GDP growth project

Study examines the economic structure and dynamics of the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber regions of the UK, using the logic of firm and labour agglomerations and their contribution to GDP as the basis for the analysis

Creating an entrepreneurial region: exploring the entrepreneurial capacity of the East Midlands

This paper explores the notion of the entrepreneurial region and, in particular, the relevance and appropriateness of this concept to the East Midlands. An outline framework is developed that depicts aspects and dimensions of an entrepreneurial region. This is then applied to the East MIdlands to gauge how entrepreneurial the region is

Secondary centres of economic activity in the East Midlands: final report

This report outlines the findings of a study of secondary centres of economic activity in the East Midlands. The study builds on previous work undertaken in the ‘GDP Growth in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside regions’ project by the Enterprise Research and Development Unit on behalf of emda and Yorkshire Forward

An exploration of women’s representation in senior leadership positions in the English National Health Service

The inception of this research into a glass ceiling (GC) in the English National Health Service (NHS), is derived from my own observations as a former NHS employee. Initially, most attendees at the meetings I went to were female managers. This contrasted with my first board meeting at which only one female Executive Director was present. This led me to question why, when women comprise 77% of the NHS workforce, do they constitute only 44% of leadership roles (NHS, 2016)? The title of this research project is An Exploration of Women’s Representation in Senior Leadership Positions in the English National Health Service. This title is aligned to the following research question, ‘Does a Glass Ceiling Exist in the English National Health Service and, if so, what are the factors acting as barriers to women accessing senior leadership positions?’ A GC is ‘the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements’ (FGCC, 1995, pp. 4). The literature suggests many explanations for GCs; however, the main justifications put forward in the literature are not entirely pertinent to the NHS, given most of the NHS workforce and consumers are female, and the NHS is a comparatively flexible employer, which supports female staff and their development. Objectives The objectives of the research were to: 1. Explore whether data on female representation on NHS boards indicate a GC. 2. Understand, if a GC is proven, why it exists. 3. Suggest recommendations to address any gender imbalance. Methods Mixed Methods were employed. Quantitative analysis reviewed data on gender composition across the NHS, including an analysis of Trusts’ boards and uptake of development programmes. The qualitative analysis consisted of twenty-six interviews with NHS managers. The main challenge was accessing interviewees, for example, one gatekeeper to a subset of interviewees delayed access for almost a year. To analyse the interview data, narrative analysis was applied to each of the individual transcripts. This was achieved using a Labov proforma template. Once the narrative analysis had been completed, it was then possible to analyse the interview data across the different groups of interviewees using thematic analysis. Grounded theory was found to be valuable. Although insights from the literature were used to inform the initial development of the interview schedule, the emphasis was on open discussion to allow examination of the reasons for the possible existence of a glass ceiling in the NHS and to enable theories to be based on the emerging data. Findings and Conclusions Much has been done across the NHS to promote female progression to the boardroom; however, the glass ceiling remains intact. The quantitative research evidenced that trust boards still have a deficit in female members, especially in key leadership positions such as the CEO, Director of Finance and Medical Director. An analysis of recruitment data evidenced that women are less likely to apply for board level positions than men, but when they do apply, they are equally likely to be appointed. The qualitative research demonstrated that more must be done to address the main barriers to gender equality, which are the responsibility for childcare and overcoming the ‘old boys’ network.’ To ease the burden of childcare, organisations could implement job sharing and flexible working. The NHS advocates these measures for lower positions, but not at board level, due to the accountability and visibility required for executive positions. The main opportunity to breach the ‘old boys’ network’, is for women to create their own networks, and by supporting each other through mentoring and signposting of employment opportunities. My research suggested the creation of the Healthcare Leadership Equality Model. This framework recognises that the means of breaking the glass ceiling are within the reach of female employees (such as seeking out training courses, networks, and role models). However, there is also the need to incorporate wider macro factors, including the role of government in driving forward initiatives, such as national frameworks for flexible working. As this research project was conducted prior and during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, I was able to look beyond the primary research aims. It was possible, in real time, to evaluate how the unique demands of the pandemic impacted female career advancement. The pandemic presented situations in which women could build and display the skills which were viewed as necessary for board level leaders. Therefore, the acceleration caused by the pandemic enabled some women to rapidly build their careers, in line with the Healthcare Leadership Equality Model. Stakeholder Impact The purpose of my research was to identify the barriers to women reaching senior NHS positions and make recommendations on how to address these. Throughout, I engaged with NHS organisations, such as the NHS Leadership Academy, who have expressed an interest in the outputs of my research

Rurality, productivity and skills in the East Midlands: final report

This report sets out the findings of research into the relationship between rurality, skills and productivity in the East Midlands. The report has been prepared by the Enterprise Research and Development Unit (ERDU) at the University of Lincoln on behalf of the East Midlands Development Agency (emda)

Segmenting support for small and medium enterprises: identifying and disseminating best practice. Research summary.

