Research

During the pandemic, one of the biggest human rights and equity challenges to emerge, was the vast difference in access to COVID-19 vaccines experienced by low and middle-income countries. Sharifah SekalalaLink opens in a new window, Professor of Global Health Law at Warwick Law School, is collaborating with Professor Lisa FormanLink opens in a new window, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, to research the human rights impact of COVID-19.

Sekalala and Forman recently won a prestigious Connaught Global Challenge Fund award for a project to bring together international human rights law and health policy experts to develop strategies, for civil society and policymakers, around health equity in future global crises. They are also developing an interdisciplinary global health and human rights training programme.

The project provides unique opportunities for collaboration and exchange for University of Toronto and University of Warwick students, broadening its impact and providing students access to new academic and cultural environments.

Sekalala says "I am very excited to be training the next generation of researchers in health and human rights. The diversity of the projects that we see is truly amazing and illustrates the value of thinking critically about the role of human rights in achieving health outcomes. Additionally, the collaboration between the University of Warwick School, University of Toronto Law School, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and our partner organisations KELIN in Kenya and Afya and Ahaki in Uganda enable us to create a truly special program that draws on several knowledge systems in order to enable our students to gain both research and practical experience."

Our brains contain a number of metals including copper, iron, and zinc — all of which have different roles in helping the brain function. Changes in the levels and the chemical form of these metals are tied to neurological disease. The brains of Alzheimer’s patients, for example, have altered distributions and chemical states of iron.

In an effort to better understand how metals are organised in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, Professor Joanna CollingwoodLink opens in a new window, School of Engineering, is collaborating with colleagues at University of Toronto, University of Texas at San Antonio, and University of Florida, to delve deeper into the mechanisms that are causing changes in the iron chemistry of diseased brain tissue. Through their findings, they hope not only to advance our understanding of metals in the brain, but also to inform future treatments of diseases.

Collingwood says, “According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases, and currently has no known cure. At this time, when the community is desperately trying to treat people and ideally protect them from developing the disease, anything that can offer a way of managing factors that make cells more vulnerable would be a great step forward.”

Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) refers to autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars. Research and development in this area offers significant opportunities for delivering improved road safety, and for making our transport systems cleaner, and more efficient.

Professor Carsten MapleLink opens in a new window (WMG), and Assistant Professor Konstantinos Koufos Link opens in a new window(Future Mobility Technology, WMG), are leading a collaboration in the field of Connected and Autonomous Mobility (CAM) with Professor Henry LiuLink opens in a new window, at the University of Michigan. Lui is the Director of Mcity, the University of Michigan’s mobility centre and test facility; a real-world environment for learning, innovating and exploring mobility systems and their role in our future communities.

Both groups of researchers have strong expertise in modular automated driving systems and their experimental implications. They also have shared interests in areas such as perception sensors and systems, cybersecurity, and resilience of vehicle sensing technology. Working collaboratively, they hope to make a fundamental contribution to realising safe and secure autonomous driving.

There is increasing recognition that high costs and resource use of traditional randomised controlled trials can be prohibitive and become a barrier to effective research. This is especially true in acute care research where opportunity to recruit to research can be short. Efficiency of clinical trials can be improved by innovative efficient trial management approaches as well as novel trial designs, and harnessing power of health informatics.

Professor Joyce YeungLink opens in a new window and Professor Nigel StallardLink opens in a new window (Warwick Clinical Trials Unit) are collaborating with Professor Robert NeumarLink opens in a new window and Professor Sachin KheterpalLink opens in a new window at the University of Michigan Medical School, on a project to improve clinical trials methodology and delivery.

The project aims to develop collaboration between research teams between Warwick and Michigan on new research ideas in emergency and perioperative research as well as promoting international best practice for innovative trial designs and delivery, and use of health informatics. Through the sharing of knowledge and expertise, the researchers hope to move beyond what can currently be achieved by the established research groups in each university and strengthen global networks in this area.