Explore ENU 2024

“Explore ENU” held on 14 & 15 October, was an immersive two-day experience of university life at Edinburgh Napier University, that invited S5 and S6 pupils to our campuses to experience our courses, facilities, and student life.

On Day 1, pupils could learn more about several subject areas including Business, Nursing & Midwifery, Law, Arts and Creative Industries, Engineering, and Computing, through a variety of workshops, lectures, Q&A and practical sessions. Prospective students shared that they “enjoyed meeting new people that otherwise they would be too anxious to speak to in other circumstances”, while it also helped debunk myths as one student shared that the event “has given me a better knowledge of the courses I can do, and I am aware of all the support I could get from the uni”. At the end of the first day, one student was excited to say, “I think Napier might be my top choice!”

On Day 2, pupils also received 1-1 UCAS application support from our School Outreach Team who shared their expertise regarding the application process, how to write the perfect personal statement, or how to make the most of their time at university.

Both days were supported by different teams across campus such as Bright Red Triangle, Graduate Apprenticeships, and the Formula Student Team Napier.

Nicola Kennedy, Senior Outreach Officer was proud to see how the event came together and the impact it had on future students. “Our flagship Explore ENU schools outreach event allows us to engage with a key group of young people in S5 & S6 from throughout Scotland. The two days have given them a unique opportunity to experience university life firsthand while exploring our subject areas in depth and showcasing our amazing facilities. It is also a great example of cross-university collaboration that wouldn’t be possible without the Schools Outreach team, Academic, and Professional Services colleagues who supported the. We look forward to hosting Explore ENU in 2025!”

Hear from subject area Academics:

“The Explore Business event gave school pupils the chance to develop both their soft skills and subject knowledge through a virtual business simulation. In groups, they made decisions around research and development, sales and marketing, production and purchasing, whilst managing financial, human and physical resources of the business. They loved seeing the real-time impact on bank, profit, net assets etc., learning how interconnected all these aspects are to running a business, whilst having fun!” Dr Sarah Borthwick Saddler, Lecturer – Accounting

“The Explore Engineering event is a fantastic way for us to engage with local schools, and particularly those pupils in the senior phase. The event allows us to ensure that potential students can make informed decisions about their future when they leave school and increases the chance of ENU featuring as part of those plans. Pupils who engaged in the programme of event were a credit to their schools and themselves, all were diligent, highly focussed, and great fun to work with” Dr Kenneth Leitch, Head of the Civil, Transportation and Environmental Engineering

“At the Explore Law event, we ran two sessions: a mock criminal trial; and a problem-solving exercise involving consumer protection law. The visiting pupils rose to both challenges superbly! We also got some of our 3rd-year students involved in acting out various witness roles. I hope all who took part enjoyed it and found it worthwhile. It was a most rewarding event to be involved in!” James McDougall, Lecturer – Law

“Explore Napier gave school pupils an insight into all fields of nursing and midwifery with practical examples/ real world applications. The students have been motivated and responsive and many will be nurses in the future of that I have no doubt” Ian Stables, Lecturer – Nursing and Midwifery

If you are interested in getting involved in Explore ENU or working with schools, please email our schools outreach team: outreach@napier.ac.uk

Clinical Exercise Physiology launches at Edinburgh Napier

Programme leader Dr Amanda Pitkethly discusses the need for Clinical Exercise Physiologists in today’s workforce, what the subject is all about and what careers you can go into if you choose to study this masters course at Edinburgh Napier University.

What is Clinical Exercise Physiology?

CEPs specialises in the prescription and delivery of evidence-based exercise interventions to optimise the prevention, treatment and long term management of acute, sub-acute, chronic and complex conditions.

As a graduate Clinical Exercise Physiologist, you may work in a range of primary, secondary and tertiary care settings as part of a multidisciplinary team of health care and rehabilitation providers.

CEP services aim to optimise physical function and health and promote long-term wellness through lifestyle modification and behaviour change across the lifespan.

Why should people study this as a post-graduate degree?

Our MSc programme develops the skills that graduates need to meet the Academy for Healthcare Sciences (AHCS) Standards of Proficiency which are in line with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) Standards of Proficiency.

