Loughborough Institute of Advanced Studies Podcast

Ms Ananya Bhattacharya - Storytelling for Inclusion and Development

IAS Visiting Fellow Ms Ananya Bhattacharya (UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators) delivers a seminar on their research -
Traditional knowledge systems, shaped by generations of ecological coexistence, offer critical insights into sustainability, ethical living, and sustainable resource management. Transmitted through oral traditions, rituals, crafts, and performances, these systems embody values and practices essential for ecological resilience. As global discourse delves into the post-2030 development agenda, integrating living heritage into sustainability frameworks is increasingly urgent. Storytelling, both live and digital, emerges as a vital tool in this process—preserving cultural memory, fostering intergenerational learning, and enabling communities, especially youth, to reinterpret heritage on their own terms. Digital storytelling enhances reach, democratises narrative authority, and connects local wisdom to global audiences. Cultural tourism, when shaped by community-led interpretation, becomes a platform of mutual learning and sustainability education. Drawing on case studies from India, this presentation highlights storytelling’s transformative potential for community empowerment, sustainability education, and inclusive, culturally rooted development pathways.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Dr Carmen Pérez González - Leveraging the playing field: harnessing sport as a tool to ensure compliance with international law

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Carmen Pérez González (UNESCO Chair in Educational Linkage Through International Sports) delivers a seminar on their research - 
Traditionally, the international community has not fully recognized the capacity of sports as an enforcement tool within the realm of international law. Despite sporadic instances of sports-related boycotts and sanctions, its complete potential remains largely unrealized. However, the traditional notion of sports as apolitical has been challenged by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In response, sports organizations and public authorities have adopted a variety of coercive measures whose legal basis is complex and contested. Ultimately, this reaction illustrates that sports can serve as an effective instrument not only for diplomacy, peace, and the safeguarding of human rights, but also for compelling adherence to international obligations. This study scrutinizes various normative and institutional examples from both public and sporting authorities, with the ultimate objective of contributing to the debate on the possible redefinition of the concept of political neutrality in sport and, with it, the relationship between the sports movement and international law.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Dr Yolandi Burger - Urban Places as Narrative Spaces

Returning IAS Alumni Fellow from the 2023-24 academic year, Dr Yolandi Burger, organises a panel discussion featuring esteemed colleagues Professor Mike Wilson, Dr Robert Harland, Dr Taimaz Larimian, and Melinda Swift.
This panel examines the intricate relationship between urban places and the narratives through which they are experienced, remembered, and reimagined. It explores how cities are not only physical environments but also repositories of collective memory, identity, and meaning. Discussion will focus on the ways in which spatial structures, visual communication, storytelling practices, and data representation contribute to shaping the narratives of urban life. Attention will be given to the intersection of heritage, sustainability, community engagement, and urban morphology, considering how narratives can both reveal and obscure the complexities of metropolitan regions. The panel interrogates how participatory approaches and graphic representations can democratise urban storytelling, fostering more inclusive and dynamic understandings of place. Through critical reflection, it aims to highlight new pathways for connecting urban design, research, and community voices, ultimately rethinking the role of narrative in sustaining and transforming contemporary urban environments.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Professor Peng Zhang - Dynamics of Droplet-Droplet Collision - Advancing Predictive Spray Combustion Models for a Net-Zero Future

IAS Visiting Fellow Professor Peng Zhang delivers a seminar on their research - 
Droplet-droplet collision is a fundamental process in both natural phenomena and industrial applications, serving as a microcosm of multi-scale fluid dynamics. This talk unravels the intricate physics governing collision outcomes—coalescence, bouncing, and separation—beginning with the canonical case of identical droplets. We highlight the interplay between macroscopic droplet kinematics, internal flow dynamics, and microscale interfacial interactions (e.g., rarefied gas films and van der Waals forces), which collectively define the system’s multi-physics behaviour. Expanding beyond symmetric collisions, we explore complex scenarios involving unequal-sized droplets, non-Newtonian fluids, and dissimilar droplets, alongside analogous jet-jet collisions. By synthesizing these insights, we bridge fundamental fluid dynamics with predictive spray combustion modeling, emphasizing how microscale collision physics can constrain macroscale combustion efficiency and emissions—particularly for low-carbon fuels. This work provides a framework to improve the accuracy of spray combustion simulations, supporting the development of cleaner combustion technologies.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Dr Andrey V. Ivanov - Birth of an Empire: Feofan Prokopovych and the Metamorphosis of Petrine Russia

IAS Residential Fellow Dr Andrey V. Ivanov delivers a seminar on their research -
What is an empire? Prior to 1721, the Latin title of “imperator” belonged exclusively to the  Western, Eastern or Holy Roman political entities  This monopoly ended with the Petrine proclamation of the world’s first non-Roman imperium, and later, with similar proclamations by Napoleonic France, Iturbide’s Mexico, Braganza Brazil, and Wilhelmine Germany. “Empire” lost its narrow legal connotation, acquiring broader multivalent meanings. But it was Ukrainian archbishop Feofan Prokopovych (1677-1736), who initiated the concepts that got us to this point. An erudite polymath, Feofan served as the chief ideologist of first, Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa, and then, Peter I. As the seminar will demonstrate, forging the new empire was a direct product of the archbishop’s versatile scholarly breadth. Prokopovych godfathered the empire’s birth through an interdisciplinary endeavor that engaged with the political theories of the early European Enlightenment, Boylean physics, Holy Roman imperial  jurisprudence, and Lutheran theology.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Professor Jeffrey A Nittrouer - Geomorphic Evolution of Peatland Streams: Uniquely Boring but Ecologically Critical Landscape Systems

IAS Residential Fellow Professor Jeffrey A. Nittrouer delivers a seminar on their research - 
Peatland environments cover 3% of the planet’s land surface, yet possess 30% of its terrestrial organic carbon. The hydrology of peatlands is critical to establishing carbon-storage capabilities. The surface-water system consists of lakes and bogs connected by low-sloping streams that transport minimal amounts of inorganic sediment. Over time, peatland streams aggrade due to accumulation of organic matter, thereby filling their valleys. We use remote-sensing techniques and field observations to quantify rates of lateral mobility, and these data inform a numerical modeling framework that evaluates migration habit. A fundamental control on peat stream mobility is inorganic sediment content: Where unconsolidated material is added to the system the stream bed and floodplain aggrade rapidly, driving changes in channel morphology and increasing lateral migration rates. How such dynamics adjust to scenarios of altered hydrological regimes is discussed; in particular, how changing water and sediment runoff could liberate sequestered organic carbon, leading to respiration.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Dr Alberto Doretto - Siltation in rivers: Causes, impacts, and new approaches for biomonitoring

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Alberto Doretto delivers a seminar on their research -
Siltation (i.e. the excessive accumulation of fine sediment on the riverbed) is globally recognized as one of the greatest impacts in lotic ecosystems due to the intensification of hydro-morphological (i.e. sediment flushing from dams) and land-use (i.e. deforestation, agriculture, urbanization) pressures. However, the ability to identify general cause-effect mechanisms of biological and morphological impairment are often limited by the context-dependency of individual studies. This seminar will consider a range of different studies and experimental approaches dealing with the response of stream benthic macroinvertebrate communities to fine sediment deposition. The examples include Alpine streams in Northen Italy as well as lowland rivers in UK, thus highlighting parallels and contrasts in the response of macroinvertebrate communities to fine sediment pressure within two different geographical settings. These findings provide valuable insights into biomonitoring approaches including how to monitor the effects of anthropogenically induced siltation in streams.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Dr Gregory Pearcey - Decoding motoneuron firing to illuminate diversity in human movement control

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Gregory Pearcey delivers a seminar on their research -
Movement is fundamental for human life, yet little is known about the neural code of human movement. Due to their direct connection to muscle fibres, which collectively form the motor unit, alpha motoneurons are the only cells in the central nervous system that can be routinely recorded in humans. Until recently, it was quite difficult to examine motoneurons in humans due to the invasive procedures required to sample their behaviour. Now, we can routinely record tens of motor units at a time, which has provided us with incredible insights into the diversity in motoneuron properties innervating functionally distinct muscles in humans across the lifespan (i.e., ageing), between the sexes and in response to fluctuations in sex hormones, and in people with motor impairments (i.e., stroke, SCI, etc.). These insights have provided important guiding information required to rapidly advance therapeutic interventions, such as acute intermittent hypoxia.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Dr Ardila Hayu Tiwikrama - A novel generation of sorbents capable of capturing carbon dioxide using ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Ardila Hayu Tiwikrama delivers a seminar on their research - 
In large-scale industrial applications, the high cost and energy associated with CO2 capture from flue gases is a significant obstacle. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a technically and economically efficient technology for CO2 capture. In this study, the CO2 absorption potential of functionalized DESs and ILs is investigated. The improvement of the absorption capacity of ILs can be achieved by incorporating CO2-philic functional groups, such as amine, into the cation and/or anion moiety. The anion component of ILs is more efficiently functionalized than the cation component. In the present study, the solubility of CO2 in diisopropylethylammonium-based ILs and polyol-based DESs with a certain molar ratio was measured using a variable volume high-pressure cell at temperatures from 298.15 to 373.15 K and pressures up to 150 bar. The experimental vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data were correlated with the PC-SAFT. Novel ILs and DESs with promising absorption capacities are conceivably developable.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Dr Pınar Kibar - Exploring the Intersection of Learning, Visualisation and Infographic Design

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Pınar Nuhoğlu Kibar delivers a seminar on their research -
Infographics serve as a powerful medium for integrating textual and visual elements to convey complex information in a structured and comprehensible manner. Beyond static forms, we increasingly encounter infographics in dynamic and interactive formats, such as AR-integrated infographics, animated video-based graphics, and data-driven dashboards. As Generation Alpha (Gen A) navigates an increasingly digital and visually intensive world, exposure to these evolving formats makes developing the skills to critically analyze and design infographics essential for effective communication. This seminar, led by Dr. Nuhoğlu Kibar, will examine research on visualization in education and its broader implications, presenting key findings on infographic design, collaborative design methodologies, and experimental studies using eye-tracking techniques with a focus on visual language. The session will explore the transformative role of visualization in teaching and learning, and conclude with future research directions, particularly the integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into infographic design.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias