Loughborough Institute of Advanced Studies Podcast

Professor Danny O’Brien - Using sport to combat gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea

IAS Residential Fellow Professor Danny O’Brien delivers a seminar on their research -
The Surfing Association of Papua New Guinea (SAPNG) initiated an innovative program called “The Pink Nose Revolution” that uses surfing to raise community awareness about gender-based violence (GBV), which while a scourge worldwide, is particularly rampant in PNG. This research uses qualitative methods to analyse this program and current efforts to expand its scope and broaden the program’s positive societal impacts. The overarching research question is: What are the challenges and opportunities in growing a community-level sport-for-development program in a deeply resource-deprived context? While the data from this research are still being analysed, emerging results suggest some interesting outcomes. Innovative strategic thinking has resulted in the repurposing of scarce resources to create more equitable access to surfing equipment for women and girls, higher participation rates for women and girls, the attraction of high-profile international stakeholders such as the US State Department to support the cause, and the simultaneous initiation of community dialogue and increased awareness about GBV.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Dr Alison Barnes - Hiding in Plain Sight: Graphic Heritage, Toponymy and Settler Colonialism in Paddington, Sydney

IAS Alumni Fellow (from the 2023-24 academic year) Dr Alison Barnes delivers a seminar on their research -
Street and house name signs in Paddington, Sydney, function as material articulations of the settler colonial project. Both hide in plain sight, yet in diametrically opposed ways. Drawing on a survey of 315 house names and 128 distinct street names, the research develops a taxonomy of naming strategies which are analysed in relation to their design, materiality, and role within colonisation. Street signs foreground legibility and functionality through a 'rhetoric of neutrality', while house names announce their presence through an overt use of materials, colour, and craft. For the house names, it is precisely this aesthetic dimension that obscures their role in the overwriting and taking of place. In contemporary Paddington, where the real estate narrative foregrounds original heritage features and houses sell for millions of dollars, a doubling of dispossession is at play in which graphic heritage, property ownership, and an ongoing ‘white possession’ are inextricably entangled.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Dr Everardt Burger - Rethinking Urban Mobility Through the Lens of Human Experience

IAS Guest Speaker Dr Everardt Burger delivers a seminar on their research -
Urban transport infrastructure is typically planned and evaluated through technical performance measures such as efficiency, capacity, and operational reliability. Yet the real-world success of mobility systems depends fundamentally on how people experience, interpret, and use them in everyday life. This talk introduces a human-centred perspective on urban infrastructure that places user behaviour and spatial accessibility at the core of transport planning.
Drawing on empirical research across South African cities—including studies of mode choice, commuter satisfaction, pedestrian accessibility, and infrastructure utilisation—the presentation shows how mobility environments operate as socio-technical systems shaped by perception, decision-making, and spatial connectivity. Rather than viewing infrastructure as static provision, the talk explores how design, accessibility, and behavioural response interact to produce system performance.
The session proposes an integrative framework for understanding mobility infrastructure through user experience and spatial function, and reflects on the implications for planning more responsive, inclusive, and effective urban transport systems.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Dr Yolandi Burger - Nelson Mandela’s Narrative Spaces

Joint Loughborough-Leicester IAS Fellow Dr Yolandi Burger delivers a seminar on their research -
How do places named after Nelson Mandela operate as narrative infrastructures through which memory, identity, and civic meaning are negotiated? Building on the Named after Nelson (NaN) project, this IAS–LIAS fellowship complements the Gauteng City-Region Observatory's project on urban places as narrative spaces. The presentation explores how toponymy, graphic heritage, and storytelling intersect to shape public understanding of Mandela’s legacy across diverse urban contexts. Drawing on case studies from Gauteng in South Africa, and extending the dialogue to Leicester in the United Kingdom, this talk positions narrative mapping and interpretive design as methodological instruments, while drawing on urban observatory thinking as a conceptual framework for analysing how symbolic association translates into lived spatial experience. The presentation advances interdisciplinary dialogue across urban heritage, design, and digital mapping by demonstrating how narrative methodologies can structure the interpretation of symbolic urban landscapes within SDG-oriented heritage discourse. It proposes narrative space as both an analytical lens and a collaborative platform for advancing transnational heritage engagement.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Climate Change, Body Image, Eating Behaviours and Wellbeing