We teach the curriculum framework developed by Clinical Exercise Physiology-UK (CEP-UK), delivering the required knowledge and skills to be a competent Clinical Exercise Physiologist in the UK. Completing this MSc forms part of the requirement for eligibility to register with the AHCS.

What kind of career can I go into when I graduate from this programme?

The role of CEP is to work as part of healthcare teams across healthcare settings from hospital to community. For example, within:

  • Secondary care pre/rehabilitation settings
  • Primary Care
  • Private hospital settings
  • Public and private multidisciplinary clinics and leisure services
  • Defence Medical Services n Population/Public health/ Policy advisors
  • Workplace health and rehabilitation
  • Research/Academia

What will a clinical exercise physiologist do?

CEPs specialise in exercise testing and assessment, alongside the design, delivery and evaluation of evidence-based exercise interventions. CEP scope of practice encompasses apparently healthy individuals to those with chronic and complex conditions, along the care pathway from primary prevention, through acute management, to rehabilitation and maintenance. Interventions are exercise or physical activity-based and also include health and physical activity education, advice and support for lifestyle modification and behaviour change. CEPs work in a range of primary, secondary and tertiary care settings as part of a multidisciplinary team of health care and rehabilitation providers and in community settings.

Do I need any previous experience in this area to apply to the course?

The usual entry requirements for the courses are an undergraduate degree in a sport and exercise science (or related area i.e. your undergraduate degree must include the common elements of a sport and exercise science degree i.e. physiology, psychology and biomechanics). Additional vocational training (e.g. CIMSPA Gym Instructor etc) and experience working in health and fitness is not necessary but would support your studies well.

What do you look forward to most about teaching this course?

As a programme team, we are proud to be part of this brand new registered profession in the UK, we are all passionate about developing truly empathic, reflective and professional scientist-practitioners who enjoy helping individuals with health conditions, and who can also make an important impact in our healthcare systems in the same way that other countries, e.g. Australia, have been doing for 20+ years.

Why should I choose to study Clinical Exercise Physiology at Edinburgh Napier?

Since 2016, we have a track record in Edinburgh, and Scotland more widely, for developing clinical exercise scientists. Many of our previous graduates have gone on to valuable work in healthcare systems and research. Our team of excellent academics have so much to offer including: international reach and esteem, involvement in the recognition of the profession of CEP in the UK and its promotion, involvement in developing the national curriculum, applied clinical experience and much more.

To learn more about the course and apply, visit napier.ac.uk

Agora este é meu país favorito no mundo!

O ano de 2024 mal havia começado quando, em 9 de janeiro, a BBC anunciou que 2023 foi oficialmente o ano mais quente registrado. Um novo recorde diário de temperatura global foi estabelecido em mais de 200 dias no ano passado, de acordo com a análise da BBC dos dados coletados pelo Serviço de Mudanças Climáticas Copernicus.

Para o Dr. Fernando Rafael De Grande, como para muitos outros cientistas ambientais, essa confirmação não foi surpresa. Fernando tem estudado o impacto do aumento da temperatura na delicada linha costeira de manguezais do Brasil por algum tempo, mas passou o ano de 2023 trabalhando em Edimburgo com cientistas do Centro de Ciências de Conservação e Restauração (CCRS) da Universidade Napier de Edimburgo.

‘O Centro é liderado pela Professora Karen Diele na Universidade Napier, que também trabalha e publica sobre o ambiente de manguezal do Brasil, então eu já estava familiarizado com seu trabalho há algum tempo’, explica Fernando, que fez sua graduação inicialmente na Universidade Estadual de São Paulo e agora é pesquisador pós-doutorado no Instituto de Ciências Marinhas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (IMar/UNIFESP), em Santos.

‘Eu estava ansioso para expandir minha pesquisa, adotar uma abordagem mais global e queria melhorar meu inglês, então solicitei ao governo brasileiro o patrocínio de uma oportunidade de trabalhar com a Professora Diele aqui na Escócia.’ A reputação internacional da Universidade Napier em pesquisa de manguezais foi essencial para atender às condições de financiamento estabelecidas pelo governo brasileiro, que concordou em patrocinar sua bolsa.

No último ano, a pesquisa de Fernando na Napier concentrou-se na produção de uma meta-análise e revisão sistemática da literatura, para avaliar onde e em que medida as temperaturas mais quentes provavelmente afetarão a produção de fauna de mangue ao redor do mundo.

‘É difícil testar o impacto do aumento da temperatura no campo’, explica ele, ‘então eu compilei resultados publicados de experimentos laboratoriais de todo o mundo, incluindo muitas espécies diferentes, e descobri que, sim, o aumento de temperatura devido às mudanças climáticas pode afetar negativamente a fauna de manguezais, o que, por sua vez, poderia impactar as florestas de mangue, dada a importante função ecológica desses animais. Muitas espécies animais incluídas em nosso estudo crescem e se reproduzem menos em temperaturas mais altas. Esse impacto poderá ser especialmente pronunciado no Indo-Pacífico Central e Indo-Pacífico Ocidental. Estou ansioso para em breve submeter os resultados de nosso trabalho a um jornal científico para publicação, junto com Karen e meus supervisores brasileiros.’

Refletindo sobre seus 12 meses em Edimburgo, pouco antes de retornar ao Brasil em 13 de janeiro, Fernando disse: ‘A equipe da Karen no Centro tem uma reputação internacional por seu trabalho, e ela publicou pesquisas globalmente significativas em muitos artigos, então eu me beneficiei diretamente dessa experiência. A Napier também tem uma boa infraestrutura de pesquisa, incluindo laboratórios e equipamentos para pesquisa marinha. Também fiquei impressionado com os outros laboratórios da universidade.

‘O CCRS funciona como um grupo interdisciplinar, e isso foi uma experiência totalmente nova e muito boa para mim. Aprendi como trabalhar nesse tipo de ambiente de pesquisa, com colegas de disciplinas diversas, produzindo pesquisas valiosas juntamente com eles. Outros alunos de Biologia Marinha da Karen trabalham na Escócia, e pude interagir com eles e discutir nossas áreas de pesquisa individuais, o que também foi muito interessante e produtivo.

‘Meu tempo aqui também melhorou muito meu inglês, como eu esperava. Como acadêmico, posso ler e escrever em inglês, mas viver aqui ajudou muito minha conversação.

‘Para pessoas dos trópicos, como eu, a Escócia é muito diferente e tem uma paisagem muito bonita. Eu amei a Escócia, e as pessoas em Edimburgo foram muito amigáveis. É uma cidade linda, com uma arquitetura maravilhosa e a cultura aqui é incrível. Há bons museus gratuitos e, é claro, o castelo no centro da cidade! É muito diferente de São Paulo.

‘Também viajei pela Escócia durante meu tempo aqui, como por exemplo, para Fort William, Glasgow, Inverness e St Andrews. Talvez agora este seja meu país favorito do mundo!

Embora esteja retornando para continuar sua pesquisa de pós-doutorado em São Paulo, Fernando continuará colaborando com o CCRS no futuro. Ele já foi convidado a trabalhar e co-autor dois artigos com Karen e colegas do Centro e diz: ‘Já começamos a planejar algumas novas e empolgantes pesquisas conjuntas aqui no Brasil também, e o trabalho de campo para isso já começará em algumas semanas.’

‘Estou otimista de que posso aplicar nossa pesquisa quando voltar ao Brasil, para melhorar a gestão e conservação dos manguezais no Brasil e em outras regiões do mundo.

A pesquisa desenvolvida pelo Fernando foi financiada pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, processo n° 2022/12556-2.

Maybe now this is my favourite country in the world!

2024 had barely begun when, on 9 January, the BBC announced that 2023 was officially the warmest year on record. A new daily global temperature record had been set on more than 200 days last year, according to analysis by the BBC of data gathered by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

For Dr Fernando Rafael De Grande, like many other environmental scientists, this confirmation came as no surprise. Fernando has been studying the impact of warming temperature on Brazil’s delicate mangrove coastline for some time, but he spent 2023 working in Edinburgh with scientists from the Centre for Conservation and Restoration Science (CCRS) at Edinburgh Napier University.

‘The Centre is led by Professor Karen Diele at Edinburgh Napier, who also works and publishes on Brazil’s mangrove environment, so I have been familiar with her work for some time,’ explains Fernando, who studied his initial degree at São Paulo State University and is now a post-doc Research Fellow at the  Institute of Marine Science, Federal University of São Paulo (IMar/UNIFESP), Santos, Universidade Federal de São Paulo.

