Departmental news

Warwick Medical School is delighted to welcome the new appointment of Professor Charles Craddock CBE to the Clinical Trials Unit as Professor of Haemato-Oncology. Professor Craddock will take a lead role in developing high-quality research programmes in clinical and cost effectiveness research of cancer therapies and support the University’s work on Innovation particularly in the health theme including the development of the University’s supra-regional health innovation campus Arden Cross and other projects - Read more here.

Homes in conservation areas may be responsible for between 3 and 4million tons of avoidable CO2 emissions every year.

 Retrofitting homes can not only improve energy efficiency, but also reduce household bills and lower carbon footprint. Retrofitting can be a complex and costly process for any household. But new research shows that additional restrictions in conservation areas are putting residents off making changes to their homes, changes that could reduce the UK’s CO2 emissions by between 3 and 4 million tonnes every year.

There are over 10,000 conservation areas in England, and every local authority has at least one. Some local authorities, such as Bath, Islington and Westminster, have over 50% of their housing stock in conservation areas.

In most conservation areas, adding photovoltaic installations that are visible from the street, exterior wall insulation or window replacements requires planning permission from the local authority. Professor Thiemo FetzerLink opens in a new window, from the University of Warwick and the CAGE Research CentreLink opens in a new window, has calculated the extent to which these restrictions are deterring homeowners from making their homes more energy efficient.

Analysing data from Energy Performance Certificates and granular actual energy consumption data at postcode level for 239 English local authorities for which data was available, Professor Fetzer calculated the ‘energy efficiency gap’ of homes in conservation areas. He found that the 2 million properties inside conservation areas could save between 17,000 and 21,500 GwH in energy per year and between 3 and 4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year if they were retrofitted to the highest standard.

Most homes across the country are not fitted to the highest standard of energy efficiency. But a comparison of retrofitting of homes inside conservation areas with homes of a similar age, size, price, council tax status, and location outside conservation areas shows that homes in conservation areas are falling behind on retrofitting. In fact, this ‘retrofit gap’ (the difference in the amount and quality of retrofitting between homes in conservation areas and similar homes outside conservation areas) accounts for between 5 and 15% of the energy efficiency gap in conservation areas.

As properties outside conservation areas can retrofit at a faster rate (because they do not have to wait for planning departments to approve the works) this retrofit gap is widening.

The research demonstrates the urgent need for policymakers to find ways to make retrofitting easier in conservation areas. Professor Fetzer said,

Through retrofitting residents can play their part in addressing the climate crisis. But the data suggests that restrictions in conservation areas are a significant barrier. Removing or reforming these restrictions is something that all local authorities should look at urgently.

A toolkit developed by Christopher Procter of the Architects Climate Action NetworkLink opens in a new window may provide some concrete input into effective changes that councils across the UK should consider.

Professor Fetzer added:

Conservation areas originated in a period that saw fast changes to the lived environment brought about by growing car ownership in the 1960s. The climate crisis is the direct result of the carbonization of our economies and societies that followed. I hope that in 2023, residents living in conservation areas can reconnect with their original purpose: to limit the rapid environmental change. Back in the 1960s, the environment was changing because of growing car use – now, global heating is a much more fundamental threat to the lived environment. To achieve that, residents in conservation areas need to come together and become advocates for change. In the current regulatory environment, they threaten to fall behind.”

Policy wise, the government could be now very quick to announce a retrofit funding package for conservation areas. But this would be not very wise. Residents in conservation areas are, on average, better off financially than residents outside. So financially, they should not be given an untargeted hand-out to do what needs to be done. Rather, the government and local authorities should be investing in their own skills and capabilities, for example, by working with researchers together to spring to action to help residents in conservation areas to redefine what constitutes the specific character of their area and devise a plan on how to retrofit at scale in a coordinated and cost effective manner.”

• Fetzer, T. (2023) ‘Regulatory barriers to climate action: Evidence from Conservation Areas in England’ can be accessed here http://bit.ly/3jIISli
• The toolkit developed by Christopher Procter, part of the ACAN Architects Climate Action Network Existing Buildings working group can be accessed here: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/ACAN_climate_emergency_conservation_area_toolkit

Like the neurons firing in human brains, bacteria use electricity to communicate and respond to environmental cues. Now, researchers have discovered a way to control this electrical signalling in bacteria, to better understand resistance to antibiotics.

In the study published in Advanced Science, Dr Munehiro and colleagues, report a major step forward in regulating bacterial electric signals with light.

Press Release (13 February 2023)

We reveal that the developing Drosophila nerve cord has a distinctive architectural structure, which is driven by JNK signalling.
Read the paper hereLink opens in a new window.

Professor Shaheen Ali was recently announced as one of the 75 notable British Pakistani academics, trainers and teachers for 2022/23 by the organisation UPSIGN. Congratulations Shaheen from everyone at the Law School for this incredible mark of achievement.

It is with great sadness that the Department of Economics announce the death of our former Head of Department and colleague - Professor Graham Pyatt, who passed away last week.

Graham was the first appointment made by Dick Sargent when the Department was founded in 1965. He was appointed as Professor of Mathematical Economics at the young age of 28. He was therefore influential in the early development of the Department, working alongside Dick Sargent in those formative years. Prior to coming to Warwick, Graham was a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and a member of the Department of Applied Economics, working with Sir Richard Stone on the Cambridge Growth Project. In the early years at Warwick Graham was also involved in various assignments at University level (e.g. setting up the CIEBR, a forerunner of WBS, with Hugh Clegg). At that time he became a consultant to the World Employment Programme (WEP), International Labour Organisation, on macro planning and policy in Sri Lanka and Iran.

His WEP work attracted the attention of Hollis Chenery, Vice President of the World Bank. In 1975 Graham left Warwick when he was appointed Senior Advisor in the Development Research Centre, at the World Bank. In that role Graham inspired and led several major research projects on income distribution and economy-wide modelling. Part of this work was to develop and apply social accounting matrices (SAMs) in a developing country context, a concept that had been pioneered earlier by Sir Richard Stone.

Graham returned to Warwick in 1987 as Coopers and Lybrand Research Professor in Economics. He left seven years later to take up a chair in the Economics of Development at the Institute of Social Studies at The Hague, where he stayed until his retirement. Students and many others found Graham an inspirational teacher, supervisor and collaborator. He lived a full and varied life and has made many influential contributions as well as helping many scholars along their way.

• Read a tribute to Graham from his former colleagues Alan Roe and Jeff Round.
• Jeff Round also contributed an obituary of Graham Pyatt to the Guardian, published on 27 March 2023.

The National Student Survey (NSS) is now open!

Participation will led to funding for @warwickengsoc, @womenwarwick & EWB Warwick plus a prize draw for individuals.

Find out more and take part....

Lucy Alder, a final year History student, has written a play which is being staged at Warwick Arts Centre 22-24 February 2023. "A Noble Game" is a murder mystery that revolves around British aristocracy and their relationship with the media.

Visit A Noble Game | Warwick Arts Centre Link opens in a new windowfor full details and to purchase tickets.