Loughborough Institute of Advanced Studies Podcast

Dr Xiaoya Xun - Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Juvenile Delinquency: Comparing Moral Frameworks in China and the UK

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Xiaoya Xun delivers a seminar on their research - 
This lecture examines the feasibility of cross-cultural comparisons in the study of juvenile delinquency, focusing on China and the United Kingdom. It explores how cultural contexts shape moral understanding and influence responses to ethical dilemmas. Drawing on data from moral questionnaires administered to adolescents in both countries, the study highlights key differences in reactions to identical moral scenarios. Furthermore, it investigates the impact of these cultural variations on the prevalence and nature of youth crime. By analysing the interplay between moral frameworks and delinquent behaviour, the lecture seeks to uncover deeper insights into the role of morality in crime prevention. The findings aim to foster cross-cultural dialogue and provide valuable perspectives for developing culturally sensitive strategies to address juvenile delinquency.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Professor Liberato Ferrara & Dr Estefania Cuenca Asensio - Forging the path to a Sustainable Built Environment: Shifting perspectives and practices in Concrete Structures

IAS Visiting Fellows Professor Liberato Ferrara & Dr Estefania Cuenca Asensio each deliver a seminar on their research, in a session fully titled “Forging the path to a Sustainable Built Environment: Shifting perspectives and practices in Concrete Structures" -
Prof Liberato Ferrara - “A holistic approach to sustainability of concrete: upgrading the perspective from material to structural design and life cycle assessment.”
The talk introduces a novel conceptual design approach for concrete structures within a holistic life cycle framework. Key to adopting material innovations in the construction industry, this conceptual design approach breaks from the traditional structural performance assessment based solely on the misleading metrics of material unit, volume, cost and environmental impact at the time of construction. This overcomes current challenges with Ultra High-Performance Concretes, often seen as extremely high strength, without considering their exceptional durability and the implications in the asset's design, construction, use and maintenance.
Dr Estefania Cuenca-Asensio - “Towards a more sustainable built environment.
Recent experiences on concrete recycling.” This seminar discusses recent experiences implementing circular economy concepts in the concrete construction industry. The research carried out ranges from the recycling of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC), intended as construction and demolition waste using different fractions of recycled aggregate obtained from crushed concrete, in substitution of both natural aggregates and cement, to the recycling of Coal Mine Waste Geomaterials (CMWG). Recent results of the investigations that addressed the feasibility of the proposed technologies will be shown.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
#sustainability #concrete #recycling

Dr Tanja D. Hendriks - Disasters, Duties and Dependencies: Malawian civil servants in disaster relief interventions

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Tanja D. Hendriks delivers a seminar on their research -
Malawi is a donor-dependent country in southern Africa, at the forefront of experiencing the intensifying impacts of climate change. Its Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DODMA) is responsible for the coordination of disaster governance and relief interventions, but profoundly reliant on donor-funding to do so. Based on 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai (2019), Cyclone Freddy (2023) and an El Niňo-induced drought (2024), I zoom in on different characteristics of disaster governance, to show how despite its lack of resources and actual capacity to deal with them, the state is central to relief interventions. Detailing how DODMA civil servants navigated the demands placed on them by colleagues, citizens, chiefs and (international) collaborators as they attempted to fulfil their duties, I suggest that these interventions throw the state itself into relief and render visible civil servants’ sense of duty as well as what it is up against.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

An introduction to Research Summits for Loughborough Academics (Dec 2024)

Recorded as part of a sandpit session for the new Research Summits, Director fo the IAS, Professor Ksenia Chmutina, outlines how the IAS can help support a week-long Research Summit, gathering international Fellows around key topics, to provide high quality legacy outcomes.
This more recent session in December 2024 has greater context, as by then we had then hosted the Africa Summit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias/programmes/africa-summit/
For more details on Research Summits and how to apply to host one, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias/opportunities/researchsummits/
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias

Dr Sarah Jewett & Professor Mike Wilson - Re-envisioning International Partnerships

Fulbright Scholarship Fellow Dr Sarah Jewett and their host Professor Mike Wilson (SDCA) deliver a seminar on their research -
International partnerships have often been lauded for fostering diverse perspectives and collaboration across global networks. Yet they often become best intentions embedded in signed artifacts and fixed institutional mechanisms. How can we envision and enact them as fluid sets of responsive practices that deepen both relationships and knowledge, and continuously draw on emerging priorities, aspirations and expertise? Come join Prof. Michael Wilson and Dr. Sarah Jewett as they discuss the ways they are rethinking traditional forms of institutional partnership through the launch of a new storytelling collaboration between Loughborough University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Dr Arnoud Arps - Memori Melompat: Jumping Memory, Popular Culture, and the Indonesian War of Independence

