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First is the newsletter of the Faculty of Science & Technology at Anglia Ruskin University highlighting some of our inspiring research.
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anglia.ac.uk/fst 01
November 2014 For inspiring research in science & technology
First_Welcome to the November issue_ In this edition we learn of some of the real impact that our research and scholarship is having, for example, in paediatric eye care.
We continue to hear of the success of our researchers and how this provides opportunities for media exposure of our work. We also welcome new researchers to our teams. It is a real pleasure to share this success with you.
Prof Mike Cole Deputy Dean (Research and External Income), Faculty of Science and Technology, Anglia Ruskin University
Dr Sarah J Waugh, a Reader in Vision Sciences and Director of Anglia Vision Research (AVR), recently secured a contract with Addenbrooke’s hospital to fund ACPOS. The service provides high-quality eye-care in the community to young children of Cambridgeshire through our modern University Eye Clinic. Children are referred after failing a Cambridgeshire orthoptic vision screening at 3 ½ years, or with vision- or eye-related concerns via a GP.
ACPOS is the first joint contract between Addenbrooke’s and Anglia Ruskin’s VHS department providing care by three ophthalmic professionals: Addenbrooke’s orthoptists and ophthalmologists, and Anglia Ruskin optometrists.
Sarah explains, “After a wonderful start on October 16th, supported by the University Eye Clinic staff, the plan is for ACPOS to develop into a full-time clinical service over the next 12 months and to continue long term. This also offers wonderful learning opportunities for our undergraduate
students and research opportunities for postgraduate researchers and members of our AVR group.
“Sincere thanks must go to the many staff from Addenbrooke’s, our faculty and VHS who’ve contributed along the way to securing our new service, which has taken many years to evolve.”
For further information on the Eye Clinic’s new venture, contact Sarah: [email protected]
Speciality paediatric eye-care arrives at our University Eye ClinicAddenbrooke’s Community Paediatric Ophthalmology Service (AC-POS) is brought to our Department of Vision and Hearing Sciences (VHS) by Dr Sarah Waugh after securing a funded contract.
Left to right: Dr Matilda Biba, Dr Sarah Waugh and Dr Monika Formankiewicz
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Meet the newest members of our teamWe have four new academics to welcome to Sport and Exercise Sciences, in the Department of Life Sciences. Introducing_
Justin Roberts holds a PhD in Applied Physiology and Nutrition from Brunel University and is an Accredited Sport and Exercise Physiologist and Registered Nutritionist.
“I’ve consulted for various nutrition companies including High 5, Maxinutrition, Higher Nature, Biocare and Nutri Ltd and for a range of athletes. I was also senior nutrition advisor to the England Football Team and Manchester City Football Club.” That’s right, he has worked with David Beckham!
“With an interest in how nutrition can benefit endurance athletes, over 2013/14 I led a large-scale multidisciplinary research study into the effects of long term endurance training and nutrition on ‘normal people’ undertaking their first Ironman triathlon (that’s a 2.4mile swim, a 112 mile cycle - similar to a Tour De France stage - and just a tiny marathon to finish – all in one go). In 2015, one of my PhD researchers will be taking this further by assessing the impact of probiotic supplementation on runners taking part in the world famous Marathon Des Sables – a 151 mile ultra-run across the Sahara Desert.”
The advantage of being bilingual in childhood
October was a busy month for Dr Roberto Filippi who received much media attention for his research of bilingual children.
“The consequences of learning two languages in early childhood have been of continued concern for parents, teachers, and policy makers. Being a parent of two bilingual boys I asked myself the same question and this is what inspired my research: Is second language learning good or bad for cognitive development?”
It’s not surprising Roberto’s latest study generated a lot of media attention given the topic’s widespread concerns.
Roberto explains, “Together with my colleagues in London and Chicago, we found that bilingual children cope better in noisy environments than their monolingual classmates. The study was carried out in a primary school in Cambridgeshire where children performed a speech comprehension task in the presence of verbal interference. Bilingual children showed a statistically significant advantage in understanding English sentences compared to monolinguals. Basically, they were better able to filter out the interference and sustain their attention on the main task.
“Our study provides further evidence that second language learning should be encouraged early in the educational system in the UK.”
A selection of media outputs can be found here:
TV: http://bit.ly/1FPP5xK
Radio: http://bit.ly/1rvjc2U
Online articles: BBC http://bbc.in/1w5iDTA The Telegraph http://bit.ly/1sAPMW6
For more information email Roberto: [email protected]
Claire Rossato spent five years at Canterbury Christ Church University as a lecturer whilst completing her PhD and recently worked at the University of Westminster on a post-doctoral project. She has an MSc from Brunel University and two teaching qualifications.
“I recently joined Anglia Ruskin University as a senior lecturer and have found my experience very enjoyable. Our University has a fantastic atmosphere and plenty of opportunities to further develop research.
“The impact of stress upon sporting performance is one of my main research areas, in particular the appraisal process and the physiological responses associated with this. I’m particularly interested in Challenge and Threat and the suggested responses. My second interest area is in health interventions and the potential impact these may have on clinical populations, more specifically, diabetic and pre-diabetic patients and the use of non-medical intervention such as advice and support.