‘I was keen to expand my research, to take a more global approach – and wanted to improve my English – so I applied to the Brazilian government to sponsor an opportunity to work with Professor Diele here in Scotland.’ Edinburgh Napier’s international reputation for mangrove research was essential to satisfy the funding conditions set by the Brazilian government, which agreed to sponsor his fellowship.

For the past year, Fernando’s research at Napier has focussed on producing a meta-analysis and systematic literature review, to assess where and how much warmer temperatures will likely impact mangrove fauna production around the globe.

‘It is difficult to test the impact of temperature increase in the field’, he explains, ‘so I have collated published results from lab experiments from around the world, including many different species, and have found that, yes, increasing temperatures due to climate change can negatively affect mangrove fauna, which in turn could impact the mangrove forests themselves, given the animals’ important ecological roles. Many animal species included in our study grow and reproduce less under increased temperatures. This impact is expected to become particularly acute in the Indo-Pacific and western Pacific. I am now looking forward to soon submit the results of our work to a scientific journal for publication, together with Karen and my Brazilian supervisors.

Reflecting on his 12 months in Edinburgh, just before his return to Brazil on 13 January, Fernando said: ‘Karen’s team in the Centre have an international reputation for their work, and she has published globally significant research in many papers, so I have benefited directly from that [expertise]. Napier also has a good research infrastructure, nice labs and equipment for marine research, and I have been equally impressed by the other science labs at the university.

‘CCRS works as an interdisciplinary group, and that has been a totally new and very good experience for me. I have learned how to work in this type of research environment, with colleagues from diverse disciplines, doing and publishing valuable research together. Other Marine Biology students off Karen work in Scotland, and I have been able to interact with them and discuss our areas of individual research, and that too has been very interesting and productive.

‘My time here has also much improved my English, as I’d hoped. As an academic, I can read and write in English, but living here has greatly helped my conversational English.

‘For people from the tropics, like me, Scotland is very different and has a very beautiful landscape. I have loved Scotland, and the people in Edinburgh have been very friendly. It’s a beautiful city with wonderful architecture and the culture here is amazing. There are good free museums, and of course the castle at the centre of the city! It is very different from San Paulo.

‘I’ve also travelled around Scotland during my time here, to Fort William, Glasgow, Inverness, and St Andrews. Maybe now this is my favourite country in the world!

Although now returning to continue his postdoctoral research Fellowship in São Paulo, Fernando will continue to collaborate with CCRS into the future. He has already been invited to work on and co-author two papers with Karen and colleagues from the Centre and says ‘We already started to plan some exciting new joint research work here in Brazil also, and field work for this will already kick off in a few weeks.’

‘I am optimistic that I can apply our research when I return to Brazil, to improve mangrove management and conservation in this region of the world. Our research is relevant not only for Brazil, but also for other countries with mangrove environments.’

frdegrande@gmail.com

Funding was provided by a FAPESP research grant No. 2022/12556-2.

ENU’s Stellar Contributions to the Scottish Institute of Policing Research in 2023

The Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) is a collaborative organisation which brings together 15 Scottish Universities, as well as Police Scotland and The Scottish Police Authority, whose aim is to ‘support internationally excellent, multi-disciplinary policing research to enable evidence-informed policy & practice.’

Edinburgh Napier’s Contribution to the SIPR Annual report demonstrates the outstanding and sheer volume of work and dedication that has gone into this area of research from academics within the university, with our very own Professor Liz Aston leading the research institute.

Some of the work in this year’s report includes examples of the kind of collaboration carried out, including knowledge and exchange events, which has contributed to organisational learning, such as hosting Norwegian Police.

Our ENU head of Social Sciences, Dr Andrew Wooff, now an incoming Associate Director of SIPR is co-lead of the Education and Leadership network. Indeed, he also co-wrote a report with Drs Shane Horgan and Andy Tatnell; ‘Pluralised responses to policing the pandemic: analysing the emergence of informal order maintenance strategies, the changing of ‘policing web’, and the impacts of COVID19 in rural communities.’

Dr Jennifer Murray collaborated on an engaging report on the ‘Estimation of risk for missing individuals: Development of an empirical risk assessment and decision support tool for missing person investigations’ and as well as this, our Edinburgh Napier Carnegie grant PhD scholar, Abigail Cunningham delivered research on ‘Encountering policing – a dialogic exploration of Scottish Pakistanis’ experience of ‘policing.’

Edinburgh Napier also leads The Scottish Centre for Policing and Public health, with Prof Nadine Dougall and Drs Inga Heyman, Andrew Tatnell and Andrew Wooff contributing ‘How cross-service collaboration can improve community safety and wellbeing – a systematic review and case study of a community hub intervention’, again showing the range of multi-disciplinary research submitted to the report.

Furthermore, Dr Shane Horgan collaborated on a report titled: ‘Influence Policing’ which looked at contemporary issues with targeted communication campaigns.

There was much more submitted by our Edinburgh Napier SIPR academics, and you can read the full annual report here: SIPR-Annual-report-2023.pdf

To find out more about SIPR and what they do, visit the site: SIPR – Scottish Institute for Policing Research

You can also sign-up to the newsletter!

 

napier.ac.uk

Collaboration is the foundation needed to develop Scotland’s future Life Sciences skill set

Last year, Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) identified both the bioeconomy and life sciences as sectors of major opportunity.

Speaking on 29 November, at The Scotsman’s Life Science conference, Dr Claire Garden* officially launched the report from the recent Life and Chemical Sciences Skills Summit.

“This sector is so effective in driving economic growth, and so important for the future prosperity of our country,” Dr Garden told the audience.

The sector can also play a major role in achieving the Scottish Government’s ambitions for fair and green economic growth.

“The Life and Chemical Sciences sector employs about 1.1% of the Scottish workforce but contributes 4.4% of Scotland’s total economy (GVA),” added Dr Garden. “The sector is also on track to increase its contribution to the Scottish economy to a total of £8bn by 2025, and Scotland’s Life Sciences sector is world-leading, partly because of its highly skilled and internationally recognised workforce.”

But what skills will be needed in future?

The first Life and Chemical Sciences Skills Summit was successfully led and hosted by Dr Garden in September 2023, with support from SULSA (Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance) and Skills Development Scotland.

“We brought together 80 representatives from industry, tertiary education, skills providers, and other key stakeholders, to collectively address two priority areas: the work-readiness of new entrants, and collaborative working between industry and tertiary education.”

Themes of consolidation, collaboration and challenge emerged, and discussions identified 15 recommendations that could all be grouped under two clear needs:

  • A centralised umbrella skills organisation for Life Sciences.
  • A sector skills platform for Scotland – comprising both physical and digital spaces to bring together and signpost all skills assets.

“Together, the organisation and platform would facilitate the kind of collaborative, creative work that we know will be required to meet the challenges set out by The Entrepreneurial Campus, Green Skills, and Digital and Data challenges set by government.”

The sector’s vision

There are two key strategies that set the vision for the sector’s future. First, the Life Sciences Strategy for Scotland 2025, which aims to make Scotland the location of choice for Life Sciences businesses, researchers, healthcare professionals and investors, while increasing Life Sciences contribution to Scotland’s economic growth.

The second is The National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology. It states that Scotland will become the go-to destination to incubate and grow bioeconomy businesses to scale; and to manufacture products and services desired by consumers and end-users that will facilitate the nation’s net zero 2045 ambition.

At the centre of both are the people and skills working in the sector.

“We know we need a skilled workforce, but the question of ‘which skills’ can be challenging,” said Dr Garden. “Businesses are telling us that the sector increasingly needs people to have multidisciplinary skills that combine scientific and non-scientific skill sets, such as: meta skills; digital and data; automation, AI and robotics; quality control and regulatory; green skills; commercial skills; and entrepreneurship.”

“At Edinburgh Napier, we are focussing now on consolidating our entrepreneurial offer to students, business, and our community: for example, through a Women’s Enterprise Hub; collaboration with businesses to incorporate more innovation challenge-based opportunities for our students; and an educator’s toolkit.

“We were delighted when the University was recently placed second in Scotland in the Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking, presented in the ‘Gateways to Growth Report’ by Octopus Ventures.

Closing with a call to action to all stakeholders across the sector, Dr Garden said: “It’s time now to consolidate and openly share our skills assets, and we must find smarter and more creative ways to continue to collaborate if we are to meet the challenges we face.”

* Dr Claire Garden is Associate Professor of Life Science Education and Head of Learning and Teaching in the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University.

LINKS

report from the recent Life and Chemical Sciences Skills Summit

digital-economy-skills-action-plan.pdf (skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk)

green-jobs-in-scotland-report_final-4.pdf (skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk)

 

Education is key for a thriving Life and Chemical Sciences sector in Scotland

The Life and Chemical Sciences Sector in Scotland continues to face challenges in developing a highly skilled workforce and an awareness from young people about what careers in the sector are available. In response, Edinburgh Napier University, supported by the Scottish Universities Life Science Alliance (SULSA) and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) hosted the Scottish Life and Chemical Sciences Skills Summit on Thursday 28 September at Craiglockhart Campus.

The aim of the summit focuses on solutions in two priority areas: (1) work readiness skills of new entrants and (2) collaboration between industry and academia.

The summit opened with Dr. Claire Garden, Associate Professor and Head of Teaching and Learning, School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University and Chair of the SULSA Skills Committee giving opening remarks honing in over a decade of work in the life science skills space. She has brought this summit to life bringing together approximately 70 individuals comprising of industry from the life and chemical sciences sector, college and university staff, innovation centres, and wider public sector agencies.

Dr. Claire Garden

Mr. Ivan McKee MSP delivered the keynote speech for the summit to a room of widely attentive and keen professionals throughout his remarks. McKee noted, that the Life and Chemical Sciences sector is identified in the UK Innovation Strategy and is a priority area that Scotland can be competitive in internationally. McKee is also a member of the Cross-Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Life Sciences and showed his enthusiasm for the potential of what the sector can do for Scotland’s economy. McKee stated that “a strong skills pipeline is essential to support Scotland’s fast-growing life and chemical science sector. I’m delighted to see the work of SULSA, bringing Universities, colleges, industry, and government agencies together at today’s skill summit to take forward concrete collaborative actions to address this need”.

The education system (including colleges, universities, training providers, and work-based learning/apprenticeships) is critical for the industry to retain and attract talent in the sector in Scotland. The solutions discussed in breakout sessions and workshops will mark the first step to influencing what comes next in the industry. According to Dr. Claire Garden, “the Summit was a resounding success where clear themes emerged. Work is already underway to address skills needs across the sector, however, there is a requirement for further support to share them in a visible way. There was also a clear desire for further opportunities to collaborate on targeted solutions.  Further details will be outlined in our report later in the year.”

E-bike boom: ENU researchers find electric mountain bikes could help tackle health inequalities

The biggest study of its kind also found cost remains a barrier to e-MTBs, writes Dr Lesley Ingram-Sills

New research into the use of electric mountain bikes (e-MTBs), led by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University’s Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland, has found they could have a role to play in reducing health inequalities – as well as offering a ‘unique opportunity’ to promote wellbeing.

The study, which was the largest undertaken into the recreational use of the e-MTBs, gathered more than 1300 responses were gathered from riders, retailers, manufacturers and land managers across Scotland, England and Wales.

It found evidence of an older participation base than general MTB cyclists, as well as a broadly similar number of disabled respondents to the British average, suggesting they could help more people stay fit and active.

Other conclusions included an increase in speed and distance covered throughout the year in comparison to other cyclists, this the majority of individuals participating to benefit mental health or have fun. Cost is the main barrier to participation and this is an important consideration moving forward to make it fully accessible as a sport.

The final report also makes nine recommendations to organisations involved in the sector, including education relating to trail etiquette and outdoor access codes, reducing the financial barriers and promoting its health benefits.

Within this research we attempted to understand the rider, the industry, and the most popular trails to ride e-MTBs on.  We continue to see a growth in this sector of the cycling industry and its great to see new users entering the sport for the first time. e-bikes really can smash down barriers making cycling accessible for all regardless of fitness, gender, disability or age. It’s great to see more individuals accessing green spaces to have fun and improve their mental health – we all need a bit of that after the last few years. The Stakeholders are trail blazers here, using this information to help with trail developments, infrastructure, and rider education to support e-MTBers just as the sport is gaining momentum.

This study was funded and supported British Cycling, Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, Forestry England, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Cycling, NatureScot and Forestry and Land Scotland. It also suggests targeting under-represented groups to make cycling more diverse, promoting a positive image of e-bike use, and conducting more research on their environmental impact in future.

