The university and the community : an exploration of the cultural impacts of universities and students on the community.

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Placing the university: thinking in and beyond globalization

In some respects, the impact of globalization on universities is well rehearsed (competition for international students; the drive for status in global rankings; the opening of overseas campuses; the dream of massive open online courses and other forms of digital education), but the relationship between universities as place-based institutions and globalization is less well understood. It is on that this chapter focuses. Drawing on work undertaken as part of an Economic and Social Research Council project (“Higher Education and Regional Social Transformation”) the author sets the arguments in a wider context. He explores the extent to which and ways in which universities have become key players in the reimagination of their city regions in a (neoliberal) global context. As well as reflecting on the wider public (and local) role of universities, he also considers how universities use the tools available to them to position themselves effectively as successful businesses within the new world in which they find themselves

Assessing the environmental impacts of healthier diets. Final report to Defra on project FO0427

Summary: oncern about the public health impacts of dietary habits in the UK have led to initiatives to encourage healthier eating, notably in the dietary guidelines represented of the eatwell plate (FSA, 2007) and the Eatwell Guide (NHS, 2016c). A change in UK dietary habits towards healthier eating would result in changes in the type and quantities of food items in the national diet, with implications for agricultural, food and allied industries. More specifically, this could lead to changes in land use and farming practices, both for the UK and its trading partners, with associated effects on greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. In this context, and sponsored by Defra, this study set out using a series of scenarios to assess the environmental impacts of changing dietary habits and specifically the adoption of healthier eating in the UK, and in broad terms some of the likely social and economic impacts on the agricultural and food sector, through a set of hypothetical scenarios. The main objectives were to: i) determine the consumption of food under possible future food consumption scenarios in the UK, including the eatwell plate; ii) quantify the production of agricultural commodities needed to meet the food needs of each scenario; iii) quantify the environmental impacts of food commodity production and consumption by scenarios, and iv) identify, in broad terms, the possible economic and societal impacts of dietary changes.The authors thank Defra for funding and supporting the project and all the stakeholders who participated in the project and helped greatly in shaping and quantifying the dietary change scenarios. The authors also thank others who contributed in other ways, e.g. nutritional advice from Prof Joe Millward of Surrey University

Resourcing Scholar-Activism: Collaboration, Transformation, and the Production of Knowledge

In this article we offer a set of resources for scholar-activists to reflect on and guide their practice. We begin by suggesting that research questions should be triangulated to consider not only their scholarly merit but the intellectual and political projects the findings will advance and the research questions of interest to community and social movement collaborators

Resilience, redundancy and low-carbon living: co-producing individual and community learning

There is an acknowledged need for buildings and communities to be more resilient in the face of unpredictable effects of climate change, economic crises and energy supplies. The notion and social practices involving redundancy (the ability to switch between numerous available choices beyond optimal design) are explored as an aspect of resilience theory. Practice and Social Learning theories are used as a lens through which to explore the available redundancy in housing and home environments to help prevent performance failure through unexpected circumstances or in response to varying user needs. Findings from an in depth UK housing case study show how redundancy is linked with the capacity to share resources and to learn both individually and collectively as a community. Such learning in relation to resilient low-carbon living is shown to be co-produced effectively through participatory action research. The benefits of introducing extra redundancy in housing design and community development to accommodate varied user’s understanding and preferences are discussed in relation to future proofing, value and scalar issues. Recommendations include better understanding of the design, time and monetary contribution needed to implement social or technical redundancy. These costs should be evaluated in context of savings made through greater resilience achieved

Air pollution in Delhi: A review of past and current policy approaches

Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) is facing serious challenges linked to worrying levels of air pollution (mainly NO2, PM10 and PM2.5). The CADTIME prject (Clean Air in Delhi through Implementation, Mitigation and Engagement) aims to understand what is required to deliver significant reductions in levels of air pollution. This paper presents the results of the first stage of the project: it firstly contextualises the challenges of air quality management in Delhi within the broader evolution of environmental policies and governance in India, with particular consideration to the tensions between environmental protection and the country's development objectives. Secondly, it sets out how CADTIME will combine multiple source qualitative and quantitative data to develop an air quality action plan and an implementation strategy. In particular, through two workshops with local and national experts and stakeholders, and two rounds of focus groups with citizens of Delhi we will contrast stakeholders' priorities and preferences for existing and potential solutions to air pollution with citizens' lived experiences, thus assessing the political/technical feasibility and public acceptability of current and proposed measures. Furthermore, we will complement the primary qualitative data with a critical review examining the successes and failures of UK and European policies to draw lessons that can be relevant for Delhi and to avoid ineffective policies and achieve cost-effective solutions for the city in the shortest possible time

Situated solidarities and the practice of scholar-activism

Drawing on an analysis of an ongoing collaboration with rural peasant movements in Bangladesh, we explore the possibility of forging solidarity through practices of scholar-activism. In so doing, we consider the practice of reflexivity, reconsider forms of solidarity, and draw on the concept of convergence spaces as a way to envision sites of possibility. We mobilize the notion of situated solidarities to propose an alternative form of reflexive practice in scholarship. We then posit that there are six ‘practices’ that provide a useful schematic for thinking through the opportunities for the construction of these solidaritie

Associations between biological markers of prenatal stress and infant negative emotionality are specific to sex

Purpose Fetal programming is the idea that environmental stimuli can alter the development of the fetus, which may have a long-term effect on the child. We have recently reported that maternal prenatal cortisol predicts infant negative emotionality in a sex-dependent manner: high prenatal cortisol was associated with increased negative emotionality in females, and decreased negative emotionality in males. This study aims to test for this sex-specific effect in a different cohort, and investigate whether sex differences in fetal programming may be specific to glucocorticoid mechanisms by also examining a maternal salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) by sex interaction. Methods 88 pregnant women (mean gestational age = 27.4 weeks, SD = 7.4) collected saliva samples at home over two working days to be assayed for the hormone cortisol (range = 0.13–88.22 nmol/l) and the enzyme alpha-amylase (range = 4.57–554.8 units/ml). Samples were collected at waking, 30-min post-waking and 12 h post-waking. Two months after birth participants reported infant negative emotionality using the distress to limits subscale of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Results The interaction between maternal prenatal cortisol and infant sex to predict distress to limits approached significance (p = 0.067). In line with our previous finding there was a positive association between prenatal cortisol and negative emotionality in females, and a negative association in males. The interaction between sAA and sex to predict distress was significant (p = 0.025), and the direction of effect was the same as for the cortisol data; high sAA associated with increased negative emotionality in females and reduced negative emotionality in males. Conclusions In line with our previous findings, this research adds to an emerging body of literature, which suggests that fetal programming mechanisms may be sex-dependent. This is the first study to demonstrate that maternal prenatal sAA may be an important biomarker for infant behavior, and the findings have implications for understanding sex differences in developmental psychopathology

Air Pollution in Delhi: A Review of Past and Current Policy Approches

Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) is facing serious challenges linked to worrying levels of air pollution (mainly NO2, PM10 and PM2.5). The CADTIME prject (Clean Air in Delhi through Implementation, Mitigation and Engagement) aims to understand what is required to deliver significant reductions in levels of air pollution. This paper presents the results of the first stage of the project: it firstly contextualises the challenges of air quality management in Delhi within the broader evolution of environmental policies and governance in India, with particular consideration to the tensions between environmental protection and the country’s development objectives. Secondly, it sets out how CADTIME will combine multiple source qualitative and quantitative data to develop an air quality action plan and an implementation strategy. In particular, through two workshops with local and national experts and stakeholders, and two rounds of focus groups with citizens of Delhi we will contrast stakeholders’ priorities and preferences for existing and potential solutions to air pollution with citizens’ lived experiences, thus assessing the political/technical feasibility and public acceptability of current and proposed measures. Furthermore, we will complement the primary qualitative data with a critical review examining the successes and failures of UK and European policies to draw lessons that can be relevant for Delhi and to avoid ineffective policies and achieve cost-effective solutions for the city in the shortest possible time