Departmental news

Dr Sarah Bennett, Head of Bio-Analytical Shared Resource Laboratories, has been shortlisted for the 'Outstanding Technician of the Year' Times Higher Education (THE) Award.

Dr Ian Hancox, Director of Research Technology and Technical Strategy said: “Sarah’s nomination for Outstanding Technician of the Year is a testament to her exceptional skills and dedication."

“Her innovative approach to the facilities she leads and her contributions to enhancing institutional research culture for technical staff have been invaluable. This recognition highlights the vital role she plays in enhancing our Technician Commitment.”

Find out more.

WMG at the University of Warwick is hosting Micromobility UK, on Wednesday 18th September, at the Oculus building located on the Warwick campus. This will be the largest in-person conference, in the UK, focussing purely on micromobility.

Sponsored by NatWest, the event will also showcase the Clean Transport Accelerator – a programme supporting businesses to develop products and services to help address the UK’s net-zero goals.

Visitors can expect to see a jam-packed agenda with speakers on topics such as last-mile logistics; accessibility and inclusion; battery safety and future e-scooter regulations.

Discussions will also be held around making towns and cities safer for all micromobility, from scooters to larger cargo vehicles.

Expert speakers include:

• Julian Scriven, Managing Director, Brompton Bike Hire

• Katie Miller-White, Transport Innovation Coordinator, Transport for West Midlands

• Caz Conneller, Director of Community and Culture, Loud Mobility

• Adam Norris, Founder, Pure Electric

• Peter Eland, Technical Manager, The Bicycle Association of Great Britain

• Michelle Gardner, Deputy Director of Policy, Logistics UK

• Robin Haycock, Chief Technology Officer, Fernhay

• Kay Inckle, Campaigns and Policy Manager, Wheels for Wellbeing

• Andrew Bradley, Net Zero & Transport Lead, NHS

• George Beard, Head of New Mobility, TRL

• Lizzie Gaden, E-Scooter Trial Stakeholder & Contracts Manager, Transport for London

• Shayan Yaghoobi, Engineering Lead, Office for Product Safety and Standards, DBT

• Kevin Savage, COO, Delivery Mates

• Alfie Brierley, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Motor Cycle Industry Association

• Rob Hill, Fire Investigation Officer, London Fire Brigade

• Phil Ellis, Cofounder, Beryl

• Mark Riley, Delivery Design Manager, Royal Mail

Exhibitors include Composite Braiding, if.vehicles, Ebco, Bo Mobility, MTD Ltd, AlsoBikes, DOCK-Y, Warwick University Science Park, Eskuta, Spokesafe, Komodo Bikes, Business Growth West Midlands, Maeving, Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub, Transport for West Midlands and Beryl. There will also be live demos and the chance to trial micromobility vehicles around a dedicated route.

Professor David GreenwoodLink opens in a new window, Director of Industrial Engagement at WMG and CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult at WMG, said, “We are absolutely delighted to host the 4th annual Micromobility UK conference.

“This year is going to be an important one for micromobility. We now have a new government and feel optimistic that we will see new policies around micromobility enabling the sector to really flourish.”

To register for the event visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/news-and-events/events/micromobilityuk/Link opens in a new window 

During a year of research leave, Prof. Beat Kümin has investigated the phenomenon of depositing chronicles and objects into tower spheres on top of prominent buildings like churches, town halls and fortifications. Documented from the Middle Ages to the present, seemingly only in and around territories of the erstwhile Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the custom provides fascinating insights into how local societies saw themselves and what they wished to pass on to successive generations.

The project, supported by the German Gerda Henkel Foundation, has so far identified over 1600 sites and thousands of separate deposits (at one Zurich church, there were no fewer than 20 between 1505 and 1996). The funder has just released a video series of six episodes (accessible in both English and German) documenting field work in Switzerland in autumn 2023.

[English Trailer] [Episodes] [Project Homepage]

Blending ordering within an uncorrelated disorder potential in families of 3D Lieb lattices preserves the macroscopic degeneracy of compact localized states and yields unconventional combinations of localized and delocalized phases—as shown in Liu et al. (Phys Rev B 106:214204, 2022). Danieli, Liu and Roemer proceed to reintroduce translation invariance in the system by further ordering the disorder, and discuss the spectral structure and eigenstates features of the resulting perturbed lattices. This strategy, herewith implemented in the 3D Lieb lattice, highlights order restoration as experimental pathway to engineer spectral and states features in disordered lattice structures in the pursuit of quantum storage and memory applications.

Professor Sascha Becker has been elected to the leadership team of the Society for Institutional and Organisational Economics (SIOE) as Second Vice President.

He will become First Vice President next year, and anticipates taking on the role of President in 2027 when one of his responsibilities will be to host the SIOE Annual Conference at Warwick and give the Presidential Address.

Founded in 1997 as The International Society for New Institutional Economics, SIOE promotes interdisciplinary study of the institutions of social, political and commercial life, aiming to integrate an economic perspective with strategic management, political science, law, and history.

As well as the annual conference, SIOE awards several prizes for outstanding contributions to the field at different career stages.

The Society was co-founded by three Nobel Laureates in Economics - Oliver Williamson, Ronald Coase, and Douglass North. It prides itself on its international outlook and membership.

Commenting on his election, Professor Becker said: “I am delighted that the members of SIOE elected me into the leadership team of SIOE. It will be an honour to host SIOE at Warwick in 2027.”

• SIOE website: https://www.sioe.org/

Dr Raj Panday wins €1.8 million EU funding for studying elementary charge dynamics in batteries.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from UK universities, government health agencies and the NHS focused on reducing the harm caused by lead in our environment is one of 36 groups selected for support by a new grant scheme aimed at promoting creative thinking across traditional academic barriers.

Co-led by Dr Ludovica Gazze from Warwick Economics, the ECLIPS project will develop and pilot a scheme for monitoring the amount of lead in children’s blood using an at-home finger-prick test to collect blood samples.

Even though it is highly toxic, lead is common in our homes and our environment. It was widely used in paint, petrol and plumbing before its harmful effects were properly understood.

Children are most at risk from lead poisoning because their bodies and brains are still growing. Symptoms can include developmental delay and learning difficulties.

Despite this, there is no national UK scheme to screen children for lead exposure.

The ECLIPS team of researchers from the universities of Warwick, Northumbria, Oxford and Bristol, together with the UK Health Security Agency, the Health & Safety Laboratory and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, will develop and test new screening methods which don’t require a visit to the GP.

The project will be piloted in Leeds. If successful, the methods developed could be rolled out across the UK as part of a national screening programme or lay the groundwork for a national prevalence study, and the results used to recommend policy changes.

Dr Gazze explains: “We want to understand the current levels of lead exposure in UK children so that effective action can be taken to reduce children’s exposure to lead in the community and at home.

“We estimate that lead pollution could be costing the UK economy £6.8 billion every year, and preventing thousands of children from reaching their full potential.

“It is important to note that the harms done by lead exposure extend beyond the children directly affected. My studies in the US found that the symptoms of lead poisoning, such as lower cognitive ability and disruptive behaviour, spill over to affect a whole class or school. This increases the true costs of pollution and changes our understanding of the importance of addressing it.”

The project leader is Professor Jane Entwistle from Northumbria University’s Faculty of Engineering and Environment. The team aims to develop new research approaches and methods that would not emerge from established disciplinary thinking.

Professor Entwistle added: “Exposure to legacy lead is a hidden burden worldwide and the toxic effects of lead are overwhelmingly observed in children.

“In the UK, detection in children relies on results of blood tests ordered by physicians only when there is a high clinical suspicion of lead poisoning. As such, most cases of elevated lead are missed in children with no obvious symptoms. This funding will allow the development of a novel protocol to enable widespread monitoring of the amount of lead in blood.”

Almost 900 applications were made for the scheme, with only 36 selected to receive funding.

Professor Alison Park, Deputy Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and UKRI Cross Research Council Responsive Mode Senior Responsible Officer said: “The perspectives of different disciplines, working together in collaboration, are vital to solving some of the most pressing problems we face as a society. The UKRI cross research council responsive mode scheme is designed to break down silos and champion research that transcends, combines and significantly spans traditional discipline boundaries.

“The projects announced today will drive progress across diverse fields by creating fresh approaches to research questions, methodologies and ways of working.

“We were all excited to see the innovative and bold approaches being adopted to tackle major issues ranging from climate change to global healthcare and look forward to following their progress.”

ENDS

NOTES

Dr Ludovica Gazze is an environmental and health economist researching urban policy issues, such as lead poisoning. Designing programs to reduce pollution requires an understanding of the negative impact of pollution and how individuals respond to the risks of exposure they face. Dr Gazze investigates these issues using large administrative datasets and experimental and quasi-experimental methods.

The core project team comprises:

· Professor Jane Entwistle, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University

· Dr Lindsay Bramwell, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University

· Dr Jackie Morton, Principal Scientist, Biological Monitoring, Health & Safety Executive

· Carys Lippiatt, Consultant Clinical Scientist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

· Dr Debapriya Mondal, Principal Epidemiology Scientist at UK Health Security Agency

· Dr Ovnair Sepai General Toxicology and Biomonitoring Program Lead at UK Health Security Agency.

· Dr Caroline Taylor, Associate Professor in Nutrition, University of Bristol Medical School

· Dr Francis DiTraglia, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Oxford

· Dr Ludovica Gazze Associate Professor of Economics, University of Warwick

· Tim Pye, Co-Founder of the Lead Exposure and Poisoning Prevention (LEAPP) Alliance

· Dr Kishor Raja, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London

Areej Aljaghwani, a 2^nd year PhD student from Maksym Myronov’s Semiconductors Research Group was awarded second place in the Phil Buckle Research Communication Competition held during the UK Semiconductors Conference in July 2024.

After 12 years at the University of Warwick and an academic career spanning more than 40 years, Professor Lawrence Young retired at the end of July 2024.