This event is made possible with thanks to the Biddle Family Scholarship.
The International Academy for Body Image, Eating Problems and Health is formed of a group of researchers focused on understanding more about the development and occurrence of body image concerns and eating problems. Current members are from Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
Established in 2016, the Academy is an unfunded international collaboration which has already successfully completed one large scale cross-cultural study and has now launched the second. The current research focuses on exploring perceptions of climate change in relation to body image, eating behaviours and wellbeing among young adults and is running across 15 countries.
This spotlight event will be comprised firstly of presentations which will introduce the Academy and the current research project, reflect on conducting cross-cultural research with multiple countries and outline preliminary findings. The second part of this event will include a roundtable discussion relating to experiences and advice for maintaining successful and unfunded international collaborations.
Programme:
Introduction to the International Academy for Body Image, Eating Problems and Health. Dr Esben Strodl
Rationale and theoretical model for the current research project exploring perceptions about climate change, body image, mental health and eating behaviours among young adults. Dr Rachel Rodgers
Reflections on conducting cross-cultural research. Professor Jacinthe Dion, Professor Annie Aimé, Professor Alvaro Sicilia Camacho, Dr Naomi Hayami
Preliminary findings of the current research project. Professor Gianluca Lo Coco, Dr Esben Strodl
Roundtable discussion: Experiences of maintaining successful and unfunded international collaborations (all Academy members).
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Dual IAS Seminar - Associate Professor Sumiko Miyata & Professor Takamichi Miyata

Externally Funded Fellows Associate Professor Sumiko Miyata & Professor Takamichi Miyata each deliver a seminar on their research -
Associate Professor Sumiko Miyata - Incentive-Driven AI Networks for Future Road Safety 
To achieve fully autonomous driving, "cooperative perception" via V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) is essential for eliminating blind spots and improving recognition accuracy. However, a major barrier to sustainable implementation lies in ensuring "fair incentives" for participants to share data and computational resources. This seminar introduces an AI-driven network framework designed to balance infrastructure efficiency with participant satisfaction. The presentation first covers a reward distribution mechanism based on the game theory concept of "Nucleolus" to minimize user dissatisfaction within the monitoring system and ensure long-term cooperation. Building on this foundation, the discussion addresses essential network mechanisms for "City as a Service," such as high-speed AI processing that optimizes task offloading between edge servers to minimize communication latency. By integrating incentive design with advanced communication control, it is possible to build a reliable social infrastructure that reduces accidents and optimizes urban mobility.
Professor Takamichi Miyata - Multimodal AI that Understands Driver Behaviour without Training Data 
Distracted driving remains a critical safety concern, as even brief lapses in attention can lead to serious traffic collisions. Current supervised learning methods require large, labelled datasets and struggle to generalize, while vision-language model (VLM) based methods enable training-free recognition but tend to capture driver identity rather than actual behaviour. This seminar presents a novel framework that overcomes both limitations. The key innovation lies in decoupling identity-related information from behaviour-related cues, combined with refined textual representations to enhance zero-shot recognition robustness across diverse drivers and environments. By integrating decoupled multimodal representations with a lightweight model architecture, the proposed system achieves practical, scalable performance without relying on extensive labelled data. This approach offers a promising pathway toward reliable driver monitoring systems for real-world deployment.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Professor Danny O’Brien - How to bite your tongue and smile at the same time: Strategies for responding to reviewers

IAS Residential Fellow Professor Danny O’Brien delivers a workshop for Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) -
In this workshop, we explore the often challenging task of responding to reviewers (or examiners as the case may be). Navigating this process is a vital skill for academic publishing, yet it remains an aspect of scholarly life that many researchers find difficult. Even when reviewers seem harsh or unfair in their critique, their feedback, and knowing how to diplomatically respond to that feedback, inevitably leads to more academically rigorous and impactful publications. This workshop will be interactive using actual examples to equip researchers with practical strategies to constructively and persuasively respond to reviewers’ feedback. 
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Professor Anongnat Somwangthanaroj - Translational Materials Innovation: From Industrial Polymers to Sustainable Energy Storage

Joint Loughborough-Leicester IAS Fellow Professor Anongnat Somwangthanaroj delivers a seminar on their research -
This talk shares a cross-sector journey in translational materials research spanning industrial epoxy materials for flip-chip electronics packaging, biodegradable plastic bags for fresh-produce preservation, health-protective innovations, and emerging zinc-based energy storage systems. Long-term collaboration with industry in advanced epoxy packaging has produced patented technologies, publications, and trained graduate researchers. At the same time, sustainability-driven polymer work led to real-world deployment and venture creation. Crisis-driven innovation during the pandemic further strengthened rapid prototyping and scale-up capabilities. Current research focuses on functional separators and iodine-host materials for zinc-based batteries to improve stability and reaction kinetics. Across these themes, the emphasis is on structure–property design, manufacturability, and impact-oriented development. The talk aims to identify shared research interests and open pathways for new academic and industry collaborations in advanced materials, sustainable technologies, and energy storage systems.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Sean McCabe - Building Community Power Through Sport: The Promise of Community Wealth Building

Seán McCabe is the Head of Climate Justice and Sustainability at Bohemian Football Club (Bohemians FC) in Dublin Ireland, He works at the intersection of football, community development, and climate action focusing on how clubs can act as catalysts for Community Wealth Building (CWB) and broader social change.
In his talk, he explores how football clubs can serve as anchors for Community Wealth Building (CWB), an approach that redistributes wealth and power to local communities while supporting a just transition—tackling climate change alongside inequality and community resilience. Drawing on Bohemian FC and the SPARK Initiative in Ireland, he argues that CWB is not about quick wins but about building durable foundations through governance, culture, and collective ownership. Using Bohemians as a case study, he highlights efforts to develop cooperative economic activity in areas such as food, renewable energy, and retrofitting. He also reflects on structural barriers in Ireland and outline practical steps to better support community-based enterprises.
Seán McCabe is Project Lead of The Bohemian Cooperatives and brings over 20 years of experience in climate justice, policy and community-led development. He leads climate justice and sustainability at Bohemian Football Club and is the author of The People’s Transition, developed through his work with TASC/FEPS. His background includes Mary Robinson – Climate Justice, the Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative, the UNFCCC, UNICEF and Renaissance Reinsurance.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Professor Mark Bevir - Rethinking Social Science: Methods, Genres, Ethics, and Myths

IAS Residential Fellow Professor Mark Bevir delivers a seminar on their research -
At the heart of an interpretive social science is opposition to social-scientific naturalism. Yet, there is much confusion about what this entails, with many scholars treating the opposition as one over methods. This seminar will begin by focusing on the philosophical or theoretical content of interpretive social science. It situates interpretivism in the context of the rise of ideas and theories such as meaning holism, and it shows how these theories might lead interpretivists to focus on meanings and beliefs conceived as interconnected webs that inform actions and practices. This general emphasis on people’s reasons for action is, however, surely a commonplace that we all commit ourselves to in our daily lives. Naturalists do not necessarily reject it. Rather, they typically emphasize that different assumptions are needed if we are to generate rigorous and useful knowledge. The key questions about the role of an interpretive social science seem, therefore, to owe as much to methods and ethics as to philosophy. The seminar will consider these questions. It will suggest, first, that interpretivism does not require us to reject generally accepted research methods, but it does dramatically change the way we think about methods, by, for example, encouraging us to learn from the humanities and blur genres. It will suggest, second, that interpretivism prompts us to remember the ethical implications of the fact that we are studying human agents, not passive objects, and to consider the costs of assigning a dubious certitude to social scientific claims.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias