Research Presentations 2022

In West Africa, trade costs pose major disincentives to shippers, halting economic development. As a solution to the challenges, West African ports are turning to single window systems (SWS), but they are finding it difficult to implement fully paperless SWS. Despite its many benefits, implementing SWS is a complex undertaking that requires significant effort, resource allocation, and government support. Therefore, this study explores the critical factors influencing the implementation process of SWS in developing countries using the port of Abidjan as a case study. This culminates in a proposed framework developed based on existing literature, company documents and theories. Subsequently, data from semi-structured interviews with fourteen different stakeholders was used to revise the framework using thematic analysis.

This study evaluates the criticality, and map SWS critical factors with key stakeholders at every implementation stage. According to this study, the stakeholders’ greatest challenges are associated with the TOE framework's organizational and environmental context. Therefore, the researcher has added two new subcategories to the organizational and environmental context of the TOE framework to adapt it to SWS implementation. As a result of this study, decision makers from developing countries and scholars can prioritise actions to reduce challenges as they implement SWS.

EV charging systems are associated with multi sectors, which means one technical risk can impact another. In fact, not every decision-maker has technical background when they have to deal with risks and make decisions. My goal is to develop a framework for supporting decision-making, covering both technical and non-technical sides. As a result, the approach and methodology of this research will follow OCTAVE (Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation) to provide a balanced framework in organisational contexts. In other words, this is cross-disciplinary research covering computing and business management. In terms of the computing part, it includes modifying the risk assessment model (binary risk analysis) to achieve effectiveness, risk identification, data for decision making and adoption of EV charging systems. Regarding the management part, it aims at cost-effectiveness analysis, problem-solving implementation and orientation with strategic decision making by utilising PEST (Political, Economic, Strategic and Technological) analysis.

Rhetoric, particularly within political-media contexts, is commonly interpreted as the ‘art of persuasion’. However, a critical examination of the contemporary literature challenges this classical conceptualisation. This presentation presents an alternative interpretation whereby rhetoric is a social mechanism of intellectual and interpersonal transformation, wherein the art of persuasion exists alongside the arts of manipulation; coercion and legitimation as instruments of contemporary political and media communications. Accordingly, this interpretation posits that a reappraisal of rhetoric is warranted, with the recommendation that it be considered as ‘curated speech’, speech that is curated in accordance with the aims of its communicator. This presentation will also further explore the scholarly implications of this reappraisal with reference to recent analyses of political and media content on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sensory feedback is still missing in artificial limbs. The users have to rely on their visual feedback only and this leads to a high cognitive load as well as to frustration about the poor usability. In my PhD I am investigating the possibility to use proprioceptive illusions as feedback for prosthesis users. It is possible to artificially manipulate our proprioception using vibrations through the skin. The muscle spindles start firing after getting vibrated and send signals to the brain. These are interpreted in a way that a muscle is stretching and consequently a limb is moving.

Nigeria, a multi-ethnic postcolonial West African country, gained independence from the British in October 1960 with the establishment of a parliamentary system of government. By January 1966 however, it had witnessed its first military coup, followed by a civil war from 1967-1970 and an extended period of military rule. From May 1999 the Fourth Republic was established under a presidential system of government and the military has not been involved in civil governance. Nevertheless, due to rising cases of insecurity, the military has been deployed throughout the country on internal security missions. This study argues that a postcolonial state, affected by the need to exert its statehood amid limited state capacity and contested legitimacy, would inevitably face security challenges necessitating the deployment of the military on internal security missions. The security predicament of the postcolonial state changes the dynamics of civil-military relations in ways not adequately researched. This study therefore seeks to conceptualize the nature of civil-military relations in a postcolonial state, beset by the crisis of state building, using Nigeria as a case study. It will enquire into the nature of civil-military relations in Nigeria since the return to civil democratic rule in May 1999 using a social constructivist theoretical paradigm, qualitative methodology and sociological theory of Bourdieu as a tool for analysis. 

