Digital Literacies Conference 2013: Online Learning and MOOCs

March 22, 2013
by Lisa Harris via Digital Economy USRG

The second Digital Literacies Conference will take place in Garden Court, Highfield    Campus on 24th April. This year’s theme is “Online Learning and Massive Open Online Courses” (MOOCs) There will be contributions from people involved in the development of MOOCs from Edinburgh and the Open University (including Futurelearn) as well as the student perspective of […]

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MDR Week: Blog no 11- World Water Day- Can we overcome the global water stress?

March 20, 2013
by Sylvia Szabo

Join Sylvia Szabo for the opening seminar ‘Water quality: addressing global problems at source’ in celebration of World Water Day: Water Cooperation on Friday 22^nd March (9-11am The Science Learning Centre Building 29). An insight into the multifaceted field of water cooperation can be found below.

Can we overcome the global water stress?

By Sylvia Szabo

Water stress has recently become a new global challenge, with many resource poor countries facing the threat of water shortages. By “resource poor countries” I do not mean the UN’s Least Developed Countries. Rather I refer to all nations vulnerable to water stress. This vulnerability can result from a number of factors. The growing demand for water is a consequence of urbanisation, population growth, consumption patterns, and also geographical conditions and climate change. Domestic water usage constitutes the smallest proportion of consumed water, whereas agriculture and industry take the bulk of all water required to satisfy the needs of increasing consumption.

At the macro-level water stress can be prevented, in particular in countries which are able to invest in sophisticated methods of water collection and purification, such as water catchment or desalination. The Gulf countries and Singapore are at the forefront of these innovative techniques. These rich states are also able to adequately distribute safe water to their inhabitants. On the other hand, countries suffering from a double burden of resource poverty (water stress and human development deprivation) face severe challenges at both macro and micro-level. In these countries, households are often unable to access safe drinking water, which can result in disease and even death. In addition to water borne diseases, water and sanitation have an important impact on food security.

But can these complex challenges related to water stress be solved? As with other multifaceted phenomena, there isn’t a simple “yes” or “no” answer. An integrated approach and multi-stakeholder engagement is always a good way of tackling problems and a useful advocacy tool. In terms of the role of Science, multi-disciplinary methods of inquiry are likely to enhance applicability of findings. Here, the relevant disciplines include demography, development studies, geography and engineering. Recalling Julian Simon, the power of human capital will ultimately allow to suggest adequate policy and technical solutions. Greater transparency resulting from the use of information technology, including social media, provides hope that innovations will be shared across the globe. If human progress enables the narrowing of the ingenuity gap, water stress can also be eradicated.

This event is in association with the Sustainability Science at Southampton USRG. For full details, please visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/sustainability_science or follow us on Twitter @Sustainscience

Further details about the UN World Water Day, including a water infographic and news of the very first annual Water Usage Survey, can be found at UK bathroom retailer– http://www.bathshop321.com/world-water-day/)

For the latest news and events about the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013, visit our Multidisciplinary Research website:

www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

or follow us on   Twitter @MultiSoton #MDRWeek

MDR Week: Blog no 10- World Water Day- Water quality

March 20, 2013
by James Wright

Join Dr Jim Wright for the opening seminar ‘Water quality: addressing global problems at source’ in celebration of World Water Day: Water Cooperation on Friday 22^nd March (9-11am The Science Learning Centre Building 29). An insight into the multifaceted field of water cooperation can be found below.

Water quality: addressing global problems at source

 By Dr Jim Wright

My research involves safe drinking-water access as an international issue, both in terms of its measurement and also in terms of potential solutions.  I began working on drinking-water issues in the year 2000, when I was involved in a project in Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa, looking at water contamination between collection from standpipes and wells and subsequent storage in the home.  We also investigated home use of ceramic filters as a possible way of reducing this contamination.  During this time, I was struck by the way that even the remotest bottle store seems well stocked with fizzy drinks, yet providing drinking water to these same locations remained a huge logistical challenge.  More recently, I became involved in the Aquatest initiative, working from my disciplinary background in geography alongside engineers, microbiologists, and public health specialists.  This project aimed to develop a field test for microbiological contamination of drinking-water, suitable for use in remote areas of developing countries.

Last year, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the Millennium Development Goal on safe drinking-water access had been met, five years ahead of target.  Whilst this was a major milestone in the drive to extend safe drinking-water access, does this mean that we can ease off on efforts to provide safe drinking-water?  This talk looks at some water quality-related issues in measuring safe drinking water access and how this affects estimates of the population without safe water access.  The talk will also explore technological options for microbiological testing of drinking-water in remote settings where conventional laboratory infra-structure is unavailable.  A demonstration of the Aquatest water testing method is planned alongside the presentation.

Safe drinking-water access has many dimensions.  Some are social, such as ensuring that the poorest sectors of society benefit from programmes to provide safe water as well as the wealthier. Others are environmental, such as balancing the need to provide safe drinking-water to millions without unsustainably drawing on ever deeper ground waters or piping water over longer and longer distances to expanding urban centres.  Others yet concern economics, public health, engineering, microbiology, and indeed geography.  Given that drinking-water is such a multi-faceted problem, a multi-disciplinary approach seems the most obvious way to tackle the problem, bringing all these disciplines together.

This event is in association with the Sustainability Science at Southampton USRG. For full details, please visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/sustainability_science or follow us on Twitter @Sustainscience

Further details about the UN World Water Day, including a water infographic and news of the very first annual Water Usage Survey, can be found at UK bathroom retailer– http://www.bathshop321.com/world-water-day/)

Aquatest Project websites:

University of Southampton- http://www.southampton.ac.uk/geography/research/projects/aquatest.page

University of Bristol- http://www.bristol.ac.uk/aquatest

For the latest news and events about the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013, visit our Multidisciplinary Research website:

www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

or follow us on   Twitter @MultiSoton #MDRWeek

Seminar 1:‘Introductory Session’ – Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

March 20, 2013
by Alison Simmance via Work Thought Blog

Seminar 1 ‘Introductory Session’ | Digital technologies and school-to-work transition | Monday, 25th March, 3 to 5pm | Building 32, Room 2097 We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions. […]

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Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions

March 19, 2013
by Alison Simmance via Work Thought Blog

A new interdisciplinary project aims to help young people with the transition from school to work. The project entitled Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions in England and Germany, will run from February to October 2013. An interdisciplinary working group will explore the role of the digital technology in the formation of learner identities, […]

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MDR Week: Blog no 9- Be a Green Shopper

March 15, 2013
by Alison Simmance

Join Alison Simmance and members of the Green Academy, WSA and the Sustainability Science at Southampton USRG to create your own eco-friendly shopping bag from recycled material (the University 60th Anniversary ‘Changing the world’ campaign banners) at the drop in session ‘Be a Green Shopper’ on Thursday 21^st March. Further details about this fun drop-in session can be found below.

Be a Green Shopper

In 2011, I had the privilege to volunteer with a small charity to provide disadvantaged communities in the slums of Nakuru, Kenya with humanitarian support, resources and assistance to help educate vulnerable school children in the community.

During my time spent in Nakuru, I visited the Gioto Garbage Slum which is home to an estimated 600 people (50% children) whose lives are balanced on more than 50 years of waste deposited from the local region. Here, I witnessed the inspiring work of local women. To help alleviate the inhabitants from poverty, an innovative business – the Nakuru Women’s Plastic Recycling Business – was developed with the local community which provides women with an ingenious way to earn money by creating purses and handbags from recycled plastics.

Inspired by this innovation, I created the ‘Be a Green Shopper’ initiative which I will be launching during the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013. Working in association with the University’s Winchester School of Art and the Green Academy; the event will allow you to create your own eco-friendly shopping bag from recycled material. The University 60th Anniversary ‘Changing the world’ campaign banners will be used as the material and will create a long-lasting legacy of sustainability within the University.

This is a fantastic opportunity for you to become a Green Shopper and help minimise your environmental impact.

All are welcome to this dynamic fun drop-in session!

RSVP: http://multidisciplinaryweekgreenshopper-eorg.eventbrite.com

Further details can be found on the Sustainability Science at Southampton USRG website: www.southampton.ac.uk/sustainability_science

For the latest news and events about the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013, visit our Multidisciplinary Research website:

www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

or follow us on Twitter @MultiSoton #MDRWeek

MDR Week: Blog no 8- 3DBARE, 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine

March 15, 2013
by Benjamin Mawson

Join Benjamin Mawson and colleagues to explore how virtual sound is used from the perspective of music, computer programming, immunology and social science at the event ‘3DBARE, 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine’ on Tuesday 19th March. An insight into this exciting and multidisciplinary research field can be found below.

3DBARE, 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine

By Benjamin Mawson,

In collaboration with Professor Tim Elliott,  Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Dr Godfrey Brandt, Chairman of DAACA, Iyad Assaf, Audio systems developer.

3DBARE is a collaboration between Music and ISVR to build an engine allowing listeners to walk inside a piece of music as though it were a physical structure. The 3DBARE team are collaborating with senior academics from the fields of Medicine and Social Science both to explore new forms of public outreach through sound of bio-medical research and the calibration of theatrical or performative space engendered by emerging forms of cultural interaction

We will be explaining the origins of 3DBARE from the perspective of a composer seeking a way for creations in the digital studio to be possible to explore as though elements in the physical world:  how these explorations have led to collaboration with co-developers of the platform and an exciting cross-disciplinary project with researchers in medicine and social science.

Four presenters will explain the 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine and what it means from their own perspective to be using virtual sound to explore their particular field of enquiry: Music and Computer Programming, Immunology and Social Science.

Multidisciplinary approaches in Music are essential to the discovery of new means of communicating to audiences whose modes of listening are rapidly changing with technology: my research is about how to speak to audiences. As a composer I seek forms and means by which to use my art and craft in as practical a form as the church and court composers of former centuries. Collaborations as interesting and potentially effective as this – in terms of altering public understanding come along infrequently. This is a fantastic opportunity for our respective skills and knowledge to serve a common purpose towards greater good and we are enthusiastic to present and discuss our early findings.

RSVP:  http://mdrw_3dbare-eorg.eventbrite.com/

For the latest news and events about the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013, visit our Multidisciplinary Research website:

www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

or follow us on Twitter @MultiSoton #MDRWeek

MDR Week: Blog no 7- Insights into ‘Imaging technologies for analysing ancient documentary artefacts’

March 14, 2013
by Graeme Earl

Join Dr Graeme Earl for the seminar: New horizons in imaging on Tuesday 21st March to hear how extraordinary advances in Imaging lies at the heart of our current research activity. An insight into this exciting and multidisciplinary research field can be found below.

Insights into ‘Imaging technologies for analysing ancient documentary artefacts’

I spend a lot of time looking at and making, hopefully, pretty pictures. Archaeology has a firm grounding in the visual – we categorise archaeological materials on the basis of colour, we interpret human interactions with space on the basis of patterns of light and shade, and we also simplify complex analytical data by using data visualisation. That’s not to say that archaeology isn’t a multisensory discipline – again my own interests extend to simulation of acoustic properties of spaces and of touch or haptics – but visual interactions and representations are all pervasive. My colleague Stephanie Moser emphasised this at her inaugural, and in a recent blog post on the beauty of ancient objects she discusses the relationship between expressing layers of meaning and appreciation of the visual and other qualities of artefacts.

In my own work on archaeological imaging I have concentrated on the capture of object detail and the creation of virtual, or mixed virtual and real, spaces within which to critique those objects. The passage of time and the archaeological process both generate a ‘patina’ on the material record we study. So, in creating imaging datasets like the Roman coin hoard to be discussed in my talk we must be aware of the impact of technology on the interpretations that can result. So for example in the talk I will describe some of our many collaborations with the μ-VIS multidisciplinary, multiscale, microtomographic volume imaging centre, and also talk about other imaging approaches to cultural heritage material, including ancient document artefacts. I will also share some thoughts on the possibilities of computer simulation to augment and share these data in visually engaging ways.

Multidisciplinary collaborations are at the heart of all of my research and teaching and so I am particularly pleased that I can participate in Multidisciplinary Research Week and make some new contacts. The Computationally Intensive Imaging USRG has already stimulated some new archaeological work.

 You can read some other blog posts by me here: http://blog.soton.ac.uk/archaeology/people/graeme-earl/#posts

RSVP: multidisciplinaryweekimaging-eorg.eventbrite.com

For the latest news and events about the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013, visit our Multidisciplinary Research website:

www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

or follow us on Twitter @MultiSoton #MDRWeek

MDR Week: Blog no 6- Your Brain at the Cocktail Party

March 14, 2013
by Jessica Monaghan

Join Dr Jessica Monaghan to discover how innovative research can improve performance of hearing aids and automatic speech recognition in challenging environments at the event ‘Your Brain at the Cocktail Party’ on Tuesday 19th March. An insight into this exciting and multidisciplinary research field can be found below.

Your Brain at the Cocktail Party

  Dr Jessica Monaghan

I am a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr Stefan Bleeck at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research and Dr Matthew Wright from the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment.

(ISVR). I am interested in how the brain enables us to understand speech in challenging environments such as cocktail parties, restaurants and bars, how this ability breaks down when you lose your hearing, and how we can apply our knowledge of the healthy auditory system to enhance speech processing and speech understanding by machines.

I will be talking about the brain’s remarkable ability to segregate different sounds from each other, presenting some of our research on how we can use computer models of the auditory brain to de-noise speech automatically. Using examples of everyday listening tasks, I will discuss which features of sounds are most important for separating speech sounds that originate from different sources.

Hearing and communication are fundamental aspects of our humanity. Hearing research is a multidisciplinary field, combining expertise from anatomy, audiology, signal processing, acoustics and neuroscience. Understanding how the brain processes complex sounds is important if we are to restore communication abilities in those with impaired hearing, and this requires collaboration across a range of scientific disciplines. This knowledge will also benefit our understanding of how to improve automatic speech recognition by computer software, especially in challenging listening conditions.

RSVP: http://mdrw_braincocktail-eorg.eventbrite.com

For the latest news and events about the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013, visit our Multidisciplinary Research website:

www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

or follow us on Twitter @MultiSoton #MDRWeek

Pushing forward on gender equality at the House of Commons

March 14, 2013
by Catherine Pope via Work Thought Blog

The Work Futures Research Centre was delighted to celebrate the eve of International Women’s Day with a panel discussion on ‘Gender Equality at Work: how far have we come and how far have we still got to go?’, held in the Palmerstone Committee room at the Palace of Westminster, London. This event marked the start […]

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