish newspapers, new mosques, temples and ancient cathedral – with many other places near and far. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Connected Communities programme in collaboration with the Royal Society of Arts, the project aims to enhance mutual understanding and respect both in the city and beyond.
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Melanie Newport
Podoconiosis (geochemical elephantiasis) affects bare-footed subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This painful, stigmatising disease prevents them working or attending school and imposes immense economic burdens on affected families and national economies. At the Brighton and Sussex Medical School – a partnership between the Universities of Brighton and Sussex and the NHS – Professor in Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Melanie Newport is applying her knowledge to unravel the genetic basis of podoconiosis in Ethiopia. Her research helps direct precious resources like shoes to those most at risk. But her research goes further – characterising gene abnormalities in podoconiosis could contribute to tackling tuberculosis, HIV and malaria globally.
Naser Sayma
As we face the twin challenges of adapting to climate change and developing sustainable energy technologies, Naser Sayma, Professor in Computational Fluid Dynamics at Sussex, is leading ground-breaking research into efficient distributed energy systems, which could help reduce energy wastage by recycling wasted heat into energy. Domestic-scale combined heat and power systems and waste heat recovery units require the development of novel technologies in micro-scale rotating machinery. Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, with support from industry, research on waste heat recovery is making a significant contribution to maximising energy efficiency globally.
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Stefan Elbe
From AIDS and SARS through to avian flu and swine flu, a number of diseases have recently raised the highest levels of political concern around the world. But to what extent does the international spread of disease threaten global security and how do security concerns shape the way states try to protect people? Through interviews with policy-makers, health professionals and drug manufacturers on how to improve pandemic preparedness and global health security, Stefan Elbe, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Centre for Global Health Policy, is working to improve people’s health around the world by the advancement of rigorous research on global health policy.
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Visit the Centre for Global Health Policy.
Vinita Damodaran
Dr Vinita Damodaran, Director of the Centre for World Environmental History at Sussex, is part of an exciting collaborative research project with the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. Focusing on the conservation and digitisation of the Indian correspondence of Joseph Dalton Hooker, former Director of Kew from 1865 to 1885, the research will promote links between UK and Indian institutions and help prioritise fragile materials held at Kolkata botanical gardens.
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Visit the Centre for World Environmental History.
Dominic Kniveton
Recent humanitarian crises have highlighted the increasing role of the climate in putting stress on people’s lives and livelihoods. While considerable progress has been made in forecasting the weather and climate, there remains a gap between the production of climate science and the use of it by communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate variability and change. Dominic Kniveton, Professor of Climate Science and Society, uses historical cultural events in sub-Saharan Africa to focus local community memories of past rainfall events in order to build an understanding of uncertainties in climate information and to combine scientific information with local knowledge to produce informed action that builds community and household resilience.
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Jim Watson
Energy policies are rarely out of the headlines. They are driven by the need for wide-ranging transitions in the way we produce and use energy – primarily to tackle climate change, but also to ensure that energy is secure and affordable. Led by Jim Watson, Professor of Energy Policy at SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research, the Sussex Energy Group is engaging with policy-makers and practitioners in the UK, EU and the developing world to identify ways of achieving the transition to sustainable, low-carbon energy systems while addressing other key policy objectives such as energy security.
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Visit the Sussex Energy Group.
Dimitris Dalakoglou
Dr Dimitris Dalakoglou, Lecturer in Anthropology, was awarded an ESRC-Future 
Research Leaders grant for his project ‘The City at the Time of Crisis’.
This project will trace and research crisis-ridden urban public
spaces in Athens, Greece by studying the transformations of public
spaces in Athens, the social crisis that accompanies the structural
adjustments of Greece’s economy and its social implications for the country.
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Visit the project website 