IAS Residential Fellow Dr Arnoud Arps delivers a seminar on their research -
This seminar uses Indonesian popular culture (film, historical re-enactment, and online music videos) about the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949) in its aim to understand ‘colonial histories’ from the decolonial non-Western perspective of the formerly colonised. In this seminar, I would like to critically scrutinise the idea that memory travels freely and discuss how a straightforward mobility of cultural memory does not apply to every local context. Memory in Indonesia travels temporarily, briefly, and not far. As a demonstrative semantic device, the Indonesian term memori melompat (jumping memory) signifies cultural memory formation beyond the West. It emphasises that Indonesian popular culture about the war is indicative of the need for a local reframing of existing memory concepts to better understand contemporary engagements with the colonial past.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Dr Amrita Jash - China in the Middle East: Trends, Drivers and Implications

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Amrita Jash delivers a seminar on their research - 
China’s evolving role in the Middle East is crucial for several reasons. While China’s growing influence in the Middle East is a recent but a significant trend with far-reaching consequences. Especially, against the China-brokered Saudi-Iran peace deal, the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, the tensions in the Red Sea and growing competition between China and the US, it has become imperative to understand how China is influencing the geopolitical landscape of Middle East. Once a distant observer, China has emerged as a key player in the region’s political and economic landscape, driven by its economic ambitions and growing global influence. While the region offers China opportunities, it also presents complex challenges. How China navigates these complexities is significant in shaping the future of the Middle East and the global order. The presentation will focus on the evolving nature of China’s engagement with the Middle East, the various dimensions of China’s engagement, and the implications of it.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Ms Maura Della Flora Flores - The User Experience in Design Education

IAS Visiting Fellow Ms Maura Della Flora Flores delivers a seminar on their research -
Design education is undergoing constant evolution, keeping pace with the rapid availability of technological innovations and contemporary societal changes, which also necessitate new pedagogical approaches. In this sense, undergraduate design courses must be revised to meet these demands. An ongoing research project is investigating how professors and students interact in these new contexts, with preliminary results indicating that the relationship between professor and student goes beyond the simple transmission of knowledge, valuing personal and collaborative experiences. The research suggests that design education should focus on richer and more meaningful learning experiences, preparing future designers for an increasingly dynamic job market.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias
 

Dr Achituv Cohen - Walkability: Geo-informatic Tools for Sustainable Urban Mobility

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Achituv Cohen delivers a seminar on their research - 
Walkability is a key element in modern urban planning, shaping cities' environmental, social, and economic dynamics. Factors such as street design, destination proximity, connectivity, and subjective perceptions like safety and comfort influence walkability. However, measuring it effectively remains challenging, particularly when combining both objective and subjective factors.
In this seminar, Dr Cohen will share insights from his research and other studies on walkability measurement using Geographic Information System (GIS) and geospatial data science. He will explore how innovative methodologies, like machine and deep learning, offering new ways to analyse walking behaviour. Additionally, he will introduce emerging trends, including integrating subjective perceptions, improving accessibility for vulnerable populations, and utilizing the POI VizNet, tool we developed for assessing urban visual accessibility.  These approaches enhance our ability to understand walkability and not just deepen our knowledge of urban mobility, but also contribute to the creation of more inclusive and sustainable communities. 
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias 

Professor Terry Tao Ye - Passive Sensing and Battery-less Devices for e-Textile Applications

IAS Visiting Fellow Professor Terry Tao Ye delivers a seminar on their research -
eTextile have been an active research focus in wearable electronics, where fabric-based sensors and devices are interconnected into Body Area Networks (BANs) to enable multi-dimensional, long-term, and real-time monitoring for athlete training, rehabilitation, and patient care applications. With numerous eTextile devices integrated into BANs, energy sourcing and data transmission have emerged as major challenges. Passive sensing techniques and battery-less embedded devices offer ideal solutions to these issues. By utilizing backscatter modulation or mutual electromagnetic (EM) coupling methods, sensing information can be efficiently extracted and transmitted.
Additionally, by harvesting energy directly from incoming EM waves, eTextile devices can function as therapeutic apparatuses without the need for bulky solid-state batteries. In this presentation, we will demonstrate the potential of eTextile devices constructed from conductive fibers and specially embroidered structures. By integrating these fabric-based components with NFC and RFID transponder chips, passive sensing and battery-less embedded devices can be seamlessly incorporated into fabrics to perform various functions, including body movement sensing, vital sign monitoring, antenna and energy harvesting, and electronic bandages for wound therapy. This research offers a novel platform and enhanced user experience for patient care through smart clothing, as well as athlete training and human-machine interaction applications.
For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias