'We used to be somebody': a critical consideration of plans to recapture the UK’s reputation as a world-leader in teaching research and innovation

The UK has recognised itself as a world leading educator, particularly in higher education where ten of the top 100 institutions are based in the UK. And yet, establishments such as the British Academy and the Royal Society are questioning whether the UK will continue to hold this recognition. Ahead of the recommissioning of Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) in 2023, the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), one of seven council domains of UKRI (UK Research & Innovation, the largest funder of doctoral research in the UK distributing funding from the UK Government) has sought to understand what the ‘gap’ is and how to close it. The ESRC commissioned three projects (Adams & Neary, 2022; ESRC, 2022; Ferrie et al., 2022; Tazzyman et al., 2021) in preparation for recommissioning and this paper reviews their recommendations and anticipated impact on DTPs, and the education of doctoral researchers. Specifically, the plans to increase exposure of digital data and related skills/toolkits and project management skills including dissemination strategies will be evaluated. The paper critically asks how the new approach will benefit researchers with a focus on those intending to stay in the academy and those who choose to build a career ‘beyond’. To focus this critical work, an ‘alternative’ career pathway, that uses research skills but also dissemination and knowledge exchange skills, will be examined as a critical exemplar: journalism. This paper will close by considering the future for research methods training, at least within UK social sciences, and whether it meets the needs of doctoral researchers, whichever career pathway they intend to follow

Medical student wellbeing - a consensus statement from Australia and New Zealand

Abstract Background Medical student wellbeing – a consensus statement from Australia and New Zealand outlines recommendations for optimising medical student wellbeing within medical schools in our region. Worldwide, medical schools have responsibilities to respond to concerns about student psychological, social and physical wellbeing, but guidance for medical schools is limited. To address this gap, this statement clarifies key concepts and issues related to wellbeing and provides recommendations for educational program design to promote both learning and student wellbeing. The recommendations focus on student selection; learning, teaching and assessment; learning environment; and staff development. Examples of educational initiatives from the evidence-base are provided, emphasising proactive and preventive approaches to student wellbeing. Main recommendations The consensus statement provides specific recommendations for medical schools to consider at all stages of program design and implementation. These are:Design curricula that promote peer support and progressive levels of challenge to students.Employ strategies to promote positive outcomes from stress and to help others in need.Design assessment tasks to foster wellbeing as well as learning.Provide mental health promotion and suicide prevention initiatives.Provide physical health promotion initiatives.Ensure safe and health-promoting cultures for learning in on-campus and clinical settings.Train staff on student wellbeing and how to manage wellbeing concerns. Conclusion A broad integrated approach to improving student wellbeing within medical school programs is recommended. Medical schools should work cooperatively with student and trainee groups, and partner with clinical services and other training bodies to foster safe practices and cultures. Initiatives should aim to assist students to develop adaptive responses to stressful situations so that graduates are prepared for the realities of the workplace. Multi-institutional, longitudinal collaborative research in Australia and New Zealand is needed to close critical gaps in the evidence needed by medical schools in our region

Editorial: Teaching research methods better? Or research methods for better teaching?

This special issue invited papers relating either to the pedagogy of research practice, or how we can harness methods, methodologies and research design to better evaluate our teaching. In essence, the paper was derived from personal struggles to find a home for such work within a world-leading research university that was structured around disciplines and the teaching of substantive topics, and around research careers. The editing team for this special edition teach courses which sit alongside this disciplinary structure: teaching either research methods courses spanning a School made up of six disciplines, or across a College made up of five schools and many hundreds of students; or skills-based courses on journalism practice within subject or School-wide media courses. Each of the editors are on learning and teaching contracts despite all being actively involved in research. This is an example of neoliberal management decision-making, a decision that disappears our potential to be recognised as researchers because there is so much teaching for us to do. Within our institution there has been growing investment in research methods teaching teams, just as there has been growing investment and recognition of colleagues on the learning and teaching track. The investment is slow and often concentrated on early career scholars meaning there are leadership vacuums in the ‘middle’ of the institution. Our overarching university structures have created barriers to the building of communities of practice in research methods or learning and teaching. This journal is something of a beacon and its ethos of critical development of scholarship and of scholars attracted our attention. Early conversations with the oSoTL editors Nathalie Tasler, Matthew Barr, and Vicki Dale, helped us consider what a useful contribution could be. We had a strong desire to expose how tough some things are and how welcome the solidarity found within communities of practice is. Teaching students to develop their research practice is tough. The scholarship of learning and teaching (SoTL) in this field is relatively new and has focused predominantly on the teaching of numeric data, an area also sometimes known as ‘quantitative methods’ and ‘computational social sciences.’ The difficulty of teaching in this field is fuelled both by the resistance shown by students: on maths anxiety (Williams, Payne, Hodgkinson, & Poade, 2008); on fear of numbers (Scott Jones & Goldring, 2015); on anxiety and devaluing of courses that receive mixed student feedback (Scott Jones & Goldring, 2014); on the devaluing of high value, rather than enjoyable learning (Ryan, Saunders, Rainsford, & Thompson, 2014); and on managers resisting adequate time to learn methods because they’re perceived as unpopular (MacInnes, 2010). Significant social science investment in Q-Step Centres across the UK (over £20million into 17 centres) demonstrated a different ‘way’ was possible. Significant outputs including writing on embedding methods in substantive learning (Buckley, Brown, Thomson, Olsen, & Carter, 2015; Technopolis, 2022) were produced by Q-Step teams, adding to a growing literature on pedagogy and methods. Most of the literature in the teaching of numeric data is published in journals which examine advances in methodologies rather than in dedicated SoTL journals, and so it can be difficult to find for those coming with pedagogic concerns

In vivo photoacoustic imaging of breast cancer tumor with HER2-targeted nanodiamonds

Radiation-damaged nanodiamonds (NDs) are ideal optical contrast agents for photoacoustic (PA) imaging in biological tissues due to their good biocompatibility and high optical absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) range. Acid treated NDs are oxidized to form carboxyl groups on the surface, functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) targeting ligand for breast cancer tumor imaging. Because of the specific binding of the ligand conjugated NDs to the HER2-overexpressing murine breast cancer cells (4T1.2 neu), the tumor tissues are significantly delineated from the surrounding normal tissue at wavelength of 820 nm under the PA imaging modality. Moreover, HER2 targeted NDs (HER2-PEG-NDs) result in higher accumulation in HER2 positive breast tumors as compared to non-targeted NDs after intravenous injection (i.v.). Longer retention time of HER-PEG-NDs is observed in HER2 overexpressing tumor model than that in negative tumor model (4T1.2). This demonstrates that targeting moiety conjugated NDs have great potential for the sensitive detection of cancer tumors and provide an attractive delivery strategy for anti-cancer drugs

Developing an intervention to facilitate family communication about inherited genetic conditions, and training genetic counsellors in its delivery.

Many families experience difficulty in talking about an inherited genetic condition that affects one or more of them. There have now been a number of studies identifying the issues in detail, however few have developed interventions to assist families. The SPRinG collaborative have used the UK Medical Research Council's guidance on Developing and Evaluating Complex Interventions, to work with families and genetic counsellors (GCs) to co-design a psycho-educational intervention to facilitate family communication and promote better coping and adaptation to living with an inherited genetic condition for parents and their children (<18 years). The intervention is modelled on multi-family discussion groups (MFDGs) used in psychiatric settings. The MFDG was developed and tested over three phases. First focus groups with parents, young people, children and health professionals discussed whether MFDG was acceptable and proposed a suitable design. Using evidence and focus group data, the intervention and a training manual were developed and three GCs were trained in its delivery. Finally, a prototype MFDG was led by a family therapist and co-facilitated by the three GCs. Data analysis showed that families attending the focus groups and intervention thought MFDG highly beneficial, and the pilot sessions had a significant impact on their family' functioning. We also demonstrated that it is possible to train GCs to deliver the MFDG intervention. Further studies are now required to test the feasibility of undertaking a definitive randomised controlled trial to evaluate its effectiveness in improving family outcomes before implementing into genetic counselling practice.The National Institute of Health Research funded the study but any views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Authority. Funded by NIHR reference number: RP-DG-1211-10015

Localisation of RNAs into the germ plasm of vitellogenic xenopus oocytes

We have studied the localisation of mRNAs in full-grown Xenopus laevis oocytes by injecting fluorescent RNAs, followed by confocal microscopy of the oocyte cortex. Concentrating on RNA encoding the Xenopus Nanos homologue, nanos1 (formerly Xcat2), we find that it consistently localised into aggregated germ plasm ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles, independently of cytoskeletal integrity. This implies that a diffusion/entrapment-mediated mechanism is active, as previously reported for previtellogenic oocytes. Sometimes this was accompanied by localisation into scattered particles of the “late”, Vg1/VegT pathway; occasionally only late pathway localisation was seen. The Xpat RNA behaved in an identical fashion and for neither RNA was the localisation changed by any culture conditions tested. The identity of the labelled RNP aggregates as definitive germ plasm was confirmed by their inclusion of abundant mitochondria and co-localisation with the germ plasm protein Hermes. Further, the nanos1/Hermes RNP particles are interspersed with those containing the germ plasm protein Xpat. These aggregates may be followed into the germ plasm of unfertilized eggs, but with a notable reduction in its quantity, both in terms of injected molecules and endogenous structures. Our results conflict with previous reports that there is no RNA localisation in large oocytes, and that during mid-oogenesis even germ plasm RNAs localise exclusively by the late pathway. We find that in mid oogenesis nanos1 RNA also localises to germ plasm but also by the late pathway. Late pathway RNAs, Vg1 and VegT, also may localise into germ plasm. Our results support the view that mechanistically the two modes of localisation are extremely similar, and that in an injection experiment RNAs might utilise either pathway, the distinction in fates being very subtle and subject to variation. We discuss these results in relation to their biological significance and the results of others

Substrate binding and translocation of the serotonin transporter studied by docking and molecular dynamics simulations

The serotonin (5-HT) transporter (SERT) plays an important role in the termination of 5-HT-mediated neurotransmission by transporting 5-HT away from the synaptic cleft and into the presynaptic neuron. In addition, SERT is the main target for antidepressant drugs, including the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The three-dimensional (3D) structure of SERT has not yet been determined, and little is known about the molecular mechanisms of substrate binding and transport, though such information is very important for the development of new antidepressant drugs. In this study, a homology model of SERT was constructed based on the 3D structure of a prokaryotic homologous leucine transporter (LeuT) (PDB id: 2A65). Eleven tryptamine derivates (including 5-HT) and the SSRI (S)-citalopram were docked into the putative substrate binding site, and two possible binding modes of the ligands were found. To study the conformational effect that ligand binding may have on SERT, two SERT–5-HT and two SERT–(S)-citalopram complexes, as well as the SERT apo structure, were embedded in POPC lipid bilayers and comparative molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed. Our results show that 5-HT in the SERT–5-HTB complex induced larger conformational changes in the cytoplasmic parts of the transmembrane helices of SERT than any of the other ligands. Based on these results, we suggest that the formation and breakage of ionic interactions with amino acids in transmembrane helices 6 and 8 and intracellular loop 1 may be of importance for substrate translocation

The status and challenge of global fire modelling

This is the final version of the article. Available from European Geosciences Union / Copernicus Publications via the DOI in this record.The discussion paper version of this article was published in Biogeosciences Discussions on 25 January 2016 and is in ORE at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/34451Biomass burning impacts vegetation dynamics, biogeochemical cycling, atmospheric chemistry, and climate, with sometimes deleterious socio-economic impacts. Under future climate projections it is often expected that the risk of wildfires will increase. Our ability to predict the magnitude and geographic pattern of future fire impacts rests on our ability to model fire regimes, using either well-founded empirical relationships or process-based models with good predictive skill. While a large variety of models exist today, it is still unclear which type of model or degree of complexity is required to model fire adequately at regional to global scales. This is the central question underpinning the creation of the Fire Model Intercomparison Project (FireMIP), an international initiative to compare and evaluate existing global fire models against benchmark data sets for present-day and historical conditions. In this paper we review how fires have been represented in fire-enabled dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) and give an overview of the current state of the art in fire-regime modelling. We indicate which challenges still remain in global fire modelling and stress the need for a comprehensive model evaluation and outline what lessons may be learned from FireMIP.Stijn Hantson and Almut Arneth acknowledge support by the EU FP7 projects BACCHUS (grant agreement no. 603445) and LUC4C (grant agreement no. 603542). This work was supported, in part, by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), through the Helmholtz Association and its research programme ATMO, and the HGF Impulse and Networking fund. The MC-FIRE model development was supported by the global change research programmes of the Biological Resources Division of the US Geological Survey (CA 12681901,112-), the US Department of Energy (LWT-6212306509), the US Forest Service (PNW96–5I0 9 -2-CA), and funds from the Joint Fire Science Program. I. Colin Prentice is supported by the AXA Research Fund under the Chair Programme in Biosphere and Climate Impacts, part of the Imperial College initiative Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment. Fang Li was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation (grant agreement no. 41475099 and no. 2010CB951801). Jed O. Kaplan was supported by the European Research Council (COEVOLVE 313797). Sam S. Rabin was funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, as well as by the Carbon Mitigation Initiative. Allan Spessa acknowledges funding support provided by the Open University Research Investment Fellowship scheme. FireMIP is a non-funded community initiative and participation is open to all. For more information, contact Stijn Hantson ([email protected])