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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.

Aston University appoints translator in residence to inspire future literary translators

Aston University and Writing West Midlands have appointed Sarah Letza, a professional translator from the region to the role She will be working on community engagement activities at Aston University and with the West Midlands community The project is funded by Arts Council England. Aston University has appointed a translator in residence as part of a project developed by the translators Daniel Hahn and Ros Schwartz, a new one-off literary translation residency for 2022 based in Birmingham. Sarah Letza, a professional translator from the region, has been appointed to the position until March 2023. The project is funded by Arts Council England and will be run in partnership with Aston University and Writing West Midlands. Sarah’s residency will encourage an interest in literary translation and translated literature, and the valuing of languages, among communities in and around Birmingham through workshops, talks and other public engagement and collaborative participation projects. Sarah Letza, translator in residence at Aston University, said: “I hope to draw attention to the opportunities that translation and language learning can lead to and capitalise on the wealth of talent that can be drawn from Midlands schools and universities. “There is the potential to be involved with the many translation research projects already under development at Aston University as well as promoting and supporting languages and translation pathways. “I want to showcase Birmingham as a city that has been built on cultural crossings, intellectual exchange and creativity, all of which are the bedrock of both translation and language learning.” Dr David Orrego-Carmona, a lecturer in English, languages and applied linguistics at Aston University, said: “Birmingham is an incredibly multilingual city and Aston University is particularly well-placed to raise awareness and showcase the value of languages, translation and intercultural exchanges. “We are certain the programme will provide inspiring experiences for our beneficiaries in Birmingham and the region, and we are looking forward to the engaging activities that Sarah is already planning.” For more information about our courses in translation click here.

Aston University expert to talk on gender diversity and inclusion at major cyber security event

The Ethnic Minority in Cyber (EMiC) network's flagship event is supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Attendees will hear from inspirational speakers looking at current and future initiatives to increase diversity in the cyber sector Dr Anitha Chinnaswamy from Aston University will be presenting a talk on gender diversity and inclusion in cyber. An Aston University expert and founding group member of Ethnic Minority in Cyber (EMiC) is set to present a talk at a major cybersecurity event on 28 April 2022. The EMiC network's flagship symposium is supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and will take place at Edgbaston Park Hotel in Birmingham. Attendees will hear from inspirational speakers looking at current and future initiatives aimed around increasing diversity in the cyber sector and will also be able to provide feedback into the initiative and policies going forward. The symposium will consist of a keynote speech, invited talks, panel sessions and round table workshops. Dr Anitha Chinnaswamy from the Cyber Security Innovation (CSI) Centre at Aston Business School will present a talk on gender diversity and inclusion in cyber and the outreach work of the Centre with schools to increase representation. Simon Hepburn, CEO UK, Cyber Security Council is the keynote speaker. The EMiC network, of which Aston University is a founding member, is a pilot network for Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority cyber academia, professionals and businesses, with the long-term aim of significantly improving representation across the cyber sector. Dr Anitha Chinnaswamy, lecturer in cyber security management at the CSI Centre at Aston Business School, says: “I am looking forward to speaking at such an important event about an ever-important topic in cyber. “While there is a growing cyber security skills gap and high shortage in the UK cyber sector, a recent survey found that only 17 per cent of cyber professionals are from ethnic minority backgrounds across all cyber roles. “The cyber sector remains relatively nondiverse in terms of gender. Just 16 per cent of the workforce across these firms is female, compared to 28 per cent in other UK digital sectors. “Those filling senior roles, typically with six or more years of experience, are particularly nondiverse across a range of characteristics including gender, ethnicity, disability and neurodiversity. “For example, just three per cent of senior roles are filled by women.” Aston University’s CSI centre, led by Professor Vladlena Benson, is the only female-led cyber security centre in the Midlands region and serves on the UK Cyber Security Council (UKCSC), alongside Simon Hepburn its CEO, to promote professionalism standards in cybersecurity. Professor Benson, director of the CSI Centre at Aston Business School, said: “Aston University CSI is actively involved in shaping diversity policy, such as with the launch of the NCS22 strategy in Birmingham and enabling the Cyber Explorer programme as a first schools’ engagement for girls from diverse backgrounds. “As ambassadors we are passionate about working towards closing the gender gap. This will help pave the way for a future of gender diversity, and hopefully other types of diversity, in the cyber security field. “Our work with female students in a highly diverse Midlands’ landscape highlights the challenges that are yet to overcome with the levelling up agenda.” To find out more about the event please visit the site here.

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

Aston University MEG scanning facilities used by start-up to launch new brain health service

MEG scanning services at Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) have been used to launch the world’s first brain-imaging service to measure and assess brain health. Commercial brain imaging service Myndspan launched a service to assess brain health and identify concussions, with an event at Aston University. Start-up, MYndspan, was founded in 2020 by Caitlin Baltzer, former vice president of operations at functional brain imaging company Croton Healthcare and Janne Huhtala, previously chief executive of MEGIN, the global leader in functional brain imaging. The service was created to support brain health across populations, using cutting edge brain scanning technology to monitor and extend healthy cognitive lifespans. The brain imaging service is powered by a non-invasive brain scanning technology called Magnetoencephalography (MEG), which measures the electrical signals between neurons to form a highly detailed map of brain activity and function. The MEG scanner, which is located in the Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment, at Aston University, identifies and observes functional ‘invisible injuries’ to the brain, such as concussion or PTSD, that can’t be seen from an MRI image of the brain. MYndspan’s service combines MEG scans with gamified tests of cognitive function, which measure a range of mental processes such as attention, memory, and visuospatial processing. Using these two measures of brain health, cognitive function and brain function, MYndspan provides a comprehensive overview, detailed in a thorough, easy-to-understand report of how a person’s brain is behaving and why. Among the service’s first customers are neuroscientist and author Dr Dean Burnett who is using MYndspan to monitor the effect increasing physical activity has on his brain over time and Vicky Macqueen former England Rugby player and chief executive of Didi Rugby, who is using the service to measure her pre-concussion baseline for playing contact sports safely. Through routine monitoring of personal brain activity, MYndspan helps people assess and understand their brain health. This helps to identify issues before symptoms emerge and supports optimal lifestyle and clinical intervention. Its first application is concussion, where the technology can support the recovery of an estimated 3.8 million athletes who experience sports-related concussion annually. Janne Huhtala, MYndspan co-founder said: “MYndspan’s technology can identify concussed brain activity and objectively identify and monitor recovery from a concussion. Currently, individuals are deciding to go back to play based on how they feel – a decision that can have life changing consequences. “We think athletes deserve to have objective information about where they are in their recovery, to make the best and most informed decisions.” MYndspan’s service will be available to the general public at Aston University’s Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN), an international leader in advanced technology to explore brains, development and healthy behaviours. IHN at Aston University is the first of many planned locations around the world where individuals will be able to access the service. MYndspan co-founder Caitlin Baltzer added: “The brain is hugely complex and exciting, and whilst there is a vast body of research and knowledge already available, there is still so much for us to learn about how it functions and changes over time. “In a world where we can track and optimise every part of our health, and our lives, the brain remains neglected. At MYndspan, we believe that every person has the right to better brain health and this begins with knowing our brains. “We are very excited to launch our brain scanning technology at Aston University as a demonstration for how digital health tools can support brain health and ultimately help more people recover and age better.” Dr Dean Burnett, neuroscientist and author, including of the Guardian blog ‘Brain Flapping’, said: “I'm a big proponent of anything that helps people understand their brains better, and MYndspan's new high-tech but easily accessible approach looks to be extremely useful in that regard.”

Expert Perspective: New Proposal to Use Southern Plantations to Teach Kids About Racism

America's history is steeped in racism - and how the country accepts and reconciles its past has been a topic of much debate and consideration. Last year, Georgia Southern University Associate Professor of Geography Amy Potter, Ph.D., was awarded a $75,000 National Science Foundation grant for the project, “The Role of Museums in the Landscape of Minority Representation.” And recently, she co-authored a fantastic piece titled, New Proposal to Use Southern Plantations to Teach Kids About Racism, that has been getting a lot of pick-up from news organizations across the country. New Proposal to Use Southern Plantations to Teach Kids About Racism State legislatures across the United States are cracking down on discussions of race and racism in the classroom. School boards are attempting to ban books that deal with difficult histories. Lawmakers are targeting initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Such efforts raise questions about whether students in the U.S. will ever be able to engage in free and meaningful discussions about the history of slavery in America and the effect it had on the nation. As cultural geographers, we see a potential venue for these kinds of discussions that we believe to be an overlooked and poorly used resource: plantation museums... April 02 - Yahoo!News  If you're a reporter looking to know more about this important topic - then let us help with your coverage and stories. Amy Potter, Ph.D., is available to answer your questions - simply reach out to Georgia Southern Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Ask an #Expert - Is there any way to temper America's boiling housing market?

U.S. HOUSING PRICES STILL RISING ALONG WITH MORTGAGE RATES When mortgage rates rise, home prices tend to level off or decline because fewer people can afford to buy. Experts are counting on that adage to help cool the nation’s torrid housing market. But the latest analysis of the most overvalued markets shows prices still are climbing despite the increasing mortgage rates, which last week reached their highest level in more than three years. In all 100 markets surveyed by researchers at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, buyers continue to pay higher premiums – that’s the difference between where home prices should be based on historical trends and where they are now. Two months ago, Los Angeles, Provo, Utah and other metro areas in the Western part of the country developed “pricing crowns,” an indication that those housing markets could be slowing. But home values have since reaccelerated, prompting concern that a looming downturn in some areas could be worse than expected. “Eventually mortgage rates will slow down home prices, but it hasn’t happened so far,” said Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., an economist in FAU’s College of Business. “We should not see rapid upticks in prices as mortgage rates rise. It’s that kind of exuberance that led to past housing downturns.” Boise, Idaho is the nation’s most overvalued housing market, as it has been since the researchers first released their rankings last summer. At the end of February, Boise buyers were paying an average price of $513,849, even though historical trends indicate the average price should be $291,389. That 76.34 percent premium is well ahead of No. 2 Austin, Texas (64.80 percent). The full rankings with interactive graphics can be found here. Charlotte, North Carolina entered the top 10 overvalued markets for the first time with a premium of 50.14 percent. February’s average home price in Charlotte was $353,106, although a history of past sales suggests that price should be $235,188. “Charlotte’s significant and rapidly growing premium is similar to other Southern metros that are all experiencing fast price appreciation,” said Eli Beracha, Ph.D., of FIU’s Hollo School of Real Estate. “The drivers of this appear to be large population increases in these areas combined with a significant shortage in housing inventory.” Each month, Johnson and Beracha rank the most overvalued housing markets of America’s 100 largest metros, similar to the popular S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index. Johnson and Beracha incorporate average or expected price changes and provide an estimate of how much a market’s housing stock is over- or undervalued, relative to its historic pricing. The data covers single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops. Six Florida metros, led by Lakeland, all rank among the nation’s 25 most overvalued markets with premiums of more than 40 percent. The Miami metro, with a premium of nearly 25 percent, remains the least overvalued market in the Sunshine State. As the U.S. housing market cools, metros with strong population gains and shortages of homes for sale will fare best, although those markets will continue to struggle with affordability, the researchers predict. Metros with flat or falling populations and more available homes for sale could face price declines, making those areas more attainable for young families and first-time buyers. Johnson said consumers could be taking big risks if they jump into the U.S. housing market now. “We are near the peak of the current housing cycle, and you never want to buy near the top of the market,” he said. “Consumers need to pause if their main motivation is to buy because they fear prices will rise even higher. Prices are high now, but they always moderate back toward a long-term pricing trend. Perhaps staying where you are now and letting this irrational market settle would be one of the best decisions you could make.” Ken Johnson is the associate dean and professor in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University. Ken is available to speak to media about this topic – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview and time.

Aston University sets Meritics on course to become market leader in the bio-pharmaceutical sector

Aston University has completed a knowledge transfer partnership with Meritics Ltd to develop the company’s capability and underpinning knowledge to measure the size, concentration and distribution of biological entities, such as liposomes and exosomes, using proprietary particle analysers. The project will enable Meritics to enter the fast-growing biologics sector with their particle analysis instruments and services to significantly increase company turnover. It represented a significant change in direction for the company and focused on systems that would have the largest impact. Results provided Meritics with significant data and proof-of-concept applications required to widen the company’s product range into the biological market. It also broadened the company’s knowledge of biological applications and helped bridge gaps between the areas of interest and the limitations of the analysers. Meritics Ltd supplies and provides service support for a range of particle characterisation instrumentation to industrial, research and academic institutions in the UK. Additionally, it offers a range of consumables, analysis services and consultancy. A knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) is a three-way collaboration between a business, an academic partner and a highly qualified graduate, called 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. The project was led by Dr Alice Rothnie and Dr Alan Goddard from Aston University’s Aston Centre for Membrane Protein & Lipid Research (AMPL), a specialist research group with a track record of biological particle characterisation. Dr Rothnie has over 14 years of experience working with liposomes, viral and cellular systems, while Dr Goddard brought over a decade of experience in biological membranes and nanoparticles ¬– mainly focusing on liposomes. Also working on this partnership as KTP Associate was Dr Megan Cox, whose proven expertise in biochemistry drove the innovation and research behind the project. Following the completion of the project, Dr Cox has been employed by Meritics as a Technical Specialist, using biological expertise to assess instrument parameters for biological entities. Brian Miller, founding managing director of Meritics, said: “The project has sped up the company’s plan to move into more biological application areas and widen our customer base. Aston University’s extensive knowledge in biology and biological entities is crucial for our wider sales and technical staff and provided invaluable visibility of the biological markets”. Dr Alan Goddard said: “Working in partnership with Meritics has allowed us to transfer our extensive experience of biological particles into industry. We have formed an exciting partnership which has continued past the end of the formal project, enabling cutting-edge research to be performed at Aston using the latest equipment.”

New research to help manage excessive weight gain in patients being treated with antipsychotics

New research led by Dr Gurkiran Birdi and Dr Ian Maidment in the College of Health and Life Sciences at Aston University will explore ways of managing excessive weight gain in patients being treated with antipsychotics for mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia. The project, known as RESOLVE and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), will study non-pharmacological interventions for antipsychotic-induced weight gain in people living with severe mental illness (SMI) by working directly with patients to understand and explain how, why, for whom, and in what contexts non-pharmacological interventions could help service users to manage antipsychotic-induced weight gain. Antipsychotics are widely used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses (SMI). Over the last 20 years, the first generation of antipsychotics has been replaced by the newer second generation of antipsychotics. There are over 220,000 people being treated for schizophrenia in the UK at any one point in time. Up to 80% of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are overweight or obese. Weight gains of up to 33kg have been reported with antipsychotics. This weight gain has devastating consequences: life expectancy is reduced by 20 years in people with schizophrenia, partly related to the consequences of this weight gain. Diabetes has been reported to be a major issue with second-generation antipsychotics. In RESOLVE - which includes partners from University of East Anglia, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham Universities, the NHS and the McPin Foundation - the researchers will combine literature what has been written about the subject. The team will also interview volunteers, both people who have suffered from the weight and healthcare staff involved to understand their lived experience of weight gain. We also want to find out what works to help manage weight. At the end of the project, the team plans to develop guidance for service users and practitioners on the best ways to treat and manage weight gain. Dr Ian Maidment, reader in clinical pharmacy and lead researcher, said: “Prior to moving to academia, I spent 20 years working in mental health services. This is a really important issue, I have seen patients literally “balloon” weight with their weight increasing from 80 to 120kg. We need to find better ways to help them.” One member of the RESOLVE Lived Experience Advisory Group said: “The RESOLVE study could provide a tailored solution to my antipsychotic weight gain, that could benefit my unique needs as an individual. I have found that weight gain from taking anti-psychotics has been a real health problem. I find that this is often ignored or stigmatized by friends, family and healthcare professionals. Added to which there seems to be no currently available solution that works”.

Global award for international human resource management expert at Aston Business School

Professor Pawan Budhwar has been recognised by the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (IFSAM) He is a joint recipient of its award for exceptional service to the management field worldwide Professor Budhwar has been recognised for his outstanding leadership. Professor Pawan Budhwar has been named by the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (IFSAM) as a joint recipient of its Award for Exceptional Service to the Management Field Worldwide. Dr Budhwar, a professor of international human resource management and head of Aston Business School, has been recognised for his outstanding leadership in building collegiality, community, and capacity in the British Academy of Management and in the Indian Academy of Management (an affiliate of Academy of Management), where he served as co-founder and first president. Pawan is also an associate pro-vice chancellor international (India), the joint director of Aston India Centre for Applied Research at Aston University and the co-editor-in-chief of Human Resource Management Journal. He received his PhD from Manchester Business School. He has published over 150 articles in leading journals on topics related to human resource management and performance, with a specific focus on India. He has also written and/or co-edited 26 books on HR-related topics for different national and regional contexts. On this occasion, the award, which recognises significant and enduring service to the management scholarly community worldwide, has been jointly bestowed to Professor Budhwar and Professor Emeritus Jean-François Chanlat, PSL Université Paris-Dauphine, France. Professor Budhwar said: “I am truly honoured and humbled to receive this award from the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management. It is satisfying to receive an acknowledgement of my on-going service to our academic community from global peers. Thank you IFSAM for considering me for this.”