Research report2012-2013

This report highlights our main areas ofresearch excellence, and showcasessome of our work. I am confident thatyou will see from the quality, variety andscope of the activity in this report, andthe key research themes and selectedcase studies described, that there isresearch of international and world class standard being undertaken at Teesside.

Our five Research Institutes, based aroundDigital Futures; Technology Futures; SocialFutures; Design, Culture and the Arts; andHealth and Social Care, provide a broadbased, multi-disciplinary, stimulating andsupportive environment that nurtures thehighest quality research and enablesresearchers of all levels to work withincohesive research communities – fromprofessors and established academics to

early career researchers including PhDstudents. The Institutes encourage bothcollaboration within and across disciplinesand engagement with a wide range ofexternal partners and stakeholders. Inparticular, the University enjoys excellentresearch partnerships with industry,commerce and the public sector and isable to provide support to thesepartnership activities through its manycollaborative research relationships withuniversities across the world.

Teesside University is wholly committed to continuing to invest in the future growth of both the quantity and quality of our research within our areas ofrecognised research strength as applied to regional, national and global challengesin business, the community and society as a whole.

Teesside University is increasinglyestablishing itself as a catalyst forinnovation via the delivery of excellentresearch through collaboration andpartnership. I hope you find the report ofinterest and I would encourage you toconsider how we could possibly work withyou in the pursuit of research for the benefitof all.

Professor Graham HendersonCBE DLVice-Chancellor and Chief Executive

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Our research strategy demands excellence and the generation of outputs that will have genuine impact andresonance beyond the academic environment. As Vice-Chancellor, I am pleased to report that our Universitycontinues to deliver on this agenda, by continually building on its niche research strengths and reputationagainst the backdrop of a flourishing and dynamic research culture which is increasingly making a real andvaluable contribution to society.

Research and knowledgeexchange are at the heartof Teesside Universityand are key elements ofour institutional mission.

As Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Researchand Business Engagement, I am veryproud of the culture that we have builthere in the past few years. Research atTeesside University, along with teachingand business engagement, is a keyelement of our overall mission.

The ambition for our researchers is to helptransform society through their research.Our research aims to support economicgrowth as well as a myriad of othersocietal benefits. You will see someexamples of research in this report that iscarried out within our University and thebenefits that the work brings to society.

We are carrying out important work onsustainability for the built environmentthrough the development of ICT tools toreduce the carbon footprint and supportfor the manufacturing and process

sectors. We also carry out work onleadership and organisational changewhich is applicable to variety of sectors.Teesside has world class research withindigital entertainment which will beimportant in developing the new digitaleconomy. In health, we are part of Fusewhich is a Centre for TranslationalResearch in Public Health and is acollaboration of the five North Eastuniversities. Fuse is one of five centres ofexcellence supported by the UK ClinicalResearch Collaboration. Our work alsomakes important societal contributions onright-wing extremism and policy issues ofcrime and worklessness.

We attach particular importance to thedevelopment of different types ofcollaborations and support these. There isnow wide recognition of the need to bringtogether people from different disciplines

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to solve societal challenges and you willsee examples of this in our work. We valuethe opportunities for our academics toparticipate in knowledge exchange withbusiness partners since this often providesus with opportunities for new researchinsights. We also recognise thatinternational collaborations lead to highquality research and so we support this. I echo the Vice-Chancellor in encouragingyou to consider how we could possiblywork with you in the pursuit of research forthe benefit of all.

Professor Cliff HardcastleDeputy Vice-Chancellor(Research and BusinessEngagement)

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Making a difference through research

Digital Futures Institute 4Health and Social Care Institute 8 Institute of Design, Culture and the Arts 12 Social Futures Institute 16Technology Futures Institute 22Graduate Research School 26TeesRep 27

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Contents

Research that makes a differenceWe are looking forward to working with new and existing partners to continue to develop our research activities, please get in touchif you have a research enquiry:

Graduate Research SchoolT: 01642 384438E: researchfunding@tees.ac.uktees.ac.uk/research/grstwitter.com/TeesUniResearch

Digital Futures Institute

The main research highlighted in thisreport is within digital entertainment,more specifically immersive gaming andinteractive storytelling. One of the latesttrends in digital entertainment has beena renewed interest in 3D displays, andcomputer games are poised toconstitute one of their first applications.With computer games soon to appear in three dimensions, what would be theultimate game console? How wouldusers take ownership of virtual realitygaming, and which usability issues areattached to it?

We started to explore the use of gameengines to support immersive VirtualReality back in 2005, as part of the FP5EU-funded ALTERNE project (co-ordinatedby Teesside), and this new technique hassince supported the development of ourimmersive reality platform at Teesside aswell as several research projects. However,in the past two years, we have consideredporting not just games engines, but entiregames based on them, to immersive virtualreality, in an attempt to study howimmersive gaming could be the future ofdigital entertainment.

Interactive storytelling is a researchendeavour aiming at reconciling thenarrative qualities of film with theinteractivity of computer games. Teessidehas been active in this area for over 10years and has achieved an internationalreputation, leading the only FP7 Network ofExcellence on the topic. A typicalinteractive narrative takes the form of ananimation film, whose plot can however bemodified in real-time, depending on theviewer’s response. There are however

many open questions and challenges onhow viewers would interact with theanimation feature, ranging from hownatural it feels to shout advice at virtualcharacters, to the sheer difficulties ofspeech understanding.

Professor Marc CavazzaDirectorT: 01642 342657 E: m.o.cavazza@tees.ac.uk

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Teesside is well known for its computer games programming and computer animation portfolio, and it willcome as no surprise that members of the Digital Futures Institute are actively researching the future ofdigital entertainment. In an industry that is characterised by constant innovation, short product life cyclesand a very pragmatic approach, the role of academic research can be seen as a challenge. Yet, we believethat the field leaves open many research questions and offers the possibility of addressing relevantproblems without sacrificing technical rigour.

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Embodied conversational agents This is an active area of research whoseapplications extend from new userinterfaces to computer entertainment ande-learning. Generic dialogue models, whichhave been inspired by task-basedtransactions, are not always appropriate tothe sort of affective communication thatshould take place between a user and acompanion agent. This is why we havedeveloped a novel approach to thegeneration of conversational utterances, inwhich a short narrative is generated basedon an affective persuasion strategy. Thismakes it possible to embed friendly adviceappropriate to the user’s appraisal of theirown situation.

Program analysis/verification In this area there is a critical need fortheoretical study into separation logic.Research has been conducted that aims to combine the power of classical logic and multiplicative intuitionistic linear logic.A theoretically sound framework has beendeveloped for the next-generationseparation logic theorem provers for morerobust program analysis and verification.

Crowd modelling and animation An area with many important applicationsincluding computer games, the filmindustry, building safety analysis, andmilitary training. To generate realistic crowd behaviour, the impact of emotion,culture, and group dynamics requiresinvestigation. In the area of crowdanimation, we are particularly interested in enhancing the visual effects of crowdsimulation by diversifying the crowd interms of appearance as well as movement.To this end, we are currently studying the relationship between a character'sbody shape and its biomechanicallocomotive style.

Inclusive learning environmentTo offer a more inclusive learningenvironment for students with disabilities, a new framework has been studied tosupport academics in designing anddeveloping accessible and inclusive onlinee-learning resources. New methods havealso been examined that simplifies andimproves the efficiency of the editingprocess of automatically produced lecturetranscripts by adopting human computerinteraction and natural languageprocessing techniques.

Key institute themes

Our research uses one of the leadinggames engines, Epic’s Unreal Engine, which has been adopted bymany development studios worldwideand is at the heart of dozens ofblockbuster titles.

Working in collaboration with Epic Ltd andPublicVR in the USA, we have produced a fully immersive, stereoscopic version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK)supporting an immersive gamingexperience for multiple levels of thegame. This was achieved through aninnovative middleware, CaveUDK,developed at Teesside by Dr Jean-LucLugrin. As a result, users can play the

game in a multiscreen environmentsupporting stereoscopic visualisation of game contents with real-time headtracking, at an average frame rate of 50 frames per second (Figure 1 above).

To study user experience in immersivegaming, we carried out a full-scaleexperiment with 39 participants, allregular gamers, playing the same gamelevel in its desktop version as well as its Virtual Reality one. During theseexperiments, we collected objective in-game data (such as players’ positionand orientation and number of hits), aswell as subjective data related to userexperience. User expressed a strong

preference for the immersive setting,despite its increased realism making itmore difficult to aim at and actually hitopponents. There has been muchconcern over adverse effects of virtualreality, in particular the occurrence ofcyber sickness (which is akin to motionsickness), but our experiments haveprovided encouraging results also in that regard.

Figure 1 Immersive gaming: the player is equipped with shutter glasses with headtracking and aims naturally using thegame controller as a pointer.

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Case studies

Immersive gaming

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This year, a team of Teesside researchers, Drs Gilroy,Porteous and Charles, has achieved a breakthrough ininteractive storytelling, by devising an approach in whichthe system directly reacts to the viewer’s emotional state,detected through physiological measurements.

This novel paradigm, which we have branded PassiveInteractive Storytelling, addresses both issues of interactionsampling and accuracy of input processing. In addition, it isbased on filmic theories of emotion that posit the existence ofnarrative cues, which in turn prompt the viewer’s emotionalresponse. The viewer is watching an animation film, whoseplot is based on the popular medical drama genre, andinvolves tense medical situations as well as personalrelationships between the characters. The action is generatedin real-time using Artificial Intelligence techniques thatmaintain the causality of narrative actions. The systemmonitors in real-time emotional parameters acquired throughskin conductance and facial electromyography.

The different sampling rates of these two signals are mappedto the choice of the next narrative actions as well as the paceof the overall story, making the whole story responsive to the user’s emotions, whilst preserving the boundaries of theunderlying plot. We have carried out user experiments with 23 subjects, which have validated this proof-of-conceptprototype by showing a strong correlation between dramatictension and emotional response. In addition, theseexperiments have established that the emotional responsedoes not impair the logical understanding of the narrativeactions, meaning that emotional input does not just constitutea shallow reaction to on-screen actions.

Dr Fred CharlesT: 01642 342659E: f.charles@tees.ac.uk

Dr Julie PorteousT: 01642 342492E: j.porteous@tees.ac.uk

Interactive storytellingFigure 2 An interactive narrativeresponding to the viewer’s affective state.The course of the narrative is modified bythe subject’s response, which is capturedthrough physiological signals (left).

The Institute’s focus is to undertake cutting-edgeresearch relevant to today’s problems. Our research – from Cochrane reviews and randomised controlledtrials through to qualitative ethnographic work andrealist evaluation – aims to be translatable into policyand practice through close working with clinical andpractice partners and the end users of research at allstages from inception to dissemination.

The relevance and dynamism of our research have madeus leading partners in many multi-centre collaborations,with advice sought by national and international bodieslike the World Health Organisation.

Professor Janet ShucksmithDirectorT: 01642 342909E: j.shucksmith@tees.ac.uk

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Health andSocial CareInstitute Health and social care involves massive expenditure in an era of economic challenge. Costs rise withincreasing demand from a growing and ageing population, and as new treatments become available. It is absolutely critical that high quality evidence underpins the choice of treatments and care programmes.

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Knowledge exchange in publichealthTranslating public health research evidenceinto practice and policy is stimulated by our collaboration in Fuse, The Centre forTranslational Research in Public Health,which is one of five centres of excellencefunded by the UK Clinical ResearchCollaboration. This major consortiumcomprises researchers from the five North East universities and is a key playerin the National School for Public HealthResearch. The Health and Social CareInstitute’s strength in knowledge exchangeis demonstrated by the siting of the FuseKnowledge Exchange hub here and theappointment of Rosemary Rushmer asProfessor of Knowledge Exchange inPublic Health.

Physical activity (interventiondevelopment and measurement)Professor Alan Batterham leads a group of researchers looking at aspects of measurement around exerciseinterventions. This work group has a foot inboth public health and rehabilitationscience camps, with Research Councils

UK and National Institute for HealthResearch (NIHR) funded projects lookingat exercise interventions to improve levelsof activity and reduce obesity. In terms ofclinically focused work, NIHR grantsundertaken in collaboration with clinicalcolleagues fund research exploringexercise as a form of preparation andrehabilitation for surgical intervention.

Management of pain and painfulconditionsResearch in rehabilitation sciences isfocused on exploring disabling and painfulconditions and examining the managementof pain using the development andapplication of technology. Professor DenisMartin leads a growing group ofresearchers undertaking work in a range ofstyles, from the production of Cochranereviews and practice guidelines to clinicaltrials and qualitative work looking at waysof expressing and coping with pain. With aclinical research facility housed in theJames Cook University Hospital inMiddlesbrough, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, this group is also the NorthEast England Hub for the NationalPhysiotherapy Research Network.

ChronobiologyChronobiology is an area straddling ourrehabilitation science and public healthstrands of work, and led by Professor GregAtkinson. In public health termschronobiology has the power to contributeto research work on blood pressurecontrol, sleep apnoea, and the connectionsbetween shift work and health. In theclinical sphere the links between circadianrhythms and hypertension haveimplications for work on stroke and suddendeath. Professor Atkinson’s internationallinks make this an exciting area in which todevelop research which has alreadyattracted great interest from bodies like theCivil Aviation Authority, manufacturingindustry and major football teams.

Key institute themes

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Case studies

Boxing clever in the North-East

A multidisciplinary team ofresearchers have developed a novelexergaming intervention designed totackle health inequalities within ‘atrisk’ male populations and increasethe fitness of regulars at social clubs,mosques and taxi-ranks.

The research team have created analternative to the Nintendo Wii andMicrosoft Kinect that is more suited tohigh-intensity ‘exergaming’ designed toreward whole body movements andencourage exercise at high intensity.Men in the target age group of 18-50 areinvited to take part in three 90-secondrounds of virtual boxing against acomputer-generated avatar or in time tothe beats of music. They are expected todo the mini boxing rounds three times aweek over a 12-week period. Healthindicators, such as whole body fat,cholesterol, blood pressure and aerobicfitness, are measured before and afterthe intervention.

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Producing critical evidence to ensure best treatment for painful fractures

Professor Greg AtkinsonT: 01642 342758E: greg.atkinson@tees.ac.uk

Professor Alan BatterhamT: 01642 342771E: a.batterham@tees.ac.uk

Dr Helen HandollT: 01642 342750E: h.handoll@tees.ac.uk

Professor Denis MartinT: 01642 342754E: d.martin@tees.ac.uk

Professor Rosemary RushmerT: 01642 342756E: r.rushmer@tees.ac.uk

Dr Helen Handoll is grant holder and trial methodologist ina Department of Health’s Health Technology Assessmentproject. ProPHER (www.profher.org) is a randomisedcontrolled trial now nearing completion and is a jointcollaboration between Teesside University, the Universityof York and Teesside Visiting Professor Amar Rangan,consultant orthopaedic surgeon at James Cook UniversityHospital in Middlesbrough, as principal investigator andclinical lead.

It aims to obtain reliable evidence of the effectiveness andcost effectiveness of different treatments for displacedfractures of the proximal humerus (upper arm bone) in adults.These types of fractures are more common in older womenand are linked with osteoporosis. Surprisingly perhaps, thereis considerable variation across the country in the ways thatsuch fractures are treated, and they often have anunsatisfactory outcome.

Dr Handoll, who is co-ordinating editor of the Cochrane Bone,Joint and Muscle Trauma Group, has been tracking thesuccess of different forms of treatment through CochraneReviews. These have shown a lack of reliable evidence toinform key management decisions, in particular, the questionof whether displaced proximal humeral fractures should betreated surgically.

Institute ofDesign, Cultureand the Arts

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Members of the Institute are engaged inboth cross-disciplinary thematicprojects and discipline-based research.

Designers, animators, art and designtheorists, performing artists, fine artpractitioners, new media researchers,critical and cultural theorists, andhistorians facilitate public-facing debate,discourse and research collaborationaround three key themes.

Professor Nigel CopseyDirectorT: 01642 384093E: n.copsey@tees.ac.uk

The Institute of Design, Culture and the Arts is dedicated to analysing both historical and contemporarypractices of design, culture and the arts. The Institute proudly creates and enhances spaces for research andscholarship, promoting dialogue and collaboration between researchers.

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Digital media and the movingimageThe digital media and the moving imageresearch cluster focuses on the impactand use of animation and film across abroad range of cultural practices. Many ofthe research staff work in interdisciplinarycontexts and have growing internationalprofiles that locate the Institute as animportant centre for innovation in the studyof the moving image and new media.Researchers aim to engage internationallywith contemporary issues that connectcommunities and question identity. Simon McKeown has an internationalprofile as an animation and filmmakerconfronting issues of perceptions ofdisability and ability. Samm Haillay is alsoknown internationally as a short andfeature film producer whose work issituated in the threshold between artmaking and commercial film production.His films explore themes of personalidentity, aspects of contemporary society,alienation and isolation.

Emerging creative narrativesEmerging creative narratives is a growingresearch theme in the Institute and aims toinspire and draw together interdisciplinaryresearch that examines the relationshipbetween author and film, between currentevents and memory, between authenticityand dramatisation. Dr Rachel Carroll’sresearch examines how literary texts arere-interpreted for creative presentation inother media, extending adaptation studiesbeyond its traditional focus on 'page toscreen' transpositions. She has alsopublished work on postmodernrepresentations of the past, testimony andtraumatic memory.

Dr Simon Morris, the author of numerousexperimental books, is a conceptual writerwho engages extensively with models ofcollaboration, digital technologies,performance writing, psychoanalysis andart history. He works to create a space oftransference where linking and connectingcan take place – a shared space ofencounter wherein non-meaning allows thereader to construct their own meaning.

Multicultural Britain and its enemies Multicultural Britain is a key theme thatdraws together research in history withresearch in English studies. ProfessorNigel Copsey and Dr Matthew Feldmanexamine the modern-day challenges to multicultural Britain that originate from the extreme right and lead the firstresearch unit in Britain dedicated to thestudy of the far right and its sometimesequally violent opposition.

Dr Rehana Ahmed, a specialist inpostcolonial studies, has particularinterests in twentieth and twenty-firstcentury British Asian literature and culture,and the history of the South Asiandiaspora in Britain. She is the recipient of aprestigious Arts and Humanities ResearchCouncil Early Career Fellowship for aproject entitled Muslims writing Britain andbeyond: faith, class and multiculturalpolitics’(2011-12).

Key institute themes

Motion Disabled concerns the culturalpresentation of disability and the field ofdisability art expressed by the visualartist, Simon McKeown, Reader in 3DAnimation and Post Production. MotionDisabled is a digital exploration of thebodies of people who are physicallydifferent, his work addresses the culturaltaboo around disability. The work makesuse of motion capture, a technique morecommonly associated with feature filmsand computer games, along with 3Danimation to create a kinetic connectionwith the human form. It was created byrecording the physical movements of 14 physically impaired people.

Motion Disabled, went global in a single day when it was projected on to buildings in 17 countries all over theworld. The most prestigious exhibitionvenue was the Smithsonian InternationalGallery in Washington DC. The eventswere viewed by thousands of people and covered by news media, includingthe BBC.

Simon’s work was commissioned by the Unlimited Programme, part of theLondon 2012 Festival and CulturalOlympiad.

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The last taboos of disability

Case studies

Simon McKeown pictured withBarroness Grey-Thompson DBE

The ground-breaking Centre for Fascist,Anti-fascist and Post-Fascist Studiesexamines the historical development offar right politics and culture as well asits political trajectory in the 21st century.Professor Nigel Copsey and Dr MatthewFeldman lead the Centre, which buildsupon their reputations as two of theleading UK experts on aspects of fascistand anti-fascist extremism.

Professor Nigel Copsey has spent overtwo decades researching the far right in Britain, both in its historical andcontemporary manifestations. This periodhas seen the electoral rise and decline of the British National Party as well as the recent and rapid emergence of thestreet-activist English Defence League. His research in this field has beenrecognised nationally and internationally.Recent notable contributions includeevidence to the House of Commons HomeAffairs Committee inquiry into the roots ofviolent radicalisation (2011); contributionsto a Scandinavian TV documentary on theDefence Leagues (2012); and an invitedpaper on multiculturalism and the extremeright challenge in contemporary Britain atan international conference at KoreaUniversity (2012).

Dr Matthew Feldman is an expert onfascist ideology and the contemporary far-right in Europe and the USA. He hasacted as an expert witness in a number of

Crown Prosecution Service trials againstfar-right terrorists in Britain; in addition togiving evidence to various governmentalbodies including the Home Affairs SelectCommittee; the All-Party Working Groupon Anti-Semitism, and briefings for Britishenforcement, intelligence and probationagencies. He has also discussed issuesrelating to the far-right, anti-Muslim politicsand ‘lone-wolf’ terrorism on interviews forChannel 4 News, BBC 24 and many othertelevision outlets, alongside several dozenappearances on radio and online andbroadsheet news interviews. In addition tothis public-facing research, Dr Feldmanhas written widely on these subjects for

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Right-wing extremism in contemporary Britain

academic journals as well as popularmedia such as The Independent; Truthout;Fair Observer and many others online.Larger projects on the interaction between politics and faith in the modernworld extend to the five volume Fascism:Critical Concepts series (2004; with Roger Griffi); the edited books from 2008,A Fascist Century and Clerical Fascism inInterwar Europe (with Marius Turda andTudor Georgescu); Doublespeak: TheRhetoric and Framing of the Far Right(2013; with Paul Jackson) and the recentinterdisciplinary monograph, Ezra Pound’sFascist Propaganda 1935-1945(Palgrave, 2013).

Dr Rehana AhmedT: 01642 384059E: r.ahmed@tees.ac.uk

Dr Rachel CarrollT: 01642 384029E: r.carroll@tees.ac.uk

Dr Matthew FeldmanT: 01642 384073E: m.feldman@tees.ac.uk

Samm HaillayT: 01642 342365E: s.haillay@tees.ac.uk

Simon McKeownT: 01642 738125E: s.mckeown@tees.ac.uk

Dr Simon MorrisT: 01642 738219E: simon.morris@tees.ac.uk

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Social Futures Institute

The Institute also includes the Centrefor Strategy and Leadership, which isthe focus for research in business.

The Institute has a strong track record ingaining external awards from prestigiousnational and international funding bodies.We have recently received grants from theBritish Academy, Arts Council England, theEuropean Commission, the Economic andSocial Research Council, the Engineeringand Physical Sciences Research Council,and Joseph Rowntree Foundation amongothers. We play an important roleregionally in conducting research andevaluation studies with a range of partnersin the public, private and third sectors, aswell as offering consultancy and supporton policy development.

Dr Paul CrawshawDirectorT: 01642 384053E: p.crawshaw@tees.ac.uk

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The Social Futures Institute aims to conduct internationally excellent research on contemporary socialissues. The Institute intends to further knowledge in its selected areas of specialism and, wherever possible, ensure impact in the real world. Our research interests are wide-ranging and include the disciplines of social policy, criminology and criminal justice, sociology, youth studies and education, sport and exercise science and psychology.

Realist criminologyResearch in criminology is drivenforward by the newly-formed TeessideCentre for Realist Criminology. Therealist focus of the Centre demonstratesa commitment to depict thecriminological landscape intellectuallyin ways that represent its actuality.Together, members of the Centre aim toconstruct an account of crime, violenceand social harm – as well as criminaljustice and the general social reactionto these phenomena – that is entirelyshorn of the sentimentalism andidealism that continue to play adominant role in criminology.

Members of the group are committed togathering empirical data that relatesdirectly to the present shape and characterof crime, harm and criminal justice. As wellas making strong contributions to theanalysis and theorisation of familiar formsof crime and harm, the work of the Centreaddresses new criminological phenomenaas they occur.

The vision for the Centre is to continue todevelop a vibrant and ambitious research

culture that excels in incubating ideas,publishing to the highest possiblestandards of quality and innovation,generating research income and attractingtalented postgraduate students. Thegrowth of the Centre over time is animportant goal for its members. Amentoring system has been developed toprovide encouragement and guidance toearly career researchers so that they canquickly become sufficiently confident todevelop their own publications and writeand submit their own grant applications.

Income generation is also a key issue formembers of the Teesside Centre forRealist Criminology. It is crucial both forconducting high quality empirical researchand funding activities that enhance theresearch environment of the Centre, suchas the employment of research assistantsand the invitation of key visiting scholarsand guest speakers. Recent successesinclude funding from the Northern RockFoundation, and major awards secured bycriminologist Professor GeorgiosAntonopoulos funded through EU FP7.

The Teesside Centre for RealistCriminology is directed by ProfessorsSimon Winlow and Steve Hall. ProfessorWinlow’s specialist areas include violenceand masculinity; crime and the leisureeconomy; criminological theory; socialexclusion; ideology and subjectivity. Theywork closely together and their work on the relationship between crime andconsumer culture has receivedinternational critical acclaim.

Professor Georgios Antonopoulos and Dr Georgios Papanicolaou are alsoleading figures in realist criminologicalresearch at Teesside. Their researchinterests include cross-border crime, thepolitical economy of policing and thesocial organisation and regulation of illicitmarkets, particularly in a transnationalcontext. Dr Papanicolaou’s published work is concerned with the historicaldevelopment and present state of policingin Greece, as well as the configuration andpolicing of dirty economies in that country,particularly in light of their connection withhuman smuggling and trafficking.

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Key institute themes

Youth research The Youth Research Unit, directed byProfessor Tracy Shildrick, has aninternational reputation for cutting-edgesocial scientific research with youngpeople and on youth issues. Building onintensive, influential long-term studies ofyouth transitions in the UK, members ofthe Youth Research Unit have extendedtheir critical analysis of social exclusion,poverty and worklessness through furtherqualitative research with older workers andfamilies. Funded by the Joseph RowntreeFoundation, the most recent study is thefifth in a series that critically examineswhether social policy and academicorthodoxies connect with the lives ofpeople in deprived neighbourhoods. This work looks at the popular idea ofintergenerational cultures of worklessness,specifically families where in threegenerations no-one has ever worked, andis discussed as a case study in this report.

As well as disseminating research findingsthrough leading international journals andresearch monographs, Professors TracyShildrick and Rob MacDonald have ledinitiatives to influence policy and practiceregionally, nationally and internationally.Recent examples include a highlysuccessful, 18-month knowledge transferproject with Middlesbrough Council andthe Institute for Local Governance,invitations to present research analyses tothe Academy of Social Sciences about thecauses of the English riots in 2011 and tothe Council of Europe about improvingpolicies to tackle child poverty.

Sport and exercise Research in this area takes a holisticapproach to enhancing the exerciseexperience for a range of populations from elite athletes to hard-to-reach groups.This approach to exercise interventionsinvolves two main strands: to maximise the benefits of training with specificemphasis on performance and injuryavoidance; and secondly, to maximise thetime-efficiency and enjoyment of exerciseprogrammes with specific emphasis onreducing health inequalities. Currentresearch deals with new approaches tostatistical methodologies and thedevelopment of new technologies in thearea of sport and exercise.

Applied psychology Research activities in psychology varyfrom theoretical cognitive andbehaviourism approaches to the appliedarea of forensics and health. Particularstrengths include ongoing work in healthpsychology, with particular emphasis upon complementary and alternativemedicines, as well as human andcomputer interaction.

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Key institute themes

A Joseph Rowntree Foundation-fundedproject has investigated the concept ofintergenerational cultures ofworklessness. Professor Tracy Shildrickis leading a team of researchers fromTeesside and Glasgow universities.

The study aims to critically interrogate theidea that worklessness becomesconcentrated in families over time becauseof cultural outlooks, attitudes andbehaviours that are passed down thegenerations. In-depth qualitative interviewswere held across different generations in20 families who have experienced long-term worklessness in deprived areas ofGlasgow and Teesside. The idea that threegenerations of families have never worked

is a very popular one with politicians, policymakers and the general public but there is very little hard evidence to suggest thatthis is a real or extensive phenomenon.The research, published by the JosephRowntree Foundation in September 2012,provided a rigorous test of these ideas andconcluded that – contrary to much currentrhetoric – a strong commitment toemployment remained even in heavilydisadvantaged and long-term worklesshouseholds. The researchers will use thestudy to challenge contemporary mythsabout worklessness and to inform betterpolicy and practice, nationally and locally,towards the problems of long-term povertyand worklessness.

The Social Futures Institute has a globalreputation in the field of theoreticalcriminology. Professor Steve Hall'sseminal work on the complexconnections between crime andconsumer culture has achieved criticalacclaim, and his theory of the pseudo-pacification process has the potential tosignificantly influence the trajectory ofcontemporary criminological theory.

Professor Hall is particularly interested inthe historical evolution of violence andthose social structures and processes thatattenuate the drives towards subjectiveviolence. His work represents a significantdeparture from established thinking in

contemporary criminological theory, andchallenges the liberal presuppositions thatstructure much academic criminology inthe West.

Professor Simon Winlow has anestablished track record in the field ofcritical, theoretical and cultural criminologyand is perhaps best known for his seminalethnographic work with violent offenders.Professor Winlow’s work is notable as hedisplays a willingness to draw theoreticallyfrom fields that are usually ignored inmainstream criminology. In particular, hehas drawn upon theoreticalpsychoanalysis and continentalphilosophy in order to address subjectivity

and culture in his analysis of violence andsocial harm. He is also the co-organiser ofthe second wave of deviancy conferences,which, beginning at the University of Yorkin 2011, represent an important globalforum for the development of critical andtheoretical criminology. Both ProfessorsHall and Winlow have published widely inthe field of theoretical criminology and siton the editorial boards of major academicjournals in the field. Their work is citedextensively in criminological textbooks,monographs and journal articlesthroughout the English-speaking world.Their article Shopocalypse Now iscurrently at the top of the most-read list inthe flagship British Journal of Criminology.

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Case studies

Intergenerational cultures of worklessness

Theoretical criminology

Professor GeorgiosAntonopoulosT: 01642 342350E: g.antonopoulos

@tees.ac.uk

Professor Steve HallT: 01642 384437E: steve.hall

@tees.ac.uk

Professor Robert MacDonaldT: 01642 342351E: r.macdonald

@tees.ac.uk

Dr GeorgiosPapanicolaouT: 01642 738162E: g.papanicolaou

@tees.ac.uk

Professor Tracy ShildrickT: 01642 384047E: t.a.shildrick

@tees.ac.uk

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Centre for Strategy and Leadership

Key institute themes

In a period of significant global and local economic challenges and in this new era of socio-economic restructuring and realignment, during which both private (wealth-creating) and public (wealth-spending) organisations are having to change radically and to innovate, there is an urgent need for research which can inform policy and practice, and support leaders who are trying to respond to these challenges – as well as to empower and inform individuals who take on the risk and personal responsibility of being entrepreneurial and innovative in various contexts. The Centre responds to this need by undertaking cutting-edge research, often in collaboration with practitioners and policymakers. It aims to pursue academic excellence and promote effective practice in three broad themes – leadership and organisational change; marketing and strategy; and risk, integrity and governance.

Leadership and organisational changeLed by Professor David Preece, leadershipresearch is often seen as synonymous with the activities of senior figures inbusiness, politics or sport, whileorganisational change is associated withrestructuring, mergers or introducing newtechnologies. Yet both concepts are muchbroader and more complex than this, andour research reflects this. Our work hasexamined broad changes affecting wholesectors, such Professor Preece’s work onchange and restructuring in UK publichouse retailing, and with colleagues onchanging forms and modes of leadershipand management in UK social housing and leadership development and talentmanagement practices in the UK, SouthEast Asia and China.

A similarly broad perspective can beobserved in Professor Joyce Liddle’sexaminations of leadership, governanceand partnership challenges in the publicand third sectors, and public/private hybrid organisations. Professor Liddleleads an international leadership researchnetwork on sustainable regional and urban leadership, and has undertakenpartnership and leadership research for the

Home Office, Office of the Deputy PrimeMinister and other national, regional and local government agencies, in the UK and overseas.

Risk, integrity and governanceThis theme, led by Rob McCusker, builds on our longstanding expertise in the fields of organisational ethics, fraudand financial crime, transnational crimeand anti-corruption. Other Centre membershave undertaken research into whistleblowing and audit practice. Findings arepublished in international journals, andmembers have written key policy papersfor government bodies in the UK andoverseas. Members have also worked with agencies such as the FBI, APEC, theUnited Nations, the Council of Europe, and the US State Department.

Marketing and strategyThe marketing and strategy theme is led by Professor Mark Davies, whose ownresearch focuses on the role of marketinginformation and decision support systemsfor improved decision-making, marketmodelling and positioning, as well asmanagerial perspectives on marketingcommunications, including relationship management, tolerance, and trust. Dr Jonathan M. Scott's collaborativeresearch focuses on access to finance forsmall and medium-sized enterprise andsocial enterprise owner-managers andentrepreneurs. This research has had anemphasis upon diversity, ie gender andethnic differences in access to finance.Other researchers within this theme arecurrently examining a range of issues with significant implications for policy and practice, including on the impact ofpersonal relationships on entrepreneurship,brand awareness in fashion retailing,ethical consumer behaviour, strategy in the travel industry, and economic clusters.

Building on a body of earlier researchon governance, partnership andleadership, Professor Liddle leads amulti-national leadership network ofglobal scholars examining sustainableregional and urban development. The research brings togetherunderstandings of leadership innumerous global settings to developcommon theoretical, conceptual andmethodological frameworks. In a fieldlargely dominated by Anglo-Americanbusiness and management approaches,the researchers are developingenhanced theories, concepts andmethodological developments to shapenew approaches to leadership in urbanand regional places.

The work is ground breaking in challengingan existing knowledge base located withindifferences between structure and agency,and a specific focus on individual agency.Understanding leadership as a sociallyembedded and multi-scalar activity, or arelay in time, shows how leaders create

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capacity to act, and respond to externalglobal shocks. The research also revealshow regional and urban leaders use, andtransfer knowledge, vertically andhorizontally within places, to aligntraditional and new strategies fortransformation and competitive advantage.Initially funded by the International RegionalStudies Association (IRSA), furtherresearch is being supported by IRSA,Wanginengen University, The Netherlands,and the Economics University, Prague.

Integrity systemsThe Centre leads the way in research intolocal and national integrity systems. Thenational integrity system (NIS) model wasdevised in the late 1990s by TransparencyInternational as a means of evaluating therobustness of anti-corruption mechanismsin different nations. The UK NIS has beenassessed twice, in 2003 and 2011, and oneach occasion the research wasconducted by the Centre. The popularity of

the NIS model has led scholars in Europeand Australasia to develop concepts oflocal integrity systems (LIS) and the Centrehas performed the only comparativeevaluation of the LIS frameworks inEngland, Scotland and Wales. This workhas built upon a considerable body of workat Teesside in the field of local governanceand integrity including national surveys ofmonitoring officers, and qualitativeevaluations of local standards committees.

The Centre is currently conducting anational survey into the change-readinessof local authorities for the new integrityframework to be implemented following the enforcement of the Localism Act 2011.As well as being cited in numerousacademic texts, the work on integritysystems has been cited in governmentstrategy documents, and quoted innational and international media. Theprojects have been funded from varioussources including the Joseph RowntreeTrust, Standards for England, and theEuropean Union.

Case studies

Regional and urban leadership

Professor Mark DaviesT: 01642 342882E: mark.davies@tees.ac.uk

Professor Joyce LiddleT: 01642 342808E: joyce.liddle@tees.ac.uk

Rob McCusker T: 01642 342880E: r.mccusker@tees.ac.uk

Professor David PreeceT: 01642 342919E: d.preece@tees.ac.uk

Dr Jonathan M ScottT: 01642 342864E: j.scott@tees.ac.uk

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The North East of England is leading the way in the transitionto the low carbon economy and the Institute is at the heart ofthis exciting, interdisciplinary activity.

As a major centre for the chemical and process industries, theTees Valley is home to major international companies that areactively involved in developing new clean technologies, includingbioprocesses and biotechnologies, biofuels and hydrogentechnologies. Our research and innovation activities complementthese areas through active collaboration and dynamic knowledgeexchange. The Technology Futures Institute has a key role to playin securing the region’s future as a world-leading low carbonindustrial centre.

Professor Nashwan DawoodDirectorT: 01642 342405E: n.n.dawood@tees.ac.uk

TechnologyFutures Institute

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The Technology Futures Institute is an international leader in key areas of research and innovation related tosustainable engineering, advanced processing, and measurement and control. As well as developingapplications-focussed new knowledge and technologies, the Institute provides a wide range of servicesthrough its strong, long-standing relationships with public and private sector organisations.

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Measurement and control systemsThis theme applies intelligent algorithms insystems control, advanced chemicalanalysis technologies, and process flowmeasurement in challenging environments.There is long-standing expertise inmeasuring the flow of fuel in power stationsto enhance the efficiency and reduce theenvironmental burden of power generation(see case study). There is a further area ofresearch into dependable, real-timeembedded control systems, such as thosefound in aircraft and automotive controlsystems, medical devices and robots.Specifically, the behaviour of theseembedded systems is being investigated.

This work includes a novel hardware-in-the-loop real-time simulation of a passengervehicle travelling down a busy three-lanemotorway analysing embedded automotivecontrol systems (such as adaptive-cruise-control) under various normal andabnormal operating conditions. Anothersignificant research area within this themeis the application of fuzzy logic and neural-fuzzy models to medical physics – forexample, applying neural networks andneural-fuzzy modelling in continuous, non-invasive blood gas predictions in intensivecare patients with breathing difficulties.

Dr Tim Thompson, together with Dr MeezIslam, is investigating novel analyticalmethods to determine the context ofburning from skeletal remains, achallenging requirement in forensic andarchaeological analysis. This work hasinvestigated burned bones from a range ofcontexts, including past funerary customs.

Engineering sustainabilityThe engineering sustainability themefocuses on the sustainability of the builtenvironment. There is a particular focus onthe use of information and communicationtechnology for building informationmanagement and modelling and forvisualising construction processes. Thiswork helps to improve the energy efficiencyof buildings, both during their operationand throughout their entire life-cycle. Ourwork within the IntUBE (Intelligent Use ofBuildings Energy information) Europeanresearch project sought to increase the life-cycle energy efficiency of buildingswithout compromising user comfort,through integration of the latest information technology.

Renewable energy generation capacitycoupled to highly efficient builtenvironments makes energy positiveneighbourhoods possible – places whichproduce more power than they need. The IDEAS project, aims to illustrate howcommunities, public authorities and utilitycompanies across the EU can be engagedin the development and operation ofenergy positive neighbourhoods. Theproject will demonstrate how energypositive neighbourhoods can beimplemented – cost effectively andincrementally. This project will include thedevelopment of neighbourhood energymanagement and decision support toolsfor urban planning, together with creativebusiness models to allow end users, publicauthorities and utility companies to makeenergy positive neighbourhoods a reality.

Manufacturing and processengineeringWith the development of bespoke,advanced and functional materials forspecific industrial applications a particularfocus is on nanomaterials and materials foreco-design and the use of micro- andnanomaterials that have high density andenhanced functionality.

Professor Simon Hodgson has workedextensively in developing surface coatingsfor stainless steel to impart hightemperature corrosion resistance to steelcomponents. Ceramic coatings via sol-gelmethods have been demonstrated to havesuperior corrosion resistance compared to other traditional manufacturingtechniques. Other related researchincludes improved production methods oftungsten oxide thin films used in energysaving smart-windows.

Professor Maria Olea focuses on preparingheterogeneous catalysts and optimisingtheir performance by modelling the surface processes that occur duringcatalytic reactions. There is a particularfocus on the development of catalysts foruse in environmental applications such asthe production of chemicals and fuels frombiomass feedstocks, treating waste waterand reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds.

The particular focus on miniaturised, high density and functional devices is onmicrofluidics for chemical and biologicalprocessing. Professor Zulfiqur Ali has beenworking on a point-of-care device to aiddiagnosis of deep vein thrombosis. Otherrelated work includes a microfluidicbioreactor array for cytotoxic drug testingof breast cancer cell line.

