ESRC IAA 2023 - 2028 Project Summary

Professor Claire Quinn

School of Earth and Environment, Faculty of Environment 

Responsive Mode

Mangroves are globally important but are coming under pressure from coastal development. In Vietnam there has been rapid development of resource-rich coastal areas, leading to deforestation and coastal transformation. As a result, economic benefits have often been at the cost of environmental quality.  

In November 2022 the Vietnamese government passed Resolution 30-NQ/TW outlining the vision for socio-economic development in the Red River Delta. It identifies the need to link planning for conservation and development in coastal areas to enable sustainable development of the marine economy. The resolution highlights how effective planning at all levels (national, regional, provincial) is needed to sustainably develop agriculture and food processing, industry, tourism, and renewable energy alongside conservation and environmental protection.   

The Resolution recognises the need to disseminate mechanisms and policies that support development whilst conserving mangrove systems. Research has shown that there can be trade-offs between economic development and the benefits that mangroves provide locally (food and energy), nationally (storm protection) and globally (carbon storage), that vary both spatially and over time.   

The aim of this project is to co-design and co-produce narratives for the Red River Delta and through interdisciplinary engagement develop guidance to planning that optimises across development and conservation objectives.

Dr Briony Thomas

School of  Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences and School of Design, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Responsive Mode  

This project builds on a Royal Academy of Engineering Ingenious Award that was co-designed with Northern Ballet and draws together expertise from creative education and medical engineering with renowned dance artists. The project aims to engage and inspiring young people through creative STEM educational experiences. It challenges perceptions of engineering – who they are and what they do – and creatively communicates the impact of medical engineering and its role in society.   

Through creative co-production between engineers, teachers, and artists, this project disseminates cross-curricular and experimental learning activities and experiences, which bring together a broad range of curriculum areas from design technology, science, mathematics, performing arts and physical education. 

Demonstrating our bodies as awesome machines, through the extremes of motion that dancers have been trained to perform, we will showcase engaging choreography inspired by engineering and co-produced with young people, which will be translated into a short dance film by Northern Ballet.  

Bringing together early career researchers and technicians, with teachers and creatives, our purpose is to develop innovative educational experiences and support skills development, while challenging stereotypes and building sustainable partnerships across the arts, education, and engineering.  

Dr Paula Clarke 

School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences 

Responsive Project 

The CREATE project will take a dynamic assessment, which has proof of concept, and develop it as an app for schools.  Currently dynamic assessment is not widely used to measure reading skills; however, it offers a more inclusive alternative to traditional tests, by measuring learning potential rather than prior learning. 

We will work in partnership with a primary school, specifically educators, and children aged 4-7 years.  Workshops will identify their needs and preferences and involve co-design of app features and storyline.  A software developer and illustrator/animator will create a prototype app which the school will trial, and a video demonstration shared with a wider stakeholder network via our website will generate further feedback.  The main outputs will be the prototype app and a training guide. 

The educators will gain experience and training in dynamic assessment, which can inform their future practice, helping them to identify children who need support with reading as early and accurately as possible.  The children and educators will also gain insights into app design, which can transfer to other teaching and learning activities.  This project is an essential step in realising our ambition of producing a low-cost assessment suitable for use in schools across England.  

Dr Siobhan Hugh-Jones & Professor Paul Cooke 

School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Responsive Project 

Young people in India experience high levels of anxiety and depression, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among Indian young people.  Secondary schools in India are ideal sites for intervention, but Indian teacher training programmes do not typically include any teaching about mental health or how to deliver positive classroom experiences rather than harsh practices or corporal punishment.  Our study will optimise a key outcome from our foundational project (SAMA) which established the feasibility of a co-produced whole school programme, that included teacher training, for use in Indian secondary schools to safeguard adolescent mental health.

Teachers were eager to learn about teacher and adolescent mental health and wished this had been part of their teacher training.  We want to maximise the impact of this learning by building new relationships and networks in Indian education and teacher training who could utilise our research findings and to foster new research and impact pathways.  Integrating such training into the teacher training curriculum could facilitate a holistic understanding of young people’s mental health and use of positive approaches in teaching and interactions with students.  Healthy student-teacher relationships, and schools which are psychologically safe, can protect young people’s mental health.  

Dr Desy Ayu Pimasari

School of Geography, Faculty of Environment

Responsive Mode

Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Indonesia is vulnerable to two key disasters: flooding and fire; and people with disability are among the most vulnerable to these disasters, suffering higher rates of morbidity and mortality and least able to access support.  Kayuh Baimbai aims to:

1. Increase people with disabilities awareness about risks and hazards in their area in order to support their readiness and recovery from disasters;
2. Build support networks with wider publics who will better understand how best to support people with disabilities;
3. Increase capacity of the City Government and emergency responders to co-design and deliver Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) actions in collaboration with people with disabilities.

In partnership with the Banjarmasin Chapter of Indonesia Disabled People’s Association (PPDI) and Indonesia Disabled Women’s Association (HWDI), we will bring together people with disability, the City Government and disaster and emergency responders (the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure, the fire brigade, and Indonesian Red Cross) to co-design a toolkit to prepare people with disabilities for different disasters, and strengthen the awareness of DRR stakeholders and wider publics on how to best support people with disabilities.  This toolkit will be disseminated by a team of new Disability Liaison Officers who will form a sustainable mechanism for embedding disability-inclusion within DRR process.

Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira

School of Politics and International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences

Responsive Mode

Dr Siobhan Hugh-Jones & Professor Paul Cooke 

School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Responsive Project 

Young people in India experience high levels of anxiety and depression, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among Indian young people.  Secondary schools in India are ideal sites for intervention, but Indian teacher training programmes do not typically include any teaching about mental health or how to deliver positive classroom experiences rather than harsh practices or corporal punishment.  Our study will optimise a key outcome from our foundational project (SAMA) which established the feasibility of a co-produced whole school programme, that included teacher training, for use in Indian secondary schools to safeguard adolescent mental health.

Teachers were eager to learn about teacher and adolescent mental health and wished this had been part of their teacher training.  We want to maximise the impact of this learning by building new relationships and networks in Indian education and teacher training who could utilise our research findings and to foster new research and impact pathways.  Integrating such training into the teacher training curriculum could facilitate a holistic understanding of young people’s mental health and use of positive approaches in teaching and interactions with students.  Healthy student-teacher relationships, and schools which are psychologically safe, can protect young people’s mental health.  

Dr Paula Clarke 

School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences 

Responsive Project 

The CREATE project will take a dynamic assessment, which has proof of concept, and develop it as an app for schools.  Currently dynamic assessment is not widely used to measure reading skills; however, it offers a more inclusive alternative to traditional tests, by measuring learning potential rather than prior learning. 

We will work in partnership with a primary school, specifically educators, and children aged 4-7 years.  Workshops will identify their needs and preferences and involve co-design of app features and storyline.  A software developer and illustrator/animator will create a prototype app which the school will trial, and a video demonstration shared with a wider stakeholder network via our website will generate further feedback.  The main outputs will be the prototype app and a training guide. 

The educators will gain experience and training in dynamic assessment, which can inform their future practice, helping them to identify children who need support with reading as early and accurately as possible.  The children and educators will also gain insights into app design, which can transfer to other teaching and learning activities.  This project is an essential step in realising our ambition of producing a low-cost assessment suitable for use in schools across England.  

Dr Imogen Jones

School of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences

Rapid Action

When someone dies in unexpected or contentious circumstances, a coronial death investigation takes place. However, across the England and Wales, coroners are not unified in their approach. Variation includes, but is not limited to, when autopsies and further investigations are required, the scope of investigations, and the generation of reports aimed at preventing future death. There is scant sense of overarching national purpose and minimal meaningful oversight.

Existing research shows that there is increasing dissatisfaction amongst those who carry out autopsies, this is leading to a crisis in the number of pathologists willing to carry out coronial work. The bereaved may also suffer harm caused by, non-exhaustively: delays in their ability to dispose of a deceased person, or the frustration, and sometimes trauma, experienced during inquests and their outcomes.

This project sees collaboration between academic researchers and key professionals such as pathologists, anatomical pathology technologists, lawyers and coroners, to tackle the fundamental question of what the purpose of the modern coronial system ought to be. It will map what reforms are necessary to achieve this goal. The outcomes of the project will be used to inform future policy development both by key professional organisations and government.

Professor Mark Davis 

School of Sociology and Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences 

Responsive Mode  

Funded by UKERC, we led the UK-wide team that developed a social relations approach to ‘retrofit’ – the installation of energy efficiency measures in buildings. Households are a big emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for 26% of total UK emissions. In 2021, however, just 150,000 homes underwent energy efficiency upgrades (‘retrofit’) via Government schemes, e.g. ECO. We found these national schemes fail because they privilege financial incentives and overlook place-based relational factors shaping household decision-making.   

Using our research and building upon four years of collaboration with these partners, we have co-designed this IAA project with Leeds City Council and Otley Energy who will now pilot a place-based ‘Retrofit Accelerator Hub’ shaped by our relational framework.  

By assessing the Hub’s impact, we will produce outputs advising multiple beneficiaries on using a relational approach to retrofit. The impact pathway is significant, with national government (DESNZ), charities, local authorities, regional and national financial institutions, and place-based retrofit schemes (e.g. National Retrofit Hub) asking for our help in delivering this new approach to UK retrofit.  

Dr Matt Tidmarsh

Dr Victoria Jenneson

Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James’s - Faculty of Medicine and Health

Responsive Mode

Researchers at the University of Leeds have been working with Leeds City Council to understand exposures to outdoor advertising across Leeds, focusing on food, and to create an interactive dashboard of advertising exposures. This project will consolidate the evidence gained from research to facilitate evidence-based policy making around how outdoor advertising in Leeds can shape exposure to affordable, sustainable, and healthier food across the city, with a focus on reducing inequalities.  

Building upon our existing relationship with the Council, we will continue to work together to create a co-designed report/evidence pack to support the Council’s proposal for a Healthy Advertising Policy for Leeds. The policy will ensure that the Council uses its outdoor advertising assets responsibly and to protect everyone equally from harmful advertising practices. Evidence shows that Healthy Advertising Policies have the potential to significantly reduce exposure to and consumption of unhealthy foods high in saturated fat, sugar and/or salt (HFSS), supporting a healthier community. Our dashboard will provide an important evidence tool for policy decisions, supported by demonstration workshops to public health colleagues at the Council and beyond. We will seek to secure the dashboard’s longevity as a data asset through meetings with allied organisations and campaign groups.