Loughborough Institute of Advanced Studies Podcast

Africa Summit - Sports, Health and Well-being - Morning Session

For the second day of the Africa Summit, we address the strategic theme area of Sports, Health and Wellbeing. This session is opened by Pro Vice Chancellor for Sport, Professor Jo Maher.
We then have a keynote speech titled "The power of sports in shaping societies & community resilience – Lessons from the African continent", delivered by IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Lin Cherurbai Sambili-Gicheha, Advisor for Sport, Development and Peace at The Commonwealth Secretariat.
Following this Dr Sambili-Gicheha will join a panel discussion, titled "Integrating sports with national health programs—Examining policy, sustainable sports facility infrastructure, and community impact. " chaired by Professor Richard Giulianotti (SSEHS). John Olaleye from Leicester City Football Club and Dr Janneth Mghamba from The Commonwealth Secretariat also join the panel as guest speakers.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Africa Summit - Launch & Exhibition

We open with an introduction from Director of the IAS, Professor Ksenia Chmutina & Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Professor Daniel Parsons. Following this, Summit Co-Leads Dr Oluwasola (Sola) Afolabi (ABCE) & Dr Hibbah Araba Osei-Kwasi (SSEHS), give an overview of the week and also introduce two of our four IAS Visiting Fellows -
Professor Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe, University of Ghana and Professor Cheryl Potgieter, Durban University of Technology
Our other two IAS Visiting Fellows join us later in the week -
Dr Lin Cherurbai Sambili-Gicheha, The Commonwealth Secretariat and Dr Janet Febisola Adeyemi, Women In Mining Nigeria
To close this session we have an African Culture and Artistic Exhibition, curated by Dr Kerri Akiwowo, Senior Lecturer in Textiles -
A cultural display showcases collection of visuals and artefacts linked to Loughborough University’s three strategic themes: Sport, Health and Wellbeing, Climate Change and Net-Zero; and Vibrant and Inclusive Communities. The exhibition features items loaned from members of the Loughborough community. Exhibits have their origins in African heritage, identity, people and place. Diversity in African culture is represented by objects, artworks, textiles, images and text.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Dr Sara Bonati - (Re)producing nature in climate change: examples from Italy

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Sara Bonati delivers a seminar on their research -
Climate change is reconfiguring the ways in which society relates with nature and conceptualises it. The challenges posed by climate change ask for innovative ways to approach ‘nature’, ‘work with’ it and ‘save’ it. The proposed presentation will focus on the ways nature is used, re-used, re-assembled, and re-conceptualised in the ongoing climate change debate, producing new socioecological relationships that shape new forms of ‘nature’. By proposing examples from Italy, as a country in the Mediterranean climate change hotspot, the presentation aims at critically reflect upon controversial responses to climate change, going through different examples of (mal)adaptation in which nature is involved, and question its consumeristic and neoliberal interpretations. The lens of more-than-human geography is here applied.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Associate Professor Christopher M. Campbell - Time will tell: Examining the potential effects of pre-arrest diversion efforts for drug offences using interrupted time-series analyses

Fulbright Scholarship Fellow Associate Professor Christopher M. Campbell delivers a seminar on their research -
To combat drug use and possession while reducing systemic social harm (e.g., conviction records and incarceration) some localized jurisdictions in England have made an effort to divert some of the lowest-level offences to treatment, away from system sanctions. In an effort to gauge the aggregate impact of pre-arrest (police-led) diversion, we employ a synthetic control design in an interrupted time series analysis. Relying on quarterly data over the last 10 years from several policing areas in England, we compare jurisdictions that engaged in a systematic diversion effort (e.g., West Midlands) to those that did not, while controlling for multiple factors on which the jurisdictions may differ (e.g., police workforce size, unemployment, population). The detectable impact of pre-arrest diversion on key outcomes and implications regarding police reported crime, cautions, and prosecutions are discussed. 
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Dr Ilya Chevyrev - Rough objects in probability

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Ilya Chevyrev delivers a seminar on their research -
Probability theory frequently involves the study of very rough stochastic objects, such as Brownian motion, to which the usual rules of calculus do not apply. In the last 20 years, there have been significant developments in probability theory which allow us to make sense of such rough objects and study their properties. These developments in particular have given us methods to rigorously solve a wide class of stochastic (partial) differential equations. In this talk, Dr Chevyrev will give a brief introduction to this topic, describe the problems that these methods can address, and indicate links with neighbouring fields in mathematics, including dynamical systems and quantum field theory.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Associate Professor Janet Lawson - Classification as a factor that affects the quality of disabled athletes’ sport experiences

IAS Guest Speaker Associate Professor Janet Lawson delivers a seminar on their research, fully titled "Classification as a factor that affects the quality of disabled athletes’ sport experiences: Insights from a research program guided by the Knowledge to Action Framework" - 
An assistant professor at the University of Manitoba (Canada), Dr. Lawson’s research program seeks to understand the quality of disabled athletes’ experiences in sport. Specifically, she is interested in classification, the process by which ‘parasport’ competitions are organized, and the impact this can have on the overall quality of an athlete’s sport experience.
This talk will begin with a brief overview of quality participation in parasport. Next, Dr. Lawson will describe key issues that can arise during, and result from, classification and how they may negatively impact an athlete’s experience. Practical and evidence-informed recommendations for how to manage such challenges will be discussed. Dr. Lawson will also highlight how these recommendations were developed and implemented in partnership with members of the parasport community, providing researchers with insight into novel methods of co-production. 
During their visit, Associate Professor Lawson is collaborating with James Haley from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Professor Ye Zhou - Tactile sensing device

IAS Visiting Fellow Professor Ye Zhou delivers a seminar on their research -
The imitation of tactile perception, synaptic processing, and neural coding functions in human sensory nerves has become an important development direction in neuromorphic electronic technology. The tactile perception system can be applied in multiple aspects and has enormous application prospects in fields such as human-computer interaction systems, intelligent robots, and mobile healthcare. Developing neuromorphic devices with tactile perception and processing capabilities, simulating the functions of biological brains and perception systems at the hardware level, is expected to achieve compatibility with biological neural signals, and build efficient intelligent perception systems and human-computer interaction interfaces. This report will introduce our research work in the field of tactile biomimetic perception, exploring the key influencing factors and structure-activity relationships in the development process of tactile sensing devices from three aspects: material preparation, structural design, and device development.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Professor Mariana Araujo Lamego & Professor André Reyes Novaes - Geographical Knowledge Mobilities in Brazil: one exhibition and one conference

IAS Visiting Fellows Professor Mariana Araujo Lamego & Professor André Reyes Novaes deliver a seminar on their research - 
In our presentation, we delve into two compelling case studies that illuminate the mobility of geographical knowledge in Brazil. Our first case study examines how a Portuguese historian navigated geographical imaginations related to exploration and colonialism while curating a historical geographical exhibition in São Paulo in 1954. The second case study focuses on the circulation of academic travellers to the Rio de Janeiro 1956 International Geographical Conference. Our overarching goal is to unveil the intricate process behind the formation of Brazilian geographical knowledge. We argue that scientific knowledge is intricately shaped through a complex web of epistemic and cultural exchanges within a transnational scientific network embedded in power relations, asymmetries, partnerships, and collaborative endeavours.
 
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Professor Zhen Wen - Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Self-powered Sensing

IAS Visiting Fellow Professor Zhen Wen delivers a seminar on their research -
Tactile sensors have attracted much attention for their potential applications in health monitoring, wearable devices, electronic skin and smart robots, etc. A new generation of self-powered tactile sensor based on triboelectric nanogenerator has been developed in terms of its incomparable advantages in power consumption and potential performance. Based on the coupling effect of contact-electrification and electrostatic induction, it enables to obtain the information on the mechanical input, e.g., magnitude and frequency, by analysing electrical output signals. Intensive efforts have been devoted to improve the sensing performance of triboelectric pressure sensor to meet the demand of the practicality. In this talk, the key advancements in materials, structures and applications of self-powered triboelectric pressure sensors will be systematically introduced. Then, the theoretical basis, impact mechanism and the approaches to optimize the pressure sensing performance will be comprehensively analysed. Afterwards, I will summarize the typical applications of triboelectric pressure sensors in different pressure ranges and working frequencies. Finally, the future perspectives of self-powered triboelectric tactile sensor and self-powered microsystem will also be discussed.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Dr Yolandi Burger & Ms Zandile Myeka - 'Named after Nelson' & digital creativity within archival practices

In the lead up to International Nelson Mandela Day (18th July), IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Yolandi Burger & IAS Residential Fellow Ms Zandile Myeka deliver a dual seminar -
Dr Yolandi Burger - Measuring Mandela: Co-designing his legacy and impact on urban places The "Named after Nelson" (NaN) project is a collaborative Global South and Global North project that utilised a co-design approach to integrate contributions from diverse stakeholders to memorialise Nelson Mandela's legacy in the metropolis. This initiative benefitted from the complexities inherent in co-design, including understanding the varied needs of diverse stakeholders, navigating power dynamics, and fostering effective communication within a multicultural and multidisciplinary team. The approach focused on capturing and reflecting the profound influence Mandela knowingly and unknowingly had on placemaking, revealed through the graphic heritage depicting his legacy in locations named after him. The seminar will share the methodological framework employed in the NaN project, highlighting the links between design inquiry and archival practice. The discussion will reveal how, within the context of graphic heritage means, meanings, and measures, impact has been generated through various channels connected to the project. This will draw from research impact theory and practical examples of implementing this towards measurable outputs.
Ms Zandile Myeka - Exploring the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory Archive as a collaborative link with institutional repositories design inquiry and social transformation This seminar explores the use of digital resources to foster digital creativity within archival practices, focusing on the Loughborough Urban Graphic Object Archive and the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory Archive at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. It reports on how the relationship between these respective institutional repositories has leveraged digital technologies to innovate archival practices, enhance access to archival materials, and engage diverse audiences. Through case studies, the project explores strategies such as digitisation, data visualisation, multimedia presentations, digital storytelling, collaborative projects, and user-centred design. By analysing the collaborative experiences of these settings, the project clarifies the transformative impact of digital creativity on archival practice, emphasising its role in preserving cultural heritage, promoting historical understanding, and fostering social inclusion.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias