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Aston University launches community project to promote healthy lives in East Birmingham

The Knowledge Exchange project is led by Aston University with Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with Citizens UK It aims to identify local barriers that lead to poor health outcomes A total of £6,390 has been awarded to five projects to support local residents. Aston University and Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with Citizens UK, have launched a community project to identify local barriers that lead to poor health outcomes. Dr Céline Benoit (Sociology and Policy), Dr Alexis Paton (Sociology and Policy), Dr Angela Jeffery (RKE) and Aisha Masood (RKE) have been leading on the Knowledge Exchange project in East Birmingham to help improve health and wellbeing. On 17 March, the team hosted the first community sandpit at Aston University, where a number of community-led organisations and charities came together to identify small-scale projects to support local residents and promote healthy lives. A total of £6,390 was awarded to five projects which will submit a report by 31 July 2022 and meet again in the autumn to share their journeys with each other as well as representatives from the NHS and Birmingham City Council. Dr Céline Benoit, associate dean for public engagement for the College of Business and Social Sciences at Aston University, said: “It was such a privilege to host a community sandpit at Aston University and have the NHS and local organisations talk to one another and come up with joint projects to help promote health and wellbeing in East Birmingham. “It was truly inspiring to see how many brilliant projects were put forward. “It not only helped us get a better understanding of the challenges local residents face when it comes to health and accessing healthcare services, but it was also a great reminder of how much we can achieve when we work collaboratively”.

What the CDC's Updated Developmental Guidelines Mean for Parents

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently revamped their developmental guidelines for children for the first time in years, allowing parents to know earlier if their kids may be experiencing any delays.  Villanova University nursing professor Michelle Kelly, PhD, CRNP, CNE, recently commented on the new guidelines: "The CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in response to birth provider and parent input, took a critical look at existing developmental milestones tools and handouts. Surveillance and handouts are typically parent facing items that can be used to determine if a child is meeting age-expected developmental targets." "That is in contrast to screening which is more structured, based on the surveillance but done by a primary care provider and used for referral for services, and evaluation which is done by a developmental specialist with the intent to diagnosis." "The CDC and AAP have done a thorough overhaul of developmental milestone surveillance (as opposed to screening and evaluation) to attempt to make the milestones 'evidence-based' and where possible norm-referenced." "Another major change is that the milestones are set for greater than 75%, rather than 50%. This means they are targets that 75% of children that age would have met. This eliminates phrases in the previous milestones that were confusing, such as a child 'may begin' a task at one age, but also should be doing it at the next age." "Perhaps the biggest win for children born preterm and others at risk for developmental delays is the 75% expectation virtually eliminates the 'wait and see' that occurred when the expectation was that 50% of children would exhibit a skill at that age. This means that families who have concerns, or whose children are not meeting the age-appropriate milestones, should be more readily referred for evaluation and intervention." "Additionally, an increased emphasis is placed, compared to the previous version, on open-ended questions to elicit parent concerns and ways for families to promote age-appropriate development."

In High Frequency Trading, Every Nanosecond Counts!

In the financial world of high frequency trading, high-performance computers are duking it out in real time to score on instantaneous profit opportunities that appear and vanish in the blink of an eye.  According to Bob Laliberte, Senior Analyst at ESG Global, "It’s critical for HFT organizations to eliminate potential network latencies from the start, by employing advanced, next-generation network platforms that leverage intent-based logic, ultra-low latency (ULL), high availability, and ease of management." Networking giants like Cisco are very aware of this need, and that knowledge fueled their 2020 acquisition of Exablaze, a company specializing in the design and manufacture of devices that can deliver ultra-low latency network performance. "Clearly, this technology infusion will enable a next-generation platform and enhance Cisco’s solid domain expertise in the financial sector", said Laliberte. Delivering near "instantaneous" trading will require a next generation physical network designed to deliver highly predictable end-to-end bandwidth featuring ultra-low latency. "Zero-hop" network designs such as AcceleRoute can achieve this through a bufferless architecture that delivers ultra-low latency approaching that of direct links while eliminating congestion in the network core.

Aston University experts to co-chair The Spring Servitization Conference 2022

The Conference is dedicated to understanding how organisations can develop and adapt their business models through servitization and advances services The theme is Achieving Net-Zero through Servitization and it will be held in Florence, Italy on 9 and 10 May Professor Tim Baines and Dr Ali Z. Bigdeli, from the Advanced Services Group at Aston University, will be co-chairs. Two Aston University experts are set to co-chair a major conference around servitization in Italy in May. Professor Tim Baines and Dr Ali Z. Bigdeli, from the Advanced Services Group (ASG) at Aston University, will be co-chairs alongside Professor Mario Rapaccini (University of Florence), Professor Nicola Saccani and Dr Federico Adrodegari (both University of Brescia) while Jill Forrest (also ASG) will be conference administrator. The Spring Servitization Conference (SSC) was first launched more than 10 years ago at Aston University in Birmingham. It was created to build and formalise a research community around the topic of servitization, and to understand how organisations can develop and adapt their business models through servitization and advances services. Servitization is a term used to describe the process through which a business transitions from selling products alone to selling a combination of product and service, and ultimately outcomes. The theme of the 2022 edition of the conference will be Achieving Net-Zero through Servitization and will be held at Istituto degli Innocenti in Florence on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 May. The event will bring together the world’s leading researchers, practitioners and doctoral students to debate and engage with the theory and practice of servitization. Professor Tim Baines, executive director of The Advanced Services Group at Aston University and co-chair The Spring Servitization Conference 2022, said: “Servitization has already helped to transform the fortunes of many UK manufacturing businesses and I am looking forward to showcasing what it can do for businesses abroad too. “SSC2022 will follow the now established format of a single stream where all contributors have an opportunity to present to the whole conference audience and engage in both structured and semi-structured panel sessions to discuss their work. “The programme is designed to encourage extensive debate and bridge research theory and industrial practice. “We have some fantastic keynote speeches from senior executives at leading manufacturing businesses including Tim Foreman, European R&D manager, OMRON Europe and Paolo Mauri, Electrolux Professional.” You can find out more about The Spring Servitization Conference 2022 here.

SMEs are likely to achieve higher environmental performance through circular economy adoption – new research

The research looked into the means for achieving higher sustainability performance through circular economy adoption The project was led by Professor Prasanta Dey and Professor Pawan Budhwar from Aston Business School Data was gathered from around 100 SMEs from Greece, France, Spain and the UK. New findings from an Aston University-led study have found Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are likely to achieve higher environmental performance through circular economy (CE) adoption. CE is a systemic approach to economic development designed to benefit businesses, society, and the environment. In contrast to the 'take-make-waste' linear model, a circular economy is regenerative by design and aims to gradually decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources. The project was led by Professor Prasanta Dey and Professor Pawan Budhwar from Aston Business School along with Soumyadeb Chowdhury (Toulouse Business School), Krishnendu Saha (Birmingham City University), Debashree De (University of Essex) and Chrysovalantis Malesios (Agricultural University of Athens). Data was gathered from around 100 SMEs from each of the four selected countries – Greece, France, Spain and the UK using a survey to study the current state of CE adoption, and subsequently, focus groups were organised which involved SMEs owners and managers, policymakers, SMEs' customers and suppliers, in each country to derive means for improving sustainability performance. The study reveals that SMEs in all the participating countries are likely to achieve higher environmental performance through CE adoption. SMEs in France were likely to achieve higher overall sustainability performance than other participating countries. It also found products, processes and facilities design is likely to help SMEs most in all the participating countries to adopt CE, while their waste management all needed improvement. Professor Budhwar, head of Aston Business School, said: “Although from prior research there is evidence of SMEs achieving superior environmental performance by adopting CE, economic and social performances are not assured. This motivated us to undertake empirical research to reveal the means for achieving higher sustainability performance (economic, environmental, and social) through CE adoption”. “The findings of this research enable us to continue CE adoption not only in other European countries but also in India, Thailand, Vietnam and Kenya”. Professor Dey, a professor in operations and information management at Aston Business School, said: “SMEs in the EU countries are likely to have sustainable design practices aligned with the CE philosophy. On the contrary, SMEs in the participating countries are likely to have worst recover function. “This implies that customers' pressure works for SMEs to adopt CE principles as design function in most of the SMEs' businesses is governed by SMEs' customers. Whereas effective recover function depends on SMEs' self-motivation and policymakers’ pressure.” “CE adoption needs a structured approach of analysing current state of CE through analysing correlation of organisational value functions with sustainability performance, identifying issues and challenges, and suggesting means for improvement across value functions.” You can read the full report here.

Aston University experts to take part in Pint of Science 2022

Pint of Science, the world’s largest festival of public science talks, will run from 9 – 11 May Experts from universities, including Aston University, will take part across 32 UK cities Aston University academics will appear in front of audiences at Birmingham venues: The Woodman, Grain & Glass and Café Artum at Hockley Social Club. Tickets have gone on sale for Pint of Science 2022 which is returning on its 10th anniversary. The festival will bring thousands of scientists and their research out of the lab and into our pubs, cafes and community halls from 9 to 11 May 2022. Experts from universities in Birmingham including Aston University, Birmingham City University and University of Birmingham, will take part in 16 events across the city. The festival will take place in 32 UK cities, with events in hundreds of cities across 25 countries. Each event will provide a unique line up of talks, demonstrations and live experiments, held in a relaxed and informal environment. Aston University academics taking part in Pint of Science will appear in front of audiences at a number of Birmingham venues, including, The Woodman, Grain & Glass and Café Artum at Hockley Social Club. They will host talks on topics around the Pint of Science themes of: Beautiful Mind; Atoms to Galaxies; Our Body; Planet Earth; Tech me out; Our Society. Seven Aston University experts are leading talks including ‘The science of swearing’, ‘How much microplastic is in your pint: does it matter?’ and ‘How facial expressions guide our eating behaviour’. Dr Robbie Love, a lecturer in English at Aston University, who is taking part in Pint of Science 2022 and who is hosting a talk about the science of swearing said: “I am really looking forward to an evening of linguistic libations at Café Artum for Pint of Science 2022. “Swearing might seem like a bit of fun, but the science behind swearing shows us that it plays a really important role in human communication. Plus, I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s favourite swear words!” Katie Edwards, a PhD student at Aston University who is taking part in Pint of Science 2022 said: “I am really looking forward for this year’s Pint of Science festival to chat about eating behaviour. “I will be talking about how other people's food enjoyment can impact our eating. “It is a great opportunity to hear about current scientific research whilst relaxing with a drink.” You can find out more about full line up of events in Birmingham, which includes experts from the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University, here.

Aston MBA students take top prize at Universities Business Challenge Global Masters 2022

The competition helps develop the skills needed to move into corporate/public sector life The Grand Final took place in Liverpool where 10 teams from different universities competed for the title They were assessed on their team strengths and presented a one-minute pitch on a creative social business idea to an entrepreneur. A team of Aston MBA students has taken the top prize at the Universities Business Challenge (UBC) Global Masters 2022. Team GE7, which included Aishwarya Nagath Menon, Nashit Khalifa, Vasilijs Garbacevics, Divya Krisitipati led by Mithun Joy and mentored by Aston Business School’s Dr Julius Stephan, will receive a trophy on campus on 12 May. The competition offers postgraduate students a unique opportunity to develop the skills that you will need when moving into the working world and consists of 80 teams, drawn from a wide range of UK and Irish universities. The UBC Global Masters is a team-based business simulation event that provides participants with the opportunity to act as a board of directors, who have taken responsibility for improving the performance of a company. The finals took place in Liverpool where 10 teams from different universities, including two from Aston University, competed against each other tasked to run a simulated business under difficult trading conditions and also introduce an innovative idea to link the business to a social or environmental cause. The teams were assessed on their team strengths and presented a one-minute pitch on a creative social business idea to an entrepreneur. Mithun Joy, an Aston MBA student and team winner, said: “I am really proud to be part of the first Aston Business School team to win this competition. “It was a really competitive event against other universities, including the UBC's defending champion.” Clive Kerridge, course director at Aston Business School, said: “Although an Aston University MSc team made the podium in 2022, we are delighted to have our first ever winners of this excellent competition. “Taking part in the UBC Global Masters Challenge has been a great opportunity for our students to apply their theoretical knowledge to a complex, yet highly practical and topical business setting. “It allows for personal and professional development that is intellectually challenging and practically relevant, equipping participants with essential skills. Working in competitive teams enables peer to peer learning and interaction.” Find out more about the competition here.

MEDIA RELEASE: CAA reminds motorists that now is the time to swap out winter tires

With winter weather in the rearview mirror and temperatures reaching a consistent 7°C, CAA South Central Ontario (CAA SCO) is reminding motorists that it’s time to change your tires and begin spring vehicle maintenance. When making the switch from winter to all-season tires, CAA suggests one item to keep in mind that may not be on your list, is checking your tires for potential wheel separation. Experts say that most wheel separation incidents happen in May, coinciding with the seasonal tire switch and are a result of loose wheel fasteners – the lug nuts or bolts that hold the wheel on the vehicle. “Once you have changed your tires, it’s best practice to have your fasteners re-tourqued after driving a short distance," says Kaitlynn Furse, director, communications, CAA SCO. “Motorists are urged to pay careful attention and ensure all four tires have been properly changed whether you or your local repair facility make the switch.” If you are unsure about any part of the wheel installation, be sure to take the vehicle to a qualified service provider or enlist the help of CAA’s Mobile Tire Change service. From now until May 31, members can book a hassle-free at-home seasonal tire change performed by expert technicians. The Mobile Tire Change is available in the majority of cities in south-central Ontario. Members can view a full list of participating cities on caasco.com/auto/mobile-tire-change. Motorists can ensure their vehicles are in good shape after the harsh winter season by following these spring maintenance tips: Change tires. Switch to your all-season tires and rotate them to prevent uneven wear. Wipe it down. Give your vehicle a thorough cleaning to remove all the salt and sand accumulated over the winter months. Change fluids. Change your oil and top up your fluids to help keep your car running trouble-free. Replace wipers. Replace your blades if they are worn or damaged. Check lights. Check all lights to ensure they are in good working condition. Replace hoses and belts. Check for ones that have become cracked or frayed. Test the battery. Inspect your vehicle’s battery to make sure all the connections are clean and dry. The CAA Mobile Tire Change service is offering complimentary battery tests on all tire changes.

Expect More from Your Experts: How a “Faculty Audit” can help Universities more strategically engage their faculty members

With an estimated 1.5-million faculty in the US and a near 50,000 growth in UK-based academics in the last decade (to 225,000), universities and colleges have a whole range of interests and expertise on offer. In fact, despite rumours to the contrary, academia is a large and growing global ‘industry’. If you’re responsible for external relations, communications, marketing, civic engagement, knowledge exchange - or any other aspect of external engagement or “connectedness” in a university or college - then the ability to choose which faculty experts you selectively promote and publicise can be a very tough assignment. I’ve had first-hand experience with this. I was once in that very position - trying to keep up with the opportunities and the expectations afforded by 800 academics at just the one mid-sized UK institution where I worked. With the benefit of that firsthand experience and having since worked with more than 100 higher education institutions in the UK, Europe and North America, here are a few observations and also a few tips on how to organize your expertise: Approach #1: The Focus on Expertise Clusters An approach taken by some universities nowadays is to promote their expertise as a group of “grand challenges” or “beacons of excellence” - drawing together as many areas of research expertise under (usually) three or four headings. While identifying “token clusters” of expertise for focus and prioritisation may seem logical, this approach doesn’t really work. It may help with internal politics but it fails to generate enough precision to be relevant to various communities such as the media and industry. Approach #2: Selectively Promoting Key Experts One trap that universities can also fall into is to focus on a small group of academics who appear to be more suitable to promote. The reasoning for this approach is often driven by the need to have a manageable number for internal communications/press office staff to work with. The easy route to take is to just work with academics who are more keen to work with comms staff in promoting their work and who are already at ease in speaking to the media. Selection of experts on these factors, while important, isn’t the optimal way to build up the profile for the institution with key audiences. First off, this approach often doesn’t yield the diversity that audiences such as journalists and potential student and faculty recruits want to see represented. This approach will also miss the mark if it just plays to popular disciplines or hot topics. Being more inclusive to promote a wider range of disciplines and specialized topics is better value all round. Approach #3: The Faculty “Expertise Audit” I’ve seen institutions make many mistakes in positioning their faculty as experts, given it’s a proven way to differentiate brand, build profile and reputation. That’s why I’ve started to work with several universities on what I refer to as a “faculty expertise audit”. This brings a more structured process that helps prioritize key areas of research expertise and identify specialist experts. The audit also looks at the resources and overall capacity that universities have available to support an “expertise marketing” program that optimizes all these elements to significantly boost performance. Start with The Business Case for Expertise At the heart of this more structured, targeted audit approach is ensuring you are generating “return-on-investment” and “value-for-effort.” A good starting point is to ask: Where is the budget coming from? Where is current and expected demand for your programs? When starting this assessment, you have to think longer than a year out. Instead, look very hard and in detail at the next three to five years (the typical cycle of research investment and university strategies) and identify which expertise is most likely to solve the problems and consequential explorations that governments, industry, benefactors/donors, and funding agencies will want to support. I’m not saying that research areas without such sizable levels of predicted investment should be ignored - far from it - but we are in a competitive climate and universities now have to secure ‘orders’ (for applied and contracted expertise) that will ensure institutional sustainability and success. In turn, that success will allow investment in other areas that are socially vital but financially a weaker bet as regarded by funding sources. Having proven where research funding is most available, pressing and externally directed, then the audit is designed to identify and match the institution’s research talent to these requirements. These audits involve shortlisting, enlisting and then coaching the appropriate academic experts. The best results come from one-to-one sessions with academics which create buy-in and yield a more detailed marketing plan to leverage your experts. While more inclusive, this is an efficient process designed to create a “shared roadmap” for where the university and the academic both want to take their expertise. A large part of this roadmap then covers off other important activities such as creating a more discoverable and engaging online presence with enriched academic profiles that perform far better than the traditional “faculty directory.” Keeping online academic profiles fresh, content-rich, jargon-free, and compelling makes the job of expert ‘mining’ so much easier. Developing a sustained program of content with an organized lead generation process is also necessary. These extra steps are where many universities miss the mark. The result is a significant loss of inbound opportunities for research grants, consulting revenues, academic collaborations as well as local and global media coverage. I recently spoke with a Vice Chancellor of a prominent UK University who admitted that they as an institution deserved a failing grade when it came to promoting their faculty research achievements, saying that he “doubted any of their academics would be happy with the way their work was being promoted online.” This is an important aspect of the faculty audit. As a consultative process, it is non-threatening and we’re listening to staff and academics. That not only enriches the information the University has to promote its brand better, it also helps to enlist the support of the academic community who see that the university cares and that it is getting their input to put together a plan – both for the university and for individual academics. The academic is happy (they understand the value for them personally and for their institution); the University is happy (it is able to focus and prioritise its expertise in an evidence-based manner), and Communications and press office staff are happy (they have so more to work with in connecting the work of the University to a variety of local and global communities). The Benefits of A Faculty Audit Having completed many of these, I’ve seen very clearly, the results of a well run Faculty Audit process that without exception yield an excellent return on investment. Here are just some of the benefits to consider: Greater Insights: Gain a deeper understanding of the hidden strengths and opportunities within your academic ranks. Better Planning: A detailed report from a Faculty Audit enables a more strategic approach to planning where faculty research and expertise can support various programs within the University - such as industry engagement, media coverage and recruitment. Building Trust: When conducted by a third-party, a Faculty Audit is seen as more credible and less prone to perceptions of internal bias. More Engaged Faculty: Increased collaboration with faculty is gained through a more consultative process that builds “shared awareness” and enables more proactive support of their research. Increased Capacity: Producing more proactive content with faculty yields better results in terms of media coverage, research engagements, etc. Demonstrate Diversity: A better understanding of expertise that goes beyond the “usual suspects” to engaging a more diverse set of faculty to promote the University. News Coverage: Positioning your faculty and their research in a more relevant way aligns with the interests of the outside world and what's on the mind of outsiders. Less Stress: A more proactive, well structured plan helps everyone to synchronise activities better versus scrambling too much to meet deadlines in the “here and now.” Is a Faculty Audit Right for Your Institution? Here are some key considerations when evaluating the value of a Faculty Audit for your institution. You are ideally suited to undertake a faculty expertise audit if: You have a stretched workload where there's little capacity for proactive comms. You're tending to turn to the same academics for expert commentary in the media or elsewhere. You tend to get complaints (or mild mutterings) about not supporting academics enough. You don't have time to get to know the range of academic experts in your institution - especially new arrivals or eager early career academics. You've adopted an 'inside out approach' rather than one that engages with the interests of the outside world and what's on the mind of outsiders. There's weak management of expectations with the academic community - and a need for clarity and shared pathways for publicity. You're operating too much in the here and now and don't have the time to plan for future events, milestones and opportunities. You want to be more strategic in your comms and engagement - and make a real difference via attracting interest, income and investment. You don't have an integrated approach to comms (where content can be repurposed and recycled). You want more global reach and presence and can exploit digital tools to enable this. Additional Resources Academic Experts and the Media (PDF) This report, based on detailed interviews with some of the most media-experienced academics across the UK and United States draws on their experiences to identify lessons they can share in encouraging other academics to follow in their path. Download the UK Report Here Download the US Report Here The Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing for Higher Education (PDF) Expertise Marketing is the next evolution of content marketing. Build value by mobilizing the hidden people, knowledge and content you already have at your fingertips. This win-win solution not only gives audiences better quality content, but it also lets higher ed organizations show off their smarts. Download Your Copy Click Here for Additional Resources

Advertising has evolved. Let our expert explain the power of innovative marketing

Late last month, Nike once again shook up the marketing landscape with a jaw-dropping new 3D billboard in Japan. It's a concept that has turned the traditional billboard into something almost out of this world. The move has once again elevated Nike as a leader in marketing. Augusta University's Dr. Christopher McKinney, associate vice president for innovation commercialization, answers a few questions for anyone looking to know more about this marketing innovation. Are you surprised how fast the landscape is changing when it comes to emerging media? Not at all. The increases both in computing power and graphics processing unit power are transforming what we can do. Now that the door of opportunity is more widely open, we’re seeing great new ways to use that power in marketing. The new Nike 3D billboard seems to be a game changer when it comes to advertising. Do you see this gaining traction as a trend that will continue? Do you see them going even further with this and how so? I do see this as a trend that will continue and even accelerate. Nike has thrown down the gauntlet; others will be trying to “one-up” Nike. Beyond the graphic elements, we’ll see ever more clever uses of 3D sound in some marketing applications. In more traditional billboard settings, the brightness, clarity and realism will improve to the point where it will be increasingly difficult to differentiate animation from what looks like a real-life image. The advent of CG in general is always changing. What's next in that realm? With the growth of virtual reality and augmented reality, we’ll see increasing applications in the home and workplace that take advantage of the VR/AR technologies. This will be especially important in areas such as education, accommodation of disabilities and entertainment. What does the future hold? In the next decade, we likely will see more tailored marketing using these CG-mediated technologies. Marketing is an ever-evolving tool used by businesses of every size and in every community. If you are a reporter looking to learn more about what's next in marketing, then let us help. McKinney specializes in marketing and commercializing innovative new technologies. He is available to speak with media; simply click on his icon to arrange an interview today.