Segmentation can be defined as the identification of target groups of customers that share activities, attributes, behaviours, conditions or needs. This report examines the nature of segmentation with particular reference to business development services and the Business Link network. The study was commissioned by the Small Business Service’s Research and Evaluation Team, as a project within its research and dissemination project series. In order to build a baseline view of current segmentation practice, the study addressed several key questions: • What segmentation strategies are being used for the provision of services to SMEs by Business Links and related organisations? • What alternative approaches can be identified from the academic and practitioner literatures that may be of relevance? • How can segmentation frameworks and strategies be developed and applied? • What are the implications for the Small Business Service and Business Links

Non-Newtonian and flow pulsatility effects in simulation models of a stented intracranial aneurysm

Permission to redistribute provided by publishers.Three models of different stent designs implanted in a cerebral aneurysm, originating from the Virtual Intracranial Stenting Challenge'07, are meshed and the flow characteristics simulated using commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software in order to investigate the effects of non-Newtonian viscosity and pulsatile flow. Conventional mass inflow and wall shear stress (WSS) output are used as a means of comparing the cfd simulations. In addition, a WSS distribution is presented, which clearly discriminates in favour of the stent design identified by other groups. It is concluded that non-Newtonian and pulsatile effects are important to include in order to avoid underestimating wss, to understand dynamic flow effects, and to discriminate more effectively between stent designs. © Authors 2011

Squeeze-film levitation characteristics of plates excited by piezoelectric actuators

A small mass is levitated by a vibrating plate with an arrangement of four piezoelectric actuators that generate a squeeze-film in the gap between the plate and the mass. Different arrangements of actuators and plate design are explored using simulation in order to produce better performance

Stress Tuning of Laser Crystals

The topic of stress tunable laser crystals is addressed in this study with the purpose of determining the piezo-optic coefficients of a new laser material. This data was collected using a quadruple pass birefringence technique because of its high degree of sensitivity relative to the other methods examined including fringe shift analysis using a Mach-Zender interferometer. A green He-Ne laser was passed through a light chopper and Glan-Thompson prism before entering a crystal of Erbium doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Er:YAG) (used in order to validate the experimental technique). The Er:YAG crystal is mounted in a press mechanism and the laser is quadruple passed through test specimen before being returned through the prism and the orthogonally polarized portion of the beam measured with a optical sensor. At a later stage, the Er:YAG crystal was replaced with a new crystal in order to determine the piezo-optic coefficients of this uncharacterized material. The applied load was monitored with the use of a 50 lb. load cell placed in line with the press. Light transmission readings were taken using a lock-in amplifier while load cell measurements were taken with a voltmeter from a 5 volt, 0.5 amp power supply. Despite the fact that an effective crystal press damping system was developed, size limitations precluded the use of the complete system. For this reason, data points were taken only once per full turn so as to minimize the effect of non uniform load application on the collected data. Good correlation was found in the transmission data between the experimentally determined Er:YAG and the previously known peizo-optic constants of non-doped crystal with which it was compared. The variation which was found between the two could be accounted for by the aforementioned presence of Erbium in the experimental sample (for which exact empirical data was not known). The same test procedure was then carried out on a Yttrium Gallium Aluminum garnet (YGAG) for the purpose of establishing values of its unknown piezo-optic constant tensor using experimentally collected transmission data. Significant variation between the piezo-optic constants of YAG and YGAG crystals was found however, the excellent data correlation of separate experimental runs carried out on the YGAG sample demonstrates the validity of these results. The data collected during the stressing of the YGAG was of high quality, however the amount of data collected was somewhat limited by a fracture of YGAG specimen which undoubted altered the crystalline lattice structure and hence precluded any further testing