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5 Tips On Creating Engaging Expert Profiles featured image

5 Tips On Creating Engaging Expert Profiles

If you’ve ever taken part in a website project, you know that not all content is created equal. We spend countless hours perfecting the homepage, but we often forget to tell our audiences who we are. The people behind the scenes in an organization provide some of the best opportunities to create relevant and relatable content for audiences. Take the “About Us” page for example. Ironically, it’s often an afterthought for digital teams who upload some boilerplate copy and call it a day. But people buy from people and the more human you can make your content the better the user experience will be. Here are some tips to help you create that personal connection. The Old Profile  Our research shows that most employee content comes up surprisingly short when audiences conduct an online search. This is becoming a more critical element to consider, given that 78% of B2B buyers now use Google as a starting point for their online activities. While there can be several factors impacting your Google rank, the issue often comes down to a lack of quality content on employee-related pages. Many organizations resort to posting outdated headshots next to a title for their employee sections. If you’re lucky, you might find a boring text biography that fails to capture the depth of experience and expertise offered by your team. These tactics may have worked a decade ago, but today’s audiences now expect expert profiles to contain detailed biographies, multimedia and social content. This is especially true for B2B prospects like journalists and prospects looking for professional services. Any half-decent writer can make a person sound pretty important in a bio, but these audiences are looking for proof of your expertise. It’s not enough to tell audiences you’re great – you have to show them. Today’s audiences consume content differently, so it’s essential that you bring your expert profiles into the 21st century. The New Profile Here are 5 ways you can improve your employee content to better drive visitor attention, interaction and trust: Go Beyond Boring Bios: The new way to create expert profiles is to provide a detailed overview of an employee’s expertise and experience. This means that in addition to creating a detailed biography, you should also share content that shows key accomplishments that build credibility and trust: Are they an author? Have they spoken at a conference? Interviewed for a podcast? It’s important to get this information listed. Get Visual & Social: Beyond the written biography, look for ways to make content for your people more interesting for your audiences. Are there YouTube videos, Slideshares, Tweets, or thumbnails to books they have written? If so, you can leverage these assets for their profile. Remember if you are pitching media or conference organizers, this information is becoming tablestakes for journalists or event bookers who are vetting media sources or speakers. Show You Are Relevant & In-Demand: Public appearances and news spotlights can take your experts from unknown to sought-after. There are two ways to tackle this. The first is to capture any existing media releases to ramp up their credentials. If your expert hasn’t yet participated in this type of activity, publish content that speaks to emerging topics and news trends and provide quotes available to the media on newsworthy topics. This is a proven way to earn the attention of journalists and allow you to start building visibility as an industry insider. Go Beyond Your Website: While your website is ideal for hosting expert profiles, it’s not the only place to let your team shine. If you want to boost your visibility, make sure you take advantage of opportunities on third-party sites and platforms. This might include industry directories or your client/partner websites. By using the ExpertFile Platform, you can also publish your expert profiles to reach thousands of newsrooms through our media partners. Be More Approachable: It’s funny that almost every page on most websites has a call to action. However if you visit most people profiles, the journey ends there – or worse, it takes the visitor off your website and to an old, tired Linkedin profile. Instead, let your audiences get in touch with your business by including a specific call-to-actions (CTAs) within your expert profile. Depending on the size and capabilities of your organization, you might have want to enable direct connections to experts or opt to funnel leads through a various departments. Either way, the key to getting leads is starting a conversation. Download the Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing For a comprehensive look at how expertise marketing benefits the entire organization and drives measurable return on investment, follow the link below to download a copy of ExpertFile’s Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing: The Next Wave in Digital Strategy or download one of our tailored Guides for Corporate & Professional Services, Higher Education Institutions, Healthcare Institutions or Association & Not-for-Profits.

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4 min. read
Kelley professor’s M-Score model remains most viable means of predicting corporate fraud featured image

Kelley professor’s M-Score model remains most viable means of predicting corporate fraud

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Enhanced oversight over the auditing profession and firms’ financial reporting has led to a proliferation of models to predict financial statement fraud. But one of the first forensic models, the M-Score, devised by an Indiana University Kelley School of Business professor in the late 90s, remains accurate and is the most economically viable for investors to use, according to a forthcoming paper in The Accounting Review — the official journal of the American Accounting Association. The article, “The Costs of Fraud Prediction Errors,” co-authored by M. Daniel Beneish, professor of accounting and the Alva L. Prickett Chair at Kelley, compares seven fraud prediction models with a cost-based measure that nets the benefits of correctly anticipating instances of fraud against the costs borne by incorrectly identifying non-fraud firms as fraudulent. Even though newer fraud models early doubled the success rate of M-Score, which Beneish developed, they did so at the cost of a much larger number of false positives. As a result, the other models are not used in practice by auditors because they are too costly to implement as all flagged firms must be carefully investigated. “I have long known from my experience consulting with Arthur Andersen — for whom my model detected Enron before the debacle — and other public accounting firms, that litigation concerns relating to false positives — firms incorrectly flagged as having fraudulent financial statements — created an unwillingness by auditors’ general counsel to use fraud prediction models in practice,” Beneish said. “My efforts back then to improve the M-Score in the context of auditing failed because I could not increase the model’s success rate without increasing the number of false positives. It seems that the new models cannot either,” he added. Interestingly, as early as 2017 the M-Score flagged Kangmei Pharmaceutical, a Chinese publicly traded company that was involved in financial reporting fraud between 2016 and 2018. Like the Enron scandal in the U.S., the Kangmei Pharmaceutical scandal helped trigger new regulation in China that increased regulatory penalties for financial fraud (effective March 2020) and last November became China’s first successful class-action lawsuit involving corporate fraud. Its chairman was sentenced to 12 years in prison. “The main purpose of our paper is to provide evidence on the costs and benefits of using fraud prediction models, and to show whether using these models is economically viable for auditors, investors and regulators,” Beneish said. “This is important because the traditional measures commonly used in recent research to justify new models are misleading about model performance in fraud samples as the proportion of fraud firms in the population is very small, and as they typically assume that the cost of a false positive and false negatives (missed detections) are equal.” For example, assume that among 10,000 publicly traded firms, there are about 60 fraud firms and 9,940 firms without misreporting. The newer models detected 42 frauds (70% of the total frauds), and incorrectly flagged 3,976 firms (40% of the non-frauds). The latter is too large a number for most decision makers to investigate. “Our evidence that a cost-based assessment of models is preferable to traditional model comparison measures (e.g., area under the curve), should become even more important as efforts by future researchers in the areas of data mining and machine learning intensify,” Beneish said. Patrick Vorst of Maastricht University, assistant professor in financial accounting and accounting & information management, co-authored the paper with Beneish.

3 min. read
Widening participation expert joins Aston University as visiting professor featured image

Widening participation expert joins Aston University as visiting professor

Liz Thomas is a leading researcher in widening participation and closing the achievement gap She has a very strong international and national reputation for using her research to inform policy and practice Professor Thomas will work within the University’s College of Business and Social Sciences. A leading researcher whose work addresses patterns of under-representation in higher education has joined Aston University as a visiting professor. Liz Thomas is an expert in widening participation and closing the achievement gap. She has joined the University’s College of Business and Social Sciences to work largely with Aston Business School on inclusivity and employability. Professor Thomas has previously worked on the Teaching Excellence Framework Main Panel (Widening Participation Expert), been Chair of Advisory Group, Evaluation of pre-16 outreach work, Office for Fair Access (now Office for Students) as well as an International member of the Vice Chancellor’s Quality Review, University of South Wales, Australia. During the next Research Excellence Framework (REF) period her research will focus on higher education student and graduate experiences in the ‘new new normal’. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an emergency pivot by higher education providers worldwide, from predominantly present-in-person teaching, to primarily or exclusively remote and online learning. As the pandemic has progressed, HE providers have adapted to the new normal, providing a range of hybrid learning, engagement and support opportunities. Employers are also seeing the advantages of more flexible and hybrid ways of working, and this suggests that graduates will need demonstrate additional skills and competencies in relation to autonomy and time management, team working, digital skills and effective communication through a wider range of media. Professor Liz Thomas said: “I am very excited to have been appointed visiting professor in the College of Business and Social Sciences at Aston University. “I'm very much looking forward to working with colleagues on equity in higher education and employment. “Belonging will continue to be an important theme within my research, both conceptually and practically, and within higher education and employment, in the post-pandemic world. We need to capitalise on the advantages that have emerged, and ensure inclusion, and equitable outcomes for all.” Professor Helen E Higson, associate dean accreditations at Aston Business School, said: “I am looking forward to welcoming Liz to Aston Business School to share her knowledge on inclusivity and employability. “She will bring further leadership internally in areas which fit very well with Aston University’s values, student demographics and objectives. “She has a very strong international and national reputation for using her research-informing policy. Much current practice and policy in HE in the UK is influenced by her work.”

2 min. read
Citizens UK seeks to work with member organisations to build a citizens’ agenda around local economic and industrial policy featured image

Citizens UK seeks to work with member organisations to build a citizens’ agenda around local economic and industrial policy

The Nesta study looked at innovation as applied to industrial policy and focussed on migrant micro-enterprises in Birmingham Experts found while there is some face-to-face business support in Birmingham, the majority of it is provided online and in English The Community Organising for Inclusive Industrial Policy study was conducted by Citizens UK Birmingham and the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston Business School. A new report by Aston University and Citizens UK Birmingham has found the UK Government must do more to include micro-enterprises with business support. The Community Organising for Inclusive Industrial Policy study, which was conducted by Citizens UK Birmingham and the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston Business School for Nesta, concluded micro-enterprises in principle can take advantage of business support that is available in Birmingham, but in practice there are several limitations. Experts found while there is some face-to-face business support in Birmingham, the majority of it is provided online with most of the various government and other websites which provide extensive business support information largely in English, and not directly accessible to those who have inadequate English language skills or lack a good level of digital skills. In Birmingham, the business leaders group successfully bid for a local authority contract to create public health videos in community languages, featuring community members in familiar locations as a way of making the content more relatable to the target audience. Professor Monder Ram, director of Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston Business School, said: “It is wonderful to see CREME and Citizen UK’s highly impactful initiative on migrant business support receive this recognition from NESTA as an exemplar of ‘grassroots’ social innovation. “Our collaboration demonstrates the value of communities working together to support businesses and tackle common challenges.” You can read the full report HERE.

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2 min. read
Aston University linguist awarded prestigious research fellowship featured image

Aston University linguist awarded prestigious research fellowship

Dr Emmanuelle Labeau is one of three academics to have been appointed Research Fellows by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for the Future of Language Research They will carry out a horizon-scanning exercise which will inform the future of AHRC investment in language research The research team will also engage with language stakeholders from across the UK to inform their work. An Aston University linguist has been appointed to a key language leadership role by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Dr Emmanuelle Labeau, reader in French language and linguistics and director of the Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics (ACAL) at Aston University, has taken up the new post informing the future direction of research funding for languages. Dr Labeau will work to identify existing, new and emerging research themes in language research, as well as relevant policy areas that future language research could address, taking into account the needs and expectations of both academic and non-academic communities, wider stakeholders and government departments. She will work with Professor Nicola McLelland, University of Nottingham and Professor Michelle McLeod, University of Aberdeen, wias part of a research team which brings together a wealth of experience in language research. They will engage with language stakeholders from across the UK to inform their work and help the AHRC decide which areas of language research to support, as well as identifying potential threats, risks, emerging issues and opportunities. In addition, Emmanuelle will be carrying out a survey of the presence of languages in Birmingham. Her project, Birmingham Research for Upholding Multilingualism (BRUM), will focus on languages in education, business, public services and cultures. Dr Labeau said: “I am thrilled to be trusted with such a strategic task for the future of my discipline, while serving the region. I will be bringing to the team my experience of contemporary and relevant language research and teaching that widen participation and serve the needs of the community. I have started contacting stakeholders in Birmingham and I am keen to hear from all of Aston University’s beneficiaries.”

2 min. read
Aston University announced as an Official University for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games featured image

Aston University announced as an Official University for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held between 28 July and 8 August Aston University will provide ophthalmic expertise to the polyclinics The University is proud to support the mission of Birmingham 2022 to be the first Games to create a carbon neutral legacy Students have been set a challenge to develop ideas for creating a sustainable Games. Aston University has been unveiled as an Official University to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which will take place between 28 July and 8 August this year. The University’s School of Optometry will be loaning ophthalmic equipment and providing eye care expertise, supported by a network of qualified optometrist volunteers, for three polyclinics which will form the primary healthcare facilities for athletes and team officials requiring medical assessment and treatment throughout the Games period. Professor Leon Davies, professor of optometry and physiological optics at Aston University, said: “It is our aim to advance eye health in our region and society through innovative and clinically relevant education, research, and community engagement. I am looking forward to overseeing the Games’ eye care clinics throughout Birmingham 2022. “In addition to providing ophthalmic equipment during the Games, we have also brought together a cohort of volunteer optometrists, dispensing opticians and ophthalmologists from across the UK.” Dr Pam Venning, head of medical services at Birmingham 2022, said: “We are delighted to have Aston University on board as an Official University. Its School of Optometry is well-known for its innovation and world-leading education. “Birmingham 2022 wouldn’t be possible without teams of volunteers, and we are looking forward to working with the optometrists, opticians and ophthalmologists assembled by the University to support the athletes and officials attending the Games.” The University will also be supporting Birmingham 2022 in its aim to be the first Games to create a carbon neutral legacy by providing parking and hosting temporary electric vehicle charging facilities for its fleet, as well as other spaces on campus for its organising team. The director of Aston University’s Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute, Professor Patricia Thornley, said: “It is important that such a flagship event in Birmingham embodies the very best in sustainable practices, and we are working hard to support that.” Nicola Turner MBE, director of legacy and Jess Fidler, head of sustainability for Birmingham 2022 spoke to students in a special event in November setting out the work being done to create a legacy for the region, including the ambition to create a carbon neutral legacy. Birmingham 2022 has also provided this year’s business challenge for postgraduate business and management students at Aston Business School, who have been tasked with developing ideas for how the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games can create a lasting sustainability legacy for the city. The best ideas from the challenge will be reviewed by the Birmingham 2022 team and the West Midlands Combined Authority, who are taking the lead on a sustainability legacy. Saskia Loer Hansen, Interim Vice-Chancellor of Aston University, said: “At Aston University, we take an holistic approach that embeds sustainability through all our external activities at local, national and international level. “We are proud to support the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in its aim to be the first Games to create a carbon neutral legacy.” Commonwealth Games Federation CEO, Katie Sadleir, said: “We are delighted to welcome Aston University as an Official University to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. “The University will provide vital ophthalmic expertise and equipment for athletes and team officials requiring ophthalmic assessment and treatment throughout the Games. “This is a critical service and with Aston University, we have a fantastic partner to deliver this.”

Patricia Thornley profile photoLeon Davies profile photo
3 min. read
What the Basque Country tells us about 'levelling up' | Aston Angle featured image

What the Basque Country tells us about 'levelling up' | Aston Angle

What the Basque Country tells us about using local governance to level up By Dr Caroline Gray Lecturer in Politics and International Relations School of Social Science and Humanities January 2022 In a recent interview on his vision of ‘levelling up’, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, cited the Basque Country as one example of where ‘things have been done well’. The Basque Country, an industrial region of northern Spain with a population of just over two million, is widely admired for having undergone a remarkable, industry-focused economic transformation since it was hit by the decline of heavy industry in the 1980s. It is now one of the leading regions in Europe not only in terms of GDP per capita, but also in having a low percentage of population at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Within Spain itself, critics usually attribute this to the way the Basque fiscal autonomy model works, enabling the region to keep more of its own wealth to itself than other similarly prosperous regions in Spain – a form of internal ‘levelling up’ at the expense of other regions. This, however, is not the only contributing factor to the Basque Country’s economic transformation. Effective governance has also played a key role. What takeaways from the Basque experience might be relevant to levelling up in the UK and the devolution framework needed to facilitate it? Through my research on the Basque governance systems, I’ve discovered that some of the most valuable lessons relate to how multi-level governance works within the Basque region itself and how that contributes to economic and social transformation. Devolution does not stop with the powers devolved to regional governments or authorities; the relationship between different stakeholders and layers of governance within a region or locality is equally important. If the UK government wants to learn from what the Basque Country has done well, it should consider the following: 1. Devolution beyond metropolitan areas needs to be flexible and adaptable to place-based specifics In his July 2021 Levelling Up speech, Boris Johnson announced that levelling up would involve extending devolution beyond cities with new deals for the counties. The government must stick to the commitment it made then to shape new devolution deals with local input, avoiding one-size-fits-all approaches. The Basque Country provides valuable evidence for why it’s beneficial to shape governance approaches to the economic geography of an area. As one of Spain’s 17 regions called ‘autonomous communities’, the Basque Country is, in turn, divided into provinces (Araba-Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa) and municipalities. Counties, which don’t have an administrative body, but which do house county development agencies, make up an additional level between the provinces and municipalities. The economic activity of two of the provinces (Araba-Álava and Bizkaia) is typical of metropolitan areas in that it is centred heavily on their capital cities (Vitoria and Bilbao, respectively), where the provincial councils are based. However, in the third, Gipuzkoa, economic activity is more distributed across different hubs in the province. As a result, in Gipuzkoa, the county development agencies, created in the late 1980s, have acquired a particularly important role, as interviewees from the Basque Institute of Competitiveness explained to me. The counties map particularly well onto the different industrial areas in the province, thanks to the fact that they were designed with the bottom-up input of municipal leaders working together with the provincial council. The county development agencies have, in turn, become a key channel via which the provincial council in Gipuzkoa can reach SMEs more easily, as they are closer to the firms. Such local networks are particularly important in non-metropolitan areas where economic activity can be more dispersed. This is why the UK government must make sure any new devolution framework it designs is flexible enough to allow for local input and adaptations to place-based considerations. 2. Bottom-up, collaborative dynamics are essential to the design and implementation of placed-based strategies Basque economic development has undoubtedly benefitted from the fact that the regional government draws upon input from different levels of administration and a range of other public and private stakeholders in the region when designing its industrial policies. Experiments in collaborative governance have become increasingly innovative over the years, not only at regional but also provincial and local level, designed to reach beyond the largest firms and to engage wider society. The county development agencies in Gipuzkoa, for example, used to provide services to SMEs in an essentially one-way direction – for example, advising them on how to apply policy – but have since evolved more into facilitators of networks for cooperation and mutual learning among public and private actors at county level. This not only facilitates more efficient implementation of regional policies, but also channels local feedback upwards into the policy-making process, adding value. Collaboration among different tiers of governance and different areas, rather than competition, has been the goal of such approaches. Therefore, the UK government needs to reconsider the increasingly competitive dimension of current devolution arrangements. Having areas compete against one another for centrally controlled, often short-term pots of money doesn’t facilitate the formation of robust, collaborative partnerships that could ultimately add value and increase efficiency. Finally, institutional stability is important. From the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), which are now under review, there has been frequent chopping and changing in the institutions and policies meant to tackle the UK’s place-based inequalities in recent decades. The Basque Country shows what can be achieved with a more stable, longer-term institutional and policy framework and vision. If it is to have a meaningful impact in tackling inequalities, the Levelling Up White Paper must provide the basis for a longer-term devolution framework that goes well beyond the current government term, with a clear allocation of resources and responsibility.

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4 min. read
Independent Director at SSE and Infinis and former CEO of E.ON UK joins Aston University as Visiting Professor featured image

Independent Director at SSE and Infinis and former CEO of E.ON UK joins Aston University as Visiting Professor

Tony Cocker is senior independent director at SSE plc and chair of Infinis Energy Management He was CEO and chair of E.ON UK from 2011 to 2017, and was also chair and non-executive director at various organisations, including Affinity Water Ltd, EIC, and the Energy & Utilities Industrial Partnership Professor Cocker will work within Aston University’s College of Business and Social Sciences focussing on energy operations, innovations and sustainability. Independent Director at SSE and Infinis and former CEO of E.ON UK has joined Aston University as a Visiting Professor within the College of Business and Social Sciences. Tony Cocker will work closely with the director of the Centre for Circular Economy and Advanced Sustainability (CEAS), Dr Luciano Batista, and the director of the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI), Professor Patricia Thornley, to develop connections between Aston University and the energy industry over the next three years. In the next 12 months, Tony will engage with undergraduate and postgraduate students across Aston Business School and with researchers at CEAS and EBRI. He will support the development the CEAS Advisory Board, give programme specific and public talks, and participate in networking events that will appeal to a wide range of key stakeholders such as students, academics, industry, and government partners across Aston University. The potential to support Aston student placements opportunities and mentoring for students will also feature as part of Tony’s engagement. Professor Cocker will also work with colleagues at Aston Business School and EBRI to expand research connections in common areas of interest associated with energy innovations, business strategies and sustainability. Professor Cocker said: “I am excited and motivated to join Aston University as a visiting professor. I am looking forward to supporting the teaching and research agenda of the university, capitalising on the knowledge and industry connections I have built over the years in the energy sector and related industries.” Dr Luciano Batista, head of CEAS at Aston Business School, said: “I am looking forward to working with Tony. His professional experience and vast industrial connections will add considerable value to the teaching activities and research collaborations we develop across key programmes and research projects in the business school. It is a great privilege to have an experienced business leader in the faculty team at Aston Business School. This well-deserved appointment recognises the notable contribution Tony has made, and continues to make, to the industry over the years.” Professor Patricia Thornley, director of the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI), said: “Tony brings a wealth of knowledge and experience which will be really valuable to Aston University. We already have a long list of areas where we will be working together so that our students can benefit from his expertise and I look forward to working with him to expand the relevance of our research and engagement, particularly in energy”.

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2 min. read
Senior lecturer at Aston University appointed as a Champion of the Microbiology Society featured image

Senior lecturer at Aston University appointed as a Champion of the Microbiology Society

Dr Jonathan Cox, a senior lecturer in microbiology at Aston University, has been made a Champion of the Microbiology Society for the Midlands area, U.K. Microbiology Society Champions are members who help to raise the Society’s profile in their local area by initiating activities and events of their own or participating in Society-led events. They are appointed because of their passion for their subject matter and an enthusiasm to communicate it widely. Jonathan’s research interests surround the discovery of new antibiotics. He leads the Mycobacterial Research Group at Aston University, a multidisciplinary team spanning microbiology, biochemistry, molecular genetics, structural biology and drug discovery. The team’s main focus is to study the physiology of various pathogenic mycobacteria and to discover new ways to treat infections. He also teaches at Aston University and currently leads the teaching for first year microbiology on courses in biomedical science, biology and biochemistry, Jonathan also regularly engages with the press to comment on news stories and issues related to microbiology, infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. He has been a full member of the Microbiology Society for 10 years and has already contributed in many ways, including hosting the Microbiology Society Roadshow at Aston University in 2021. He has also been featured in Microbiology Today discussing his research. Speaking of his appointment, Jonathan said: “Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) accounts for around 700,000 deaths per annum globally and that number is predicted to rise to 10 million by 2050. The current economic burden of AMR is estimated to be at least €1.5 billion per year in the EU. New antibiotics and an improved understanding of how to use them will help to slow the progression of AMR, saving countless lives in the future. “I am delighted to have been appointed as a Microbiology Society Champion and to use this opportunity to raise the profile of the Society and, in particular, the importance of research into AMR.”

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2 min. read
New £2.8m MRI scanner delivered to Aston University featured image

New £2.8m MRI scanner delivered to Aston University

A landmark moment in the improvement to facilities at Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) has been reached with the arrival of its new £2.8m MRI scanner on site. A landmark moment in the improvement to facilities at Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) has been reached with the arrival of its new £2.8m MRI scanner on site. The new Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3T MRI scanner will enhance the world-class neuroimaging research facilities within the Institute. The old machine has already been removed from the building and internal spaces are currently being refurbished before the new scanner is lifted into the building. Researchers in the Institute use advanced neuroimaging techniques to discover biomarkers of brain health in children with neurological disease. By detecting those biomarkers, they are able to determine those who are at risk of longer term poor cognitive, behavioural and health outcomes with the goal/vision of providing early support to those children who need it most. The new scanner will also enable the Institute to provide the most recent innovations in MRI for patients visiting through the clinical service, Aston University Imaging. Patients visiting for MRI scans come through private referrals, as well as from local institutions such as the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Aston Villa football club. Professor Jackie Blissett, co-director of Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment, said: “The arrival of our new MRI scanner is tremendously exciting. This state-of-the-art equipment is core to our child-focused research programme that delivers a new understanding of development and disease and the interventions that will make a difference.” Aston University Students' Union President, Balraj Purewal added: "It is great that we have a new state-of-the-art MRI scanner being installed on our campus. It will not only help our researchers in their work, but will also be of benefit to patients in the community, including young people, supporting both their diagnosis and treatment." For more information about the Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment, please visit our website.

Jackie Blissett profile photo
2 min. read