Research has established Virtual Reality (VR) as a useful tool for training and knowledge acquisition across a number of domains, including medicine (Gurusamy et al., 2009) and university education (Makransky et al., 2019). The possibilities of VR have also been explored in the field of burglary prevention, with research demonstrating the benefits of the technology for exploring gaps in burglary risk appraisals between expert offenders and novice householders (Nee et al., 2019). This presentation will merge these two strands of VR literature, providing the first instance of research in which VR is used to train householders to better appraise burglary victimisation risk in a simulated environment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three training groups, in which they were provided with scripted burglary prevention training. All participants then completed a mock burglary to assess their knowledge of burglary risk. It was found that those who received the training through a VR headset demonstrated better subsequent performance in the mock burglary than either of the other two groups, stealing greater numbers of higher value items, being more likely to enter via the back of the property, and being more likely to target end of terrace houses.

Dark fandoms have been discussed by Broll (2020) with specific reference to Columbiners, whilst studies on other dark fandoms, such as fans of serial or mass murderers and their activities, is as yet underexplored (Broll, 2020). Suggestions in the literature imply that the true crime boom (Horeck, 2019; Murley, 2008) is responsible for dark fan activities as a contemporary phenomenon; however, objects connected to tragic, violent or socially bad death (Walter, 1994) have been kept as keepsakes, souvenirs and talismans far back in history (Quigley, 1995; Sugg, 2020; McCoristine, 2016; Tarlow, 2016). The focus of this presentation centres on the dark fan collector and the objects they relate to, items termed ‘murderibillia’ (Denham, 2017; Jarvis, 2007; Kahan, 2017; Schmid, 2005). These artefacts may take the form of simulacra, manufactured merchandise, whilst the most significant piece of any collection would be the physical remains of an individual and items present to the act of corpse creation or remains by proxy, the presence of which, this author argues, contributes to the construction and performance of identity within these subcultural groups. This paper aims to outline items connected to genuine murders, the perpetrator and their victims and, how these individuals interact with these items through active fan participation. 

Clubs and societies (‘unincorporated associations’) are a pillar of civil society. Yet, as these groups lack legal personhood it means that it is not possible, legally speaking, for such clubs to hold or own property themselves. Though this issue is not a new one, it takes on even greater significance in light of the pandemic; with government restrictions preventing social gatherings, many clubs have seen dwindling membership numbers coupled with being unable to carry out their crucial fundraising activities and events. The accumulated effect is increasing numbers of clubs and societies being on the brink of dissolution. But one way a lack of funds may be remedied (or at least mitigated) is through donations, such as leaving gifts via Wills to these associations.

Autistic children and young people may experience marginalisation and exclusion from material spaces due to challenges associated with physical communication and coping in social environments. Yet, ways are being sought to overcome social obstacles and create positive experiences, as an exploratory study conducted during and after the coronavirus lockdown, into personally and independently chosen leisure activities by autistic youth to support social interaction has found; ways that could be useful to a diversity of children who experience exclusion.

Seeking to challenge hierarchical assumptions of communication and neurotypical theoretical constructions of society whilst championing the need for flexible methodology, a particular play practice, cosplay, (character dress up play, with origins in Japanese manga and anime) was discussed and infused into the project methodology. This created a secure and familiar foundation, whilst offering flexible options for engagement to suit the child’s preferences and COVID-19 restrictions. 

Thematic analysis of online content together with semi-structured interviews with autistic young people, and questionnaires completed by stakeholders, have indicated positive connections between cosplay practice, increased social activity (both online and in person) and reduced levels of anxiety, with early findings suggesting transferrable elements that could inform more effective support for others with social and communication restrictions.

Student engagement is a multidimensional construct comprising four dimensions: behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and agentic, that correspond to the learning processes of acting, thinking, feeling, and communicating (Reeve, 2013; Wang & Eccles, 2013). Student engagement can be enhanced through co-creation processes (Bovil, 2016). Though there are multiple pedagogical approaches for student engagement in UK higher education, such as partnership and whole class approaches (Bovil, 2016), these co-creation approaches are limited as these only engage selective numbers of students. This PhD argues that engaging with stakeholders in module co-creation can enhance students' engagement to better meet module learning outcomes. I propose the Education Living Lab methodology (ELLM) as a pedagogical framework to help engage students, by working with key stakeholders in module co-creation processes. The study will deal with two research questions: (a) How does co-creation through ELLM enhance HE students behavioral, emotional, cognitive and agentic engagement? and (b) How does stakeholder engagement in learning need analysis help develop a module by co-creating the learning outcomes which foster student’s engagement? The methods for data collection will include semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and exploration of existing policy and processes. Data will be analyzed through Nvivo software.