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Aston University to officially launch Cyber Security Innovation Centre at Birmingham Tech Week
It will take place at Conference Aston on 13 October, during Birmingham Tech Week 2021 Line up of speakers includes experts from Security Exports Department for International Trade, DCMS and the IoD The event will be of relevance to companies, alumni, academic staff interested in cybersecurity. The Cyber Security Innovation (CSI) Centre at Aston University will host its inaugural event during Birmingham Tech Week 2021. The CSI Centre, established in 2020, brings together stakeholders from industry, government and leading cyber security research institutions with the aim to deliver industry-aligned research outcomes. CSI members include globally-recognised academics undertaking research projects that address real-world cyber security challenges through innovative solutions. Cyber (In)Security, Requires a Robust Approach Through Continuous Innovation, will see a broad range of contributors taking part across the face-to-face event on 13 October. They include speakers from the UK Defence and Security Exports Department for International Trade, the Institute of the Directors (IoD), Cyber Senior Policy Lead, DCMS, Opel/Vauxhall and Professor Vladlena Benson, Director of CSI Centre. Professor Vladlena Benson, director of the CSI at Aston Business School, said: “I am delighted to officially launch the CSI Centre at Conference Aston during Birmingham Tech Week 2021 and am looking forward to welcoming everyone to our first face-to-face event. “This is a wonderful opportunity to meet face-to-face with industry-leading experts, academics and start-ups. With most of the UK confined to working from home for over a year, there is no better opportunity to meet and build relationships with the people who can help business owners grow, innovate and make their companies more resilient. “Statistics shows that UK small businesses are successfully hacked every 19 seconds2 and new certification standards coming into play for consumer IoT devices and cyber-physical access control systems. It is time to find a robust approach maximising the effectiveness of cybersecurity investment now. “The bad guys are winning the cyber security war - the good guys need to do better. Although organisations are investing more and more in cyber security, the average number of days to detect a breach is increasing year on year, not reducing. So, we need to do something different.” To attend the event on 13 October 2021, you can sign up HERE.
Social media ‘likes’ found to positively influence healthy food choices – new research
Social media users who view images of healthy foods that have been heavily endorsed with ‘likes’ are more likely to make healthier food choices, a new study has found. The research, by psychologists from Aston University’s College of Health and Life Sciences, found that study participants who viewed highly liked mock Instagram posts of fruit and vegetables ate a significantly higher proportion of grapes than cookies, with consumption of grapes increasing by 14 per cent more calories, compared to those who viewed highly liked high calorie foods. The study, which is published in the scientific journal Appetite, investigated the acute effect of socially endorsed social media posts on participants’ eating behaviour. The 169 participants, who had an average age of 21 years old (but total ages across the group ranged from 18 to 48), were asked to look at mock Instagram posts of different types of food, that either had a few or a lot of ‘likes’, and later given access to grapes and cookies to consume. As well as viewing images of fruit and vegetables, participants also looked at less nutritious foods such as cakes and biscuits, and non-food images such as stylish interior designs. However, the researchers found that the participants went on to consume a larger proportion of grapes after viewing highly liked images of fruit and vegetables, compared to the other images. Aston University psychology PhD student Lily Hawkins, who led the study alongside supervisor Dr Jason Thomas, said: “The findings of the study suggest that not only exposure to healthy food images on social media, but those that are also heavily endorsed with ‘likes’, may nudge people to choose to eat more healthy foods, in place of less nutritious foods.” “What we see others approve of eating and post about eating on social media can affect our actual eating behaviour and could result in a greater consumption of healthier meals and snacks.” “One reason for this may be because thinking that others ‘like’ and eat fruit and vegetables nudges participants to alter their behaviour in order to fit in with what they perceive to be the norm.” The most recent figures from the NHS’s Health Survey for England showed that in 2018 only 28 per cent of adults were eating the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. In Wales, this was 24 per cent, in Scotland 22 per cent and in Northern Ireland around 20 per cent. Children and young people across the UK had even lower levels of fruit and vegetable consumption. The study findings suggest that social media could be used in future as a way to encourage healthier eating - by encouraging users to follow more social media accounts which have highly liked nutritionally balanced posts, also containing healthier foods. The researchers said the next stage of their work will trial an intervention using real Instagram accounts, to test whether asking people to actively follow more social media accounts posting images of highly liked nutritionally rich foods, can encourage people to consume more fruit and vegetables over a sustained period of time. Professor Claire Farrow, Director of Aston University’s Applied Health Research Group, whose work has contributed to the national Child Feeding Guide resource, added: “We know that social interactions can strongly shape what, when and how much we eat. These findings highlight the important role that social media has in shaping those influences online.” “The findings suggest that people do not simply passively view information about what other people are eating online, but that this digital information can shape our food preferences and choices, particularly when we think lots of other people like certain foods. It is promising that exposure to healthy foods, and likes of those foods, was related to greater intake of healthy foods.” “Further research is needed to explore whether and how these findings can be translated into digital interventions to help support individuals who want to make healthier food choices, and to understand how social media platforms can be used as a tool to support healthy eating behaviour.”
This Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attack. It was a day that forever changed how the United States viewed terrorism and its approach to foreign policy. The Middle East, especially Iraq and Afghanistan, has seen upheaval in the wake of 9/11. Over the last two decades, America’s approach to how it deals with enemies and how it collaborates with allies has also been drastically altered. University of Mary Washington Political Science and International Affairs Professor Jason Davidson is an expert in American foreign and security policy, and international security. He is also the author of the commissioned study, "The Costs of War to United States Allies Since 9/11," which focuses extensively on the human and monetary sacrifices made by America's allies in these conflicts. Davidson, and the document, made waves this spring, landing in the likes of Forbes, The Guardian and The Daily Mail. If you’re looking to arrange an interview with Dr. Davidson, simply click on his icon.
Aston Law School corporate governance experts launch new book on investor stewardship
Dr Daniel Cash and Robert Goddard co-wrote Investor Stewardship and the UK Stewardship Code: The Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance The book will be relevant for an international audience of academics, regulators and policymakers in financial regulation, investment regulation and financial services It coincides with the publishing of the Stewardship Code 2020 signatories as part of a new regulatory code by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Two members of Aston Law School have released a new book around investor stewardship to coincide with a major milestone by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The FRC published the first main list of Stewardship Code 2020 signatories on 6 September 2021, after a round of reporting earlier this year. This milestone details who is following the Code and allows the regulator to focus on holding signatories to the articulated standards of stewardship and how it is reported. The new book by Dr Daniel Cash and Robert Goddard, Investor Stewardship and the UK Stewardship Code: The Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance, provides a critical assessment of the development of the Stewardship Code 2020, which sets out principles regarding the role of institutional investors in corporate governance. It discusses how the regulatory framework for stewardship evolved before and after the financial crisis, and how that evolution resulted in the 2020 Code. It also critiques the Code from a practical and academic perspective, as well as evaluating the wider regulatory framework; in particular, the position of the FRC merging into the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA). Dr Daniel Cash, senior lecturer in law at Aston Law School, said: “The Stewardship Code is a big deal in British governance, and that is exactly what the book looks at. “It examines the history of the stewardship Codes and regulation in the UK, and uses this to critically examine the new 2020 Code. “That critical analysis leads into projections of how the Code may fare in the modern business environment, aspects that may affect its progression, and puts forward elements that can make the Code’s impact more substantial. “This important regulatory development will play a massive role in aligning the actions of investors with the wider societal needs in the new world being dominated by ESG concerns. “Stewardship Codes modelled on the UK’s original 2010 version have been introduced in numerous markets and, as such, the book will be relevant for an international audience of academics, regulators and policymakers in financial regulation, investment regulation and financial services.” You can buy a copy of Investor Stewardship and the UK Stewardship Code: The Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance here.
GP guidance: Diet and weight loss to achieve type 2 diabetes remission
• Research finds diet and weight loss key to remission of type 2 diabetes • Experts conducted a critical narrative review of over 90 research papers including international clinical trials • Researchers advise on reducing blood sugar levels to manage negative effects of type 2 diabetes and reduce risk of complications Achieving ‘remission’ for people with type 2 diabetes through dietary approaches and weight loss should be the primary treatment goal of GPs and healthcare practitioners, concludes a large-scale review of clinical evidence led by researchers at UCL and Aston University. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a serious condition caused when the body resists the insulin produced in the pancreas, and not enough insulin is made. This leads to high levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood and is associated with multiple health problems including increased risk of heart disease, blindness, and amputation. In the UK T2DM affects around 3.9 million people and 179 million globally. Care and treatment of T2DM costs the NHS around £10 billion a year. Corresponding author, Dr Duane Mellor, Aston University said: “Accounting for all the evidence, our review suggests remission should be discussed as a primary treatment goal with people living with type 2 diabetes. There are multiple dietary approaches that have been shown to bring about T2DM remission though at present meal replacements offer the best quality evidence. Low carbohydrate diets have been shown to be highly effective and should also be considered as a dietary approach for remission.” Lead author, Dr Adrian Brown, UCL Division of Medicine said: “Traditionally T2DM has focussed on managing a person’s blood glucose with medication, however the approach doesn’t address the underlying causes of T2DM. There is now a growing body of research that shows losing significant weight, 10-15kg, either through weight loss surgery or dietary approaches, can bring about type 2 diabetes remission (non-diabetic blood sugar levels).” For the study, published in the Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, specialist dietitians and obesity experts conducted a critical narrative review of over 90 research papers covering international clinical trials and clinical practice data of dietary methods used to treat T2DM. The study found that meal-replacement diets helped around one in three (36%) people successfully achieve remission, while low carbohydrate diets were able to help around one in five (17.6 %) people achieve and maintain remission for at least two years. People who lost the most weight and kept the weight off using both of these dietary approaches were able to stay in remission. Calorie restricted and Mediterranean diets were also able to help people achieve remission – but at much lower rates. Only around 5% of people on calorie restricted diets stayed in remission after one year, while only 15% of people on a Mediterranean diet stayed in remission after a year. In reaching their findings, the research team had to account for the fact there is no single definition of remission; it is typically defined as a return to non-diabetic blood sugar levels (glycated haemoglobin less than 48mmol/mol), without the use of diabetes drugs. Other definitions however say weight (especially fat around the midsection) must be lost to achieve remission, and others that medications can continue to be used. In addition, some reports suggest low-carbohydrate diets can normalise blood sugar levels even without weight loss. This happens as when carbohydrates are eaten, they are broken down into sugars which cause our blood sugar levels to rise. A low-carbohydrate diet means less blood sugar appears in the bloodstream, leading to improved blood sugar control. However, if weight loss is not achieved but individuals are able to achieve non-diabetic blood glucose, the authors are suggesting this should instead be called mitigation, as the underlying mechanisms of T2DM are not being addressed. Dr Brown said: “The evidence is clear that the main driver of remission remains the degree of weight loss a person achieved. Therefore, for those not achieving weight loss but achieving a non-diabetic blood glucose we are suggesting this isn’t remission per se, but rather “mitigation” of their diabetes.” The research concludes that while weight loss appears to be the best predictor of remission success, it assumes fat loss from the pancreas and liver. They note, that it will be important for future studies to compare how these diets work for different ethnic groups, as T2DM can happen at lower body weights in different ethnic groups, who may have less weight to lose. Dr Mellor added: “Not everyone will be able to achieve remission, but people who are younger (less than 50), male, have had type 2 diabetes for less than six years and lose more weight are more likely to be successful. “This could be because these people are able to address the causes of their diabetes, therefore recovering more of the pancreas’s ability to make insulin and the liver’s ability to use it. But this doesn’t mean others won’t be successful if they improve their diet and lifestyle and lose weight. “Whether or not a person achieves remission, reducing blood sugar levels is important in managing the negative effects of type 2 diabetes and reducing risk of complications. But when it comes to choosing a diet, the most important thing is to pick one that suits you – one that you’re likely to stick to long term.” The initial meeting which led to the writing of this paper was supported by the British Dietetic Association and Diabetes UK.
Early-stage entrepreneurial activity in 2020 had fallen sharply from its pre-pandemic high in the UK as the economy was essentially shut down for long periods due to COVID-19 This decline was due to fewer nascent entrepreneurs than normal – that is, individuals in the first three months of starting their new business venture Nevertheless, around two-thirds of working-age adults looking to set up a business within three years said the pandemic had influenced their decision to re-assess their future engagement with the labour market As in previous economic downturns it is the small business community that drives the recovery across all sectors of the economy. UK entrepreneurs once again stand ready to rise to the challenges and opportunities created by the Coronavirus pandemic and the economic fallout from Brexit, a new report says. The latest Global Entrepreneurship Team (GEM) UK report found that although around of half budding entrepreneurs said that the UK government had so far dealt effectively with the economic consequences of the pandemic, there must be improved programmes, financial support and advice to start-ups and scale-ups through different stages of the business life cycle. GEM is the world’s largest survey of entrepreneurship and is the only global research source that collects data on entrepreneurship directly from individual entrepreneurs. It measures various rates of entrepreneurship in 43 countries in 2020. GEM’s UK team – which is led by Professor Mark Hart of Aston University – compared attitudes, activity and aspirations in the UK, Germany and the United States as well as the four home nations of the UK. Access to finance remained one of the major obstacles to entrepreneurial activity in the UK. Enhanced tax benefits for entrepreneurs, such as tax breaks for start-ups and businesses in difficulty to reduce early exits and better tax incentives for recruitment, investment in managerial and digital practices and skills were also highlighted1. The report also called for more entrepreneurial education, especially at school age as well as improved technical education and improved links between the educational system and industry to boost growth post-COVID and post-Brexit. It found that the UK still lags behind many comparable economies in this respect. Mark Hart, professor of small business and entrepreneurship at Aston Business School and deputy director of the UK’s Enterprise Research Centre, said: “The GEM survey undertaken in the last few months of 2020 showed a sharp fall in the number of individuals in the early stages of setting up a new business compared to the pre-pandemic high in 2019. “This is hardly surprising, but the analysis has also shown that the entrepreneurial foundations of the economy and society are still strong and these will be crucial for the recovery after the pandemic and in dealing with the ongoing economic fallout from Brexit. “Those ethnic-minority communities that have borne the brunt of the pandemic in terms of infection, hospitalisation and sadly deaths demonstrated their resilience by maintaining their previous levels of early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA rate) which were significantly higher than for the non-ethnic minority population. “Clearly, the pandemic has had no damaging impact on the level of entrepreneurial activity by immigrants and ethnic-minorities although it has depressed it for life-long residents and the non-ethnic population. “There is undoubtedly an appetite for people to start their own businesses in the next three years and many report new opportunities because of the pandemic but they are delaying the actual decision to get the business operational.” The full GEM UK impact report, sponsored by NatWest, is available for download here.
Aston University researchers based in the College of Health and Life Sciences have been awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project by Innovate UK, to bring its academic and scientific expertise to assist Catalent in the development of its Zydis® technology, the leading orally disintegrating tablet (ODT). The Zydis ODT fast-dissolve formulation is a unique, freeze-dried oral solid dosage form that disperses almost instantly in the mouth with no water required. It helps delivering treatments to patients and consumers who have difficulty swallowing conventional pills, or where rapid onset of action is desirable. The aim of the KTP partnership is to develop and prove an accurate predictive decision-making tool to pre-determine accurate levels of absorption enhancer for each Zydis product, potentially facilitating faster pharmaceutical development, improving efficiency, and reducing time to market. A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) is a three-way collaboration between a business, an academic partner and a KTP Associate. The UK-wide programme helps businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills. Aston University is the leading KTP provider within the Midlands. Academic lead on the project is Professor Afzal Mohammed, who is also chair in Pharmacy in the College of Health & Life Sciences (HLS) and a member of the Aston Pharmaceutics Group (APG) at Aston University. Afzal said: “This is a great opportunity for us to share and translate our academic experience in cell based models, excipient and formulation characterisation to develop an evidence based predictive tool that has the potential to expedite product development at Catalent.” Ralph Gosden, head of Zydis product development at Catalan, added: "We are excited to be working with Aston University on this project. Their expertise in drug transportation, cell biology, data analysis and model cell line design, coupled with its world-class facilities means that together, we will be able to achieve significant improvements in efficiency, and accelerate new product development.” Professor Mohammed will be supported by other colleagues from the Aston Pharmaceutics Group, including, Dr Dan Kirby, who has experience in drug delivery and improving patient acceptability of dosage forms gained through original research; Dr Affiong Iyire who has research expertise in the formulation of drugs for pre-gastric absorption and innovative cell models; and Dr Raj Badhan, who is a pharmacokinetics expert with vast knowledge of in silico methods. The outcomes of the project will be integrated into Aston University’s curriculum through teaching case studies, thereby developing well equipped graduates.
The use of swear words declines by more than a quarter in the UK since the 1990s – new research
Aston University’s Dr Robbie Love compared the use of 16 of the most common swear words between 1994 and 2014 He found the amount of swearing has fallen by 27.6 per cent during the 13-year period The study also found that the f-word has overtaken 'bloody' as UK's most popular curse word Researchers from Aston University have found that the use of swear words in Britain has declined by more than a quarter since the 1990s. Dr Robbie Love, based in the College of Business and Social Sciences, looked at how swearing changed in casual British English conversation between 1994 and 2014. As part of the study, which is published in Text & Talk: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse & Communication Studies, Dr Love used two large bodies of transcriptions to analyse the use of language, including: The Spoken British National Corpus gathered in 1994 and the same corpus from 2014. Both texts include over 15 million words, although it was found that swear words accounted for less than one per cent. In total, the amount of swearing was found to have fallen by 27.6 per cent, from 1,822 words per million in 1994 to 1,320 words per million in 2014.The research findings also suggest that the f-word has overtaken 'bloody' as the most popular curse word in the UK. In the study, Dr Love compared the use of 16 of the nation's most common swear words, including p***, c*** and s**g, from the 1990s to the 2010s. He also found that trends in the type of swear words used have changed over the last few decades , with 'bloody' being the most common curse word in the 1990s and the f-word taking precedent in the 2010s. The analysis suggests that this is largely down to a big decline in the use of 'bloody',while the f-word has remained relatively steady over the years. It was also found to be the second most commonly used swear word in 1994, followed by s**t, p***, b****r and c**p. Other key findings of the study included: Over a twenty year period b****r had fallen from the fifth most common curse to the ninth, while b*****d dropped from seventh to 10th. The big climbers include s**t, from third to second, a**e, from eighth to sixth and d***, from tenth to seventh. T**t also rose from the 16th most common swear word in the 1990s to 13th by the 2010s. Dr Love then analysed demographics and discovered that, although swearing is more common in men than women, the difference between the genders has decreased notably from 2.33 times more frequent in men in 1994 to 1.68 times in 2014. Another change concerned how much people swear as they age. In both data sets, swearing is most common among people in their 20s, and then declines with age. However, the decline was less steep in the 2010s, suggesting that people continue swearing later in life more than they did in the 1990s. Dr Robbie Love, lecturer in English at Aston University, said: “This research reinforces the view that swearing plays a part in our conversational repertoire, performs useful functions in everyday life and is an everyday part of conversation for many people. “Despite this, it is relatively under-researched precisely because it is considered to be taboo. “Swearing performs many social functions including conveying abuse and humour, expressing emotion, creating social bonds, and constructing identity. “The strong social conditioning around swear words makes them more psychologically arousing and more memorable than other words, and something different happens in the brain when saying them compared to euphemistic equivalents, such as saying "f***" compared to ‘the f-word’.” You can read the full study, Text & Talk: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse & Communication Studies, HERE If you want to explore how the written and spoken word works in society, Aston University's innovative English language and literature degrees are for you. We emphasise practical applications, linking your studies to the real world through professionally relevant modules in areas such as Language and Literature in Education, The Language of the Law, Psychology of Language and Communication or Language at Work.
Clinical trials to combat short sightedness in children underway at Aston University
Clinical trials to treat myopia - or short sightedness - in children are now underway. They are being conducted by researchers from Aston University in partnership with industry and in collaboration with the Universities of Queens, Ulster, Glasgow Caledonian, Anglia Ruskin, Waterloo and TU Dublin, with one of the trials funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The myopia research team in the College of Health and Life Sciences at Aston University is recruiting children between the ages of six to 15 years old, to take part in the clinical studies, which involve a range of different interventions that aim to slow the progression of myopia in children. The interventions under trial include low dose atropine eye drops, contact lenses and spectacle lenses. Myopia is an eye condition where distant objects appear blurry. It typically occurs in childhood and progresses through the teenage years. It can lead to eye disease in later life, as the eye grows longer with myopia, it causes stretching in parts of the eye. Myopia is becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the world and it has been predicted to affect approximately 50 per cent of the world's population by 2050, based on trending myopia prevalence figures. Myopia is an overlooked but leading cause of blindness, particularly among the working age population. At present, different designs of soft contact lenses, orthokeratology contact lenses (lenses worn overnight to correct the myopia), novel spectacle lenses and eye drops are all being used to slow eye growth and myopia progression in children. The aim in this trial is to manage myopia with an intervention at a young age in order to maximise the impact on slowing down the progression of myopia. Lead researcher professor, Nicola Logan, said: “Myopia is often considered benign because the blurred vision is easily corrected with glasses, contact lenses or refractive surgery. Higher levels of myopia are associated with increased risk of pathological complications, but it is important to note that there is no safe level of myopia. Even low levels of myopia increase the risk of sight-threatening eye conditions. “We are at an exciting time whereby we now have interventions based on research evidence that can be used in clinical practice that will help to slow down the rate of progression of myopia. “In these trials we want to find out the impact of different interventions on myopia progression in UK children, as well as look at why myopia develops and how it progresses in children, to see if we can enhance the current interventions. New information may be used to make the myopia control interventions more effective.” The researchers are aiming to recruit around 200 children aged between six and 15 years old across the three trials by 2021. If you are a parent or guardian of children who have myopia and feel this may be suitable for your children, then you can contact the research team at myopia@aston.ac.uk or (+44)121 204 4100 for further information.
Three Aston University STEM pioneers shortlisted for Women in Tech Awards
• Three finalists from Aston University shortlisted for prestigious Women in Tech Awards • Two academics are up for the award which will be announced in October • A degree apprentice has also been nominated in the category Three STEM pioneers from Aston University are celebrating after being shortlisted for the prestigious Midlands Women In Tech Awards. Aston University’s Reham Badawy and Lucy Bastin have picked up nominations for the academic category while Jessica Morgan has been put forward for the apprentice category for the awards. The Midlands Women in Tech Awards are an opportunity to highlight and recognise the ongoing contribution of women in the tech sector. The aim of the awards is to raise the visibility of women in the tech space and enable the next generation to ‘see it and therefore aspire to it’. Jessica Morgan is studying a Digital Technology Solutions apprenticeship with Cap Gemini and Aston University, with experience working on projects within the public sector. She is in the final year of her degree apprenticeship and has been balancing work, studying and volunteering, while being on track for a first class honours. Reham Badawy is part of the Undergraduate Teaching Team at Aston University. Her research work has used smart tech to detect and monitor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. She is a strong advocate for women in STEM and is a UK Ambassador for Women are Boring. Lucy Bastin has a Masters in GIS and a PhD in Urban Ecology. She is a senior lecturer in Computer Science and was recently on secondment to the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. She developed web-based biodiversity information systems that support accessible and user-friendly reporting by the international community against policy and conservation targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Kate Sugden, deputy dean for the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Aston University said: “We are delighted to see so many Aston University shortlisted candidates for the Women in Tech Awards. “In our eyes they are all winners and are great examples of our ongoing commitment to making significant contributions to the region and wider society.” Voting closes on August 20 and more details about the finalists can be found here: www.womenintechawards.co.uk The ceremony takes place on 7 October where the winners will be announced.
