Impacted

Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex, as well as Managing Director of a University spin-out company, InterAnalysis and a Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO). A leading authority in understanding the mechanisms by which trade affects peoples lives, Michael’s work has had a significant impact by informing policy makers about the potential risks and benefits of the decisions they make.

Rob Byrne is a Senior Lecturer @ The Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex. He is also a co-convener for the Energy and Climate Change Domain of the STEPS Centre (a research initiative between SPRU and the Institute for Development Studies. Working for a number of years in Botswana and Tanzania on various sustainable energy projects, Rob’s background was particularly instrumental in providing real life context for the study of innovation, energy and climate policy. And in this episode of the IMPACTED podcast Rob talks about just how complex the process of adopting new innovations and technology can be.

In 2014 Professor James Fairhead's research played a crucial role in responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. An epidemic with many similarities to the current Covid 19 pandemic, Ebola threatened both the physical and social body of the infected regions. In this episode of the Impacted podcast we hear about how understanding Human behaviour and cultural motivation is an essential part of mitigating the spread of any disease. James Fairhead is a Professor Of Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex. His research focuses on environmental and medical anthropology and he has conducted extensive fieldwork principally in West and Central Africa. The researcher would like to further thank all those involved in the Ebola Response Anthropology Platform, including Professor Melissa Leach (@IDS), Melissa Parker (@ the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), and Dominique Millimouno for his research scoping exercise that ERAP supported.

In our latest episode of Impacted, we’re exploring the world of textual analysis, social media and big data with David Weir, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Sussex. Research carried out by the Text Analysis Group lab, which David co-founded, revealed that anti-Islamic hate speech spikes on Twitter after acts of terrorism. This is just one of the many insights to come out of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, a collaboration between the University of Sussex and the think tank Demos, which uses Method52, software tools and methodologies developed by the Text Analytics Group.

Martin Yeomans is a Professor of Experimental Psychology and Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange with the University of Sussex. He is founder of the Sussex Ingestive Behaviour Group, which conducts research on behavioural nutrition and explores how we develop a liking for different foods and drinks, and how we perceive flavour, among many other topics. Yeomans has a long history of engaging with the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries internationally and has attracted over £3 million in grant income at Sussex to date. Listen to this new episode of our Impacted podcast to find out more.

Chris Sandom is a lecturer in Biology, specialising in rewilding and paleo ecology. His research seeks to reverse the decline in biodiversity through the restoration of natural processes, typically by species reintroduction, often referred to as rewilding. He won a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship which brought together a network of academics, farmers, policymakers, professional bodies and businesses to exchange knowledge and experience. He talks about his research and the fellowship, giving evidence to a government review and working with a graphic artist to share his research in innovative new ways.

The existing narrative around youth culture needs to change drastically, according to a leading historian at the University of Sussex in Impacted, our podcast series about research for real change. Lucy Robinson, Professor of Collaborative History at the University of Sussex, says that most people think students aren’t political anymore - but they are.

Gail Davey, a Professor of Global Health Epidemiology at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, initiated a research programme into podoconiosis (podo), a form of elephantiasis or swelling of the lower leg in 2005 and helped lead efforts to have the World Health Organisation add podo to the list of neglected tropical diseases in 2011. Prof Melanie Newport is a Professor of Infectious Diseases and Global Health researching the genetic susceptibility to infection and to tropical diseases. Hear how their genetic, public-health and social-science research work has had had a significant impact on tropical societies and economies where podoconiosis is endemic.

Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director (with Prof. Hugo Critchley) of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and Co-Director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has edited and co-authored several popular science books, such as the best-selling 30 Second Brain (Ivy Press, 2014). His TED talk (recorded in Vancouver in 2017) has had over 7 million views and he features in the Vice/Motherboard feature documentary The Most Unknown, now streaming on Netflix. He explores consciousness and shares his innovative approaches to public engagement and education in this Impacted podcast. Find out more at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/impacted

Professor Dave Goulson’s research into the impact of pesticides on bumblebees has been widely cited in the media, and has led governments to take action to better protect insects. Dave Goulson, who is a Professor of Biology (Evolution, Behaviour and Environment)at the University of Sussex, is the author of several popular science books, including The Garden Jungle and A Sting in the Tale. He founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, a charity devoted to reversing bumblebee declines, and the Buzz Club, a citizen science group which aims to involve people in conservation and in science. Find out more about his research on bumble bees and his public engagement and citizen science work in this Impacted podcast.