Departmental news

In this paper we describe the structure of the interaction between TACC3 and ch-TOG. A single helix from ch-TOG, normally bound to two hairpins, pops out and binds to the coiled-coil of TACC3. We then isolated Affimers (non-antibody binders) that inhibit this interaction in vitro. Moving into cells, we could express the Affimers to inhibit the ch-TOG–TACC3 interaction and found a new function for these two proteins in stabilizing the pericentriolar material.
Read the paper here.Link opens in a new window

Laura Downie has invented a new way of labelling ER-Membrane Contact Sites in live cells on-demand. It uses the Lamin B Receptor so we called it “LaBeRling”. Unlike other methods, LaBeRling doesn’t distort existing contacts. It can label many different contacts between ER and other organelles (plasma membrane, mitochondria, lysosomes, endosomes, lipid droplets). Here, Laura uses LaBeRling to look at ER-Golgi contact sites in mitosis for the first time.
Read the paper hereLink opens in a new window.

Professor Caroline Elliott has taken up a prestigious role on the UK’s Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC), an independent body of experts which assesses the quality of evidence and analysis used to inform government regulatory proposals.

Since taking up her appointment in March she has already provided expert review on a range of policy issues including multiple drafts of a white paper, an impact assessment for proposed secondary legislation, and two post-implementation reviews.

Looking towards the future, Caroline said: “I hope that I’ll be able to make a difference by using my applied research knowledge and my academic skills on the impact assessments. We’re also going to start looking at policy options assessments and I’m excited to bring my knowledge to bear on the independent reviews.”

Caroline is continuing a tradition of Warwick economists contributing to the work of the committee – the position became vacant when Dr Jonathan Cave’s term of appointment came to an end. He is delighted that, after a rigorous selection process, the Committee chose to appoint another “proper card-carrying academic economist.”

Caroline said: “Jonathan sent me the advertisement for the role, and when I looked into the work of the committee, I thought it looked amazing. I teach industrial economics, regulation and competition policy and I always try and link my teaching to the real world - I never want to be criticised as being an ivory tower academic. Here was an opportunity to put my work into practice – to not just comment on the work of others, or the work of the government, but to be directly involved.

“As an economist, and as an academic economist, I believe there are two things I bring to the role. The first is my familiarity with academic literature and evidence. The second way in which I feel I’m contributing comes back to my academic training. As an academic, as an applied economist, you’re always looking for data. Sometimes you’re having to pull data together from different sources. And because I come from this background I can assist with this.”

Jonathan is delighted that Caroline has been appointed as his successor. “I think because I kept citing peer-reviewed literature in my Opinions and other interventions, trying to ensure that regulatory analysis made appropriate use of economic empirical methodologies and theoretical tools, including the use of real options analysis - I think they saw the value of having a replacement who is similarly positioned.”

Asked if he had any advice for Caroline, Jonathan said: “Don’t be afraid to challenge people and to be the voice within the committee resisting calls to compromise when that isn’t appropriate, by ensuring that the impacts of whatever regulations ministers wish to propose are rigorously assessed against real problems, but without being drawn into comments about whether the policies themselves are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.

“I’d encourage her to be very actively engaged with the new government in a partnership based on a culture of evaluation and analysis and a mechanism design view of regulations and the regulatory process of which the RPC is a part. She should strive to remain committed to the concept and values of better regulation and work hard to make those concepts her own – in the committee, in her academic research and teaching and in leaving her mark on the better regulation framework itself.

“If you see how policies are made you can build better regulatory economics models. Regulation is not a matter of feeding a problem into a machine, turning a crank on a machine and ‘solving’ the problem – politics intervenes, economics intervenes, delays intervene, and the things you should be looking for are not always where they should be. For instance, we spent a lot of time worrying about how – or whether – to scrutinise the impacts when government threatens to regulate, business behaviour changes in anticipation and the regulation is abandoned. I think Caroline will find this useful in her academic work, and her teaching.”

Jonathan says that his decade as an RPC member was “fascinating” and saw many changes and developments. He worked hard to encourage the committee to avoid compromising or watering down its opinions for spurious reasons, arguing against “voices that felt we should temporise or give green ratings to things that did not merit them, for the fear that the political cost of refusing would be too high.” Rather than asking if each contested Bill was ‘the right hill to die on’, he tried to sit down with departments to negotiate where possible, and to publish Red opinions where important analytic principles or impacts were not properly acknowledged.

He also became adept at navigating changing political priorities: “I think the biggest lesson I had to learn along the way was how to sail in the direction of better regulation by tacking across a wind blowing from the deregulatory quarter.”

Jonathan also argued strongly for the committee to be allowed to give its opinions at an earlier stage in the policy process: “A few years ago, we only got to look at things when the bills were laid before Parliament, by which time all the decisions had been made. We commented, many times, on impact assessments that were more ex-post rationalisation than a formative influence on the creation of policy – which led to the most tendentious type of data-mining and the temptation to rely on ‘policy-driven evidence.’ Now the RPC is looking at things much earlier in the process, at the options assessment stage.”

In Jonathan’s experience, this particular challenge is not unique to the UK. He said: “I’m very pleased and proud about our international engagement with RegWatch Europe (a network of similar EU scrutiny bodies) our OECD counterpart and OIRA in the United States. I’ve worked closely with them over the years to share best practice and identify common problems, and there has been lot of progress made on this challenge of ex-ante assessment.

“Another challenge is the need to look back and evaluate regulations to see if they have done what they set out to do. I’ve had a long struggle to champion “post-implementation review” and I think we’ve made good progress. The UK is regarded as setting the world standard in this and we’ve been trying to maintain that. That’s been a really good thing.”

ENDS

The Department of Economics is joining forces with one of the top business schools in the UK to launch a new undergraduate course.

The BSc Economics and Management degree combines two interrelated disciplines of economics and management, two highly ranked subjects by the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024, with the Department of Economics ranked number one in the UK and the Warwick Business School’s BSc Management ranked second by the same publication.

In today’s fast-changing economic landscape, business leaders, consultants, analysts and civil servants need to have a fundamental understanding of both disciplines: economic theory to be able to critically analyse economic data and managerial knowledge to adapt their business strategy accordingly.

This course will teach students the cutting-edge tools and latest research to do just that, helping them excel in their careers with transferable skills for any business.

Graduates from the Department of Economics and WBS have gone on to work for global names like Goldman Sachs, Unilever, Amazon, Google, PwC and UK Government departments such as the Department for Business and Trade.

Professor Elizabeth Jones, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics, said:

“We have been developing this programme for a number of years and are excited about its launch and subsequent growth over the coming years.”

“The Department of Economics is renowned not only for its research, but also for its teaching, having been awarded the gold standard for teaching in the latest Teaching Excellence Framework. This combination will provide students with access to some of the world’s leading researchers in a range of areas, which will help them develop the knowledge, skills and practical expertise to succeed in their careers.”

“We are excited by the opportunity to diversify our portfolio of undergraduate programmes and provide students with more choice when it comes to studying at a top University. Graduates from Warwick Economics are highly sought after and the added advantage for students to benefit from Warwick Business School’s expertise in providing placements will undoubtedly provide fantastic opportunities for students to meet their full potential.”

Professor Mark Johnson, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programmes at Warwick Business School, said:

“It is great to see this course come to fruition after so much work behind the scenes.

“Our ongoing dialogue with employers has revealed a real need from businesses and organisations for graduates who can combine management skills with an understanding of economics and some of the tools needed to navigate the economic landscape.

“This course brings together world-class academics from one of the best business schools in the world and the leading researchers from an Economics department ranked second in the UK by the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF).

“At Warwick Business School we are for the Change Makers, those restless to change the world for the better. This course will enable students to gain the skills and knowledge to have a positive impact with any career they choose to build.”

The three-year course can also be extended to four with a placement year at a top company either in the UK or abroad. This gives students the chance to put what they have learned into action in the real world, and it has led to many on other courses securing jobs once they have graduated at leading firms like IBM, Porsche, Samsung and Deloitte.

Warwick Business School’s teaching was given the top gold standard by the UK Government's latest Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), with the University of Warwick one of just four Russell Group universities rated gold in all three categories - student experience, student outcomes, and for the overall assessment.

For details of the new degree, available for 2025 entry, please visit the course webpage: BSc Economics and Management

Bookings to attend our next Open Days on 15 and 22 June are open now - Open Days at the University of Warwick

THE features "We are Chemistry” programme as an exemplar for a practical and student-centred approach to fostering belonging at university. bit.ly/3V98dDN

WMG at the University of Warwick is proud to be an active partner in Coventry City Council’s pioneering digital recycling scheme, the #CovConnects Device Bank.

The project, which is part of the Council’s Digital Inclusion programme and supported by the Cities Climate Change Strategy, was launched on principles of circular economy by reusing and repairing end of corporate life devices which are then distributed to local communities.

The Council was awarded the funding following a successful application to the Time after Time fund. The fund was created and is distributed by Hubbub and Virgin Media O2, and looks to fund projects that help to close the digital divide while reducing electronic waste.

Cllr Richard Brown, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources at Coventry City Council, said: “Our #CovConnects programme is all about making sure none of our residents are digitally excluded. That’s why I’m delighted we’ve won this funding.

“This money will allow us to expand our efforts and get more of these devices into the hands of the most vulnerable. Having your own device, which you can use every day, is something that has the potential to completely transform your life.

“This project is a true partnership with the NHS, WMG and other partners across the city. Together we can make Coventry truly digitally inclusive.”

Dr Russ Hall, WMG’s Lead for Circular Economy and Sustainable Manufacturing at the University of Warwick, and Chair of the Coventry City Climate Change Board Circular Pathway, added: “It’s really important to be a part of this fantastic scheme. We want to research the reuse, remanufacture and recycling of digital equipment. This is a great example of where sustainable practices like circular economy can address societal issues like digital poverty, and we want to do all we can to help it flourish and grow. It has real environmental benefits as part of the circular economy and can play a vital role in overcoming digital exclusion.”

Digital Recycling is a key element within the Council’s Climate Change Strategy. Dr Russ Hall and Friya Tailor from WMG, are working with colleagues from the Council to evaluate the environmental benefits of the project. The research will in turn be shared nationally enabling other organisations to learn from the scheme.

To find out more about the #CovConnects programme, visit: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/cov-connects

Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub established the Time After Time fund in 2022 in response to the nation’s growing e-waste problem, with the UK producing more electrical waste per person than any other country in the world (except for Norway).

#CovConnects was selected as one of eight winners from more than 120 entries by a panel of judges including TV presenter and environmentalist George Clarke, non-profit, Material Focus, digital inclusion charity, Good Things Foundation, plus Hubbub and Virgin Media O2.

Find out more about Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing research at WMG here: Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Group (warwick.ac.uk)

Toby Flynn, PhD student in the department's High-Performance and Scientific Computing group, supervised by Prof. Gihan Mudalige together with Dr. Robert Manson-Sawko at IBM Research UK received the best paper award at the 38th IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2024) last week in San Francisco US. IPDPS is one of the most prominent and high ranking conferences in parallel and distributed computing, now in its 38th year.

The paper titled "Performance-Portable Multiphase Flow Solutions with Discontinuous Galerkin Methods", details the development of a new performance portable solver workflow using Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods for developing multiphase flow simulations based on the OP2 domain-specific language. Results demonstrate scaling on both CPU and GPU systems including UK's national supercomputer, ARCHER2 at EPCC Edinburgh and the European Petascale Supercomputer, LUMI hosted by CSC Finland. The work is a collaboration with IBM Research UK supported by an iCASE award funded jointly by IBM and EPSRC.

The paper pre-print is available here.

We congratulate Selina Shibata, Year 1 Economics student, who has won the Student Volunteer of the Year award at the Warwick Volunteers Award night.

*Selina is the middle person in the above image

Selina volunteers with a local organisation based in Coventry called Guardian Ballers. Founded in 2021, Guardian Ballers works with young students from various backgrounds in the local community. Volunteers engage young children through Basketball to help them achieve a happier and healthier life. They also work with several other organisations to provide mental health services.

Selina started volunteering in January of 2024 and has been helping at their basketball camps, where attendees improve their basketball skills and become more educated on maintaining good mental health. Guardian Ballers also sell branded clothing and Selina has helped to expand their merchandise line.

This opportunity has enabled Selina to make friends with students from other universities and increase her network.

Selina says:

“As an international student worried about being unable to integrate into the UK and its culture, the Guardian Ballers community has helped me feel comfortable in a new country and community.”

The Department is extremely proud to see one of our students assist young people on their mental health journey. We are very pleased that this volunteering opportunity has made it easier for Selina to settle here at Warwick after moving from abroad.