Key institute themes

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Measurement and control systems are at the heart of effective energygeneration and the transition to a lowcarbon economy. Coal fired powerstations are among the most carbonintensive forms of electricity generation,yet are also a large part of the energymix. In the UK 28% of our electricity isgenerated from burning coal andglobally the figure is over 40%. One ofthe challenges faced by coal fired powerstations in increasing their efficiency isthe measurement and control ofpulverised coal flow in the pipes thatdeliver the fuel to the combustionchambers. Measured fuel flow helpsoperators to optimise the fuel/air mixand achieve efficient combustion.

We have worked with ABB Ltd to developonline measurement of coal flow usingnovel electrostatic sensor technology.Since the first successful trial of the sensorat Methil power station in Scotland in 1996,we have improved its capabilities bydeveloping a detailed understanding of the impact of the distributions of particlesize, velocity and density within the fuel conveyor pipework on the system’s sensitivity.

The sensor has now been installed world-wide and is reducing emissions andimproving the efficiency of power stationsin the UK (half of the UK’s 15 coal firedpower stations currently use thetechnology), America, Canada, Portugal,Japan, South Korea and China.

Greening electricitygeneration from coal

Case studies

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Professor Zulfiqur AliT: 01642 342532E: z.ali@tees.ac.uk

Professor Simon HodgsonT: 01642 342403

E: s.n.hodgson@tees.ac.uk

Dr Meez IslamT: 01642 342410E: m.islam@tees.ac.uk

Professor Maria OleaT: 01642 342447E: m.olea@tees.ac.uk

Dr Tim ThompsonT: 01642 342535E: t.thompson@tees.ac.uk

Many European cities have issuedclimate change policies and set targetsfor CO2 emissions reduction, but theimplementation of these policies inurban planning remains a challenge.Recent advances in information andcommunication technologies (ICTs)present opportunities to improve theway energy profiling tools andtechniques are used to measure andinform the energy performance ofbuildings throughout their life cycle.

The new European-funded, SEMANCOproject will develop an ontology-basedenergy information system, and associatedtools, to help stakeholders involved in

urban planning to make informed decisionsabout how to reduce CO2 emissions incities. The software and data modellingmethods will allow planners to assess allthe variables that contribute to a carbonfootprint and to evaluate the most efficientsolution in terms of cost, carbon emissionsreduction and fuel poverty relief.

The project will run three case studies atRiverside Dean in Newcastle, in Spain inthe Manresa area of Barcelona and theother in the North Harbour, Copenhagen.This work has led to thinking about how theintelligent use of building information canbe used to inform the design of localenergy infrastructures.

Reducing the climate impact of the built environment

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The Graduate Research School (GRS) provides an expert focal point for the support of all aspects ofresearch activity. We are responsible for co-ordinating activity aroundresearch funding and projectdevelopment, research degrees,research governance and researchpolicy and strategy. Our goal is toensure the sustainability of areas ofestablished and emerging researchactivity and we aim to create a cultureand infrastructure within the Universitywhich supports and nurtures high-quality research. Notably, theUniversity is recognised by theEuropean Commission for researcherdevelopment through our HRExcellence in Research Award which is given to organisations which have a robust and public implementationstrategy for improving the careerdevelopment and management of researchers.

GRS works closely with the five researchinstitutes to promote research across theUniversity and to support the co-ordination

of our Research Excellence Frameworkpreparations. Our activities assist allmembers of the research community, fromprofessors and established academics toearly career researchers and PhDstudents. We organise regular networkingevents to exchange knowledge and tosupport creative conversations acrossdifferent disciplines. GRS offers training forpostgraduate research students onimportant aspects of research practice atdifferent stages of their research degree.We also provide courses for researcherdevelopment which includes PhDsupervisor training, research ethics andintegrity as well as research leadership.

We support our researchers mostsignificantly by coordinating University-funded Doctoral Scholarships, and projectstart-up funding through the UniversityResearch Fund. Research collaborationwith private and public sector partners,nationally and internationally, aresupported in a number of ways, includingthrough the International Visiting AcademicScheme. Teesside University also leadsthe Enterprise Europe Network for the

GraduateResearch School

Professor Zulfiqur AliDeanT: 01642 384438E: researchfunding@tees.ac.uk

tees.ac.uk/research/grstwitter.com/TeesUniResearch

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North East of England. This is part of aEurope-wide network of organisations thathelps small businesses to make the mostof the European marketplace and providesus with an opportunity to support thedevelopment of European researchcollaborations.

For all enquiries regarding research atTeesside University, please do get in touchand see how we can help you.

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TeesRep is the institutional researchrepository for Teesside University, andis administered by the Library &Information Services.

It is an open access digital archive ofresearch outputs, set up to collect,preserve and disseminate the University’sresearch. TeesRep gives you access to agrowing collection of peer-reviewedresearch and e-theses produced byTeesside University researchers. It makesresearch accessible without theconstraints of subscriptions orregistrations and is part of a network ofover 200 repositories in the UnitedKingdom and 2000 repositories worldwide.

TeesRep includes a mixture of full-textitems and metadata only records includingjournal articles, books, book chapters,conference papers and PhD theses. It willsupport the Research ExcellenceFramework by providing an accuraterecord of publications.

Academic librarians from the Learning &Research Support team provide advice onstudy skills, information and researchneeds. They meet with new researchers tohelp familiarise them with the resourcesavailable in their subject area. Researchershave access to over 100 online databases,over 90,000 journal and conferenceproceedings titles, in print and electronic

format, over 50,000 electronic books andover 285,000 books in the print collection.In addition researchers can obtain booksand articles from the British Library’s InterLibrary Loans Service or join the nationalSCONUL Access service to access printresources in other UK university libraries.

Find out more

T: 01642 342100E: teesrep.team@tees.ac.uk

tees.ac.uk/teesrep

TeesRep and Library &Information Services

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Teesside UniversityMiddlesbrough Tees Valley T: +44 (0) 1642 218121TS1 3BA UK tees.ac.uk