Since being introduced into the cycling industry, sales of e-bikes have grown exponentially over the last five years. They are expected to surpass 130 million in 2023 with some estimates predicting as much as an eight-fold increase by 2030.

Sighthill science labs benefit from £700k upgrade

After a busy programme of work over the summer, our fantastic team of technicians in The School of Applied Sciences have spent a few weeks over the autumn kitting out our newly extended and refurbished labs. And don’t they look great!

The full programme of works – representing an investment of more than £700,000 in lab facilities at Sighthill – have provided:

  • more lab benches for our increased undergraduate students studying on our biosciences suite – this is the extended Microbiology lab.
  • flexible project space for our 4th year and MSc students to do their project work
  • our new tissue culture suite for practical class teaching,  4th year undergraduate and MSc projects in programmes such as  Biomedical Science and Biological Sciences.
  • A brand new VR research lab (below) which will be kitted out with the latest research technology for Psychology students.

Students are now enjoying the new facilities, which will make a positive impact on everyone’s work in 2023.

Happy New Year when it comes!

Empowering every player

As the knock-out stage of the Qatar World Cup kicks off, a new generation of football heroes are being forged. One name now familiar in most UK households is Kylian Mbappé. In 2018, the French striker – then aged just 19 – became only the second teenager ever to score in a World Cup Final. (The first was Pelé, in 1958.) It’s the stuff that dreams are made of.

2022 is already a bumper year for football heroes, with the summer success of England’s Women’s team captivating everyone, not just football fans… and also making household names of young players like Lauren Hemp (21) and Georgia Stanway (23).

There are now thousands upon thousands of youth footballers, right across the UK, who are dreaming of a future moment when they too can lift a trophy.

But football is a grassroots game – with more than 60,000 youth players registered in Scotland alone – and while not every player will make it to a Cup final, let alone a World Cup, everyone can improve and enjoy playing to the full in their local team.

The value of science in youth football/grassroots football is being promoted by Scottish-based SoccerPDP.com, based on academic research by Dr James Dugdale of Edinburgh Napier University.

“We have worked with James since he was a PhD student at Stirling University, where we funded his studies to validate data for our app” explains founder and CEO Jacob Gordon.

Dr Dugdale is now supervising his own PhD students in the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier, and both Alban Dickson – the psychologist with Heart of Midlothian – and nutritionist Saumya Khullar will see their PhD research applied for practical benefit, helping nurture young players through the SoccerPDP app.

SoccerPDP provides an in-depth development plan across four key pillars: strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology, and technical skills. That empowers every player to maximise their potential and help realise their long-term ambitions within the game.

“Our science-based approach provides players with a pathway to improve,” says Jacob. “We demonstrate how the exercises and drills should be carried out, along with the scientific reason behind each training task, allowing young players to gain an understanding of how each action will help them improve their game, alongside regular training and matches.”

soccerpdp empowers players, parents and coaches
The soccerpdp app empowers players, parents and coaches, allowing young players to gain an understanding of how each action will help them improve their game.

James adds: “The app focuses on players aged 10 – 18, who can track their development individually. Both our new PhD’s are looking at aspects of communication, to better engage the target market.”

The research will inform new iterations of the platform, and both PhDs are being co-funded by SoccerPDP and Edinburgh Napier, (which also offers a unique BSc degree in Football Coaching, Performance, and Development, backed by the Scottish FA).

SoccerPDP provides access to a 12-month personal development plan for players of all abilities, and can be used by players, their parents, and coaches. It provides techniques, support, and education opportunities to improve performance both on and off the pitch.

Everything Soccer PDP does is based on sound scientific theory. Developed initially in partnership with academics at the University of Stirling, the programme continues to apply the latest scientific advances and understanding to provide accurate assessment, which helps track the progress of players throughout their development.

“With support from an international research network of collaborators, our system now brings an inclusive and standardised approach to the development of grassroots footballers,” says Jacob. “We create a highly accurate ‘football CV’ that allows a player’s development to be continuously tracked and benchmarked against their previous performances and the results of others.”

More>> https://soccerpdp.com

BSc (Hons) Football Coaching Performance and Development (with Scottish FA) Undergraduate Full-time (napier.ac.uk)