Research-Engagement-Involve

Led by Dr Luke Barnard and Professor Chris Scott in the Department of Meteorology, its key components are citizen science, open research and worldwide public engagement.

In 2006, NASA launched the twin STEREO spacecraft. With cameras taking images of the sun’s surface, atmosphere and solar winds, the spacecraft were soon producing a huge volume of data that was challenging for scientists to analyse in detail and in a timely manner. Solar Stormwatch plugged the gap, developing web-based, real-time activities enabling the public to record storms and work with scientists. Space weather, a natural hazard listed in the government’s national risk register, is now better understood, and the project has generated a number of peer-reviewed publications. Worldwide, more than 16,000 people participate in Solar Stormwatch from 94 countries. The project is ongoing. It has led to a collaboration between the university and the Space Weather Prediction Center in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US, and the creation of new activities to answer new research questions established in this fastmoving, dynamic area of research.

The crop pollination component of NPPMF was project-managed by Dr Michael Garratt, a senior research fellow in the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Division. The project – the first of its kind – designed and tested a pollinator monitoring scheme, adopting a collaborative, stakeholder-driven approach involving citizen scientists, academics, NGOs and the government and meeting a key deliverable of the government’s National Pollinator Strategy.

The project helped consolidate the university’s standing as the UK leader in crop pollination research. It engaged the citizen science community, informed land management and policy decision-making to support the conservation of pollinators, and was presented at the EU SuperB Sustainable Pollination in Europe AGM and Royal Entomological Society Pollination Special Interest Group meeting. The NPPMF also gained high profile recognition when it was cited in Science.

The answers came with the help of Dr Sally Lloyd- Evans, an expert in development geography, and her team of community researchers.

Starting in 2014, Dr Lloyd-Evans worked with local residents to create a community research network, known as the Whitley Researchers. The aim was to use participatory research to empower residents to take ownership of the project, working out what would have the most tangible impact in their lives. This led, in 2015, to a report on transport issues in the area and then, in partnership with local authorities, to the introduction of a new bus route by Reading Buses. Residents gained better access to local services such as schools, work and the hospital. Better yet, the Whitley Researchers have continued to work on developing their community, setting up a primary schools travel programme and establishing the ‘Whitley for Real’ partnership with Reading Borough Council to shape their strategy and help to tackle social inequalities in South Reading. Their recent project on financial exclusion will be published in 2017 and they are working with local secondary schools to build a team of young researchers to explore students’ experiences of growing up in South Reading, supporting their developing aspirations.

The brainchild of Matthew Worley, Professor of Modern History, Punk in the East entailed gathering material from the era to forge a history that would coincide with the 40th anniversary of British punk’s emergence. Worley developed a strong social media presence and published a sell-out fanzine, Young Offenders: Punk in Norwich, 1976–84, featuring contributions from Norwich punks. Punk in the East went on to feature in a series of events in the Norwich Lanes area between October and December 2016, with influential punk bands such as The Ruts, Buzzcocks, Steve Ignorant from Crass and The Undertones making appearances.

Norwich Lanes also hosted a punk trail of 15 historic venues, and a Punk in the East exhibition at the Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell proved so popular that the museum reconfigured its space to extend the display into 2017. Stephen Hansell, singer in Norwich punk band The Disrupters, spoke for many when he said the project had made him thoughtful about his place in social history: “Back then I never thought for one minute that what we were doing would one day be regarded as social history. Funny old world.”