RIOevents@napier.ac.uk

2016 Festival of Ideas – evening showcase

As we moved into the evening we explored the breadth and innovation of research across Edinburgh Napier.

Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland

This project is a partnership between Edinburgh Napier University, Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Cycling. The Centre is based at the Trail Head of Glentress Forest in the Scottish Borders, with a remit to develop products and services associated with the mountain bike economy. This is done through knowledge transfer activities from within Scottish Academia linking with relevant commercial partners.

Geraint Florida-James and Lesley Ingram

http://www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/our-schools/school-of-applied-sciences/research/mountain-bike-centre-of-scotland

The Conversation

The Conversation is an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public. The Conversation’s aim is to allow for better understanding of current affairs and complex issues. And hopefully allow for a better quality of public discourse and conversations.

Steve Vass, the Scotland Editor of The Conversation will be on hand to discuss the process of pitching   your research.

Steve Vass

https://theconversation.com/why-write-for-us-60664

Beltane Public Engagement Network

Beltane is the public engagement network which supports public engagement across Edinburgh’s four universities. The network provides training and networking opportunities for academics and students interested in engaging with wider audiences, and supports high profile engagement with the Scottish Parliament and festivals.

Sarah Anderson

http://www.beltanenetwork.org/

Employment Research Institute

The Employment Research Institute carries out independent, rigorous and interdisciplinary research that informs stakeholders in the public, business and academic sectors.

  • We conduct research and give advice on all aspects of employment and employability
  • We conduct research for policy makers seeking to improve the lives of disadvantaged people
  • We undertake analysis of organisational performance
  • We undertake surveys and conduct statistical analyses of data
  • We transfer research into teaching.

The main areas of our recent work include research in the areas of the employment of young people, lone parents, social cohesion, governance of employment policies, childcare, welfare reform and equalities.

Valerie Egdell and Robert Raeside

www.eri.napier.ac.uk

Lives of Nurses

The Nurses’ Lives Research Programme at Edinburgh Napier University uses routinely collected data to better understand nurses’ careers and health.  Our mission is to deliver better evidence about nurses to drive better education and better support for nurses.

Richard Kyle, Catherine Mahoney, Louise Hoyle

Nurseslives@napier.ac.uk   @nurseslives

St Abbs Marine Station: A research base to study marine and coastal life at the Scottish East Coast

The harbour-side research station is a new base for scientific studies aiming at a better understanding, sustainable use and conservation of the marine environment under a new partnership between a private charity and Edinburgh Napier and Heriot-Watt Universities, members of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS). Dr Karen Diele (ENU) and Dr Bill Sanderson (HWU), the marine station’s Co-Directors of Research, are currently developing an innovative and challenging research strategy for St Abbs. Come and visit the St Abbs Stand to inform yourself about the Marine Station, our multidisciplinary research, the fantastic sea- and landscapes at its door-step, and how you could become involved.

Karen Diele

http://marinestation.co.uk/

The War Poets Collection

The War Poets Collection and permanent exhibition tell the story of the changing nature of life within the building, from its beginnings as a hydropathic establishment in 1880 and its temporary use as a military hospital during the First World War, to the days of the Convent of the Sacred Heart and St. Andrew’s College of Education.

We particularly commemorate two celebrated soldier poets, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, whose famous friendship began in Craiglockhart War Hospital, where they met during the summer of 1917.

Catherine Walker

www.napier.ac.uk/warpoets

Environmental impact of electric vehicles

Globally, there are now over 1.2 billion fossil-fuelled vehicles which consume most of the 97 million barrels of oil that is produced each day. Clearly this situation is unsustainable in view of resource, environment and public health considerations. Two Napier PhD students (Doyle and Milligan) are currently undertaking experiments using a number of electric vehicles with the view to study their beneficial impacts.

Tariq Muneer

http://www.tri.napier.ac.uk/

Recent research from the School of Computing: Centre for Social Informatics

Hazel Hall and Peter Cruickshank

http://www.iidi.napier.ac.uk/c/main/site/csi

Centre for Algorithms, Visualisation and Evolving Systems

The stand will showcase three strands of work from the Centre;

  • Mango: A Model-driven Architectural Approach for Engineering Green Mobile Cloud Applications : how to save energy while maintaining performance when running resource intensive tasks on mobile devices
  • Efficient vehicle routing : routing deliveries on time and at minimal cost  by evolving new solvers
  • A Citizen Science Mobile App for Informing Crab Fishing Policy in Brazil

Emma Hart; Kevin Sim; Simon Wells; Xiaodong Lui; Samuel Chinenyeze; Neil Urquhart

http://www.iidi.napier.ac.uk/c/main/site/caves

Athena Swan

Athena SWAN is a Charter established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women studying or in employment in higher education and research. In May 2015 the charter was expanded to recognise work in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.

ECU’s Athena SWAN Charter covers female, male, trans student and staff (academic, professional and support) in relation to their: representation, progression of students into academia, journey through career milestones, working environment for all staff.

Elena Theodoraki

EQUATE Scotland

Equate Scotland is Scotland’s expert organisation working with policy makers, academia and industry to support women in science, engineering and technology. We make a tangible and sustainable change enabling women studying and working in these keys sectors to develop, by supporting their recruitment, retention and progression. Our vision is of a progressive Scotland where women can contribute equally to advancements in science, engineering and technology and have fair access to the jobs of the future.

Sara Orr-Saiz, http://www.equatescotland.org.uk/

Conference Catch Up

Did you miss one of the conference sessions? Come and watch all the action from the Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre – we are showing videos highlights from the earlier sessions in room 1/47 during the showcase.

Be Experimental

Be Experimental create cocktails with a science twist. Not only do the drinks taste delicious each one is a mini experiment in a glass.

* Come and see (and taste!) how science is delivered with an innovative twist!

* Cocktails and mocktails will be available based on a first come, first served basis. You will need to collect a sticker from four different Festival of Ideas stands to claim your drink!