“I’m looking forward to exploring these research areas further at Anglia Ruskin and working with local sports teams to provide psychological support.”
anglia.ac.uk/fst 03First | Faculty of Science & Technology Research Newsletter | November 2014
Originally from Israel, Itay Basevitch has spent the last nine years at Florida State University where he completed his MSc and PhD, eventually working as a lecturer in the Sport and Exercise Psychology programme.
“I’m excited to join Anglia Ruskin University and look forward to getting to know everyone and collaborating.
“My key research interests include decision-making and perceptual-cognitive skills. I’m specifically interested in the decision-making process (e.g. anticipation) in team sports. Teams are intriguing to me because of the complex dynamics involved in sharing information among teammates. I’m
also interested in the effects environmental stimuli, for instance odours, have on exercise performance and related cognitive variables, such as attention. I value the scientific-practitioner approach in my work and emphasise both the applied and research learning experiences. I’m enthusiastic to learn more about sports that I am less familiar with, such as cricket and rugby.
“Everyone at Anglia Ruskin has been very helpful and kind and I’m confident my new University will provide the right atmosphere, tools and support to be successful and productive - such as the great British tradition of going to the pub on a Friday after work!.”
Genevieve Williams completed her PhD in Sports Biomechanics at Cardiff Metropolitan University. She was a post-doctoral researcher in Biomechanics and Motor Control at University of Massachusetts and Penn State University, before joining the Sport and Exercise Sciences team with us at Anglia Ruskin.
“My research interest is how we learn and control whole body motor skills, examining how we might solve the problem of controlling the 100+ joints and 792 muscles in our bodies to produce every day and sporting actions (with reference to the Dynamical Systems Theory of Motor Control). For example, I’m exploring the dynamics of coordination between body
segments with practice and working towards providing novel learning and assessment tools for motor skills based on the body’s coordination dynamics.
“I also study how perception and action are coupled, and how neurological pathologies interfere with this coupling. I’m investigating how characteristics of visual stimulus differentially challenge the motor abilities of people with ADHD compared to controls. This information increases our understanding of the effect of such pathologies and underpins clinical tools for assessment.”
Genevieve enjoys mountain biking and climbing – testing that coordination and perception-action coupling to the limit.
Newest team membersContinuing the introductions_
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Lecturer, student and forensic anthropologistKerry-Ann Milic is a full time lecturer in our Department of Biomedical and Forensic Sciences and currently working on her own PhD, but as a forensic anthropologist her work doesn’t stop there. She also remains an active consultant and field work operative for the Kenyon Worldwide Disaster Management organisation, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the police authority.
Welcoming your feedback and news
If you’d like to share an article or piece of news in First, have comments on our newsletter or would like to find out more about our faculty’s research pursuits, please send your email to the editor, Nickie Efford-Eliraz: [email protected]
After graduating from Anglia Ruskin with a Forensic Science BSc (Hons) and completing her MSc Forensic Anthropology at University of Bradford, Kerry-Ann was invited to Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) to work as a forensic anthropologist for the ICMP, identifying victims from secondary mass graves killed in Srebrenica during the former Yugoslavian conflict from 1992-1995. She’s also a first responder to mass fatality incidents, including plane crashes and terrorist hostage crises.
Kerry-Ann was recently interviewed both on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and Anglia News after being called by local police to examine human remains found in Huntingdon.
“I was called to determine their context and if they were of forensic importance. Bones from a minimum of 2 individuals
were recovered, both missing their skulls and numerous other skeletal elements. It’s harder to establish the context when a pile of bones is put in front of you. If I’d been present at the scene, I could’ve determined the positioning of the bodies, if this was consistent with a traditional burial and if the remainder of the skeleton was actually beneath the foundations of the house, thereby predating the building of the property (1930s) and not forensically significant.”
Kerry-Ann’s thesis is entitled: ‘Multifactorial age estimation of skeletal remains from a documented Bosnian male sample for use in human identification’. She explains,
“This will hopefully assist with the accurate identification of missing persons in BiH and enable the differentiation between siblings, something DNA often can’t do in this scenario.”
Political Masculinities and Social Transition: Conference 2015
Dr Russell Luyt, from Anglia Ruskin’s Department of Psychology, is working, together with a colleague from the University of Koblenz-Landau (Germany), to organise two conferences which explore ‘political masculinities’.
The first of the two interdisciplinary conferences will take place at the University of Koblenz-Landau in November 2015, and will focus on ‘political masculinities and social transition’.
The conference will explore societal changes and how these relate to gender, and in particular, masculinities. It will examine how political masculinities operate during periods of social transition and whether similar patterns can be observed across context and time. The call for papers is open until March 2015. Organisers encourage proposals from as many academic disciplines as possible, focusing on political masculinities; social practices, individuals and structures, or representations of these. Proposals from non-academic organisations are also welcome.
The second of the conferences will take place at Anglia Ruskin University in 2016 and more information will be available nearer the time.
For information on submitting papers and how to register please contact Russell: [email protected]
