The UK is an ageing society. Currently, more than one-fifth of its population is over 60. The number of people aged 85 will double by 2041 and treble by 2066. Research shows that 82% of 85-year-olds suffer from at least one long-term condition. Robots have the great potential to mitigate the upcoming elderly care challenges. However, existing robots are still far away from delivering satisfactory care services. One of the main reasons lies in the lack of intelligence in understanding human behaviour. In this proposal, we aim to address this challenge by developing advanced human action recognition algorithms to help the robot understand the intention of human subjects and further provide instant assistance in home-based environments. Despite active research and significant progress in the last few decades, human action recognition in home-based environments remains challenging due to the occlusion, viewpoint and biometric variation, various execution rates etc. This project will develop a smart sensing platform which consists of a humanoid robot and several RGBD sensors mounted in different locations to cover the human activity areas. Advanced multi- sensor-based human action recognition algorithms will be developed to recognize human intention in various home-based environments. The system will be able to simultaneously conduct action detection and recognition in a real-time performance so that the robot can provide an instant response.
This higher education (HE) and industry collaboration tackles a dual need through meeting the UK film industry’s screenwriting skills gap by enabling those with mental ill-health and/or disabilities to join the industry. The UK film industry is booming. New Sky Studios in Elstree alone will create 3,000 jobs. Inward investment in the industry is £3 billion with the domestic industry matching this figure. The industry is struggling to find employees who have the necessary skills in screenwriting. This project analyses this opportunity by expanding the knowledge of mental health and disability in HE and the film industry advancing screenwriting quality and employment. Those with disabilities are the most discriminated against group in the industry; almost nine out of 10 in the industry have poor mental health. The reasons for this are addressed with solutions implemented through critical and creative outputs meeting this urgent two-fold need for equality and skills.
Funder: EU – Horizon Research and Innovation Programme
SMIDGE is a project dedicated to exploring the impact of extremist narratives on the middle-aged population. As part of an EU-funded Horizon research project, we are investigating the attraction of extremist content on social media and how it influences this group. Our goal is to provide policy-makers with valuable insights and recommendations through our reports, policy briefs and counter-narrative videos. Stay up-to-date with our latest findings, news and upcoming events such as webinars, roundtables and conferences.
Misinformation, conspiracy theories and extremism online are growing concerns for governments and society at large. The way social media algorithms work often incentivizes the spread of such ideas, as they generate more engagement and revenue. This phenomenon can have a direct impact on perceptions of democratic institutions, trust in science and calls for direct action to overthrow or disrupt democratically elected governments. Middle-aged individuals (45-65) are particularly susceptible to extremist narratives, and their involvement in such content could have significant consequences for political discourse, democratic processes and institutions.
Funder: Research Council, Innovate UK (RA) – Research, British Academy
Project Lead: Andrew Mitchell
As a rapidly growing and urbanised economy, the number of vehicles in India is expanding exponentially, and due to the reliance of these vehicles on fossil fuels, the local road transport sector contributes a significant percentage of the vehicular pollution and carbon dioxide and related emissions that make most of India’s cities among the most smog-laden globally. However, many of India’s poorest rely on the use of high emitting vehicles for making their livelihoods, so while the call to decarbonise the transport sector in India is an urgent policy priority, it is nevertheless fraught with complex tensions and challenges at both local and national scales.
To further our understanding of the multiple challenges involved in facilitating a just transition in the decarbonisation of the Delhi road transport sector, a British Academy research grant supported researchers from IESD at DMU in partnership with colleagues at the TERI School of Advanced Studies in New Delhi to conduct a rapid academic and policy review to explore the issues involved in designing and implementing such a policy.
The research grant supported four key objectives, these being: To explore and map the understanding/ perception/ expectation of just transition by different stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, employees, communities, businesses, service providers, users and beneficiaries etc.) in relation to decarbonisation of the transport sector in India; To evaluate the impacts of a just transition from a socio-economic and environmental perspective using Delhi as a case study;
To suggest just transition options for decarbonisation pathways in the transport sector in the country, which is inclusive, sustainable and futuristic (considering the growth of the transport sector in future); and, To undertake a Developmental Evaluation of learnings from the research for strategic deployment of lessons to future work.
The study adopted a mixed methodology, including a detailed review of the academic, policy and grey literatures, as well as key informant interviews, a stakeholders’ engagement workshop and a structured survey involving wide range of stakeholders.
Although this project has not yet concluded, initial findings are that from a just transition perspective, employment and livelihood considerations are a major dimension of any such transition. However, coal is a significant component of India’s national energy mix, and a potent political influence in part due to being a major employer of Indian workers, so decarbonisation already poses a critical threat to the country’s existing economic and energy security infrastructure. Additionally, a switch to electrification of vehicles poses its own challenges, not least due to battery and rare earth minerals imports, infrastructure, as well as purchase costs and the additional burden this places on people and their livelihoods.
Finally, the analyses carried out to date endorse an incremental rather than radical approach to a decarbonisation agenda, and this has been articulated by key stakeholders as reflecting a three phased Reduction, Shift, and Improvement protocol. Reduction refers to the policy process change of reducing current emissions by integrating cleaner transport solutions, shift implied transitioning to wider modes of clean transportation, focusing on both reducing private vehicular pollution, and improving public transport penetration, and finally informing improved technologies by focusing in developing integrated technological solutions.
A further consideration in an emphasis on a just transition requires that special consideration is given to the different needs, challenges and opportunities found between those urban populations and their more rural and peri-urban counterparts, as it is becoming clearer that there cannot be a one-size-fits all transition process that is both meaningful and just.
The DMU project team comprises Prof Subhes Bhattacharyya, Dr Andrew Mitchell, and two PhD research candidates Daniel Kerr and John Rowlatt, and the TERI SAS team is made up of Dr Gopal K Sarangi, Dr Sukanya Das, and research assistants Nupur Ahuja, Nehal Gautam, and Naman Agarwal. The project is funded for five months and concluded in March 2022.
