Socially distanced networks – 5 reasons PhD students should engage with social media now

Peer support, finding a place within academia, staying up to date with the latest research, communicating research to wider audiences and navigating life after PhD. Ema Talam and Jon Fairburn outline five ways in which social media, and in particular Twitter, can make all the difference to PhD research at a time when regular academic life has been severely disrupted

Film in Staffordshire - special report

An introduction to the film industry and services available in Staffordshir

Ceramics special report

Key developments within the Ceramics sector in North Staffordshire in 2013. Includes: An interview with Rachel Bishop - Chief Designer at Moorcroft Latest developments at Middleport Pottery under the Princes regeneration Trust Details of the upcoming British Ceramics Biennial

ETHNICITY AND RISK: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POPULATIONS IN CENSUS WARDS CONTAINING MAJOR ACCIDENT HAZARDS IN ENGLAND AND WALES

Recent geographical and sociological research has focused on analysing the environmental equity and justice dimensions of the distribution of pollution and risk. In the US, where most of this research has taken place, studies have shown that ethnic minority and poor communities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental risk, leading to accusations of environmental racism and deliberate targeting of marginal communities in siting decisions. Little attention has been given to these issues in the UK. This paper reports on a preliminary study examining the ethnic characteristics of census wards containing a particular category of technological risk known as 'major accident hazards'. The ethnic characteristics of wards with and without major accident hazard sites are analysed at national and regional scales. This reveals some evidence of a disproportionate siting of major accident hazard sites in wards with higher Asian populations. However it is stressed that these results provide no more than a preliminary indication of a pattern of distribution to be investigated further and that there are a number of significant limitations with the analysis undertaken including the size of spatial unit utilised, the lack of differentiation between major accident hazard sites and the need to examine the relationship between ethnicity and other socio-economic variables. No definitive conclusions can be drawn at this stage as to the validity, significance or cause of the apparent bias in site locations

Incorporating Environmental Justice into Second Generation Indices of Multiple Deprivation: Lessons from the UK and Progress Internationally

Second generation area-based indices of multiple deprivation have been extensively used in the UK over the last 15 years. They resulted from significant developments in political, technical, and conceptual spheres for deprivation data. We review the parallel development of environmental justice research and how and when environmental data was incorporated into these indices. We explain the transfer of these methods from the UK to Germany and assess the progress internationally in developing such indices. Finally, we illustrate how billions of pounds in the UK was allocated by using these tools to tackle neighbourhood deprivation and environmental justice to address the determinants of health

Do alternative weighting approaches for an Index of Multiple Deprivation change the association with mortality? A sensitivity analysis from Germany

Objectives This study aimed to assess the impact of using different weighting procedures for the German Index of Multiple Deprivation (GIMD) investigating their link to mortality rates. Design and setting In addition to the original (normative) weighting of the GIMD domains, four alternative weighting approaches were applied: equal weighting, linear regression, maximization algorithm and factor analysis. Correlation analyses to quantify the association between the differently weighted GIMD versions and mortality based on district-level official data from Germany in 2010 were applied (n=412 districts). Outcome measures Total mortality (all age groups) and premature mortality (<65 years). Results All correlations of the GIMD versions with both total and premature mortality were highly significant (p<0.001). The comparison of these associations using Williams's t-test for paired correlations showed significant differences, which proved to be small in respect to absolute values of Spearman's rho (total mortality: between 0.535 and 0.615;premature mortality: between 0.699 and 0.832). Conclusions The association between area deprivation and mortality proved to be stable, regardless of different weighting of the GIMD domains. The theory-based weighting of the GIMD should be maintained, due to the stability of the GIMD scores and the relationship to mortality

The impact of innovation support programmes on SME innovation in traditional manufacturing industries: an evaluation for seven EU regions

We evaluate the effect of innovation support programmes on output innovation by SMEs in traditional manufacturing industry. This focus is motivated by a definition of traditional manufacturing industry that includes capacity for innovation, and by evidence of its continued importance in EU employment. We conducted a survey in seven EU regions to generate the data needed to estimate pre-published switching models by means of the copula approach, from which we derived treatment effects on a wide range of innovation outputs. We find that for participants the estimated effects of innovation support programmes are positive, typically increasing the probability of innovation and of its commercial success by around 15 per cent. Yet we also find that a greater return on public investment could have been secured by supporting firms chosen at random from the population of innovating traditional sector SMEs. These findings indicate the effectiveness of innovation support programmes while suggesting reform of their selection procedures

A review of the potential of R&D tax policy to support the creative industries

Creative industries represent a vital segment of the UK economy, contributing to the growth of local economies (Mateos-Garcia et al., 2018) and the country’s competitive advantage (HM Government, 2018). In 2018, the creative industries comprised 6.2% of the economy of the United Kingdom in terms of employment (DCMS, 2019) and 5.8% in terms of gross value added (GVA) (DCMS, 2020). Additionally, the creative industries are fast growing – employment in the creative industries grew by 30.6% over the period 2011 to 2018, while the GVA in real terms increased by 43.2% since 2010 (DCMS, 2020). Creative industries tend to be innovative (Bird et al., 2020) and can be highly productive, although they constitute a diverse sector of the economy embracing a wide range of productivity levels (see Section 2 below). Currently, the creative industries, and arts, humanities and social sciences more generally, are ineligible for R&D tax policy support in the United Kingdom (Bakhshi, Breckon and Puttick, 2021). This report will explore the potential of R&D tax policy to support the creative industries. The first section of the report provides definitions of the creative occupations and the creative industries, identifying the main characteristics of both and the links between the two. Additionally, the features of the firms in the creative industries, especially features relevant for the purposes of the policy making, are discussed in detail in this section. The second section discusses the creative industries in the United Kingdom – their importance, main characteristics, and R&D and innovation in the creative industries. The third section discusses R&D tax policy more generally, how it can be used to promote innovation, and the effectiveness of the scheme. Additionally, the section will discuss the main applications of the policy in the United Kingdom and the changes over time. The fourth section details public support measures for creative industries other than tax credits. Finally, Section 5 offers policy recommendations

Crossing over, into and back: design disciplines and identities.

Increasingly design education is taking place within a Krauss-ion 'expanded field' of cross disciplinary practice. This explorative nature of design, when set against notions of traditional disciplines, will ask graduates to participate with certainty and confidence in this 'expanded field'. We argue that developing disciplinary identity, when reinforced by actively working across disciplines, demonstrates the value of creative solutions arising from a collaborative project space. This paper outlines a strategy to engage students in negotiating this expanded design identity through wide ranging partnerships, which purposefully inform the collaborative, and cross-disciplinary nature of this approach. Key to each project is the collaborative interaction between external partners and mixed design groups from Fashion & Textiles, 3D Design and Communication Design. The overview and analysis of this longitudinal cross-disciplinary initiative provides insights that support a clear and positive impact on student's engagement with interdisciplinary experience and onward professional attributes (transferable skills). Findings are informed by student questionnaires, stakeholder feedback, staff interviews, and small group discussions. This paper shares perspectives on cross-disciplinary working strategies in design education and notions of design identity at a time when disciplinary identity is blurring for a future generation of design practitioners

Adopting 'Fablab' model to embed creative entrepreneurship across design program.

This paper sets out to describe and contextualize the impact a new FabLab workshop program has had on the direction and curriculum development at Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University towards more clearly linking current developments in rapid prototyping, rapid manufacturing, and e-manufacturing services in engaging creative technologies and embedding entrepreneurial skill sets within our undergraduate program. These ambitions are set against specific rural issues of location, within a Northern European context, and associated 'creative rural economy' agenda[s]. This paper will report on specific issues and insights, and their impact, by examining the role design education can play in developing clearer and more sustainable patterns of entrepreneurship within an undergraduate design program, set against these external factors. Whereby, an emerging FabLab model, is developing within this design school, this technology has been positioned as a catalyst to integrate the Rural + Enterprise + Mixed Interdisciplinary Design approaches